Chapter 22 Captured

She knew he had used the ‘light’ art (qinggong), a type of martial arts that made one as light as a feather and could travel quickly and soar in the air momentarily. Good for him. And he left her all alone, helpless in what he called ‘safe’.
If safety meant being immobilised and unable to use your abilities to defend yourself in case kidnappers or lechers came your way, then he must have the incorrect idea of safety.
Yuxi gnashed her teeth angrily.
Fortunately, she disguised herself as a man. Even if she met with a villainous company, they might do nothing immoral to her.
She closed her eyes and prayed. But her anger didn’t diminish, and praying under that effect turned out strangely. She felt a spark of energy rippling through her veins. It was like the wild energies that empowered her when she saw a vision.
Yuxi found her strength, and after letting out a curdling scream, she realised she could move again. Picking up the bundle on the floor beside her, she slung it over her arm once more and resumed her journey. The problem was, Zhan Peng had left with the compass, so with no sense of direction, she didn’t know where to search.
When she found Zhan Peng again, she swore she would rain the strongest punches she could muster in him so he would bear her wrath in mind.
She lifted her trouser bottom to notice that he had bandaged her up nicely while she was asleep. But this wouldn’t mitigate her fury. She needed to make him remember.
“Who are you?”
She looked behind her to see a man with a stubble for a beard and dressed in black like a robber. This one didn’t look too smart. She put her hands together in a firm salute.
“I’m here to join the army of bandits under Sir Booyeong’s rule!” She exclaimed with an assertive expression in her eyes.
“Oh? Here to join us?” The man was indifferent. “Such a scrawny fella. Do you have what it takes to become a bandit?”
“Looks are just on the surface. It’s the inner strength that counts,” she persisted. “If you don’t believe my words, we can duel!”
He agreed to the duel, and she defeated him easily in two rounds. Yuxi was close to strangling his neck, and she almost did, but she needed him alive to guide her to Booyeong.
“Take me to Booyeong,” she smirked, with her blade still lounging on the man’s neck. The man nodded fearfully. As he led her to the camp, his legs were still shaking in alarm. She marched on proudly, stopping just outside a tent that the man identified as the one Booyeong lived in.
She was so eager to confront the bandit leader that she immediately released the man and without verifying the facts, she dashed into the tent.
Indeed, Booyeong was in the tent. Like in the descriptions of the Erlus of the indigenous tribe, he had narrow eyes and a high nose-bridge. He also looked six feet tall and wore a sinister smile on his face. She knew he had to be Booyeong because of how authoritative the man was. One look at him and she knew… he had to be the leader of them all.
“I... I’m here to join your army.”
With all the villains she had encountered in the past as a guard, she had never come across one that made her fearful. Apart from Xima, of course, but the witch didn’t scare her! It was just that the witch gave one such cold vibes that instilled fear in her. She tried to smile and act as convincing as possible, but the man just leered at her.
“Did you think a disguise could keep me fooled?”
“I’m really here to join-”
The snide remarks of the bandit leader cut off her words. He seized her chin painfully, forcing her to return his stare fearfully.
She was done for sure. She lamented not listening to Zhan Peng’s advice. But either way, even if she stayed in that spot, one of Booyeong’s fellows was sure to find and capture her.
“Still trying to trick me with your lies?”
Booyeong was that type of opponent that struck fear in whoever saw his way. None of his victims had ever survived. And she was about to be the next. She had overestimated her ability and underestimated the force she was dealing with.
She fell silent. Why had she recklessly rushed into a trap? Come to think of it, Zhan Peng was right in everything.
His icy blade found its way to the strap that held her long waves in a bun, cutting it free. Instantly, her tresses plunged downwards, covering her back. Booyeong laughed evilly.
“Now, what do we have here?”
She couldn’t even bring herself to run, because she didn’t know who was outside the tent now that she was a prisoner. She tried to invoke a mental spell in her mind to protect herself, but the spell faltered.
“Ah, Qian Yuxi. That’s what you’re called, right? I’m sorry to tell you, but your powers won’t work in my territory.”
“You… you know me?”
“Because I am your nemesis. I’ve been trying to find you all my life, so I can kill you with my bare hands.”
“Why kill me?” she mumbled. “I’m just an ordinary person, bearing no threat to you.”
He laughed.
“That’s a lie. Your existence is the bane to mine. But before that, I’ll have some fun with you.”
He brought the blade downwards, slicing through her collar vertically down to her waist. With a few strokes of his family heirloom sword, large strips of black cloth descended to the floor. She stood, trembling in apprehension in almost nothing. Her undergarments barely covered her petite body.
Her nemesis continued with her trousers, revealing the skin of her slender legs. She swallowed hard, knowing her death was near. None of her powers worked, she couldn’t invoke any vision nor call Shaman Li for help with telepathy.
Tears filled her eyes as she thought of how she would never come to see Zhan Peng again, nor her loved ones. Especially her father.
It terrified her more than what she was going through, humiliated by the lecherous bandit. He witnessed with pleasure every bit of her exposed skin.
“Stop, please,” she pleaded. Filthy fingers wandered her exposed abdomen, slipping under the folds of her belly binder.
“Acting such a saint. But no matter how tempting your body seems to me, I’ll never succumb,” he hissed. “The pleasure of killing you trumps having you under me. I have more than enough women that are enough to feed my desire.”
“Why are you so bent on killing me?” she questioned, holding back her tears. “What did I ever do to you?”
“Just your existence. Want to know why you can’t use your powers here?” He leaned over her, eyeing her like a vulture marking its prey. “Because it’s the same for me. We are both the bane of each other’s existence. Your powers interfere with mine, and mine with yours. It’s either you kill me, or I kill you. It’s unfortunate that I have to choose the latter.”
He pulled on a string nearby to ring a bell, presumably to call his lackeys.
“In this world, only the strongest survive.” Turning to the man who had just arrived, which Yuxi recognised as the man who she had just held her shortsword to his neck earlier, he announced, “Take her to the prison and let her meet her beloved one last time.”
Yang Tian. Was he in that prison? Was that who Booyeong was referring to? Even on the verge of death, she had to save him. She owed Su Yan too much and couldn’t allow her heir to come to any harm.
“Yes, Sir.”
Before the man left with her, Booyeong said coldly, “Before that, do what you want with her. She’s at your disposal.”
Those words felt like icicles being drilled into her skin.
At his disposal? What fate lay in wait for her?
Tears spilled uncontrollably from her eyes.