Chapter 427

Under Wu Tie's command are experts, experts from all trades.

Among those who accompanied the expedition this time, there was a jeweler of extraordinary skill, who had once been a Grand Master Artisan appointed by the royal mansion of a certain fiefdom of the Great Jin.

However, this artisan loved women; for the gentle request of a certain beauty confidante, he boldly, while crafting an exquisite ornament for the queen, secretly replaced three ordinary pearls with three Beauty Pearls.

Beauty Pearl, an extremely precious heavenly treasure, when worn close to the body, can keep a woman's beauty from fading and her youth eternal.

The three Beauty Pearls provoked the petty queen into a furious rage; a bout of pillow talk led to a charge that warranted the extermination of the artisan's entire clan.

However, through the machinations of the master behind Mr. Li, this artisan, together with his whole family, was sent to Great Marsh Prefecture to serve as a border penal laborer.

In just a quarter of an hour, a crystal ball carved from premium natural crystal was delivered to Wu Tie's hands by the artisan Gongshu Ni; inside the flawless crystal ball, faintly visible were delicate runes.

Gongshu Ni's skill is superb; as a jeweler appointed by the royal mansion, his crafted jewelry is not only exquisitely beautiful, but with sufficient material grade he can produce at best three-refined immortal weapon level goods.

This crystal ball was entirely carved according to Wu Tie's specifications; all its runes were painstakingly ground into the crystal by Gongshu Ni using his own mana, so that the runes and the crystal ball are perfectly integrated, as if naturally formed.

Wu Tie chanted an incantation, tapping the crystal ball with his right hand's fingers; as mana flowed into the ball, a hazy mist rose inside, activating all the runes.

Wu Tie pointed at the water sprite bound by the immortal-binding rope lying on the ground; this water sprite, about nine feet tall, thin-built and handsome, let out a strange roar, and a beam of light from the crystal ball fell, exactly enveloping his body.

The water sprite's body rapidly shrank, flying toward the crystal ball as it diminished.

In a moment, the water sprite became about an inch tall, sealed inside the crystal ball; one could see him roaring and pounding the inner walls of the crystal ball over an inch wide, but he could inflict no damage on it.

Wu Tie sat on the chair of the camp review platform; the crystal ball imprisoning the stone giant hovered beside him, and he placed the crystal ball imprisoning the water sprite next to it; the two crystal balls lightly struck each other, emitting a clear sound.

The stone giant and water sprite stared at each other through the crystal balls; after a moment, the stone giant let out a fierce roar, and his body, likewise just over an inch tall inside the crystal ball, gradually increased in size, swelling to about three inches.

The stone giant roared, spewing yellow light from both arms, and slammed hard against the crystal ball's wall.

Wu Tie pointed a finger, and a bolt of electricity shot from his fingertip onto the crystal ball.

The crystal ball holding the stone giant remained unharmed, but the one imprisoning the water sprite burst all over with large sparks of electricity; likewise, the water sprite, striking the crystal ball wall, let out a cry and collapsed, his body flashing with electric light.

The stone giant stared, lifted his head, and roared at Wu Tie through the distorted crystal-ball wall.

"If you move again, I'll hit him. Hey!" Wu Tie laughed with a hint of evil.

Gongshu Dun, standing to the side, glanced at Wu Tie, then at the two unlucky fellows imprisoned in the crystal balls, shook his head, hands behind his back, strode down the inspection platform with head high and chest out.

This old fellow, though his whole family had been conscripted to Great Marsh Prefecture because of him, still retained the bearing of the chief artisan of the prince's mansion; toward Wu Tie he felt only a slight feeling, basically no great respect.

If it weren't for the fact that he and his clan's craftsmanship were truly excellent, Wu Tie would have long ago dragged him out for a beating with the military rod based on his arrogant appearance; if one beating didn't convince him, then give him several more… But Wu Tie could never bring himself to make that decision.

I'm just… soft‑hearted… this old fellow, can't let him idle, find him something to do." Wu Tie gave a few evil laughs, then coldly shouted: "Master Gongshu, the barbarians in these mountains and forests are quite troublesome; to deal with them I think powerful rune arrows are best."

Within half a month, carve for me one hundred thousand powerful rune arrowheads… incorporating the five elements, twenty thousand of each, with power to match the killing strength of ordinary spirit weapons.

Gongshu Dun flushed with anger, turned sharply, about to rebuke, when Wu Tie coldly said: "If you can't do it, I'll award your twelve concubines to Li Er Haozu and his gang."

Gongshu Dun's face stiffened, then quickly broke into a bright, fawning smile on his old visage: "General Huo has given orders; I dare not disobey… Well, I will now bring my descendants and work overtime through the night."

He waved Gongshu Dun away, and Wu Tie lightly tapped the two crystal balls.

The stone giant and the water sprite watched Wu Tie's every move, their eyes full of anger.

Pei Feng took off her armor, donned a black battle dress with fur, hands behind her back, strolled over, glanced at the two crystal balls, and tilted her chin at Wu Tie: "What's so special about these guys? With the endless rain we can't march—let's go drink."

Wu Tie flicked the crystal ball with his finger, looked at Pei Feng, and suddenly asked: "What did you just say? What do you mean by 'those who hit me'? When did I become yours?"

On Pei Feng's strikingly three‑dimensional, absolutely beautiful face, her expression didn't change; she glanced at Wu Tie and said calmly: "You are my chess buddy, drinking buddy—naturally you're my person… Is that wrong?"

Wu Tie spread his hands, shook his head, then pointed a finger at the crystal ball imprisoning the water sprite: "No mistake, completely no mistake… Hmm, I just want to know what relationship these fellows have."

Inside the crystal ball imprisoning the water sprite, as Wu Tie's finger pressed down, a great fire blazed within, burning the water sprite to a anguished 'woo‑woo' scream.

Pei Feng also came over interestedly; a wisp of black flame spurted from her palm, and she pressed her palm onto the crystal ball imprisoning the stone giant. Black fire filled the entire crystal ball, scorching flames enveloping the stone giant, madly burning him.

"Useless, this guy's body is stone, probably his brains are stone too. I've tormented him for ages, yet he hasn't uttered a word." Wu Tie shook his head at Pei Feng: "But this newly captured fellow… hey, what exactly is your situation?"

Wu Tie's army had captured tens of thousands of wood sprites; he had aides versed in punishment who had once interrogated them for information.

But these wood sprites are tough; as soon as you torture them, their whole bodies instantly turn into green wood.

No matter the punishment, it seems to inflict no pain on these wood sprites whose bodies have fully turned to wood.

When the punishment ends, these wood sprites' bodies revert to flesh; they need only lie on the ground for a few days, bask in the sun and drink some water, and even damaged limbs can quickly regenerate.

Tens of thousands of captured wood sprites were tormented for over a month, yet not a single useful confession could be extracted.

Moreover, this stone giant is thick‑skinned and single‑minded; Wu Tie truly suspects his head is all stone, that he feels no pain. After tormenting him for a long time, Wu Tie still couldn't pry open his mouth to obtain any confession.

Therefore, he turned his focus to the newly captured water sprite.

After a barrage of scorching flames, faint steam continually rose from the water sprite's body, and his size visibly shrank by a notch.

The water sprite screamed in agony, trapped in the crystal ball surrounded by raging fire; deprived of external water replenishment, each wisp of steam that evaporated represented massive damage to his essence.

The stone giant, burned by Pei Feng's flames, turned his head, his eyes staring blankly at the water sprite also being burned by fire.

Wu Tie and Pei Feng exchanged a quick glance; Pei Feng's palm flame gradually dwindled, and the blaze around the stone giant swiftly died down.

"You… stop…!"

Watching the water sprite's body shrink from over an inch tall to about half an inch, the stone giant let out a low, guttural mutter.

"You can talk? I thought you were mute." Wu Tie laughed, gradually reducing the flame at his fingertip, smiling at the stone giant as he asked: "You, is there anything you want to say?"

The stone giant shook his huge head, his throat continuously emitting a 'rumble‑rumble' panting sound.

The water sprite, engulfed in flames, lifted his head and let out a sharp, long howl toward the stone giant.

Wu Tie smiled, withdrew the flame from his fingertip, and a soft wisp of moisture seeped into the crystal ball; the water sprite's shrunken body received the moisture, he drew a deep breath, and his form swiftly returned to normal.

Then Wu Tie's palm burst forth a mass of flame that completely engulfed the crystal ball.

The water sprite let out an excruciatingly shrill whistle; his body instantly shrank to the size of a thumb tip. Before the water sprite could speak, the stone giant growled in a hollow voice: "You, what do you want to hear? Stop, quickly stop, water sprite… their bodies are frail, they can't endure your torment."

Wu Tie smiled, nodded, withdrew the flame from his palm, and also injected a wisp of moisture into the crystal ball.

Just as the stone giant had said.

Those wood sprites can turn flesh into wood; once they become wood, any punishment is meaningless, so they actually live fairly comfortably in the prisoner camp.

As for the stone giant, thick‑skinned and perhaps insensitive to pain; moreover, his huge body loses only a few chunks of stone when Wu Tie torments him a few times—a loss so trivial he hardly cares.

Only this newly captured water sprite, imprisoned in the crystal ball, cannot endure torment like the wood sprites and stone giant.

Moreover, their relationship seems pretty good?

The water spirit didn't beg for mercy, but this stone giant, because of him, voluntarily spoke up.

"Tell me, do you have wood, stone, water flow, or any other tribes?" Wu Tie asked in a slow voice.

Panting, the water spirit lying helpless in the crystal ball struggled to lift its head, its soft voice crying out. But when Wu Tie pointed at the crystal ball, his voice was completely blocked by the ball, and the stone giant couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Five Elements Spirits… we are the Five Elements Spirits, the five tribes share one origin, watching over each other." The stone giant said in a deep, resonant voice: "The wood spirits dwell in the forests, active year-round… we sleep in the great mountains, there's no need, we won't easily appear."

He slapped his chest hard, the stone giant said in a low voice: "Our bodies are huge; if we move recklessly, the damage to the forests would be severe. Moreover, we don't like to move about randomly; being able to sleep deep in the heart of the great mountains is our greatest pleasure. As long as we sleep, we keep growing stronger; sleeping is good."

"The water spirits, part of them live in the underground dark rivers, another part live in the great lakes deep in the mountains."

"They don't like land; only during the rainy season each year, when the moisture in the forests is thickest, do they emerge to dart about, meanwhile taking the chance to cultivate…"

"Also there are metal spirits and fire spirits." The stone giant said in a deep, resonant voice: "Metal spirits like to dart about in underground mineral veins; fire spirits, they gather in several large volcano craters; their territories lie deep in the mountains, and because of their living environment, outsiders rarely know of them."

He lifted his head, the stone giant looked at Wu Tie and Pei Feng, speaking angrily: "Before you, no outsider had invaded our territory… we Five Elements Spirits lived carefree and happily."

The stone giant shook his arms hard and shouted: "You, why have you come to attack us?"

Wu Tie looked at the stone giant and said in a low voice: "We were wrong; it's this Army Commander Pei Feng, who originally led the Black Phoenix Army to seize this territory and open a new prefectural seat for the Great Jin… but now it's us who need to pass through your land."

"We need a safe passage, and you seem to be blocking our way exactly."

The stone giant stared blankly, silent for a while, then muttered: "If it's just a passage… perhaps the elders…"

Wu Tie saw the stone giant's hesitation, he smiled and took out a jade tablet; pointing at it, a reduced map of mountains and rivers appeared before him. A light green dotted line appeared on the map, starting from where Wu Tie and company stood, running straight through a vast stretch of mountains…

The stone giant looked at the light green dotted line's path across the mountains, he reached out and counted peak after peak.

After counting thousands of great mountains on the map of mountains and rivers, the stone giant suddenly let out a low, muffled roar: "Impossible… you will be the deadly enemies of our five tribes… you damned bastards, you intend to invade the origin holy land of our Five Elements Spirits!"

The imprisoned water spirit bellowed with all its might: "Shut up… you stupid stone-headed fool!"

Wu Tie and Pei Feng's eyes suddenly brightened: "The origin holy land of your Five Elements Spirits?"

These Five Elements Spirits—just the wood spirits, water spirits, and stone giants that have appeared so far—already seem extraordinarily miraculous.

Their origin holy land, is it the secret realm that gave birth to the Five Elements Spirits?

What lies within?

The stone giant stared blankly, then slammed a fist into his own head, bursting out a shower of sparks, and he snapped angrily: "Damn it… I shouldn't have said that… but you're not allowed to torment this guy."

Wu Tie smiled, pointed, and a thread of electric light passed through the crystal ball to land on the water spirit's body.

"Oh, no, no, I'm not a good person, so please tell me more about your origin holy land, otherwise I will… oh, right."

Wu Tie withdrew the electric light from his fingertip and loudly ordered: "Men, bring a hundred captured wood spirits over! Let our stone-brother see how those wood spirits are being tortured by us."

Wu Tie revealed a demonic smile: "Stone-brother, do you want to see what burning wood spirits look like?"

The stone giant let out a hysterical roar, frantically jumping about inside the crystal ball.

After a quarter hour, when Wu Tie prepared to douse a hundred wood-transformed wood spirits with fire oil and set them alight, the stone giant, while invoking the ancestors of 'Huo Xiong', roared and spewed forth a great deal of secrets about the Five Elements Spirits tribe.