Chapter 1162
The Torment of Salt Corrosion
“…Petrified?”
The guide, Anar, understood the words but wished she hadn’t. She felt a little panicked—because she truly understood what this meant. Many Extraordinary individuals on the Twilight Path possessed petrification abilities, and ancient ruins sometimes contained curses that turned people to stone. It wasn’t exactly rare… and more importantly, she had heard similar accounts before.
At this moment, Zhu Tang realized something and frowned slightly.
“I’ll ask,” interjected the old Ritualist, Ibn. He sighed, stepped forward, and began a rapid, fluent exchange with the Snake People Priestess in the Anxi Language. Although Eivass understood some Anxi Language, and Priestess Dong Ya had been communicating with them in standard, slow Star Antimony Language, as if practicing a foreign language… for something this important, even one translation could lead to misinterpretation.
For example, the term “Lord” was a result of translation from Star Antimony Language, where its original meaning was closer to “compassionate, benevolent, noble, and holy master.” Anar’s address to Eivass as “Master” was derived from a part of this term. It was also a more intimate and less formal way for slaves to address their masters. Hence, it was translated as “Master”— an affectionate term used by the servants of Star Antimony towards their nobles, and was more intimate than titles like “Lord,” “Your Excellency,” or “Mister.”
However, these two words, the former lost the sense of humility, obedience, and fear in translation, while the latter also lost the implication of a “master-servant relationship.” This was the information loss caused by translation.
Seeing Ibn, an Anxi native, helping with the translation, Dong Ya visibly relaxed. She was clearly worried about saying something wrong and miscommunicating. Ibn’s attire indicated he was a Ritualist, someone who understood some professional terminology.
Amidst the discussions, which were clearly mixed with dialect, unclear and rapid chatter, were a few uneasy and fearful whispers and questions from Anar. Soon, Ibn grasped the situation and returned to Eivass, whispering his report.
—This had happened not long ago. Two days prior, a powerful petrification curse suddenly erupted from the center of Rock Cell City—an attack effect caused by some irresistible ritual spell. Priestess Dong Ya was not nearby at the time, as she had already gone to evacuate. But when she later tried to enter Rock Cell City to remove the curse, she found her rituals and divine arts were completely ineffective. The curse even seemed to infect her like a virus.
On the day she failed to remove the curse, she only noticed that a patch of scales on her waist had become rough. But when she woke up the next day, she felt a distinct stinging sensation. It was a needle-like pain—somewhat similar to bone spurs. At that time, Dong Ya discovered that the rough scales had completely turned into a brittle, gray-white stone shell. After she broke off the petrified scales with force, she found that the underlying muscle had also petrified.
So, Dong Ya directly used her curved saber, after performing a blessing, to carefully cut out the petrified flesh and blood. Afterward, she used a healing ritual to restore her damaged body—Snake People priests were not divine art Holders within the Eternal Holy Kingdom’s system, so they did not possess the Illuminate Spell or Fire Worship Magic. But Dong Ya was already a Third Tier Extraordinary. Whether in Avalon, Star Antimony, or Iris Flower, she would be a dignified Bishop-level divine art Caster. Casters of this level still possessed this degree of Healing Ability… even Mages had the ability to heal minor injuries.
However, before the night was over, Dong Ya felt an increasingly intense itch, even more unbearable than pain. It was said to be a torment “comparable to the Torment of Salt Corrosion”—
The Torment of Salt Corrosion was a unique torture in Anxi, exclusively used on individuals of a certain status, and was also the most common form of torture. It was typically used to punish those who dared to disrespect the Lord with some wealth or minor authority—such as merchants, priests, ritualists, or physicians. However, these latter individuals would occasionally use simplified punishments to discipline their own slaves, imitating the Lord’s authority.
The most common situations involved private ritualists or physicians engaging in illicit affairs with their Lord’s female slaves, or merchant slave traders failing to meet their Lord’s orders, or losing, killing, or maiming important slaves specifically requested by the Lord. This torment involved stripping the person naked and confining them in a cage, submerged in a thick, warm brine. It was a high-concentration saline solution, possibly mixed with minerals like sulfur and saltpeter.
Dong Ya had experienced this punishment for refusing a Lord’s touch. Although it sounded merely like soaking in hot springs, the high-concentration salt water would cause severe dehydration. According to Dong Ya’s own description, in the first few seconds, it felt like thousands of ice needles piercing the gaps between her scales. Afterward, the stinging sensation would spread along the nerves, and a burning sensation, like holding a flame, would surge upward against the flow of the ice needles. Her originally smooth, grayish-blue scales would fade, dry out, and peel off, revealing the pink, tender flesh beneath. Her exposed pale skin would turn white and wrinkled at a visible rate, like dry wood deprived of moisture.
The Lord’s servants would use a long-handled copper ladle to scoop up the brine and deliberately pour it onto her waist, the area she had refused to be touched, as a form of “cleansing.” Different victims endured different degrees of the Torment of Salt Corrosion. The Lord was not overly displeased with her, so it was possible to call a halt at this point. It was said that if the soaking continued, the skin would tear and curl. This would be followed by severe dehydration throughout the body, and it was even possible to be pickled into jerky alive amidst screams.
—This was also the Lord’s prerogative.
Since all water belonged to the Lord, it naturally included the water within everyone’s bodies. For insignificant commoners, the punishment was usually to be hung up to dry or to be bled to death by being inverted. But for people of higher status, this would be too prolonged, neither intuitive nor swift. And their crimes did not necessarily warrant death. Thus, the Torment of Salt Corrosion, which offered “the option to end it based on the Lord’s mood, the possibility of death, and a degree of reversibility,” was the best choice.
Furthermore, it served to constantly remind everyone—the Lord controlled all water in the desert, and people’s survival depended on the Lord’s grace. They could bestow life, and they could also reclaim it. This torment continued until nightfall, and Dong Ya herself couldn’t help but scratch at her scales, only then did the itching finally cease—the petrification spread from beneath her scales, and this time it clearly expanded outwards. What was originally a patch the size of a thumbnail had now spread to an area the size of a palm. The pain, however, lessened the itching considerably, making it possible to sleep.
As a result, her pre-sleep prayer was unexpectedly answered—in fact, for most Priests and Priestesses, unanswered prayers were the norm. The result was a Miracle, the Descend of an Apostle. However, Jacob did not remove her curse, because he said “it was unnecessary.” As long as she could complete her mission, the curse would naturally be lifted; if she failed, she would naturally not be qualified to discuss it.
—That mission was to bring Eivass, who would arrive at the Shrine today, here.
“But why did this curse appear in the first place?” Eivass frowned. “Did Priestess Dong Ya say?”
“Yes,” old Ibn nodded. “It was a blackmail, a robbery… a kidnapping.”
(End of Chapter)
