19 WRATH OF THE CAGED BEAS (2/2)
It was extremely exquisite, and the carving of a long, vicious-looking snake coiling around a cage was depicted on its handle. Cheng Hao clapped his hands together and began to make multiple hand seals in rapid succession. Following those strange hand seals, the key slowly expanded and soon grew to be hundreds of times its previous size, way bigger than Cheng Hao's projection. When it reached this point, Cheng Hao raised one of his hands and made another mysterious hand sign; immediately afterwards, the key flew towards a keyhole that had materialized when the sword had been removed.
The bronze key entered the keyhole and, when it fit in completely, Cheng Hao's hands moved again. With a loud *Clack*, the doorframes opened. The key lost its physical body and faded away...
The massive gates slowly opened until a single, gigantic, completely white eye could vaguely be discerned inside, sticking out from its dark surroundings. A rasping voice could suddenly be heard talking...
”Who...” it started, but found no one to talk to. The eye looked around and seeing the empty space behind Cheng Hao, its gaze finally fell on the youth with golden eyes... The projection now was clear enough to discern the apparent age of the boy but not enough to clearly see his face. ”Who are you, human child?”
”I am Cheng Hao, and I am the Master of this tower. I am the tower's creator as well as its gatekeeper. I will not hide it, you are being held in here because of me. I built this tower to aid my own cultivation and you are a simple stepping stone that I will use to fly higher in the sky…” Cheng Hao's voice was as calm as it could get, and the shocking sentences had all been delivered with a monotone and bland tone.
Hearing this, the eye widened in surprise as it processed the information contained amongst the youth's claims. ”A stepping stone, uh? Did I perhaps mishear or misunderstand? It's been quite a few hundred years since I last exchanged words with a human, did your people's language, as old as your species and remained unmodified since time immemorial... change all of a sudden during this time?” The rasping voice seemed really tired as it sighed with feeling.
”Nope, all's as usual. You also heard me correctly and clearly did not misunderstand. With that cleared up... I'll go ahead and make a contract with you. I'm in need of a servant, you were the first to come to mind when I built this tower, so the duty's fallen upon you.”
Cheng Hao had disappeared: in his place was an arrogant and fearless King amongst men, a being superior to anyone else. His whole presence had changed. His hair fluttered, his eyes turned completely golden and became the only thing visible of the consciousness' true appearance... That cheerful and warm Cheng Hao that Xiao Wu had interacted with was no longer there, replaced by a lofty, lazy persona that the gigantic eye couldn't help but twitch at: why did he find that voice so annoying to hear?
”You... Are you really the one who imprisoned me here?” There was no trace of anger or rage in the eye's expression, just surprise and interest.
”Indeed. And I also plan to use you to get stronger faster. To do that I need your power! Told you once, and now confirmed it to you twice, don't ask again or I'll get annoyed.” The boy's voice reverberated into the first floor of the Immortal Ascension Tower.
Suddenly, a sharp glint appeared in the depths of the gigantic eye's pupils.
”If you are this tower's master then you must be really powerful. If you are already so powerful that you were able to build this tower, why do you need to use such methods to gain even more power?” The eye suddenly seemed to notice something, ”Oh, you are still only an Inferior Stage cultivator... My mistake. Child, where did you find this power?”
The eye closed as a thunderous laugh sounded in Cheng Hao's ears: the thing had suddenly burst out laughing seemingly without a reason, ”WAHAHAHAHAH!”
”Very well... I won't ask, but I don't want to become one's servant just like that... How about we play a game? I shall be your pet for a thousand years if you win but if I win...” The eye blinked and gleamed strangely, ”I shall be free and I will become this tower's new master! You will be imprisoned in my place until I completely use up this Tower's energy to increase my own strength... after all, we are both cultivators, even I would greatly benefit from this! After that period, I will free you and leave this place! This way, it's fair for the both of us. How about it?”
Cheng Hao stared emotionlessly at the gigantic figure whose only thing that could be seen was its eye. Cheng Hao was actually laughing loudly in his mind.
Oh, you will so regret this Little Black... No, from now on, I shall call you Blacky!
Wait... Goldy, Blacky... I'm starting to see a pattern here!
Am I really that bad at giving names? Why did nobody tell me???
The child remained silent for a few moments as if he were deeply pondering about the advantages and shortcomings of such a bet, but in the end he sighed and nodded, ”What game?”
”It is pretty simple, actually: I want to get out, you want to keep me in, right? If you can keep me from coming out of this floor for, let's say, twenty breaths, you win and I become a servant for a thousand years! If I get out, then the tower becomes mine; you'll take my place here.” The eerie, white eye blinked and flashed green: inside the eye, a nine-pointed star had appeared together with the descent of a strange law. In the following moment, a glittering contract appeared in front of Cheng Hao, the terms the same as the figure had just recited.
The youth nodded and exclaimed: ”I, Cheng Hao, accept your terms and declare that this bet may begin-”
”ROAAAR!!!” As soon as those words were uttered, the previously calm appearance of the Thing had turned into a raging anger and fury! ”You mother-fucker DARE to fucking imprison me here???”
”I said that I will make you take my place, locked in this tower… but I never specified that I will keep you alive until then! Today, I shall feast on your flesh and pleasure myself with your blood!”