WT 19 - Kill as they please

When she returned home after work, she should have continued to remain alert even after stepping into her home.

She should have also noticed the strange chill in the air even though the sky was still bright, or the silent surroundings without even a single chirp from the passing birds.

It was too late for regrets.

The first person to sense something wrong was Bao Hai, who sharply flinched as if her senses suddenly came back alive from a forced hibernation. 

"We are surrounded by hostile people!"

The warning came too late, as the strangers with unknown intentions revealed themselves, already surrounded Wan Ting and Bao Hai from rooftop to the ground. The courtyard of her residence that she usually felt spacious suddenly felt cramped and she did not dare to make any move.

"Who are you?" Wan Ting questioned sharply. "This is a private residence!"

None of the masked men answered her and the door to the inner room opened. Wan Ting inhaled sharply when she recognized the person that stepped out with her tied up parents behind him. 

It was that kidnapper from the alley!

Her sword that she had taken out in reflex from her spatial bag suddenly felt useless against the large number of enemies that had also taken her parents hostage.

Wan Ting was only a first rank cultivator. She could hardly defeat one of the enemies, much less saving her parents. 

Shiyi slowly smiled at the conflicted expression on Wan Ting's face. He liked it when his prey was smart and knew their own strength instead of foolishly destroying themselves just for a useless struggle.

"If you don't want your parents to die, follow us obediently."

Madam Wan shook her head with tears in her eyes. With a gagged mouth, she could not tell her daughter to forget them and run. Mister Wan glared at Shiyi fiercely as he struggled to free his wrists from the rope fruitlessly. 

Wan Ting knew she had a slim chance to survive if she ran away now, ignoring her parents. But she was not a cold-hearted person that could sacrifice her parents for her own life!

"I…" Wan Ting felt her head heavy with pressure, yet still clear on what she should do, even if her body felt cold with the helpless numbness as it spread. 

She was afraid of pain and death, but she could not run away from them either. "I will follow you. Just don't harm my parents. They are innocent."

Shiyi slowly smiled. "I gave my word… if you are obedient." 

"...Good." Wan Ting exhaled in relief, looking like a defeated person.

But in the next second, she turned around and gathered her inner energy on her palms. She was not the type to just submissively follow their order!

Careful not to injure Bao Hai, she thrust her palms onto the living pill's torso and sent her flying out. The door was closed when they returned, but they easily broke apart, unable to stop the force of the human cannon from flying out.

Sensing the movement from the enemies behind her, she quickly faced Shiyi again and shouted loudly, "You gave your word!"

Shiyi glared at the girl, angry that she had sent away the living pill. "You-"

"I promised to follow you, but I never promised anything about Bao Hai! If you harm my parents, I will kill myself!" 

Wan Ting placed her sharp sword against her fair neck, pressing threateningly. Her gaze was telling everyone that she was serious, even if her grip was shaking.

The book had briefly mentioned that the Flame Spirit needs a living body to survive. If she died, the Flame Spirit would die if it did not find a new vassal in a short time. 

Madam Wan screamed behind her covered mouth, her tears no longer restrained and falling down like two small waterfalls. Her struggles only helped her to move forward an inch. Knowing that struggling was useless, Mister Wan actively searched for something sharp, but one of the black-clothed men stepped onto his back, stopping him.

With fierce teeth grinding, Shiyi smiled dangerously. "What a good wordplay. Alright, I will let this go, since my people will be able to chase it down anyway."

Wan Ting's heart spasmed from Shiyi's words. She hoped Bao Hai could run away from the chasers.

She did that because of Bao Hai's weak health. If he was captured again, he will surely die this time. The second reason was that Bao Hai had nothing to do with Wans. Even if Wan Ting was considered to be Bao Hai's benefactor, these were two different matters. The third reason was for Bao Hai to find help, giving herself a chance to be rescued from the evil sect. The chance was slim, but it was better than nothing. 

"And… you seem to have misunderstood something?" 

Wan Ting blinked once and Shiyi suddenly disappeared from view. It was the sharp pain from her hair being yanked back until her neck arched backward in a painful strain that told her where he had disappeared to!

After she screamed once, she gritted her teeth to hold back her scream and glared up at Shiyi who was looking down at her. His grip on her hair tightened until she visibly flinched. There might even be some hairs already ripped from her scalp. 

"I don't really need you alive. It's just much easier… and neater… if the Flame Spirit is in you. Or you don't mind dying and transferring it into your mother's body?"

Shiyi laughed when Wan Ting's eyes shook in realization and horror. He patted her cheeks, a little heavily as he warned, "Be obedient."

He slapped her face again when she remained silent. "I want to hear an answer~"

With a fierce glare from her teary, red eyes, she answered through her gritted teeth, "I. Know." 

"Good to know~" Shiyi released her hair and pushed her away. Wan Ting could not stabilize herself in time and fall to the ground, her hair messed up with her hair pins fallen off.

This might be the second time in her life she looked undignified in public.

Madam Wan shook her head as she watched her daughter being ill-treated, struggling to go to her daughter. Mister Wan was about to free his wrists from the ropes that successfully loosen when Shiyi instructed, "Knock them up and bring them with us."

"Mother! Father!" Wan Ting's eyes widened as one of the kidnappers knocked her parents unconscious.

"If you misbehave, next will be their lives," Shiyi warned with a sharp glint of gaze. "Carry her to the carriage."

Wan Ting did not resist and let herself be forced into her carriage, afraid that even a slight refusal might harm her parents. 

"Shiyi, do we kill them?" Asked Shiba, a younger man whose face was not covered by a mask just like Shiyi. Even his clothing was not the plain ones like those masked men, revealing his position in the Shadow Tree sect to be higher than others.

"No need to waste effort to do so." Shiyi lazily glanced at the mortal couple, his gaze alike to a butcher watching a dead chicken. "As long as we act as if they are still in our hands, that girl will behave well."

Shiba nodded in understanding. "Right, holding people that are going to die as hostages is useless anyway. Why waste our energy and space to bring them only to kill them later?" They have other important things to do than disposing dead bodies.

"Don't talk so much. Go help others to find that living pill. Master is already upset at us for taking too much time."

Meanwhile, Bao Hai was running with all her effort and also started to think being a female was not an advantage. The long skirt was hindering her running. Fortunately, there was no stamina difference even if she chose any of the gender.

After running for so long, she had yet to see even a single guard belonging to Prince Heng. Bao Hai feared that they must have been disposed of. Her senses told her that the chasers were getting closer to her, unhindered by the fact she was surrounded by innocent citizens.

Evil sects were truly scumbags.

Regardless, Bao Hai had to continue running to her destination, the safe place where she will be safe. Wan Ting had risked her own life to get her out there. She will not waste her effort!

Her senses shrill in alarm when she sensed her chasers speed up and shorten their distance. It would not be long before they catch up with her!

With no other choice, Bao Hai screamed at the top of her lungs. "Owner Yu! Owner Yu! Help!"

There were only three shops left before reaching Fruity Herb shop, yet it felt so far away. As expected, her yell triggered her chasers' alarm and they put in more effort to chase her after pinpointing her position from her voice.

Bao Hai may be weakened from having most of her essence sucked out, but she still has enough to hide her presence. But her running took a toll and she no longer had enough energy to spare in hiding herself, completely revealing herself to them. 

She could only count on cultivator Owner Yu's sharp hearing to save her in time! 

The citizens that were originally around her, minding their own business, were frightened by her screams and instinctively distanced themselves from her, afraid to get caught with her trouble.

It was also an unexpected help when the onlooker stopped moving or gathered in groups that hindered the chasers, which got irritated. Once one started to kill those that blocked their way, the other evil cultivators joined in and soon the street became chaotic.

Legs trembling, Bao Hai finally reached the entrance of Fruity Herb, which fortunately had not closed shop. "Owner Yu!"

"I'm here." A green-clothed man stopped Bao Hai's scream as he patted her shoulder reassuringly.

The eyes filled with great desire to survive shuddered but did not move away from Owner Yu's calming gaze. It was as if Bao Hai could not believe that she had really survived.

“Where is Miss Wan?” Beside Owner Yu was coincidentally Prince Heng that had visited the shop this evening. When Heng Zhen Gan saw Bao Hai running into the shop after yelling for help, he knew something must have happened to Miss Wan. 

“It’s them! They got big sis!” Bao Hai quickly explained. 

With thundering footsteps that shook the ground with each step, a short man passed by Owner Yu and Prince Heng and exited the shop. He stared at the direction of the murder spree with a deep frown and his stylish mustache trembled in anger. 

"How dare they kill as they please?!"