Deserving to Die! . . .
Song Jue had been entrusted with the task of interrogating Hua Liushui personally, and he had subjected the man to relentless torment. Hua Liushui, however, was a man of formidable resilience, and he endured the pain for about an hour.
Song Jue's fury grew as he perceived Hua Liushui's attempt to appear resolute.
"Attempting to play tough now?" Song Jue seethed. "Let's see how resilient you truly are."
In a surge of brutality, he produced a knife and ruthlessly drove it into Hua Liushui's body, targeting fatal areas with each stab. Blood gushed forth with every thrust, and Song Jue's furious expletives filled the room.
"Foul, foul, foul, foul, foul..."
Blood flowed incessantly.
"Haha... lacking in skill. Are you attempting to kill me? Do you believe I fear death?" Hua Liushui spoke in a mocking tone, even as he felt the grip of death approaching. Death was what he craved.
However, in the very next moment, Song Jue revealed a wicked smile and administered a supreme dan bead to Hua Liushui. The miraculous bead swiftly revitalized Hua Liushui, healing his wounds completely. Song Jue reclaimed the knife and continued his brutal assault.
"Foul, foul, foul, foul, foul..."
Another supreme dan bead!
And the stabbing resumed.
After this cycle repeated five times, Hua Liushui finally showed signs of weakness. Tears welled in his eyes, and he began to plead for mercy. He had never anticipated that there existed such a cruel individual in the world.
The process was devoid of strategy; it was solely about inflicting torment. Death had become an unattainable dream for Hua Liushui.
After teetering on the brink of death and being restored to miserable life five times, he was the sole witness to the agony he had endured.
He began to beg, offering any pleas he could think of, but Steward Song remained unyielding. He resumed his assault for a sixth time.
"Puff, puff, puff, puff..."
A sixth round of stabbings commenced.
And it appeared that this wasn't the end. There could very well be a seventh, eighth, or ninth cycle of torment. Song Jue found the torment endlessly entertaining, and he wasn't about to cease anytime soon.
"I'm finished... I'll change... I promise... I surrender..." Hua Liushui cried, tears staining his face.
The depths of his remorse felt as profound as the waters of the Yellow River.
"Why didn't I remain hidden beyond the martial world? Why didn't I depart a few days ago when I knew people were on their way? Why did I rely on luck alone... and why does my remorse only arrive after encountering this psychopath?"
Hua Liushui desired more than anything else a remedy for his regret. Regrettably, such a remedy simply did not exist.
"Speak! Continue!" Song Jue declared, his knife swaying in hand. Blood dripped from the blade, most of it splattering across Hua Liushui's face.
The tortured man trembled uncontrollably.
"This... this is my blood."
"The sheer volume of blood... Could that be my brain? My white matter?"
He was engulfed in a state of sheer horror. Who else could claim to have witnessed their own brain spilling out from their skull? Or to have seen their own heart?
Nobody but Hua Liushui, and he had witnessed it six times within a span of just two hours. The prospect of experiencing it many more times loomed before him.
Cha Eun Xiao had never been one to fear death. In fact, he had often relished each day as a blessing, especially after narrowly escaping the clutches of death's icy grip. Yet, at this very moment, fear gripped him like never before.
Before him stood a tormentor, a devil in human form, one who had no intention of allowing him the respite of death. Cha Eun Xiao had hoped for death, longed for it even, but instead, this sadistic fiend condemned him to an unending cycle of agony. It was a torturous existence where he would be repeatedly brought back from the brink of death only to be subjected to unimaginable suffering once more.
This relentless torture never ceased, and the worst part was that it came in the form of the same gruesome ordeal, time and time again. The sheer predictability and horror of this method made it the cruelest form of torment Cha Eun Xiao could imagine. He had endured a myriad of pains and miseries throughout his life, but this was beyond anything he had ever encountered.
Ning Biluo and Zhao Pingtian, in comparison, seemed almost peaceful, though their newfound knowledge had plunged them into a frenzied state. They had been tasked with slaughtering the entire Prince's Palace and had obediently followed orders without delving deeper into the reasons behind their actions. Now, the truth had been laid bare before them, and it was beyond their wildest nightmares.
They had learned of the heinous crimes concealed beneath the veneer of tranquility, and it left them aghast. They possessed a list of names, each bearing responsibility for these atrocities, and as they perused the list, their hearts brimmed with a thirst for vengeance. There would be no mercy, no quarter given; every individual on that list would be subjected to unrelenting torture until their last breath.
Even Rou-Er, who had been accompanying Zhao Pingtian and was known for her gentle nature, found herself consumed by a fiery rage. She had received generous support from Cha Eun Xiao to craft Soul Gathering Dan, allowing her to transform into a shadowy figure, drifting through rooms and manifesting at will.
In doing so, she added an eerie, haunting quality to the room, transforming it into a nightmarish realm. The presence of the vengeful wraith was enough to reduce the Second Prince to a quivering, terrified wreck. He had committed countless unspeakable acts, and now his past sins had come back to haunt him in the most dreadful of ways.
However, when Zhao Pingtian laid eyes on the spectral form of Rou-Er, he was not filled with fear but stunned disbelief. His mind reeled in utter bewilderment at the extraordinary sight before him.