MTLNOVEL Chapter 194: The Rattle Drum
Chapter 194: The Rattle Drum
“Little friend, can you give the rattle drum in your hand to your big brother? I’ll trade you some candy for it.”
Ye Beining had taken a liking to a rattle drum held by a child. The drum was glowing, which was clearly not an ordinary object. He took out a few sweet-flavored pills from his pocket, hoping to exchange them for the drum.
Even tricking a child’s toy…
Xu Lian gave him a strange look, recalling the creepy children of Ghost Child Ridge. The atmosphere here was completely different. The children of Ghost Child Ridge were sinister and terrifying, while the children here were pure, delicate, and doll-like.
The child instinctively reached out, took one of the pills, and popped it into his mouth. But he spat it out quickly. “What kind of candy is this? It’s not sweet at all. I won’t trade it!”
Ye Beining’s face stiffened. Gritting his teeth, he reached out to snatch the rattle drum.
However, a miraculous thing happened.
Despite his strength as a fourth-stage Great Grandmaster, he couldn’t overpower the child. He couldn’t snatch the drum.
Instead, the child gave him a light push, and Ye Beining fell to the ground.
Ye Beining fell hard, his face pale with pain.
The child burst into laughter, “Geh geh geh!”
Xu Lian was astonished. A Great Grandmaster couldn’t even match the strength of a child. This divine kingdom was truly formidable, worthy of its legendary status as a once-immortalized empire.
“Little friend, what will it take for you to give me the rattle drum?” Ye Beining still refused to give up.
The child thought for a moment. “Play a game with me. If you win, I’ll give you the drum.”
Ye Beining immediately agreed. “Deal!”
“Let’s play a game!”
“Yay, yay!” The other children chimed in, clustering around Xu Lian, Shui Yingyue, and Xiang Chengxing, urging them to join in.
Xu Lian felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn’t shake the memory of Ghost Child Ridge. This game wouldn’t be simple, and it wouldn’t be easy to win.
But if he refused to play, he risked angering these children… He couldn’t fight them, and escaping seemed impossible. They were like little gods.
“What game are we playing?”
“I want to play ‘Wooden Man’! It’s fun!” The children chattered and quickly decided on a game.
The rules were simple: Count to three, and the wooden man must not cry, laugh, or move!
“You’ll be the wooden men first, then it’s our turn,” said the child holding the rattle drum.
The four exchanged glances. Did they have a choice?
And so the children began to sing, “I’ll count to three, wooden man! Don’t cry, don’t laugh, don’t move!”
The game had begun!
Ye Beining, Shui Yingyue, Xiang Chengxing, and Xu Lian immediately froze without even blinking.
“Start with him.”
The children gathered around Ye Beining first, making funny faces to make him laugh.
Ye Beining didn’t laugh.
The child with the rattle drum reached out and lightly poked Ye Beining, creating a bloody hole in his body. Blood gushed out.
The other children followed suit, poking him all over.
Soon, Ye Beining’s body was riddled with bloody holes, like a honeycomb.
Damn it… In his mind, Xu Lian cursed Ye Beining’s family. Why did he have to covet the child’s drum?
However, Ye Beining was a tough guy. He didn’t make a sound or move a muscle. His willpower was impressive.
Disappointed that Ye Beining was standing still, the children moved on to the next target: Shui Yingyue.
They made funny faces, but Shui Yingyue didn’t laugh.
Then, they began pinching her.
Shui Yingyue’s body was soon covered in wounds, with blood dripping everywhere. Yet, she too remained silent and unmoving.
Is this the basic discipline of geniuses from major sects? Xu Lian was impressed. They truly had no fear of pain.
Having lost interest in Shui Yingyue, the children turned their attention to Xiang Chengxing. This time, they skipped the funny faces and went straight to punching and kicking…
As the children approached him, Xu Lian tensed up. It seemed that he couldn’t avoid a beating… unless he surrendered. But he wasn’t sure what the penalty would be for surrendering.
After tormenting Xiang Chengxing for a while and still failing to break his wooden man state, the children gave up and turned to Xu Lian.
Xu Lian’s mind raced. Suddenly, he had an idea. He activated a secret technique from the Sacred Spirit Record: the Withered Wood Technique.
His skin quickly dried up and his body shrank, as if he had truly turned into a wooden man.
No matter how the children punched, kicked, poked, or pinched him, he remained completely unresponsive.
The child with the rattle drum said, “These big brothers and sisters are so strong. Now it’s our turn to be the wooden men.”
Ye Beining, Shui Yingyue and Xiang Chengxing could no longer hold on. They collapsed to the ground, pale and gasping for breath, badly injured and on the verge of passing out.
The three of them swallowed healing pills, but they had little effect. Their attempts to heal themselves were also in vain.
Xu Lian was in a slightly better condition. Having turned into withered wood, he had suffered only minor injuries.
Ye Beining struggled to his feet. “I’m going to count to three, Wooden Man! Don’t cry, don’t laugh, don’t move!”
The children immediately froze, as if petrified.
No matter how Ye Beining tried to make them laugh, the children remained expressionless.
Finally, Ye Beining lost his temper and slapped the child across the face with the rattle drum.
The child was unharmed, but Ye Beining was sent flying. He spat blood and couldn’t get up.
His face turned pale with remorse. He shouldn’t have coveted the drum.
Shui Yingyue and Xiang Chengxing also tried various methods, but they could not break the children’s Wooden Man state.
Finally, it was Xu Lian’s turn.
He pondered.
Ordinary methods wouldn’t work as the other three had already tried. He had to think outside the box!
“A little monk asked the abbot: Can I eat candy while reciting scripture?
The old monk replied angrily: Of course not!
The little monk then asked: Can I recite scripture while eating sweets?
The old monk replied happily: Of course!”
Actually, the original joke was about smoking, but people in this world wouldn’t understand it, so he had to change it.
“A little rabbit went fishing.
He fished for a whole day and caught nothing.
He fished for two days and still caught nothing.
On the third day, he still caught nothing.
On the fourth day, when the little rabbit went fishing again, a fish jumped out of the water and scolded him: If you use a carrot as bait again, I’ll hit you with my tail, you little brat!..”
He told jokes from a joke book.
Unfortunately, the kids didn’t laugh.
Only Shui Yingyue chuckled slightly, but the movement caused her pain and she winced.
“Time for my ultimate move!”
Xu Lian stopped joking. He remembered a game he played as a child, a variation of the Wooden Man game. With a serious expression on his face, he announced:
“Tickle, tickle, tickle…”
With a mischievous grin, he brought his fingers to his mouth, blew on them and then began tickling the children’s armpits…
The children immediately collapsed, rolling on the floor and laughing uncontrollably.
This… Ye Beining, Shui Yingyue, and Xiang Chengxing were stunned. Was it really that simple?
However, Xu Lian didn’t think it was that simple. He vaguely understood that in order to win against these children, he had to share the joy of his childhood with them. Only by making them feel that joy could he win.
Otherwise, no matter what methods he used, he wouldn’t be able to defeat them. The three geniuses had been raised with high expectations by their families, and they had grown up cultivating, determined to become incomparable experts to protect their clans. Their childhoods had been devoid of joy.
“Big Brother, you won. Here’s the drum.”
The child with the drum handed it over to Xu Lian.
Xu Lian reached out and ruffled the child’s hair, smiling as he accepted the drum. “Thank you.”
Ye Beining’s eyes turned red with envy. According to the ancient records, any glowing item taken out of the Hundred Boats Secret Realm would become a treasure.
Xiang Chengxing was also filled with envy. Xu Lian had just arrived and already received a treasure.
However, Shui Yingyue was happy for Xu Lian. When he learned the Four Symbols Battle Tactics, he had made an agreement with the Shui family: half of the opportunities he gained in the Hundred Boats Secret Realm would belong to the Shui family.