Malice

MingYu was numb, as he was thrown again in that same back yard. Tears had stopped trickling down his cheeks. He simply watched, frozen in place.

LiXue wasn't crying anymore. Her lifeless body was carried by servants. Her abdomen was now flat, her robes covered in blood. Her body was brought to the edge of the well, and with a push, she disappeared into the darkness. Another servant held a bloodied bundle and let it fall after her. It seemed like an eternity had passed by until the soft thud of the body hitting the bottom of the well echoed up the narrow path.

To MingYu's surprise, he was perfectly calm. The scene before him seemed to have slowed down. The shrug of a shoulder, the leisurely steps of the people as they walked away from the yard as if nothing had happened. Nobody cared.

MingYu felt nothing, not anger, not even pity as his feet moved on their own towards the well and he looked over the edge. Black depth stared back at him. A tug came from behind, pulling him away from the well.

It was nighttime, lit up only by faint flickering flames within dark lanterns that hung by the gate. Crawling on all fours, MingYu took in his surroundings. The Hsu household was pitch-black, even the servants had gone to take rest. Frowning, he fumbled up.

Wei LiXue had died. Her memories should have stopped there already. Why was he still here? As these thoughts crossed his mind, the gate doors swung open without a sound. Five disciples, dressed in flowy lilac robes, poured in.

They were the disciples of the Diefa sect. But why were they here? MingYu watched as they halted in the middle of the yard. Turning towards the gate, they waited, with their backs straight and their faces stern. MingYu followed their gaze. He didn't have to wait for long as Zhu ZongYing stepped in. Her deep purple robes appeared black against the night. Spread out on her arms was the lifeless body of Wei YueQin. Her eyes were closed in a pained expression, and MingYu couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.

Zhu ZongYing laid her down on the ground gently, brushing some escaped strands of hair away from YueQin's face. As she straightened her back, her cold eyes washed over her disciples.

"Get all of them here. I want the Hsu family on their knees. No sounds, no witnesses."

The disciples nodded without a word, and each pulled out a dagger from their sash as they disappeared within the building.

MingYu hurried over to YueQin's side. Dropping on his knees, he examined the image of her. Her body convulsed as she took in a shaky breath. She was still alive - for now. MingYu shot ZongYing a glare.

The demon looked down, and for a brief moment, she seemed to look right through him. When she lowered her body to face him, his breath lodged in his throat. But she wasn't looking at him. The ghost of Wei LiXue had knelt beside him, sobbing. LiXue quieted down as ZongYing's eyes watched her silently.

"You - you can see me?" Wei LiXue whispered.

ZongYing didn't answer as she let her gaze trail down over YueQin. She had also noticed the weak attempt to breathe and turned to examine YueQin's body. A grim shadow passed by her features as she pulled YueQin's sleeve down to hide the large patches of bruises. She brushed her hand over YueQin's cheek, like one caressed a wounded animal.

She stood up as her disciples dragged the Hsu's out of the house, dropping them on their knees in front of her. They were all struggling to breathe, blood dripped from their lips. The disciples had cut their tongues out to keep them silent. Wide eyes filled with fear as they fixated on YueQin's body.

Wei LiXue let out a muffled cry as she saw them. Her eyes had widened as she hugged the bundle closer to her chest. "Why are you doing this?"

Zhu ZongYing reached up to her sash and pulled her whip loose. Tiny needle-like appendixes ran along the entire length of the whip, like teeth. The quivering group winced at the sight. The wives of childe Hsu were crying, looking around, pleading with their eyes. But none of the standing crew paid them any attention. They held their eyes steady and forwarded, waiting for their sect leader's commands.

A cruel smile quivered on ZongYing's lips. "It's nothing personal. I'm just following orders."

MingYu licked his dry lips in anticipation. He already knew what would happen, but there was still a sense of expectation, the fear of what was to come. He sealed his eyes as the first flicks of the whip were administrated. Muffled cries filled the otherwise quiet air. The scent of blood hung heavy, suffocating over him.

He sat still, waiting for the wails of death to die out. When his head fell silent, MingYu took a trembling breath in, filling his lungs with the tangy fumes of slaughter. His vision was blurry from the clouded tears that had tried to escape his tightly shut lids.

The surrounding air was dense, a thick black wall of negative energy. Zhu ZongYing was now on her knees, pulling YueQin's body up to lean against her chest. She guided YueQin's face with her hand, tilting the chin upwards. There was a folded talisman between her fingers.

MingYu's eyes widened, his lips parted to shout when he was pulled through the darkness for the last time.

"Don't let them hurt her." The voice was hollow, like an autumn wind, cold, lifeless, waking him up from his slumber.

Blinking his eyes open, MingYu saw ZhiYi peering down at him. The ghost of LiXue had faded away, along with the lingering negative energy.

"Are you ok?" ZhiYi asked as he helped MingYu up.

"I'm fine." MingYu hissed through gritted teeth. He was clinging to ZhiYi's hand, gasping for air, pushing the taste of death away from his senses. His body wobbled like a wet noodle, aching in all sorts of places he didn't even know he had. Groaning, he leaned into ZhiYi for support. ZhiYi was looking at him timidly.

"ZhiYi."

"Yes?" ZhiYi answered immediately, moving his free hand to wrap around MingYu's waist, keeping him steady.

"Zhu ZongYing was here."

MingYu had expected at least a raise of an eyebrow, but ZhiYi merely nodded. "I know. I recognized the whip marks."

"We need to find YueQin. I saw ZongYing use a talisman on her." He fisted ZhiYi's robes and pulled at them. His breath grew ragged. "We can't let her die. We can't-"

"MingYu, calm down."

"Calm? I'm calm. I just witnessed people being tortured to death. I couldn't be calmer!" MingYu screeched and hit ZhiYi in the chest with his curled up fists, but the demon didn't even flinch from the blow. He enveloped MingYu with his arms and hugged him close.

"Breathe," ZhiYi said, his tone level.

Tears flowed down freely as MingYu broke down under the pressure. His eyes were shooting everywhere, avoiding ZhiYi's stare.

"Am I a terrible person?"

ZhiYi tensed for a moment before his body relaxed again, but MingYu hadn't noticed it.

"You're not, MingYu."

"I- I think they deserved it," MingYu whispered. His hands were shaking when they took hold of ZhiYi's robe. He buried his face in the other man's shoulder, concealing his sobs. "They deserved to die for what they did."

"No one deserves to die like this." ZhiYi's voice was strained as he brushed his hand over MingYu's back to comfort him.

The image of Wei LiXue hugging her stomach flashed in MingYu's mind. It was wrong, the Hsu's didn't deserve to be tortured to death, but at that moment, he couldn't help the thought that persisted, and muddled all that was rational.

They deserved to die.

---

News broke out of the tragedy of the Hsu household. The city of TingZhu never had so much commotion in their entire history since the TingZhu's founding fathers settled to build a city in the farther regions of the land, next to a bunch of outlaws.

The rumour on the monstrosities done in the house spread like wildfire. Everyone from TingZhu to Tiang'an was notified. The disgraced bodies of the Hsu's were quickly removed from their terrifying positions and brought to a morgue, but no one dared to change their clothes or apply powder or rouge on their faces.

The moment the bodies were lifted off the Hsu premises, maggots and flies had swarmed them like a feast. The bodies of the servants were each returned to their families and buried quietly. Justice was demanded, and soon word on the streets blew up and the blame shifted to the youngest of the Wei's, Wei YueQin.

"I saw her! That girl, she was creeping around the Hsu premises right around the time they died! It must be her who killed them!"

"I saw her too! Those eyes! Menacing!"

"I bet it was revenge after their public humiliation!"

But some weren't so sure about blaming the girl as they said,

"But she is only a girl! How could she kill all twenty-five in the household?"

"A weak woman, not to mention has no martial art skills!"

"I saw the Hsu servants beat her up a while back. The girl was so pattered, I doubt she can even walk properly, not to mention kill anyone!"

The murmurs never ceased, but no common census could be reached either over who or what caused the terrors the Hsu's had to endure. And so people returned to their own lives, musing silently that it was a thrilling change to their everyday lives that something this terrible had happened. A reason for gossip was always welcomed.