Ruan Fai sighed and looked to the sides of the Courtroom. Li Liang and Li Shing sat on the right, clothed in majestic azure robes. Zhang and the General of the Li Sect stood a few steps away on the left.

At the silent nod of approval from them, he waved his hand. "Zhang Taio, bring them in. Don't permit anyone else."

Soon the loud clinking of chains and heavy footsteps were heard down the corridor. The doors burst open and Zhang, along with the other General shoved three blood-smeared, filthy men onto the ground. The doors then slammed shut.

"Look up!" He kicked one of them. The captive groaned. The other General yanked them up by their hair and made them face the Royalty seated before them.

"Who sent you?" Ruan Fai's menacing voice echoed off the walls. "Do not try to deny your crime. We have enough evidence. Confess."

As he rose from the throne, he twirled his fingers. A cruel-looking nine-tailed whip materialised on the palm of his hand. It was the ruthless discipline whip of the Ruan Sect. It was rumoured that if wielded correctly, it was capable of causing irreparable internal damages to the body on which the falls landed.

The criminals eyed the formidable whip and gulped. They didn't dare say anything.

"Alright," Ruan Fai sighed, after counting till ten. He swung his arm in an arc, making sure each one of the scoundrels got a lashing. As the tails cracked, the bare skins of the criminals were torn open, spilling blood onto the ornate floor.

Screams rang in the room, making the air vibrate with it.

"AAAHHH!! LET ME GO!! WE DON'T REMEMBER!! WE DON'T KNOW!!"

"Sect Leader Ruan, it's really sad to find such loyal dogs like these. We would be so lucky if we had such people in the authorities," Li Liang spoke, his hardened gaze pinning the three culprits sprawled on the ground. "If you don't mind, the Li Sect has a few ideas as well. But that's for a little while later."

Although Ruan Fai didn't turn to face them, Shing could feel the smirk in his voice as he replied, "They're all yours to deal with, Elder Lord."

******

"Hmm, so our RenRen finally has a new friend," Jia smiled as she plaited Renshu's hair. She secured the remaining open bit of his hair with an azure ribbon and twisted the braid to make a bun. She tied the ribbon around and put in a silver hairpin to hold the bun in place.

Renshu giggled.

"So tell me," Jia asked. "Tell me more about this friend of yours. Who is he?"

"She is Sect Leader Ruan's younger daughter, Ruan Caihong. She brought Ren back home that night. She beat up those bad people and saved Ren. Ren was very scared of everyone. But now, Ren and A- Hong are best friends! We went to the Hall of Incense together and A- Hong gifted me an incense burner. She gives Ren candies too, lots and lots of them! See, Ren has brought some for Gūma too!" Saying this, he took out a sachet from inside his lapels and gave it to her. "For Gūma."

"Awww, thank you, dear," Jia laughed as she unwrapped the foil around one of them and popped it into her mouth. "I hope," she said, savouring the taste of the sweet, "that Ren shares candies with his A- Hong too."

"Ren is a good boy, he shares candies with A- Hong," came the solemn reply.

She smiled, as her nephew tenderly hugged her heavily pregnant belly, and kissed it a few times, whispering sweet nothings to it. She sighed, as she felt the baby kick gently, probably in response to whatever his or her Gege was saying.

"Gūma..."

"Yes?"

"It's a secret," Renshu whispered urgently.

"Oh really? What is it?"

"Don't tell this to anyone else alright?"

"I swear I won't."

"Gūma... A- Hong is taller than RenRen."

Jia couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. She erupted in chortles, her whole figure shaking, as she gazed at the adorable pout on her beloved nephew's face.

******

Caihong suddenly sat down on her butt in the middle of the floor. The bowl containing mashed herbs fell out of her hands. Though she swallowed, her throat was as dry as gravel.

"What happened to you? Are you feeling sick?"

She exhaled heavily and shook her head.

"You look as if you're going to throw up. Can you stand for a bit?

As soon as she stood up, she swayed and would have toppled over if not for the Royal Physician's daughter holding her.

"Xue Jie... I'm... alright..."

"No, you aren't. You are green in the face," Cheng Xue carefully guided her to a bed and made her sit.

"Xue Jiejie..."

"Quiet."

Xue's sharp eyes scrutinised her. "Mèimei, lie down for a bit. Here, have some water."

Caihong gulped down the cool water silently; her head felt like it was being speared open. Black spots danced in her vision as she lay down.

She curled up into a fetal position as the pain heightened. She bit down on her fist to stop herself from screaming.

Her whole body felt like the skin had been sliced open and scalding brine had been poured over her. The faint taste of blood in her mouth did nothing to ground her back to reality.

*/ A pair of albino- red pupils gazed at her, brimming with tears of grief. The snowy hair, adorned with bridal jewellery was loose and fluttered in the breeze.

As if the soul could bleed an ocean through the eyes- that was the enormity of her sobbing.

The painted lips trembled and the whole petite figure of the woman leaning on a stick shook. She could hold the heartbreak no longer and fell to the ground in a dishevelled heap as her sorrow poured out in a flood of uncontrollable tears.

"I'm sorry... It's my fault... It's all my fault..."

She sat awkwardly on the ground. She kept shaking her head and clamped her hand on her mouth, probably to muffle her wails of distress.

"Yao Xingjuan... I love you... I have always loved you..."

They were in a forest clearing.

A forest clearing that was ablaze with the flames of fiend fire.*/

******

"Mesmerising..."

Glossy, white hair which seemed to be shimmering in the dim light from the candles cascaded down like a curtain around a figure, with hair as dark as the moonless night, who was writhing in throes of fiery passion.

"So beautiful, my A- Chun," a pair of dark crimson orbs devoured the sight of the perfectly sculpted body beneath him, both of them glistening with sweat.

Strings of broken moans and needy whines poured out of Chun's swollen lips drowning the suspicious sounds coming from the room next to theirs.

He arched his back and whimpered, his nails clawing at the sheets and the pthalo blue runes on his shoulder glowing brighter than ever.

"Master, aaahh, so full, Master, so deep!" He screamed, making the white-haired figure's hard shaft twitch inside his tight, warm orifice.
"Master Qiu Feng!" He gasped, tears rolling down his flushed cheeks. The electric blue of his eyes had spread across his corneas leaving no whites, enticing the said man to thrust harder into him.

A smirk tugged at the corners of Qiu Feng's lips as he watched his alluring accomplice looking so wrecked already. He knew it was pure bliss for him, each thrust of his pushing them both towards the mind-numbing ecstasy. His fingers dug into the flesh of those fair legs which Chun was holding up so obediently.

"Master, I need to... Aaahh!" Chun all but cried out as teasing fingers pinched his nipples and twisted them.

"No." A single clipped reply reached him.

"P-please! Please!"

Qiu Feng curled his fingers around the slender throat, his white hair sticking to his sweaty torso. He knew what his beautiful boy needed. He could see it in the way his thighs trembled; he could hear it in the way his moans rose in pitch and turned into helpless sobs.

His Master's touches kept adding fuel to the fire surging through his veins. He felt like he was burning.

"Now."

His walls clenched viciously around his Master's hard length and his back arched almost painfully. His heels pressed down into the mattress as he came undone with a loud groan, fluids splattering across his stomach and chest and dripping out of his abused hole.

He smiled. His eyes drooped.

Chun suddenly sat up clumsily. His head was still foggy from the intense orgasm he had a while ago. He had heard the sound of metallic friction back then as well. In the silence, the noises seemed to get louder. "Master," he perked up his ears and listened hard. "Do you hear it too?"

The sound of metal snapping in two and a low grating sound vibrated in their eardrums. The grating sound accompanied by a crack floated over from the next room, the room in which Qiu Feng's daughter, Qiu Nuan's corpse lay on the floor bound by spirit controlling chains.

******

Renshu peeped into Caihong's room and knitted his eyebrows. She wasn't there in her room either.

'Where did A-Hong go?' He wondered as he dragged his feet along the corridor.

His eyes glanced over the training court. Several soldiers were exercising, some were lounging after a friendly spar. The newly recruited men were being instructed. The whole place was full of life, yet something was missing. Or rather someone. A person who was two inches taller than him, with large, tea-coloured eyes, locks of hair messily cupping her cheeks.

He sighed. He leaned against a pillar and started counting all the places where he had looked for her.

'Library, Jiejie's bedroom, Mǔqīn's room, garden, A- Hong's bedroom, training court...'

It dawned on him. He dashed towards the Courtroom, all the time with a huge smile on his face.

******

"How many times do we have to tell you?! We don't remember!" The burlier of the thugs snarled. "AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!" he howled as a whip slashed the balls of his feet. Crimson coloured spit sputtered out of his mouth as he spoke.

"MIND YOUR TONGUE, YOU FILTHY BASTARD! YOU ARE SPEAKING TO THE SECT LEADER!" Zhang barked and stomped down on him, making him scream piercingly.

The General from the Li Sect hauled all three of them up.
He pressed his hand to one of their skulls and yanked out a bloody needle.
"Manipulating runes are engraved on them, my Lord," he observed. He pulled out two more blood smeared needles from the remaining thugs and examined them as well. He handed the needles over to Li Shing and bowed.

The three leaders scrutinised them with great care.

"If they have been manipulated into doing this, then we might have to let them go off with a lesser punishment," Shing frowned.

"I don't think so, Sect Leader Li. They couldn't have known that Young Master Li was coming here with Elder Lord Li unless someone hired them and sent them here," Fai replied.

Liang took a needle into his hand and started dabbing it with a handkerchief which he would surely dispose of later on. After cleaning the needle, he raised an eyebrow and commented, "The mastermind is one step ahead of us already."

"Why, Father?"

"These are not just mere Manipulation runes. These runes alter memories. No wonder they can't remember who sent them or how they came here."

In the meanwhile, Zhang and the other General had forced the rogues to their knees.

"So you say that you had been paid handsomely, hmm?" Li Liang inquired.

The rogues smirked, " It would have lasted us our whole lives."

"Pity, you won't be alive to relish the money."

Shing snapped his fingers. A large tray appeared beside him. Three identical, small, yet complicated metal items. He picked one of them up and wiggled them in his fingers.

"Are you all sorcerers of some sort?" One of the villains cocked his head, confirming that they were not just criminals, but completely deranged as well.

All three of them were soon sprawling on the floor from being thrashed.

"Why were you after him? Didn't it occur to you even once that he was a child and you could have..." Liang glared. "Murdered him?!"

"We were paid to take care of him and he was such a pretty boy. How could we resist such a delicious meal?"

Even after a week of no food or water, two days of almost continuous whipping, a lashing with the feared discipline whip, there was not a trace of regret or remorse. On the other hand, they had the gall to attempt to justify their deed.

"I've always been curious, Sect Leader, how do these Flowers of Agony work?" Ruan Fai asked, eyeing the seemingly harmless, flower-shaped metal devices inquisitively.

"As you know, it's a punishment method unique to our Sect. It's reserved for the most heinous of crimes. It's pretty manageable. You only need to shove it in... there," Shing grinned, making Fai smirk. "Just like the hurdles on your training court, the Flowers of Agony are controlled by magical energy. As soon as the executor claps his hands, they will..."

"AAAAAHHH!!! STOP!!! IT HURTS!!!"

"Serves you right, you scum."

"AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!"

"Begin their work based on anal mutilation," Liang sneered.

He looked up towards the door which he had known to have been locked by a powerful locking rune.

His blood ran cold; he could hardly believe his eyes. His precious grandson stood before them. The shivering boy slowly sank to the ground, frightened right out of his wits.

(Flower of Agony)

******

*/ "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU, FATHER!" The woman howled. Tears drenched the front of her wedding robes. She clawed at her hair, ripping out all the wedding ornaments. They soon lay scattered on the charred earth

"I loved her! Why did you do this to her?!! Why did you do this to me?! YOU, QIU FENG! YOU BASTARD! YOU TURNED ME INTO A MURDERER!!! YOU SCOUNDREL!!!"

Her eyes were all red, and due to the albino colour of her irises, it was even difficult to distinguish between the different parts of her tearful orbs.

The woman stood up shakily, leaning on her stick. She almost fell and stood with a strange gait as if one of her legs were deformed or broken. When she finally regained her balance, she rubbed savagely at her face, smudging the kohl and the lip paint. "I hate you. YOU GET IT, QIU FENG?!? I, QIU NUAN, HATE YOU! YAO XINGJUAN DIDN'T DESERVE TO DIE!" /*

Caihong walked out of the Royal Physician's chamber after Cheng Xue advised her to rest. She insisted on going back to her room, saying that the cool air outside would help to clear her head.

But the reality was far from what she had said. She felt bloated, uneasy and itchy.

She ambled along the corridors, feeling the cool air blowing in her face, trying to comfort her in vain. She stopped a few times on the way, leaning against a pillar or a wall when nausea swirled in her gut.

She halted when her eyes landed on the closed doors of the Courtroom. A powerful sealing rune gleamed on the doors. She went up to examine it, tracing a finger over the shimmering incantations.

She skipped down the steps and was about to leave when a pitiful scream froze her to the spot.

"A- HOONNGG!"

She swivelled around, her eyes widened with shock.

"Ren?! What is he doing in there?!"

******

Her fingers twitched. Her grey, shaggy nails scraped the floor. With each movement, one of the runes on the spirit controlling chains cracked and transformed.

Qiu Nuan. Dark lines of resentment appeared on the ashen skin.

A low growl escaped her dead throat. Another rune got deformed. The metal chains began to loosen.
Black marks revealed themselves from where they had dug into her skin for so long. But they weren't just imprints. They were runes; spirit trapping runes that got branded onto the lifeless skin from the chains.

The runes were getting altered. It was just a matter of time before the Soul Binding Circle fell apart again.

******

Renshu screamed. Fear sat in his heart like a pillow on his mouth and nose. It told his legs to go weak, his stomach to lurch and his heart to ache.

"Ah, there's the pretty boy!"

His palms were sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through his system shut down his ability to think.

"He let us take very good care of him..."

He was clammy and cold sweat glistened on his forehead. His eyes were as wide as if someone was coming to deliver the fatal blow.

"Ren! How did you enter?!" Shing asked, his glowing fingers frantically sketching the runes for unlocking the door. "Never mind, I'm opening the door, leave right now!"

But Renshu was trapped in his psychosis, a living nightmare, tailor-made by his brain to play on his deepest terrors.

The rogues laughed when they spotted him.

Starved for air, his heart raced at a tremendous speed.

An invisible force seemed to crush him. Each second submerged in fear left a permanent mark on his heart.

' "Little boy, we will take very good care of you..." '

A scream tore out of his throat as he curled into a ball on the floor.

"DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"The unlocking spell isn't working! Has the spell reversed somehow? Oh no! What do we do?!" Shing cried.

He hurried to comfort his son. His anguished eyes were proof of how miserably he was failing. Each time he reached out, the boy wailed and kicked, not allowing anyone near him.

With one glance from Ruan Fai, Zhang and the General hauled the brutes to their feet.

"I give them up to you, Elder Lord Li," he huffed. "Zhang, take them away."

"A- HONG!!" Renshu wept in despair. "SAVE ME, A- HONG!!!"

"Open! Open!" A voice yelled from outside.

It was Ruan Fai's turn to look.

"OPEN!!"

There was a huge smash. The doors were blasted right off from the hinges.

When the cloud of sawdust settled, there was a little figure at the door, holding a honed dagger.

Caihong.

"Caihong, why... how?" Shing stuttered. He was still shielding Renshu from the explosion with his own body.

"I used the blade to etch the reverse talisman onto the wood of the door. When it was done-"

"Isn't that the girl who shot us that day?"

She was rudely interrupted. Renshu crawled over to her and stood up on his shaky limbs.

"P-please take me away... A- Hong... They've come to hurt Ren again..." He shuddered, sweating profusely.

Caihong tenderly wiped his tears and pushed him behind her.

"Yes, I am. Nice to see that you remember me," she answered the rogue who had asked.

"Who wouldn't remember a pretty lass like you?"

"Bitter gourd."

"You want a bitter gourd up your bum?"

She hadn't considered them worthy enough of her regard. Her eyes widened at the taunt. Red began to fill her vision. Her blood boiled, making the nerve endings tingle.

"Caihong, get out. Now," Fai gritted out, his hand clenched on the hilt of his sword. Seeing that she wasn't complying, he repeated, "Caihong! Take Young Master Li and leave!"

Her gaze was glued on the three rogues jeering at her. Her left hand curled into a fist. The veins in her neck stood out prominent against the fair skin when she clenched her teeth.

"No vegetables can fill you properly, you know. But to know that, you need to look pretty. So why don't you start with your clothes? Such fine robes look best on the floor beside the bed."

"ENOUGH!" Ruan Fai bellowed, seething with rage. He lunged, his blade unsheathed.

Caihong held up her left hand, the gesture surprising him. She was exuding an animosity that was like poison - burning, slicing, potent.

"Caihong-" he trailed off when she raised her face.

Her eyes no longer had the whites in them. They glinted in a terrifying blood red. Her teeth were bared in a fearsome snarl. She swung her left hand, her fingers curved in a strangling gesture. Black fumes rolled off her body like steam.

Instantly, the three rascals were hurled against the wall. Dark smoky tendrils emanated from her palm and wrapped around their throats and chests, gradually burning the skin underneath to char.

"AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!"

"LET GO, YOU WITCH!!!"

"PLEASE!! AAAAAHHHH!!! IT'S KILLING ME!! LET GO!!"

Low laughter resounded in the room.

Li Liang gaped.

It was Caihong.

Her crimson, pupil-less eyes made him inhale sharply. There was something maniacal about her lopsided grin; her chuckles which rose to peals of laughter weren't that of a child. It was ruthless, bordering on murderous as if she was enjoying the pain that she was inflicting.

"PLEASE LET US GO!!"

Crimson fluid slowly dripped down their bound bodies to the floor. The wall was stained reddish-brown with plasma. The felons screeched themselves hoarse due to the searing agony eating them alive and writhed in the chains. Blood dribbled from their mouths, down their chests and stomachs.

Shing clapped his hands.

"STOOOPPPPPP!!

The prisoners began to flail around and yowl like animals at this new pain ripping them apart. Blood seeped rapidly through their pants and pooled on the floor as the Flowers of Agony forced inside their rectums bloomed and began to rotate, shredding the flesh to bits.

******

A fierce roar shattered the stillness.

Qiu Feng and Chun scrambled off the bed. Quickly fixing their clothes, they rushed to check.

"Master, the scream came from here!"

"But that's not possible, A-Chun..."

"I'm sure!"

"Let's check."

Their jaws dropped to the floor when they pushed the door open.

All the furniture in the room was in pieces.

The Soul Binding Circle was destroyed.

Their eyes almost popped out of the sockets.

Nuan was standing crookedly in the centre of the room. Her white, pupil-less eyes stared at them, boring holes into their souls.

She bared her teeth and growled. She struck out at them with the once spirit controlling chains, brandishing them like a weapon.

The runes on the chains had been triggered. They had transformed. They were no longer of confinement, but release.