Chapter 408 - The Tianxiang Chamber (2/2)

Yu Yangzi went on, “The Tianxiang Chamber has more than ten ladies-in-waiting, all of them Lady Ambassadors loyal only to Red Sleeve. The one now under your control is one of them. They never leave this stronghold. The abductions are carried out by the rest of the Sect before the girls are handed to them with no questions asked. Like their mistress, they suffer no inquiry in whatever they do. And most of all, everyone feared the summons of Red Sleeve; at times, she would request the presence of an Elder and two and speak to them. But in most cases, none of them ever returned, which further cast a thicker shroud of mystery over the Lady who is the hidden hand steering the Corpse Refinery Sect.”

“What about the girls who were taken last year? Aside from the thirty-one of them, what happened to the rest? Where are they now?” Su Lianyue asked tersely.

“What else?” Yu Yangzi began to chuckle ominously, “Dead, more like. No one ever survives the Ice Keep.”

“Dead?!” The syllable echoed off the walls of the bleak and empty building as it escaped the throat of a shuddering Su Lianyue. Then the sound of cracking knuckles resounded while Xiao Chen reeled in disbelief quietly. For three thousand years, countless maidens have been taken at the Sect’s behest… and all of them… dead…

Xiao Chen remembered his and Su Lianyue’s eavesdropping of the conversation between the woman in red and the Elders. They had mentioned the Ice Keep then and the very notion of it seemed to fill the Elders with panic. They would have rather suffered an instantaneous death rather than being sent endure the harsh torture of the Ice Keep, which lent much credence to how terrifying and appalling a place it was.

“Can you tell us more about this Ice Keep, Senior?”

“I’m afraid I do not have much to tell you. What I do know, is that the girls abducted would first be stripped naked by the Ladies Ambassador of the Tianxiang Chamber before they will be thrown into pits of icy water. For twelve hours every day, the girls will have to endure the skin-scathing cold until the Ladies Ambassador decide to lengthen the duration of their daily suffering until the girls began to give in to the cold and they die eventually…”

Su Lianyue felt a cold shiver running down her spine as if she had been tossed into the ice ponds herself. She glared at Xiao Chen suddenly who quickly yelped, “Come on, that has nothing to do with me! I would never be capable of such atrocity…”

“Well, if you think this is painful enough, just wait until you hear about the Ice Keep,” Yu Yangzi continued, “Those that survive the ice pools would eventually be sent to the Ice Keep where most, if not all, of them usually die right after. Those that managed to manage to pull through the first few days would still die in the end, but not without after a series of indescribably-anguishing torments…”

So many fair maidens, in the full flowering of their lives, subjected to such brutality and cruelty like the proudly-blooming blossoms of spring wilting suddenly in the snow… Xiao Chen brooded quietly. The Rancorous Qi that left from the resentment and regret of their untimely and bitter deaths would surely be immensely strong… What is this Red Sleeve after for doing this? Was this pure malice for vengeance upon all womenfolk? Or was she trying to amass more Malicious Grudge?

But what is she after, Senior? What is the reason Red Sleeve is doing all this?”

Yu Yangzi replied, “I don’t know. The girls taken must be born on the seventh day of the seventh month, and they must be in their late teens or early twenties. Some might have already achieved the state of Immortal Body. Anyway, the Elders would suffer the most terrible punishment for any mistakes. Some even painful than death.”

Xiao Chen’s expression turned sour. He would not have involved himself in this abominable fallacy if not for the date: the seventh day of the seventh month. The very same birth date of Hua Weiyang… Yet why of all the days, it has to be this…

Before this, Xiao Chen had the foreboding of trepidation if Weiyang was Red Sleeve or one of her lackeys. But now that he had heard how relentless and inexorable Red Sleeves’ methods were, he was nothing if not fully convinced that Weiyang was none of them. His Weiyang would never be capable of such evil and monstrosity…

He took in a deep breath to recollect himself. The waves of revelation had unsettled him again and again. “So where is this Tianxiang Chamber, Senior?”

That was a question that made Su Lianyue and Yu Yangzi shocked beyond words and the latter was the first to ask the question that they both shared, “Why? Do you intend to sneak into that evil place? Not even nine lives would save you!”

Xiao Chen rubbed his fingers anxiously. He knew how daunting and dangerous an attempt it would be, but he had to go. He knew it. Hua Weiyang was the most important person in his former life as much as Ling Yin was. Dead or alive, he needed to see it with his own eyes.

“So be it. But the only thing I know about this Tianxiang Chamber is that it sits in the mountains rear of the Summit of Mystics. It’s absurdly vast there, so I don’t know which for sure.”

“I’ll thank you for the information all the same,” Xiao Chen allowed, bowing humbly. His gaze wandered to the four thickset iron chains restraining Yu Yangzi. “The magical restrictions here are too powerful for me to save you, Senior. But is there anything I can do for you?”

That earned him a weak chuckle from the former High Chieftain of the Corpse Refinery Sect. “Nay, I’ll ask nothing of you. But if one day, you are able to kill that swine Ye Wuxin on my behalf, rest assured that my soul shall be at rest on that knowledge.”

“As you wish,” Xiao Chen muttered, hardly wishing to know more about Yu Yangzi’s vendetta against Ye Wuxin. He turned to Su Lianyue beside him and said, “Let us go then, my lady.”

They strolled out and shut the stone doors. The woman-in-red was still standing demurely outside, still under the effects of the Voodoo Curse. Xiao Chen said, with his eyes still transfixed upon the mind-controlled woman, “I believe you’ve found your answers, my lady. But I still have questions left unanswered. There’s no need for you to traverse into further perils with me, my lady. We’d best be off on our own ways outside.”