She tried again, and once more, was greeted with mostly silence, not even slight moans could be heard from the depths of her voice box. She gripped her throat, wondering what was wrong.
"What? Can't speak?" Li Haoli leaned over to examine her. "Oh no, little Hui can't speak anymore, what to do, what to do? I miss your voice, little Hui!" His eyes didn't show any remorse, rather they were like a predator, that delighted in the helplessness of its prey. "It's such a shame, since Little Hui can't speak, why don't we try some things to help that?" He turned around to grab a box from a room nearby. He reached inside and pulled out a bright green snake, with a black diamond pattern lining its back. "How about playing with my cute pet, little Hui? I call him Little Lu, perfect for my little Hui, right? Maybe he can bring your voice back?"
Hui shut her eyes. She didn't know what expression she was making, but it was definitely making Li Haoli happy. She didn't particularly like that.
The snake slithered over to her, as if it knew what its task was. Hui did her best to create distance between herself and it, only, she was suddenly aware of large chains gripping her ankles, wrists and neck, every movement she made, the chains sent shocks of paralytic waves through her, also restraining her qi from movement and forcing her to be unable to move properly. The snake continued to make its way across the floor of the cage, she thrashed at the bars, but her cultivation base was gone, and she had even less power than when she was a one year old. She finally grew still, all her focus falling onto the snake.
The snake struck, faster than she could see, but she predicted its trajectory and slammed her foot down on it, perfectly placing it over its skull, only last minute, it turned its body ever so slightly, managing to get a perfect single tooth bite onto her leg, sinking into her hardened body, like it was sinking into cream cheese. As quickly as it bit her, it released, yet that millisecond was all Hui needed, and her wrist, slammed down on its skull, using the manacle, the snake's head was immediately pulverized, but its body continued to writhe crazily, as if it was still alive, even after death, throwing itself this way and that, even managing to almost bite her a second time. But Hui's mind was already off of it and solely fixed on the pain that had suddenly assailed her body, starting from her ankle. The snake's venom shot up her blood stream, everywhere it went, brought streaks of pain with it and seemed to completely burn her body all over again. However, rather than the fire burn shed felt earlier in the cauldron, this one was like an acidic burn, faster, but deeper, and oh so penetrating. She writhed in pain, along with the snake's death throes, even as Li Haoli tutted from above.
"Dear oh dear, how could little Hui kill the pet I gave her? Bad girl! That's not how you play with my pets! Are you trying to make me sad?"
Hui had no mind to listen to him and tried her best to keep herself from going insane from the pain, even as death began to step closer and closer. However, just before the venom could fully reach through her heart, she suddenly felt a hand on her back, and then a pill was in her mouth, and the venom was neutralized, although the pain continued to scourge through her body.
"There there, it wouldn't be any good if you died too soon, especially after you survived Hei Jingyi's cauldron!"
Hui just looked at him, froth forming and dripping from her mouth, unable to stand or pick herself up, just staring at him. She still couldn't bring herself to hate him. It was her own weakness that had caused this situation. A demon was a demon, and every evil deed will be repaid in the end, it didn't have to be her. However, it was her own fault that she wasn't strong enough to fight against such a demon and protect herself from it.
Li Haoli seemed to find her stare funny though, as if he couldn't believe she didn't hate him. "What? Why aren't you mad at me? I tossed you into a cauldron, I gave you a snake as a pet? Hmm, let's see, what will make little Hui mad, maybe, is this not enough for you? You are a very greedy little girl indeed, perhaps, should I get you something more special~?" he took out a small device. "Now this, little hui, is a very precious item, extremely difficult to procure, much less create. Many people pay quite the handful for it. However, this time, I'll let you experience it firsthand!" He took the little purple device, and placed it onto her chest. Before suddenly activating it.
Hui suddenly found out that having your bones melted and remolded wasn't the worst pain a human being could experience. She tried to cry out, she tried to scream, but she couldn't, her voice was gone. A millennia of pain seemed to pass, before Li Haoli turned it off, only for her to realize it had been mere moments, and then, just as she began to enjoy how great her body felt with just snake venom, he once more activated the device.
He turned it off again, this time he spoke. "How's that little Hui? You like it? You want to talk to me now? No? Too bad, I can't hear you, I guess we'll have to keep going until you tell me!"
Over and over, torture after torture. One day he would cut off limb after limb, and eat them, grilled in front of her, only to waste a regrowth pill on her, growing them back, just to eat them again. Another day, he would skin her alive, starting from her fingertips and toes. Other days, he would slowly cut off parts of her like slicing salami, starting once again from her fingers and toes.
Some days he would poke out her eyes, other days he would pull out all her teeth, leave her sitting there for days, toothless, fingerless, and sightless. Still others, she would be dumped in a pot of boiling acid or oil. He seemed to have infinite regeneration pills. Probably gifts from his best bud, Hei Jingyi, who smuggled them out for him. Rather impressive, considering their normal cost on the market. But well, the demonic sect had an easier way to create them, including a human sacrifice; which increased the effectiveness of the pill, with it being a lower tier than it normally was. Either way, Hui finally found out what hell was like, and she quickly learnt that great pain repeated could only increase tolerance to not screaming at it, it would never make the pain feel less painful. She began to try to beg Li Haoli to be kinder, with tears, and soft gestures, other times, she would sit as inconspicuously in the corner as possible, trying to make herself invisible to him. Sometimes it would work, and he would forget about her for a few days, in which she would slowly starve to death. But her begging for help from him always ended up with a worse torture.
Finally, he got rid of the cage, and only chained her to the wall, with an extra chain that could reach to his bedroom. But she never left the room he'd put her in. By then, she'd already lost the will to do anything. She just went day in and day out, unable to do anything, hoping, hoping, that somehow, someway, someone would swoop in and save her. She'd already given up on her Dao, on her cultivation, in gaining any strength at all. But they never came. No one came to save her, time passed, and nothing changed, her situation remained as unchangeable as she let it be. Each day was so miserable and hopeless, that even as Li Haoli stopped torturing her on a daily basis, all it did was bring back a little bit of her appetite. As For Li Haoli, he found it funny that she still hadn't either killed herself, or become lifeless. She didn't even hate him for his cruelty. It was the greatest fun to see how far he could go before she lost her mind, to hopelessness, terror, or hate.