Chapter 598: Repaying Evil with Evil
Translator: Pika
Zu An gasped. He felt a chill run through his legs, and his hand subconsciously moved towards his own precious equipment. This is way too tragic… This dude might need to change his name in the future.[1]
It wasn’t just him. Everyone else subconsciously closed their legs as well. Even the two eunuchs, little Xu and little He, swallowed. The scene confronting them made them recall their own purifying ritual.
Back then, there were many procedures that had to be met before they were purified. They couldn’t drink water for a few days leading up to it, and they lived in a warm silkworm room. The blade was disinfected, and those with some money could bribe their attendants into giving them some anesthetic to numb the pain. Even so, they were in so much pain afterwards that they couldn’t even take care of themselves.
But this Shi Kun had made no preparations at all! Furthermore, he didn’t even scream during the entire process! He was truly a real man!
Wait, no. From this day forward, he won’t be a man anymore…
Shi Kun’s face was as white as a sheet of paper. Huge beads of sweat poured down his face. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to scream—rather, he was in so much pain that he didn’t even have the strength to scream.
It was not just physical pain—his soul was in agony as well.
After all, the Immortal Beheading Knives were able to wound the soul directly.
Shi Kun could feel that something was now missing from his consciousness. He knew that it was likely that he wouldn’t be able to cultivate much more.
Worst of all, he had been maimed in his most precious spot. He would not be able to call himself a man anymore.
If Zu An was the one who had done this, he could have leaned on the strength of his clan to make Zu An pay with his life, but this was the crown princess’ doing…
The knowledge that he would be forced to swallow this grievance overwhelmed his mind with anguished fury. His eyes rolled backwards, and he fainted.
“What in the world are you all doing? Why would he…” Bi Linglong was stunned. She knew that Shi Kun enjoyed special status, and that he wasn’t someone to be treated carelessly. The fact that he had suffered such a serious wound while in the company of the crown prince could cause an upheaval within the court.
Everyone was looking at her with the same strange expression. Only the crown prince didn’t seem to mind. “He was holding the knife in his hand while standing behind the door,” he explained with a smile “When you slammed the door open, the knife stabbed into him. Didn’t you hear the sound of the blade slicing into him?”
Bi Linglong was speechless.
Now that she thought about it, she did hear something like that. But she had been so angry that she paid little attention to it.
She felt like she was losing her mind. What the hell is all this?! She was a glorious crown princess, yet she had personally castrated a man! If news got out, it would cause a terrible misunderstanding.
Zu An coughed and spoke up. “This isn’t the crown princess’ fault. Even if the crown princess hadn’t been here, he still would have been wounded down there. The two of us swore a binding oath, and he has no one but himself to blame. If the crown princess hadn’t come in, according to the provisions of the oath, he might have lost his life right away. The crown princess actually saved his life.”
Little Xu and little He spoke out in agreement. They hadn’t expected their grievance against the young master to be settled so quickly. You can offend anyone else, just don’t offend us eunuchs![2]
Bi Linglong finally snapped out of her daze. She suddenly found Zu An much more pleasing. She coughed lightly, then quickly gestured towards some servants. “Quickly, notify Physician Xuan… have him brought to the imperial hospital. Tell the physicians to use the best medicines to treat him.”
The blood gushing out of him was way too horrifying. She turned away resolutely. Out of sight, out of mind.
As Shi Kun was brought out, Bi Linglong was in no mood to berate the crown prince any further. On the contrary, she interrogated the eunuchs and guards about what had happened, and made sure that they got their stories straight, to hopefully prevent any bad blood between the Shi clan and her own family.
Zu An was left more or less alone. No one seemed to be paying any attention to him.
He looked at the knives on the ground. The crown prince had thrown them aside earlier on, fearing that the crown princess was going to scold him further.
Feeling curious, Zu An picked them up. Right from the start, he could sense that they were special.
After all, given his current strength and regenerative abilities, not even heaven-grade weapons should be able to pose such a great threat to him.
Shi Kun’s reaction proved his suspicions. The pain that the young man had felt did not seem to only be physical—it seemed to also affect the soul.
He touched the blade, and the ice-cold sensation made his soul extremely uncomfortable.
As one walked the path of cultivation, one would use the ki of the world to temper one’s flesh. From master rank onwards, one would then temper the soul.
Only after reaching the ninth rank and stabilizing the flesh, would the flesh become powerful enough to harness the power that came from the consumption of the soul.
Of course, this did not mean that those below master rank did not possess souls. The soul was always in existence, but master rank cultivators could manifest their souls and use it to attack their enemies.
For cultivators below the master rank, the soul was invisible and intangible, but it was still there.
If one suffered a wound to the soul, that was the end of their prospects for cultivation.
Shi Kun had actually brought out something so vicious to use against him! Zu An’s expression grew cold. Shi Kun deserved every last bit of what he’d got.
Since no one was paying attention to him, he secretly stowed the knives away inside his Brilliant Glass Bead. Even though these blades were incredibly treacherous, there was no denying that they were priceless treasures. They might come in handy later on.
He noticed the characters ‘Immortal Beheading’ carved on the blades.
Immortal Beheading Knives?
Zu An was stunned. He remembered that, in the world of the ‘Investiture of the Gods', there was a Daoist, Lu Ya, whose strongest weapons were the Immortal Beheading Knives!
He quickly shook his head. Even though these knives were formidable, the Immortal Beheading Knives of legend could cut down gods and devils alike. These were definitely not the same.
He counted them up. There were three in total. For some strange reason, he sensed that they weren’t a complete set.
Wait… one is still stuck in Shi Kun’s crotch.
Zu An’s eyelids twitched when he remembered where the knife had embedded itself in. Suddenly, it seemed that he didn’t want it anymore.
However, he knew that the entire set of this treasure, when used together, would be much stronger than if they were used individually, just like how equipment in his previous world functioned more effectively when the right sets were used together.
Since the crown princess was still busy admonishing the servants of the eastern palace, he headed straight for the hospital. He could use this chance to familiarize himself with the interior of the imperial palace.
He was stopped and questioned by several guards along the way, but each time, he whipped out the token that marked him as the crown prince’s secretary and said that he was visiting the injured Shi Kun, on the orders of the crown prince and princess.
None of the guards doubted him. After all, they had never seen anyone who would dare lie about the crown prince’s orders.
Of course, Zu An was a transmigrator, so he did not share the same superstitions as the natives of this world. Besides, it would be completely normal for the crown princess to send someone to check up on the wounded individual. Perhaps not now, since she had yet to recover from her shock, but she would surely send someone later on. Taking the initiative to make the trip was a favor to her. She might even feel grateful afterwards.
He arrived at the imperial hospital, which was buzzing with activity. All those within were clearly busy tending to the seriously-wounded Shi Kun, and could spare him no attention.
Zu An wandered around, and quickly found a bloody throwing knife lying on a desk.
His nose wrinkled in disgust when he thought about where the blood had come from, so he picked up a pot of tea and rinsed it thoroughly, then wiped it clean with a piece of cloth.
The people around him who noticed his actions thought it strange, but they took note of his eastern palace uniform, and did not say anything. At the moment, all of their attention was on Shi Kun.
The imperial physician’s voice boomed across the hospital.
“Has the wound been cleaned yet?
“After I reconnect it with my water element technique, immediately apply the flesh reconnection ointment and fasten it in place! Be quick about it!
“Also, why isn’t the medicinal decoction[3] ready yet? We need him to drink it as soon as we are done with the procedure! Remember that you cannot add too much water!”
…
Zu An had a strange look on his face. He didn’t think that this world was capable of reconnecting tissue! The world of cultivation and the world of science really did achieve the same result through different means.
As he sighed in astonishment, he suddenly heard Shi Kun’s mumbled curses.
“Go to hell, Zu An… you bloody bastard… I hope your corpse gets chopped up to a million pieces…”
“Asshole…”
…
You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for 999… 999… 999…
Shi Kun’s words were muffled, so Zu An couldn’t hear them too clearly, but Shi Kun was surely cursing Zu An even while unconscious. It was easy to imagine just how intense his hatred of him was.
Zu An’s eyes narrowed. You’re the one who wanted to harm me, and it was the crown princess who wounded you. Why are you hating on me instead of her?
Zu An’s expression grew cold. This twisted snake had been constantly scheming against him. How should you repay evil? With evil, of course!
Even though he always considered himself a good person, he was no Mother Teresa. Since you want to kill me, I have no choice but to kill you first.
He looked around. There were so many physicians around Shi Kun, and they were watching him closely, and he was surrounded by people with powerful cultivations as well. It was way too hard to kill Shi Kun right now.
1. The ‘Kun’ in Shi Kun can mean elder brother.
2. Shi Kun had previously told the crown prince to practice throwing knives while blindfolded on a different day, so these eunuchs would have had to suffer as a result. They were upset about being thrown under the bus by Shi Kun.
3. A medicinal syrup made by boiling various herbs.