I opened my eyes, my limbs feeling numb and heavy at the same time as I felt like I was being burned from the inside out. I coughed out a mouthful of blood, circulating demonic qi throughout my body as I barely kept myself conscious. My bones were completely destroyed, meridians shattered to pieces, and pain shot through me with every breath. Not even to kill me, but it hurt like going through the nine hells after death.
I sat in the middle of an array, tied down by qi-suppressing chains that absorbed the little demonic energy I had. I looked inward, my nascent soul curled up in a ball, and a lot tinier than before.
In the next instant, the array activated, glowing bright red as dark clouds began to form above. Then a bolt of divine lightning shot down with a roar that still rang in my ears. The lightning hit, destroying my already injured body further. I coughed up another two mouthfuls of blood, half from anger, half from my wounds.
Damn hag! Light punishment my foot, she just wanted a test subject for her new summoning array!
I took in a breath that felt like sharp knives down my throat before lifting my head to see an hourglass that sat just outside of the formation, a quarter of the sand left.
Two days. Just endure for two more days. This is fine, that hag's put me through worse.
I took another sharp breath, forcing the little demonic energy I had left through my torn meridians. I looked up, dark clouds forming in the sky as the array glowed red again. I quickened the circulation and braced for the next damned bolt.
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I stared at the hourglass, covered in blood and numbing pain, I watched the last grain of sand fall to the other side. The next moment, the qi-suppressing chain broke apart, and the array deactivated. I fell forward, clawing at the ground as I dragged myself from where I knelt, absorbing demonic energy like drinking water for the first time in weeks. I quickly circulated demonic qi through my meridians, pouring it into my empty dantian to heal my broken body.
As I managed to crawl out of the dormant formation, I had circulated about a hundred cycles of qi before my internal wounds were barely put back together. I coughed up black blood, leaving an iron taste in the back of my throat, and with every breath, more blood came, and I cursed that hag every second of it.
Just as I finished another fifty curses to her ancestors, the sound of clapping interrupted my thoughts. I turned my head with effort as I saw a tall woman in flowing red robes and glittering gold jewelry, a smug smile on her red lips as she looked down at me.
I raised a brow, narrowing my eyes as I tried to recall who this senior was. She's most likely stronger than me by at least two major realms; otherwise, I would've sensed her coming. Her aura is a little familiar, but I remember from where. Judging by her robes, she's not a disciple, but she doesn't seem like an elder either. Those lunatics wouldn't bother coming here.
Weird, I normally wouldn't forget people like this. What bad luck.
I watched her approach, ready to escape just in case.
She met my eyes for a moment, her smile widening as she stopped a foot away.
"Oh? Does this disciple not recognize this master?"
The word fell like a thunderbolt.
Master?
.... The old hag?
My body tensed up, almost letting out a curse as I staggered up and greeted.
"This disciple greets Sect leader."
When I lifted my head, I heard a laugh before something was thrown at me. I easily caught it, scanning it with my spiritual sense. It was my storage bag. Wasn't this taken when I was punished? The sect usually doesn't give back anything it takes. Let alone this hag.
I glanced at the hag, then at my storage bag, sensing something wrong with it. I sent my spiritual sense inside the bag, and finding it almost empty, anything of value was gone, other than some personal items.
All of my spirit stones were gone, not even spirit sand left behind. Staring at the pitifully empty bag, I felt my heart bleeding. Including the compensation from that junior in the market, there were at least five thousand spirit stones saved up here. That amount could've allowed me and Jiě jie to live comfortably in the sect for a few years, even carry Jiě jie's cultivation to the nascent soul realm. Now all of it was gone.
Not only that, the Clear Jade token Jiě jie had left to me was also taken. That was expected, but it still left a sting. Would Jiě jie be disappointed in me when she finds out? I frowned, my heart starting to sink. That was until I noticed a certain jar that was also missing.
My wine!
The spiritual wine that I nurtured for five years, gone without a trace! My sinking heart felt like it was stabbed, the knife twisting deeper in. I wanted to cry, well, maybe not cry. Maybe grind the bones of the fool who dared to take what's mine.
I felt my brow twitch, controlling my expression into a frown, keeping my emotions in check before turning back to the hag.
The hag looked back, smiling like how I imagined she'd did when ever she contacted me through my spiritual consciousness.
Now that I think about it, other than spiritual messages and talismans, we've never met face to face before. Even when this hag recruited me and Jiě jie, it was that snake that gave us our disciple plaques and told us that we'd be his junior siblings from now on. That snake was quite arrogant back then. I didn't like his attitude, so I beat him up. After that, he didn't dare to be arrogant in front of me or Jiě jie ever again. That should've been five years ago. I had forgotten that already. I was so pitifully weak back then.
Shaking my head slightly, pushing those thoughts away. I can think about them later.
The hag stepped forward, brushing against one of the rings on her finger as she took out a wine jar that was sealed with a red rope. Holding the jar in one hand, she opened it and took a long drink, wiping her mouth with satisfaction. I stared at the jar in disbelief.
I felt my brow twitch slightly, the anger in my chest boiling higher before I forced it back down again. If I attack her now, I'll be killed in an instant; not only that, Jiě jie will probably suffer as well. I still have to find a way to apologize for losing the Clear Jade token; I can't bring more trouble to her.
The hag tossed my wine jar back into her storage ring, scanning me before clicking her tongue.
"You truly hold so much malice against your own master. After nurturing you and your elder sister for all these years, I should at least get a share of the good things you've found. Haah, I've truly raised a white eyed wolf of a disciple, and after favoring you so much," she sighed, wiping away a tear that I'm pretty sure wasn't there.
After hearing that, my fists clenched, barely holding back the urge to kill her right there. What nurturing? What favor? I've barely seen you ever since you took me as your disciple, and back then, you were a hag! White haired and wrinkled, now you look my age. Probably only the lecher knows how many women you've killed to regain your youth. That lecherous bastard probably even helped you.
Taking a breath, I spoke through gritted teeth, "This disciple wouldn't dare. It's just that this disciple hasn't seen master in a long time and didn't recognize you at first."
"Oh?" she raised a brow, stepping closer as she grinned.
"Did my beauty blind you? This master won't blame you, this master's beauty can rival the heavens after all."
Perhaps I can leak the location of the sect to the righteous faction. I may not be able to kill her directly, but as long as I can watch her die, killing with a borrowed knife doesn't weigh much on my heart. I can just escape with Jiě jie after, then we'll return to the mortal world and live peacefully.
Despite my growing killing intent, I forced out a nod, my nails still digging into my palms to keep me from doing something reckless.
I met the hag's gaze, smoothing out my expression before getting to the point.
"What is it that master needs from me?"
She tilted her head, her expression a mix of feigned sadness and shock.
"Xiaosi! You just survived three days of divine thunder, how could I as your master, ask anything of you? You truly wound this master greatly."
I did not answer.
She sighed, taking out a jade bottle from her ring and tossed it to me. I caught it, sweeping my spiritual sense over it. Inside, there were three high-grade healing pills. My brows furrowed, multiple questions filled my head, and more concerns.
"That should be enough to heal your injuries. Consider the spirit stones taken from your storage bag as paying back their value," the hag explained before starting to walk away.
"After recovering, you will return to righteous faction territory in Dong province. You're mission is to observe and ensure the second phase of the plan will go smoothly."
She stopped, turning her head to look back at me. Suddenly, a heavy pressure pressed down on my shoulders, knocking me back onto the ground as I struggled to keep myself from falling flat. Barely lifting my head, I met her now glare, her smile gone.
"Since you're one of my favored disciples, I allowed this much leniency. If you dare fail this time, do not blame me for being ruthless. Do not forget who your sister's life belongs to."
I felt a chill run down my spine as my heart turned cold, resentment pooling inside of it. Lowering my eyes, I clenched the jade bottle in my hand and forced a bow.
"This disciple understands."
A/N
Heyo! I'm back readers! And writer's block vanguished!
Over the break, I realized that my writer's block was due to the lack of structure in my writing. By this I meant that I simply wrote the title of the chapter and went in with almost no plan. I realized that this way of writing would end up exhausting me of creative fuel with the lack of ideas to lock on to. So I decided to make a google doc with a loose summary of each chapter. And guess what? It worked!
After fixing my writer's block, I wrote like drinking water after traveling through the desert. And I ended up having a few chapters backed up, so get ready!