T/N: The chapter may be titled “Torture,” but other than a slightly disturbing situation it’s not that bad. Also, I just checked the poll on chapter 6 on whether to use the word family or house (as in the three houses Yang, Lu, and Peng), and it seems like most people want me to just use what fits best in context. Someone also suggested clan, so I added that too. Poll is below the chapter buttons. Also, I would really appreciate any feedback on what I can improve on or typos or something.
Chapter 8: 酷刑 TortureLuo Cheng Guang shook his head, refuting, "Yellow Springs Inn's shopkeeper's temperament is very strange, nobody can understand what she is thinking!"
Luo Qian Ping chuckled, "If there was someone who could get her to come to their side, that would really be…"
Luo Cheng Guang burst into laughter, "No matter how strong she is, she is still a woman, she couldn’t possibly lift anything too heavy!"
Luo Qian Ping looked at Luo Cheng Guang and said, "No matter if it's against Luo Qian Qi or Yellow Springs Inn, we absolutely cannot be careless!"
Luo Cheng Guang nodded his head in approval.
As for strength, Luo Qian Ping and the others would never have thought that the mysterious person who saved Li Shi was actually Hong Yan.
Hong Yan brought Li Shi back to Yellow Springs Inn, even finding a room where he could rest for a while.
Hong Yan had a small ghost tend to his wounds, telling the small ghost, "When he wakes up, notify me immediately, you cannot let him leave, understand?"
"Yes!" the small ghost replied.
Hong Yan glanced at Li Shi, who was lying on the bed, then turned around and left the room.
"Lu gong zi, Elder Qing Ping, I haven't seen you in such a long time!" Yang Sheng smiled towards Lu Xiu and Qing Ping.
Lu Xiu watched Yang Sheng and harrumphed, "For what purpose did Yang great gong zi honor our Lu family with your presence?"
Yang Sheng put two hands behind his back, smiling, "How did Lu great gong zi know I had come here with a purpose?"
He laughed coldly and eyed Yang Sheng, "Without a purpose, you wouldn't come to Three Treasure Palace!"
Yang Sheng laughed out, "You're right, I indeed came here for a matter, don't forget that right now we are allies!"
Lu Xiu and Qing Ping glanced at each other, before Lu Xiu said, "If there is a matter, just say it!"
Yang Sheng smiled, "Now this is the attitude you should have, I came to find out for what matter did Luo Qian Qi find you?"
Lu Xiu glanced at Qing Ping before replying, "Luo Qian Qi already knows of our plans, he wants to damage the relations between our three houses and Luo Qian Ping; he first came looking for us!"
Yang Sheng froze, "He knows of our plans, then after you guys met up what happened?"
Qing Ping said, "He forced great gong zi and I to eat ghost pills!"
"Ghost pills!" Yang Sheng said in shock, "How would he have the kind of things that are ghost pills? Are you sure that the two ghost pills you took are real?"
Qing Ping nodded, "Those two ghost pills are indeed real, however we also cannot figure out where he might have gotten those ghost pills!"
Lu Xiu asked, "Do you think that it was refined by himself?"
Yang Sheng shook his head, refuting, "That cannot be, things like ghost pills can only be refined by ghosts…"
Immediately after, Yang Sheng said in shock, "Could it be that he raised a small ghost?"
Lu Xiu and Qing Ping were also shocked in this notion. Qing Ping said, "We cannot eliminate this possibility!"
Yang Sheng's complexion slightly worsened, "Then this will be hard to work with!"
Lu Xiu said, "How about you go back and discuss it with Luo Qian Ping, then make your decision!"
Yang Sheng nodded. He asked them, "You don't have any problems with the ghost pills in your body?"
Qing Ping laughed, "That Luo Qian Qi really is too naive, he actually thought that a ghost pill could restrict us!"
"Could it be that the ghost pills in your body have already been dissolved?" Yang Sheng's voice had a bit of surprise.
Lu Xiu laughed merrily, "Yes, before you came over Elder already removed the pills in our body!"
Yang Sheng nodded, "This is even better, you guys take care of yourselves, I will take my leave!"
Lu Xiu and Qing Ping nodded, then Yang Sheng left the Lu house.
After Yang Sheng left, he immediately headed over to Thousand Jade Hall.
"What did you say, Luo Qian Qi already knows of our plans, and even had Lu Xiu and Qing Ping take ghost pills?" Luo Qian Ping was in shock as he asked.
Luo Cheng Guang was also very shocked, "Are you sure this news is not wrong?"
Yang Sheng nodded, "It cannot be wrong, it was Lu Xiu and Qing Ping themselves that told me this, right now we already are a grasshopper on the fuse of a grenade, to trick us will do him no good!"
Hearing Yang Sheng's words, Luo Qian Ping and Luo Cheng Guang sank deep into thought.
Yang Sheng asked, "Then what will we do now?"
Luo Qian Ping thought deeply for a few moments, then said, "This matter cannot be delayed, you go find some help, we must immediately make our move!"
Yang Sheng nodded, then turned around and left Luo Cheng Guang's room.
After Yang Sheng left, Luo Cheng Guang asked, "If Luo Qian Qi dies, then how will we explain it to the elders?"
Luo Qian Ping chuckled coldly, "Luo Qian Qi killed Li Yan Xin, and after being found out by Li Shi killed him to prevent the secret from being spilled. We couldn't let Hall Master commit evil and wished to bring him to ancestral hall to punish him, but the moment Luo Qian Qi heard this he ran away, and in the process of trying to capture him Luo Qian Qi accidentally died!"
Luo Cheng Guang nodded his head in satisfaction, "This idea is not bad!"
As they plotted, their faces revealed devious smiles.
At this time, Luo Qian Qi was sitting by the desk looking up materials on the three houses Yang, Lu, and Peng. The bright electric lights flickered a bit, then returned to normal.
Luo Qian Qi glanced at the electric lights before continuing to read the materials in his hand, then out of the corner of his eyes he spotted a shadow cast on the ground.
Luo Qian Qi put down the materials in his hand and looked all around him, alert.
The moment Luo Qian Qi put down the materials, twenty people in black appeared in the room, in each of their hands was a large gleaming blade.
Luo Qian Qi looked at the people in black in the room and harrumphed, "Finally can't be patient any longer?"
The leading person in black looked at Luo Qian Qi and harrumphed, "Luo Qian Qi, this day next year will be the anniversary of your death!"
Luo Qian Qi brought out Chi Xiao Sword and eyed the people in black coldly, "To speak so boldly, you aren't even afraid of pulling your tongue muscle!"
When the people in black saw Luo Qian Qi's Chi Xiao Sword1 they all froze.
Chi Xiao Sword was number three of the ten famous swords. Legend had it that after the Han ancestor Liu Bang beheaded the white snake2, he left behind this precious sword.
The leader in black looked at the Chi Xiao Sword in Luo Qian Qi's hands and his eyes shined, "Never thought that number three of the ten famous swords, Chi Xiao Sword, was actually in your hands, but this is good, too, saves me time having to look for it!"
Saying this, the lead person in black lifted the large knife and chopped towards Luo Qian Qi by the desk.
"Slap," Luo Qian Qi leaned over and dodged, but the desk was cut into two.
Luo Qian Qi gazed indifferently at the leader of the people in black, then raised Chi Xiao Sword and attacked towards the leading person in black.
Luo Qian Qi's speed was very fast. The leading person in black didn't have enough time to dodge, and was pierced by Chi Xiao Sword in the left shoulder.
The people in black all froze, then turned and lifted their knives to attack Luo Qian Qi.
Luo Qian Qi did not give the people in black any chance, going around in a circle kicking the chests of the people in black.
That leader in black was kicked by Luo Qian Qi directly to the center of the crowd of people in black.
Those people in black hurriedly supported up their leader, and when that leader in black landed on the ground, the scarf covering his face fell off, revealing his appearance.
Luo Qian Qi looked at the leader in black and smiled coldly, "Yang Sheng, I never thought that Luo Qian Ping would actually have you kill me yourself!"
That's right, that leader in black was Yang Sheng.
Yang Sheng clutched his chest. At the corner of his mouth hung a sliver of blood.
Yang Sheng looked at Luo Qian Qi as he chuckled coldly, "Hall Master Luo, I know you are very powerful, but do you really think that today with just you, you can break through our layers of encirclement?"
Luo Qian Qi stared at Yang Sheng indifferently, however in his heart he also was unsettled, after all, two fists are hard-pressed to beat four hands.
Yang Sheng looked at Luo Qian Qi and laughed coldly, then said to the people in black on the side, "Kill him!"
Hearing Yang Sheng's command, the people in black all lifted their knives and rushed towards Luo Qian Qi.
Towards his own enemies, Luo Qian Qi would never falter in the slightest. He tightly gripped Chi Xiao Sword, looking at the people attacking him, his eyes chilly.
Bang bang bang
From inside the room drifted out the cacophony of knives clanging, the light glinting off the weapons. In the room without light, the cacophony of clanging knives and the light reflecting from the swords were like the thunder and lightning of the sky.
In the middle of the circle of people in black, Luo Qian Qi hadn't the slightest amount in the fear; on the contrary he seemed to have the upper hand.
Yang Sheng saw that the odds were not in his favor and took a silver needle from his chest.
He took the opportunity when Luo Qian Qi was unprepared, aiming for his chest as he shot.
Luo Qian Qi sounded a grunt; very quickly he felt his body go soft, and even felt that his grasp on his sword was loosening.
Luo Qian Qi shook his head; very quickly he felt that the people in front of him all had two silhouettes.
Yang Sheng laughed coldly, "Hall Master Luo, don't put up a fight anymore, you already got hit by my Soft Fragrant Powder , right now don't you feel that your entire body has no power, your head spinning? Ha ha ha!"
"Despicable!" This was Luo Qian Qi's last words before he fainted on the ground.
Luo Qian Qi slowly opened his eyes. Right now he was in a cave, on the side of the rock wall a few candle flames dancing about.
These surroundings he could not be more familiar with; with one glance he could recognize that this was the rear court's cave.
Qian Qi struggled, trying to stand up, but the moment he moved, he heard the sound of iron chains and rock colliding.
Luo Qian Qi found that his hands and feet were all tied up with the iron chains to the rock wall, and even his pipa bones3 were chained to the wall with steel needles.
Luo Qian Qi attempted to struggle free of the chains, but the steel needles had locked down his pipa bones; anything he did right now would be futile.
"Big brother, don’t waste your energy, you should save enough breath to reveal that secret to me!” Luo Qian Ping walked in from outside the cave, his face full of smiles as he looked at Luo Qian Qi.
Following Luo Qian Ping in were Luo Cheng Guang and Yang Sheng. In Yang Sheng hand’s was a silver whip.
Yang Sheng looked at Luo Qian Qi and smiled coldly, “I never would have thought that you, Luo Hall Master, could also have a beaten appearance like today’s!”
Luo Qian Qi harrumphed coldly and did not say a word.
Luo Qian Ping looked at Luo Qian Qi and chuckled, “Big brother, I’m warning you, obediently tell me the secret, or else your skin and flesh will suffer!”
Luo Qian Qi harrumphed coldly, “You wish, even if I died, that secret would follow me in death, you will never know of that secret, I will never tell you guys, ha ha ha!”
“Slap!” The silver whip in Yang Sheng’s hand viciously thrashed out onto Luo Qian Qi. A bloody mark became visible on Luo Qian Qi’s body.
Luo Qian Qi looked at Yang Sheng coldly, not letting out even a single stifled groan.
Yang Sheng crouched by Luo Qian Qi’s side. He looked at Luo Qian Qi and chuckled coldly, “Luo Qian Qi, the taste of the whip must be unpleasant; be a little tactful and reveal the secret, everyone will be happy, no?”
“Pei!” Luo Qian Qi spit a mouthful of saliva onto Yang Sheng’s face, smiling coldly, “You wish!”
Yang Sheng wiped off the spit on his face, he stood up from the ground, then he whipped Luo Qian Qi violently, roaring, “Are you going to speak or not, speak!”
Luo Qian Qi looked at Yang Sheng, still not uttering a thing.
Luo Qian Ping reached out his hand to stop Yang Sheng, he walked over to Luo Qian Qi’s side, smiling, “Big brother, just hurry up and tell the secret and you won’t have to suffer the pain anymore!”
Luo Qian Qi harrumphed and did not say a word.
Luo Qian Ping looked at Luo Qian Qi with an expression full of anger, “You refused our kind offer, so you can only accept punishment!”
With this, Luo Qian Qi grabbed a handful of salt and spilled it all over Luo Qian Qi’s wounds.
Luo Qian Qi’s sweat fell in fat droplets down his hair, finally dripping on to the ground. His clothes had already soaked through from the sweat, but he still gritted his teeth, not saying a word.
Luo Qian Ping looked at Luo Qian Qi and harrumphed, “Even if you don’t say it, I still have methods of fishing it out, while you, Luo Qian Qi, just prepare to suffer those elders’ punishment, just prepare to suffer the Thousand Jade Hall’s disciples’ spit and abuse, ha ha ha!”
Footnotes1. Chi Xiao Sword (赤霄剑): chi (赤) means red, scarlet, or bare, xiao (霄) means firmament or heaven, and jian (剑) means sword. ↩
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Gaozu_of_Han#Insurrection_against_the_Qin_dynasty ↩
3. pipa bones: This is a reference to an old form of Chinese torture, in which the pipa bone or the spine of the scapula in English (the scapula is the shoulder blade, the pipa bone is a bone that is on the back of the scapula, so it's on the very back of your body) is hooked up… I think the worst part about researching this was that I didn't bother trying to read an article and directly went to Google Images…Poor Luo Qian Qi. ↩
Also, just as a little heads-up, there will be more…interesting events to come. Very. This is not a fluffy story. I will probably put a warning when I release more disturbing chapters, though I don’t recall any gory scenes, so just wait and see I guess? Or run off screaming. That works too.
If you want to contribute to the poll here it is: