Chapter : 16
"Tell me, are you so tired of living…?"
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"Now tell me, what is this then…???"
Suddenly, a colorful stone was thrown in front of her.
The stone emitted a dazzling light, and a holographic image appeared. It showed Song Yan holding Qing Tian's hand as they walked toward an expensive dress store, where the cost of a single garment amounted to 3,200 low-grade spirit stones.
Song Yan stared at the scene in disbelief. Her eyes trembled, and her heart sank. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong. Yet, she also knew that this was a deliberate framing—and worse, she feared she might implicate Qing Tian in her misfortune.
"And I want to ask you, where did this money come from?? For a slave like you, spending more than 3,200 low-grade spirit stones is almost impossible! And even if you somehow managed to save such an amount, why would you spend it on someone else? On your master? Especially when he already has clothes hundreds of times better than this?"
Song Yan's lips trembled as she stared at the colorful stone, that was showing the image. The image hovering above, showing her holding Qing Tian's hand, burned into her memory like a nightmare that she could not erase.
"No... this... this is not true!" Her voice sounded weak and desperate, yet higher than usual.
"Yes, I was with my young master on that day, but the spirit stones, ... they were his and i have saved for many years, to gift him on the young master's birthday!"
But no one heard her.
Qing Gu stepped forward, a cold smile appearing on his lips.
He placed his hands behind his back, gazing at her.
"Still in denial? Even when presented with the evidence before your very own eyes? A lame servant, who dares twist the truth and lie before the Elders? Pathetic."
Some elders, nodded faintly. Evidence presented by a recording stone could not so easily be ignored. To many of them, Song Yan's trembling denial already sounded more like the rigorous excuses of the guilty.
Elder Mu leaned forward, his expression grim and merciless. "Song Yan, your lies only dig your sins deeper. You are accused of theft, perjury, and tainting the heart of a direct descendant of the clan. For these crimes, there is no punishment too severe."
Song Yan trembled. She wanted to scream and tear apart the illusion. She wanted to scream that the whole world was unfair.
But the chains that were enclosing her wrists and ankles banded tighter with a blistering light sharp pang coursed through her veins. She gasped, almost collapsing. Her voice caught in her throat, drowned in pain.
Qing Gu glanced at Song Yan with a touch of humor before bowing towards the elders. "Elder Mu, I suggest we signal the clan's enforcement quickly.
If word got around that the Enforcement Hall spared even the most guilty of servants it would forever tarnish the dignity of the Qing clan."
Elder Mu agreed, solemnly nodding his head. "Yes. Since this maid dared to be innocent till now, she will be punished by the Flame Scourge."
As he spoke, one of the two guards in black stepped forward, maintaining a frozen expression as if he did not have the capacity to pity, let alone feel.
With no ceremony, the guard twisted his wrist igniting the red chain which blazed immediately.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...!"
Song Yan screamed as the burning chains squeezed tighter around her, as if it were hungry snakes that were chewing into her flesh.
The flames wrapped around her skin, burning like a hot coal and leaving nothing behind but blackened patches where it had burned.
As the smell of burnt flesh filled the hall, some elders turned away in disgust.
But not one spoke a word in protest.
"You brazen enough to steal from the clan, but also have the audacity to speak against the young masters?" One guard snarled as he twisted the chain harder against her body with a gleam of contempt in his eyes, remembering well her reaction when she was first called a slave.
"You will remember this pain, slave. This is the consequences of your arrogance!"
Another guard pulled out a whip of fire steel.
After waving the whip around and checking if it made a loud cracking noise, he swung the whip across her back.
CRACK!
Her body jerked back violently as blood sprayed from the ripped skin.
She bit her lip until it bled, refusing to fill the hall with any more sounds that would give them the pleasure of hearing a scream.
"Elder Mu, I have something more to report…!!" At this time, Qing Gu looked in the direction of Qing Mu, who was the Enforcement Elder, and spoke.
"What does Qing Gu want to say…?" Qing Mu spoke in a neutral tone, asking him.
"Elder Mu, this maid not only stole the money but also brought the young master of the Qing Clan to the orphanage, that dirty and filthy place, and tried to manipulate the mind of the young master of the Qing Clan.
And here is the proof."
He placed another colorful stone, where it showed Song Yan again holding the hand of Qing Tian. First, they bought much food and then walked inside the dilapidated orphanage, where even the lowest clan member of the Qing Clan wouldn't visit.
"No, I have indeed brought the young master to the orphanage, but the old man of the young master was saved by the old man of the orphanage, and we both usually visit him to repay the grace of saving." Song Yan, still wrapped in the flame chains, spoke while denying the false accusation against her.
"Hmph… how dare you bring the young master out of the clan without permission? And not only that, there were no protectors, and you even endangered the safety of the second young master! Or did that old man really save the second master, or was it you and that old man's play to divert the mind of the second young master of the clan?
And one more thing, according to the records of the clan, Qing Tian, as a twin born with the young master Qing Long, will never be able to cultivate."
"But from the moment he started going out with you, not only were his injuries healed, but also he was able to cultivate. And you have served the Qing Clan for more than twenty years, you should have known that it is impossible for Qing Tian to cultivate.
It must be you and that old man from that orphanage who used demonic or some weird cultivation tool to let the young master of the Qing Clan cultivate.
And here, with such a low realm, he was able to defeat higher-level cultivators, he must have used an unconventional method to make the young master cultivate!"
At this time, many elders in the hall said:
"Yes, this is right! This bitch Song Yan must have bewitched the young master and wants to infiltrate the Qing Clan."
"Yeah… this can be done…"
And with this, the suspicion grew more and more.
"Listening to this, I, as the Enforcement Elder of the clan, announce: First, Song Yan, the infiltrator and the bewitching witch, has bewitched the mind of the second young master of the clan.
Firstly, she will be whipped 100 times by the whip. If she can survive, then she will be hung in the middle of the clan, to let all clan members remember the punishment for betrayal and infiltration of the clan."
After that, he ordered the guards to whip her.
The guards bowed down respectively to Elder Mu, and with a wave of their hands, fiery chains lifted Song Yan's frail body into the air, binding her wrists and ankles perpendicular like a crucifixion.
Her burnt skin was quaking beneath the deep weight of the flames, but her back remained straight, and her gaze stared unwaveringly ahead.
One of the guards unfurled the whip, black, threaded with molten fire steel.
He snapped his wrist, cracking the air as if it were nothing.
PAAAHH!!!
The whip landed across her back, splitting flesh instantaneously.
Blood sprayed chaotically across the floor, quickly sizzling at the chains.
Song Yan gritted her teeth.
No sound escaped.
"Hmph! You still dare to act tough?" Elder Mu's voice was chilling. "Continue!"
PAAHHH!!! PAAHHHHH!!!
The second and third strikes tore thicker. Each lash was blasted on her back with every force of a cultivator at the heaven realm, while Song Yan is only at the realm of spiritual sea realm and every cut meant to shred her muscles, and cripple her body, so she would never walk properly again.
"Ten lashes," Elder Mu said. "Ninety more to go."
The guard lifted the whip again.
CRAAACKKK!!
This time, the pain was unbearable as the lash cut and tore across her shoulders again and nearly reached bone. Song Yan sucked in a breath, her quivering lips noiseless. Blood ran freely down her arms, staining her torn robes.
Yet, in her heart, one thought echoed:
Young master... don't come. Please... don't see me like this. I can endure it. I can endure it for you.
Her body swayed in the flame and her consciousness dimmed even more.
Another elder frowned slightly, whispering, "if she is a demonic spy, there won 't be anything in this that will break her, Elder Mu, are you...?"
But regardless of this, Elder Mu cut him off.
"The clan rules are iron. Treachery is death and if she survives the hundred lashes, she still will be hang in the center square. The clan must see what we do to corruption within our house!"
The guards drew back the whip once more.
CRAAACK!!!
CRAAACKKKK!!!
With each time the whip slammed against her body, Song Yan quivered as if hit by lightning.
The strikes tore her in every direction; blood dripped and pooled beneath her feet. Flames spat and hissed around her wounds, as they burned open, refusing to seal.
Her breath stuttered and shivered and shrank away to a lifeless whisper.
By the time they hit twenty, her skin, was shredded flesh and blood. Her lips were pallor; her eyes were out of focus, and yet...
She still endured.
And, in her endurance, in her silence, she was more dignified than those who condemned her.
Even heaven appeared to tremble.
This continued until the last whip on her body, when suddenly the door the enforcement hall was broken.
And a cold but calm voice echoed in the entire hall.
"Hands… that dare touch her… are hands unworthy of keeping."
"Tell me, are you so tired of living…?"
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End of the chapter, 16!