Chapter 165

Suddenly tranquil and harmonious, the Six Paths Palace Master, bearing the benevolent aura of an elder, arrived at Wa Valley accompanied by his retinue of the Eighteen Guardian Heavenly Kings of the Six Paths Palace.

The current matriarch of Wa Valley, Wa Mother, together with twenty-four Elders of the Wa clan, set up an honor guard to give a grand welcome.

Before countless people of Wa Valley, especially the youthful disciples of the major powers stationed there, as well as their attendants, Elders, spies, and scouts, Wa Mother and the Six Paths Palace Master conversed most amiably.

The two sides chatted loudly for a full quarter of an hour, thoroughly reviewing the deep historical friendship between Wa Valley and the Six Paths Palace, looking forward to future mutual support, and exchanging their views on the situation in the surrounding regions; afterward, Wa Mother arranged for the Six Paths Palace Master to stay in a stone building near Wa Palace.

Xuanbing Ice Armor

Many scouts were gathering intelligence, many forces' personnel were rushing about desperately, and many people were speculating: what on earth did the Six Paths Palace Master come to Wa Valley for?

"I've heard that since the Six Paths Palace Master entered seclusion a hundred years ago to contemplate the Six Paths Palace's supreme secret art, he has never stepped outside Six Paths City."

Eighteen Guardian Heavenly Kings of the Six Paths Palace

"In the major regions surrounding Wa Valley, the Six Paths Palace is also a top-tier powerful sect; especially since they observe the precepts strictly, within their territory there are no disputes among households, making things quite harmonious, so the Six Paths Palace enjoys a good reputation."

"I really don't know what they came to Wa Valley to do."

"After all, a hundred years ago the Six Paths Palace Master was a top-tier mighty expert, a formidable figure who shook the four directions; even the Sect Master of their mortal enemy, the Changsheng Sect, had once been struck by his three punches until he vomited blood and suffered defeat."

"He's been in seclusion for a hundred years, and no one knows just how formidable he has become… How could such a great figure suddenly show up at our door?"

Wa Qing'er still doesn't know what happened earlier, unaware that the Six Paths Palace Master personally moved to suppress Gong Sun Sheng and the others, and even less aware that he used a method that could be called evil to devour several unfortunate young men and women.

Moreover, the Six Paths Palace Master intended to abduct Wu Tie and Wa Xiao xi.

These actions are completely at odds with the legendary Six Paths Palace Master who is said to observe the precepts and abide by the rules.

Wu Tie lightly shook his head; just now, when he saw the Six Paths Palace Master clad entirely in black, he felt that something was very wrong with his condition.

The pitch-black Six Paths Palace Master gave Wu Tie the feeling of a demon, like a ghost.

The lustrous white Six Paths Palace Master gave Wu Tie the feeling of an immortal, like a sage.

Six Paths City

However, no matter what mysteries the Six Paths Palace Master hides, the Elders of Wa Valley can naturally deal with them. Even if his fame is tremendous, wasn't he suppressed by Wa Mother together with many Elders using the Wa clan's secret arts?

Heavenly King of the Six Paths Palace

Guardian Heavenly Kings of the Six Paths Palace

Their Xuanbing Ice Armor, the divine weapons forged from cold light and freezing aura in their hands, and even the way they obtained these armor and weapons, were exactly the same as those of Bo Xi and the others.

Wu Tie subconsciously touched the spider-shaped pendant on his chest; Lao Tie's crystal brain resides inside this pendant.

The underground of Wa Palace housed a complex passageway system, as intricate as a spiderweb; Wa Qing'er led Wu Tie through it, walking for seven and a half minutes, before they reached a stone cavern of moderate size.

The square stone cavern spanned about one mu; its four walls, floor, and dome were lined with thick metal plates, upon which layers of runes were engraved, and occasionally a faint light glided between the runes, flickering like tiny snakes.

Gongsun Sheng, stark naked, had his wrists shackled by two iron chains, hanging there facing the door.

Earlier, his knee had been pierced by a small turtle-shaped hole formed from condensed ice crystal by the Six Dao Palace Master; now two metal pillars as thick as his wrists pierced his knees, firmly fixing his lower body to the cave wall.

Fine black cow-hair needles were inserted into his neck, shoulders, elbows, and vertebrae.

The air carried a faint stimulating medicinal scent; Wu Tie subconsciously twitched his nose, and Wa Qing'er whispered, 'On those needles is the Wa tribe's secret medicine; when inserted into the body's various acupoints, it can greatly amplify the pain felt by the body.'

As if to confirm Wa Qing'er's words, the manipulated Gongsun Sheng suddenly opened his mouth and let out a hoarse, exhausted howl.

Fine runes on the surrounding cavern walls glowed with a somber light, and Gongsun Sheng's howl seemed to be swallowed whole; although the cavern's great door stood open, the howl could not be transmitted out of the cavern.

Inside the cavern stood several middle-aged women in black long robes; seeing Gongsun Sheng's twitching face and his hoarse loud roar, they all burst into laughter.

A woman with delicate features and slightly blackened lips smiled and glanced at the Six Dao Palace Heavenly King standing beside her, saying, 'I've heard that the Six Dao Palace's cultivation method in body refinement is unsurpassed, so their understanding of the human body is extremely profound...'

'It is said that the Six Dao Palace's experts are most skilled at letting enemies endure the utmost pain without causing too much bodily harm,' the woman said calmly. 'Thus, excellent; combined with our Wa tribe's secret medicine, let's see how long this little fellow can hold out without spilling the beans.'

Inside the cavern, there were a total of six Six Dao Palace guardian heavenly kings, and besides these few women, the Wa tribe also had more than ten vigorous maidens.

Upon hearing the woman's words, everyone laughed softly.

A big man smiled, nodded, strode up to Gongsun Sheng, reached out, lifted his chin, and said in a deep voice, 'The palace master has ordered that you must tell everything you know… no concealment allowed.'

'The Wa tribe's matriarch also said that no matter who stands behind you, if you dare to cause trouble on Wa tribe's territory… hehe…' the big man said in a deep voice, 'Kid, I'll give you a chance to speak up yourself; it's better than being forced to confess after enduring all that suffering.'

The big man's tone was very solemn: 'To speak frankly, our Six Dao Palace's understanding of the human body is quite profound; we are versed in all means that cause people unbearable pain. However, the Six Dao Palace's tradition and rules prefer killing enemies rather than torturing them. If you speak up, I actually don't want to be harsh on you.'

The big man spoke very sincerely.

After Gongsun Sheng let out a howl, he tilted his head, stared straight at the big man for a while, opened his mouth, and spat a mouthful of saliva onto the big man's face.

The big man did not dodge; he allowed Gongsun Sheng's spit to land on his face.

He turned his head and smiled at the five other men behind him, saying, 'Several senior brothers, this isn't my fault.'

Wu Tie and Wa Qing'er stood at the doorway, watching as the big man reached out, seemingly casually pinching and poking Gongsun Sheng's tendon joints twice each.

Subsequently, Gongsun Sheng's body began to twist strangely.

Veins and tendons continually bulged beneath his skin; his joints emitted a grating friction sound, and many joints twisted completely contrary to reason.

His ribs seemed like living things, beating, sliding, and pulling on his muscles and fascia.

Gongsun Sheng's abdominal muscles suddenly stretched wide, revealing the outline of his internal organs beneath the muscle; his organs also underwent strange writhing and spasms, making his coiled intestines more visible, and one could hear the hu-hu sound of his intestines writhing.

One cannot imagine how much pain Gongsun Sheng is in now.

The Six Dao Palace's methods can be called terrifying.

What's worse, Gongsun Sheng is also being given the Wa tribe's secret medicine by those women.

The Six Dao Palace's interrogation methods, combined with the Wa tribe's secret medicine, leave Wu Tie unable to imagine just how terrible the pain Gongsun Sheng now endures is.

After three breaths, the big man swept his hand over Gongsun Sheng's body.

Amazingly, wherever his palm passed, Gongsun Sheng's twitching, writhing body instantly calmed.

Wu Tie watched helplessly as bean-sized beads of sweat welled from Gongsun Sheng's pores; his body was almost drenched, and the sweat trickled down his toes like a small stream.

In just the span of a single breath, Gongsun Sheng's whole person shrank a notch.

Like a ten-thousand-year corpse suddenly revived in a coffin, Gongsun Sheng drew a deep breath, his chest swelling; it seemed he wanted to suck the cavern's air dry in one breath, and that breath lasted as long as five ordinary breaths.

With a hu exhalation of a long breath, Gongsun Sheng emitted an indescribable wail.

His originally bright eyeballs had become desiccated, looking no different from a dead fish's eyes.

He strained to open his mouth, a dry voice laughing: "You... I say..."

The big man nodded, stepped back two steps, smiled at the several middle-aged women of the Wa tribe: "We're not good at interrogation; we'll have to trouble you few."

Wu Tie, Wa Qinger, and the Wa tribe members inside the stone cave all glanced at these several big guys from the Six Dao Palace.

Is this what you call not interrogating people?

The Wa tribe woman who had just spoken smiled, slowly stepped up to Gongsun Sheng, and began asking him various questions.

"Your name."

"Gongsun Sheng."

"Your background."

"Baihe Region, descendant of the Gongsun family."

"Why come to Wa Valley?"

Wa Yao contacted us in secret code, came to Wa Valley to kill Wu Tie, capture Wa Xiao Xi alive, sacrifice Wa Xiao Xi to the heavenly god in exchange for the god's grant.

Gongsun Sheng's complexion was ashen, stiff and rigid like a corpse, as he recounted Wa Yao and their plan in detail.

Wa Yao bewitched a group of doomed pawns, all scions of the major clans resident in Wa Valley, sending them first to settle scores with Wu Tie.

Whether they succeed or not, they are doomed to die.

If they succeed in capturing Wa Xiao Xi, we will kill them all, then take Wa Xiao Xi… the blame will naturally fall on them; and the ultimate culprit can be pushed onto Wa Mu, who gained a great sum from them—this being Wa Mu's own doing.

If they fail, Wu Tie flees with Wa Xiao Xi, we can also kill Wu Tie and capture Wa Xiao Xi…

With so many corpses as evidence, no investigation could ever trace it back to us…

More importantly, it was Wa Mu's lawless actions that caused all these troubles, leading to her son being killed and her daughter captured… Wa Xiao Xi is the Wa tribe's most outstanding talent in recent years, deeply favored by the Wa tribe Elder.

If something happens to them, Wa Mu will naturally suffer a blow; even if she is the matriarch of the Wa tribe, her prestige will be weakened, and she can no longer be as overbearing as she is now.

Furthermore, she must endure the accusations of those dead men's families; under successive blows, her power within the Wa tribe will also be weakened.

Wu Tie stood aside, silently listening.

Is this all Wa Yao's scheming? Indeed, it's calculated very well, very well.

Wu Tie suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed; he couldn't distinguish the attackers' identities, went on a frenzied beating, and Wa Xiao Xi, like a loaded torpedo, blew apart a large section of stone crevice—those attackers were completely wiped out.

They are all direct descendants of the major clans; this truly is a huge trouble.

However, handing over Wa Xiu and Wa Yao, mother and daughter, to take the blame should resolve this matter, right?

Wu Tie furrowed his brow, his face grim as he looked at Gongsun Sheng.

You all, what's going on again? The secret technique you use doesn't resemble the Gongsun family's inheritance. After the woman figured out the plot behind the attack on Wu Tie and the others, her face also grim as she questioned Gongsun Sheng.

We are the chosen ones. The corpse-like Gongsun Sheng's face gained a bit of liveliness; he lifted his visage, disfigured by the Six Dao Palace master's golden pellet, and actually showed an extremely ugly smile.

Unlike you ants struggling in the filthy mire… we are the chosen ones, we have the chance to transcend this dark world. This hopeless, lightless, future‑less doomsday, dark age… hehe, we are the chosen ones.

We are truly the people of extraordinary talent, our bloodline noble, our gifts superb, we are born above you ants.

So we heard the heavenly god's voice transmission, felt the god's summons, and received the god's granted divine authority.

On Gongsun Sheng's chest appeared a dark‑blue, exquisitely perfect hexagonal ice‑crystal pattern, and a gloomy blue glow illuminated the stone cavern, about a mu in radius and roughly a hundred meters high.

This is the divine authority insignia bestowed by the heavenly god… through it we can communicate directly with the heavenly god.

We can draw on the power of divine artifacts to greatly enhance our strength… depending on our contribution to the heavenly god, the boost we receive varies in strength.

The armor on our bodies and the weapons in our hands are projections of the heavenly god's divine artifacts.

Gongsun Sheng shouted with fervor: "All of this is the supreme heavenly god's power… we are the heavenly god's chosen chosen ones, we are born nobler than you lowly beings, and we have the potential to become gods."

As long as we fulfill the god's task, continually offering sacrifices to the divine spirits… or selling certain people or goods to the god's emissaries… Gongsun Sheng, with a hint of greed, muttered softly: "Just like me—I'm two years younger than Gongsun Yuan, yet I truly obtained the Nine Dragons Nine Elephants power inherited in the Gongsun bloodline."

Do you know how I obtained this power?

Gongsun Sheng gave a strange laugh: "I sacrificed my own younger brother, Gongsun Lin, who was only nine months old at birth… the heavenly god directly poured empowerment from afar, letting me break through eighteen heavenly layers in succession, and thus I directly obtained the Nine Dragons Nine Elephants power."

The Wa tribe woman questioning Gongsun Sheng exclaimed: "The case of Gongsun Lin's disappearance, which sparked the three‑year blood feud between the Gongsun and Luo families—was it you?"