Chapter 143: Flaying and Deboning
Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Flaying and Deboning
A few scattered candles flickered within the room.
Cui Lingyao’s body had been carefully placed on the bed.
Her soiled clothes had been changed. Her hairpins were gone, her black hair fanning out across the pillow.
Xie Jinbai sat silently by the bed, dabbing at the bloodstains on her face with a cloth, bit by bit.
He continued until the clean water in the basin turned red.
He dropped the cloth and sat there stupefied for a while longer, staring blankly at the breathless girl on the bed.
His deep, inscrutable eyes were bloodshot and dry.
Not a single tear would fall.
He was as motionless as a lifeless statue.
Cui Lingyao floated beside him. Seeing him like this, her heart ached.
But they were separated by death, and there was nothing she could do to change anything.
Xie Jinbai sat frozen for a long time before slowly bending down to touch the girl’s cheek.
A bone-chilling cold made his knuckles tremble.
He gently closed his eyes.
The room fell into a dead silence.
An unknown amount of time passed before the sound of footsteps came from outside.
"Your Highness,"
Liu Rong’s voice drifted in, shattering the room’s tranquility.
He said, "Li Lu’s arrow wound is not serious and has been treated. However, his leg bone is shattered. He’ll need six months to recover."
Inside, Xie Jinbai’s tightly shut eyes opened.
He reached out and tucked the covers around the girl on the bed.
CREAK.
The closed door was pushed open.
A tall, slender figure walked out.
"Your Highness." Liu Rong quickly stepped aside and bowed.
Xie Jinbai lowered his gaze. "Where is Liu Yue? Is he dead?"
"Not yet," Liu Rong said, a chill running down his spine. His voice was low. "The Seven-Star Powder in his system has taken effect. He’s barely hanging on."
"Then make sure he keeps hanging on. Also, send word to Li Yong. Tell him to tear the country apart to find his wife, children, and parents."
Xie Jinbai stepped down from the dais, his chilling voice fading as he walked away. "I want Liu Yue to watch them suffer death by a thousand cuts."
The pain he had endured today was beyond what death by a thousand cuts could describe.
Since they had made him suffer such pain, they must have been prepared to face his mad retribution.
Liu Yue did not fear death. His only attachment was to his wife, children, and parents.
So, Xie Jinbai would make him watch his family be sliced to death.
Li Lu, however, was different.
He came from a family of high-ranking nobles and ran rampant in the Capital City, relying on his status as the Empress’s nephew. Even some members of the Royal Family had to give him a wide berth. He had grown into an arrogant fop who was, above all, a coward who treasured his own life.
Li Lu did not want to die. Therefore, he would not be allowed to live.
Xie Jinbai went to the Punishment Hall personally.
Not understanding what was happening, Cui Lingyao naturally followed him inside.
The Punishment Hall was large. Its windows were boarded up, so it was pitch-black even during the day.
There were no candles inside, only a single, dim oil lamp.
It made the room feel even more sinister and terrifying.
Racks held torture instruments of all sizes, packed densely together. A closer look revealed that some were still stained with blood. Clearly, Li Lu was not the first person to be tortured in this room.
Cui Lingyao didn’t recognize most of these tools, but she could feel a grim chill emanating from them.
She had known for a long time that Xie Jinbai was no saint.
He had countless lives on his hands.
He was, through and through, a God of Killing.
But he had always protected her so well. He had always shielded her from this kind of carnage and his methods for dealing with people.
In front of her, he would restrain his imposing aura and act so... docile.
Three years ago, during his most moody and unpredictable period, the most he would do when angry was give her a cold look and storm off.
Three years later, he was even more prone to acting aggrieved and weak in front of her, practically mastering the art of playing the victim.
So, Cui Lingyao never had a truly clear understanding of his reputation as the ’God of Killing.’
Until now.
She watched, horrified, as a piece of Li Lu’s leg bone was carved out of his flesh.
The one Xie Jinbai had shattered with his foot.
The one a physician had just set with a splint.
Now, bit by bit, the skin was split open, the flesh peeled back, and the bone separated from the muscle.
This was beyond what the word ’terrifying’ could describe.
’It’s enough to scare a ghost to death,’ she thought.
Li Lu’s face was contorted in pain. He would pass out, only to be jolted awake by a bucket of saltwater to the head.
Several times, when he was too slow to regain consciousness, a red-hot branding iron was pressed against his thigh.
Nearby, two army physicians were on standby.
Whenever it seemed he couldn’t take any more, a bowl of potent medicine was forced down his throat, forcibly squeezing out his body’s remaining potential just to keep him breathing.
This was repeated over and over until the entire shattered shinbone had been extracted.
The one carrying out the torture was one of Xie Jinbai’s lieutenants.
He was clearly an expert.
He pieced the shattered bone together and found that a small fragment was still missing.
He rummaged through the mangled, shapeless flesh of the leg over and over until he finally found it, completing the puzzle.
To prevent Li Lu from biting off his own tongue to commit suicide, his jaw had been dislocated long ago.
Now, he was drenched in sweat from the pain, tears and snot streaming down his face as he let out muffled, incoherent screams.
The sound was bloodcurdling.
Xie Jinbai slouched in his chair, staring at the fully assembled leg bone. He gestured with his chin.
"Continue," he said, his face devoid of expression. "Flay the other leg as well. I want to send this bone to the Empress for her personal inspection. It must be perfectly intact."
"Yes, sir!"
The lieutenant in charge of the torture straightened up, his expression growing even more focused.
As if he were carving a piece of art.
The sharp dagger in his hand descended without hesitation, slicing open the flesh of Li Lu’s uninjured leg.
A shrill scream pierced the quiet of the night.
Cui Lingyao’s scalp tingled with fear.
She had never witnessed such a scene and couldn’t bear to watch any longer.
She wanted to leave, but Xie Jinbai was watching intently.
His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of his chair. He stared fixedly, but his gaze was unfocused.
It was impossible to know what he was thinking.
Suddenly, as if snapping back to reality, he stood up and commanded, "Switch to a dull knife. Flay all the bones from his body, one by one. Start with his hands and feet. Make him watch. Keep him alive for at least three days. Don’t you dare let him die even an hour sooner!"
"..." The lieutenant froze. As Xie Jinbai’s gaze fell upon him, he lowered his head and accepted the order. "Yes, sir."
Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.
’To flay a man’s bones from his body and keep him alive for three days... That wouldn’t be a simple task, even for me.’
Xie Jinbai turned and left the Imperial Court.
Outside, it was the dead of night.
Liu Rong was about to enter when he met his master face-to-face. He quickly stepped aside, bowed, and reported, "Your Highness, Mr. Shen is awake."
Shen Tingyu was awake.
Cui Lingyao, still reeling from the horrific scene in the Imperial Court, felt her eyes fly wide open.
’Xie Jinbai’s killing intent toward Shen Tingyu has never wavered. He’s genuinely wanted to kill him countless times. Now, the man is in his hands. There’s no reason for him not to act.’
She had just witnessed Li Lu turned into a bloody mess.
Without the support of his bones, his lower leg was just a heap of mangled flesh, dangling between a sinewy thigh and a perfectly intact foot.
It was a ghastly scene she wouldn’t even dare to dream of. Hearing Shen Tingyu’s name so suddenly terrified her to the point where she felt her soul might scatter.
Cui Lingyao didn’t dare to imagine the same torture being inflicted on Shen Tingyu.
’That man, as gentle and refined as jade... If he’s tortured to the point of wishing for death because of me, what will I do?’
She spun around in a panic, but she was already dead. She couldn’t stop anything.