The familiar defiant glare, the same piercing eyes crackling with lightning as if alive and challenging the world, instantly drew Ji Wuye's attention.
His crimson gaze shifted, zeroing in on the pinned man's fingers with laser focus. 'The pinkie finger... it's still there,' he thought.
For the second time—after witnessing how all of his Senior Sisters had been left brutalized and broken—a surge of boiling rage, explosive and uncontainable, swept through Ji Wuye's very core. His blood coursed with searing heat as his entire body burned with an all-consuming anger, muscles tensing like tautly drawn bowstrings.
Gripping the familiar jian until his knuckles turned white, Ji Wuye began stalking toward the pinned man, Yin Gang, who was still struggling against his restraints with feral desperation.
Yin Gang's eyes remained as arrogant and unyielding as ever, glaring defiantly at the surrounding crowd as he shouted the name of his Master in a guttural roar. "My Master will tear this place apart and crush you all like insects!"
"Don't." The stern command cut through the tension like a blade, the voice emanating from the Kongtong Sect Elder. Her razor-edged steel fan was suddenly thrust before Ji Wuye, barring his path with an authoritative clang.
Meeting his blazing eyes with her stormy gray gaze, she silently warned him.
"It would be complicated," she added, her tone deceptively calm even as the air crackled with palpable tension. Her silvery hair fluttered in an unseen breeze, entwining with Ji Wuye's long white tresses, stained with the dried blood. "The Black Thunder Emperor is master at the 9th realm. Even your patriarch cannot defeat him."
'I know,' Ji Wuye inwardly acknowledged.
However, instead of voicing his agreement, he cupped his hand around the hilt of his jian, lowering its tip. 'However...'
"This grudge, if not avenged, is like a fishbone stuck in the throat," Ji Wuye said as he ignored the Elder's warning, pressing forward.
But then, the group of Inner Disciples tasked with subduing Yin Gang swiftly intervened. With practiced efficiency, they bound the man in sturdy chains that seemed to thrum with restraining energies, sealing his qi and rendering him powerless. Ji Wuye paused momentarily, eyebrows raising in surprise.
'So they know to the location of acupressure point,' he thought, observing their precise movements as one disciple placed firm pressure on the center of Yin Gang's chest—the CV-17, Danzhong accupoint. That very same point to treat his Senior Sister Lian's injuries in the past.
He watched closely, scrutinizing their every action, eventually realizing something peculiar: only one disciple among the group was performing the actual acupressure technique to seal Yin Gang's qi, while the others simply hovered nearby, observing intently as if studying a rare technique.
Not to mention the glistening beads of sweat forming on the brow of the Inner Disciple striving to properly contain and channel the pressure, occasional flickers of qi still managing to leak through the imperfect seal.
Even a surge of volatile Lightning Qi escaped in resistance from the unorthodox martial artist—these young men were clearly far from ordinary.
‘Well, my expectations were too high,’ Ji Wuye thought, shaking his head.
Suddenly, as he took a step forward, a couple of Inner Disciples positioning themselves to block his path.
"I'm sorry, Junior Brother," one of them finally spoke, his tone holding no trace of arrogance or condescension despite their elevated status as Inner Disciples. "We understand the weight of your feelings, but please, allow us to handle this according to sect protocols. There has already been enough bloodshed on this day."
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They cupped their hands in a formal gesture of deference, yet still, they held their jian at the ready.
"The Elders have given us explicit instructions," another added softly, maintaining a respectful bow even as steel flashed in his eyes. "These prisoners must be thoroughly questioned before any...final measures are taken. We cannot allow personal vendettas to disrupt the proper investigation."
Even though, on the surface, they appeared polite and considerate, it would have been a different case if he hadn’t displayed his power earlier.
In addition, to Ji Wuye, their placating gestures and empty platitudes elicited no reaction whatsoever. Regarding them with cold, indifferent crimson eyes that seemed to bore into their very souls, he saw nothing but failures—hollow echoes of the principles they claimed to uphold.
Ever since that day... ever since he had witnessed firsthand how his beloved Senior Sisters had been so cruelly violated and broken, while others simply stood by and watched—all because they followed ‘the principles’—he no longer placed any faith in such superficial displays.
'Hypocrites, the lot of them,' Ji Wuye thought inwardly. He did not pause in his inexorable steps forward, radiating an aura of chilling indifference to their pleas.
The Inner Disciples were caught completely off guard, momentarily stunned into stillness by his implacable demeanor and unflinching determination. One of them, moved forward to physically bar Ji Wuye's path, but hesitated before retreating when another disciple at his side hissed an urgent reminder.
"Brother Quan, stop! Have you forgotten what happened to the Elder Xia?" The words cut through the tension like a knife, prompting the would-be intervener to pause.
The one who had nearly moved to obstruct Ji Wuye was none other than Quan Wei, an Inner Disciple himself. Watching Ji Wuye's back with conflicted eyes, Quan Wei's hands clenched tightly at his sides, nails digging bloody crescents into his palms as a whirlwind of emotions stormed within.
Those cold, impassive crimson eyes dredged up haunting memories of another—Mu Lan Rou, whose gaze had carried that same hollow indifference.
'Is this truly happening again? What has become of the righteous principles we once fervently believed in?' The weight of frustration sank like a leaden weight in his chest. Quan Wei bit his lip, suppressing the roiling tsunami of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.
His gaze turned abruptly to the side, falling upon the grisly sight of Song Jia standing amidst the split corpses of the unorthodox martial artists scattered around them like broken dolls.
...
Meanwhile, Ji Wuye reached the cluster of Inner Disciples still frantically attempting to accurately pinpoint and seal the pressure points of the unorthodox young martial artists held before them.
"Call this a Qi seal?" one captive sneered defiantly, sneering at their inept efforts. "Why, my grandmother could perform a better lock with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her bent back!"
"Pathetic!" Another captive joined the mocking chorus, his lips twisting in a sneer of disdain. "No wonder you self-righteous people need your Masters holding your hands for every little thing. Can't even manage basic pressure point techniques without a dusty manual to guide your fumbling efforts!"
The unorthodox martial artists continued to hurl insults and scorn at the Inner Disciples despite their predicament, sneering at the perceived ineptitude of their captors.
Amidst the derisive jeers, Yin Gang, immobilized and pinned by restraints thrumming with sealing energies, raised his gaze defiantly. His eyes locked onto the strikingly handsome young man before him—Ji Wuye—whose crimson eyes burned like ominous fires barely contained as they bored into him.
"Are you a friend of the Passing Wind?" Yin Gang smirked mockingly, tilting his head as far as his restraints would allow in a display of brazen defiance.
"Have you come here as her faithful hound—or perhaps her licking dog—to deliver a message from your master?" His taunting words rang out, shockingly unshaken despite having his Qi completely sealed and his body rendered immobile. "Judging by your appearance, perhaps you failed to seduce her? Hehe!"
Ji Wuye did not so much as twitch in response to the barbed words. Instead, he turned his smoldering crimson gaze toward the cluster of Inner Disciples who had been occupied with their tasks, speaking in an eerily calm tone. "Senior Brothers, allow me to handle this one's interrogation."
The Inner Disciples, momentarily distracted from their efforts, turned to regard him, recognition flashing across their faces as they recalled the full extent of his earlier display of overwhelming power.
"Th-that’s the White Demon, right?" one of them whispered.
"Yeah, but... is it allowed for him to do this?" another murmured, glancing at the two Inner Disciples who were supposed to be guarding the White Demon. Yet, those Inner Disciples simply looked back at them in silence.
A heavy silence hung in the air before they hesitantly gave a nod of reluctant approval.
"S-sure, Junior Brother. You may take charge of questioning this one," one of them replied, his words clipped with thinly veiled apprehension as he gripped the hilt of his jian tightly, prepared for any possibility of the so-called White Demon losing control. "You can even oversee the interrogations of them all, if you wish."
"Thank you." Ji Wuye's lips curved into the faintest ghost of an insincere smile that barely passed for sincerity before it slipped away like a fleeting mirage. "Of course, this endeavor shan't require an excessive expenditure of our time."
Without waiting for another word, Ji Wuye approached the pinned form of Yin Gang. His fingers began to glow with a faint bluish aura of Qi as he extended two of them toward the carotid artery exposed on Yin Gang's neck, left vulnerably bare by the restraints pinning him down.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ji Wuye gently lifted Yin Gang's upper body and began to delicately massage the vital artery with precise, feather-light ministrations.
"W-what are you doing?" Yin Gang's previous bravado faltered as a stutter of confusion escaped his lips. Despite feeling no overtly painful sensations, his heartbeat suddenly began thundering erratically, each frenzied thump reverberating loudly in his ears.
A creeping sense of visceral unease swelled within his core, instincts screaming with impending dread.
He thrashed against his bindings with renewed desperation, but the restraints held fast, refusing to yield even an cun. His voice took on a sharper, more anxious edge as an ominous premonition took insidious root. "What trickery is this? Release me at once, you sniveling pup!"