Attempting to fit a large man like Wang Hu, with his bulky frame, into a pair of tiny three-inch Golden Lotus Embroidered Shoes was somewhat comical and also not easy to accomplish.
If this had taken place during the Peaceful Era, the people present would probably have been unable to restrain their laughter upon hearing Li Yaotong's words.
But now, as demons run rampant, they understand that Wang Hu's actions were intended to increase his strength so he could better combat the demons and protect everyone. How could they possibly find it funny?
Instead, they looked on with an expression of pity, knowing that Wang Hu was about to endure great pain.
How could it not be painful?
Wang Hu had just fused with a pair of rotting corpse legs, both of which had begun to decay, causing him excruciating pain that twisted his face.
If these were not men handpicked by Dragon King Hall, almost all of them as tough as nails, an ordinary person in this situation would probably collapse in agony, screaming and begging for mercy without end.
And now, to cram Wang Hu's size forty-five feet into those three-inch embroidered shoes, to let the two demons fight against each other to reach a balance, one could only imagine how painful it would be.
The Demon Whisperer holding the embroidered shoes, upon hearing Li Yaotong's words, continued with an expressionless face to grab Wang Hu's rotting right foot and proceeded to force the shoe on it.
Another, after successfully transferring the secret power of the decaying corpse legs to Wang Hu and watching the skeleton turn to dust and scatter with the wind, wasted no time in crouching down, snatching the other embroidered shoe and stuffing it onto Wang Hu's left foot.
These embroidered shoes appeared to possess some mystical power because, as Wang Hu's feet were forced inside, they emitted a series of bone-cracking sounds, contorting his feet in a way that crammed them into the shoes with force.
It looked as though he was wearing ballet shoes, with the arch of his foot bending sharply.
Ordinary embroidered shoes would certainly burst from the force of being so aggressively stuffed, but these embroidered shoes remained perfectly intact. When Wang Hu's feet were successfully inserted, they started to emit a seductive red glow.
As the red light from the embroidered shoes began to shine, Wang Hu's highly decayed legs, which had been about to spread up to his waist, halted. Then a deathly ash color began to emerge, spreading down towards his feet, ready to oppose the power of the embroidered shoes.
As soon as this confrontation became apparent, the two Demon Whisperers quickly retreated, not daring to stay close to Wang Hu any longer, to avoid the risk of multiple demons gathering and triggering some unforeseeable consequence.
"Thump!"
"Ahhh!!!"
With the forces of the two demons battling each other, Wang Hu finally couldn't bear it any longer; he let out a piercing scream and collapsed to the ground with a thump, rolling around and roaring in agony.
"Ah!! Kill me!! Kill me!"
"My feet, my feet hurt so badly!"
The onlookers all showed expressions of pity. Many thought that if Wang Hu were not trying to tame the demons under current conditions, but was instead in a normal state, they would definitely go to comfort him and call an ambulance to take him to the hospital for treatment.
But now, he was attempting to master the power of demons, and not just one, but two simultaneously. No one could help him; they could only watch to see if his willpower was strong enough and if his luck was good, to successfully reach a relatively balanced state with the two equally matched forces.
If he succeeded, as long as he stayed alive, he would rank just below Mu Jinyu, Mu Hongchen, and Wu Shisan among the upper echelons of Dragon King Hall.
About half an hour had passed.
By now, Wang Hu was too exhausted to say anything.
He lay on the ground, gasping for air, his sweat soaking the floor, and over the course of the demons' confrontation, his body had gone from fit to a mere skeleton. It was a frightening sight.
The sunny, cheerful smile that used to grace his face now seemed chillingly cold and creepy against his gaunt, skeletal cheeks.
He managed to endure it, after all.
He survived!
"Congratulations!"
Li Yaotong had been observing carefully for over half an hour as Wang Hu struggled against the two crippled demons, watching the constant drain of qi-blood within his body, and the eventual achievement of balance with the demons. Convinced of a certain hypothesis, she smiled and congratulated him upon seeing that Wang Hu had survived.
"Huff..."
"Am I... still alive?"
Wang Hu, panting heavily on the ground, heard Li Yaotong's words. He felt his legs, which were numb and ice-cold, almost as if they no longer belonged to him.
However, he tried to move them and eventually managed to stand up from the ground.
His legs could still be controlled, but they weren't very flexible, as if he was wearing prosthetics.
"Dragon King, how about that, I didn't lie to you, did I? The risk was much higher, but there was a slight increase in the success rate, and once successful, the benefits are great," Li Yaotong said, turning to look at Mu Jinyu, who was deep in thought, and chuckled softly.
"Hmm," Mu Jinyu responded, asking, "What are you trying to say?"
Li Yaotong replied, "Nothing much, just hoping that my proposal could make the Dragon King be more cautious. If you want to attempt it in the future, you could use today's experiment as a reference, to avoid sacrificing too many people."
Having said that, she turned to look at the Golden Coffin nearby and added, "Alright, I should be going now. Dragon King, you wouldn't mind giving me a Golden Coffin, would you?"
"I don't mind giving you a Golden Coffin, but your intention isn't really for the coffin itself, is it?" Mu Jinyu spoke indifferently.
Mu Jinyu, of course, understood Li Yaotong's intent.
She was preparing to take away the Ghost Bride and her Wedding Dress from inside the Golden Coffin.
But the Wedding Dress was an extremely rare demon, with very strong defensive capabilities. Even a full-force strike from Mu Jinyu, a God Realm powerhouse, could not penetrate it. If someone managed to control it, future missions to subdue demons would likely become much easier.
Moreover, this demon had appeared on his territory and been captured by him, so Mu Jinyu naturally did not want Li Yaotong walking away with it.
Even though the first Demon Whisperer of his Dragon King Hall had emerged under his guidance.
Li Yaotong said candidly, "Of course, the main reason is to conveniently take away the demon inside."
After finishing her statement, she looked calmly at Mu Jinyu and continued, "Dragon King, don't feel bad about me taking advantage, as this demon was originally captured by Omniscient. If it weren't for our timely intervention just now, you might have been in big trouble, right?"
"But haven't you already taken away a Ghost-Faced Demon?" Mu Jinyu spoke.
Suddenly, Li Yaotong proposed, "How about this? We'll leave the Ghost Bride and her Wedding Dress for your Dragon King Hall, and we'll only take away the Ghost-Faced Demon, as well as the other one with the crying and smiling face that your Dragon King Hall captured not long ago. This can be considered the reward for Omniscient's assistance and my guidance today, what do you think?"
"Alternatively, we'll give you that Ghost Face to have a matching pair in Dragon King Hall, and we'll take the Bridal Gown Bride instead."
Mu Jinyu fell silent for a moment.
Li Yaotong was giving him two options.
One, to let her take away the Ghost Bride and the Wedding Dress while he keeps the Ghost Face, or, two, to keep the Ghost Bride and let her take away both the Ghost-Faced Demons.
Mu Jinyu's original plan was to keep the Ghost Bride and the Wedding Dress, letting Li Yaotong take away the Ghost-Faced Demon.
But, after hearing Li Yaotong's proposition, he began to feel that her real goal from the start was not the Wedding Dress but the other Ghost Face in his possession?