Chương 7: Escape

Reaching the dungeon where they kept Biyun had been surprisingly easy for Shenti. In his first years of life, Shenti had been very bored being treated like a little kid and not being able to leave the mansion. That's why it became a hobby for him to explore the mansion, learning everything from it, from rooms to the servants' parts. With this knowledge, he could choose the best path to reach Biyun, in which he would find fewer people.

It would have been better to plan it with more time or at least waiting for a little for Meijing to stabilize her cultivation, but Shenti's father and grandfather had left the village, presenting an opportunity for him to enter. He was sure that at least he would especially be searched for, the elders wouldn't detect him. The only doubt was elder Yan with his Spirit Eyes, but the probability wouldn't be better and Shenti didn't know when such a good opportunity would present again.

Anyway, it was far easier than what Shenti expected, not finding even someone guarding the dungeons.

When Shenti arrived at the dungeons, he couldn't help to be angry at the elders. Shenti had known that Biyun had a problem with her spirit and that she was discarded by the clan, but he never thought that it would reach this level. In the dungeons there weren't only cells, there were some good rooms to punish clan members, locking them up some time. Shenti thought that Biyun would be in one of them.

What he found was a poor little girl who was all skin and bones, her face sickly pale and her brilliant blue hair was all dull, closely becoming white, with her clothes being shredded as she was locked in the poorest of the cells without even a bed on it. Moreover, all around it was frozen, the temperature falling some degrees.

Before seeing her, Shenti had thought of laughing at her, teasing her to be discarded even worst than them. That she was receiving her own medicine for how she discarded him and Meijing and followed the clan. Shenti could be considered a little petty, he wanted for her to beg him.

However, seeing her in that poor state, even choosing to die rather than continue like this, all his revenge and teasing evaporated "How can those fuckers do this to a child?!" He said furiously.

A yellow ring shined under Shenti and his Seven Kill Sword appeared on his hands. Shenti swung it, easily cutting the bars from Biyun's cell, due to the ice invading the steel, it had become extremely brittle.

Shenti approached her and carefully embraced over his arms. With her temperature being extremely low and her weight being very little, rather than be embracing a girl it seemed more like a block of ice.

Seeing her poor face, all of Shenti anger at her disappeared. He looked warmly at her "Did you miss me, Yunyun?"

"Shen!" Biyun weakly cried, ice tears leaving her eyes as her body trembled. Her body unconsciously clinging towards him.

"We need to leave this place" Shenti lifted Biyun, keeping her close to his body, with a determined look.

Shenti left the cell and started running through the corridor to the same place that he had come.

"So it was you?" An acute voice was heard "I knew that something was fishy when I saw the strange patrol, but I didn't think it was simply trash"

Shenti turned around to the voice to see a carbon copy of him, only some two years younger and with white hair with a sneer in his face as he looked down at them.

"What are you doing here, San?" Shenti said coldly to his little brother.

"I am called Yuan now, trash" He spatted "And that's my question. Leave my woman here immediately. If you do, I might even let you leave with a breathe of life in your body" Yuan sneered.

"Did you know Biyun's situation?" Shenti asked clenching his hands.

"Of course, I knew it. She is complete trash that doesn't deserve more. She must be glad that we keep her alive as she still had some uses" Yuan laughed.

"I see" Shenti said. He knelt over the ground, carefully leaving Biyun on it "It will be only an instant" He said with a warm look to Biyun.

Shenti stood up and turned towards Yuan, looking at him with a murderous look full of killing intent.

Yuan stepped back unconsciously "W-why are you looking at me like this? You are nothing, you're trash!" He stepped forward "Now, there's no mother to protect you. I will show you your position."

Two yellow rings appeared under Yuan. The first ring shined, flames exploded all over Yuan's body, covering him.

"Trash must be burned!" He charged towards Shenti, throwing him a punch.

"Those fuckers of elders had taken a hold of you. If you are able to see Biyun like this and act like nothing, you are already a lost cause." Shenti said coldly, the Seven Kill Sword appearing in his hands. "You deserve to die" Shenti said coldly.

Shenti twisted his body towards the left avoiding the punch. Yuan's flames were raging over him, burning his skin, but it was nothing compared to what Biyun must have felt. "I'll kill you myself, little brother" Shenti swung his sword upward, tracing an arc over Yuan's body, his sword cutting over the flames.

Yuan stepped back "I-impossible" He said shocked as he saw the shining yellow ring under Shenti.

"Splash!" A line of blood appeared all over Yuan's body from his left shoulder to his right leg, blood surging madly from it. "Ahhh!" Yuan vomited more blood and his eyes rolled blank, he falling unconscious to the ground and forming a blood pool.

Shenti spun his sword, gripping it with both hands as it pointed downwards towards Yuan's heart. He stabbed forward.

"What is this?!" An angry voice was heard from the side of the corridor where he was planning to escape, it was elder Yan. Like Shenti had predicted, he was the first elder to detect something was wrong.

Listening the voice, Shenti reacted, lightly tilting his sword, diverting his sword from Yuan's heart and stabbing over his lung.

Shenti withdrew his sword and quickly took Biyun in his embrace, running towards the other side of the corridor. The things became much complicated, he couldn't use the same escape route and now he was carrying Biyun, limiting his movements.

Seeing him running, elder Yan clenched his hands in fury, but Yan didn't follow him, instead, he went towards Yuan and started doing first aid to him.

Yan was the weakest of all the elder, having a rank 40 something with Spirit Eyes. He wasn't a combat type, instead, he focused his spirit skills to improve his profession. He was able to analyze precisely the body condition, talent and characteristics with a simple look, making him invaluable to the clan in their eagerness to create the perfect spirit and the best doctor.

Shenti knew that he was unable to fight against him and win, especially with Biyun in his care. However, he would be able to run away while he didn't create a direct visual with him. But, even if he could run away from Yan, he would warn all the clan and Shenti would be unable to escape from the mansion being chased by them.

That's why Shenti didn't kill Yuan at the last moment. Instead, Shenti inflicted a mortal wound to him if not immediately treated, knowing that Yan with his eyes would know and chose to heal the future of the clan rather than chase after him. It was a pity that Shenti couldn't even cripple him as Yan would have detected and directly discard Yuan, letting him die and chasing for him.

As Shenti was running over the halls, his brain was in full work, trying to find the best path, but he couldn't avoid some crowded areas.

Suddenly, Shenti sensed someone at his side. He gripped Biyun with his right arm and spun his body as the Seven Kill Sword appeared in his hand, swinging it towards the presence.

"Clank!" The sword was stopped by a nude hand, Shenti's eyes going wide in shock.

"Attacking without knowing who it was. I don't think that I raised you with this lack of manner, son"

"Mum!" Having stopped his sword stood a beauty of forty years old and long straight black hair, it was Shenti's mother, Hu Nair.

Of all over the Tè clan, his mother was the only one that Shenti truly respected and the most important person of her life, taking out Meijing. She had showered him with love and care while growing and she had always tried to keep Shenti and his brothers out of the elders' hands. She was considered cancer for the clan, the main enemy of every elder, she had shown her wits and intelligence being able to survive all this time in the clan.

"What are you doing here?!" Shenti asked surprised and confused.

"There's no time for this" Nair took Shenti's hand and dragged him towards a room. Inside it, she approached a shelf and pushed some books. The shelf opened revealing a secret passage.

"You must go. Quickly!" Nair ordered "It won't be long before the clan reacts. You need to escape from the village as soon as possible." She took out a ring from her finger and gave it to Shenti "This is a rare spatial ring, I put inside some necessities and a map. Take Meijing and escape from this dammed place."

"Mum, why?" Shenti asked shocked, not really expecting this. His mother was clearly declaring war against the clan.

"I already had lost your little brother. I won't let them take you, Haotian" Nair said with determination.

"Haotian?" Shenti blinked confused.

"That was the name I chose for you, it means Vast Sky. I want you to be free from this place and travel free all over the world" She said warmly "I never liked how those bastards treat everyone like objects. Anyway, you must go now, before it's too late."

"Mum, come with us. You will be targetted by the elders, they might even kill you" Shenti said.

Nair shook her head "I'm already used to that bastards. I'll need to stay to protect your father and elder brother. I will be fine, don't worry about me." Nair pushed at Shenti over the secret passage "Go outside, becoming strong enough to be free to do whatever you want. Forget about this place and life your own life. Remember, I'll always love you" Nair said as the shelf closed, shutting down the corridor.

The truth was that Nair was the one in the shadows that let Shenti easily reach Biyun, emptying his path from the patrols. She had always cared for Shenti, Meijing and Biyun, treating the poor girls as her own daughters. Unfortunately, her movements were very limited and closely observed by the elders, making her unable to keep Biyun safe and even having lost his youngest son to those elders just as she was focusing on making her husband the clan's head.

She would always regret it. Even if her husband had become the head and gained more power over those bastards, she had lost one son. She didn't want to lose another.

She had always cared for Shenti in the shadows, not letting any elder approaching him to experiment or anything. Always observing him, making sure he was safe. Of course, she had also discovered that her son and Meijing were able to cultivate for one year and their nocturne activities. Even if she didn't know how they were able to cultivate, she wouldn't let the clan take them. She had planned since then, for the three to escape. It had been quicker than she had expected, but Biyun didn't have much time so she used her plans to let them escape.

"Have a good life, Haotian" She smiled as tears fall from her eyes.

"Mum!" Shenti shouted, but he knew what he must do. He embraced Biyun whose condition had worsened tightly and started running over the dark passage. After twenty minutes, he was able to see the light at the end of the passage. Leaving it, he found themselves outside of the mansion's area, very near to his cabin.

He quickly entered the cabin, finding himself being threatened by a sword by Meijing "Shen!" Meijing quickly withdrew her spirit.

"Mei, I'm no longer Shenti. Since today, I will take the name my mum wanted for me, not those bastards. Since today, I am Hu Huotian" Huotian.

Meijing nodded, quickly catching on to what happened.

"We need to quickly leave. It won't be long before we are chased by the clan's forces. There's no minute to waste" Haotian put on hand over the spatial ring, a big map appeared over his hand. He extended it over the table.

It was a very exact map of the Sun Village and the surrounding forest. There was also a marked path to follow to leave the forest towards the next village, being marked as the safer where the weakest spirit beasts lived.

"Let's go" Haotian picked the map over the spatial ring and the three quickly left, with Biyun over Haotian's arms, the cabin, never looking back.