Chapter 186: Enduring Torture One by One

"Oil pot"?

Wu Tie didn't hear clearly what the Eagle-Headed Man said next.

The scale suddenly disappeared, and Wu Tie fell downward unable to move at all. Below was a huge oil pot; beneath the oil pot flames rose, burning the black, sticky oil inside into a frenzied churn.

As Wu Tie's body fell toward the oil pot, the oil suddenly ignited. A sky‑rocketing blaze shot up tens of meters high, Wu Tie let out a panicked scream, and he plunged headfirst into the oil pot.

Horrible pain surged from his whole body; the viscous oil was unusually heavy, pressing Wu Tie's physique so he couldn't move, and he could only roll with the oil's constant churning.

The oil seeped into his body through the seven apertures, and intense pain came from within.

Wu Tie heard a "hissing" sound; his skin was fried by the oil into a crisp, yellowish texture, then large patches of skin peeled off, the oil directly contacting his bloody muscles, exploding and causing chunks of muscle to continually slough off.

Excruciating pain, excruciating pain, the kind of agony that almost made his soul collapsed.

Wu Tie gripped the White Tiger Cleave with both hands, lifted his head, and roared hoarsely: "Am I guilty? Those I killed……were all deserving of death! Am I guilty?"

The Eagle-Headed Man's voice came from high above: "So what? Anyway, you killed someone……killing is a sin. As for whether those people deserved death, only the great Osiris can decide……you insignificant mortal, if you dare to kill, you are guilty."

"Guilty, you must be punished……kill one person, blast for a quarter hour, slowly enjoy it!"

"You also took part in gambling, so later there will be a whipping awaiting you……are you looking forward to it?"

Wu Tie spat out mouthfuls of blood, which the burning, viscous oil quickly turned into wispy blue smoke.

His muscles and organs had been blasted into a mangled mess; only a dark, dim skeleton flickered with an eerie glow, and no matter how the oil churned and raged, it could leave no trace upon his bones.

After a quarter hour had passed, Wu Tie had already atoned for the sin of one person he had killed.

A mighty force surged down from above, lifting Wu Tie together with the White Tiger Cleave into midair; then a black light shone down, and the vanished flesh and organs of Wu Tie rapidly regenerated, soon restoring him to his original state, after which he was thrown back into the oil pot.

Having just relaxed a little, he was suddenly flung into the oil pot again; amidst the hissing, excruciating pain surged once more, Wu Tie howled in agony, he widened his eyes, and with a fierce shake of the White Tiger Cleave he heard a low tiger's roar soar to the heavens, the grim battlefield killing intent shooting straight upward.

Wu Tie swung the White Tiger Cleave, putting all his strength into a heavy smash downward at the oil pot beneath his body.

Vast amounts of oil sprayed hundreds of meters into the air; the burning, black viscous oil spat out flames, like two sheets of flame‑winged fire shooting straight up. The oil pot remained unmoved, the flames rolled back and surged into it, then drenched Wu Tie's head and face.

Chunks of flesh peeled off, and Wu Tie kept swinging the White Tiger Cleave, hacking and slashing wildly in all directions.

Eventually all his flesh peeled away cleanly, leaving only a dark, dim skeleton wielding the White Tiger Cleave, accompanied by a frenzied tiger's roar as it hacked away.

The Eagle-Headed Man hovered in midair, his form concealed in black mist, narrowing his eyes at the White Tiger Cleave in Wu Tie's hand: "This spear……seems somewhat……somewhat familiar……that tiger's roar……sounds quite familiar as well……and this straight‑forward, desperate spear technique……"

"Re……respect……Osiris……" the Eagle-Headed Man suddenly lifted his head and whispered toward the heavens: "We……seem……heh, I didn't mean to disturb your slumber, but……it seems I've done something wrong……"

After half a quarter hour, a deep, ancient, faintly present consciousness quietly emerged from above.

This consciousness swept toward Wu Tie, who was nothing but a skeleton flailing in the oil pot, focusing on the White Tiger Cleave and swirling around it a few times; then in the void, black light suddenly condensed into a great hammer that came down hammer‑first upon the Eagle-Headed Man's head.

A lump of flesh quickly swelled on the Eagle-Headed Man's head.

That consciousness retreated back to the heights; the Eagle-Headed Man rubbed the large lump on his scalp and shouted, gritting his teeth: "All right, all right, although you are guilty……you have already atoned for your crime……uh……"

A strangely shaped, large‑bellied, double‑eared gold water flask inlaid with turquoise appeared above Wu Tie's head, and the Eagle-Headed Man loudly said: "Little fellow, I really appreciate you; honestly, the choice you made in that oasis, I greatly admire."

"So……well, you still have to undergo a whipping."

Wu Tie's skeleton together with the White Tiger Cleave was lifted by a mighty force into the air; a black‑snake‑like whip lash flashed past and cracked with a "pop" against his ribs.

Sparks flew in all directions, yet no mark remained on Wu Tie's ribs.

"What a tough‑boned fine fellow, I admire you, little guy……your deeds in the oasis I greatly admire, and I endorse your choice……so this is a small personal gift I give you."

"This is the Spring of Life, this is the line between life and death, this is the source that nurtures all things, this is the world's most precious treasure." the Eagle-Headed Man muttered: "I will temper your body with the Spring of Life; you will soon know its benefits."

The golden flask tilted slightly; a strand of spring water as fine as a hair glittered with green light, carrying an intense life force, lightly fell upon Wu Tie's skull and then swiftly flowed through his entire body.

Wu Tie's entire skeleton emitted a dim glow; each of his bones seemed like a desert dried for countless ages, greedily and madly gulping down the flowing Spring of Life.

Faint dark flames sparked on his bones, his bones emitted a subtle "crack" sound, visible to the naked eye his skeleton glowed, its texture becoming finer, denser, heavier and tougher, yet more supple and resilient.

The flesh and skin blasted away by the oil pot slowly regenerated—thread by thread of muscle, strand by strand of blood vessel, line by line of meridian—the newly formed body glittered with crystalline light, like gem‑like jade, filled with an indescribable divinity.

After roughly two hours, Wu Tie's bodily rebirth was complete.

The Spring of Life continued to trickle down, continually merging into his regenerated flesh. Wu Tie clenched his fists; he could clearly sense his bodily power surging once more.

Before, his pure bodily strength was roughly on the order of a billion catties, but now it is about ten times that, perhaps even more.

His pure bodily strength had reached the magnitude of tens of billions of catties.

Especially the Great Strength God Magic, Ding Jia Divine Body and similar divine abilities, under the miraculous power of the Spring of Life, have been raised to an extremely high level.

Now the amplification of bodily strength by the Great Strength God Magic is roughly twentyfold.

Wu Tie focused his inner vision; in the first heavenly lock of his Chonglou Realm, nearly ten million strands of light had been completely undone.

Countless splendid specks of light swirled and danced within his body, gradually merging into every part of him. The golden light cluster at his brow expanded about tenfold, Wu Tie's mana cultivation surged tenfold directly; a flash of golden light at his brow sent winds and clouds rising around him, a massive pressure continually spreading outward.

Though he possessed the cultivation of the first heavenly tier of the Chonglou Realm, his aura was heavier and more solemn than that of ordinary experts at the twentieth or thirtieth heavenly tier of the Chonglou Realm.

Feeling the tremendous changes in his body, mana, and realm, Wu Tie lifted his gaze to the golden flask, fell silent for a moment, then silently bowed his fists toward the Eagle-Headed Man who had revealed his form in the heights.

The Eagle-Headed Man tugged at the corner of his mouth, rubbed the lump on his head, and chuckled: "I sense a somewhat familiar aura on you……Did you activate your Innate Divine Ability before reaching the Chonglou Realm? Perhaps with the aid of an external object? Hmm……the aura of that external object……"

"Yang Jian." Wu Tie spoke a name.

The Eagle-Headed Man's body twitched slightly; his gaze toward Wu Tie grew much softer, and he asked softly: "How is he?"

Wu Tie remained silent, uttering not a word, his expression unchanged.

"Indeed, he is probably no longer……" the Eagle-Headed Man murmured: "You activated your Innate Divine Ability, likely using Yang Jian's Law‑Eye Essence……that fellow treasures his third eye above all; whoever dares to touch it, he will fight to the death."

"You used his Law‑Eye Essence……really……he should be gone."

"Really, I don't know what to say."

"This is his choice, perhaps……well……"

The Eagle-Headed Man's tone was a bit unnatural; he sighed, pointed a finger, and Wu Tie flew up into the heights, the oil pot and such vanished, and he returned to that long, deep passageway.

The Eagle-Headed Man narrowed his eyes at Wu Tie, while stroking the large lump on his head, and asked: "And those other few people, are they your friends?"

Wu Tie hesitated a moment, then gave a dry laugh: "How could that be? I merely……entered this place together with them……"

The Eagle-Headed Man then burst into a cheerful laugh: "Then they must proceed according to the formal rites……well, by the rules, you must wait for them to arrive together and enter the next stage together……do you want to see how they fared in the oasis?"

Wu Tie raised his eyebrows and gave a firm nod.

The Eagle-headed man waved his hand, and eight square golden treasure mirrors appeared before them; light and shadow flickered in the mirrors, showing the images of Lao Dao Feng, six Life Pond Realm experts, and Duoliya.

Lao Dao Feng had already violently subdued those bandits, leading the bandits to sweep the camp clean, then leading a large force returned to the bandits' camp.

He sat on a large chair, all the bandits and their clanspeople knelt at Lao Dao Feng's feet; several pretty girls lay prostrate beside him, lightly beating his thighs.

Duoliya stood on the oasis lake surface, smiling as he presided over a bloody duel.

The bandits on one side, the camp on the other, left and right separated; each side sent out one person to fight to the death. When someone was killed, another would be sent to join the fight, relentless, until one side was completely wiped out.

And Lao Dao Feng's six Life Pond Realm subordinates, they were……

They, like Wu Tie, slaughtered all the bandits, but they also slaughtered all the guards and men in the camp, and the somewhat older women were also massacred completely.

They were like springtime beasts, performing the most primitive reproductive act on several of the most beautiful girls.

The camp was filled with blood, corpses everywhere; the six Life Pond Realm experts grinned, indulging in releasing their evil desires.

Around them were piled all kinds of gold, silver, jewels, various beautiful silks and tea bricks; these were the goods originally being transported by the camp's troops.

Killing, seizing women, and looting all valuables… for these experts of the Blood Saber, it was entirely instinctive, done from the heart.

"None of them are good people." Wu Tie muttered.

"Except this pretty boy… the other seven, they actually suit my taste." The Eagle-headed man rubbed the lump on his head, unconsciously muttering.

But he quickly came to his senses, he glanced at Wu Tie and gave a dry laugh: "Of course, I utterly despise their behavior… they're beasts, scoundrels… well, it's time to judge their sins, let them face punishment."

The golden treasure mirror collapsed, Lao Dao Feng, Duoliya, and others appeared out of thin air before Wu Tie and the Eagle-headed man.

The Eagle-headed man rubbed the lump on his head, expressionless and icy, saying: "This is the judgment ground of the Dead's Path; you are all guilty, you must cleanse your sins before you are qualified to proceed to the next leg of the journey."

"Oh, oh, I hope you're all a bunch of villains, then I'll have more fun." The Eagle-headed man laughed brightly.

Lao Dao Feng stared in surprise at the Eagle-headed man, then looked at Wu Tie: "Gun Grandpa, what's going on?"

Wu Tie spread his hands, quickly recounting his ordeal in the Spring and Autumn style; things like the Spring of Life, he certainly wouldn't mention, he focused on describing his brutal experience of being plunged into the oil pot and whipped.

Lao Dao Feng, the six Life Pond Realm experts, and Duoliya's faces suddenly changed.

Kill one person, and you must fry in the oil pot for a quarter hour?

Participate in one gamble, and you will be crazily whipped?

And there are many other strange and bizarre punishments?

Not giving them time to devise a counter, Lao Dao Feng was already the first to float onto that black scale.

The Eagle-headed man laughed happily, as black gemstone-carved weights lightly fell onto the scale one after another: one, two, three… one hundred, two hundred, three hundred… one thousand, two thousand, three thousand…

Lao Dao Feng has been the chief of the Blood Saber for hundreds of years.

Over the centuries, the Blood Saber has killed, burned, committed every evil; many of its operations were personally led by Lao Dao Feng.

He has killed countless, raped countless, committed countless misdeeds.

"You will go into the oil pot." The Eagle-headed man laughed happily.

"You will be whipped." The Eagle-headed man laughed until his mouth split.

"You will enter the scorpion pool." The Eagle-headed man's cheek flesh trembled from laughter.

"You will enter the snake pool!" The Eagle-headed man got excited and almost jumped up.

"You will be subjected to the paolao torture!" The Eagle-headed man's mouth corner spat out pure white saliva droplets.

"Praise the great Osiris… finally there is a top-notch one, we will go through all the tortures he set up one by one… simply, perfect!" The Eagle-headed man ended up laughing to tears.

Lao Dao Feng's face twisted, and for a while he could not speak.

The ground suddenly vanished, a huge oil pot appeared, amid rising flames, Lao Dao Feng screamed shrilly as he was thrown in.