Duan Jian

Once their Legend Ranked leader fell, the rest of the Silver Winged Family's forces quickly crumbled under the combined strength of Ning'Er's group along with those from the Divine Flames Family. The core strength of the defending family was ruthlessly eliminated, only leaving those Gold Ranked and below alive. Without sufficient strength, these clan members would be eventually absorbed into other clans in order to survive.

No one could quite believe that they had completely crushed one of the major families who had dominated in the Abyss Prison Realm for centuries without losing any casualties. They split their force into half, as Yang Xin and Patriarch Li Xiao would lead a group over to the defeat the remaining strength left in the enemy situated at their main blood crystal mine.

This mine was the Silver Winged Family's most precious resource and Li Xiao estimated that there would be two Black Gold Ranked experts stationed there along with three Inscription Masters. At the same time, they had not encountered the infamously cruel and sadistic Si Hongyue yet, and they assumed she would be found there today as well. She would not have heard any news of her father's quick demise yet, and the forces at the mine should be caught off-guard.

The remaining experts from the Divine Flames Family stationed themselves in the treetop structures. There would be countless treasures and resources stored up here, and they wanted to ensure that they secured them all before deciding on what to do with the rather lavish structures that this base consisted of.

Ning'Er made her way deep into the thickest part of the trees using extensive rope bridges. There, she found the broken and torn body of Duan Jian, lying on a makeshift bed of branches in dark and musty room surrounded by thick wooden bars. His wrists and ankles were covered with shackles made out of black iron, which were restricted by thick chains.

Her eyes glowered with fury as she saw realised how badly they must have tortured him, and how brutally they restrained him despite the seal branded on his stomach that had completely sealed his cultivation. Her eyes overflowed with tears as she saw her old friend from her past life again.

Even though she had made sure to come to this realm even earlier than Nie Li had in the other timeline, she was still unable to prevent the agony of her precious comrade. She quickly used the keys she had found hanging outside this section to open the door so that she could check on his condition.

'Clack!'

As the keys jangled and unlocked the bolt on door of the prison cell, a hoarse, raspy voice spoke from inside. "Who are you? And why do you look at me as though you know me?"

Ning'Er opened the cell and knelt beside the prone position, inspecting his wounds and assessing whether there was anything life threatening. Fortunately, the Silver Winged Family were not ready to kill their pitiful prisoner for awhile yet. They had merely tortured and beaten him, then allowed him to heal with his robust constitution, before starting another round of shameful assault.

Duan Jian's mother had been part of the Silver Winged Family and had committed the shameful act of falling in love with a member of the Black Dragon Family, Duan Yun. The proud Sikong family were so outraged at this mixture of their noble family with the repulsive lower-classed family that they killed both of them when they realised the secret affair that had been going on.

They had found out when Duan Jian was born with his dark gold wings, that were neither the Silver or Black of the two families. Outraged at this child, whom they considered an abomination, they had raised him like a slave, allocating the most filthy and shameful tasks to be done.

However, when he reached fifteen years of age, his began to grow stronger at a rapid and incomprehensible speed. The disgust and contempt they felt for the child quickly turned to fear that one day, he would grow strong enough to take revenge. This had led to the last few months of torture, where they were eventually going to kill him once they finished having their fun.

Wiping away the tears from her eyes, she quickly fed Duan Jian a Nine Transformation Pill even though his injuries weren't as bad as to warrant this elixir. But she was not going to spare any resource to bring her comrade back to wholeness and strength.

He looked at her in suspicion but was not strong enough to resist her putting the pill in his mouth. With a sigh, he realised that if she had any bad intentions, she could easily have killed him in his extremely weakened state, and he swallowed the pill. His eyes shot open in wonder as he felt the powerful, yet gentle, healing energy course through his body, strengthening it and slowly knitting together the multitude of wounds.

His voice regained some clarity as he felt the regenerative effects of the miraculous pill. "I said, who are you?? I do not want your pity!!"

After the treatment he had received since birth, he had never had a friend or a person he could trust. All he could conclude at this point was that Ning'Er had some hidden agenda and he would have to pay the price once he discovered what it was.

She gazed at him in compassion as she wondered how to start. She had a pensive expression as she unlocked the shackles that bound his hands and legs. Then, she began to speak gently but firmly.

"Duan Jian, my name is Ning'Er. I know this will be hard to believe but we were...close friends in a different life. We were part of the same group that fought enemies together, grieved losses together, and celebrated each victory together."

His eyes narrowed in doubt as he looked at her face, waiting for her to burst into laughter and hand him back to the cruel hands of the Silver Winged Family. Even if she wanted to come up with a story, shouldn't she make it more believable so that he could get his hopes up before crushing it? Everything did not make sense and he couldn't put the pieces together.

But at this point, he didn't have much choice but to play along and see where it would lead to. At the very least, he resolved in his heart not to trust this mysterious, beautiful girl, with her bizarre stories. Who knew what trick Sikong Hongyue would use to bring him even more pain?

"What do you want from me?" he finally asked.

It was clear to Ning'Er that he had not believed her but she felt that Duan Jian was the type who would come to appreciate a straightforward and blunt honesty even if it was difficult to believe at this point.

She smiled at him. "I want you to give me a chance. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but when you are ready, I want to prove to you step by step that I want the best for you."

Sensing that the best route right now was to flow along with his apparent benefactor, he mumbled a noncommittal, "Very well. I'll try." However, his eyes would widen in shock at the next words she would share.

"Just so you know, I've just killed Sikong Yi. I'll show you his body once you're strong enough to walk to the main hall. And my team is currently on the way to crush their base at the blood crystal mine as we speak. I've given them clear instructions to bring back Sikong Hongyue alive so that you will get to choose her fate for yourself."

His face grimaced in ferocious anger as he heard the name of the tyrannical witch who had caused him the most pain and agony over the months. She seemed to revel in finding new ways to hurt him, from spitting words of insult towards his dead parents to using all types of weapons and torture instruments to inflict and prolong his suffering.

There were times, under her torment when he had almost screamed out for her to end his life. However, there was a tenacious pride that he had hid in his heart from the days he had been stepped on as a child which prevented him from bowing to her superiority. In fact, it was this pride in his eyes that drove Sikong Hongyue insane with wanting to break his spirit, drawing out the most malicious parts hidden in her heart.

Ning'Er saw his hands clench uncontrollably as he envisioned placing them around the neck of his recent captor. As his knuckles performed cracking sounds from the way they were clenched, she remembered that he still could not exert his strength with the seal imprinted on his stomach area.

"Lie down flat on your back," she instructed. "I have to still remove the seal suppressing your cultivation."

He looked at her in shock. "This is a seal left on me by a Master Inscriptionist. Are you sure you can..."

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. You can trust me." Ning'Er replied.

He stared at her and she could the thoughts flying through his mind as he contemplated her claim. Finally, he sighed and lay down, remembering once again that if she had wanted to hurt him, there had been plenty of opportunities.

Ning'Er carefully drew some soul force into her index and middle fingers on her right hand and began to release pulses of gentle energy into the release mechanism hidden among the intricate runes imprinted on his skin. As time passed, the inscriptions began to noticeably fade until there was nothing remaining.

As the last of it disappeared, Duan Jian felt a surge of strength coursing through his meridians with a series of popping sounds. He could feel soul force resonating and circulating through his blood vessels and organs, as he felt his five star Gold Ranked cultivation progressively return to him.

It would take a week of rest and cultivation before he reached the level he had been before the seal had been placed on him, but he was deeply thankful to regain and experience a semblance of strength again. He furtively looked at the unfathomable girl in front of him while she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to recover from breaking the seal.

An unusual knot was forming in his heart as something within him began to melt. He wondered, for the first time in a very long time, whether he could learn to trust someone again.