The poison that entered his waist from the brushing of the fourth blade-wielder collided with the one already present in his bloodstream, causing a lethal counter-reaction. The result was the puddle of black blood which he spewed out not too long ago.
The four bladewielders retreated with gloomy looks. Just now, their performance lacked the level of satisfaction that the five black robed men brought and it was evident that Chen Xizi's gaze towards them didn't even conceal his feeling of dissatisfaction.
Next…
Chen Xizi's fingers snapped for the third time to signal the next set of entertainers to step out.
Shortly after, three ladies dressed in deep blue gowns appeared and pounced towards him like wild tigresses. They had no external weapons but Chen Zhiyu felt actual threat coming from the three ladies and it was even substantial than that of the earlier set that attacked him earlier.
When they approached, they acted like coquettish dancers entertaining the audience under soothing music played by one of the servants through the zither.
The music in the air was actually soothing for the audience and it calmed their hearts somewhat despite the skills of the player being a bit too mediocre.
But in the eyes of Chen Zhiyu, they were dancing to a dirge –his own dirge. This was a dance of death that the ladies were giving to him.
Watching the three of them dance in synchrony with their blue robes flashing back and forth in his view made Chen Zhiyu feel dizzy as his vision was constantly distorted till he could no longer see anything clearly. Chen Zhiyu's vision became strained and it became a total struggle to sustain consciousness.
In this split break of consciousness, Chen Zhiyu seemed to re-witness everything that had happened in the past decade. It was so fast it flashed in his eyes in mere seconds. Of course such speed of thoughts caused a spiraling headache to hit him and the searing pain made him hold his head in anguish.
As if that were not enough, another fracture happened in his brain causing a psychological deviation. His expression and emotions alternated between joy and sorrow, happiness and sadness and even excitement and depression. He appeared to have entered a kind of intoxicated state, like a drunkard who had reached his state of drunkenness.
While he seemed to be witnessing all of this physically, the audience only felt entertained by the comical display his change of expressions brought. At last, five minutes winded by and Chen Zhiyu snapped out of the state immediately with an unmistakable look of terror pasted on his face.
The three girls had arrived in front of him in the blink of an eye. A strange elusive fragrance oozed from their bodies and cold smiles hung on their faces. They flicked their hands, shooting three 'bolts' intermittently at Chen Zhiyu.
First, on the glabella. Second, directly on his chest and the third one struck his belly.
WENG!
It was like his body reversed its function following these fierce hits. Chen Zhiyu felt really terrible as he was poisoned once again. And this time around, the poison froze all of his five senses stiff.
His vision had become fogged, his nose could no longer take in air and each time he forcibly attempted to breathe, clogs of blood would drip from them. His tongue felt like it had been struck by lightning, he could not speak neither could he feel the taste of the blood he spewed.
He could only hear in bits, also his body's temperature constantly alternated between hot and cold. It turned hot when he felt weakened and cold to relax his reactivity to pain.
His heart was not spared as it began rippling oddly, following an abnormal beating pattern. It was becoming too unusual to the point that even the audience were revealing faint sense of worry and murmuring through whispers.
"I wonder what Lord Xizi is thinking, does he really want to kill the Young Master this time around"
"I wouldn't know, would I? Hush! If Lord Xizi heard you, you'll suffer a fate more miserable than the Young Master"
"Eiyo! But this is still going overboard, I can't bear to watch anymore"
"Hmph, then tell Lord Xizi to stop. I'm fine with it as long as Lord Xizi is happy".
Their murmurs were done swiftly to avoid notifying Chen Xizi. But could it really escape his senses?
No…But he was currently in a joyful mood because of Chen Zhiyu's miserable appearance after the three ladies had finished with him.
So he couldn't be really bothered by the nonchalant mumblings and hushed whispers the servants were making, because he was happy inwardly.
Chen Zhiyu's torture was really devastating to behold as he was gasping for breath while not feeling a living pulse at the same time because his life vein was contracting and expanding at irregular rhythms.
He was only a crippled mortal after all, with a weak physique, as long as the torture continued, he might really lose his life. In fact, he was only surviving on the last vestiges of strength he could summon.
Either of the three acts from before were capable of taking his life individually…but somehow he still managed to make it through despite the three being stacked at a time. Chen Zhiyu was now certain that Chen Xizi wanted to take his life.
However, there was nothing a weakling like him without a strong physique or cultivation talent do about it. He was only trash meant to be kicked around, meat on Chen Xizi's chopping board.
But was it always like this since birth? No!
Heaven was really cruel to him and it left him with no witty way to escape such a miserable fate.
Chen Zhiyu had a seed of hatred ingrained in his heart at the point when he realized that his cruel cousin was really going to kill him for good.
It would at least be better if Chen Xizi took the initiative and granted him a swift and painless death but he was sinister about it, allowing him experience pain continuously till he weakened his will to resist and let him beg for death on his own.