Childhood Friend or Destined Encounter? - Chapter 9

Chu Mingzhu brought a total of thirty-six people into the building this time. Only three accompanied her into the secret chamber, while the rest remained on standby in the main hall.

Earlier, the group had been trapped by the deceptive formations within the Octagram Tower, which had delayed them for some time. Later, they discovered the markers left behind by Feng Ya and followed them all the way here, even capturing a few members of the Octagram Tower along the way.

Feng Ya walked up to one of the captured men, who was dressed in black short-sleeved martial attire, and asked, “Speak. Where are the girls you kidnapped being held? Don’t try any more tricks. The last person who tried that with me was your Protector, and he has already departed for the afterlife.”

With their leaders dead or captured, the remaining members of the Octagram Tower fell like a crumbling mountain. Daring not to cause further trouble, they obediently led Feng Ya’s group to the dungeon.

As they reached the entrance of the dungeon, a foul odor hit them, a mixture of a metallic blood scent and something else unnamable and repulsive.

Chu Mingzhu signaled her subordinates to deal with the guards inside. Covering her nose, she followed closely behind Feng Ya.

Flanking the dim, narrow corridor were rows of square cells, totaling about twenty. Each room held five or six girls, all of whom were filthy and covered in bloodstains.

Seeing such a large group of people approaching, the girls huddled into the corners in terror, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

One by one, the cell doors were opened. Feng Ya stepped into one of the rooms, seemingly unbothered that the filth on the ground might stain her pure white boots.

She approached the wary girls and knelt down, carefully and gently untying the ropes on their wrists. Her voice held a tenderness she had never shown before. “Don’t be afraid. We are here to take you home.”

From the moment she stepped into the dungeon and saw the bloodstains on the walls and the blood-letting tools on the tables, a familiar dread surged through Ye Zi, making her entire body shiver.

However, Feng Ya’s low, soothing whispers of comfort provided a sliver of peace. It allowed her to temporarily suppress the urge to vomit as she continued to search the dungeon for a familiar face.

One after another, young and terrified faces came into view. With every such face she saw, the pain in Ye Zi’s head intensified.

“Sister Ye Zi,” a girl recognized her and called out timidly.

Ye Zi followed the voice and saw Xiao Hua, Auntie Zhang’s daughter. Since Xiao Hua hadn’t been held for very long, her mental state was slightly better than the others.

Ye Zi stepped forward, stroked Xiao Hua’s head, and whispered, “Are you alright? Did they… did they do anything to you during these days?”

Seeing someone she knew made Xiao Hua less afraid. She replied obediently, “I’m mostly fine. Those people brought us here and drew our blood once every three days. I’ve had my blood taken twice now, but some girls who have been here longer can’t produce any more blood. They get taken away, and we never see them again.”

As she spoke, Xiao Hua held out her wrist for Ye Zi to see. There was a cross-shaped wound on her thin arm, the dried brown blood forming a stinging scar.

Staring at that nightmare-inducing blood-red cross, Ye Zi felt the world spin. Ultimately, she could not hold on and lost consciousness.

Ye Zi fell into a very, very long dream…

The cold, damp cell never saw the light of day. The air was thick with the scent of blood and a sickening, foul stench.

The girls in the cell, who should have been in the prime of their youth, had long since lost any spark of life. Their faces were masks of numbness.

Ye Zi stared coldly at the cell door, waiting for the daily cycle of torture to begin.

“Sir, it’s this brat’s turn to have her blood drawn today.” A man in brownish-gray martial attire entered the cell, picking Ye Zi up like a small chick and dragging her toward that place of nightmares.

Ye Zi was tied to a wooden table. The cross-shaped scar on her wrist was sliced open once more. She stared at the flickering light on the ceiling, her mouth filled with the bitter taste of iron. A “drip-drop” sound echoed in her ears, the sound of death approaching. She could no longer feel the pain in her wound, and her consciousness began to fade.

I refuse… to die like this.

“Stop! Don’t run!” In the snow, a thinly dressed and frail Ye Zi was running desperately with a limp. Behind her, grown men and hunting dogs were in hot pursuit.

Eventually, Ye Zi’s strength failed her, and she collapsed into the snow.

The man who caught up grabbed her by the hair and began kicking and punching her, cursing, “You little brat, I told you not to run! Of all the ‘fodder’ in this batch, you’re the most troublesome. How many times have you tried to escape now? You’re intentionally looking for trouble, aren’t you? Da Huang, go on, teach her a good lesson.”

Ye Zi curled her body into a ball. Her past experiences had taught her how to minimize the damage she received. She whispered to herself in her heart: The fifth time. I miscalculated again.

**

She didn’t know how much time had passed in the cell, but by now, Ye Zi was as pale as a sheet of paper, without a hint of color left in her body.

Two days ago, she had been taken to have her blood drawn, but after much struggling, they couldn’t even get half a bowl out of her.

Ye Zi knew in her heart that she was about to lose her “utility.” Perhaps she would end up just like those other girls…

This time, Ye Zi was brought into a brand new room along with three other girls. This time, no one was tied to a wooden table, and no one came to draw blood.

Ye Zi understood that this would be her final chance.

A giant python, as tall as three men, opened its bloody maw and lunged at them. Its fangs were long and sharp, like razor blades. With a single strike, it pierced through one girl’s chest. A second later, the girl was swallowed whole, bones and all.

The girl didn’t even have time to scream. The only sound left in the air was the crunching of teeth against bone.

Perhaps because the python was so ferocious, the usual guards were nowhere to be seen. The vast space contained only the python and its “fodder.”

The door was locked tight, and Ye Zi lacked the strength to break out. She picked up a bowl left behind in the room and hurled it at the python’s head.

The giant python didn’t expect such a weak meal to provoke it. Abandoning the girl it was about to swallow, it lunged toward Ye Zi.

Though the python was fierce, it was ultimately a beast with limited intelligence. Ye Zi forced every ounce of strength into her body, stumbling through the patterns of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams across the room.

Failing to catch Ye Zi multiple times, the python let out an angry hiss, thrashing wildly and destroying everything in its path.

Seeing the opportunity, Ye Zi stood flat against the door. The moment the python lunged at her, she rolled away.

With a thunderous crash, the python smashed the door open with its head. Having missed again, the python seemed not to feel the pain, turning its head to strike at Ye Zi once more.

Ye Zi had anticipated this. She curled into a ball and rolled out of the room like a sphere.

By the time the python poked its head out again, Ye Zi had already rolled several yards away.

The python let out two unwilling roars, but it seemed bound by some command that prevented it from straying too far from the room. It could only turn back to take its anger out on the other “food.”

The sound of the wind whistled in Ye Zi’s ears, mixed with the sound of bones being crushed. She ran desperately across the snowy ground, tears soaking her small face. I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…

This time, no one chased her from behind. There was only her, alone, running across the vast, white expanse of snow, running and running…

In a room at the inn, Feng Ya looked at the still-unconscious Ye Zi, her brow furrowed.

It had been three days. Ever since they left the Octagram Tower dungeon, Ye Zi had been asleep for three whole days.

During these three days, Chu Mingzhu had her subordinates seize everything within the Octagram Tower and ordered for the surviving girls to be sent back to their homes.

Speaking of which, the location of the Octagram Tower was cleverly chosen. Who would have thought that the Pingyang City branch, which could house over a hundred members, was built beneath a ruined temple outside the city?

However, the captured Mahoraga was incredibly stubborn and refused to say anything.

By combining the accounts of the girls and the members of the Octagram Tower, Feng Ya learned that Mahoraga’s precious giant python needed to be fed the essence and blood of living virgins. Those girls had been kidnapped specifically to serve as blood donors for the python.

Yet, a girl could not provide blood indefinitely. When they could no longer yield blood, they would become a meal for the python. Every three years, a mass kidnapping would occur to provide the python with fresh “fodder.”

Feng Ya held Ye Zi’s hand as it hung by the bed. Her sleeve slipped down, revealing a wrist so thin it was nothing but bone, where the faint cross-shaped scar now looked exceptionally piercing.

Feng Ya had noticed this scar before, but at the time, she had dismissed it as an ordinary injury. Now, she understood everything.

Chu Mingzhu had visited several times as well, trying many methods to wake her, but nothing worked. She kept remarking that she had never seen such a strange condition.

“I want to see Mahoraga,” Feng Ya said to Chu Mingzhu.

Chu Mingzhu had Mahoraga imprisoned in a quiet courtyard. When Feng Ya saw him, his cultivation had been stripped away, and he was chained to a rack.

Who could have imagined that this gray-haired old man was the same grand villain who had terrorized the region just days ago?

“We’ve been interrogating him for days, but he still won’t say a word,” the guard told Feng Ya.

“Kill me if you have the guts, but don’t think I’ll ever betray the Tower Master, hehe… hehehe…” Mahoraga lifted his head to stare at Feng Ya, his damaged throat producing a sharp, piercing laugh.

“I’m not here to ask you about the Octagram Tower today. I only want to know what you did to the girl who was with me. Why hasn’t she woken up yet?” Feng Ya placed her hand on Mahoraga’s head, channeling a surge of energy that made his senses several times more sensitive than usual.

“You’re asking what I did to her? Are you asking about last time, or years ago?”

Mahoraga suddenly remembered something, and a twisted smile appeared on his face. “She has a cross scar on her wrist too, doesn’t she? I didn’t expect her to survive until now. She’s certainly stubborn.”

“Explain yourself!” In her urgency, Feng Ya unconsciously increased the flow of her energy.

Mahoraga, however, seemed completely oblivious to the pain, his smile growing more demonic. “You’re worried about her? She’s just fodder who lost her value. After having dozens of bowls of essence and blood drained, being able to linger on until now is already a miracle. I know my time is up, but I didn’t expect someone to be buried with me, hahahahahaha…”

“Damn you!” Hearing this, Feng Ya was both shocked and enraged. In her state of emotional turmoil, she struck Mahoraga’s head with her palm. The man, who had been arrogant just a moment ago, immediately blacked out.

Chu Mingzhu, who had watched the entire scene, couldn’t help but click her tongue. “Good heavens, I didn’t know you had this side to you. Whatever happened to being calm, composed, and unbothered?”

Chu Mingzhu was about to say more when she felt a drop of water hit the back of her hand.

“No wonder… she said before that all she ever wanted was to stay alive.”

At this moment, Feng Ya wore a look of sorrow that was rarely ever seen on her.

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