Blood Boils

"Sikong Jing, you were the Invincible Divine General of the Great Shang Dynasty, a prince of a different surname."

"You abused your power and committed an act more beastly than beasts against the Ninth Princess, Yan Ruyu. You are hereby stripped of your title and reduced to a commoner, exiled to Yun Province, and forever barred from service!"

At the border of the Great Shang Dynasty, within the territory of Yun Province!

Inside a thatched hut, a roar shook the heavens: "I refuse to accept this!"

Within the hut, a man in his early twenties shot upright from his bed of straw, his teeth clacking together. His face, however, was deathly pale, as though he were gravely ill.

He was none other than the former Invincible Divine General of the Great Shang Dynasty, the King of Equal Rank, Sikong Jing!

At twelve, he joined the Great Shang army.

At fifteen, with just eight thousand battered troops, he swept away a million northern bandits and was named a senior general.

At seventeen, he ventured deep into enemy territory and, single-handedly, rescued the Great Shang emperor, Yan Tianmo, who had personally led his troops into battle. He was named the Great Shang Dynasty's number-one general.

At nineteen, he led his troops to quell the rebellion of seven kingdoms, slaughtered countless enemies, and was named the Great Shang Dynasty's Invincible Divine General and the King of Equal Rank!

His achievements were unparalleled; no one could match him. He was the greatest general in the history of Great Shang!

Time had stopped at that moment.

When Sikong Jing entered the Great Shang Imperial City bearing the heads of the seven kings, the emperor, Yan Tianmo, welcomed him with a butcher's knife.

At the victory banquet, Sikong Jing was poisoned and thrown onto the Ninth Princess, Yan Ruyu's, bed.

When Yan Ruyu awoke, her hair was disheveled, her clothes in disarray, and tears streamed down her face. She looked utterly pitiful.

Sikong Jing was thrown into the imperial prison on the spot. Yan Tianmo personally dug out his dantian and shattered his meridians. The next day, they shackled him and exiled him to Yun Province. In less than a day, he had gone from the Invincible Divine General to a prisoner.

"Urgh!"

Inside the hut, Sikong Jing spat out a mouthful of blood. It splattered onto the straw bed and soaked through.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and rasped, "Yan Tianmo, you're ruthless. With one accusation that my achievements threatened your throne, you destroyed me."

In the imperial prison, Yan Tianmo had smiled and patted his cheek.

"You, Sikong Jing, were only nineteen when you were named a prince of a different surname. What's next—are you going to take my throne?"

"So you can only be destroyed!"

Now, Sikong Jing continued, "Yan Ruyu, you're vicious. Our oaths of eternal love became your claim that I'd committed an act more beastly than beasts."

The Ninth Princess, Yan Ruyu, was as beautiful as her name suggested—beyond compare.

She was widely acknowledged as the most beautiful woman in Great Shang. Before all this, she had repeatedly professed her affection for Sikong Jing, saying she would marry no one but him.

Yet all he received in return was a single sentence in the imperial prison.

"I, Yan Ruyu, am a princess of Great Shang. How could I ever be worthy of a commoner like you, Sikong Jing?"

"Your dantian and your martial talent—I'll give them to the man who truly deserves them."

With that, Yan Ruyu took the dantian dug from Sikong Jing's body from Emperor Yan Tianmo. She let out a string of sweet laughter, turned, and left without sparing Sikong Jing another glance.

"Creak..."

Just as Sikong Jing was reliving this blood feud, someone pushed open the hut's battered, hole-riddled door.

A slender figure entered, carrying a bowl of medicinal broth.

She had a lovely figure, but a thick black veil covered her face, hiding her features.

"Huh? You're awake." Seeing Sikong Jing sitting up, the woman cried out before she could stop herself.

The next moment, she noticed the blood at the corner of his mouth and hurriedly asked, "You're bleeding? Are you all right?"

In two quick steps, she came to his side, pulled out a white handkerchief, and gently wiped his mouth. Her slender, boneless fingers softened the hatred in Sikong Jing's eyes a little.

"Miss, who are you? Where am I?" Sikong Jing asked.

The woman's hand paused. A trace of sorrow and shyness crept into her eyes as she replied softly, "Have you forgotten? My name is Su Yuexi. I'm your wife now."

Sikong Jing froze. Wife? What an unfamiliar word.

His memories soon returned. When he had been shackled and exiled to Yun Province, an old eunuch from the Great Shang Dynasty had galloped there as well. Right in front of Sikong Jing, he had asked the Lord of Yun Province:

"Within Yun Province, which woman is the ugliest?"

Not long afterward, a veiled woman was brought before the eunuch. She was none other than Su Yuexi, standing before him now.

Right there, the eunuch had roughly torn off Su Yuexi's veil. Her frighteningly ugly face had pleased him immensely, and he immediately announced her marriage to Sikong Jing before laughing and leaving.

At the same time, Sikong Jing had vomited blood and lost consciousness. He had remained that way until now.

Seeing Sikong Jing staring into space, Su Yuexi's eyes grew even more downcast. "I'm sorry. If you feel that title doesn't suit me, I won't bring it up again."

Sikong Jing came back to himself and gave a bitter smile. "It doesn't matter whether it suits you. How long was I asleep?"

To him, beauty and ugliness no longer mattered. What good was Yan Ruyu's celestial beauty when her heart was as venomous as a snake's?

Whoever truly treated him well would receive a hundredfold, a thousandfold in return.

"Five days," Su Yuexi replied.

Five days. Sikong Jing looked at his clean clothes and the fresh straw beneath him. He understood that Su Yuexi had cared for him attentively throughout those five days, and warmth welled up in his heart.

Faint memories of the past few days surfaced in his mind.

Su Yuexi had changed his clothes, wiped his body, and fed him water, food, and medicine. She had tended to his every need...

Across from him, Su Yuexi couldn't bear his gaze any longer. Flustered, she set the bowl of medicinal broth on the wooden table and said, "I have something to do, so I'll step outside. I've left the medicine here. Can you drink it yourself?"

Sikong Jing nodded and watched Su Yuexi hurry out.

He glanced at the medicinal broth on the table and gave a bitter laugh. "I, Sikong Jing, am a cripple now. How could ordinary medicinal broth possibly heal me? But I refuse to accept this!"

He struggled to sit cross-legged, trying to summon the true qi within him. But his dantian was gone, his meridians shattered. He had nothing left!

Humm!

Suddenly, the mouthful of blood he had just spat onto the straw bed blazed with crimson light.

In the blink of an eye, the light flared brilliantly, condensing into a clear, gleaming bead of blood.

Even as a cripple, Sikong Jing could still feel the vast, oppressive aura coming from within the bead.

His face filled with disbelief. This blood was definitely more than just his own.

The next moment, a vast, icy voice rang in his mind: "Swallow the Blood of Ten Thousand Beasts, and you will become the Lord of Ten Thousand Beasts!"

Sikong Jing shuddered from head to toe, his eyes flying open. "Who?"

"Swallow the Blood of Ten Thousand Beasts. Let the beast blood boil, be reborn—do you dare? Do you dare?"

The voice remained vast and mighty, as though provoking Sikong Jing—or perhaps speaking with an authority that would brook no doubt!

Sikong Jing stared hard at the bead of blood and asked again, "If the beast blood boils, will I still be human?"

"Do you dare? Do you dare?" The voice didn't answer. It only pressed him.

Smack!

Just as he hesitated, a heavy blow landed outside.

"Ah..." Su Yuexi screamed as she was sent flying into the hut. Straw flew everywhere, and the broken door burst apart.

A burly woman stepped inside, grabbed Su Yuexi by the collar, and snarled with a vicious expression, "Ugly freak! One of the pigs is missing from the Pig Farm. Did you slaughter it to feed your sickly husband?"

As she spoke, the woman pointed at Sikong Jing on the straw bed.

Su Yuexi shook her head with all her might. "I didn't."

Smack!

The woman slapped Su Yuexi across the face again and snapped, "Still denying it? Apart from you, you ugly freak, who at the Su Family Pig Farm would dare steal a pig?"

A thin trickle of blood slipped from beneath Su Yuexi's thick veil. She shook her head frantically. "It really wasn't me."

Watching this, Sikong Jing's eyes turned scarlet.

He wanted to strike, but his body wouldn't obey him. The vast voice still echoed in his mind: "Do you dare? Do you dare?"

Suddenly, Sikong Jing threw back his head and roared, "What do I have to fear?"

He grabbed the bead of blood, swallowed it in one gulp, and within him... the beast blood boiled!