I stayed behind a bit more as I tried to stabilize the sudden boost in cultivation. Afterward I quickly sorted a small pile of their loot. Then sorting through said small pile of loot, I took only what I thought could be of some use. But most of the pile wasn't of use in the first place as they were all simply crudely made weapons. As for the rest, even though they could be sold for a lump of gold or something it didn't really matter to me.
In the end I only took the spatial rings that some of them had on and a communication jade which the leader had. As for all the weapons and little trinkets that they had on their person I left them alone. Their trash wasn't worth anything to me.
'Now, all there's left is that poor little shop keep. He must be deathly worried about what happened to those bandits and I. What a deceitful little man he is, I wonder! How should I punish him for this? I may not have been as cruel as that demon, but considering how long he's probably been doing this I think more than deserves it.'
I held up the communication jade with a slow and widely spreading smile.
***
(Shopkeeper POV)
'Damn, what's taking them so long? That woman should be long dead by now. Well, she should be, but considering Brother Gao's preference of women she'll probably have a hellish time. She was quite dazzling after all, but that cloak of hers hid her beauty well, both facial and bodily.'
I calmly watched my storefront, scrutinizing every customer who entered the store. Many left after a few moments of browsing, but occasionally one or two would come up with wares to purchase.
Soon I started quickly tapping my heel against the floor and began to become impatient.
'Damn! Where the hell is their response? They normally never take this long? Are they really having such a good time with her right now?! Those goddamn bastards!'
I stood up from my stool I had been sitting on and started pacing around the back of my counter. I paced back and forth until I started realizing the number of customers in my store had steadily decreased by quite a margin.
I wondered for a moment what had happened when a loud crash came from outside. I was immediately startled, but when I ran out to see what happened I noticed that just a little ways down the street someone's store sign had dropped and had actually collided with one of the streetlamps. Shards of glass small and large riddled the street.
Everyone seemed distracted by the commotion as was I, but since it was merely some property damage I went back inside after another moment of looking.
As I did I sighed with a languid energy and was about to sit down when I felt the communication jade in my pocket vibrate.
My eyelids quickly jolted awake and I quietly walked into the dimly lit back room before I took it out.
There was a new message from the house. Without hesitation I played it, but the voice I had expected to hear was nowhere to be found. Instead a quick and deep sense of dread appeared as I realized who really sent the message.
[Hello, dear shopkeep. I took care of those bandits for you and I'm on my way back now for my reward.]
Droplets of sweat quickly formed on my forehead as I feared what might have happened. But hearing that the tone she used and words she chose didn't pertain to any of my involvement I relaxed just a bit. In a panic I had a lapse in memory, forgetting who the communication jade really belonged to and responded.
I psyched myself up as I put on the calmest and most grateful voice I could at the moment.
[T-that's great! Thank you! Thank you so much for doing this! I'm sorry, but could you come back another day for the reward? I have a problem I have to deal with right now. Maybe tomorrow you could come back and I'll have the items ready for you. You don't know how happy I am to hear that they are dead! I'm extremely grateful for your service, this has been the best deal I've ever made. You don't know how long those people have been a thorn in my side for!]
When I ended the message I started to brainstorm how I could deal with this situation.
'From the sheer amount of words I said they should probably believe me. But what should I do? Should I just leave or should I play it off like I had no involvement with them? Damn it, damn it, damn it! Shit! Fuck, what should I do?
Well, I did just give myself some time, about a day's worth of it. I guess I'll just go home for now and try and think about it. I still have to close up shop, but I can leave that to the guards. They may not be too good, but I pay them nonetheless.'
With my mind made up I grabbed my outer robe from a nearby hanger and was about to exit through the back door, I couldn't leave with the risk of being seen by that woman after all. Before that I quickly sent a message to those guards to close up shop.
I walked up to the back door, but just before I could open it a message started playing in the room which made the color drain from my face as I froze in place. The message was the only audible sound in the quiet back room which raised its sense of eerie placement.
[T-that's great! Thank you! Thank you so much for doing this! I'm sorry, but could you come back another day for the reward? I have a problem I have to deal with right now. Maybe tomorrow you could come back and I'll have the items ready for you. You don't know how happy I am to hear that they are dead! I'm extremely grateful for your service, this has been the best deal I've ever made. You don't know how long those people have been a thorn in my side for!]
This was the exact same message I had sent over moments ago. I had frozen in place, horrified to move even an inch, but inevitably I had to, especially after I started hearing the sounds of the door which connected this room to the main store slowly creaking closed.
When I turned back the I had just entered from was just closed by a figure with crimson eyes, almost like they glowed in the dark. It was only one of two things which caught my eye. The other was the very communication jade that had just repeated my message out again.
My body was trembling uncontrollably as my mind became clouded and I dropped to my knees. My vision began to tunnel as I watched her toss the communication jade aside and walk toward me.
She looked down at me with a cold and unmoving gaze. There was a sense of unimaginable pressure coming from her that I couldn't understand. Even the one I gave that phone to didn't have anything close to this pressure.
It didn't take long before I felt my consciousness fading.
…
***
(Yi Feng POV)
I looked at the pathetic sight of a man in front of me. I hadn't even done anything yet, but he had lost consciousness. I suppose it does make it easier for me to tie him up though.
'How should I deal with him? I can't simply kill him here and now. That's too easy a death for scum like him! Who knows how many clueless people he's killed through his methods. Hmm, torture doesn't sound too bad, but I'm not an expert at it. Well It's better than nothing, torture it is!'
..
"W-what? Where am I? M-my shop? Y-you! I-I sorry!! I'm sorry, please forgive me!"
The man woke up in a stupor, but he soon recognised his surroundings and the very person in front of him. I had simply tied him to a chair with some of the robe he had lying around.
"Oh? You're apologizing already? I haven't even stated my grievances yet."
"I-I'm sorry ma'am! For whatever I did, please let me go!"
"Whatever you did? Oh I'm sure you know exactly what you did, let's hear it."
"D-dear customer, why are you acting this way? I-I'm merely a shopkeeper, I- Ahhh!!!"
I had pulled out a dagger and pierced it though his left shoulder. A steady stream of red liquid started to flow out as it seeped into the man's robes. I didn't know too much about torture, but I did know that you typically didn't want the victim to die too soon.
As someone who's been through many injuries, though in my previous life, I knew a number of places which wouldn't kill too rapidly when struck.
"Say, shopkeep, how many people have you deceived doing this?"
"I, I uh don't know what you're- NNnnnn!!!"
I twisted the blade and he clenched his teeth in response.
"Why are you still putting up this facade? Didn't you realize that I had your friend's communication jade? Is the fact that I contacted you using it not proof enough that I know about what you did?"
Suddenly his expression blanked out as if he had just realized and he had an expression full of despair.
"A-am I going to die?"
"Yes, you will."
"Heheheheheh- Ahhhh!! H-hey!"
"Shut up! You don't get to laugh eerily!"
"W-what?! You're even taking this away from me?!"
"Hmm, actually I've decided that I'll take a little more than that."
In a quick flash my scythe appeared along with it's distinctive black flame. The blade was soon thrust into his other shoulder and ignoring his scream I sent another half of the flame into his body. His cultivation wasn't high at all, only a mere Meridian Opening, but I was going to experiment with him a little.
I tried to split the flame within him to have each part go into both the dantian and heart amidst his screams in the background. None of the noise would reach outside the room anyway, I had already placed a sound isolating barrier afterall.
After a few tries I eventually succeeded as they each headed to the dantian and heart respectively, but the amount of control I had to put in had more than doubled as well. A single flame had its difficulty to control based on the size, but simply adding another meant that I had to think about the path and actions of each individually.
To be honest the whole torture thing wasn't too enjoyable for me. I wasn't some maniac that reveled in the pain and negative emotions of others after all. At least I can say I've tried it, though.
'I wonder if it is possible to retrieve his cultivation while he's still alive though? If I could then I don't even know how powerful I'll become while barely even lifting a finger!'
I tried to pull it out with my mental connection, but they wouldn't budge from their locations. No matter how much I tried, it did seem like that the host could feel the movements and painful sensation that must have come along with it.
I tried for a while to pull it out as I hoped that as long as I tried long enough I might have been able to do so, but to no avail as nothing had changed.
I tried to detach the blame flame and that did work, but it seems that if that happens the cultivation will simply be returned to the host instead of stolen with the flame.
Finally in the end I gave up and just chopped his head off and had a horrid facial expression. The boost in cultivation that he gave me was minimal at best and none existent at worst.
After taking the gloves I was originally here for I left.