Voices.
Yingyue felt like those might have been what woke her up.
"Keep your distance".
"I hear she's possessed by a demon".
"Stay alert".
What were they talking about?
Yingyue could not make sense of their words, and she was blindfolded pretty tightly, so she could not see anything either.
Her shoulders were hurting like hell, and she realized a beat too late that her arms were actually chained above her head, the cold metal of the cuffs biting unforgivably into her wrists.
"What is this?"she asked in panic"what is going on here?".
She did not need to see to know that a rather overwhelming reaction followed as soon as her captors realized that she was awake.
"XiuzhenWang-jun, she has woken"someone said.
XiuzhenWang-jun?
Rough fingers took hold of her cheek,then the strip of cloth was yanked not at all gently from her face. Yingyue blinked as her sight returned to her, thinking how unnecessary it all was. It seemed like this Mr Man was just looking for someone to be mean to.
She looked up, and sure enough, there stood XiuzhenWang-jun,who was also supposed to be the symbol of justice and order in the cultivation world. Pretty way to symbolize it, kidnapping a young girl and chaining her up.
"What do you want?"Yingyue made sure to infuse her voice with all the ice she could muster.
Unfortunately, the bastard did not even flinch.
"Meng Yingyue,"he had the guts to smile"I don't believe we've met".
"I, for one,am glad we never have"she snapped.
What happened next shocked her to the marrow. One moment she was glaring at Wang Cheng, and the next her face had snapped to the right. It was a moment more before it actually clicked- she had just been slapped.
"I will not tolerate insolence, Meng Yingyue".
Yingyue barely heard him. Her eyes were wide with disbelief, even as a red mark bloomed on her left cheek. She had never been slapped before!
"You're all alone,"he continued"and nobody knows where you are. I would cooperate if I were you".
Yingyue was still dazed as she looked at him, and she hated that her voice sounded so small when she spoke.
"Cooperate?".
"Exactly. Did anyone ever inform you about the entity that lives within you?".
"I...".
"You are Huang Yichen's vessel"he said without waiting for her answer.
Huang Yichen.
That hit Yingyue like a blow to the gut. She felt like she had suddenly started drowning with her feet on the ground.
Discovering that she was demon possessed was already devastating enough, but...Huang Yichen? The very one who had slaughtered gods in their numbers,who had nearly drowned the mortal realm in blood,who had terrified gods, humans and demons alike, the master of the Fallen Dragon, and of the deadliest beasts in existence.
As far as anyone knew, Huang Yichen was synonymous with fear, death and disaster.
Just what had her mother been thinking?
Wang Cheng could clearly see the despair on the young girl's face, but he did not stop talking.
"In order to make you into Huang Yichen's vessel, your mother stole something very important from the Aurum Pavilion. And so, for the sake of the cultivation world, I will do whatever I must to retrieve it. Power like Huang Yichen's is not one that should be left at the mercy of an inexperienced girl like you, especially since your mother clearly has such questionable intentions".
The more he spoke, the more the fear in Yingyue's heart festered. She could barely hear her own self as she asked.
"What are you going to do?".
"I am going to extract Huang Yichen from you".
Those words filled her with foreboding, especially since the men around Wang Cheng got into some sort of formation, their hands on the hilts of their swords. Even without the tea colored robes, Yingyue would have been able to tell that they were of the Wang sect.
They were practically oozing loyalty.
Wang Cheng slapped a weird looking talisman to her chest with enough force to crack a brick wall.
Yingyue lurched over with a pained cry, but the symbol of justice and order did not even bat an eye. He simply stepped back and proceeded to mutter underneath his breath.
As the unintelligible words left his lips, the talisman began to pulse with dark green energy. Yingyue could not believe her eyes.
XiuzhenWang-jun, who was known for burning diabolic cultivators at the pyre, was currently using diabolic cultivation.
That was the least of Yingyue's problems, though,as the talisman had begun to take effect, and a scream tore from her throat.
She had never felt pain like this in her entire life. It was as though someone had dug a hook into her chest, and was currently trying to pull out her heart while she was still alive.
"Please, please, please...".
Yingyue did even realize that she was begging until the pain seized. She retched, struggling to catch her breath as Wang Cheng and friends watched the talisman erupt in flames, burning until there was nothing left of it.
"Hmm,"he mused"she compressed the shards inside your golden core, and placed protective spells on it. Impressive. As expected of Lanfen Tianshi".
He nodded to two of the men, and they stepped forward, one of them taking out a large pouch.
Wang Cheng drew his sword and seized Yingyue's arm. Her eyes widened in horror.
"Wait, please wait... what are you planning to...".
She broke off with a sharp cry as the blade pierced her skin. Then she was forced to watch, whimpering,as her blood was smeared on a fresh talisman, and then as the talisman was attached to her, and Wang Cheng repeated the agonizing process of trying to extract Huang Yichen's essence from her golden core.
He failed again.
"It looks like we have no choice,"he said"but to resort to other means".
The man holding the pouch stepped forward and opened it, then he scooped up a handful of its contents and rubbed it into the injury on her arm. Yingyue did not realize that this was salt until she felt the blinding pain.
The scream was out before she could prevent it, and in that moment, she felt certain that she was going to die.
Unperturbed, the XiuzhenWang-jun simply took out another talisman and tried again, even having the guts to reel out explanations as he worked.
"Pain is essential in order to break. We must ensure that the vessel has neither physical nor mental defenses of her own if we are to succeed".
Yet again, he failed.
The XiuzhenWang-jun sighed in what was obviously false pity as he turned to his clansmen.
"It is unfortunate, but now we must find other ways".
*
*
*
Getting summoned by his father meant that Wang Hui had to abandon everything and return instantly to the Aurum Pavilion via a teleportation talisman, nevermind that those things siphoned energy like no man's business. However, nothing could have prepared him for the scene he met as soon as he walked into the room.
Yingyue hung limp, suspended from enhanced chains and looking utterly tragic. In addition to the injury on her arm, there were severe burns from when Wang Cheng had smeared oil on her skin before holding a blazing torch to it. That was not all. He had also done a number of other despicable things, like peeling the nails from her left hand and skin from her right, to mention but a few. It was clear that she had also taken a serious beating, her bruised face being more than enough proof.
Wang Hui was flabbergasted.
"Father, what have you done?".
He charged forward, but Wang Cheng's men drew their swords and got in the way.
"Stand back"they warned.
"You stand back...".
"Hui"his father called.
Wang Hui stopped and looked at him, eyes burning with fury.
"I admit that I might have gone too far,"Wang Cheng went on, unperturbed"and that is why I have sent for you. As long as you help me, your Shimei will no longer have to suffer".
"What do you mean?".
"Those talismans of yours,of course. All we need to do is find a way to bypass the protective barriers placed on her golden core, and by draining her energy,we should be able to do just that".
Wang Hui looked at the battered girl. When his father had told him that she was possessed by a demon and that it needed to be extracted, he had been all for it. He really should have known better, just how cruel his father could be.
"If I help, do I have your word that you will not torture her any further?".
"Of course"Wang Cheng replied without hesitation.
It was quite unfortunate that his word had always been worth nothing.
But perhaps Wang Hui did not know this, because he actually took out the talismans and flung them out into a pentagonal formation. They surrounded Yingyue before sticking themselves all over her.
The girl did not react. By now, she was so numb that she could barely feel her own body. At this point, she was certain that there were no more screams left in her. But she was proven wrong when the extraction process began anew, dragging screams like those of the dying out of her injured throat, over and over and over again, until Wang Hui was forced to look away, shutting his eyes tightly as if doing so would block out the blood curdling sound.
When it finally ended, Yingyue's whole body sagged until only the chains were preventing her from falling in a broken heap to the floor. Her slender frame shuddered with each strangled breath, and tears poured freely from her bloodshot eyes.
"Another failure,"Wang Cheng mused"then we have no choice... but to shatter her golden core".
Wang Hui's head snapped up at that.
"What? Father, you said...".
"I know what I said. That is why, instead of trying out any more torture methods, I will simply destroy the golden core and retrieve what I need to".
Wang Hui could not believe his ears.
What the hell was this man even talking about?
As if there was any way to destroy a golden core without causing pain to the victim. As if it was not a fate worse than death itself for a cultivator to go on living after losing their core.
No, Wang Hui decided. He was not going to let it happen. He would argue if he had to, punishments be damned. If he ended up having to fight his father,then so be it.
"Father...".
"No!".
Yingyue's cry startled everybody, and all eyes turned to her. No one, not even she, could have guessed that she still had any strength left to make any sounds.
"No,"she cried, her voice hoarse"please. I'm sorry. Please don't destroy it. You can do whatever you want to me. Just please...".
"It is for the sake of the cultivation world, Meng Yingyue,"Wang Cheng replied curtly"you must understand. Hui, you're dismissed".
"But...".
Before Wang Hui could get the protest out, his father cut in with a sigh of exasperation.
"Hui, seriously. Is it you of all people who will get in my way?".
That got the boy instantly. His lips flapped shut, and he wavered for a moment, his eyes traveling from Yingyue's battered form to his father's scowling face. He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails dug into his palms and drew blood, but eventually he still turned around and began to walk away.
"Hui-xiong?".
The desperation and despair in Yingyue's voice cracked his heart cleanly in two, but he did not stop.
"Hui-xiong, please".
Wang Hui stepped out of the room anyway, but even as he did, whatever was left of his heart had shattered into a million pieces.