Chapter 232: Chapter 232: The Nightingale’s Narrow Escape (Third Watch)
The nightingale awoke from unconsciousness.
It found itself bound by chains in a cold, damp cave. The cave was very quiet, and the sound of dripping water was clearly audible.
"Drip!"
"Drip!"
It seemed to be the water from the top of the cave, dripping into a pool in the dark, making the environment seem more silent.
"Hehe, awake?"
A leisurely voice sounded.
The nightingale abruptly turned its head to look, only to see a familiar figure slowly emerging from the darkness.
There was a skylight above his head, with white light shining down, so when that figure approached him, he could see it clearly.
"It’s you! What do you want!!"
The nightingale’s face changed dramatically, shouting angrily.
"What do you think?"
Qin Chuan asked with a smile.
"Are you, are you going to betray the tribe?!" The nightingale became increasingly uneasy in its heart.
"No, actually... I’m not from the Celestial Eternal Race." Qin Chuan displayed a gentle smile on his face.
"What?!"
The nightingale felt as if it had been struck by lightning on a clear day, and this statement was devastating to his spirit.
If the other party were betraying the tribe, then it would be understandable for him to be backstabbed. But if the other party wasn’t actually from the Celestial Eternal Race, and he was deceived so badly... then he was a fool!!
"Thank you for telling me the way to the Tianshu Palace. I’ve already conveyed this method to the Human Race Holy Hall. By now, counting the time, the Tianshu Palace should have been annihilated." Qin Chuan said with a smile.
"What??"
The nightingale was taken aback, momentarily stunned, and then reacted, letting out a heart-wrenching scream:
"No——"
At this moment, he felt his world collapsing, everything before his eyes becoming blurry, and a voice echoed within his heart:
You are a sinner of the tribe.
You are a sinner of the tribe.
You are a sinner of the tribe!
This voice grew stronger and stronger, sometimes turning into his family, sometimes turning into his friends, sometimes turning into his master, and finally, it even turned into his own voice.
This voice, like an inescapable curse, continuously echoed in his ears, stirring up his guilt and self-blame, like being pricked by a thousand knives!
"Impossible, impossible, how could this be, you must be lying to me, you must be lying to me... Pff!!!"
In the end, he spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted on the spot.
Qin Chuan was not surprised by this.
From the other person’s perspective, he roughly understood the pain in the other’s heart. It was perfectly normal that he could not accept it for now and fainted.
He thought for a moment and took out a bright red flower — the very same flower that emitted a peculiar scent of immortal herbs.
"Lucky you."
He sighed and then crushed the flower into a ball, stuffing it directly into the other’s mouth.
He fainted, how would he swallow it?
For Qin Chuan, this was not a problem at all—he had experience.
Think of it like in TV dramas, where the heroine feeds the hero medicine when he’s unconscious, and he has to swallow it some way or another?
So.
He lifted the nightingale’s drooping head with his left hand, and then his right hand slapped hard with a few quick slaps, causing the head to sway side to side.
"Gulp."
After the slaps, there came a sound from the nightingale’s throat, indicating that the flower had been swallowed.
Well, TV dramas don’t depict it this way.
But naturally, Qin Chuan wouldn’t follow the method in TV dramas; he had his distinctive way, gleaned from practical experience.
"Buzz buzz!"
The immortal herb was indeed extraordinary. Not long after swallowing it, all the pores on the nightingale’s body emitted a faint golden light, and then he woke up.
"You..."
He tried speaking but realized his mouth was a bit cramped, as his face was already bruised, swollen like a pig’s head.
"You’re gonna die..."
He was filled with grief and indignation, cursing with all his might, but his voice sounded comical even to himself.
So he closed his mouth.
"Still dare to mouth off!"
Qin Chuan produced an Imperial Whip. This whip appeared to be crafted from the spine of some kind of snake, segment by segment, with bone spurs, looking quite terrifying.
"Crack!"
The whip lashed across the nightingale’s body, instantly eliciting a heart-wrenching scream from him.
"Ow!"
Because both sides of his cheeks were so swollen, pressing his mouth together, the sound he made was peculiar.
"Still dare to provoke?!"
Qin Chuan glared, then lashed him again, drawing another howl.
"Crack crack!"
"Crack crack!"
Thus, Qin Chuan continued lashing, over a hundred times, until the nightingale was on the brink of death.
This nightingale was actually an Emperor, but this Imperial Whip was an instrument designed specifically for punishment.
So, no matter how formidable the person was, as long as it was custom-built, it would make you "comfortable"...
"Ow!"
The nightingale cried out again.
"Still dare to provoke!"
Qin Chuan glared coldly, continuing to whip.
Two streams of humiliated tears rolled down the nightingale’s swollen face. In reality, he wasn’t provoking; he was begging for mercy.
Perhaps the physical pain alleviated the emotional pain, so the guilt and grief gradually dissipated, and he went from being a tragic hero to being somewhat comical.
That feeling was just like a drunk person bellowing, "Don’t push me, if you push me, I can do anything!"
And then, someone immediately handed over a math problem.
Go ahead.
Try solving it?
Instantly, the scene became quiet.
Thus, the drunkard who claimed he could do anything when pushed pretended not to hear what was said, kept asking a few more questions, and as he continued, he smoothly crashed to the ground and slept.
Drunken escape!!
After a long time, Qin Chuan put away the whip, squinting and said, "Now, I’m going to ask you some questions, and you have to answer me honestly."
The nightingale remained silent.
Although he was terrified of the beating, if it was about anything that harmed the tribe, he absolutely would not do it!
"Rumble!"
At this moment, a violent tremor came from outside the cave, and then an angry, rough voice came from outside.
"Damn it, I finally tracked you down. I know you’re hiding inside, come out and meet your death!"
"Damn, even this was discovered!"
Qin Chuan’s face changed dramatically; there seemed to be a brief panic, and then he looked at the nightingale with a complicated expression, apparently no longer able to bother with the prisoner, and directly used the Earth Jutsu Technique to escape.
"This..."
The nightingale was stunned.
And the next moment, there was a loud "boom," and the mountain peak where the cave was located was split open, sunlight streaming down from above.
Then, a burly man with a thick beard descended from the sky, landing in the shattered cave.
"Where is he? I clearly sensed that beast’s presence just now; how come he’s gone now?!"
The burly man wielded an axe, scanning around, and eventually seemed unable to find his target, so he disappointedly focused on the nightingale.
"Who are you?"
The burly man asked.
"Ow..."
The nightingale wanted to speak but made such a sound instead, and his cultivation was sealed by the Rune Lock Chain, so he couldn’t communicate even through divine sense.
"Ah, forget it, you look like a poor soul tricked by that conman. Since I’ve met you, I’ll help you!"
The burly man finished speaking, swung his axe to cut the chains binding the nightingale, and without another word, soared into the sky towards the distance.
From the sky far away came the burly man’s shout.
"Beast, where are you running off to!"
And the nightingale, stood there dumbfounded, looking at the broken chains scattered on the ground, and then at his own hands.
His gaze was vacant, feeling somewhat unreal.
Just like that... he was free??