The Wait: How to Pass it.

*Multiple POVs*

***

(Su Daji POV)

The man's agonizing screams were quite pleasant to hear. It's a shame I felt like they ended a little too soon. On the plus side I had passed the milestone of a 100 cuts before he died. It was a total of 117 cuts on the man's body before he loss consciousness from his blood loss.

'How should I improve upon on this technique? Should I cut him slower? Faster? Or perhaps more shallow cuts? Well, I shouldn't worry too much about it. I'm sure I'll get better! For a first try I don't think this was too bad!'

As the slightly altruistic man Master was of course I never practiced any cruel methods like this... within his sight.

I had only ever tried a torture method outside of Master's view once. After doing so I felt so guilty towards Master; after all I had basically done the exact opposite of what he was trying to teach me.

I had swore to never torture anyone again for the rest of my life; of course that was that life and this one I consider a completely new life altogether. Though of course that self-oath was only about actively doing it, I still from time to time slipped away from Master to learn interesting methods.

As I slipped away from him more and more the guilt I felt lessened more and more as well. I had begun to think to myself that learn all these methods were just to protect him in the future; basically anything I could use to convince myself that it was okay.

The feeling I had from that one and only torture session seemed to awaken something in me as I felt good doing it. It was a little too good and feeling it once again I feel like I just unearthed one of my own hidden desires. But nothing beats the feeling of Master which was the reason why I decided to hide this desire from him in the first place.

Tilting my head down a bit I saw the man I was flaying, large chunks of his flesh were removed from his body. From certain angles parts of his bones and internal organs were visible. I tried my best not to cut too deep into his torso to keep him alive longer, but I had made a mistake and a gap appeared in a few places.

The organs within looked as if they were trying to escape through those gaps, like it was about to burst from internal pressure of some kind. Looking at the sword I griped in my right hand, trails of blood trace the edge of the blade slowly dripping off the tip. Following the blood with my eyes they land on an increasing puddle of a familiar crimson liquid.

Quickly switching the grip I had on my sword to an underhanded one I forcefully stabbed the sword into his chest. With a final look I exited the overturned carriage back outside.

Immediately I noticed the changes with my tribesmen. They had calmed down from earlier and instead they all looked like they were just about to begin another journey. They had all collected their individual supplies and currently were just scavenging what remained of our caravan .

"My dear niece! Welcome back!" Uncle Kang walked over to me with a welcoming gesture. Both of his arms raised to his head level away from one another and angled outward.

He looked down and his expression into a slightly unsightly one.

"Ah! You've dirtied your clothes! Before we leave for the nearby city you should change your clothes. Take your time, the trip to the city should at most be a few days. You remember where you packed your clothes right? Well I'll go and organize everyone, when you come out we should all be ready to depart for Eternal Flame city." He gave me a gentle smile before turning back towards the others.

Shifting my eyes down I could clearly see the stains of blood which went up to my waist. The hems of my dress specifically were drenched in blood, perhaps from the man's pooling blood from beforehand.

As for changing clothes I had to think for a while before I finally remembered which carriage was mine and headed towards it. The times which this event took place was gradually forgotten as my life as a slave began. Everything before it seemed like a faraway dream. The next time I began to remember any good memories was of course when Master Ip Cheng bought me.

At the time my tactic was to be as unresponsive as possible so they would throw me away quickly, but he changed all that. I didn't buy any of his kindness at all for a whole month as some previous owners had tried doing the same.

When that first happened of course I was happy, but their façade soon broke as trusted them. They seemed to like watching me as they slowly and delicately broke my trust for them bit by bit. But Master kept doing the same past most when most others would break out in a rage and throw me away.

But doing it for so long I finally gave in just a bit as I saw reaction when he was alone. He seemed genuinely sad at all his failed attempts to bond with me. At first I thought maybe it was just a scheme for me to deliberately hear him over and over again. So I gave in thinking that even if it was fake I'd enjoy a little luxury from his façade, steeling my heart.

But one night I heard him speaking in his sleep, he mumbled a name every once in a while: ...Yao... Ya... The first time I heard this name I was... a little jealous. At that point I only just realized that perhaps this man meant a little more me than I though he did.

Without even knowing it he had entered my heart, so from then on I made sure to try harder in my job as his slave. One day to take over that woman's place in his heart.

Opening a chest I found a slightly ethereal looking white dress. The bottom hem and cuffs were slightly transparent giving it a mystical look like mist hid those body parts. Along with it a sky blue sash came with it which fit the esthetic perfectly.

As I left the carriage I came out with a determined expression.

'All other women are evil! I, Su Daji, alone will be the woman for Ip Cheng! That vixen An Chu won't be able to get near my Ip Cheng! And that Yao Ya won't be in his heart for long once I find him!

Fufu~ maybe I'll be able to find him in a wretched state like I was in. Only when he despairs will I come to save him heroically, only then will my momentum will be the greatest! He'll be all over me! Fufu~ For now I'll go with my clansmen to the capital, Eternal Flame city. I have to prepare for his arrival.'

Uncle Kang and the rest of the clansmen appeared ready to move when I saw them.

***

(Li Lian POV)

"*Sigh* This is so boring!! I should've never agreed to that deal with her! Humph!"

Within the Ip Cheng's inner disciple lodge I sat on a furnished wooden chair propping my head up with my arm. The place was definitely at least 3x better then the outer disciple lodge, but this wasn't anything I cared too much for.

It's only been a couple weeks or so since they left, but my boredom began only a day or two afterward. Since then I've fully explored the entire house Ip Cheng was given. Every nook and cranny has been seen.

The number of nice web spots were numerous and each place I had chosen to build a web was immaculate. But there was only so many times I could build the same kinds of webs. After building my fifth normal web I decided to be a little more intricate.

One was a normal web, but I created a web spider as well. Another was a little house silhouette with a tree. I also made a web which hung down from the ceiling like a spider descending down it's own silk string. Though these webs did add more variety they were ultimately more like human paintings or art, merely decorations.

Looking left and right of the room I sat in, my own webs covered the corners of the room.

"Damn it! You're supposed to show me cool things! I even broke my one condition for that deal with that woman! How am I supposed to have fun by myself for a whole month!?" I lightly slammed the table just loud enough to make an audible thump.

'Hmm.. I remember using a small device which made quite an audible sound before. It should be in his bag right?'

Standing up I immediately went to search his bag he had left behind. It was made of an odd material I've never seen nor felt before and had a strange locking mechanism. The mechanism was simply a small metal tag that when pulled across a predestined arch would reveal what was inside. The arch seemed to tear apart when pulled one direction and mend when pulled back the other direction.

There was also a distinctive sound I had never hear before. When pulling it apart it made a *zzziipm* sound and when mended it created a *zoooopm* sound. Simply by pulling it apart and mending it back together gave me a small amount of enjoyment. It felt a little satisfying as I did so.

Once I had enough of it I completely opened it and found what I was looking for on top of the rest. A small device which looked like someone placed a curvy rectangle atop a rotated rectangle and a widened V which looked like it might of connected the two.

This was the device which had a loud flash of fire and shot out a small metal pellet. Taking the device and another rectangular shaped object I quickly left the sect without detection, heading for the nearby forest. It was already dark out and considering my level I didn't need to worry about being discovered.

Holding the two objects inspected them thoroughly in hopes of understanding them. The small addition rectangular metal box I grabbed was additional "ammunition" for the device. It had little cylinders of metal jammed inside from the top.

I held the device like before in the cave with 3 fingers underneath the widened V and a finger resting in front of a slightly curved end which extended outward from the curvy rectangle within the widened V.

Lining up the end of the rectangle with the back I pulled the slightly curved extension.

*BANG*

Another loud should appeared with a flash of flames before a small metal pellet exited the front of the rectangle. It flew hitting a tree in the distance. There was also another metal cylinder which ejected from the top onto the ground. There was even a bit of force that moved the device upward and back a bit.

Feeling interested I kept pulling on the extension and bangs echoed in the forest until a new sound surfaced.

*Click* *Click*

"Eh? Why did it stop? Maybe it ran out of the "ammunition" for it to shoot." Realizing this point I started to try to insert the other box into the device.

But not finding anything on the rectangular metal box I looked at the device. There was a small button near the widened V and pressing it the box which was already inside fell straight out onto the ground. Inserting the box into the newly opened bottom a new click sounded.

Pulling the extension once again another *BANG* was heard.

'I shouldn't waste all this I should just return it and pretend nothing happened.'

Putting the device away I bent over to pick up my dropped items. A rectangular metal box which no longer had the metal cylinders inside and metal cylinder shells which were fairly hot to the touch.

Picking them up anyway I tossed them inside a pouch before heading back to the sect to put the items away like nothing happened.