บท 24: I have already sacrificed one daughter

They continued to enter deep into the forest by the time they had entered the forest, they were already fatigued. They didn't rest throughout the journey and they had been walking for almost half a day now, they looked up and they saw the mountain where the dungeon was located, they all smiled knowing that they were soon going to reach their destination.

For a moment they had forgotten the reason why they were going there, all they wanted was to just get there quickly, the forest was creepy and there was fog all over the place which made it harder to see and it was getting darker as time passed by.

When I followed her to this place…it wasn't like this, as she approached the mountain the fog disappeared…how did she manage to do it…

She kept on asking herself, she just couldn't understand why the beast was friendly with Huo Lan and why the road to the mountain was easier to pass through when she followed Huo Lan to the dungeon.

"It is still not too late for you to beg me, I can still consider the fact that we are of the same sect and let you stay outside instead of going in seeing how the creepy the way to the dungeon is, I don't think that beast will be very welcoming" Huo Bingchen said breathing heavily, all of them were tired and they were already breathing heavily by the time they came close to the mountain, "I think you should take care of yourself first, your breathing is already unstable you had better watch out for wild animal no one knows what type of animals this forest hold" Huo ying said with a sarcastic smile on her face, "you are too arrogant to your own disadvantage, when that beast devours you, you would wish you knelt at my feet and begged me but by then it would be too late" Bingchen said, he just felt that something was wrong, even if it was for the sake of the guardians Huo ying should have been willing to do anything in order to spare her life, Those who were close to her knew what kind of person Huo ying was, she was prideful but when it comes to the lives of those she cares about, she would spare no effort to save them, she would willingly give up her life ten times to save just one person she cared about. He just couldn't help but feel that there was something suspicious about her agreeing to enter the dungeon with the guardians but he couldn't figure it out.

"There is no way she is confident that she can tame that beast….not to talk of defeating the beast, there is only one way in front of her once she enters the dungeon and that is death, seems like I am thinking too much, she is just too foolish and overconfident" Bingchen thought in his mind.

Finally, they had arrived, they all stood in front of the big mountain panting and trying to stabilize their breathing, Huo ying and the guardians finally remembered that this wasn't the end for them, they still have a powerful opponent to face and life and death was just right inside the underground prison of that mountain.

The beast inside the mountain was captured three hundred years ago by the founder of the flame sect during his youth, back then the sects didn't exist and the government was left with the responsibility of overseeing every corners of the empire, the beast is the heir to the supreme bloodline of the flame beast, before the beast was captured by the founder of the flame sect, all the spirit beast where united and where living in that forest, the bloodline of the beast are called the Huoyan shuo beasts and they were the most powerful beast alive three hundred years ago, but the spirit beast split into two after another bloodline of beast wanted to overthrow the Huoyan shuo bloodline, hundreds of beast were killed while some where captured for causing harm in the empire. The only beast that was left then was the offspring of the Huoyan shuo blood line while the rest of them were massacred, the founder of the flame sect who was a prince then was only able to capture him because the beast was still young, since then only the founder knew what beast was in the dungeon. The later sect leaders and elders if the flame sect only knew that the beast was powerful and very difficult to tame but they had neve seen its true power and the supremacy of the Huoyan shuo beast since there was no record of them in the world after they were massacred.

"I will give you another chance to beg for your life and the guardians" Bingchen said

"dream on" Huo ying said as she and the guardians stepped into the mountain, "I did offer you a chance but you refused it, I guess this I the last I see of you" Bingchen said as he watched them entering into the mountain which a torch.

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Huo Jingyu stood in front of Huo Ying's room, she knocked continuously without hearing any answer, she opened the door and entered into the room, "Huo ying, Huo ying!!" she called as she checked every corner of the room, realizing that her daughter was nit inside the room she rushed out of then room and made her way into the sect leader meditation chamber.

She arrived at the front of the room, the disciples bowing in front of the room quickly bowed as she arrived at the chamber, she looked at them with an expression that conveyed the message why-are-you-still-standing -in-my-way, the disciples were nervous as she stared at them but they couldn't leave the door.

"why are you all standing there, move" she said, although she spoke to them in a low voice but the tone in which she spoke was terrifying and domineering, they were nervous now but they had to obey the sect leaders' orders.

"madam, we are sorry but the sect leader ordered that no one was to come in not….not even you" the first guard said as he lowered his head. In the flame sect, the other person that the disciples dare not go against when they are angry apart form Huo ying is the sect leader's wife, Huo Jingyu is known for her kindness and her bravery but when she is angry just like Huo ying she becomes very brutal and unforgiving, although she doesn't possess the ability that Huo ying has when she becomes angry her own strength is enough to instill fear into the heart of the disciples, her whip skills are considered to be the best in the world among the young and old, her father who was an elder in the flame sect before he passed away was the best when it comes to using the whip before she grew up but after her whip skills became public her father skills could not be compared to hers. After Huo Lan was taking to the wind sect, she decided not to interfere with the affairs of the sect unless it concerned her family but now, she couldn't find her daughter in the sect and this has brought out the demon in her once again.

She snatched the whip of the guard who jut spoke to her and struck it against the ground, they were terrified at the sight of her holding the whip. They knew if they insisted on stopping her from entering the chamber it wouldn't take her a minute before they all find themselves on the ground, left with no choice they moved away from the door giving her access into the room. She dropped the whip on the floor and entered into the chamber, she finally saw her husband in the meditation room sitting in a lotus position while meditating, he already sensed that she was outside the chambers and he knew that the guards would never be able to stop her.

"why are you so unsettled that you even defied my order" the sect leader said as he opened his eyes.

"I am sorry but I couldn't wait for even a minute since I needed to ask you something urgent" she said he already knew why she was here but he decided to act like he didn't know she was coming here for that issue, he stood up and arranged the flaps at the end of his robe.

"what is it?" he asked calmly

"I have looked everywhere but I cannot find Huo ying and the guardians, she has never been away from the sect with the guardians this late so I know there that there must be something going on that I don't know about" she said as she waited for his reply, although he was expecting this to happen he didn't expect her to come so fast.

"dear, I didn't want to tell you before but…."

"but what?" she asked with an impatient tone

"she…she has gone to the beast dungeon with the guardians" he said

"WHAT!!!, why would she go to that dangerous place" she shouted

"when she went out some days ago she repeated what she did when she was ten years old" the sect leader said, he had always cared for his wife and he didn't want to make her sad but now he had no choice but to tell her what had happened even though he ordered all the disciples to keep quiet about what happened in the sect hall, even the elders made sure that she didn't find out because if she did she would have stopped Huo ying even if it cost her life.

"WHAT!!! Why didn't the guardians stop her and who sent my daughter to the beast dungeon" she shouted with a shaking voice,

"the first and second elders found out what she had done and they also knew that she used the flame of torture which was forbidden to use on ordinary people, they asked that she should be sent into the beast dungeon as her punishment but there was nothing I could do about it"

"what do you mean by that, you are the sect leader if you don't even have the say in situations like that then where does your authority lie" she said, "I would never had consented but she decided that she was going to go to the dungeon with the guardians, what she did prevented me from being able to save her" the sect leader said in a bitter voice, "I am going to bring her back now" she said as she turned to leave the room but the sect leaders stopped her and said "even is you go it is no use she would have already entered the dungeon by now"

"I have sacrificed one daughter but those stinky old fools are still not satisfied they also endangered my daughter" she said angrily, she looked around the room and potted a huge whip hanging on a stand, she went close to it ad grabbed the whip, "what are you going to do with the whip" the sect leader asked

"those elders that sent my daughter to that dungeon deserve to die, I have been watching them from the side for years without doing anything but now hey have challenged my bottom line" she said as she walked to the door, the sect leader quickly stopped her by holding her wrist, he walked to her front and said "dear I know how you feel now even I wish I could do the same but I have to think about the sect in every action I take, if Huo ying doesn't come back in the next three days you can do whatever you want I won't stop you", he focused his gaze on her face hoping that she would listen to him, whenever she was angry not even him could stop her.