Immortalis

Hero's Tomb: Chapter Sixteen

It wasn't until Zhou Huai swallowed the Blood Cleansing Pill that he truly understood what Yang Wujian had meant by "body burning like fire, excruciating pain without end."

Though he had been raised in privilege, he had still practiced martial arts and was no stranger to hardship. When he needed to endure, he could always bear it. Yet, after taking this single Blood Cleansing Pill, Zhou Huai soon wished Yang Wujian would just knock him unconscious.

"Miss Yang, this is too painful..."

Cold sweat beaded on Zhou Huai's forehead. He didn't dare grip Yang Wujian's hand too hard, afraid of hurting her. Seeing this, Yang Wujian sighed and instead offered her wrist: "Go ahead and grab it. I'm wearing the Crescent Moon Blade, so you won't be able to grip it firmly anyway..."

As soon as she finished speaking, there was a metallic clang. Zhou Huai's fingers, gripping her wrist, turned white with the force, and he even used his internal energy. It was clear he was in unbearable pain.

Yang Wujian said, "Young master, I can knock you out, but you'll quickly wake up from the pain. Do you want to try?"

Over the years, she had taken the Blood Cleansing Pill far too many times, though Yang Wujian didn't really care about the so-called shortened lifespan.

Shortened lifespan or not, letting the properties of the Blood Replenishing Pill accumulate in her blood vessels and Five Viscera and Six Bowels, hastening her death, wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

However, Gu Yun wouldn't allow her to skip it.

Longevity Palace was already short-handed. If Yang Wujian, the Guan Shui Elder, were to collapse so easily, who would go out to gather herbs afterward?

Faced with Gu Yun's request, Yang Wujian had no choice but to endure the pain of repeated Blood Washing. In fact, after so many sessions of Blood Washing, she had unexpectedly gained a blessing in disguise: a childlike face that everyone envied.

Zhou Huai now heard Yang Wujian's words as if through a veil. Vaguely, he heard someone say, "Your son's martial arts talent is quite good. Just by feeling his bones and muscles, I can tell he's not as easily broken as you."

The voice sounded quite familiar. Zhou Huai looked toward the sound and was startled to find that the person sitting by the bed, holding his arm, was a pale-skinned Daoist. He immediately sprang upright, shrinking to the corner of the bed, trembling.

"Huai'er, having nightmares again?"

Another person by the bed reached out to stroke his forehead. The thumb ring they wore was icy cold. Zhou Huai instinctively thought it should be Zhou Jinglei, but his face seemed different from what he remembered.

Was this person really his father?

Amid the confusion, Zhou Huai continued to listen to the two speak.

The Daoist laughed, "Tower Lord Zhou, you're truly harsh on your own son. At most, I have you sever the limbs of the dead so I can verify if they're the real deal. But you? You repeatedly take your son to the Dragon Locking Coffin to listen and learn martial arts. Do you plan to pass the Dragon Locking Coffin to him someday, letting him inherit your legacy?"

"I..."

The other voice hesitated, as if regretful. "He always learned so quickly and well, I thought..."

The Daoist laughed again upon hearing this. "It seems Tower Lord Zhou is worse at raising children than I am. After all, I never told the little one Gu Yun picked up how Zou Ying obtained the Seventy-two Golds."

At these words, the other person grew even more remorseful. Gently, he soothed the terrified Zhou Huai, helping him lie back down and placing a cool cloth on his forehead.

"It's alright. Your father is here. I won't force you to learn anymore."The intense pain seemed to momentarily fade due to the cool cloth on his forehead. When Zhou Huai opened his eyes again, he realized it was Shen Qingshi who had placed the cloth there.

Shen Qingshi said softly, "A cold bath might help him. This medicine is too potent. He's never been this badly injured before and can't endure the pain."

"You should've said so earlier! When you took the Blood Cleansing Pill last time, you weren't in this much pain either."

"I've suffered more injuries than he has."

After that, Yang Wujian seemed to go prepare cold water, while Shen Qingshi sat by the bed, gently pressing the cloth firmly against Zhou Huai's forehead. Instantly, Zhou Huai's vision darkened again.

His consciousness grew hazy under the assault of a new wave of pain. In his daze, Zhou Huai felt as if he were standing before a pitch-black cave entrance when someone suddenly pressed down heavily on his shoulder.

"Huai'er, demonstrate it for him! Let him see whether this so-called peerless sword manual, dominant in the martial world, can only be practiced by him alone!"

Zhou Huai looked down and only then realized he was holding the retractable sword Zhou Jinglei had made for him.

During his childhood sword training, this sword could "grow with him," and Zhou Huai naturally recognized it.

"Zhou Jinglei! You and your son will die miserable deaths for such underhanded deeds!"

From within the black cave came the sound of someone cursing.

Zhou Huai tremblingly glanced inside and suddenly saw a pale, ferocious face appear on the other side of the cave. It seemed desperately trying to squeeze out but could only stretch its left hand futilely, grasping for Zhou Huai who remained just out of reach.

"This is the shock gate of the Dragon Locking Coffin. With your capabilities, Great Hero Gui, it's absolutely impossible for you to emerge. Your only hope now is to hand over Floating Clouds Embracing Moon. Perhaps then I might let you out."

Zhou Huai looked up and saw the same somewhat familiar yet unrecognizable face.

Now, however, the person who had recently treated him with gentleness wore a ferocious smile: "Gui Sanyan, didn't you look down on me, a mere carpenter who only knows mechanisms? Then why don't you come out of the Dragon Locking Coffin I made? No matter how capable you are, aren't you just struggling in your death throes inside?"

Zhou Huai shuddered. Finally, the person in the cave seemed to have exhausted himself from cursing, his voice fading. Then, with a sound like a wild beast's howl, he recited a segment of the sword manual. The hand on Zhou Huai's shoulder immediately tightened its grip.

"Demonstrate it for him!"

The voice became uncompromising. In this utterly bizarre atmosphere, though Zhou Huai's legs trembled uncontrollably, he eventually, shakily, raised the sword.

"Zhou Jinglei!"

"Mountains and marshes, water and fire, heaven and earth clash..."

"Zhou Jinglei, I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"

"Fingers gather the essence of wind and lightning, feet tread the steps of heaven and earth..."

"Zhou Jinglei, the martial world will eventually learn what you're doing..."

"Zhou Jinglei, even if I give you the Crescent Moon Blade today, you will never, ever be worthy of wielding it."

"Zhou Jinglei, you and your son deserve to die!"

Amid these chaotic voices—some male, some female, some weeping bitterly, others laughing maniacally—they cursed Zhou Jinglei, cursed Zhou Huai, cursed the White Rainbow Tower while reciting the sword manual. Before Zhou Huai's eyes swarmed countless shadowy, ghostly figures...Those who died in the Dragon Locking Coffin—the last time Zhou Huai saw them was before that small Jing Gate. Freedom was just inches away, yet remained frustratingly out of reach. Thus, their despairing faces and curses were etched into his mind like carvings.

"I don't want to learn anymore!"

Suddenly, Zhou Huai snapped his eyes open and found himself in a bathtub. The splashes from his flailing hands drenched both Shen Qingshi and Yang Wujian, who were holding him down.

"Young Master, you're past the age for playing in water!"

Seeing Zhou Huai's pale face and bloodshot eyes, Yang Wujian knew he must have remembered something. Yet neither he nor Shen Qingshi dared let their guard down.

After all, while the Blood Cleansing Pill caused excruciating pain throughout the body, it didn't dissipate one's martial power. In other words, if Zhou Huai were to have a mad episode now, he would likely be even harder to handle than usual.

The two pressed down hard on Zhou Huai's shoulders. In his violent struggle, the wounds on his legs began to bleed, staining the bathwater crimson.

Yet Zhou Huai himself remained completely unaware of his surroundings. He could no longer even feel the pain.

Under the effects of the Blood Cleansing Pill, long-lost memories returned in fragments. Zhou Huai never imagined he would see two "Zhou Jinglei" simultaneously in his memories.

One was the Zhou Jinglei he had known since he was eight—looking quite young, dressed in martial attire, no longer limping, appearing less like a merchant and more like a martial artist.

"Father?"

Zhou Huai couldn't help calling out, only then realizing he seemed to be a child at this moment. Someone patted his head: "Huai'er, don't linger here. Father has matters to discuss with Uncle Yang Ye."

Zhou Huai looked up—it was the same person. This time, he finally saw clearly: the man wore luxurious black robes, a thumb ring on his hand, and a jade token at his waist.

"Father..."

Zhou Huai called out again, receiving a smile in return: "Hurry along now. The candles are lit in the room. Father said the candles won't go out—no need to be afraid."

Hearing this, Zhou Huai hesitantly walked away but didn't go far.

He now remembered everything. Over the years, although Zhou Jinglei had become the leader of the White Rainbow Tower, one of the Four Seas Alliance, he often used his poor martial skills as an excuse to seclude himself, rarely seeing anyone.

The world didn't know that almost all the "guests" he invited back to the White Rainbow Tower ended up as souls in the Dragon Locking Coffin.

Zhou Huai truly didn't want his father to kill anymore.

Even though he was still young, he knew they were committing acts that defied heavenly principles—acts that would bring retribution.

The screams and curses of those people still echoed in his ears. After hesitating for a long time, Zhou Huai didn't return to his Heavenly Mystery Tower to sleep. Instead, he hid outside the conference hall, determined that if his father tried to drug the tea of these martial heroes again, he would find a way to stop him.

Perhaps then, his father wouldn't look so haggard and would smile more often.

Thinking this, Zhou Huai suppressed his inner energy.

Unlike Zhou Jinglei, Zhou Huai had inherited the Qi family's martial talent. The techniques Zhou Jinglei forced him to learn, Zhou Huai could grasp the basics of in just a few days. And now, with the addition of White Rainbow Swordplay, he had actually mastered over a dozen different techniques.

"Has Warrior Yang come regarding your younger brother's matter?"He heard someone in the hall say, "When the building was being constructed all those years ago, an accident occurred. Your younger brother fell into the deep pit outside Green Bamboo Town while searching for construction materials. I believe I wrote to you about this, Great Master Yang?"

"Tower Master Zhou did indeed send a letter. However, my elderly mother has recently fallen gravely ill and remains bedridden. On her sickbed, she repeatedly speaks of Yang Fang. The more I thought about it, the more something felt amiss, so I came to seek confirmation from Tower Master Zhou about certain matters."

Yang Ye, the Thunderclap Hand, spoke with an icy tone that sent a shiver down Zhou Huai's spine. Quietly, Zhou Huai pushed open the slightly ajar door a crack to peer inside.

"Regardless, Great Master Yang, you must be weary from your journey. Please, have some tea first."

Zhou Jinglei offered the tea, but Zhou Huai, standing outside the door, sensed what was about to happen and burst in without a second thought: "Don't!"

Zhou Jinglei hadn't expected him to rush in so abruptly. In an instant, mechanisms in the hall activated in succession. Not only did a massive iron cage drop from above, isolating Zhou Huai outside, but Yang Ye was also immediately struck by over a dozen poison needles from all directions, collapsing unconscious on the spot.

"Huai'er, go back at once!"

Zhou Huai was still young and naturally unaware that Zhou Jinglei never relied solely on a cup of tea to capture his targets. In fact, the Seven Killings Hall was riddled with traps, nearly all of them set up for unsuspecting visitors.

Zhou Jinglei personally received guests for two reasons: first, to put them at ease, and second, to better control the hall's intricate mechanisms.

Zhou Huai stood dumbfounded, witnessing it all, momentarily even forgetting to flee. Left with no choice, Zhou Jinglei could only raise the cage and step forward to soothe him. But just then, Yang Ye, who had been struck by the poison needles behind him, suddenly opened his eyes and struck a palm toward Zhou Jinglei's back!