The source of commotion happened to be a battle scene. Baihe and Fenglong watched in schadenfreude as they both enjoyed the entertainment played by leading actress Fei Fei, starring male lead Prince Zhao, and the cannibal villain Old Witch.

“I’m telling you, I don’t have any pills to cure blindness!” Fei Fei screamed at the Old Witch as the blind lady tackled her down to the ground.

Without any sense of decorum, the Old Witch frisked Fei Fei boldly; her old and wrinkly hands inappropriately touching everywhere, including the private part between the youthful legs. Fei Fei tried to wrestle away but to no avail. The more she struggled, the messier her appearance became.

Aggrieved tears gathered at the rims of her eyes as Fei Fei sent help signals to Prince Zhao, but he pretended not to notice — his eyes shifting everywhere besides the two women tussling on the floor.

Prince Zhao was looking at the bigger picture; right now, they were entrapped by the Old Witch who was of higher cultivation than him and he still needed to escape this formation. Not to mention, they were both women, so his fiancé wasn’t losing too much.

Defeated, the beseeching look in Fei Fei’s distressed eyes flashed a pang of sadness; she was his woman and yet he would stand by idly and allow another to disrespect her. She felt something ugly pricked her heart and indignation rose up to her throat.

“Insolent! How dare you stinky old woman! I am the future Crown Princess of the Feng Empire!” Fei Fei hollered, her face red with resentment.

Pang!

A loud, clear, crisp slap echoed inside the cottage. On Fei Fei’s snow white face was five conspicuous red finger marks; the powerful hand she received from the Old Witch had nearly slapped her silly.

Without skipping a beat, the Old Witch continued to blindly search Fei Fei; before long, she found a hidden small jar of elixir tucked behind Fei Fei’s belt.

Finally recovering from her daze state, Fei Fei immediately fought back with all her strength when she felt a hand trying to steal her precious treasures. Inwardly, Fei Fei cursed the blind old woman; for someone without sight, the Old Witch had great accuracy.

But how could a mere Early Dao Stage 3 Apothecary practitioner match the prowess of a Peak Dao Stage 5?

Angered by the struggling girl beneath her, the Old Witch lightly humphed and decisively torn off the belt from Fei Fei. A loud scream ensued as Fei Fei busied herself with closing her front robe to preserve her reputation.

First it was Huang Baihe and now even a blind old witch dares to bully her? Enraged, Fei Fei exploded as she spew a mouthful of venomous words at the Old Witch, damming the blind woman for eternity.

No one would be happy being cursed at so balefully, much less a grumpy Old Witch. Without wasting any saliva, the Old Witch rained down slap after slap on Fei Fei — transforming her dainty countenance into an upgraded version of the swollen pig-face she previously donned because of Baihe.

Stunned, Prince Zhao still hadn’t recovered from his panic state of mind after he saw the jar of elixir fall into the Old Witch’s hand. Those pills inside the jar were given by the Huang household to aid them through the second half of the Feng Martial Tournament. Now what will he do?

Finally, the incessant pitiful wails from Fei Fei snapped Prince Zhao out of his stupor. He saw the swollen pig face of his fiancé and displeasure swept across his eyes; Prince Zhao was peeved by the Old Witch’s disrespectful actions. After all, he was still the Crown Prince of the Feng Empire. By doing this in front of him, the Old Witch didn’t put him in her eyes at all nor did she give him any face.

Prince Zhao narrowed his eyes and his expression turned ugly. This time, he didn’t stand by idly, but had instead charged toward the Old Witch as he gathered a sphere of dense spiritual energy in his palm.

Sensing the change in the velocity of the wind, the Old Witch nimbly moved aside. Baihe silently applauded the Old Witch for possessing such agility and fast reflex even though she was blind, but Prince Zhao was in no mood to admire his opponent’s speed.

The Old Witch softly tapped her wooden cane on the floor thrice and a shock-wave sent Prince Zhao flying backward, colliding past the walls of the cottage. Baihe had long been cocooned in Fenglong’s embrace as he whisked her a safe distance away, but the others — along with the cottage were not as fortunate.

The small scale shock-wave produced by the Old Witch had thoroughly destroyed the cottage, leaving behind a huge demolished plot of land that merged together with the backyard garden.

Prince Zhao spurted out a mouthful of blood as he clutched his heart in pain. Thanks to his high level of cultivation, he was able to withstand the attack; but Fei Fei suffered the worst causality. Due to being in close proximity to the shock-wave, Fei Fei ended up with heavy internal damage to her meridians.

Crimson red blood stained the ground from the two victims caught in the shock-wave, but another more pungent stench masked theirs. It was exactly because of this destruction that had finally revealed what reside inside the secret pathway the Old Witch usually disappeared to.

Rows of huge kettle pots the height of 4 feet tall were filled with human corpses — soaked in some kind of liquid. Shelves of unidentified potions lined up by where the walls were supposed to be; metal tables packed with organs in trays and various tools took up the rest of the space. Without the extra layer of barrier, the stench was overwhelming to the point of nausea.

Upon the gruesome sight, Fei Fei screamed while crawling toward Prince Zhao, who was still sprawled on top of a heap of fallen objects scattered on the ground; seeing all the human corpses collected by the Old Witch, Prince Zhao lifted a shaky finger at the blind woman. “You…you better not do anything to this prince, or else the entire Feng Empire won’t let you off!”

“HAHAHA!” the Old Witch laughed derisively; “Feng Empire?” she sneered. “This formation array was created by the mermaids and I was unwillingly trapped here by the Mermaid King. He wants to recruit talents by using these trials?” the Old Witch asked with a mocking smile; “No one who had entered my territory had ever escaped. All of them became nourishment for me. As if I would help that annoying Mermaid King! If I don’t even put the Mermaid King in my eyes, what is a human Feng Empire worth?”

Prince Zhao turned deadly pale at her brass words. How unlucky was he? Imperial father had told him that this secret training base located in their country worked in mysterious ways and it was only accessible every three years; some people who entered were never to be seen again, while others were fortunate enough to encounter easy challenges.

From the looks of things, Prince Zhao knew his luck had reached rock bottom. Of all the challenges, he just had to stumble across this little cottage. “Let me go and I’ll ask my imperial father to find a way to free you!”

“Puny humans expect to crack this formation array when even I couldn’t?” A delirious laughter escaped from the Old Witch.

When the chalky laughter finally died down, the Old Witch opened the jar of elixir and nonchalantly poured all the pills down her throat. Prince Zhao heart ache when he saw the precious pills disappear into her stomach, but who knew instead of feeling gratitude, the Old Witch would suddenly explode in rage.