Author's Notes
Ning Qing explains...
The king and queen decide...
In a village...
Chapter 8 – Orphans
"I can't specify the level, but some demons of considerable power have been tamed in the past. I believe that with enough power we can subjugate and enslave it."
"Interesting... It takes someone with a occult pulse to make the master-slave contract, right?"
"Yes. It's the most effective way to enslave a demon. Both of your daughters have double wrists."
"It's a good thing Ru Ling has a double wrist. A-ji is expendable. She's useless" the queen speaks with disgust the name of her youngest daughter.
"You are not to blame for giving birth to a disgrace like her, my love" The king speaks affectionately, gently taking his wife's hand.
"When I think I can't have children anymore because of her... I feel so much hate! We should have killed her when she was a child!"
"Did she save Ru Ling's life, or did she already forget? If we had killed her, our beloved Ru Ling would have been dead. Our hesitation ensured our dear daughter's life. As retribution, I do not wish to kill her. I also did with I wish she took lessons from a demon master to train her occult pulse. After all, her personality can be useful. Even though Ru Ling mistreated and humiliated her, she still saved her. We can use that stupid heart to our advantage."
"Actually, looking at it from that angle, you're right, my love. But..."
"We don't need to worry. She doesn't have any influence. She doesn't even spend time at court. She's away all day. We don't need to worry. She will never be a threat to Ru Ling's future reign, my love."
"Actually, you're right. That bastard has her uses. It pays to keep her alive instead of killing her. That is if she survived the disaster at sea, which I very much doubt."
"True. No one would survive. For sure, she's dead."
"Then, we'll have Princess Ru Ling make the Master-Slave Contract once we've subdued that demon."
"Yes. With it, we will be able to stop any rebellion effectively, in addition to being able to spread fear. It will even be a threat to some overseas kingdoms that are found in other continents. We will also be able to suppress any demonic feud because we know that there are demons with their own small kingdoms scattered in isolated places, with these being the most powerful" Zhu Ling speaks with excitement as he imagines his beloved cousin controlling such a powerful demon.
After all, the tower leader Ling Shuang loved Shunde despite her treating him like a doormat while the princess was in love with the one who personally trained her in double wrist, Ning Qing. Ru Ling used her cousin's love as a means of keeping him as her doormat by making him carry out her every wish without question at the same time that she hated the grandmaster for stealing the heart he loved deeply.
"True. We need to beware of these monsters trying to attack us. It's good that we managed to effectively suppress many of them", the general speaks with visible satisfaction on his face. "The apparitions are more and more sporadic. We need to suppress these small kingdoms to prevent any chance of these bastards trying to attack us."
"The Demonic Valley in the southwest, the Demonic Mountain in the west, and the Demonic Platform in the north are under orders to find these locations and suppress them effectively while capturing the most powerful ones in order to tame them. They have their uses, though. " the Grandmaster speaks respectfully.
"True. It's a pity that the East Demon Island was destroyed nearly two millennia ago while it's impossible to erect buildings in that place because of the intense magma activity. The volcano that erupted from the ground eruption makes reconstruction impossible."
After a few minutes, Ning Qing speaks while pointing to a point on the open map on the table, "According to the data sent by the ship before it sank, there is this isolated island in the ocean and combined with the information I have gathered over the years, indeed , there is a powerful demon sealed in this island. However, we have two problems."
"Which?" the king asks.
"The first involves the jiaoren. It seems that they have become responsible for protecting the island. The second problem is in relation to the captain's last report of the storm he faced before he died and which was transmitted to us through the person in charge of the port. According to the late captain's words, the storm was very strange horizon. Until then, the sky was clear."
"It is known among sailors that the sky can change drastically at sea. A clear day can turn into a storm" The general comments thoughtfully as he looks at a maritime chart in front of him and an x indicating a place that had no island.
"In fact, the climate can change drastically. However, the captain found it very strange and there is the fact that this island is not found on any maritime chart. Furthermore, in one of the parchments that is too damaged, there is a passage that reports the words defense of the island, " the Grand Master picks up a partially destroyed parchment and points to the passage where these words appear. " I couldn't figure out which defense the text refers to because the page is so damaged, but, using this captain's account, the defense of the island must consist of of this violent storm. From what has been said, I doubt that even the most powerful war frigate could withstand the fury of this magically induced storm."
"Can't we suppress this magical defense somehow?" the general asks.
"I'll study some means. However, even if we suppress it, there are the jiaoren, as I said earlier."
"It's just water demons" Zhu Ling sneers.
"You idiot!," the old general exclaims, making his grandson flinch. "Have you forgotten their fame?"
"Fame?"
The Grandmaster speaks with a crooked smile because he loved to see him being scolded by his grandfather, "The Jiaoren are considered the most powerful underwater monsters of all. We will be in the ocean and because of that, their power is increased. Furthermore, there is the ocean cedar. Its power is immeasurable. This matter cannot be taken lightly. This species of demon is too powerful, and this legendary cedar only amplifies the power of that species. We will practically be fighting the power of the ocean ."
"Well, I heard that there is a royal family. If we could get a family member, maybe a prince or princess, we could subdue their king" Zhu Ling disgustedly utters the word king because he found demons having royalty nauseating.
In his view, it was an affront to the royal family of Dacheng.
"Even the fastest boat in the world couldn't chase a jiaoren and as for their royal family members, they are more powerful than the rest of their kind. We would never be able to capture one. Besides, we don't know if there are princes or princesses. There might be only the king."
"But if we were lucky and managed to capture it, we could use it against the king. If we tamed him, that would be even better."
"You really are stupid, Zhu Ling."
He turns to the Grand Master, displaying anger on his face and when he was about to question him, he shuts up as he remembers the king's previous warning.
"Jiaoren are the proudest demons in the world. It is the condensed spirit of the sea. They would rather die than be subjugated. I don't doubt that any prince or princess would kill themselves to prevent being used as a tool of subjugation by their people. We've only had two cases of successful taming and they were of mermaids. But, they were regular mermaids. The rest died and not a single merman was ever tamed."
"But, there is the descendant of the one who managed to tame these mermaids. He is currently in the Demon Valley. Perhaps, he inherited the talent of his ancestor who managed to tame these two jiaoren."
"We shouldn't rely on the taming. We need to find another way to deal with the jiaoren," the king said with irritation in his voice knowing they had an additional problem. "Besides, we don't know if these monsters understand what family is. After all, they are demons. They shouldn't even know that conception. Besides, we are demanding that these monsters know what feelings are. Of course, they learn about it after being tamed because they pass to live with us."
"I'm already researching how we can deal with this species," Ning Qing spoke respectfully. "I need to improve my research. I will bring you an answer soon. I am also working on an effective way to deal with the storm and a suitable method to subdue this powerful demon. I will bring you what I have planned soon, your majesties."
"I hope so. The meeting is adjourned. Present the plan as soon as possible. We need to possess the power of this powerful monster. With it, we will be superior to all others! Nothing will stand in our way and depending on the power of this demon, we may even be able to do overseas forays."
The Grand Master bows respectfully, saying, "Certainly, your majesties. I will personally see to it that your dream comes true. Please expect great news."
The king and queen leave, as do the general and Zhu Ling, and then Ning Qing turns around and goes to the spacious window, looking at the ocean in the distance.
"Soon, my wish will come true. This world..."
Meanwhile, in a village far from the capital, a group of children are dragged away from an orphanage, with her being the only one who isn't fighting the guards because there was no reason for the girl to do that when she saw what the fights were waste of time because they couldn't do anything against highly trained soldiers. They subdued them easily.
Furthermore, the people at the orphanage didn't care about her, as well as the other children, although there was one or two favorites among them.
The girl sadly watches the other children being thrown into cages on a wagon after having part of their back touched by one of the three people in robes stained with elegant patterns and equally beautiful. They did this after making a few hand seals along with a parchment with a symbol.
The guards immobilized the child who received this seal that glowed on his back, making him scream in pain before ceasing, and then being thrown together with the others. The screams of those who go through this process increased the despair of the others and encouraged useless fights against adults who kept them restricted with an iron hand.
When it's her turn, she closes her eyes, then screams with the excruciating pain that ceases after a few seconds, bringing tears from the girl who is then brutally thrown together with the other children.
The young woman raises her face and observes many children who were still crying while others displayed a silent cry on their faces at the same time that horror and despair were visible on their faces.
After they finish gathering the children, they are taken away, with the wagons pulling away as the villagers look on, with many showing hatred while others show contempt for the soldiers.
That orphanage was one of several throughout the kingdom that were used to house children who were taken from their parents when they were babies after a occult pulse was detected while it was rare for children older than seven years to be taken away from the family. This only occurred when the family managed to escape so as not to have the child taken from them despite the sentence being death in these cases or because the family lived in an isolated location and it was denounced by someone, with them being captured at the same time as the child was withdrawal from them.
These orphanages resembled high-level prisons for not allowing any child to escape. They were all supposed to be confined in place until they were taken out by the soldiers to be distributed among the places with concentration of demonic masters after being cursed with the Frost poison.
The girl sighs as she hugs herself, watching the village that moves further and further away while showing her eyes filled with tears because even though she was not loved by anyone inside along with the fact that the other children keep their distance from her due to some incidents that occurred around her and that according to the employees were caused by having a powerful occult pulse, even so it was her home and the only one she had known until that moment.
She snaps out of her thoughts at the sound of someone banging on the railings, the act making the other children flinch as the girl looks at one of those wearing bright white clothes. She was a young woman who speaks with a satisfied smile on her face, "I see you don't cry like the others. You also didn't try to fight the guards even though you knew the pain that awaited you."
The girl notices that the other two are approaching on horseback, as well as the one who spoke to her.
"Indeed, you stand out from them."
"That's good. Our shifu is not patient with crying children and considering the power of your double wrist, you will go to the same place we are and receive robes like ours."
"Yes. We've heard about the incidents. With training and discipline you will achieve a high position in our sect."
"Doesn't her appearance remind you of our shifu's Sigung?"
"Sigung?"
"It's the title given to those who taught our shifu everything. It's something like a grand master" One of them replies to the girl.
"True. She remembers her."
"She remembers a lot."
"What is your name?"
"Ning Xiyu. They gave me that name because of some events that happened around me since I was a baby."
They all look at each other, showing appalled faces, and then consent.
One of them walks away and speaks to a guard who sighs.
The wagon where she is is stopped and the girl observes in amazement as the door is then opened, with a soldier taking it roughly, and then one of the young men who wore white robes, in this case, the only girl among them, picks up the cart girl gently from the guard's arms, and then kicked the soldier hard, making him fly against a tree, with the cry of pain echoing through the place while his other colleagues gathered around him who moaned in pain on the ground.
"We ask you to be kind to her, you bastard!"
"It was a nice kick."
"For sure."
The other guards flinch because they knew that the demon masters were stronger and more resistant than the other humans and no matter how much they had trained, their strength was nothing compared to them, besides the fact that they had powers.
The girl is shocked and as she recovers from her stupor, she is placed in the saddle, more precisely in front of the demon master who says, "You shouldn't be surprised. We heard that when you were a child, you broke the arm of one of your caretakers and threw it several meters. In addition, it also cracked the arm of another child and injured a few others. What makes the feat incredible is that you had no training. Furthermore, the other two children had a double wrist. This shows that your power was above their power."
"It was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt them! This caregiver was hitting another child and I just wanted to stop her. I threw her back and ended up breaking her arm in the process."
"You were only seven years old and you managed to throw a seventy-kilogram adult five meters from where you were."
"That's why they kept their distance from me."
"And the child you protected. Did she appreciate your act?"
"No. She was scared of me" Ning Xiyu comments sadly.
"It's normal. They fear what they don't know. But, don't worry. We, the disciples of the Grandmaster Sect, are above all other Demon Masters. And considering your level of power, it will soon occupy a high rank office." Another speaks as he approaches them.
"Why are you surprised by my name?"
"Simple. Her name is the same as our shifu's Sigung. He always made a point of telling her about her power level and her knowledge, not just in occult pulse. She had vast knowledge in other areas. She even wrote several scrolls and books like the famous Encyclopedia which contains all the investigations she made in her journey around the world together with her disciple at the time, Ning Qing. She also had another disciple, the Wuchang Shengzhe, Ning Ruochu. In fact, there are many accounts of her deeds. She was very powerful and he always says that her powers were above his. That's probably why they named you that. With your power level, they decided to name it after a powerful demon master and the Ning Xiyu's name is very well known."
"What about the kids you cracked your arm bones with?" One of them asks when approaching the right side of the horse where the girl was riding.
"One involved a toy dispute. Another child was playing and an older one wanted to take the toy. I stopped him and ended up hurting his arm, in addition to throwing him away. The other case was because a kitten entered the orphanage and a group of boys surrounded him to hurt him. Promptly, I hit them and managed to make the kitten escape the place. I hit three who were injured."
"Oh! They didn't try to hit you?"
"They even hit, but I didn't feel the blows while they felt my punch. I got some bruises at the same time that they got some fractures."
"I guess when you defended the other kid's toy, he didn't thank you, right?"
"No," she says, shaking her head. "Just got up and ran with fear on her face. I scared her and it wasn't the first time."
"Why do you insist on helping them? They never acknowledge your help. Why keep helping them?"