Chapter 217
Chapter 217
Who knows how much time had passed, but when Qiu Xiao came to, his head was splitting. He shook it desperately; something felt like it was on the tip of his tongue, yet he couldn't remember a thing.
“Someone, bring a beauty with a spittoon. I need to wash my face and get dressed.”
Qiu Xiao shouted for his attendants, then instinctively tried to push himself up with his hands. But then he realized something horrifying. He couldn’t feel his hands. To be precise, he had no sensation below his neck. An unparalleled terror seized him.
‘What in the world happened? I think I went to Shen Lang’s banquet. Did I drink too much there?’
Then, he saw that the space between his legs was empty, with only stitches remaining. He was stunned at first. Then, he let out another wretched scream. His lifeline, his manhood, was gone. For a man, what meaning was there in life without that? The scream he’d let out last night had been desperate enough, but this one was even more so. It was a scream of utter devastation. Just then, Shen Lang entered the room.
“Young Lord Qiu Mu, you’re awake? Aren’t you hungry? Shall I have some food brought in?”
‘Qiu Mu? I’m not Qiu Mu.’
Qiu Xiao quickly understood the meaning. His name was Xiao (梟), but now that his 'bird' was gone—the character for bird, 鳥, being slang for a man's private parts in some dialects and old novels—the character Xiao (梟) had become Mu (木). Qiu Xiao shrieked.
“Shen Lang, what have you done to me?”
He tried to raise his hand with all his might to strike Shen Lang dead. But it was as if his hand wasn't his own; he couldn't lift it.
“Men, men! Kill this pretty boy Shen Lang! Flay him alive, pull out his tendons!”
“Little Marquis, are you calling for them?”
Shen Lang pointed, and the door opened to reveal a mountain of heads. A full two thousand heads were piled up like a small mountain. Every single face was someone Qiu Xiao knew. They were all his elite pirate warriors. For a moment, Qiu Xiao’s mind went numb, unable to believe the scene before him.
‘Is Shen Lang insane? Is the Count of Xuanwu insane? How dare they kill all two thousand of the pirate warriors I brought with me? Aren’t they afraid of my father’s furious retaliation?’
Qiu Xiao shrieked.
“Shen Lang, you’re mad, you’re mad! Our Raging Tide City has a pirate army of thirty thousand! When my father finds out, you will all die a death so horrible you’ll wish you were never born! He will flay every man of the Jin Clan and violate every woman until they die! Shen Lang, you’re finished! The Jin Clan, the Count of Xuanwu’s Estate, Jin Mulan—you’re all finished! No one in this world can save you! Just you wait! My father will lead his grand army and kill you all! He’ll kill you all…”
Shen Lang crouched down and said.
“Hey, are you done screaming? Said all you have to say? Feel a little better now? Why so quiet all of a sudden?”
Qiu Xiao had finally fallen silent, glaring at Shen Lang with eyes filled with boundless resentment.
“Little Marquis, I have so much to tell you. I have to say it all in order, don’t I? Only then will it deal a fatal blow to your spirit and make you shudder. First, there was never any gold mine on Wang'ai Island. All the gold was brought there by the Heavenly Dao Society.”
Qiu Xiao was completely dumbfounded. Shen Lang’s first words alone made him tremble. Qiu Xiao shrieked.
“Im-impossible! I saw the gold mine with my own eyes! I saw the gold they smelted myself, tens of thousands of catties of it!”
“That was just a few hundred thousand taels of gold coins I melted down, turned back into gold dust, and mixed into the soil. I went to great lengths, didn’t I?”
Qiu Xiao shook his head desperately.
“Impossible. Where would you get that many gold coins? How could the Heavenly Dao Society give you that much money? A full million taels of gold coins! Impossible, you’re spouting nonsense!”
Without a word, Shen Lang brought out a square glass mirror, about a foot in size, and placed it in front of Qiu Xiao.
“This mirror costs less than a single silver tael to make. Do you think it’s worth a million gold taels?”
The moment Qiu Xiao saw the mirror, he was stunned. He may have been reckless, but he was no fool; in fact, he was quite sharp. For the first time in his life, he saw his own reflection with such clarity and brilliance, and he realized this mirror was far superior to any bronze, silver, or crystal mirror on the market. He could easily predict that its value would far exceed a million gold taels.
‘So that’s it, that’s it! That’s why the Heavenly Dao Society gave him a million gold taels.’
“Second, aren’t you curious whose bite marks these are on my body? Aren’t you curious why my member is so swollen? Let me tell you who violated me for a whole night. It was your sister, Qiu Yao'er! She tormented me for four hours straight, making me wish I were dead. But she also made me feel ecstatic. And the peerless beauty who treated Qiu Yao'er that day was none other than me.”
This news was even more shocking; Qiu Xiao simply couldn't believe it. He was thunderstruck, utterly dazed.
“Impressive, right? Hurry up and praise my skills, praise me! Qiu Xiao, you drooled over Qiu Yao'er for more than ten years but couldn’t even touch a single finger. But I slept with her ten times right after we met. A full ten times! We forged quite the fateful bond!
And you know what? That night, Qiu Yao'er was poisoned and had no strength to resist. If you had been just a little braver, you could have slept with her, and with Xu Qianqian too. A pity you weren’t brave enough! It must be even more of a pity that it was me who slept with her, and not you.”
Hearing this, Qiu Xiao truly felt like he was about to collapse, to go mad.
“Shen Lang, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
‘Qiu Yao'er, the Qiu Yao'er I thought about day and night, slept with this scum, Shen Lang! Ah, ah, ahhh!’
“Third, are you curious why I went to save Qiu Yao'er, and why I orchestrated such a massive deception? Do you know why I haven't killed you yet? Almost everyone in this world who has crossed me is dead. Among them, you, Qiu Xiao, were the most worthless, the most depraved. I kept you alive, and you relentlessly provoked me. Doesn't it send a chill down your spine that I even went so far as to humor you?
Young Lord Qiu Xiao, you truly are bold. For a venomous snake like me to indulge you is hardly normal. If you had half a brain, you should have been losing sleep trying to figure out why, yet you still haven't caught on.”
Qiu Xiao was startled and asked.
“Shen Lang, what are you planning? What are you trying to do?”
“I have set a wondrous trap on Wang'ai Island, woven a great net. When your father and his tens of thousands of pirates attack… they will all die. I will kill the entire Qiu Clan, and I will slaughter every pirate in Raging Tide City. I will have my revenge for the Jin Clan from twenty years ago. I will take Raging Tide City!”
Hearing this, a chill ran down Qiu Xiao's spine. Though he had no feeling below his neck and had been castrated, the hair on his entire body stood on end.
‘He planned something that big? Such a massive conspiracy? This is a terrifyingly grand scheme, the likes of which I’ve never even heard of.’
Qiu Xiao yelled.
“My father has tens of thousands of pirates under his command! How can you win? You will be the ones to die!”
But deep down, he was worried. The Shen Lang before him was too terrifying a person, and this was a grand trap he had meticulously laid. Could his father truly defeat such a man and escape his scheme? Was there anything Shen Lang couldn't do? Qiu Xiao’s mind raced.
‘Did Shen Lang start planning this during the Gold Mountain Island dispute? No! He must have been planning this since he wrote *Boundless Wind and Moon*. Is there a more terrifying person than this in the world?’
Suddenly, Qiu Xiao shrieked.
“Shen Lang, are you a man or a demon?!”
“Brother Qiu Xiao, can’t you come up with a line with a bit more depth? If that’s a compliment, thank you! Hah! Now that I’m done showing off, I feel a little empty.”
Then, Shen Lang raised his hand. Qiu Xiao saw it and knew what the signal meant. It was the signal to kill someone.
‘No, I can’t die. Even castrated, it’s better to live than to die. I want to live. I have to live.’
“Shen Lang, don’t kill me, don’t kill me… No, Lord Shen Lang, please don’t kill me. I’m useful. I can be very useful. Lord Shen Lang, I don’t know how you’ll kill the tens of thousands of pirates from Raging Tide City, or how you’ll take the city. But after you succeed, won’t you need a witness to tell the world about it? Won’t it be satisfying to let me see everything? I am your enemy. Making me live like this is the greatest punishment for me. Besides, I know where my family’s treasure vault is. Don’t kill me, please don’t kill me!”
Shen Lang was a little surprised, and even impressed. To think someone like Qiu Xiao could have such a strong will to live… He wanted to live even after being castrated? He wanted to live even when paralyzed from the neck down?
“Brother Qiu Xiao, you have a point. I’ll give you one chance to live, so grab it tightly. Understand?”
Qiu Xiao nodded desperately.
“I will hold on. Thank you, my lord. From today on, I will be your dog, I will work like an ox and a horse for you.”
Shen Lang lit an incense stick and planted it in the ground. Then, he pointed outside and said.
“Look outside that door.”
The left door opened. A hundred meters away stood a valiant beauty.
“Qiu Xiao, do you see that beauty?”
“Yes, my lord. I see her, I see her.”
“Who is she?”
“Jin Jianniang.”
“That’s right, Jin Jianniang. The very Jin Jianniang you longed for. Last night, you told me you were going to sleep with her, didn’t you? But now I’ve brought her here. See how well I treat you?”
“Yes, yes. Thank you, my lord. Thank you, my benefactor.”
“You are to crawl to her and kiss her feet. I’ll give you the time it takes for this incense stick to burn. If you succeed, I won’t kill you.”
Qiu Xiao nodded desperately.
“Thank you, benefactor. Thank you.”
He instinctively tried to crawl toward Jin Jianniang. It was only a hundred meters, and he had the time of one incense stick. It seemed too easy. But he suddenly remembered that his hands and feet wouldn’t move; he couldn’t crawl.
“Benefactor, my limbs won’t move. I can’t crawl.”
“You still have your teeth, don’t you? You can use your teeth to crawl.”
Qiu Xiao nearly exploded in that moment.
‘Crawl with my teeth? Why don’t you show me how that’s done?’
But he didn’t dare to lash out. His life was in Shen Lang’s hands.
‘Just you wait, Shen Lang. Just you wait.’
What followed was a scene that shattered Shen Lang’s perception of the world. Qiu Xiao actually did it. It was nothing short of a miracle. He truly used his teeth to crawl forward. First, he bit down on a stone, then dragged his body forward. The sight sent a shiver down Shen Lang’s spine; he couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘Can a person’s desire to live really be this strong? Qiu Xiao, you’re incredible. Truly admirable!’
And so, Qiu Xiao used his teeth to drag his body forward, one step at a time. Though he was only a hundred meters from Jin Jianniang, every meter he advanced drew blood. Every meter forward was as agonizing as being in hell, an endless humiliation. Qiu Xiao was fighting with willpower alone. Even as several of his teeth broke and his face became a bloody mess, he paid it no mind and continued to crawl.
‘Just you wait, Shen Lang. If I survive this, I will slaughter your entire family. I’ll kill every last one of them!’