"Where did your comrades bring the princess? What path did they take?" Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei demanded to the despicable creature who was tied hands and feet. He brought Jiangjun Han Li to an isolated place for inquisition.

"Why don't you release me from this rope that you are binding me and fight me like a brave man will do?" Jiangjun Han Li jeered despite the pang that rocked his body.

He received another blow to his stomach and threw up from its intensity. He inwardly cursed from the pain, his vision momentarily lost. Damn, the impact was more painful than the boy he fought in the forest.

"If you have trouble fighting my young subordinate without any bindings, then you are looking forward to your own death if you fight me. The ropes that bind you are the very things that have lengthened your pathetic life; why will you wish to remove it? Do you want to die right now?" Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said apathetically, his words obviously promised a brutal death. His unemotional eyes reflected a menacing coldness that would conjure terror within anyone's heart.

Jiangjun Han Li shook with fear. The rumors of Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's fearsome presence was indeed true. He knew a lot about the latter. Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei was a highly skilled fighter and won the imperial tournament, he was never defeated in any war he headed which made the Emperor trust him so much; enough to give him an army without a jiangjun despite the fact that Lu Wang Wei was only a jinzhou. Looking into Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei hard and arctic cold eyes seemed like facing a terrifying executioner.

"Ha!" Jiangjun Han Li exclaimed with faux braveness. He was a jiangjun and never would he allow himself to be intimidated by a mere jinzhou no matter how fearsome the latter might seemed to be. "I am about to kill your pathetic subordinate if not for the bitch who hit me with a rock in the head. Are you the one who trained him? Ha! No wonder the boy is poorly skilled; you as his jinzhou is a disgrace!"

Jiangjun Han Li's insulting words to Tang Lao Fang had pushed Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's temper to the edge. He carried the bound filth by the shirt and threw him up to the air like a mere feather. When Jiangjun Han Li's body almost reached the ground, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei hastily met his back with the bridge of his foot.

Jiangjun Han Li was brought to tears as he finally landed to the ground with a crack. He was shaking -- shaking terribly from too much pain. The torture imposed by Jinzhou Lu Wang Wi upon him had brought back the demons from the past that he desperately ran away from.

'Stupid thief!' The heavy butcher shouted as he hit the young frail boy with his beefy fists.

'Please no! I promise not to steal again! Please stop!' The thin boy desperately begged on his knees as the big butcher continuously assaulted him.

But that was all in the past. He would never allow anyone to make him feel vulnerable and helpless. He would take all the pain and give twice as much when the situation would be reversed.

"You will not dare to insult the boy! You are nothing but a pathetic scum like your master!" Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei hissed with so much fury. He grabbed Jiangjun Han Li and kneed the latter to the stomach.

"Damn!" Jiangjun Han Li groaned groaned from the intensity.

"Now, don't deflect. Where do your pathetic comrades go to?"

Jiangjun Han Li laughed hysterically despite his throbbing body. "You are a fool if you think that you can gain answers by torturing me like a coward. Really?"

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei clenched his jaws in anger and silence. His eyes blazing with murder. His entire body poised to kill.

Jiangjun Han Li studied Jinzhou for a moment. A devious smirk suddenly surfaced on his mouth. "Really?" He said thoughtfully.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei frowned in confusion at Jiangjun Han Li's sudden changed of behavior.

"Now everything is much clearer to me." Jiangjun Han Li spoke while nodding his head in understanding. He looked at Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei again. "You never lose your cool when you demand answers about the princess whereabouts but when I insult the boy, you run amok. Is there something between you and the boy?"

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's eyes dilated in surprise. "What are you hinting at?"

"I know that you have been orphaned, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei, and how you never trusted any man. I know everything about you, even your deepest and darkest desire." Jiangjun Han Li smirked malignantly.

"Just what the hell are you hinting at?" Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei hissed in frustration. He was tempted to wipe the sarcastic smile off Jiangjun Han Li.

"You have a thing for the boy, haven't you? You desire him."

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei was shocked upon hearing the jiangjun's words. How come? Was the fool reading his mind?

"Nah," Jiangjun Han Li said dismissively. "Don't bother denying. The boy himself looks like a pretty girl when masqueraded as one. Funny isn't it?"

"You are a fool." Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei muttered menacingly. "Your brain is obviously twisted."

"Really?" Jiangjun Han Li taunted Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei, trying to gain the upper hand. "Who is more twisted me or you, who is an abomination?"

"You are a fool!" Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei seethed with so much rage. He kicked Jiangjun Han Li's face even if he was tempted to stamp the despicable jiangjun to death.

Jiangjun Han Li almost losed the ability to breath. His vision slowly turning black and the sound that he could hear was Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's furious steps as he left him alone.

Jiangjun Han Li inwardly laughed at his discovery. It was just a wild guess or, aptly, a manipulation but he never thought it to be true. Despite Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's apathetic facade, he was rather poor in hiding his emotions. The latter was so easy to read. Now, he had something to profit from that gullible jinzhou. He would definitely capitalize on it.

"Abominable faggot," Jiangjun Han Li exclaimed in disgust. People like Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei should not be in the army but rather be castrated. They were nothing but low life creatures, undeserving of life.

"Who is the abominable faggot?" Someone asked curiously.

Jiangjun Han Li looked to the direction of the voice and saw an unfamiliar man leaning against a tree. He was holding a knife in one of his hands. It looked very sharp, judging from the shiny gleam on its steal. He never met this man, not even in his first encounter with the imperial army.

The man was tall and well-built. His hair short yet unruly. An irritatingly confident smirk was plastered on his face. From the look of his clothes, he was obviously one of the imperial army.

"Who are you?" Jiangjun Han Li demanded.

"Does it matter?" The unknown man shrugged. He slowly approached Jiangjun Han Li before squatting beside the latter who was still sprawled to the ground. He artfully played with the knife in his hands and exclaimed, "Booh!" as he thrusted his knife forward, pointing the keen tip to Jiangjun Han Li's glabella.

Jiangjun Han Li jumped in fright. His heart beating with extreme nervousness.

The man laughed at Jiangjun Han Li's reaction. "You are utterly pathetic. I am actually wondering why you become a Jiangjun. Oh, Hsein Mao Dong is naught but an ambitious scum. His choice of leaders is deplorable."

"How dare you!" Jiangjun said angrily, feeling insulted.

The man laughed again, not taking Jiangjun Han Li seriously. "I wonder why Jinzhou Han Li did not slice your tongue nor dismember a part of your body for your audacity to speak to him so basely."

"He is a coward! A faggot!"

The man thoughtfully reflected on Jiangjun Han Li's words. He lightly touched the edge of his knife as if testing its sharpness. "Coward? Maybe. Faggot? I highly doubt it."

"Bah, you are an ignorant fool! He obviously desire the little boy I beat black and blue in the forest!"

The unknown man's eyes looked inflamed at Jiangjun Han Li's words. "Ignorant fool?" He then grabbed the latter's jaw and forced him to open his mouth.

"Damn! What are you doing?"

"Simply doing what best ought to be done to people who cannot curb their tongues." He answered calmly but exerted more force upon the Jiangjun Han Li. When jiangjun's mouth was fully opened, he deftly sliced the tongue and released his hold.

"Hmmm!" Jiangjun Han Li groaned, tears spilling from his eyes, blood sputtering from his mouth.

"You totally deserve your tongue to be removed." The man smirked sadistically and threw spit upon Jiangjun Han Li's face. "Oh, one thing, I do not see anything wrong about Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's desire for the boy - if he indeed desires him. I think that the jinzhou and I are both the same in that regard - I too desire the same person."

"Ahhhommmassyunn" Jiangjun Han Li tried to speak but he was totally incoherent. Blood and spit came out from his mouth.

"What? What? I cannot understand you." The man jeered as he touched his ear in a gesture of ridiculing Jiangjun Han Li. He sighed after a moment. "I have a secret to tell you. You can't spill this to anyone, anyway; you are totally dumb now." He moved his mouth closer to the teary-eyed jiangjun and whispered, "The one you fought with in the forest is not a male. She is a female. Fascinating isn't it?"

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Author's Note:

Hi! Here is an update. My mind is in a hibernation. Well, work takes my energy. But, well, we are nearing the end. I keep on saying this but yes we are.

Oh, thanks for those who voted my story.

-Midnight_Carousel