Chapter 131: Chu Fan’s Pipa Bones Pierced

Chapter 131: Chapter 131: Chu Fan’s Pipa Bones Pierced

Just how powerful is the self-detonation of a Nascent Soul Realm expert?

It’s no exaggeration to say that if a Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator were to self-detonate in the middle of a bustling city, not a single blade of grass would be left standing within a thirty-zhang radius.

And what’s more, there were two of them.

That was why Chu Fan and Hui Ke, despite both having the Cultivation of the Nascent Soul Realm Middle Stage, were still blasted into a comatose state by the explosion’s force, suffering grievous injuries.

They had been so close; it was a miracle they weren’t killed outright.

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours.

And just as Chu Fan lay on the brink of death, severely injured and unconscious, he had the misfortune of being found by Prince Fuling, with whom he had a grudge.

When Long Haixin learned that Chu Fan was still breathing, a malevolent smile spread across his face.

"You two, force a Blood Qi Pill down their throats. Don’t let them die so easily. Then, run iron chains through their collarbones."

"The rest of you, go find out what just happened here."

Long Haixin issued his orders to the group one by one.

Among the group, the four brothers of the Gu Family undoubtedly harbored the deepest hatred for Chu Fan. Hearing Long Haixin’s command, two of them eagerly accepted the task.

They used brute force to pry open Chu Fan’s and Hui Ke’s mouths, shoving an Elixir inside each. Then, drawing their swords, they pierced through Chu Fan’s and Hui Ke’s collarbones before threading two iron chains through the wounds.

The other ends of the chains were held firmly in their hands.

These two had clearly done this sort of thing many times. Their expressions didn’t change in the slightest, not even as they pierced the collarbones of a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy like Hui Ke.

They had just finished piercing their collarbones when the scouts returned.

"Your Highness," one reported, "according to our investigation, a great battle just took place here. Afterward, two Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators self-detonated."

"Self-detonated? After they had already cultivated to the Nascent Soul Realm? What kind of despair would drive someone to be so resolute?" Long Haixin muttered, glancing at the prone figures of Chu Fan and Hui Ke.

"It must have been this Chu Fan who drove them to such a desperate point. For an arrogant man like him, such a fate is truly of his own making."

While they were speaking, several other groups arrived at the scene.

This included Ding Xun’s party and Yao Zhi’s group of seven.

There was also a group of people in strange, outlandish clothing.

"Hey, what just happened over here?" The speaker was a burly man wearing a fur-lined jacket but with his legs exposed. He even had a few chicken feathers stuck in his hair.

He was clearly addressing Long Haixin’s group, but his tone was exceedingly arrogant.

"Insolent! You are in the presence of Prince Fuling of the Hua Xu Empire! How dare you not bow before the Commandery Prince?" one of the four Gu Family brothers barked at the burly man.

"Oh? A Commandery Prince, is it? But the Hua Xu Empire has no authority in my Northern Domain. I’ve heard your Hua Xu Empire is full of ’two-legged sheep’. Looking at you, Prince, I’d say I’m ninety percent convinced that rumor is true," the burly man mocked loudly.

As his voice fell, the dozen or so people behind him roared with laughter.

"Arrogant Barbarians!" the four Gu Family brothers roared, glaring furiously.

"Brat, you’d better wipe that unpleasant look off your face. Otherwise, I don’t give a damn if he’s a Commandery Prince or not, I’ll kill you all the same." The burly man was dark-skinned to begin with, and when he glared, he looked like a god of slaughter. It was quite intimidating.

"Prince Tadu of your Mu’er Khanate and I share a certain friendship..."

Before Long Haixin could finish, the burly man cut him off. "Tadu is just the most disfavored of the Khan King’s many sons. What? You think you can use his name to intimidate me? Don’t even mention your ’certain friendship’ with Tadu. Even if he were standing right here, you think he’d dare so much as fart in my presence?"

Long Haixin was left speechless and flushed with humiliation, his face a shifting palette of purple and green.

He wanted to lash out in anger, but looking at the group behind the burly man, he suppressed his rage.

He turned to the men behind him and said, "Take them. We’re leaving!"

Only then did Yao Zhi notice Chu Fan and Hui Ke in the pile of rubble, their collarbones pierced. His eyebrows twitched, but he didn’t dare to intervene.

As Long Haixin’s group was about to leave, the burly man stopped them. "I asked you a question earlier, and you haven’t answered me yet!"

Ding Xun spoke up, "Before we arrived, two Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators self-detonated here."

The burly man laughed heartily and waved his hand dismissively. "Go on, then. The rumors aren’t exaggerated at all. Even the Commandery Prince is this spineless."

Long Haixin flicked his sleeves and led the way, quickly departing.

Since he hadn’t given an order to fight, the others, though furious, could only follow Long Haixin away.

As for Chu Fan and Hui Ke, they were dragged along the ground by the two Gu brothers holding the chains, with no regard for whether they lived or died.

They left a trail of blood as they were dragged along. It was a good thing those two Blood Qi Pills from Long Haixin were so potent. Otherwise, being dragged like this, the two already gravely injured men would have long since breathed their last.

Perhaps Long Haixin didn’t want to run into the group from the Northern Domain again, because they walked a long way before finally stopping.

Seeing that Chu Fan and Hui Ke were still unconscious, they were unceremoniously tossed into a corner amid some rubble.

The four Gu Family brothers took out some food, and the group began to eat.

"Gu the Third, go check on those two. If they look like they won’t make it, feed them each another Blood Qi Pill."

Gu the Third walked over to Chu Fan and Hui Ke and checked each of their pulses.

After a moment’s thought, he fed each of them another Blood Qi Pill anyway.

By the time everyone finished eating, night had fallen.

Those who were on better terms gathered in small groups of two or three in a corner, chatting.

Long Haixin, however, sat alone, cross-legged with his eyes closed, resting.

No one paid any mind to Chu Fan and Hui Ke. After all, they were severely injured and unconscious, with chains run through their collarbones and the other ends fastened to a large boulder.

Even if they woke up, what could they possibly do?

Around midnight, it seemed everyone had fallen asleep.

But it was at this very moment that Chu Fan and Hui Ke woke up, quite coincidentally at the same time.

The instant they regained consciousness, before they could even groan from the pain wracking their bodies, a sharp, bone-deep agony from their collarbones made them bite back the sound.

They both sensed the danger they were in.

Then, they saw the iron chains piercing their collarbones, and beyond them, the sleeping figures.

For a Cultivator, having one’s collarbones pierced was equivalent to placing one’s life in another’s hands—to say nothing of the fact that they were both severely injured.

A towering wave of hatred and killing intent rose in Chu Fan’s heart.

’If Hui Ke weren’t right next to me, I’d unleash the Inner Lion Seal Divine Technique and kill every last one of them, consequences be damned.’

’Hui Ke is innocent, after all.’

Chu Fan could, of course, guess Long Haixin’s motive. It was undoubtedly revenge for their previous conflict. He wanted to wait until Chu Fan woke up so he could humiliate and torment him to his heart’s content.

Chu Fan inspected his body. ’My internal organs are practically shattered, there isn’t a single patch of intact skin on my back, and the Nascent Soul on the lotus seed pod in my Dantian has its eyes shut, looking completely drained.’

’Even though there’s still True Qi Liquid in my Dantian, my body is in such a state that I can’t use my True Qi at all.’

He rapidly wracked his brain for a way to save himself, but he found no solution.

’I could try to heal myself, but that would take time, and Long Haixin would never allow me to fully recover my Cultivation. Besides, with my collarbones pierced, what good would recovering my Cultivation even do?’

In contrast, while there was confusion in the Little Monk Hui Ke’s eyes, there was not a trace of fear.

When Hui Ke saw Chu Fan looking at him, he mimed the action of holding a cup and drinking.

’Drunken Immortal Brew... an Immortal gets drunk for three days from a single bowl, a mortal for three years. Isn’t drinking Drunken Immortal Brew at a time like this just making things worse?’

’Should I trust the Little Monk, just this once? It’s a desperate gamble, but what other choice do I have?’

With a thought, he poured two bowls of Drunken Immortal Brew inside the Juntian Mirror World. With great effort, he passed one bowl to Hui Ke, then downed his own in one go.

But as the bowl of wine went down, a vast and mighty power instantly exploded within their bodies...