"Yes..." the man on the right answered.
Their exchange over, the two lowered their heads to look at Pei Ye. The two monstrous, hideous faces gave his heart a jolt in the darkness before he realized they were masks.
"Where did this one come from?"
"Little Wu's branch, probably."
"Hmm..." the purple-robed man on the left narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze on him. Pei Ye felt as though a great hand had clenched his heart tight. Neither Jing Ziwang nor Qiongqi had ever filled him with such terror.
Ever since he had stepped into the rain that night to fight the two men in white, Pei Ye's narrow understanding had been pierced through again and again. Each opponent was the strongest he had ever encountered, yet each proved worthless before the next.
By now, Pei Ye could no longer judge what level these two purple-robed men had reached. Would killing Jing Ziwang be as easy for them as killing Wu Zaigu had been for Jing Ziwang?
"Never mind. It makes no difference." The purple-robed man in the demon mask seemed uninterested in what had happened between Pei Ye and Wu Zaigu. He bent down and lifted Pei Ye. Wind hissed sharply past his ears, the scenery blurred before his eyes, and he was already standing before a cavern.
The cavern was as large as his own little courtyard, with more than twenty people sitting or lying inside.
The purple-robed man left without another word. A black-robed man at the entrance shoved a tag into Pei Ye's hand. He looked down and saw "24" carved into it. Before he could examine it further, he was roughly pushed inside, and the black-robed man closed the flimsy wooden gate behind him.
Pei Ye stood in the cavern, surrounded by dank cold and the stench of blood. It felt as though countless poisonous insects were crawling over his skin, making his hairs rise involuntarily-the malicious stares of more than twenty people had turned coldly upon him.
His body taut, Pei Ye slowly edged into a corner and sat down, warily studying this den of vicious predators.
Some were old, some young, ranging from fifty or sixty to sixteen or seventeen. There were more men than women, and many bore varying amounts of blood on their bodies. Some stains had turned dark brown; others were still bright red.
As Pei Ye regulated his physical condition, he sorted through everything he had seen.
What most deserved scrutiny was the attitude Qiongqi and the purple-robed men had shown toward him. Clearly, the reason he had been allowed to live was that they regarded him as something "useful."
The source of that "usefulness" was easy enough to guess: most likely, it was the Dragon Tongue that had entered his body in Wu Zaigu's place.
Then why had the purple-robed man said it made no difference? Did he mean that the energy-laden Dragon Tongue was what mattered, while the body that housed it was irrelevant?
Then... did every person in this cavern carry a "palace" for that exalted seed to inhabit?
Did twelve living people stand behind every one of these "palaces"?
How could slaughter on such a scale have escaped the Immortal Platform's notice?
Hmm... perhaps they had accumulated these human Dragon Tongues little by little over fifty years, only gathering them all here now.
Pei Ye raised his head to study them closely again. This time, he noticed something different.
Though the robed figures sitting or lying around resembled savage tigers and leopards, their hostility seemed directed only at him. Some were wounded and others had blood on their hands, yet they showed no wariness toward one another.
Opposite him, a sinister-faced old man sat against the wall in a shabby, filthy black robe, his eyes barely open. His injured left arm lay limply across the legs of the person beside him. Sensing Pei Ye's gaze, he rolled his gray-white eyes up and stared coldly back.
A head of tangled, withered hair rested against his left shoulder. Its owner also raised her head and stared over. Though blood fouled her face, she was still unexpectedly young-a girl of seventeen or eighteen.
A father and daughter.
Thinking this, Pei Ye silently withdrew his gaze.
There were two or three other such pairings in the cavern: sister and brother, friends, uncle and nephew... it was difficult to tell their exact relationships. Their sole commonality was that they resembled starving wolves licking one another's wounds, sharing a final measure of warmth.
As these scenes met his eyes, an ominous feeling gradually rose within Pei Ye.
Just then, the wooden gate creaked open, and a tall but stooped figure appeared in the entrance. He wore gray rather than black, his clothes likewise tattered and filthy. Bright red beads of blood clung to his hair and dripped down.
The moment the man entered, Pei Ye felt the hostility weighing on him vanish, all of it shifting to the newcomer.
The man lifted his chin and surveyed the cavern through lowered eyes, a flippant, provocative grin tugging at his lips.
His gaze paused on Pei Ye, apparently noticing his different clothing. He strode straight over and sat against the wall beside him.
The black-robed guard at the entrance said, "[17] leaves the arena with two victories. Next pair: [19], [20]."
A man rose from the depths of the cavern. At the same time, the girl opposite Pei Ye stood as well.
She approached the man beside Pei Ye, her bloodshot eyes fixed fiercely on him. "I'll kill you."
The man grinned, exposing stark white teeth. "Before that, you'll have to kill your father."
Her fists clenched until her knuckles cracked. She was about to speak when the man approaching from the back of the cavern laid a hand on her shoulder and said evenly, "Those favored by the god remain inseparable, even when battling to the death; those forsaken by the god harbor treachery in their hearts, even if they are fathers and sons or brothers."
The girl calmed down and raised her chin, looking haughtily at the man beside Pei Ye. "Exactly. We will live forever within the god's body, you pitiful faithless wretch."
She gave a cold snort and turned to leave. The man sat with his legs splayed, watching her retreating figure. For an instant, solemnity and heaviness seemed to cross his defiant face, but when he turned toward Pei Ye, he wore the same careless grin. "Hey, did you kill one of theirs too?"
Chapter 38: Gu Cage
The man before him was covered in blood, yet showed no wounds. Remembering the black-robed guard's words about "two victories," Pei Ye cautiously nodded.
Clearly, this was a place where everyone else was an enemy. Pei Ye already had some idea where the blood on these people had come from.
Contrary to his earlier assumption, Wu Zaigu had not held such an important position. He had not been the sole chosen one, merely someone qualified to compete.
In fact, that made more sense. Though Wu Zaigu had seemed an impossibly powerful opponent at the time, a mysterious scheme capable of swallowing someone like Zhu Gaoyang ought to have a grandmaster at its core.
And the competition before him was clearly a fight to the death. Of these twenty-odd people, probably only one would emerge.
Yet the man seemed not to regard him as an enemy. "You look pretty young. Killing one of their hosts is quite an accomplishment at your age. Who taught you, and how did you end up in this place where even birds won't shit?"
"I have no master. I'm a resident of the nearby county town."
"No master?" The man laughed. "Without a master, where did you learn martial arts that channel true qi? Figure them out yourself?"
"I don't have true qi either."
"...Without true qi, how did you kill a Dragon Tongue host? Aren't they all at Sixth Growth or Seventh Growth?"
"...A lucky coincidence," Pei Ye said.
"A lucky coincidence? A lucky coincidence let you kill him with technique alone, without using true qi?"
"Yes."
The man leaned close, his eyes wide as he examined Pei Ye carefully from below. Only then did Pei Ye notice that his eyes were a pale silver-gray, while scars from burns and blade wounds had disfigured his face, making it rather frightening.
Those unusual, beautiful eyes scrutinized him at close range. Pei Ye drew back a little and frowned. "What is it?"
"I'm checking which War Lord of the White Deer Palace you are."
"..."
The White Deer Palace was hailed as the pinnacle of martial technique under heaven. Clearly, he was teasing.
The man studied the calluses on Pei Ye's hands. "You use a sword?"
Pei Ye nodded. "I'm fairly good with a sword. What about you?"
The man's expression seemed a little strange. "I... am all right with a sword too."
"How did you get here?"
"I upheld justice and defended the weak, then ended up taking someone else's place on the chopping block." The man leaned back against the wall and heaved a long sigh. "Now I regret it. Deeply."
"What's your name?"
"You first."
"My name is Pei Ye."
"Your real name, just like that? That honest?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"Out in the martial world, you generally just give a nickname. Little Fish, Little Horse, Little Turtle, something like that." The man's tone changed. "But since you've treated me with such sincerity, keeping mine hidden would seem petty. Listen well-I change neither my given name nor my surname: Zhang Siche!"
"Ah, Brother Zhang." Pei Ye gave a slight cupped-hand salute. "May I ask what exactly this place is?"
"What is it? A dogfighting pit, a cage for breeding gu." Zhang Siche bared his teeth slightly. "They pick the fiercest one."
"The fiercest..."
"Don't misunderstand. They're not choosing a person." Zhang Siche reached toward his dantian. Startled, Pei Ye moved to block him, but his hand swept through empty air. His hairs stood on end, yet the man's hand merely gave him a pat. "They're choosing one of these."
"..."
"Everyone's meridian tree has been digested by it. None of us has any true qi left. What do you think we rely on when we fight?"
"..."
"On the thing inside you." Zhang Siche gave a mocking laugh. "It's like fucking choosing imperial consorts. Whoever's the most badass gets to carry the dragon's offspring."
Pei Ye had no answer, because he remembered that all the energy he had accumulated had been poured into Jing Ziwang. Only a cocoon of light remained inside him, and he could not squeeze another drop of energy from it.
The cocoon of light was the "contestant," while that energy was its weapon and armor for battle-and he had stripped it bare.
"I'll lend you some." Zhang Siche leaned against the wall, watching him languidly.
Pei Ye froze. "Why?"
"Because we're the only two humans in this nest of beasts. Is that enough?" Zhang Siche extended a long, powerful hand, palm open. Dark blood had dried along its creases.
Pei Ye fell silent for a moment, then reached out. Their dust-covered hands clasped together.
Extreme circumstances often swept away the barriers between people, dispensing with probing and guesswork. Surrounded by a pack of wolves, even a leopard and a tiger would make an alliance first.
"Nine lent, thirteen returned," Zhang Siche said with a smile.
Before Pei Ye could ponder what those words meant, a torrent of energy surged along his arm. The cocoon of light in his dantian drank it like sweet spring water, immediately drawing the energy around itself.
The flow continued without pause. Before long, it had surpassed twice the amount he had previously accumulated, and for the first time, the cocoon in his belly conveyed a sense of being "full."
Pei Ye looked up at Zhang Siche in astonishment. Zhang Siche answered with a languid smile and withdrew his hand. "The bottle has to get bigger before it can hold more water."
Pei Ye instinctively glanced toward the entrance. Zhang Siche said, "They won't interfere, so long as it circulates 'internally.' The rank of that thing in your dantian won't change anyway."
"Rank?"
Zhang Siche gave an unsettling smile. "Win one match, and you become rank two."
Pei Ye immediately understood what "leaves the arena with two victories" had meant. "You're-"
"Exactly. First I killed [18] and became rank two. Then I killed [1], another rank two. Now I'm the only rank three here, looking down on all the heroes. Looking down on them all."
Pei Ye had no words. Feeling the abundant energy restored to his body, he said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Zhang Siche flashed a mouthful of white teeth. "In return, grant me a wish."
"What wish?"
"Tell me a story."
"...What?"
Before you continue