Pah!~

A sound of a folded fan spreaded open separating both their faces, just as Long Lishi's lips was about to touch his own. Tianhuo's cold blue eyes had opened, leaving a crystal like clearness accompanied by pure disgust and rage.

Long Lishi froze at the sight, her mind sobering up in that instant. Seeing how he looked down on her as though she was bare and held no importance to him, she felt a deep pang in her heart as she flinched back.

His eyes narrowed into a disgusted frown as he pulled away, standing up and withdrawing into his room silently, leaving Long Lishi to herself, her sorrow floating about in the melody of the Guqin.

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"Reporting to Master, The Southern Vermillion Army is ready and are moving up with FeiFeng as we speak."

The small shadow of FeiSha could be seen crouched behind Feiyun, quietly reporting.

Feiyun was standing by the window, her fair slender fingers brushing against the feathers of her black falcon that stood just as majestically on the side, its beady eyes watching FeiSha with interest.

"Mhhm... After the test of the HuangQuan Guild, you should also make your way there with the product. I'll leave them to you, you should know what to do."

"Understood."

Feisha bowed her head slightly before disappearing.

Feiyun still stood watching the scenery outside the window.

'... Emperor... the Empress,... the Crown Prince, the Princess of the Long Clan, Minister Yuan Chilu...'

Feiyun thought of the people who had been pushing their luck, angering her and testing her limits time and time again.

She was sick and tired of this farce. Kill and be killed, hunt and be hunted. She, Xue Feiyun would never allow herself to continue suffering these grievances. She was never a good person, she didn't mind becoming a Villain in other people's eyes, as long as she could protect her own.

Her thirst for revenge fueled by these stupid people who dared to trample and touch what was hers, she was not magnanimous enough to just sit back and watch

They were just spokes of a wheel that she was about to completely break and shatter.

Her mind had already sorted out a grand plan of events for all these people who didn't know how to control their greed.

Her gaze sharpened and chilled in a moment as a cold smirk crept upon her face as she whispered just loud enough for ghost to hear.

"...All is fair in Love and War..."

---------------

Back at the testing ground, a large group of shadows dressed fully in black from head to toe stood at attention silently like statues.

Ruyi rubbed his wrist as he appeared on the platform, his foxy demeanor was now stoic and serious, not a glint of playfulness could be seen. Beside him, a young girl whose eyes were cold and carried a dangerous aura, reminding him full well of her master.

Ruyi, glanced to FeiSha and sighed internally. This young girl was still just as expressionless as an ice-block. Where did the princess manage to find such a girl.

The older shadows from the Huang Quan guild who were in front clearly saw how Ruyi had spoken to the young girl with much respect even though she was definitely younger, their hearts couldn't help but tremble.

Their Captain Ruyi was so strong and yet still showed this much respect to the small girl then wouldnt that mean this girl is as strong as him if not stronger?

"The Princess Consort has given the order. Those who fail the test will leave. No exceptions. This young girl here is the Head of the Princess Consort's private team, she will be your opponent for the test. All you have to do is survive until the bell rings... I hope you all don't fail me. "

Ruyi announced from the platform, the group of shadows remain silent, listening at attention. Their gaze were different from the past, no longer would they belittle their opponent.

After getting trashed by Feiyun and then experiencing the hellish training that she gave them, they found knew strength and some even manage to break through to higher martial ranks.

FeiSha glanced down upon the rows of shadow guards, no one knew what was going on in that little head of hers.

After a long moment, she casually lifted a foot off the high platform and proceeded to fall straight to the ground as though she intended to commit suicide. Ruyi was shocked for a moment but relaxed the moment she landed lightly and continued walking straight into the dense rows of shadows.

With each step she took, the rest could only tremble within and continue to look ahead.

"Come."

Her voice was still kidlike but there was a severe and oppressive strength to them. Once her words ended, she slid to the side and leaped up into a round house kick.

Immediately, one person was knocked unconscious. The shadows around immediately reacted, targeting without hesitation.

Ruyi on the other hand sighed helplessly from the platform. He had thought Feiyun would have prepared something to test them but it turned out to be an all out brawl.

Something that others would have counted as unfair to pit one tiny girl against all these powerful men. Yet the longer Ruyi watched, the more ashamed he felt. Once again, the difference between the men and the tiny girl was evident. it was like a little mouse playing hide and seek with cats and ultimately pushing the cats into water

But this time at least it was not an all out massacre like before when Feiyun simply wiped all of them off their feet.

In an hour, the bell rang signalling the end of the test. The grounds were silent. Out of all the people that had assembled, only 2 of the men were knocked unconscious , lying sprawled on the ground. FeiSha dusted her hands and leaped lightly onto of the platform.

"Those who is unconscious can return."

After finishing her words, she solemnly turned to Ruyi, giving him a short bow with her fist cupping the other before she turn and disappeared into the shadow quicker than his eyes could follow.

Ruyi was left speechless and then turned to see his men who had already neatly arranged themselves in rows, standing at attention once again. he could clearly see the improvement they went through in the short time they had.

Although some were still breathing heavily and appeared roughed up and in pain, he could still see they had space to grow. As a Captain how could he not feel proud of his men.

His mind was midway giving prayer to his goddess and idol- princess Feiyun - when he was interrupted by FeiXu's smack on his back.

"Ruyi, Master has given the order, lets go."

Seeing that FeiXu and FeiAn had arrived, he waved a hand to dismiss the shadow guards, allowing them to rest.

"FeiAn will you be going? Has Princess allowed you to go?"

His voice was sour with a trace of helplessness.

FeiAn merely chuckled softly to herself. How could she not understand what her master's intention was, Feiyun indeed loved to tease Ruyi, she herself didn't know how Ruyi manage to gain Feiyun's "affection", to constantly get tease and played around by her, FeiAn could only feel bad for Ruyi seeing how much her master bullied him.

"No, Master did not say. You and FeiXu should go quickly."

Ruyi's shoulders slumped like a dejected puppy, seeing this caused the two girls to laugh to themselves.

"Okay okay, let's go! The faster we finish our mission, the faster you can return to your love nest."

FeiXu spun her twin moon wheel blades and place them behind her back.

Dusting her sleeves slightly, she pulled up the cloth on her neck, covering her face and leaving only her two eyes, she walked on and disappeared into the darkness, Ruyi could only helplessly sigh, giving FeiAn a peck on the cheek sneakily before following after FeiXu.

FeiAn held the spot he kissed, staring into the space with a slight blush.

-----------------------------

After much climbing and sneaking, FeiXu and Ruyi arrived at the entrance of the hidden chambers in the king's room.

The information gathered about the patrol timings of the guards had allowed them to easily sneak pass the tight security.

Signaling with her eyes, they both entered after making sure there was no one around.

Once inside the room, FeiXu frowned deeply at the stench. Although Ruyi had warned of it, still she did not imagine it to be this bad.

"It will get stronger as we proceed. Get used to it. "

Ruyi's face was unusually cold and serious, he knew full well that this stench was only considered faint since they were at the entrance, going deeper it is sure to become worse.

The two quickly made their way deeper and deeper, as they walked, FeiXu took note of the way they were walking as well as the direction with her charcoal pen and a piece of cloth.

They had to thread carefully and avoid the traps which were barely visable, hence the two were slowed down quite a lot, even though they had anticipated there to be traps and in the worse case an enemy resistance, they had already exceeded the expected time they thought they would need to explore this place.

Snap! -

"Ahhhh! Mercy! Please! "

The sharp sound of whipping echoed through the narrow passage way followed by a blood curdling scream. The harshness of the scream was as though it had reached the kind of torturous pain that made a person want death to end the suffering.

The hair on their bodies stood as they both have each other a strange look. This place was surely bad news the more they walked in, the worse they felt.

Yet, with gritted teeth and stomach curdling, they soon arrived at what seemed to be a large hall. Their eyes caught sight of the very disturbing things in that large hall, almost unable to stop the their urge to puke.

To be hiding this large space here, the Emperor JunZhan definitely spent quite a sum.... And if one didn't guess wrong, no small number of people surely died after this place was built.

Ruyi blended within the darkness of the shadows along the outer walls and stood quietly watching while FeiXu had took a spot behind a large bookshelves that has space just enough for a female to squeeze into.

In the large hall, looked as simple as an open space, just that it was split into three distinct spaces. One half of the hall had small rooms that looked very similar to jail cells. There were small sections separated by rusted iron bars.

Within them were imprisoned a group of 10-15 naked females aged from as young as 10 years to as old as 25. Some were sitting, others laid to the wall or huddled in the corner.

Although most were alive, none of them had any hope left in their eyes, they were dull and lifeless like dolls without souls.

The traces of whip marks and abuse were seen clearly on their bare bodies and not an inch was left untouched.

The other half was a completely different look. It was crowded by large stacks of scrolls and paper. A large desk and even a small area that seemed to be for making medicine or the sort. There were also shelves, chests and cabinets which contained herbs and other medicinal ingredients.

Amidst the messy desk and mountain of paper and scrolls, a small figure moved about busily, one look and anyone could tell that that stature clearly belonged to a young lady.

It was thin and lithe and seems to bend like a willow tree, her wrist that poked out from the sleeves of the cloak were slender and fair, fingers gently grasping onto a brush as it smoothly wrote over a piece of paper.

Unfortunately, her face was covered by the large hood of the cloak.

But from the way she moved, she seemed to be unaffected by the one very disgusting thing that was happening in the room.

Towards the end separated by a large curtain, that was tied partially, leaving a small gap that revealed a large king-sized bed.

On top, there was clearly the body of a young girl, her hands were bound by chains and her neck was also bound to the head board of the large bed. It was as though she was free to move anywhere but off the bed.

It looked as though she had struggled and wanted to escape but had given up near the edge of the bed. Her face had traces of tears which had already turned bloody and drool was dripping down her mouth.

Her head was dropped to the side and hung off the edge of the bed, her hands left hanging lifelessly, as she was mercilessly whipped by the person behind her.

Of one didn't look clearly to see that her chest was still moving, they would have assumed it was a dead corpse.

The person behind her was half naked, his robes loosely hanging off the body, holding a long whip on one hand and laid casually against the head board as though enjoying a show.

His face contained a satisfied smirk as he wiped at the blood that had splattered on his face.

Reaching out with the other hand, he tugged the chain connected to her neck collar, pulling and dragging her lifeless body all the way back to him.

He leaned forward and grasped her hair, holding her face up as he observed her terrified expression, a smug look spread across his face; a smile filled with ecstasy.

Very quickly, he forced her to kneel down in front of her, he loosened his robes and untied it, revealing his length that was hard from excitement.

His smirk filled with ecstasy deepened and his eyes were also enjoying watching the young girls terrified expression.

Ready to plunge deep into the young girl but just as he was about to, the person that Ruyi and Feixu had been following suddenly appeared and spoke.

"This lowly slave greets the Crown Prince."

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( Well to be fair, I'm not sure myself. I haven't exactly finished writing the novel so this is a mystery for me too. But I expect that it wouldn't exceed 70 chapters.)

( Hmnn very good question, even I don't know the answer to this.)

(Tbh, this might sound very frank and even rude to some but I'm writing this novel for myself, I didn't expect it to receive this much readers (can I call you guys fans? Hahaha)

So I hope that everyone can give me time to slowly write chapters that I feel are deserving and of good quality. I want to make sure that I don't rush and compromise the ending of this novel just to meet the expectations of others. Again, this novel is for myself, I don't owe anyone an explanation as to why the chapters aren't released on time. So please if you have nothing but rude comments/dms, just know that I won't be answering this in the future. You know who you are, I sincerely hope you understand and continue supporting this novel if u like it. )