Chapter 57: The Heat Is Not Enough

Xian Ran's heart was boiling with anger, and he was shaking terribly. And he could not say it was really a lie; but he had invited the elders to come to see him at Lingyun Gate, while he had never suspected that these reputed leaders were all mere sham - beasts with human skin!

Vengeance seethed within his veins as he saw yet another elder gulping down a cup of poisoned wine. The eyes of his bloodshot bulbs narrowed in a penetrating gaze, feeling the heavy sting of betrayal. His chained body convulsed against the constraints, causing fresh blood to drool from the gaping wounds.

He wanted to bang his head against the wall for such attention from the elders, but Han Pu's men held him down.

A black revenge drank him in, and his bloodshot eyes began to grow globular under incrustations of rage, appearing to be pools of crimson.

 "Are you getting a bit angry?" Han Pu asked cruelly, with a smirk spreading across his face. "Don't worry—proper entertainment is just ahead. Then you'll see how they meet their end at my hands."

There is a cold glint in his eye as he speaks of vengeance. He is haunted by memories of being belittled by the Xian family - not even sleeping peacefully.

And yet, while the feast continued, Xian Wu drank off another glass of wine, leaving the others to let out another relieved breath. To ensure the poison took hold, Pengfei made sure to top up the elders with glasses of wine, all the while grinning at them and inquiring, "How do you like my vintage?"

"Delicious, just marvelous!" declared Xian Zhenfei, closing her eyes to savor another sip.

But he soon frowned and commented, "I have been drinking a bit too much that I start to feel kind of dizzy. It's getting too much for my body to bear!" He had indeed gone far beyond all the others at the party.

"Hahaha! My wine is strong; it's not on a level with any regular good wine," Pengfei laughed, twinkling in his eyes. "Here at Lingyun Gate, you are allowed to drink as much as you please—just like home. Drink to your heart's content! And if you are really very drunk, sleep for a few days and perhaps by then Xian Ran would have finished his training seclusion, and you can probably meet him!"

After a few rounds of drinking, Xian Wu slumped over the table, silently and motionless. The First and Fifth Elders sprawled on the ground, and they did not care about anything around them.

Painful silence filled the room.

Suddenly, as if snapping out of sleep, the eyes of all the elders at Lingyun Gate gleam with cold determination.

Just as Han Zheng started to stand up, Pengfei held up a hand, telling him to hold still. What if others weren't totally unconscious and were still strong enough to fight back? If they did make a move then it had to be foolproof.

Finally, with a stern expression, he bellowed, "Tie them all up!"

A splash of icy water jolted Xian Wu awake. Confused, he squinted as he took in his surroundings. "What's happening?" he mumbled, his eyes rounding wide with shock as he noticed the chains restraining him.

"Where am I? I was just drinking at Lingyun Gate! How did I end up like this?"

As the cold water splashed over the other elders, they too stirred, their eyes widening with disbelief at their predicament.

"Where is my cultivation? What happened to it? Why do I get trapped here?" Xian Yuanshan's voice was shaking, echoing the concerns of the group.

" Is it you? " Xian Zhenfei glared at Pengfei and his associates, his voice quivering with the fright and anger.

"Ah, yes! It's really us!" Pengfei sneered, laughing sarcastically. "Aren't you just bursting with conceit? I once offered you a just proposal, but you humiliated it due to your pride. A family from Feihua City thought that it could humiliate Lingyun Sect. You are only a pretender; this is your well-deserved retribution!

"What do you mean? Aren't we supposed to be grateful? What have you done to us?" Xian Zhenfei shouted in horror.

"Grateful? Hahahah! How dumb can you get? Yes, thank us. You have indeed saved us once. If you hadn't, perhaps we wouldn't be seeing today. But that has nothing to do with the reason for doing that," Han Zheng sneered.

"Bah! We do not trust you; we trusted Xian Ran. We never believed he would stand with such despicable scum as you!" the Great Elder retorted, darkening his expression.

"Correct. He wouldn't cooperate with us; he drank that same poison we had offered him as some special brew by the leader. Now…" Han Zheng clapped his hands gleefully and opened the door, revealing battered Xian Ran with blood-red eyes, flecks of crimson on his hair and brows.

And everyone in the room took it as just blood from his wound. They had no idea what was happening before their eyes. Only Xian Wu perceived some tiny changes in Xian Ran's body. His body was almost transforming.

"His emotions are not raised to the peak; he is still far from the ultimate anger within him!" Xian Wu thought desperately in his head.

"Xian Ran, what have you suffered? What have those savages of Lingyun Sect done to you? You are a native of theirs!" Xian Zhenfei wept, veins throbbing on his forehead as he spit in Han Zheng's face.

"Simpleton!" Han Zheng replied to strike Zhenfei so hard that it would leave a mark, but the smile in Zhenfei's face took a chilling hue as if holding something confidently in secret.

That smile sent a chill down Han Zheng's spine, a fleeting sense of danger clouding over his minds for a moment. But it was gone, eased by the assurances in his mind: they poisoned the rest of them. A mighty foe will hardly be able to bear such poison.

Xian Ran growled quietly, but his whole body began to shake. Still, Xian Wu saw something—another portion of Xian Ran's hair had turned red, while the other strands were still dark.

Perhaps he needs to sacrifice some of us to the heavens so that he can fully come to his senses? Xian Wu thought to himself, the unease gnawing at his bones.

"He is our sect member, but he ignores it entirely. The sect leader sent him back to dig up your family's secrets, and he refused. What kind of disciple is this to us?" Pengfei's voice was laced with anger.

Every minute, his frustration overflowed. The sect had invested years of nurturing and promised him promotion through their ranks; now, the loyalty of Xian Ran belonged to his family? All they were asking him to do was to help find the mystery behind his family's rise. Was it such a heavy price to pay?

No matter how hard he tried to persuade Xian Ran, the latter refused and sent Pengfei into growing exasperation.