Chapter 279: “Fifth Slap (1)”
Ke Cang Ju stood, his back hunched and his eyes narrowed as he stared at the two youths, his darkened lips curled in a cruel arc. He shook his hands and two lengths of chains slipped out from his voluminous sleeves. He secured the chains around the bellies of Qiao Chu and Jun Wu Xie, and dragged the unconscious pair towards the underground chamber.
After he left, a nimble black shadow slipped from behind the medicinal jars upon the shelf and followed, its small body blended into the darkness easily as it dove into the tunnel leading down into the chamber.
In the deep underground chamber, the nauseating smell of blood permeated throughout, mixed with the strong smell of herbs that assaulted one’s sense of smell.
The crisply clear jingle of the bells followed Ke Cang Ju as he shuffled forward, and the two Hidden Cloud Peak disciples who were busying themselves within the underground chamber immediately dropped the tasks at at hand and went up to Ke Cang Ju when they heard him coming.
“Master.” The two disciples bowed respectfully.
Ke Cang Ju released the chains around Jun Wu Xie and Qiao Chu and said to the two disciples: “Bring them over.”
“Yes, Master.”
The disciples picked up the two youths and carried them over to the raised wooden platforms at the side.
Two loud thuds sounded as the youths were thrown carelessly upon the wooden boards.
“Clean them up properly. I have new drugs to test on them.” Ke Cang Ju let out a spine chilling cackle as he turned to walk further inside.
Within the dimly lit underground chamber, the torches flickered, and the pretty faced youth hung from the wall, his face pale. He was not moving, and it seemed as though he could be dead.
Ke Cang Ju lifted a water scoop from a bucket and splashed it heavily upon the youth.
The icy cold water woke the unconscious youth and he raised his head slowly, his eyes glinted with a trace of hatred, the tiny teardrop mole below his eye showing clearly on his face.
“I can see you are still very spirited. That’s good. Let’s play a different game today.” Ke Cang Ju cackled maliciously, and pulled a thin cane from a bucket filled with a black gooey liquid. The cane was soaked through with the black liquid and it glistened darkly within the dim firelight, and thorns were embedded throughout its length.
This youth was from the previous batch of new recruits brought into the Hidden Cloud Peak last month. All the others from the same batch that had been brought in had already died under his hands. This youth had possessed exceptional life force and his vitality had far surpassed all the others. Even after more than two weeks’ torture, he had remained alive.
The cane soaked in the poisonous black liquid was slashed upon the youth’s tall slender body, every stroke left glaringly gashing red wounds as the thorns dug into his flesh. The black poison liquid stuck to the wounds and the red bloody gashes soon turned a dark purple.
“This is the poisonous cane that grows only on the Eastern Spirit Mountain, I collected and immersed them in the juice of the Heart Eroding Grass. The poisonous cane’s barbed hooks might be sharp, but were rather brittle. They break off easily after just a few uses and lose its effectiveness. But when it is soaked in the juice of the Heart Eroding Grass, it hardens and strengthens the barbed hooks, making them unbelievably strong and increases its poisonous qualities greatly.” As he continued lashing, Ke Cang Ju was immersed in his ‘teaching’ as he rattled on with his hoarse voice.
“The best thing about it is, the poison is not lethal enough to kill, but will induce unbearable pain and agony in the human body. The wounds it leaves behind will feel like thousands of ants biting away at the flesh. Hua Yao, have you remembered everything your Master had so painstakingly prepared for your lesson today?” The cane slashed mercilessly within the dim chamber, and Ke Cang Ju’s eyes grew crazed, his face contorted in glee, and his breaths grew shorter as he got more and more excited.