Simple Tactics (Continued)
The minotaur roared, "You bunch of scum, don't even think about it! We're going to cook her later anyway. If you play with her, do you think we'll all be eating your semen?"
The monsters wanted to continue teasing and taunting, but suddenly a domineering figure with horns on his head walked in, and they immediately fell silent, because this was Man Xiong, one of the five divine generals under the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King.
Below the Spirit King are the Divine Generals, each possessing the strength of Grandmaster. In terms of the sheer number of Grandmaster, all the sects in the Southern Martial World combined are no more than equal to the Monster Race.
The Man Xiong general strode confidently to his seat in the commanding position, looking down at the Xiaoxiang Fairy, and said, "A defeated general, why do you not beg for mercy?"
The Xiaoxiang Fairy did not raise her head, but looked straight at him, and said, "Do you think begging for mercy will make you let us go?"
"I will consider it."
Xiaoxiang Fairy sneered, "The Monster Race's words are deceitful and cannot be trusted."
"Then all your companions must die!"
"From the moment you captured us, you never intended to let us go. You used false hope to lure us into submission, forcing us to reveal our ugly side, and taking pleasure in it. Don't you find such methods laughable?"
Man Xiong exclaimed in admiration, "Truly a heroine among women, a woman who is no less capable than men! I hope your companions will all be as brave and fearless as you."
With a wave of his hand, the Minotaur stepped forward, grabbed a female disciple of the Lingering Waves Palace, ignored her struggles, and threw her directly into boiling oil. Instantly, the oil boiled and sizzled, frying her flesh until it was cooked. Accompanied by the woman's shrill screams, she was scalded to death.
The remaining four female disciples were terrified, one of them even went limp and collapsed to the ground, emitting a foul odor from her lower body.
Man Xiong looked at Xiaoxiang Fairy and said, "Look, just because you insisted on your dignity, you needlessly caused the death of your fellow disciple. You could have saved her."
Even though Xiaoxiang Fairy knew it was a psychological tactic, she couldn't help but feel guilty and, unable to suppress her emotions, glared angrily at the Man Xiong.
Man Xiong raised his hand again, and four Monster Race stepped forward, each using a fork to stab into the limbs of a Lingering Waves Palace, lifting her up and placing her above the oil cauldron. Another Monster Race, holding a razor, cut off pieces of her flesh, dropping them into the oil cauldron.
"You beasts, you will all die a horrible death! Even if I die and become a vengeful ghost, I will not let you go!"
This female disciple was extremely brave. Even though she was suffering the excruciating pain of being slowly sliced to death, she did not beg for mercy. Instead, she kept cursing the Monster Race until she had no strength left. She was drained of blood, shaved naked, and thrown into a pot of boiling oil.
Man Xiong looked at Xiaoxiang Fairy and continued to press her, "This is the second fellow disciple you've killed. Who will be next?"
Xiaoxiang Fairy clenched her fists, still remaining silent, biting her lower lip until it bled.
When the Monster Race shifted their prey-hunting gaze to the incontinent woman, she broke down on the spot, screaming, "Senior sister, save me! Beg for mercy and save me!"
The Xiaoxiang Fairy looked away and closed her eyes to avoid seeing anything.
The woman was lifted up by the Monster Race, screaming in agony, "Senior sister, you can't just stand by and watch me die! Ahhh—"
The boning knife sliced through the flesh and blood, and the woman's screams gradually turned into Curse. But the object of her Curse was not the murderer who killed her, but her senior sister who refused to beg for mercy.
"Mu Boxue, you bitch! To save face, you turned your back on your fellow disciples! You vain whore, I Curse you! Waaah—I'll be waiting for you in hell!"
In the end, the female disciple died filled with resentment, while the monsters around her all wore dazed expressions as if they were smoking opium, seemingly enjoying themselves immensely.
Man Xiong then asked, "Who will be next?"
The remaining two female disciples were so frightened that they cried, but neither of them asked Mu Boxue to beg for mercy; they were just trembling with fear.
Mu Boxue suddenly shoved aside the Monster Race guarding her side, then freed her hands to pierce her own ears with her fingers, rupturing her eardrums and drawing blood—losing her hearing rendered the enemy's methods meaningless, thus sparing her fellow disciples from further torment.
The monsters were moved by what they saw.
Man Xiong also exclaimed in admiration, "Better to be a shattered jade than a whole tile! What a brave and resolute woman!"
However, they couldn't help but feel a little regretful. For the Monster Race, cultivation was far less efficient than Human Race in order to become stronger. A three-hundred-year-old monster might not even be as good as a newcomer to the martial arts world who stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter. For the Monster Race, the most efficient way to cultivate was to absorb the fragments of consciousness emitted when a person had a mental breakdown. Moreover, the stronger a person's will was, the more powerful the fragments of consciousness emitted after the breakdown would be.
From this perspective, all the Monster Race are psychologically twisted perverts.
For a Grandmaster- level expert like Man Xiong, the fragments of ordinary people's consciousness are already dispensable. Even the fragments of consciousness of Confucian scholars who, despite their strong will, are powerless, have limited effect, because their will is like a rootless duckweed, not nourished by the physical body. Only the fragments of consciousness of someone like Xiaoxiang Fairy, who is powerful in martial arts and "would rather die than submit," can significantly increase his cultivation.
Unfortunately, it is too difficult to make these kinds of people submit; they don't care about physical pain at all.
Since Mu Boxue couldn't hear anything, there was no point in continuing to torture and kill the Lingering Waves Palace disciples. Man Xiong snorted, swung his palm and killed the two women, giving them a quick death. Then he reached out and grabbed Mu Boxue, holding her by the neck, and roared towards Alan Temple: "Listen up, you bald monks in the temple! The hostage in my hands is Xiaoxiang Fairy of the Lingering Waves Palace. If you don't want her to die, come out within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn!"
On the observation tower of Alan Temple, a monk with thick eyebrows Fajue, "Abbot, that woman seems to really be the Xiaoxiang Fairy. If we don't rescue her, we'll have a hard time explaining ourselves to the Lingering Waves Palace."
Fajue shook his head and said, "Lingering Waves Palace is difficult to explain. That's a matter of happiness that we need to consider only after we survive this calamity. If we don't survive this calamity, we don't need to give Lingering Waves Palace any explanation."
Seeing that Alan Temple showed no reaction, Man Xiong continued his psychological attack, "She fell into my hands to save you, and now you're going to leave her to die? Heh, all that talk about the compassion of Buddhist School disciples, it seems it's all a lie. You're all ungrateful, heartless scoundrels!"
The monk with thick eyebrows said anxiously, "Abbot! Are we really going to stand by and watch someone die?"
Fajue said, "Be patient. A small act of impatience can ruin a great plan. The enemy wants us to go out and fight them. If you do that, you'll be playing right into their hands and fulfilling their wishes."
Man Xiong sneered, "You'd rather watch a woman die than fight to the death. It seems you bald monks are even more ruthless and heartless than our Monster Race. A wolf in sheep's clothing, that's exactly what you are!"
The monk with thick eyebrows, his eyes red with anxiety, said, "Abbot, tell everyone to stay at their posts and not leave without permission. I'm going to rescue them alone!"
He turned to leave, Fajue beat him to it, sealing his Formless Tribulation Finger, causing his Qi and Blood and qi to stagnate and making it difficult for him to move.
"Forgive me, forgive me! If you leave, the sacrifices of the Lingering Waves Palace disciples will have been in vain. If you wish to repay their kindness, you must endure! I will bear the sin of failing to save them."
The monk with thick eyebrows struggled for a long time, but finally compromised. He knew who was right, but sometimes the right choice is not necessarily acceptable to everyone.
"You hateful Monster Race! Even if I transform into a vengeful demon and fall into the deepest abyss, I will drag you down with me!"
Further out from the Monster Race's encirclement, Si Ming and a group of martial arts masters hid in the dense forest, using their Internal Cultivation to enhance their eyesight and observe the battlefield.
The Monster Race surrounded Alan Temple and then spread rumors, attempting to ambush reinforcements. So he went around in circles and uncovered all of the Monster Race's ambushes. Because the Monster Race needed enough troops to surround Alan Temple, they sent out a small Otherworld Domain of soldiers, mainly elites. As a result, they were all wiped out by Si Ming with two punches each. Not one of them escaped and became Si Ming's supplies, helping him raise his Internal Cultivation to level ten.
The martial arts masters behind Si Ming were the ones he rescued from the ambush of the Monster Race. These people were grateful for his kindness and had witnessed Si Ming's ruthless methods, so they were willing to follow him as their leader and formed a circle around him.