"Why?" A flame ignited in Xue Ziye's eyes as she asked in a low voice, "Why?"
“For Tong.” Miao Shui laughed, her eyes cold and sharp. “He is a genius who can inherit the long-lost Tong technique of the sect. After the sect leader obtained him, in order to prevent the bloodline of the demonic eye from spreading, he simply wiped out the entire village.”
"..." Xue Ziye felt her chest burning with anger, and for a moment she was unable to speak, breathing rapidly.
"Among those involved in the massacre was the Envoy of the Wondrous Wind." Miao Shui sneered, watching Xue Ziye's face turn pale. "In one night, they slaughtered all 137 people in the entire village—this is what the King himself told me. Heh."
She stood frozen in place, feeling her heart plummet into an unfathomable abyss of ice—
Miao Feng? Was Miao Feng involved in that massacre?
She suddenly remembered what he had said during the day—
“You’ll regret this,” he said. “Don’t waste your time on someone like me.”
In an instant, she understood why he looked at her like that.
"Beast." Xue Ziye's hands trembled slightly as she gritted her teeth and uttered each word slowly, "Beast!"
“So,” Miao Shui glanced at her sideways, a smirk playing on her lips, “Valley Master Xue, are you still going to save a beast?”
"..." Xue Ziye breathed rapidly, her face pale, but she remained silent.
Although Miao Shui was still smiling, she was suddenly taken aback: What is this woman still hesitating about?
"If we don't save him, what will happen to Mingjie?" Xue Ziye looked up at her, her hands clenched tightly together. "He'll kill Mingjie!"
"Ha... So that's why!" Miao Shui suddenly understood the reason and couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Foolish! What kind of person is the King of Pop? Do you really think he would release Tong just because you saved him?"
“Want to see him? Then come with me.” Miao Shui smiled as she stood up and picked up the Bloodstained Sword from the table. “You’ll understand when you see him.”
Xue Ziye watched her walk out, a moment of hesitation crossing her mind.
Everyone in this Great Bright Palace seems unfathomable, from Tong to Miaofeng—what kind of thoughts does Miaoshui, one of the Five Bright Ones, have in mind when he tries to win me over?
c6zhic6yinc6wenc6xuec6wangc6
Chapter Twelve, Seven Star Begonia
In the dark room, even the screams outside had vanished, leaving only a deathly silence.
He was chained to a huge iron cage, pinned together with a mastiff beside him, completely immobile. Darkness enveloped him like a shroud; he closed his eyes, which could no longer see clearly, and silently awaited death's approach. That feeling… seemed familiar, like something he'd experienced more than a decade ago?
"Do you want to go out?" In his memory, that voice kept asking him, with a certain allure and magic.
“Those vulgar people, like pigs and dogs, don’t know you are the messenger of the demon, they don’t know how powerful you are… Pupil, only I know your power, and only I can unleash your true power—do you want to come with me?”
"I want to get out! I want to get out! Let me out..." he shouted in the darkness, feeling like he was being driven crazy.
"Alright, I'll take you out. But you must submit to me, become my eye, and rise above the martial world, looking down upon this vast world and all living beings on my behalf. Do you agree—or are you willing to be discriminated against, imprisoned, have your eyes gouged out, and live in darkness for the rest of your life?"
"Let me out!" He pounded on the wall, his heart breaking at the thought that today was the deadline the chief had given him, and he shouted desperately, "Just let me out!"
Suddenly, the darkness split open, the light shattered his vision, and everything went blank.
In the blank space, blood spurted out, accompanied by a shrill scream.
He jolted awake, his face pale, his whole body trembling with pain. "Just let me out"—those words from his unconscious state still echoed in his mind, leaving him completely blank.
Twelve years ago, at the age of fourteen, he made a pact with the devil, selling his life! He finally couldn't bear it anymore, bowed his head in the darkness, and his hands trembled slightly.
It has been four days... The deadly poison that gradually erodes the brain through the eyes has quietly erased most of his memories: such as the years of struggling to survive in the Shura Field, such as the thrilling past of becoming the number one assassin in the Great Bright Realm and seizing the heads of the lords in the Western Regions... All these glorious and bloody past events have gradually faded away and can no longer be remembered.
Yet, some extremely distant memories have remained, even surfacing more clearly each day. Why... why can't I forget them completely?
Such memories are torture to live with every day they remain. Wouldn't it be better to become a complete idiot?
"If we cannot kill Miaofeng, we must take the head of that female doctor."
He gripped the gold chain around his wrist tightly, gritted his teeth in the darkness, and suddenly slammed his head against the iron cage—he was truly the most ruthless and shameless person in the world! A coward who feared death, ungrateful and treacherous, he had repeatedly tried to kill the person who loved him most!
A gust of wind suddenly blew into the dark prison. The heavy iron door opened silently, letting in a sliver of sunlight from the snow outside, and the mastiff in the cage next to it suddenly barked fiercely.
—Someone walked in. Was it Miao Shui, that woman? He didn't bother to look up.
"Meiji." A voice rang out in the darkness, soft and trembling.
He jolted as if electrocuted, lifting his eyes, which he could no longer see: Was it a hallucination? That familiar voice… it was…
"Meiji." He was startled awake from his daze when a cool and soft hand gently touched his cheek.
Someone actually walked towards her in the darkness, almost within arm's reach. She stopped three steps away from him, as if unsure how to face him now locked in the iron cage, only repeatedly calling out a distant name, as if summoning the spirit of the boy from her memories.
It's...it's Sister Xiaoye? He turned around in ecstasy. It's her? Has she come?!
However, in the next instant, he felt a hand gently touch his blind eyes. As if burned, he turned his head away, avoiding the hand, a fierce expression flashing in his dim eyes. "Get out!" Without thinking, the word slipped out, hoarse and ruthless.
The woman who had crept in from the darkness suddenly froze, her fingers pausing: "Meiji?"
"Miaoshui! What exactly do you want?" Tong gritted her teeth and asked the person hiding in the darkness with a fierce voice, filled with murderous intent and anger. "Why did you bring her here? Why did you bring her here! I told you not to bring her here! What do you want!"
"Hehe... Don't get angry. Sometimes, I do have a change of heart." A soft laugh came from outside the cell door. Miao Shui let out a whistle and summoned the mastiff that kept baring its teeth and howling. She left with the words, "Tong, I've already gotten the Bloodstained Sword from the armory. Say your goodbyes properly, time is running out."
He was startled, but she closed the door and walked away, leaving the pitch-black cell in a deathly silence once more.
Tong remained silent in the darkness, unsure of what to say or do, yet his breathing began to become erratic and uncontrollable. He knew there was another person beside him, their familiar presence omnipresent, and memories flooded back like a torrent, roaring through his heart. Yet, he wished he could simply disappear in that instant.
I don't want to see her... I don't want to see her again! Or perhaps, I just don't want her to see me like this—covered in blood, my hands and feet bound by golden chains, a mastiff collar around my neck, pale-faced, with lifeless eyes, looking no different from a cripple!