How Much For Your Soul

It wasn't until Gu Heng's attendant went to check on him that the alarm was raised. He was greeted by the sight of his young master still asleep, but the artwork covering Gu Heng's face bespoke of something wrong. The servant immediately tried to rouse him by shaking and calling out for his young master, but only succeeded when he used his soul force to incite a response. Once Gu Heng was awake, he immediately called the guards. He was only a 3 stage Heavenly Star and the sedative capable of knocking out Dao of Dragon experts was still affecting him.

Gu Heng ordered everyone that rushed to his call to see if anything was missing, but after a brief search, the room seemed to be untouched. Gu Heng had used this time to search his body and soul realm for any changes but could find nothing amiss other than the groggy feeling from the tranquilliser.

It wasn't until he checked his interspatial ring that he discovered the target of the intruder. Except for his personal effects and equipment that he was given by the Gu Clan, he had been cleaned out. There was also a pile of high-grade artifacts that he quickly identified as belonging to some of the Elders that supported him.

Gu Heng was a petty tyrant, but he was not stupid. These high-level items could be sold for a fortune to any cultivator, but they would easily be identified and traced back to the seller. The Gu Clan was a massive Sect family and had a lot of influence, the weapons and armour all held the Clan insignia, making them recognisable to anyone with eyes. Since there was no such thing as kind-hearted thieves, the person responsible had filled his ring with everything that they would be unable to use or sell.

Greed quickly flashed through Gu Heng's eyes before logic and reason mercilessly squashed it. There was no way he could keep them, so he had to make it known that he was now in possession of obviously stolen items. Doubly so since he recognised the third Elder's things. Gu Yu was one of his staunchest supporters for becoming the next Patriarch, there was no way that he would be involved in a plot to discredit Gu Heng! Realising that even his supporting Elders had been targeted, he sent his guards to rouse them and meet in Gu Yu's courtyard.

Perhaps this was all part of a plot to frame their opposition? Either way, the servant was very clear on the fact that he could never reveal anything. If it were discovered he had taken part in the operation, he would instantly be silenced before he could spill any information that could betray the young master!

In the hectic time between Gu Heng waking up and running off to Gu Yu's courtyard, no one had told him of the phallus inked onto his face. Whether they had been too afraid to be the first to speak up or sidetracked with searching for anything missing, they had now missed the opportunity as their young master was disappearing from sight in his haste to reach Gu Yu. They suddenly gasped in fear when they realised that telling him before he exposed his shame to the Clan would have carried a far lighter punishment than when he returned humiliated!

Luckily, since Gu Heng was the one to raise the alarm, he was also the first to arrive at Gu Yu's courtyard. Only five minutes had passed after receiving Gu Heng's messenger, and Gu Yu had just sat down to wait for the rest of the Elders to arrive.

His fierce expression was a testament to the fact that he had also been robbed, he was not in the mood for pleasantries, so he just gestured for Gu Heng to take a seat. But even though he was steaming in rage, he was astounded by the vulgar image adorning the future Patriarch's face! It was a full five seconds of gaping incredulously before he could summon his thoughts.

"What the hell is on your face?" Gu Yu manage to utter.

"What do you mean?" Gu Heng replied wiping his face, afraid that in his haste to get here, he had left drool marks or something marring his usual dignified appearance.

"Nevermind, just quickly go wash it off before the others arrive!"

But before Gu Heng could even make it ten steps to the bathroom, the other five Elders started to arrive. With the speed of a Dao of Dragon expert, it did not take long for them to traverse the short distance to the third Elder's courtyard. What greeted them was their candidate for the Patriarch's seat with a huge cock and balls covering his face.

The artist had taken great care to add hair around the balls, going as far as to draw drops of liquid down the side of his face. He tried his best to ignore the shocked looks of the Elders and headed to the bathroom to wash off whatever kept causing people to stare at him.

"What was that on his face? Why the hell would he walk around with that on his face in public?" Asked the Ninth Elder of the Clan when Gu Heng had left the room.

"I suspect it was courtesy of whoever stole from us, an extra insult to our choice of Patriarch candidate." Replied Gu Yu.

The Elders stared at each other with dumbfounded expressions, who would be so crude as to draw a penis on another man's face? Five minutes later, a very embarrassed Gu Heng joined the table where the Elders waited.

"We must find whoever is responsible and slowly torture them to death!" He said as his now clean fare radiated heat from either his furious scrubbing or the shame he was feeling.

The Elders all nodded, this crime could not go unpunished. Respect was more valuable than a person's life in the martial world, and they just had theirs thrown on the ground and pissed on! What followed was a lengthy debate about how to proceed next. Should they bring this to the Patriarch and demand justice?

Or swallow the insult until they found out whoever was responsible and deal with them personally? Even though they recovered their Clan equipment from Gu Heng, they would not be reimbursed by the Clan for the loss of their wealth. The best they could hope for was cooperation in catching and punishing the criminals, but then this matter would be known by everyone.

In the end, they decided to deal with this attack personally, and leave the Clan out of it. Much better to personally torture to death those responsible than just have the Clan reprimand them under the Sects rules! The most punishment the culprits would receive would possible be a month of being locked up in the Frost Cellar, a light sentence as far as the Elders were concerned!

So they gritted their teeth and swallowed the humiliation they had received. There would be time enough for revenge when they found the culprit, no need to rush into the enemy's trap and expose to the whole Sect what had happened.

Shen Yue was amazed at the ability of Gu Heng and the Elders to keep the matter quiet, he was sure the would charge out of their courtyards like a wounded bull, screaming for retribution! It looked like he had underestimated them, an intelligent enemy was much more dangerous than a stupid, predictable one. Unfortunately for them, it was only the first step in his plan to attack them. With them keeping the matter to themselves, it would only seem like an excuse if they brought it up in the future!

Since Shen Yue could only wait for the effects of the poison to reveal itself, he concentrated on Hua Ling's forces that were out guarding the Ling Jade Deity's Lake. Hua Ling had formed a small contingent of about sixty people that were mostly Heavenly Fate Realm experts from the Little Heaven Realm.

Although they were in the Heavenly Fate Realm, some of them had formed their sixth or seventh Fate Soul. Since Shen Yue was still playing in the little leagues, these people would help immensely against anyone making trouble. After all, Murong Yu, the genius from the year before that caused problems for Nie Li, had only formed his fifth Fate Soul.