Chapter 5: Pain of the Mind vs Pain of the Heart
But even as 6 months passed, her eyes remained the same. They were only a bit dimmer than what he remembered, as if she'd lost sight of her purpose, and who she was. However, she was still very much mentally there. Her mind was still whole, and so he still tortured her, with every method he could think of. And although he was a rather creative person, even he was having trouble coming up with new ideas after 6 months. Plus, she was responding less and less. What he needed now, was maybe one last push, that would send her endlessly into an empty vessel. He wanted to see those eyes that had looked at him, wanting to give even an evil man like him hope, fall into utter hopelessness and despair.
Hui could feel it, she was losing track of who she was, losing track of time and place.
However, in the stillness came time to think.
This life hadn't been nice. By now, she'd already lost every family member she had to various locations and death. she'd lost all the martial power she'd collected over the years, she'd been cooked in a cauldron, tortured in every way imaginable, captured and used as a slave. What more could possibly happen to her? And yet, what was this? Wasn't she still alive? Despite going through every horror known to man, she was still alive, she was still breathing, blood flowed through her veins. And where life was, there was opportunity. She suddenly remembered a quote from her friend. She had been complaining about how horrible her life was at the time, and how she seemed to be at the bottom of a pit, with nowhere to go. Her friend had responded cheerfully. "What do you mean, nowhere to go? If you are at the very bottom of a pit, no matter where you step, the only direction you can go is up, right?"
A smile flitted across Hui's face, before she could repress it, and unfortunately, Li Haoli, who had been working on paperwork nearby, just so happened to glance over and saw it.
"What is this? You're smiling? What's so fun little Hui?" He asked curiously, bored with his work, his mind for some reason unable to focus, stood up to walk slowly over to her and crouch down. His legs were a bit stiffer this evening.
She didn't want to see him right now, but faced with no choice, she looked up, her head still tucked behind her knees, she looked into his eyes, and suddenly she wondered, why was he this way?
Why did he do evil that had no benefit to himself? Curiosity got the better of her, and she didn't notice that her expression had changed to that of a curious child, who was wondering what kind of creature they were looking at, as if they were seeing the creature for the first time.
Li Haoli was vastly confused by this. Why didn't this child hate him yet? Did she have a mental disorder? Had he really broken the kid mentally? Was torturing kids different than adults afterall? However, moments later he watched as the kid's expression suddenly turned into one of panic. Feeling more at ease, he was caught off guard, as the kid leapt to her feet, moving faster than a 5 year old should have been able to, as she ducked behind his back. He heard a clang of metal on metal, and he whipped around to see a small five year old, arms raised, as they'd just barely defended his back from a long, one edged-blade. A blade held by none other than Leader Sungwu.
Leader Sungwu was an ancient man, and had been charged with the beauty segment of the demonic cult for the last couple decades, however, his power had waned in recent days, and his seat had been forcibly taken from him by the woman who'd served his bed for the last 40 years. This naturally made him extremely angry, but unable to do anything against the spell she'd bound him with, he'd had to give up his position as one of the elder's seats and had been moved to Li Haoli's segment. Unfortunately, this meant he now had to serve someone who was not only younger than himself, but also had weaker cultivation. This obviously made him disgruntled.
And today, that disgruntlement had turned into action.
Li Haoli felt his stomach lurch, as he realized he'd ingested slow acting poison earlier that day.
"You sniveling snake, Sungwu!!!" He gritted his teeth, circulating his energy to combat the poison. "Dare to covet my place, at least face me on an even field!"
Zhu Sungwu just smirked at him, feeling his victory was near. Hui, who'd somehow just blocked the attack by a foundation builder, with just the use of her magical manacles, was completely ignored. "Ha, if a man can be beaten by a plant, why take out the tiger?"
"I've never heard such a saying in my life." Snarled Li Haoli back, bidding for time, as he continued to fight the poison. "Rather, feeding a tiger, you may find yourself giving up more than you betted on.."
"Holding for time won't help you," commented Zhu Sungwu as if he could read his mind. "The poison I gave you is vein rotting poison, it can only be cured by injecting venom of a green-eyed diamond snake, which is also untreatable without a regular dose of antidote."
"Zhu Sungwu! I'll get you for this!" Snarled back Li Haoli.
But Zhu Sungwu wasted no more time, lifting his blade for the final swing, only, in the time that Li Haoli had gained, Hui had long since left the scene, and Zhu Sungwu, who was ignoring her existence completely, didn't notice that she'd already leapt onto a table to approach from above. As he made to give the killing blow, a bright green chain, that seemed to be made of jade and pearls, fell around his neck.
Now, the incredible thing about the manacles that Li Haoli had 'given' Hui, was that one only had to come into contact with them, and they would suddenly be unable to mobilize any of their qi, and would send paralyzing pulses throughout their body. The moment that Hui had him by the neck, she'd already won, having long been used to the paralyzing effect, it no longer bothered her, and with a body now innately stronger than a normal persons, from remodeling it in the cauldron, the thin arms packed quite a punch. Using all her strength, she pulled the chains tight around him, until he was left gasping for breath, falling to his knees, before collapsing to his side, and even after he passed out, she continued to hold, until he was completely still and lifeless.
Li Haoli on the other hand, was shocked. She had killed someone like it was nothing. And this was the one he had been torturing for months. The one he had slept with, who held a knife to his throat, and the one he now watched, his body collapsed on the ground, unable to do anything, due to the poison ravaging his body, as she slowly approached him, each step dragging the bright chains across the ground, so that they made tinkling sounds that echoed across the walls. Each step a step closer to his incoming death.
Her hand reached to his waist, unfastening his knife and drawing it. She slowly lifted the blade above his head, the light from a torch nearby glinted off its surface for a moment, and then…It fell downward.