Bab 63: Welcome Home
Duan Jian silently observed the lifeless body of Sikong Yi, the once proud and tyrannical Patriarch of the Silver Winged Family, unsure how he should respond. He was feeling a whole range of intense emotions course through his heart as he remembered the years he had suffered at the hands of this family just because of the love that had blossomed between his parents.
Although he had been forced to watch his parents put to death right before his eyes at the command of this person, he strangely did not feel a strong sense of satisfaction at Sikong Yi's demise. It wasn't so much a feeling of vindication but more, a fitting conclusion to a soul that had been so twisted and warped by power over the years. At the very least, he experienced a closure of some sort.
A few hours later, Yang Xin and Li Xiao returned from the blood crystal mine with a group of prisoners in tow. They had eliminated the two Black Gold Ranked experts, as well as the three Inscription Masters, in order to free the slaves from the mine from their cruel soul imprints.
One of the prisoners was thrust forward to where Ning'Er and Duan Jian had been waiting in the hall. She was a beautiful woman with a lean and muscular body, honed from years of training and battle. On her back were the tell-tale silver wings that indicated that she possessed the direct lineage accorded to the nobility of the clan with the richest bloodline from their ancestor. Despite her seductive beauty, the malevolent eyes that stared out betrayed the character of the person who was now kneeling shamefully in chains.
"Duan Jian!" she spat out hatefully. "I wouldn't have imagined that your despicable Black Dragon Family would have colluded with the Divine Flames Family against our clan!!! I knew that under their righteous cover of disguise, the Divine Flames Family were the most evil and plotting one of all!"
Duan Jian stared at this hateful woman in front of him. She was only seventeen years old but because of the unique rank accorded as the daughter of the Patriarch, she had perpetrated numerous venomous and barbaric acts of cruelty for many years. Although she had been too young to take part in his parents' deaths, she had taken it upon herself to inflict as much shame and pain upon him over the years, and especially in the last few months of torture he had experienced.
"Your father is dead." His low, emotionless voice stated out the truth matter-of-factly. "Your family will cease to exist as one of the thirteen clans. You have nothing left. Everything has been taken from you and rightly so."
She continued to proudly glare at him from her kneeling position but her face started to twitch as her emotions threatened to spill over. In the long, unspoken moments that followed, large tear drops began to streak down her pretty face. She refused to completely lose control as her expression struggled to remain impassive. But every tear that fell betrayed the wrenching hurt she felt deep in her heart. After all, she was still a teenager and had never experienced being in a weaker position in her entire life.
"Duan Jian," she forced out, in between quiet sobs. "You will always be an abomination. A mistake that was never meant to be. You caused the deaths of your pitiful parents. Don't think that you'll ever amount to anything. You're worth less than the shit on my shoe!"
It was her final wretched attempt to hurt him since she had nothing left to hope for. At the very least, maybe she could cause some lasting damage at the end.
Ning'Er turned to Duan Jian. "We'll leave it up to you what you want to do with her. After everything you've experienced at her hands, you have the most right to decide. What will give you the closure you need in your heart?"
He started down at the pretty warrior in front of him as he remembered her maniacal laugh during the times she whipped and cut him in recent times. Many ideas rushed through his mind in terms of he could bring about the most humiliation and suffering as recompense. But as he stared at her tear-stricken face and understood that she was barely holding on dealing with the news of her father's death, he recalled his own parents.
Finally, he decided. "In honour of my parents, I will not pay back evil with more evil. The cycle must stop somewhere. I will not take any further action to continue the bitterness of vengeance. I refuse to be ruled by hatred and turn into people like you and your father!"
Hearing his words, Sikong Hongyue was stunned for a moment as tears continued to flow down her face. Could it be that she and her father had been wrong in their approach and values all these years? This doubt would take root in her heart the remainder of her living years and would place an inner demon which was even worse than being killed!
Ning'Er smiled in pride as she recalled the Duan Jian she had known in her previous life. The stoic, inexpressive character with a deep sense of compassion of justice flowing deep in his veins. She placed a hand on his shoulder to affirm his decision, "I'm proud that you could let go of the hatred in your heart. This first step has put you on the right path to comprehend the Dao of heaven and earth. You will be a mighty expert in future, trust my words!"
He did not turn to look at her as he pondered on her words. On some level, his intuition was telling him that her words were aligned with the Dao and that she was completely sincere in her good intentions for him. Could she have been telling the truth back in the prison? He was starting to be unsure that it was just a crazy story she made up to get him on her side.
At the same time, her words stirred up many repressed emotions within him. Himself, a mighty expert? He had not even been able to hope for such a thing in the months that his cultivation had been sealed and he had been tortured. Could it really be possible? He could feel his warrior blood within him stirring as he considered the possibility and realised that he wanted to be strong! If following this mysterious girl could bring him on that journey of strength, he would follow her until she broke his trust.
This was his nature and conviction, tempered by a lifetime of challenges.
.....
They began to make preparations to head back to Glory City over the next few days. Although Duan Jian had decided not to kill Sikong Hongyue, they did not want to freely release her because of her noble blood and potential to grow to seek revenge. After careful consideration, Ning'Er imprinted a powerful slave imprint onto the soul of the Silver Winged descendant and gave the controlling imprint stone to Patriarch Li Xiao.
Sikong Hongyue would be required to work at the mines for the next ten years before being released because by that time, she probably wouldn't be able to influence much in the face of the changes that were bound to take place in the Abyss Prison Realm. Ning'Er wondered about the shifts that would come as she formed a partnership and bridge between this realm and Glory City, and prayed that the good intentions that started it would be a strong foundation for humanity to grow stronger together.
The Divine Flames Family were ecstatic at how things played out. The most cruel family had been eliminated from the realm, and there would be a better chance for the rest of the families to coexist relatively peacefully. The relationship with Glory City would only strengthened the power of their clan, and Yang Xin had assured Li Xiao that they would send over an abundance of food to counter the shortage here.
Patriarch Li Xiao had been rather enamored by the attractive and intelligent woman, who was once the Director for the Alchemist Association. Since his wife had passed away from an unknown illness a decade ago, he had not entertained the idea of finding another partner. In any case, he had been too busy trying to counter the Silver Winged Family's evil tactics, and to ensure the stability of his own family. But now...he suddenly had thoughts and feelings slowly being stirred up that he had not experienced for a long time.
As a gesture of gratefulness and goodwill, he asked each party in Ning'Er's group to choose one item from his family's extensive collection in their stores and vaults. Remembering something, Ning'Er managed to secure some weapons that triggered a fresh bout of nostalgia in her memories.
She requested for the three flying knives made out of divine crystals, Scarlet Flame, Scarlet Chill and Scarlet Void, for Nie Li since he was the only one who could use it with his attributeless soul realm. She would teach him how to apply his soul force to activate the complex runes and inscriptions on the wondrous weapons.
For Duan Jian, she asked for the Black Flame Sword, an intimidating weapon which would synergise with his innate abilities and constitution. The sword had an embedded flame crystal that gave it a flame attack, which would be augmented by the unique flame breath technique that he would be able to utilise once he awakened his dragon bloodline, the Raging Flames of the Black Dragon!
Duan Jian held the sword in his hands as he wondered once again whether he was just in a dream and would wake up soon. He now owned a powerful artifact of his own when he had only owned the torn clothes on his body his entire life! He bowed to Li Xiao in gratefulness, and then gave a gentle nod of acknowledgement to Ning'Er for making all this happen. He could feel that the path of destiny over his life had shifted dramatically and he could sense that she was at the center of it!
On top of the items each of them had selected, they would also bring back many large crates of blood crystals from the vaults of the Silver Winged Family's base. This would be more than sufficient to boost Glory City's development greatly in the future!
Using the Divine Flames Family's resources, they easily found the twenty three stones of light that were needed to activate the Ten Millennium Spatial Array, and open the portal leading back to Glory City. The young teenage descendant, Li Heng would follow them as the representative for the Divine Flames Family, in order to gather information about the city and help to work out the best arrangement for their future partnership.
The group excitedly stepped through the portal and squinted in surprise as they stepped into the bright sunlight situated at the ancient constructs near the City Lord's Mansion. It was around midday in this realm and the warm sun was high in the sky with barely any clouds to provide cover.
Duan Jian was amazed at the beauty of the world that he had stepped into since he had grown up in the dark wilderness of the Abyss Prison Realm. After basking in the warmth for awhile, he turned to the person next to him with gratefulness in his eyes. "Ning'Er...thank you for bringing me to this world. You have helped to change my entire fate. I'll be in your care while I am here and hope that I won't be too much of a bother to you."
Her face beamed in joy as she looked back at him. "Of course you won't be! You are the treasured friend and comrade of my past life. And if I may be so bold, I feel like saying these words to you..."
"Welcome home, brother."
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
AerynSun
AerynSun Abyss Prison Realm arc over. I was kinda happy that I stretched it for five chapters because it's always tempting to fly through faster since it's a fan-fic and many things have already been explained in the original story. :)
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone