Chapter 47: Second To None (9)
Standing on the beam, Lin Dan looked down with furrowed brows. This was not merely a hidden room but a room with a pool of blood. The heated and bubbling red blood in the pool was giving out a revolting and strong pungent smell. A huge stone mill was placed next to the pool of blood, where several martial artists in red attire were grinding and stirring the content using a shovel. After a short while, bones and hair were removed from the mill.
After cleaning the mill, one of the martial artists asked, "Is the guiding herb here? The lord can't wait any longer!”
"Yes, it's here. I'll go and get it now." The two martial artists left the room quickly and returned after a while carrying a wooden tub. Lin Dan looked closely and there was a flash in her eyes. She saw that there were many babies in the tub. They were all squeezed together and looked like wriggling maggots.
The leader of the martial artists walked to the side of the tub and frowned, "Is that all? These are not enough. Who will take the blame if the lord asks about it? ”
"The livestock are old, and the production is getting worse. We don't really have a choice. Why don't we get some of the black-attired servants to catch more livestock? We can also make the civilians turn in more guiding herbs from one to three a year. How does that sound? ”
"Three in a year is insufficient. The lord is about to achieve a breakthrough and needs more guiding herbs. Pick out the dead ones so that they don't contaminate the pool. Once they've cleaned this up, you will add the herbs in." The martial artist in red said while pointing at the huge stone mill.
"Yes, sir. I'll take care of here, feel free to leave if you have something else to attend to.”
Their dialogue contained a huge amount of information. Even the ruthless and heartless Lin Dan was raging with anger after understanding what they were talking about. It turned out that the babies that were born of those women in the dungeon were sent here. They would be added into the stone mill to make the bloody fluid before flowing into the blood pool. This would then be used by the lord to practice her forbidden technique. Just how insane and perverse this was?
She held her Asura Sword tightly and slowly leaned forward, like a beast that was ready to devour. Bai Yan stared at her with a pair of solemn eyes and frowned. But those martial artists in red did not notice their presence. There were about to pick out the dead babies from the tub and discard them.
The remaining babies were just born and still breathing. Their purplish limbs were shaking and they were crying weakly. Lin Dan kept her body so low that she would be able to fly down with a tap of her toes and began the massacre of these insane devils. But at this moment, the door of the other side of the room suddenly opened. Two maids lifted the curtain and helped a beautiful woman walk in slowly.
"My lord." The martial artists kneeled down.
"You may rise. Are the guiding herbs ready?" The woman took off her clothes and walked into the blood pool.
"Lord, we are still in need of more herbs and are preparing it right now." The martial artists said in fear.
"It's getting late! What are you waiting for?!" The woman was enjoying herself before instantly switching into an angry face. She stretched out her fingers slightly and drew a baby from the tub. Placing near her lips, she seemed ready to devour its flesh and drink its blood.
Lin Dan could not hold herself back anymore after watching what had happened. With the Asura Sword in her hand that was glowing, she thrust herself towards the woman.
Even though Bai Yan could not bear to watch the baby being taken, he did not take any action as he wanted to find out the woman's identity and fighting abilities first. But he had never expected Lin Dan to launch an attack in just a blink of an eye.
The woman was powerful. Sensing the attack, she quickly jumped out of the blood pool and sent a powerful palm wave towards the boiling blood, trying to stop Lin Dan's attack with a huge splash. Lin Dan slapped the splash away and went straight forward. She did a fake move and forced the woman to let go of the baby, before leaping forward to catch the baby in her arms and wrapping it with a piece of the curtain.
"Who are you?" The woman sent a series of palm waves but Lin Dan managed to dodge all of them. She realized that her opponent was also a Half-step Grandmaster and was on par with her martial art level. The woman quickly get dressed and took a pill from a hidden pouch. Her powers suddenly skyrocketed and her palms were glowing with a dark aura.
"Watch out for her poison attacks." Bai Yan, who was watching the fight on the beam, reminded her.
Only then did the woman realize that there was a man in the room. Her attacks got faster and stronger as she was shocked and terrified by the discovery. The woman was a skilled poison user. The martial artists in red that were swept by her palm waves had all turned into a pool of black blood. In an instant, even their bones had disappeared. Lin Dan was not afraid of poison as her life aura could make her injuries recover faster and dispel the poison from her body. But if she were to lose a limb from the poison attack, there was no way she could grow back the limb. Besides, she was also holding a weak newborn in her arm. This made it difficult to wield her sword, she could only jump around in the room to avoid the palm waves.
Bai Yan remained on the beam and did not get himself involved in the fight.
Lin Dan avoided another palm wave. She pulled the baby in closer and split the ceiling open. With a loud bang, a large hole was created in the granite-built chamber. White beams of light entered the room and dispelled the strong and pungent smell of blood. The woman who had not seen sunlight for a long time, could not help but cover her eyes with her arm. Lin Dan seized the chance and jumped on the ground. She said coldly, “Fight me!”
The woman gritted her teeth and flew up on the ground to continue the fight. It was difficult to perform close combat on a poison user, but for someone who uses a powerful sword technique, Lin Dan could handle both close and ranged combat with ease. For some time, none of them were able to conclude the fight. No ordinary person could step into the battle between two Half-step Grandmasters. The martial artists in red wanted to come and provide reinforcements for their city lord, but they were either poisoned and crushed by the palm waves or sliced into half by the sword. Soon, there was none who dared to go closer to the fight.
Bai Yan found another higher ground closer to the fight and kept his eyes on the fight.
The woman's ability was still growing and Lin Dan was showing her weakness as she was trying to protect the baby. It was fortunate that she practiced a unique technique that it would not matter even if she had received a poisonous palm wave. For a moment, there was nothing the woman could do to Lin Dan. Seeing that she could not finish Lin Dan off, the woman took another pill and immediately vanished into thin air.
Lin Dan did not fluster when her sword missed. She turned around and blocked the next attack. Indeed, the woman appeared behind her. Seeing that her sneak attack had failed, she gave a cold smile before slapping the Asura Sword and disappeared again. Nobody knew where would she reappear in the next moment. The woman's poison attacks were already difficult to deal with, but she had become even more powerful with such unpredictable moves.
Lin Dan missed a few slashes. She was attacked several times and even spewed black blood. It was obvious that she was suffering from serious injuries, but there was no sign of fear or panic on her face. She stared at the woman's feet and calmed herself down to follow her pace. When the woman stepped toward the Kun
position, she followed suit. When she stepped towards the Li position, Lin Dan followed as well. Gradually, a Bagua Diagram emerged in her mind and she found the pattern of the woman's movement.Her movement was, in fact, simple. She merely used the changes in Bagua and illusions to cover herself. Once Lin Dan found the pattern of her movement, she was able to predict where the woman would appear next.
Once the woman disappeared again, Lin Dan suddenly turned sideways and dealt the most vicious slash in the air. But the powerful movement had no target and was about to hit a wall.
Bai Yan raised an eyebrow when he saw the scene.
The slash that took all of Lin Dan's energy was not futile, as the woman suddenly appeared in front of the wall. When the woman saw the incoming sword aura, the smirk on her face had instantly turned into a look of despair. As it was too late to dodge, after she made a short yell, her head flew up in the air before slamming down. A line of blood splashed on the wall before giving out a white fume that eventually made a large hole in the wall. Even the woman's blood was filled with lethal poison, this was how difficult an opponent she was. Unfortunately, her opponent was Lin Dan who was immune to poison.
Lin Dan was not interested to look at her disintegrated body and jumped into the underground palace immediately.
Bai Yan followed behind her.
Lin Dan jumped into the blood pool and stood there firmly. With a swing of his sleeve, Bai Yan leaped onto the beam and looked at the woman who was soaking herself in the blood pool.
Lin Dan placed her Asura Sword into the bottom of the pool and let it enjoy a satisfying blood devouring chance. Meanwhile, she sat down and cultivated in the pool. Her eyes were shut tightly and her face looked peaceful with the newborn still in her arms. Before entering the meditation stance, she did not forget to inject some life aura into the baby and kept the baby alive. Meanwhile, due to the reduced life aura in her body, she had to suffer an excruciating pain from the death aura.
Bai Yan looked at her while keeping his hands behind his back. Although he seemed composed, his eyes were beaming. Lin Dan had killed at least thousands of people today. Was she able to restrain herself and keep her sanity while being soaked in the pool of thick blood? Or, would another Asura appear after today?
While he was deep in thoughts, He Yufei came carrying a blood-stained sword. When she saw Lin Dan sitting in the blood pool, she was shocked at first, but she started getting furious and launched an attack at her.
"What are you trying to do?" Bai Yan leaped down the beam and stopped her sword with two fingers.
"Master, do you not see that she is practicing a forbidden technique? She did nothing but let people die and even killed many people. Go outside and have a look! There are rivers of blood everywhere!" He Yufei shouted angrily.
"She has only killed all those who deserved to die. Besides, if she had done nothing, how are you able to stand before me right now?" Bai Yan would not leave his disciple alone but while looking for Lin Dan, he went to the dungeon and saw that Lin Dan had put out the toxic candles and destroyed the cell lock. She even created a cave to let the air in so that those women could slowly recover.
While Lin Dan attracted attention outside, the women in the dungeon could easily escape once they had recovered their energy. Even if they could not escape, it was safe staying in the dungeon for the time being. When Lin Dan had finished killing those people, those women could also walk out of the dungeon safely.
He Yufei could not refute what Bai Yan said. There was no doubt that Lin Dan saved her, or she would have been assaulted by the two men. But for some reason, He Yufei did not like Lin Dan and was extremely wary of her.