章 17: The Princess and the Prisoner
(Long Jian POV)
After running around the Abyss realm for a while, I finally find a settlement and... Thunderbirds? Did I reach the same village as Nie Li?
I look around for a bit and couldn't find anyone with wings. That's to be expected though, the people with wings are only those with 'noble' bloodline. Since I couldn't find them in the village, I sneak into the most important looking place. The houses on top of a giant tree, it should be where the main family lives. After sneaking into one of the more guarded places, I found a kid with black wings chained up.
'Looks like I am in the Silver Winged family village after all. This should be Duan Jian. I wonder what I should do with him…'
I can't come up with anything after a while so I decided to look around the place first. Sneaking around I finally manage to find another winged person coming out of their room. This time it's a girl about 11-12 years old. Following her for a bit, I find out that she is Sikong Hongyue daughter of Sikong Yi, the current Patriarch.
She doesn't seem to be dark or has a violent temper like it was shown in the novel. Instead, she seems more like a curious and lonely child with a serious personality. Either she hasn't got to the point of being a cold-blooded person yet or the novel is too bias toward Nie Li. Probably a combination of both.
'Maybe I can prevent her from becoming cold-blooded? Let's see if this works.' I thought as I plant a suggestion in her head using soul force. She is currently exploring the place so I just make her go in the direction of Duan Jian.
When she reaches the place where Duan Jian is, I place two illusion array there. One for Hongyue and another for anyone else that walks here. Everyone else will see nothing else of place and continue on their way while Hongyue will see Duan Jian getting whipped.
Hongyue just looks at Duan Jian direction before frowning and leave. As she was leaving, she 'sees' and overhear two guards talking.
"What did he do to receive this kind of punishment?" One of the guards asked.
"Are you new here? Everyone else already known what happened." the second Guard answer.
"Yes I am, so what happened?" Guard 1
"Well you see, he didn't do anything wrong. In fact, he has been here ever since he was little." Guard 2
"What?!" Guard 1
"Keep your voice down. We are not supposed to talk about this." Guard 2
"Right, sorry." Guard 1 said quietly but loud enough for Hongyue to hear. "So why is he being treated like this?"
"That is because his mother is a member of the Silver Winged family who ran away with Duan Yun who is a member of the Black Dragon Family." Guard 2
"You mean to say that he is getting tortured because of something he didn't even do?" Guard 1 asks in disbelief.
"What did you expect, she runs away with a member of an enemy family and gives birth to him. With how the Silver Winged is, it isn't a surprise that their son ended up like that." Guard 2
"I know but still for them to that to a kid… I mean imagine getting in trouble for something you didn't even do. That guy has it 100 times worst not to mention the fact that his family was killed leaving him alone." Guard 1.
When guard 1 said that, I make it array change a bit to make Hongyue think about all the time she got in trouble even though it's not her fault, then make her imagine something worst that could've happened. Afterward, she quickly runs back to her room.
I guess this should do for now. It should at least make her question if her family's choices are right. With it done, I took away the arrays and back to the village. I still don't know what I should do with Duan Jian, I decide to just think about it while exploring the village.
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The next day I decide to just take Duan Jian with me. Let him grow up in a nicer place and see what he wants to do after he grows up.
When I got close to where Duan Jian is kept, I saw little Hongyue sneaking around. I want to see what she is doing so I make sure no one sees her. After a while, she makes her way to Duan Jian's cell. Now I'm even more curious. I put up another inscription array so no one bothers us.
When Hongyue got in front of Duan Jian, he glares at her. Her family is the reason he is in this situation after all. Hongyue stands in front of Duan Jian with a serious expression on her face. After a minute pass of no one saying anything, Hongyue did something neither Duan Jian nor I expected.
Hongyue bows to Duan Jian and said "I'm sorry." in a serious and sincere voice.
"Wha…?"Was both Duan Jian and my response. Of course, they can't hear me.
"It's because of my family that this is happening to you. So I'm sorry." Hongyue apologizes again.
After walking up from his surprised, Duan Jian got angry. "Sorry… SORRY?! YOUR FAMILY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY!" Duan Jian yells at Hongyue.
"Sorry," Hongyue said again this time she sounds weaker. "I wanted to help you but I don't know how." Hongyue started crying. "I was thinking of what I should do but I can't think of anything so I can only apologize," Hongyue said trying to stop her crying.
As this is the first time Duan Jian see someone cry, he doesn't know what to do. His anger disappears as he tries to think of something to say.
I think my array was too effective on her. I guess I should help them now since I created this. I have a good idea too. I got out of my Void form and appear in front of them.
"It's not nice to make a girl cry you know." I said when I appear surprising them.
"W-who are you?" Hongyue said stuttering from both crying and being surprised.
"Who I am is of not important. What's important is what you want." I said to grab their attention. "Tell me. If you can, would you help someone like him?" I ask Hongyue.
"Of course I will." Hongyue answer without delay.
"What about you. What do you want to do." I ask Duan Jian
"I-I…" Duan Jian doesn't know what to say. He wanted revenge but with Hongyue here, it'll be awkward to say so.
"You want revenge, don't you? For what happened to you and your family." I answer for him. Duan Jian just nods his head. I can see Hongyue look a little sad when Duan Jian nodded. He wants revenge against her family after all. "And if you achieve your revenge, what are you going to do after that?"
"I'll…" This time Duan Jian doesn't know how to answer as he never thought about it.
"What about the children of the people you took revenge against. Do you want them to end up like you here."
"NO! I'm not like them. Why would I do this to anyone?!" Duan Jian
"Of course you aren't but if you succeed in your revenge, people like this girl here will get captured by other family and forced into a similar life to your."
"Then what should I do! The only reason I let myself suffer through all that torture is because I wants revenge!" Duan Jian
"Strength, in this world whoever is stronger gets what they want while the weak are left to suffer. If you have the strength, you can achieve almost anything." I turn to Hongyue "If you have strength than you can change the rule and not let anyone suffer."
"How can I get such strength." Duan Jian
"This," I said as I put my finger on his forehead. "That is a cultivation technique. How far you go and how much you can achieve is up to you." After I finish talking, I took Hongyue to her room.
"Why would you do that? If he gets stronger than my family…" Hongyue
"I did it to give him a chance. Here." I poke her forehead. "This technique is as strong as the one I give to him. Remember, revenge is a vicious cycle. It's up to you to stop it from happening."
I disappear again after saying that to her. I wonder what they'll do now. Hopefully, Hongyue doesn't tell her father what happened otherwise I'll really need to take Duan Jian with me.
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