Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Once he confirmed there was no one in the corridor, he let out a long breath and stepped back, lowering his voice:

“Relax. No one’s there.”

“Senior Brother, you’re being far too careless!” Ma Xianyang’s tone carried a note of complaint.

“…”

Feng Xiaobao knew he was in the wrong. After a moment of silence, he said slowly:

“So it seems Junior Brother guessed right. That brat is hiding something — no question. A fisherman’s son, sensing his qi-blood in just over ten days… heh heh, it’s truly…”

He didn’t finish the thought. Instead, he turned to Ma Xianyang. “What do we do about this?”

Ma Xianyang narrowed his long, narrow eyes. He thought it over, then said slowly:

“This is an opportunity for you and me — we cannot let it slip away!”

“Even though that brat has stepped into Manifest Strength, that may not be a bad thing for us.”

“Because there’s a real chance he never handed the secret over to Mei Shuangfeng…”

“That’s right!”

Feng Xiaobao’s bronze-bell eyes lit up at the words. He slapped his thigh:

“He’s already broken through to Manifest Strength. Yu Zhe and Tian Erhu must have died at his hands. So he had no need to give Mei’s clan the secret.”

“And as a fledgling who’s only just stepped into Manifest Strength, what trouble could he possibly cause us? But if he hides under Mei Shuangfeng’s wing, he becomes a real headache for us!”

“Exactly! But hit a snake without killing it, and you’ll suffer for it. I’ve been thinking…”

Ma Xianyang’s eyes narrowed slightly:

“Could we name a price he can’t refuse — buy it openly, no haggling?”

“Heh, Junior Brother, don’t talk such childish nonsense. We’ve already used those tactics on him. If you were in his place… would you trust us?”

Feng Xiaobao shook his head at once, his gaze burning into Ma Xianyang.

Ma Xianyang’s breath caught. He fell silent for a long moment. In the end, the killing intent in his eyes drowned out the last flicker of hesitation, and he slowly shook his head:

“…Absolutely not!”

“There you have it.”

Feng Xiaobao stood up, his fists clenching with audible cracks. His voice turned cold:

“This needs to be planned carefully. The brat killing Yu Zhe and the others means the snake’s been startled!”

“Right now, eyes are on us. Unless we have no other choice, we cannot test him with another move.”

“And if we do have to act…”

He paused, killing intent blazing in his eyes. “Then we wait for the right moment, and finish it in one thunderclap strike!”

“You speak truly, Senior Brother…”

Ma Xianyang nodded slowly in agreement.

The room fell quiet for a moment.

After a while, Ma Xianyang suddenly looked up at Feng Xiaobao and asked tentatively:

“Second Senior Brother, what do you think… should we report this matter to Master?”

“Forget it!”

Feng Xiaobao shook his head immediately:

“Master’s cultivation has reached the Peak of Hidden Strength. He’s pouring everything into breaking through to Transforming Strength. The Bai family has gone too far — we can’t disturb Master at a time like this!”

“All right then…”

…

Tongbei Martial Hall, rear courtyard.

Beneath the main wing, there was a hidden cell that never saw the light of day.

In the center of the cell.

A young man, naked and with hair hanging loose, was suspended in midair. Five iron chains, each thick as an infant’s arm, locked his four limbs and neck — like a beast hanging in a slaughterhouse, ready for the knife.

By the candlelight, one could faintly see that no patch of skin on the young man remained intact.

His arms, his cheeks, his neck — even the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet — were densely covered with dark red knife wounds, fine as cattle hairs!

As if someone had been carving them, one cut at a time, day after day, year after year!

“…Mother, please tell brother-in-law where the complete Tongbei Stance is hidden… your son cannot endure any more…”

“Eldest Sister, Eldest Sister, your younger brother is in such pain — please, loosen the chains a little… please, just a little…”

“Kill! Kill Song Yanrong! Kill Yan Xiao, that traitor who betrays his own master and ancestors! Slice that filthy dog couple to a thousand pieces, hack their corpses into ten thousand shreds!”

The young man writhed like a man possessed, suspended in midair, his voice swinging between low pleas and shrill, agonized screams.

The wails ricocheted through the cramped cell, raising the hair on one’s neck.

Yet a few steps away, Yan Xiao and Song Yanrong stood with their hands behind their backs, their expressions perfectly composed.

The two of them couldn’t even be bothered to glance at him.

Their gazes were fixed on the middle-aged beauty seated cross-legged in the corner of the cell, her hands and feet bound by heavy shackles.

Though imprisoned, disheveled, and grime-streaked, she still could not hide her grace.

Perhaps it was the long absence of sunlight — her originally well-tended fair complexion had grown so pale it was paper-white.

Because of this, even though fine lines had appeared at the corners of her eyes, no one would have guessed she was a woman past forty.

“Mother, can you truly bear to watch Huatang — the only son of the Song line — suffer this skin-flaying, sinew-pulling torment, day after day?”

Song Yanrong stepped forward gracefully and crouched down before the middle-aged beauty. She reached out, smoothing back the strands of disheveled hair at the woman’s temples, her eyes full of tender concern.

“Your daughter is unfilial. I had no choice but to do this.”

“Your daughter is simply obsessed with the martial path — I only want to glimpse the splendor of Transforming Strength…”

“Mother, all you have to do is tell me the Transforming Strength method of the Tongbei Stance. Your daughter swears to heaven, I will release you and Huatang from these shackles at once, prepare a generous gift and traveling funds, and send you both far away! To Nanxiang Commandery, to Cangzhou — even to the capital, Linzi… how would that be?”

The middle-aged beauty slowly opened her eyes.

She gazed at the lovely face of her own flesh and blood, her tone numb, devoid of all emotion.

“How many times must I tell you…”

“I never hid the Tongbei Stance away. Your father hid it himself, with his own hands. While he was alive he guarded against you like a thief — he trusted Huatang and no one else.”

“Pity that he was poisoned by you two before he could pass down the Transforming Strength formula…”

“Besides, my surname is Han, not Song. Song Hengjiang guarded against me his whole life — how could he possibly tell me where it was?”

Song Yanrong stared at her in silence.

After a long moment, the smile on that exquisite face slowly faded.

“…You shameless old hag, refusing the courtesy I extended.”

She slowly stood up, her gaze sweeping toward Yan Xiao, her tone ice-cold:

“Force-feed him the medicine!”

Yan Xiao said nothing. He picked up the bowl of medicinal broth prepared on the side table, turned, and walked to the young man suspended in midair.

He dislocated the young man’s jaw with one hand and poured the entire bowl down his throat.

Glug, glug!

The medicine hit his stomach.

The knife wounds covering the young man’s body began to seal at a visible speed — closing, scabbing over, growing fresh new flesh!

The violent itching and tingling were like ten thousand ants gnawing his bones, sending convulsions trembling through his entire body.

“Old wretch…”

Song Yanrong didn’t turn around. Her gaze remained nailed to Madam Han’s face:

“Don’t think that just because your surname is Han, just because your maiden family is the Han clan of Xinyi Commandery, that I truly don’t dare touch you.”

“Today, I’m giving you one last chance. Next time…”

“It will be your turn!”

Her lips slowly curled into a sickly, excited smile, as though she could hardly wait to see that scene unfold.

Her pale hand turned over within her sleeve.

SHING!

A snow-white, gleaming little knife — thin as a cicada’s wing — danced and flipped between her fingertips.

Song Yanrong tittered with girlish laughter as she walked toward Song Huatang, who hung in midair moaning in agony as the new flesh grew in.

“Younger brother, my dear younger brother… don’t be afraid. Eldest Sister is here. Eldest Sister will love you to pieces… ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The next moment!

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

The young man’s heart-rending, inhuman howl tore through the dungeon once more.