Chapter 66 - 65: Couldn't Save You
Despite Qin Shui asking them to only bring Dai Qiuyue, the elderly man and woman who were dao companions were quite smart. Wei Wuyin had requested for two women, so they would bring those two.
They arrived at the Jade Hell Tower and swiftly entered. None of the guards dared to halt their advance, and they soon found the cell of Dai Qiuyue. However, their expressions turned ugly as they realized her body had become wane and thin, her aura was lackluster, her lips looked like dried, cracked ground, while her skin was dirty and lacked any hint of a youthful sheen.
Her eyes were dull, as if she had never seen the sun before. In fact, she was kept in this sunless environment for two full years. Around her ankle was a shackle with runic designs, capable of draining her qi, bodily energies, and suppressing innate spiritual energies.
When they saw her current state, they looked at each other and felt mutual fear. If Dai Qiuyue was important to Wei Wuyin, this Saber Ascendant, would he undergo a murderous rampage out of love? It’s not like they’ve never heard of it happening before, just never at the scale of a Godlord or Godking.
They simultaneously gulped.
"Should we feed her pills?" The elderly woman suggested. However, the elderly man shook his head.
"Even if we did, it’d take hours or days before she’s back to a semi-normal state. How do we delay him in the meantime? Not to mention, it’s not like women don’t complain to their men, highlighting the bad parts. No, no, what’s going to happen will happen." He sighed in resignation, requesting the guard to immediately unlock the doors and remove the shackles.
He did so swiftly.
The elderly woman approached and held Dai Qiuyue, feeling her body state more clearly. Her pupils shrunk fiercely.
"Jun Tianchou! Her primal yin has been forcefully plundered! She’s been...raped!" Jun Li exclaimed with a quivering voice. Her entire mind started to quake at the unsettling discovery.
Jun Tianchou, the elderly man, immediately froze. His eyes shone with light. Inspecting Dai Qiuyue, his expression turned darker and darker to the point it resembled night. He clenched his teeth, and felt hot rage in his old heart. However, what could he do?
Many of the women in the Jade Hell Tower are abused, and the men had it even worse. Some would be tortured to the point they were no longer men, but this portion of the tower were reserved for those who should receive better treatment.
The sect, all sects, had a dark side to them. Even the Scarlet Solaris Sect destroyed the Violet Moon Sect and turned many of its members, its mortal citizens, into slaves. Wei Wuyin had personally been ordered to capture the remaining remnants, and even he couldn’t resist plundering the body of Three-Point Yin Physique-bearing female.
While he had his principles, they did not register towards enemies or his paths for his own success.
"What should we do?" Jun Lin asked, filled with worry. Because Dai Qiuyue was a core disciple, she was forced to keep her primal yin intact until she reached the Fourth Stage of Qi Condensation, Yin Form Phase. There was no way she would willingly lose it, especially while in captivity
Jun Tianchou softly said, "What will happen, will happen. Let’s get this Jiao Ning woman and the other members of her faction out of here. Perhaps that would lessen any resulting rage, even by a percentage." After saying that, he looked at the manifest and searched the cells.
It took them a while to find Jiao Ning, during which they found the other members’ cells as well. Unfortunately, many of them had already suffered mental breaks or total crippling. The enemies they had outside definitely took advantage of this moment to seek revenge. While they didn’t kill, as that would induce an investigation, everything else was fair game.
This was mostly expected by the duo.
When they arrived at Jiao Ning’s cell, their expression became as ugly as a child of hell. She was naked, covered in obscene stains and physical scars. Her eyes were unmoving as she blankly stared at the wall. She didn’t seem to be moving, but luckily, she was breathing.
This was the reality, the cruelty, of sects and the world itself.
However, while they felt bad, the duo continued with preparations. They washed her off with water qi, cleaned her up and placed her in some decent clothes. During the entire process, she was absent-minded and seemed to lack a sense of awareness.
In fact, if Dai Qiuyue had resigned to agreeing to God Lei son’s desire, her subordinates would not have been freed, unless they were crippled thoroughly. They would’ve rotted in their cells or be directly executed. After all, what they suffered could produce resentment and a future danger, to both God Lei’s son and Dai Qiuyue.
They only wanted to torture her, letting her know she could stop their suffering. But merely that.
They brought twenty-odd members out and placed them on their hawks. They had cleaned them up the best they could, but it still didn’t hide the bruises, marks, mental suffering in their eyes.
They took to the skies. The moment they did, Wei Wuyin, who remained standing on Bai Lin, flashed a look of pity. Yes, pity.
With his powerful spiritual sense, he saw their states and understood why and how it happened. He wasn’t mad, frustrated or conflicted. After all, Dai Qiuyue wasn’t important to him. She wasn’t Mei Mei, Su Mei, Bai Lin, or Wei Si. She was a stranger he had saved out of pity, and he had only done so because she was going to be forcefully taken before his very eyes.
If she was killed, he wouldn’t have stopped it. As for Jiao Ning, she was a satisfactory one-night stand he regretted not fully enjoying before all the disaster. Now that he didn’t feel pressed for time to save someone, and understood that he was on a literal descending timer to face his nearly certain death, he was far less restrained and more willing to fall into debauchery - unlike before.
Regardless of what comes, in 39 years, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to survive. He wouldn’t have survived the first calamity if it wasn’t for his other ’self’ taking it, and it relied on indifference to do so.
How could memories torture or affect you if you aren’t even the person who experienced them. If it was just Wei Wuyin who had amnesia, those memories would’ve still had some emotional impact. However, his new self was an entirely new existence with no memories, only intelligence. The chances of a second miracle like that was unlikely.
Therefore, from henceforth, he’ll do whatever he wanted, however he wanted.
In the end, he could only sigh in pity at their current states.
When the hawks arrived, the various Mortal Gods, including Qin Shui, sent their spiritual sense over and analyzed their states. All of their eyes revealed fear and shock.
One of them, a person who felt he needed to say this, shouted in anger. "Damn the Lei Clan! They always took things too far!!" Whether it was fake or not, everyone knew.
He had decisively placed all the blame on a single clan, placing one more crime that would very well warrant their entire extermination to appease Wei Wuyin. In fact, he hated the Lei Clan, so him speaking thusly was par for the course, and the typical layer of scheming.
Qin Shui noticed Dai Qiuyue’s plundered primal yin and her expression shifted. A look of shock and ferocious anger emerged in her eyes. These were not faked. After all, despite the circumstances, Dai Qiuyue was a core disciple given special treatment. She didn’t care about the rest, but Dai Qiuyue should not have experienced that.
She turned towards Wei Wuyin, seeing his expression of thought, and she immediately announced: "The entire Lei Clan has committed insidious crimes that can not escape our eyes. They will not be forgiven and experience the full penalty for their actions!"
Wei Wuyin ignored her. He knew that he couldn’t say anything to dissuade them. Even if he did, they would still take action to appease Dai Qiuyue. Not to mention, he didn’t feel like doing anything. It wasn’t his clan, his family, and he knew nothing about them.
The cultivation world was cruel. A single matter unrelated to you could be the reason for your demise or the demise of your entire family.
He knew this far too well.
"Bring her here," were the only words he said. Immediately, Jun Li brought Dai Qiuyue over, but Wei Wuyin added, "Not her. Jiao Ning, bring her here."
"..." This startled all of them. Not a single person didn’t have eyes filled with disbelief. He wanted Jiao Ning? They didn’t even bother inspecting her state.
When they did, their expressions became so dark that night seemed to have fallen. Jiao Ning’s vitality had been deeply damaged, her Heart of Qi seemed to have been cracked, nearly crippling her, and her innate energies in her body were completely absent and drained. She was no different than a mortal at this point, and her body had been ravaged and marked. The lingering intermixing of various yang energies was evidence of abuse of the fiercest nature.
She was already lingering on a thread of death, and her mental state wasn’t much better.
Her eyes were dull and lackluster without an ounce of will.
Su Mei saw the woman’s state, but she didn’t have any real thoughts towards it. She had seen women like this many times, and sometimes, men had been far, far worse. The cruelty of the cultivation world knew no bounds. Therefore, she was mostly indifferent. The only reason she cared was because of Wei Wuyin.
Jun Tianchou brought Jiao Ning over, sending her towards Wei Wuyin by a soft bed of water qi. Wei Wuyin used his own qi and gently brought her over. When he saw her state up close, his emotions were somewhat complex.
He brought her into his embrace, sat down, and cradled her into his arms. When the others saw this, the degree of fear in their hearts intensified. Wei Wuyin looked like a man cradling his dying lover in his hands. It painted a rather sad picture and their imagination exploded.
"I couldn’t save you this time, huh?" He sighed. He felt the state of her mind and realized it was fractured and damaged. She must’ve suffered immense torture while being held captive. No one cared about the measly core elder who was only at the Third Stage of Qi Condensation. The only reason she reached that title was due to her Heart of Wind Qi.
Now, her Qi Cyclone was gone. Her Heart of Qi was completely absent of energy, and her body was drained of tempered energies.
The remnant traces of yang auras on her body were distinct, likely belonging to all the men who abused her during her time of imprisonment. Some of those auras were clear as day, meaning either recent or continuous.
He didn’t know what to do. With his strength, he could reconstitute her cultivation. With his strength, he could kill all those who abused her. With his strength, he could instill fresh vitality and allow her to live a longer life.
However, he couldn’t help her broken mind. Her plague of memories that would forever haunt her. He couldn’t protect her, as his life wasn’t guaranteed, and their lives weren’t emotionally tied in such a way. She was just a woman-in-crossing.
Su Mei softly inquired, "Is she?"
"..." Wei Wuyin slowly nodded.
Su Mei became silent. Even a Godlord had their limitations, and the mind was such a delicate thing. If it was the crippling of her spirit, perhaps vast spiritual energy could resuscitate it. If it was the crippling of the body or lifespan, yin-yang energy or wood energy could help.
However, if it is related to the mind, what could be done?
Wei Wuyin gently held Jiao Ning in his arms, his breathing steady and his eyes reminiscent. He had never taken lovers, even for a single day, for granted. After all, it was a mutual exchange of intimacy that could never be cheapened. It was truly unfortunate that he couldn’t help...her...mind...
"Her mind?" He thought, his eyes widening slightly.
"Her mind!" He repeated. His thoughts circulated faster and faster as he recalled something.
"Eden Qi!"
That’s right! Eden Qi originated from the Tree of Eden’s aura and essence, it related to the Mind Dao! He didn’t know what it could do, but it was connected to his Alchemic Heart, which was known for being able to perform the seven traits of alchemy: Extraction, Growth, Containment, Refinement, Creation, Transformation, and Fusion.
If that’s the case, could he use his Alchemic Heart of Eden Qi to fuse her shattered psyche and contain or extract her ill-memories! Could he, as a cultivator, do that?!
He wanted to find out!
"Sorry, I’ll be doing a little experiment on you, so forgive me." Wei Wuyin said as his eyes glowed with a rainbow light. When this light emerged, an aura of the Alchemic Dao erupted.
"What?!" Qin Shui was immediately startled. This was the aura of alchemical energies! But how?!
As she pondered this in her shock, Wei Wuyin’s eyes shot out lights that penetrated Jiao Ning’s Mind’s Eye! He was going to perform alchemy on her mind!