Chapter 283: Learning Experience (1/2)

Xu Lanyi entered the enforcement office which was a formidable building that took up most of a city block. The walls were solid stone mixed in with inscription arrays. There were no windows at all for the three-story building and only one entrance that was heavily guarded.

“Welcome, Executor Tang Xiang!”

The guards greeted them as they walked past. They all wore purple robes over heavy armor and carried what could only be described as head-chopping axes.

Xu Lanyi didn’t say anything, her senses alert. She held her composure but still remembered to be alert. Chen Wentian mentioned that they should be courteous to representatives of the four major powers.

Tang Xiang’s House of Axes was a branch sect of the House of Armament. It was one of the powerhouse sects backed by a Spirit King. Only such a clan could adequately control the chaotic situation of the Old District.

The pair of women walked with their prisoner through several corridors and courtyards and finally entered a small room. To one end of the room was a metal contraption with dangling shackles and a strong spiritual aura. The tables on either side contained an interesting assortment of tools and what looked like knives and medical instruments.

“Come here, you criminal!” Tang Xiang said harshly.

She secured the man on the contraption and locked in his arms and legs so that he couldn’t move. Whatever runic inscriptions on the metal frame activated and Xu Lanyi could sense that the man’s spiritual energy was suppressed. The man who was a peak of the Mind Focusing Realm could only let out the strength at the Body Refinement Realm and he could not escape.

“Criminal, what’s your name?” Tang Xiang asked.

The man shook for a few seconds before gathering his wits. He glared at the two women in front of him and spat. A mouthful of spit and blood almost landed on Tang Xiang’s face but she blocked it with her spiritual energy.

“Go to hell.” The man said and then went silent.

“Good… good… I was going to go easy on you since I have a guest…” Tang Xiang muttered.

She turned to Xu Lanyi with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. “Sister Xu, I sincerely apologize for this but I have to take of this case. Could you wait outside at the pavilion we passed by?”

Xu Lanyi understood what was happening and nodded, “Sister Tang, understood. I take my leave.”

She backed away and then left the room. The door was closed behind her and she heard some muffled sounds of Tang Xiang who began to speak to the thief.

Xu Lanyi kept walking a short distance and sat down on the benches of a shaded pavilion. She looked back at the closed door to the room in the distance and could not sense or hear anything. She was reminded of the crime and punishment department of Black Rock City when she and her sisters had stayed there for many months.

Tang Xiang was a part of something similar and soon enough, a man’s wretched screams erupted. It was loud enough to make Xu Lanyi shiver. It sounded like a pig being slaughtered. No doubt he was being tortured to within an inch of his life.

Xu Lanyi didn’t think the man’s purported crimes warranted death. She found the subject interesting but only partly. She was interested in turning wrong into right and helping those being oppressed by criminals and evil people. However, the thought of punishment and torture was uncomfortable. She knew that senior sister Wu Qianyu liked those things but it was not for her. She cared more about helping those that wronged rather than seeking retribution from the perpetrators.

“Nooooooo!” One final, horrifying scream rang out, and then there was silence.

A spiritual signal shot out from the room and soon, a pair of guards rushed up.