As the gap at the center of the platform cracked open once more, the clear voice of the Second Pavilion Master of Xuanyuan Pavilion echoed. “Presenting the next treasured item: a Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast.”
“What?!” Mo Ran was stunned, his hands gripping the windowsill. “It’s not a holy weapon?!”
Chu Wanning hadn’t expected this either. He abruptly rose to his feet, coming to Mo Ran’s side to look down with him.
A stone divan slowly rose from the open center of the lotus platform. Eight iron chains, each as thick as a wrist, crisscrossed the divan to hold down a living creature that struggled unceasingly upon it. However, that living creature was fully covered beneath a drape, and it was hard to see what it was at first glance.
That didn’t dampen the boiling excitement below in the slightest. A “Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast,” no matter its class or appearance, was an object in itself renowned throughout the world.
According to legend, during the primordial era, when the heavens and the earth had yet to be separated, demons had lived alongside humans on the cultivation continent. At that time, there had lived a clan of demons called the Butterfly-Boned Clan. While their martial prowess had been wanting, their bodies had contained an immense amount of spiritual energy. To consume the blood and flesh of one of the Butterfly-Boned Clan, or to engage in intercourse with them, could greatly enhance a human’s cultivation. Those without spiritual roots could instantly establish a foundation, and those who had roots could directly achieve the power of a zongshi.
That was why, after the demons were defeated, the Butterfly-Boned Clan had been hunted to extinction. They were all either captured to be bed slaves or directly killed and eaten.
In the present day, the full-blooded Butterfly-Boned Clan had long since been eradicated from the world. However, within the vast sea of humanity, there were individuals in whose veins the blood of the Butterfly-Boned Clan yet ran. The flesh and blood of the majority of these individuals had no effects whatsoever, and they were indistinguishable from that of any other cultivator. However, a very small number of descendants manifested the traits of their ancestral bloodline. The flesh and blood of such individuals, although not as potent as that of their primordial ancestors, could still greatly enhance a cultivator’s ability.
These people were called Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feasts, and this “feast” had two meanings: a feast in bed, or a feast of the flesh.
In other words, they could be taken to bed or eaten alive. Whether it was the former or the latter depended entirely on the buyer.
In the cultivation world, someone descended from the Butterfly-Boned Clan who manifested ancestral traits wasn’t seen as “human.” Even though they were no different from ordinary people, out of collective self-interest, the cultivation world had deemed them “merchandise.” Thus, although horrible, the act of selling a Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast did not violate any taboos.
However, Chu Wanning, righteous zongshi that he was, had an ugly look on his face.
“This Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast was not obtained by Guyueye. Rather, this sale is on consignment, and thus Xuanyuan Pavilion will take an additional thirty percent of the agreed transaction payment as commission. Honored Xianjun, please take this into account when bidding and make an offer within your means.”
Once the Second Pavilion Master had spoken, she snapped her fingers, and with the signal, the wool blanket covering the divan fell.
Silence abruptly blanketed the pavilion.
Everyone was staring at the body chained to the stone divan with such rapt attention that within the vast Xuanyuan Pavilion, one could almost hear breath and heartbeats.
On the divan was a delicate young girl with snowy fair skin. Long locks like silk draped across her nearly naked body, and she was wrapped in only a translucent silk tulle. Her supple, smooth bare body trembled like frozen fresh snow or dampened jade, and she glowed gently under the light.
Eight iron chains firmly restrained her delicate body and clanged with her struggling. This only served to more easily arouse the savage desires of the men in the crowd. Even experienced philanderers would admit without hesitation that this girl was a rare beauty.
“A supreme treasure of the highest grade: a female Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast at her ripening age.” The Second Pavilion Master smiled, then approached to release one of the chains. Before the girl could fight back, her hand was caught as fast as lightning and raised to the air. “Hanlin the Sage has marked her with a dot of chastity cinnabar. As everyone can see, she is still a virgin.”
A snow-white cloth was bound around the girl’s mouth, muffling her pitiful cries. Large beads of tears rolled down from the corners of her eyes; those golden tears confirmed her identity as a descendant of the Butterfly-Boned Clan who had maintained ancestral traits.
Some sucked in their breaths, some swallowed hungrily. This revelation had turned the atmosphere of Xuanyuan Pavilion from that of an establishment filled with cultivators into that of a house squeezed to the brim with starving wolves, whose drool dripped from the corner of their mouths as they greedily eyed their prey.
A sharp crack resounded.
Chu Wanning’s cool gaze withdrew and landed on Mo Ran.
Mo Ran’s face was pale, his nails digging into the wood. He had broken a corner of the windowsill with his grip.
“What’s wrong?”
“No… It’s nothing.” Mo Ran inhaled deeply before he managed to calm himself and shook his head at Chu Wanning. “I just think selling live humans like this is…incredibly disgusting.”
He wasn’t telling the truth. His eyes quietly returned to the form of that Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast.
This woman was none other than the number one beauty of the cultivation world, the woman whom he had taken as his wife after he’d named himself emperor in his previous life: Song Qiutong.