10 Storm Rages On (1/2)
If any of Taiyuan's royal sons were around, they would surely be amazed. ”Sacrificial Blood Miracle” was a secret imperial technique, and the fact that Pei Yuan had decided to employ it meant that she was calling for a deathmatch.
However, even if she was begging for it, her opponent might not accede. The latter, upon sighting the devilish red glow, had rushed to the door, made a kickflip and evaded the area of effect. The perpetrator's silhouette appeared like a falcon, and within seconds, it was already meters away from the house, disappearing into a blurry shadow amid the storm.
Pei Yuan withdrew her sword and gave chase. Her skill activation was complete; she raised her feet, as quick as lighting, as her long sword radiated a ray so extensive that it was almost as though she could reach that shadow by simply lifting her hand.
Nevertheless, before she could actually lift it up properly, something satiny brushed across her body, producing a rather gentle breeze. Immediately after, she felt a pain in her fingers, and her sword was swept to the ground.
Assuming that there were more enemies indoors, Pei Yuan forced her eyes wide open. Between the red that dimmed her vision, she could roughly make out a round silhouette that left as quickly as it came.
The next moment, as if stumbling over something, her legs turned to jelly, and she staggered.
Numbness set in at this point, and she felt as though countless worms were wiggling on her facial wounds. Overwhelmed with shock, Pei Yuan lost all interest in seeking the perpetrator. She anxiously touched her injury, which was getting increasingly itchy. Unable to see anything through a sea of red, she called out at the top of her voice, ”Servant! Servant! Water! Get the physician right now!”
Silence.
The servants who had stayed in the rain and whom she was afraid would degrade her floor gazed at her sluggishly while holding onto their ruined lanterns.
They were absolutely stupefied. Their usually sophisticated and domineering owner was now standing under the rain with her hair draping all over her face. There was blood on her face and hands, which she spread open while screaming in distress. Fresh blood continued to ooze of the sinister-looking cross on her forehead and dripped onto the corridor that no one had been allowed to enter, causing it to be thoroughly stained.
”Servant... servant...”
No one moved or talked. Despite having witnessed a brutal assassination attempt, they simply stood coldly in the rain.
As a result of the strong wind, the rain formed sheets of clear walls that isolated Pei Yuan from their hate-filled gazes, which had accumulated from years of abuse and finally unleashed.
”Ser... vant...”
Her pitiful sobs gradually drowned in the storm as she ran wildly, back and forth, along the corridor. Pei Yuan was so out of it that she occasionally crashed into pillars, adding injuries to her face. Her energy only depleted along with the intensification of the tingles on her face.
The rain seeping through the dark red veils that were suspended from the pillars carried a blood color, which complemented Pei Yuan's awfully-stained dress and sorrowful cries.
Eventually, she weakened to the point of collapsing. Her body landed on the steps, and her black hair slithered like snakes on the cold, wet ground. Pei Yuan extended a hand out, as far as possible, as if trying desperately to cling onto any hope that she was merely experiencing a bad dream.
But that glimmer of hope was practically unreachable.
The night remained dark as the storm raged on.
She let out a disoriented groan that harmonized with the sky-splitting thunder.
”You... why... not saving me...”
In no time, her blood was submerged by the pitch-black sky, and her shaky whimpers were completely buried by the cruel storm.
During the moment when Pei Yuan was given a cross on her forehead, a man could be seen smiling atop a faraway roof, his surprisingly dry robes fluttering in the wind. He cupped his hands together in satisfaction while observing the situation below.
A few steps behind him stood another man in black.
”Go over to her house later,” Yuan Zhaoxu ordered. ”Not only is there a feud between the Pei and Yun Family, but they're also political enemies... Know what to do now?”
The man nodded without a word before disappearing in a flash.
Yuan Zhaoxu smiled and looked down from the roof. In spite of the pattering sounds, his voice remained strong, ”Looking clean with the cross, this woman...”
In a hidden corner, Meng Fuyao tapped on Lord Yuan Bao's shoulder with one hand while wiping the blood off her body with another. ”Thanks,” she expressed.
Lord Yuan Bao nudged her hand away in contempt as if meaning to say, ”Don't dirty my snow-white fur with your dirty claw.”
”You stupid meatball!” Meng Fuyao exploded before striding off.
After she left and unknown to her, a god-like lighting bolt, sent from the highest of heavens, pierced through the five big continents.
The reflection of an unconscious Pei Yuan and her room could be seen in the bolt. Amid its whiteness flashed an even brighter light, followed by splatters of red.
That night was destined to be a chaotic one.
Lin Xuanyuan was called up not long after he fell asleep. His expression, upon witnessing Pei Yuan's state, was indescribably horrifying.
The wounds on Pei Yuan face had rotted so much that her skull was exposed. It was clear, from blood to bone, that her once beautiful face would never revert back to how it was.