It doesn’t look like they are here to deliver food, nor does it look like they are here to let us out.
When I heard the sound of the door being unlocked, I gritted my teeth, took off the bolt, and held it in my hand. As soon as they pushed the door open, I swung it hard on the head of the first person who came in.
But I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for a whole day and night, so I had no strength to push the door bolt down. The servant easily waved his hand to block it, grabbed my clothes, and lifted me up.
“Where are you taking Jia’er?”
My mother rushed over but was kicked away by the servant and hit against the wall without making any sound.
“Mother!” I screamed, pounded, and kicked, but I was too weak to do anything and was carried all the way into the main courtyard. As soon as I entered the side door, I saw that in the front yard of the house, my father and the elders and descendants of the clan were all kneeling in the direction of the house. Mi Luo was also kneeling among them, her face full of tears. When she saw me, her eyes widened immediately. I looked into the house, and there were four or five masked people in red clothes and pointed hats standing on both sides of the door. In the chair in the middle of the front hall, where only my father could sit, sat a woman with white hair and colorful clothes, holding a long staff in her hand.
The woman also had her face covered, revealing only a pair of phoenix eyes. Her pupils were as blue as Nalin’s, but unlike his, they were filled with a poisonous color, reminding people of the back scales of a blue bamboo pit viper.
I was shocked. Wasn’t that Nalin’s mother, the Saintess of the Tusheng Sect, whom I had seen that day?
The servant threw me to the ground and twisted my hands.
“It was this evil son of mine who abducted the Young Saint Lord. Please forgive me, Grand Tutor.” In the dead silence, I heard the flattering voice of the man whom I no longer wanted to call father.
“Oh? He’s so brave.” The woman chuckled, “Bring him here and let me take a look.”
I was roughly dragged to the woman by the servant. His cold hands grabbed my chin and forced me to look up to meet her cold blue eyes. When we were so close, I realized that her eye shape was actually very similar to Nalin’s, especially the tails of her eyes, both of which had long shadows.
“You are a boy who looks like a foxy girl, prettier than a girl. No wonder you could seduce my son to give up being a young saint lord and a prince and run away with you. You ignorant boy almost ruined my plan.” She stared at me with her eyes half-squinted, but there was no anger in her eyes, just as if a cold-blooded butcher was looking at a condemned prisoner under the knife or a poisonous snake was entwining the corpse of its prey.
“You have a lot of Yin energy on you. I guess one of the twins of the Mi family who are destined to be in Yin is you.”
I didn’t know why she asked this, so I nodded. Then I heard a commotion behind me. When I turned around, I saw a thin figure rushing into the house and falling beside me. It was Mi Luo.
“It was me, it was me who abducted the Young Saint Lord, not my brother. I asked my brother to draw those paintings!”
“Mi Luo, what nonsense are you talking about!” I covered her mouth with my hand and saw her staring at me with tears in her eyes, with a look of determination in her eyes. My sister has always been timid, and I never thought she had such courage to leave the hope of life to me. I think what happened in the past two days has stimulated her too much. I didn’t give her the opportunity to make a fool of herself. I made up my mind and pushed her hard, took out the carnelian ring inside the belt, and held it high so that the grand tutor could see it clearly.
“It’s me. This is the ring that the Young Saint Lord gave me.”
The Grand Tutor glanced at the carnelian ring in my hand, then looked back at my face, then back at my sister’s face. She seemed not to have heard our argument, nor did she care. She nodded and said with a smile, “Both are here… very good.”
“This evil boy has committed a serious crime. You can kill him or chop him up. It’s up to the Grand Tutor to decide.” The man’s voice came from behind again. “I don’t ask for a thousand gold coins. I only ask the Grand Tutor to give me…”
“Elder Mi, whose body was the human skin offered as a sacrifice on the day you were promoted to elder taken from?” The woman’s voice suddenly interrupted my cold-blooded father behind him before he could finish his words.
This sentence made me shudder.
“It’s-it’s my stableman.”
The Grand Tutor let out a cold laugh. “Do you know that ever since His Majesty returned from the war, he has been haunted by vengeful spirits every night? That skin… I need it to make a soul-banishing banner for His Majesty. Haven’t I already informed all followers qualified for Elder that men carry too much impure energy? This time, the offering must be the skin of a woman or a child.”
“F-Forgive me, Grand Tutor! That day, in a fit of rage, I damaged that wretch’s skin. Fearing your wrath, I…” The voice behind me trembled uncontrollably. My vision burned red with fury as I twisted around and lunged at him, driven by nothing but the urge to tear a piece of flesh from his body. Yet, before I could reach him, the house servants pulled me back.
“You’re not human!” I roared at him, my voice hoarse with fury, spitting in his face. It was one thing for him to have treated me and my younger sister like worthless weeds since childhood, but he actually intended to take Mother’s skin in exchange for his own chance at immortality. I had naively thought that he had at least stopped short of flaying her out of some lingering conscience. But no, it was only because he had ruined her skin.
“It’s too late. The vengeful spirits have turned against him, His Majesty has fallen gravely ill and is now bedridden, blaming me for it. As the Grand Tutor, it is only right that I give him an explanation.”
“Forgive me, Grand Tutor! Forgive me! It was my negligence, I forgot your instructions. I am willing to atone, to atone… I offer both my children to you, Grand Tutor…”
“Father!” Mi Luo cried out in disbelief, her voice choked with tears. I held her tightly, my entire body trembling with fear and rage. Even the Big Madam, who had always treated us with indifference, could no longer bear to watch. She grabbed the madman’s arm and screamed hoarsely, “Master, they are your own flesh and blood!”
“Ignorant woman, shut up! These wretched brats aren’t even mine!”
“Do you think just these two children alone can quell His Majesty’s wrath?” The Grand Tutor rose slowly to his feet, his staff tapping lightly against the floor. His gaze swept over Mi Luo and me before shifting to the masked figures standing on either side of the doorway. “Leave these two alive. As for the rest… kill them all.”
I froze in place, watching as the masked figures with pointed hats on either side of the gate walked toward my relatives kneeling in the courtyard. The man I had once called Father shouted, then sprang up and ran toward the front door. The others quickly reacted, attempting to flee through the front and side doors. But the gates had long been blocked by guards on horseback, wielding swords, leaving no way to escape. Those who tried to retreat were swiftly caught by the masked figures, throats slashed, bellies opened. In the blink of an eye, the courtyard had become a river of blood. The man I had despised only moments ago now lay face down on the ground, his head severed from his body, his entrails spilling out across the floor.
“Ah!!!!” My younger sister screamed in terror, collapsing weakly into my arms. I too stood frozen, my entire body stiff, dazedly watching everything unfold before me. Suddenly, a familiar voice pierced through the chaos, calling out, “Jia’er, Luo’er!”
My body trembled, and I turned toward the voice. To my shock, I saw Mother bursting through the side door, her hair disheveled and flowing wildly.
“Heh, I was wondering where the former Saintess had fled to now…” A cold laugh echoed from behind, sending a chill down my spine. “So, just like me, you escaped from the Champa Sect and fled to Guge. As expected, Sect Leader did not lie to me. No wonder these two children possess spiritual veins unlike any others; turns out, they are the bloodline of the former Saintess.”
I was stunned. What former saintess? I turned to look behind me and saw the Grand Tutor staring intently at my mother.
Mother stumbled forward, throwing her arms wide to shield me and my younger sister. “Grand Tutor, please, I beg of you,” she pleaded, her voice trembling. “For the sake of us both having once been helpless women who suffered so much, spare my children. I am willing to offer myself, whether it’s my skin or my heart, take whatever you wish!”
“Mother, what are you saying?”
I grabbed onto the corner of her clothes, but she pushed me away forcefully. “Run! Take your sister and run!”
“Haha, what use do I have for you? Your spiritual veins have long been destroyed, and you are worse than an ordinary person, but your children are perfect sacrifices.”
My mother turned around and saw that my sister and I had not left yet. She shouted at the top of her lungs, “Run away!”
Before she finished speaking, a flash of white light brushed her cheek and passed over her neck.
It was a leaf-sized flying blade.
My mother’s body shook, and she stared at me in a daze. A line of blood gradually appeared in her throat. Her lips stammered, as if she wanted to say something to me, but she couldn’t say anything. My mother, whom I bought back using Nalin’s blood, his love and freedom, my mother, who had new hope in life just a moment ago, fell in front of me just like that, and this time, I lost her forever.
I knelt on the ground, not caring about my unconscious sister in my arms, and crawled to my mother on all fours. She was lying in a pool of blood, staring at me with her eyes wide open and her lips parted, and blood foam spurted out of her throat, splashing all over my head and face. I hugged her tightly, and after a brief moment of silence, I heard a cry like a beast. And that was my own voice.
Wet fingers brushed across the palm of my hand, stroke by stroke, and at the same time, a cold, hard object was stuffed between my fingers.
I lowered my eyes. In my palm, there was a crescent-shaped hairpin and a bloody word.
“Live.”
