When Yan Hui woke up, she breathed in air that wasn't the stifling air in the Southwest.
The air here was fresh and crisp. It was the familiar air she breathed as she grew up.
Chen Xing Mountain....
Yan Hui immediately knew where she was, but her surroundings were dark and quiet. There was one solitary ray of light shining in from the top, casting muted and dappled shadows.
Yan Hui looked around with slitted eyes. The sunlight somewhat dazzled her. She didn't know exactly where she was in Chen Xing Mountain.
She wanted to get up and walk a couple steps but discovered each of her limbs were shackled by heavy chains. When she moved her head, it felt like her neck was bound by heavy metal. She reached up a hand to touch it. Yep, it was a metal chain. She looked up. The five chains were fastened to the rim of the hole. There were also seals placed there too.
Yan Hui tried to assess the magic in her body. As expected, she couldn't sense her inner breath. It was probably sealed off. Using magic to fly out wasn't an option. Fortunately, the chains were long and didn't prevent Yan Hui from walking around in the prison.
Yan Hui sat cross-legged. As matters stood, she didn't know what Ling Xiao intended by bringing her back to Chen Xing Mountain.
There was also Tian Yao who had been left in the lava. Was he really melted into dragon soup...
"Shifu!" Yan Hui was still lost in thought when Zi Chen's voice was suddenly heard beyond the hole. His voice was rushed and anxious. "Shifu! The whipping punishment is too severe! Yan Hui is no longer Chen Xing Mountain's disciple. Why don't you let her go?"
"How is it too severe?"
When Yan Hui heard Ling Fei's voice, she raised a brow. It sounded like there were quite a few people outside. Were a lot of people invited because Ling Xiao was going to whip her?
"Yan Hui has already cultivated demon magic at an alarming rate. She even willingly helped the demon clans. If we allow this to continue, it will have harmful repercussions to the world. Since she came from Chen Xing Mountain, how is it inappropriate for Senior Brother to remove this harm?"
It sounded quite reasonable.
Yan Hui didn't hear another sound from Xi Chen. He naturally wasn't an eloquent speaker and didn't know how to verbally spar with others.
It was already quite a feat for him to speak out this far.
It was silent for only a brief moment before Ling Xiao spoke: "It's noon. Time for the punishment."
When Ling Xiao said those words, Yan Hui felt the chains around her limbs suddenly tighten. They pulled her up to the hole in the ceiling. Link by link, she was hoisted upwards until the chains were pulled taut. When it stopped, she was left suspended within the hole's mouth.
When she looked down, Yan Hui couldn't help raising an eyebrow. All of Chen Xing Mountain's shifus were present. Even the peak's top disciples were lined up there.
At the very front was Ling Xiao, Zi Chen, Zi Yue, and all the fellow disciples she studied with.
Quite an attendance...
Yan Hui all of a sudden understood why everyone was standing there when she saw the whip in Ling Xiao's hand.
The Soul-Destroying Whip breaks bones and muscle, destroys the meridians for cultivation, and severely injuries the soul. There will be no possibility of cultivating again in this lifetime. It may even cripple her.
For xian cultivators, this was undoubtedly the harshest punishment. When Chen Xing Mountain was formed into a sect, the Soul-Destroying Whipping Punishment was created. However, this punishment had never been carried out before. No matter how much a disciple has erred, many shifus couldn't harden their heart to use this punishment.
After all, they watched their disciples grow up. They personally taught their disciples.
And Ling Xiao was actually able to sentence this punishment.
Was her cultivating demon magic really that unforgivable of a mistake to him?
Ling Xiao raised the handle and the Soul-Destroying Whip danced in the air. With a twist, the whip left a streak of red afterimage and then, crack! It lashed Yan Hui's body. Yan Hui felt that part of her body go numb. It wasn't until right before the second lash descended on her that she felt her first wound suddenly felt like it was being stabbed with needles.
When the second lash descended, it hit the same place as the first. The wound already felt like a pincushion. With that second last, now it felt like the needles were being driven into her bones.
Yan Hui couldn't keep herself from biting her lip in pain. Her eyes were bloodshot as blood rushed.
The third whip landed in the same place!
Yan Hui bit down so hard she broke the skin on her lip. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, but she didn't feel that pain. All the pain her body could feel was where that whip repeated lashed her.
Nine days. 81 whips. Every day, a new place will be whipped, but those 81 lashes each day will be in the same place.
After 7 to 8 whips passed, some disciples couldn't watch it anymore. They lowered their heads in silence.
Zi Chen's lips trembled: "Shifu! Based on the many years of shifu-disciple relationship, please let Yan Hui off!"
Ling Xiao was unmoved. Ling Fei, by his side, slanted her eyes toward him. The corner of her mouth twitched like she was going to say something. Zi Chen lifted his robes and knelt down on the ground: "Since Yan Hui was small, her life has been bitter and hard. Her personality will inevitably be undisciplined. Even if she's make mistakes, she's never harmed anyone. She's had shifu to guide her for 10 years. Please let her off this one time!"
Yan Hui had already slumped into a haze by the whipping, but Zi Chen kneeling on the ground and pleading filtered into her ears.
"Shifu....." By Zi Chen's side, another disciple walked forward two steps. "Although Yan Hui made a mistake, this punishment is really too cruel...."
When one person speak out, the disciples behind also started to quietly reconsider.
Ling Xiao only lifted his head and looked at the whipped Yan Hui. It was like he didn't even hear the pleading. He was still unmoved.
Yan Hui bit down hard on her lip even though it was already torn and ripped. She also hadn't cried out for help yet.
Tough as rock.
Yan Hui didn't know how she endured that first day of 81 lashes. She didn't faint nor closed her eyes. She just stared rigidly ahead, bit her lip, and stiffly endured all those 81 lashes.
Right at the last lash, Yan Hui suddenly heard somewhere in her own body the sound of her muscles and bones breaking. She wasn't clear where she was injured because her entire body hurt to the point she felt out of body.
At the end of the punishment, the chains slowly lowered back down. Yan Hui was back in her prison.
The people outside slowly dispersed.
Yan Hui laid on the ground and looked up at the sky. Not long afterwards, she saw the very weird Zi Chen peer down from the hole. He didn't say a word.
Yan Hui mustered up the last bit of her strength and grinned: "Head Senior Disciple." Her voice was very hoarse. "Thank you."
Then, it seemed like it started to rain. Water droplets fell onto Yan Hui's face. Zi Chen wiped his face, apologized, and walked away with gritted teeth.
This Head Senior Disciple of hers really like to place all responsibility on himself. There wasn't anything for him to feel guilty about. He wasn't the one who whipped her. What he could do, he did do.....
When night fell, Yan Hui suddenly smelled the scent of food as she lay on the floor. It was the smell of Fatty Zhang's cooking, something she hadn't smelled in a long time.
Yan Hui sniffed twice. She raised her head and looked at the hole. She saw a person slowly lower down a wicker basket into her prison. It landed by her head.
Yan Hui narrowed her eyes to clearly see who that person was. She was slightly shocked: "Zi Yue?"
Zi Yue stiffened. She didn't think Yan Hui would still be awake. It seemed like she didn't want Yan Hui to know it was her. She coughed a little: "Um, that Head Senior Disciple wanted me to bring food. Eat quick. I want to go back when you're done."
Yan Hui slightly propped herself up and peered into the basket. There was rice, vegetables, and chicken leg. Even better, it was two large chicken legs.
Zi Yue knew she liked chicken legs. Before when they fought, Zi Yue would often dock Yan Hui's chicken legs as reprimand. Right now, Yan Hui was a prisoner. Prisoners didn't get chicken leg, let alone two. Zi Yue had to have snuck it away from Fatty Zhang somehow....
Yan Hui smiled. She picked up one of the legs and started to eat, stuffing two mouthfuls of rice at the same time.
Actually, she didn't have any appetite, but she still forced herself to eat. Because without eating food, she wouldn't be able to endure the second day of 81 lashes. She didn't want to die. Even if her bones were broken, even if she couldn't cultivate again, she still didn't want to die.
She still had Tian Yao.....to go save.
It wasn't until the basket was slightly emptied of food that Yan Hui saw a small bottle of medicine hidden by a chicken leg. It was Chen Xing Mountain's medicine for injuries like sprains or contusions.
For Yan Hui, this type of medicine wasn't useful for her whip lashes, but she still accepted it.
"I'm done eating," said Yan Hui. Zi Yue hauled it back up. When she say the medicine was gone from the basket, she nodded to herself. As she left, she muttered: "Trying to die by cultivating the demon way. This time, we're going to help please for you. If shifu relents, don't go mixing with demons when you get out. If you still continue like that, then there really is no more saving you."
Yan Hui cracked a smile when she heard Zi Yue.
One smile for her fellow senior disciple who was pleading on her behalf despite all the fights they had. Second smile for the impossibility of Ling Xiao releasing her. She would sooner fly to the heavens. Third smile for Zi Yue making excuses...
Actually, Chen Xing Mountain's disciples weren't bad. All xian cultivators following the way of the Dao all wanted to eliminate demons and protect the commoners and the peace. Like Xi Feng, Like Zi Chen, even Zi Yue, they all had their gentle side. They had good character, but.....
Were taught wrong.
Not all demons were evil.
Thinking of the mess things have turned out, Yan Hui sleepily drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, her wounds flared up in pain. In the middle between sleeping and waking, Yan Hui thought she saw Tian Yao. He was silently sitting there by her side.
"20 years ago, did you hurt like this?" asked Yan Hui. There was no response.
But Yan Hui didn't need an answer. She's seen how much pain Tian Yao felt on full moon nights. She thought she had understood the pain. But now Yan Hui realized that she actually didn't. Only Tian Yao would understand the pain he felt. Only she would understand the pain she felt.
The pain from being betrayed and harmed in the cruelest way by your lover was something that could only be understood by someone who experienced it.
She clasped his hand and lightly held it: "It's laughable that at this time I actually...feel bad for you."
Tian Yao was still silent.
Noon of the second day quickly arrived. Still in a haze, Yan Hui was lifted up.
Like yesterday, it was another 81 lashes. The whip landed in the same place each time but a different place than yesterday. The shifus didn't come today. Only Ling Fei showed up, and she left before the whipping finished.
Today, Ling Xiao didn't allow any of the sect's disciples come watch.
Up to the 81st lash, Yan Hui didn't see Zi Chen and Zi Yue.
The chains slowly lowered her back down into the prison. When she reached the bottom, she looked at Ling Xiao. She saw he, whose own hand carried the whip, had tightened the corner of his mouth.
Yan Hui couldn't help speaking out: "Shifu."
Ling Xiao was slightly startled. He looked at Yan Hui.
Yan Hui smiled: "You also feel bad for me?"
Yan Hui was down at the bottom of the prison. The corner of Ling Xiao's mouth twitched. In the end, he looked down and brushed at his sleeve. The mountain wind lifted it in its breeze. He walked away, seemingly untouched in his tranquility.
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You get back here Ling Xiao! Don't you dare walk away from her!