Saving Others, Saving Oneself

Are they about to turn on each other? Yuan Ming wondered.

For them to put so much thought into poisoning someone, they definitely were not targeting him. Bada and Yang Chan both looked like followers, so it was not hard to guess whom Kuntu intended to deal with.

Before Yuan Ming could figure it out, Wubao's voice rang out. "Reporting to you, my lords, the wild boar meat is roasted. Please have a taste."

Are they making their move? After a brief hesitation, Yuan Ming decided not to interfere for now.

"Bring it over," Kuntu ordered.

Wubao immediately carried the entire roasted boar over to Kuntu and the others.

Kuntu took out a short dagger and lightly scored the meat several times. Cracks immediately spread across the huge slab of boar meat, dividing it into seven or eight portions.

"Junior Sister Chen Wan, this meat looks quite good. You should have some too." He took a piece from the boar's back and handed it to Chen Wan first.

Chen Wan could not refuse, so she accepted it.

The others also picked up their portions and began wolfing them down.

At that moment, Kuntu suddenly remembered something and said to Wubao, "Bring Yuan Ming a piece too."

"Mas... my lord is rewarding you." Without another word, Wubao immediately carried a huge chunk of pork leg over to Yuan Ming with both hands.

Yuan Ming accepted it expressionlessly and offered a perfunctory word of thanks. If he had not known there was something wrong with the meat, he might actually have been moved by this sudden kindness from Wubao and Kuntu.

"Have a taste." Wubao looked at him with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

Yuan Ming took a bite and chewed, saying indistinctly, "It tastes good."

Only then did Wubao turn and return to the temple. Yuan Ming immediately spat out the boar meat in his mouth, then opened his mouth to catch some rainwater and rinse it out before stopping.

From inside the temple came occasional praises from the group. Even Chen Wan thought Wubao's cooking was quite good.

But before long, Yuan Ming heard a noise from inside, as though someone had fallen.

Immediately afterward came Kuntu's falsely concerned question. "Junior Sister Chen Wan, what's wrong, Junior Sister?"

Listening to the sounds inside, Yuan Ming sneered inwardly. Using a clap of thunder as cover, he stripped the meat off the bone in his hand and tossed it away, leaving only the bone in his grip. Then he slid down the wall and lay on the ground, pretending the poison had taken effect.

Inside the temple, Kuntu continued calling Chen Wan's name, but her eyes were shut tight, her eyelashes trembling. She had already fainted.

"Enough, stop calling. She's already passed out." Yang Chan stood with her arms crossed beneath the twin peaks of her chest, casting Chen Wan a sidelong glance as she spoke impatiently.

"Heh heh, this little bitch always relied on that old hen from the Fire Refining Hall protecting her chicks. She never even deigned to look at me properly. Now that she's fallen into my hands, I'll make sure she learns what true earthly bliss is." Kuntu's face was full of smug delight.

"Senior Brother Kuntu, um... the drug is too potent, so we did not dare use too much. You should hurry. It would be troublesome if she woke up halfway through." Bada stepped forward as he spoke, sneaking a glance at Chen Wan on the ground.

"Enough. Do you think I don't know what little thoughts are running through that head of yours? Don't worry. After I've enjoyed myself, I won't forget to share a cup of the soup with you. Hahaha..." Kuntu laughed heartily.

Yang Chan glanced at the two men and cursed disdainfully, "You men are all rotten to the core."

Kuntu gave her a slightly displeased look.

Seeing this, Yang Chan immediately put on a smile and said,

"Bad men are what women love, after all. Only this little slut Chen Wan doesn't understand romance. She is only like this because she has never known a man. Once she has tasted the marrow and knows its flavor, she would probably throw herself at even this furred beast slave."

When Wubao heard Yang Chan mention him, he hurriedly lowered his head and no longer dared sneak looks at Chen Wan.

"Wubao, we're nearly at our destination. Yuan Ming is no longer of any use. Go slaughter him now, so he doesn't cause trouble later." Kuntu bent down and reached out to touch Chen Wan's cheek, then suddenly recalled something and turned back to order.

"Yes, Master." Wubao immediately hurried toward the temple entrance.

"Take him farther away to deal with him. Don't let the smell of blood drift in and ruin my refined pleasure," Kuntu added.

"Yes."

Wubao came outside, looked at Yuan Ming sprawled on the ground, and bared his teeth in a grin.

He bent down, grabbed Yuan Ming by both arms, and dragged him into the curtain of rain, moving toward the deep, dark forest.

Kuntu gently stroked Chen Wan's cheek and gave it an affectionate pinch, smiling as he said, "What a pretty little face. Tsk, tsk. I didn't want it to be this way either. Blame yourself for not knowing what's good for you."

As he spoke, he grabbed Chen Wan's collar and yanked downward. The neckline of her red dress was torn open at once, exposing the small inner garment beneath and a broad expanse of plump, fair skin.

Kuntu was utterly entranced by the sight when he suddenly heard a soft gulp behind him. Bada was staring wide-eyed, unable to stop himself from swallowing.

Yang Chan glanced at him, feeling even greater contempt.

Kuntu also found it rather uncomfortable to be watched by the two of them like this.

He immediately touched a green cloth pouch at his waist, embroidered with a strange cluster of runes. It flashed with light.

The next instant, an ornate ivory bed with curtains appeared out of thin air inside the temple.

"Senior Brother Kuntu, you have a storage pouch?" Yang Chan was stunned at first, then realized what it was. Her gaze locked onto the green cloth pouch hanging from his waist as she cried out in surprise.

"Elder Mengshan rewarded it to me before we set out this time." Kuntu spoke with considerable pride.

"To earn such favor from Elder Mengshan, when we return this time, your becoming an inner disciple must be as certain as ten thousand nails driven into a board." Yang Chan said enviously.

Kuntu grinned but said nothing. Inwardly, however, he cursed, Who knows how many benefits that old bastard has skimmed from me over the years? He should have made me an inner disciple long ago.

"Senior Brother Kuntu, stop talking so much and hurry up," Bada urged impatiently.

Kuntu gave a cold laugh, bent down to pick up Chen Wan, and tossed her into the curtained ivory bed.

A trace of resentment flashed through Yang Chan's eyes. Swaying her waist, she went to the temple entrance, while Bada reluctantly sat down beside the fire.

Outside the temple, black wind howled through lacquer-dark rain, while lightning flashed and thunder roared.

In the forest a hundred zhang from the temple, Wubao was soaked through as he dragged Yuan Ming to a hollow in the ground and casually threw him into it. Then he took a short knife from his robes.

Seeing this person he had resented for so long lying limp as a heap of rotten mud, the corner of his mouth curled into a smile. He bent down, aimed the tip of the knife at Yuan Ming's heart, and prepared to stab down.

He did not notice at all that the longsword Yuan Ming had kept hanging behind his waist was now silently in his hand.

Crack!

A bolt of snow-white lightning flashed. Light reflected from Wubao's short knife and fell across Yuan Ming's face.

To his horror, Wubao discovered that Yuan Ming beneath the gleaming blade had opened his eyes and was smiling at him.

Before he could react, a burst of agony suddenly shot up from beneath his foot. A wooden spike abruptly thrust up from the ground, piercing straight through his entire sole, its tip stabbing into his lowered abdomen.

Wubao endured the searing pain and immediately drove down the short knife in his hand, trying to kill Yuan Ming with a single blow.

But how could the prepared Yuan Ming give him that chance? One hand had already shot out and clamped tightly around Wubao's wrist, while his other hand swung the sword.

A streak of blue light reflected off the blade as it flashed across Wubao's neck.

In an instant, blood sprayed forth. A round head had already flown into the air and rolled away to one side.

"Ah, now it's impossible to stay out of this even if I want to." Yuan Ming stepped back and sat down in the wet, icy mud, raising a hand to wipe blood and rainwater from his face.

Through the rain curtain and layers of tree shadows, he saw the faint firelight by the temple. Slowly rising to his feet, he shook the blood from his sword and walked toward it.

After returning to the temple, Yuan Ming did not rashly charge inside. Instead, he carefully climbed onto the roof.

Through a broken hole in the roof tiles, Yuan Ming saw the exquisitely crafted ivory bed that looked utterly out of place amid its surroundings. He saw Yang Chan sitting angrily at the entrance and Bada sitting beside the fire with a lecherous expression.

Inside the ivory bed, Chen Wan's outer clothes had already been completely stripped away. Her small inner garment could not conceal her jade-white body, and her exposed skin glowed faintly, creating a seductive scene.

A gust of wind lifted part of the gauze curtain. Yuan Ming saw Kuntu sitting astride Chen Wan's long legs, holding her red dress in his hands with his face buried in it, greedily inhaling its scent.

"This bastard is truly obscene..." At the sight, goosebumps rose across Yuan Ming's back.

At this point, however, he hesitated again.

Over the past few days of observation, he had discovered that Kuntu and the others were all quite strong, at least at the fourth level of Qi Refinement or above. Even against one of them, he had no confidence in winning, much less facing three at once.

But if he stood by and did nothing, leaving aside whether his conscience could bear it, Kuntu and the others would not spare him merely because he had killed Wubao.

Not because of Wubao's life, but because he had witnessed what was happening here.

Therefore, only by saving Chen Wan could Yuan Ming possibly find a chance to preserve his own life.

"It can only be this way." A glint flashed in his eyes as he made his decision.

Just as Kuntu reached his hand toward Chen Wan's delicate body, a green earthen spike suddenly burst from beneath each of the two fire pits in the temple, overturning both bonfires at once.

Burning logs scattered in every direction, spraying a shower of sparks and startling Bada beside the fire.

The flying sparks landed on the bed and instantly ignited the gauze curtains. With a whoosh, blazing flames rose up and immediately engulfed the entire ivory bed.

From within the flames came Kuntu's furious roar.

The next instant, a ring of white wind blades abruptly expanded from the center of the ivory bed, sweeping in every direction.

Amid a chaotic series of bangs and clangs, the flames shrouding the bed were blasted aside by the fierce wind. Even the bed's canopy and four posts were severed by the wind blades, shooting outward in all directions.

As the wind blades swept through, the remaining sparks on the ground were also blown away. The light inside the temple dimmed sharply, plunging it into darkness.

"Hey, Bada, what the hell are you doing?" Kuntu, bare-chested, roared in fury.

Even after such a huge commotion, Chen Wan still did not awaken.

"Senior Brother Kuntu, I didn't do anything!" Bada hurriedly protested his innocence.

Without waiting to be questioned, Yang Chan immediately distanced herself as well, shouting, "It wasn't me either. I didn't do anything."

Just then, a clap of thunder exploded!

From the temple's already dilapidated roof came the crash of countless tiles falling, collapsing into a huge open hole.

A tall, burly white figure smashed down through the exposed opening, plunging directly toward Kuntu on the bed with the force of Mount Tai bearing down overhead.