CHAPTER 561: CHAPTER 543: TORTURE

Fengyu gazed coldly at the small Buddhist chapel before her. The palace grounds outside were desolate, silent, and untouched. As Imperial Concubine Miao had described, this location was rather remote, a considerable distance from Weiyang Palace. Generally, small chapels within the palace were situated far from the main halls. The Emperor’s Guards hesitated to let Fengyu step inside the chapel, so they entered first, with Fengyu following closely behind.

The small chapel had long been abandoned, its courtyard overgrown with weeds, though there was a faint lingering scent of incense. When the guards entered the main hall of the chapel, they found a woman dressed in plain robes lying on the ground, her condition unknown. Her disheveled hair masked her face, her body ragged, covered in bloodstains as if subjected to severe torture, her broken fingernails caked with dried blood.

Fengyu’s heart jolted. Why would Yuwen Jing torment a woman like this? One of the guards stepped forward to investigate, crouching beside the woman and covering his mouth and nose. After checking her breathing, he said, "Miss, she is still alive, but barely hanging on."

Fengyu furrowed her brow as the guards turned the woman over. Seeing her face, Fengyu was shocked and stepped forward. "Master Miao Yun?"

Zhang Lingzheng and his son were soon summoned to the palace. Fengyu had Master Miao Yun moved to the nearest palace hall and sent for the Imperial Physician. Upon hearing the news, Xie Xun also rushed to the scene. They had been searching for Master Miao Yun for over a year, only to find her imprisoned within the palace itself. Why had Yuwen Jing detained Master Miao Yun? Her body was completely mutilated, bearing the scars of relentless torture.

Every one of the Jinyi Guard’s infamous eighteen tortures had been inflicted upon her. Her left ankle had suffered a devastating fracture, beyond any hope of recovery. During the palace upheaval, she had been left unattended, nearly starving to death in the small chapel. Fengyu felt both heartbroken and deeply anguished. Master Miao Yun, nearly sixty years old, had been the former abbess of Xiangguo Temple. Highly esteemed, she had presided over numerous royal rituals and palace ceremonies and held significant influence.

Several emperors of the Yuwen Family had sought her advice on divinations and national fortune. Whether monarch or commoner, all revered Buddhism, showing utmost respect to a venerable monk like Master Miao Yun. For Yuwen Jing to subject her to such brutal torture was sheer lawlessness, ruthless and inhumane. After consulting with Fengyu, Zhang Lingzheng and his son confirmed that Master Miao Yun’s internal health was in ruin, beyond saving.

The injuries were not merely external; the Jinyi Guard had also used poison. When the venom acted, it was as if a thousand arrows pierced the heart, torturing her daily. The average person would not have been able to withstand the Jinyi Guard’s tortures, so it was extraordinary that Master Miao Yun had endured for so long. Now, she had fallen into unconsciousness, teetering on the brink of death, leaving them powerless to intervene.

Xie Xun’s hatred for Yuwen Jing deepened, but his concerns for Fengyu weighed equally heavily on his mind. He hoped to hear even a single word from Master Miao Yun. "Will she wake? Maybe only for a quarter of an hour."

"We will do our utmost!" Judge Zhang dared not make any promises. Master Miao Yun’s advanced age and prolonged suffering made it impossible to guarantee she’d regain consciousness. Fengyu’s eyes reddened with emotion.

She shared a deep bond with Master Miao Yun, who had predicted upon her birth that Fengyu would not live past eighteen. During Fengyu’s time in the Capital City, she frequently stayed at Xiangguo Temple. In her years in Ningzhou, Master Miao Yun had visited her several times, helping to interpret her dreams and adjust her elixirs to prolong her life. To Fengyu, Master Miao Yun was like both a mentor and a close friend. When Fengyu was abducted and later struggled to return home, it had been Master Miao Yun who consoled her.

She taught Fengyu that in this life, suffering and fortune are intertwined, that all hardships are but lessons in spiritual practice, and once the practice is complete, blessings follow.

Back then, Fengyu sneered at such thoughts, never believing them. She thought monks only spoke lofty truths, and since they didn’t experience pain themselves, they were merely making light of others’ suffering. While Fengyu still found it hard to let go of resentment, she no longer carried as much hatred in her heart. She had once asked Master Miao Yun if it were true that she wouldn’t live past eighteen. Master Miao Yun replied, the path is walked step by step, and no matter how far you live, you learn your fate in the end.

At the time, Fengyu had snapped back, asking why Master Miao Yun had declared such a doomed fate for her, causing both her and her family endless anxiety. Yet humans are creatures of emotion. No matter how dark and rebellious Fengyu had been as a child, Master Miao Yun treated her with the same forbearance as family. A monk’s compassion extends to both individuals and all living beings. Who could have imagined that this woman, kind to everyone, would face such cruel torment in her twilight years?

Yuwen Jing... he’s worse than an animal!

Xie Xun led Fengyu out of the hall to avoid disturbing Judge Zhang and Zhang Lingzheng while they examined Master Miao Yun. Fengyu asked, "Is the reason you spared her because Yuwen Jing captured Master Miao Yun?"

"I wasn’t entirely sure whether he had captured Master Miao Yun, but his tone unsettled me deeply. It was as though he was convinced that if I killed him, you would pay the price with your life. So I hesitated and left him alive. For the past few days, I’ve been interrogating Chen Mo, hoping he might reveal something. But Chen Mo is tight-lipped, and all the Jinyi Guards with inside knowledge are dead. I’ve been struggling for leads, and it turns out the answer was right under my nose—he had hidden Master Miao Yun within the palace." Xie Xun sounded regretful. If he could have spared more time to focus on this matter, perhaps Master Miao Yun’s plight could have been uncovered sooner.

Yuwen Jing was so confident—did he know something? Now, Xie Xun was even more hesitant, resorting to splitting up Yuwen Jing and Chen Mo for interrogation, hoping to glean useful information.

Fengyu’s fragile health, coupled with her looming fate of not living past eighteen, remained a pressing issue in Xie Xun’s heart.

"Why did he capture Master Miao Yun? The matter of our soul exchange is known to very few. Could it be that he knows?" Fengyu asked, bewildered.

"Not necessarily. It might simply be that our highly visible search for her raised suspicions. Yuwen Jing must have wondered whether Master Miao Yun held secrets about us. Moreover, the fact that she predicted your limited lifespan is no great secret. Over the years, she shared a close bond with you and frequently visited Xiangguo Temple. Seeing that both you and I were determined to find Master Miao Yun, Yuwen Jing’s initial intent might have been to locate her, thinking she could reveal our vulnerabilities." Xie Xun mused over Yuwen Jing’s insistence on dragging Fengyu down with him, wondering if he knew something critical.

"For everything Master Miao Yun endured, I want Yuwen Jing and Chen Mo to experience it in full." Fengyu said gravely.

"Agreed!" Xie Xun had no intention of stopping her.

In truth, Fengyu’s fury was almost redundant. The days of imprisonment for Chen Mo and Yuwen Jing had already been far from pleasant. One was detained in the main hall, the other in the annex. Xie Xun’s guards, skilled in interrogation, had subjected Chen Mo to all eighteen tortures long before. His screams of agony could be heard echoing clearly within the main hall, tormenting Yuwen Jing, who was forced to listen.

Fengyu observed the once-arrogant Commander of the Jinyi Guard, her expression cold and detached. Chen Mo was covered in wounds, his body a testament to the severity of the torture inflicted upon him. Nuanyang and Feiying had been rotating shifts during his interrogations, determined to extract Yuwen Jing’s secrets from Chen Mo’s lips. True to his reputation as the Emperor’s Guard, Chen Mo’s mouth remained firmly shut. He had no parents, children, or lovers—no discernible weak spots. Nuanyang and Feiying could find no leverage, resorting to brutal methods instead.

Chen Mo remained unfazed by their efforts, enduring whipping and promises of power and wealth without flinching. Clenching his teeth tight, he never once betrayed even the slightest whisper of Yuwen Jing’s secrets.