Finally it was Xixue's turn to get her Slavery Brand erased. However, Cao Yun could see in her eyes that she had something else to ask of him. Although she was trying to hide her feelings as best as she could, Cao Yun was able to read her expressions like an open book.
Contrary to the other slaves, she wasn't exactly happy to be saved. Still, she seemed happy enough for her companions. But examining them a bit closer, Cao Yun detected some signs in the color of their eyes, their skins and various subtle details. All the other slaves clearly looked like they belonged to a same lineage while Xixue was vaguely distant from that genealogy. Of course, she was very similar to them but there was something else to her. Most likely, she didn't belong to the same tribe. Maybe she had been staying with them for some reason when the slavers attacked. They seemed to trust her a lot considering what he had observed during his time in the caravan.
Right now, she seemed to be torn, as though she had to make the most important choice in her life.
Anyway, he would soon get his answers. But he didn't want to make obvious to the young woman that he could see through her no matter the efforts wasted to conceal her feelings. Indeed, in this unknown land, he had no reason to reveal any of his real talents. Even in the previous fight, he had concealed his Qi cultivation until the very end. Obviously, he would have used it if he had been in too much difficulty. Thankfully, he hadn't had to do so. Although the former slaves were grateful, he had no idea how they would respond to a human impersonating an Accomplished Demon.
Xixue tried to look as subservient as possible, but Cao Yun could see signs of defiance and even disrespect in her. He couldn't tell for sure why but she had some animosity toward him. Maybe it was just her nature. However, there was no sign that she wished him any harm. Even if she had, she was completely powerless in front of him and she knew it. In fact, that might have been the reason for this animosity. Right now, her life was completely in Cao Yun's hands, no matter how nice he pretended to be.
"Noble lord, I have a request to make of you."
When she said 'Noble lord', Cao Yun could see that she hated that with a passion. But she was swallowing her pride to talk to him. With those simple words, he saw through her. She didn't hate him, she hated the noble demons. With his bloodline, Cao Yun did look like a noble-born. Bloodlines were extremely important to demons, along with strength.
"Oh?! Speak freely."
"Thank you. But you might not want my companions to hear what I have to reveal to you."
There was no doubt that Cao Yun was intrigued by this woman. She wasn't very tall and her blood cultivation was weak. Her hair was red as blood. Contrary to most demons, her skin was also rather pale. In fact, now that he looked closely, all the other slaves were also a bit pale. He hadn't paid it much attention because those were normal colors for humans. Considering that they were demons, Cao Yun imagined that they were simply avoiding the sun as much as possible. Thus, their skin was less red and dark than for other demons. Besides, he could also sense her blood. Her bloodline was good but nothing to boast about when compared to the demons he had met.
He did want to know more about her and what she had to say, but not while everyone else was listening to their conversation. Thus, Cao Yun cut them off from the rest of the group. No matter what they would say, no vibration of the air would reach their ears. Besides, not a single one of them could see Xixue's lips while Cao Yun could talk through telepathy thanks to his Flying Poison. From now on, no one could hear to anything that was said between Cao Yun and Xixue. After all, they were all Blood Children, not a single one of the former slaves was a Golden Blood Child. Anyway, Cao Yun had taken much precaution. He might have become a bit paranoid...
"The truth is that I got captured on purpose. I knew that those slavers were roaming through the valley where I stayed. Thus, I tried to predict which tribe they would attack first. In the end, I was right and they did capture me with the rest of that tribe."
Obviously, if the other slaves heard her story, they would be quite upset, understandably. If she had predicted the attack, she could have warned them. And many of their fellow tribesmen could have survived the assault. Thanks to Cao Yun's presence, they wouldn't dare to attack her straight away. But if he left her with them knowing that, they would probably kill her as retaliation.
In her eyes and her words, the young man could see shame. This was a feeling he was very familiar with, especially now that he had developed his Unclean Evil. Beyond shame, he also saw anger directed toward her, and a bit toward him as well. The more he was studying her, the more Cao Yun was interested in the reasons behind her actions. At the same time, he was using his spiritual senses to completely seal them together and analyze everything about her, both without and within.
"Explain yourself. Why would you get yourself be captured?"
"Noble lord, the truth is that my little sister was enslaved by men also working under Boss Gui. And I wanted to get closer to her."
What she just said didn't seem false at first. But it wasn't true either. She was speaking in half-truths. What really intrigued Cao Yun though was the fact that she had been able to find out where the slavers would strike. There were several possibilities for that. But one of them was that she might have made sure that they knew where to strike. He would need to make sure of that.
"Tell me, did you give out the location of their tribe to Yaxue and his men?"
Hearing those words, he saw a deep pain in her. Her eyes were full of self-loathing and she blamed him for reigniting this pain.
"Noble lord, I won't hide it from someone with such a piercing gaze. I did make sure that the information reached them. This wasn't my first plan, but I had no other choice! Delivering myself to them would have alerted them that something was suspicious about me. And I couldn't just get enslaved alone, this would have awoken suspicion. I had to look like I was fully part of that tribe. Thus, I gained the trust of this tribe for a few months before leaking anything out. And when the slavers attacked, I tried to convince them to surrender without too much bloodshed."
Although she was talking about demons, Cao Yun was not too pleased with her actions. Still, he didn't show it. For now, he wanted to know the whole story. Until then, he would reserve his judgment.
"Many people still died because of your so-called plan..."
"Noble lord, you know nothing of life in the desert, it seems. Life is cheap around here. Those who were killed wouldn't have survived very long anyway."
Before he could add anything else, Xixue objected. She barked those words, but she wasn't trying to convince him. She was failing to convince herself. Having no pity on her for this matter, Cao Yun pressed on with his questions.
"What did you hope to accomplish by becoming a slave? Did you think they would bring you to your little sister? What did those people die for?"
"... Noble lord, mMy only hope to ever find my little sister was to be captured alongside other slaves. I had to get close to Boss Gui in order to find out to whom she had been sold."
"First of all, stop calling me 'Noble lord'. Your voice is full of scorn and this burns my ears. Then, if you gained and betrayed this tribe's trust just to find your sister, how did you plan to free her? This doesn't make any sense, unless you had someone else to help you."
There was some silence. In Xixue's eyes, Cao Yun could finally tell that she was full of self-hatred. She sincerely despised what she had done and herself with it. However, he also saw something he had seen in himself. She was ready to do anything just to get to her little sister. She was desperate enough that she would subject herself to slavery just to find her. But he was also right and this surprised her that he had found her out. Despite her despair, she wasn't stupid. As a slave, even if she had found info on her sister, she couldn't have used it in any way.
Obviously, Cao Yun saw a bit of himself in her. And he wondered whether he would have done the same, whether he would have gone to such extents. Would he have risked the lives of innocent bystanders just to find Cao Huiying? As much as he was trying to refute it, the unfortunate truth was that he might under the proper conditions. However, that didn't extinguish the scorn he had now for that woman. But maybe it was some of his shame he was projecting on her.
With his developed mind cultivation and his better understanding of shame and anger, Cao Yun felt like he was a spectator of his conflicting emotions. Of course, he wasn't some kind of great sage and he was still swayed by them to a degree. However, he also understood that they were not defining him as a whole. And he was able to sense them with much more clarity.
"I am ready to accept any retribution for my actions. But I need to make sure that my little sister is fine."
"You didn't answer my question. I know that you've been struggling with something. But in the end, you decided to keep quiet when I talked to you. Clearly, you were hoping for something. Maybe, you were hoping to find someone who would agree to get rid of some Slavery Brand. My guess would be that someone had already proposed that to you but you were not too trusting of that person. And as much as you tried to rationalize the betrayal of that tribe, you couldn't go all the way through with it. Thus, I appeared as some form of way out of that deal. Tell me, am I too far off?"
"I..."
"You acted out of despair and you did things you now regret. But you have to own to them. As you've seen, I can get rid of this Slavery Brand as though it were nothing. Saving your little sister wouldn't be a problem at all."
Cao Yun got careful. He didn't want to promise her anything. Right now, he just wanted to know more. Maybe this young woman might be useful to him. Although he had understood the current political and economical situation of the Nalupu Kingdom, he was alone. One way or another, he would need to find supports. Of course, he wasn't naive to the point where he thought he might get allies. But even temporary supports would do just fine.
"What would you know about despair?! She's the only one I have left! I would gladly burn away my very soul just to make sure she didn't suffer the fate that has been forced upon her!"
"Stop trying to justify your actions to yourself. Tell me what you already decided to reveal."
Cao Yun spoke as though he knew all about Xixue. And this infuriated her, because he was mostly right. Indeed, that plan was not really hers, at least, not entirely. And, indeed, she despised herself for going along with it. But deep down, she had felt as though she had had no choice.
While he was speaking with her, Cao Yun was also looking deep in her body and soul. He ended up finding something. There were well-hidden marks along some of her bones. He had failed to see them at first because he didn't even think about looking deeply at her bones. Those marks were literally engraved in her bones, very different from any other seal or blood runes he had seen. Either she or someone else had engraved them in her. But he wasn't entirely sure what they were. One thing was certain though. Engraving those marks had been incredibly painful, especially for a middle Blood Child. That small woman had a lot of determination, he could give her that.
Now that he had found those marks, he created a perfect copy of Xixue's body in his mind. He even went to the trouble of analyzing each of her cell. This was a lengthy process but he truly wanted to know what those marks were, and what other secrets she might still hide.
Defeated, Xixue lowered her head. As soon as he had spoken to her in the caravan, she had been doing some thinking. She could have tried to thwart his plan. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she had decided against it. Most likely, it was because of her guilt. Those poor men and women had been enslaved because of her. Imagining and preparing her actions was obviously very different from actually witnessing them and their consequences. By gaining their trust, she had also bonded with them.
On paper, they were complete strangers to her. But now, they were not. Now, she could remember their names, their lives, even some of their dreams.
Cao Yun had given her a way out and she also hated him for that. If she had met him before, she could have avoided doing all that. Many would not be dead by now and her conscience would be a bit more clear. Of course, she knew she was responsible but she still had to come to grips with him.
"I will tell you everything... But there are things I can't... I mean, you should probably get rid of my Slavery Brand first. Maybe, you should also look closely, closer than for the others"
As she was speaking, she was carefully looking for her words. In Cao Yun's eyes, everything was clear. There were things she simply couldn't tell because of some seals. After observing her body and soul, he knew exactly what she was talking about. Apart from the marks in her bones, there were seals very well hidden. In fact, they had almost merged with her Slavery Brand to conceal themselves. Obviously, demons like Yaxue would never have noticed them as they were mere Golden Blood Children.
And once the Slavery Brand was activated, they hid them so well that Cao Yun himself missed them the first time. Boss Gui would never have seen them, he was almost certain of it.