"Great Elder, what do you think of my proposal?" Li Huowang asked, looking at the woman in the black robe before him.
Li Huowang didn't know the other high-ranking members of the Ao Jing Sect, but he could judge that the woman in front of him held a prominent position within the sect. He knew this simply because her exposed skin was entirely covered with all sorts of bizarre scars, without a single intact patch. Her belly was also distended, but its size didn't suggest pregnancy; it looked more like a grotesque tumor.
The woman slowly opened her mouth toward Li Huowang, revealing a hollow void. Not only had her tongue been torn out, but the very skin inside her mouth had been peeled away, leaving the entire cavity a ghastly white. Everything within, including her throat, was ulcerated.
To explain why she couldn't speak, she picked up a wolf-hair brush beside her and began writing on a red bamboo slip. "Li Huowang, this humble woman, Shen Benyou, has long admired your great name."
