8 - Brutal

As Su Tao stood up at the table, he realized that there was something wrong with his mother's situation. She would have to take care of him if she thought he was sick, and the fact that she was never here showed that something must have happened.

Su Tao went and asked his neighbors if they had seen her, but they only responded saying that they had not seen her for the past six days. This meant that she had gone missing one day before he had even woken up from being struck by lightning. The neighbors were old folk who had already stopped working, and they sat on their porch of their house every day, just enjoying life. If his mother had been anywhere near the house, they would have known it.

He then went around his area and asked if anyone had seen her. Most didn't know her, but those who had seen her had not seen her within the past six days. At this point, he was panicking because he did not know where she worked. If he did, he could ask her employers if they knew where she went, but because he did not know where she worked, he could not ask.

He ran around, panicking because he did not know where his mother was. But he still found no sign of her. He eventually asked everyone but the higher ups in the Su family. After all, the higher ups were not someone that he could ask, even if he was a second bronze star. Even those at the third bronze star were not allowed to ask those at the silver rank something without a reason. His mother being missing was not any reason to ask help from those at the silver rank.

Finally, he gave up. He figured that maybe his mother would show up eventually, but there was nothing more that he could do to find her. All he could do was try to increase his strength to get a way to find her. He ended up searching for a total of three days before finally giving up entirely.

Then, on the fourth day, everyone in the Su family got a piece of news. There would be a demonstration the next day and every person was expected to show up. The whole family was required to be there, and anyone that was not there would be punished severely by the family.

Su Tao was confused, but since he was required to go, he would obviously go. Little did he know that this would change his life forever. The news did not say what the demonstration was for or what it was about, but it only said that every person in the family was expected to be there and that those who did not go would be severely punished.

The next day, the whole Su family showed up in the center of the family. Even the person at the sixth rank of the martial path, which was the third silver star, was there. This showed the importance of this event, because there was only one person at the third silver star in the whole Su family and he would not show up for anything that was not important. He was the grand Elder of the Su family.

Not only the grand Elder, but there were also some higher ups from other families as well as the normal people of those families. This even included those top two families. Even the city master was here, which showed just how important this event was.

Everyone there was waiting anxiously, and they sat there before someone finally spoke. It was an old man in silvery blue robes, and he had two silver stars on his chest. This showed that he was at the fifth rank of the martial path, and he was only below the grand Elder in strength.

"I am sure you are wondering why we have gathered you here today. Here is your answer. There is someone who has been accused of using the dark arts. She has used the dark arts to summon the lightning which tore apart families nine days ago.

The whole city of silver sparrow had been attacked by that lightning, and thousands were killed, and it is an unforgivable offense. Today, she will pay for the thousands of lives lost that day. Whether or not it was her matters not at this point. If it was not her who committed this crime, then we will find the one who did and treat them the same as her.

Bring her out!!!" His voice was like thunder, and at this moment, Su Tao got a bad feeling. Something was not right here.

The moment the lady was brought out, Su Tao's heart stopped. His mother was being dragged out by chains, and she had lashes all over her body and her clothes had been ripped off her body. She was barely conscious, and there was blood leaking out of her mouth. All over her were gashes that were leaking blood, and there were burn marks on her too. It looked as if she had already been tortured nearly to death, but no one could figure out how she was still alive.

"This is Su Lin. She has been accused of the dark arts and evil, and she will now be tortured for it.

Do it!" He spoke coldly and without any mercy. But these words were a knife straight to Su Tao's heart. In front of him, he could see his mother, who he knew was innocent, stripped and clearly tortured, being publicly executed in front of the whole city.

The moment the man finished his words, Su Lin was brought up to the front of the stage, where everyone in the city could see, and they began.

Another person walked up to her. He was extremely old, but everyone could clearly see how vicious and merciless he was in his eyes. Instead of the silvery blue robes of the Su Family, he wore fiery red robes, signifying that he was from the Huo family, one of the top two families.

On his chest were three silver stars, which meant that he was as strong as the grand Elder of the Su family, maybe even stronger.

As he walked up to Su Lin, a bright red gauntlet appeared around his hand. This gauntlet was not a real gauntlet, but it was a form of an attack made out of inner energy from those at the silver rank.

As he was right in front of her, he suddenly pushed his hand onto her chest, which had no clothes on it. He did not touch her inappropriately, but the moment his hand came in contact with her chest, she let out a scream of pure agony. If one looked closely, they would see that Su Lin's skin was turning black and that it was burning.

Yet the old man did not take his hand off of her chest. Instead, he pushed harder, causing a whole new round of agonized screams to sound out, echoing through the whole area. There were hundreds of thousands of people here, but all of them could clearly hear her screams of agony. None of them made a sound. They were petrified from the scene in front of them.

"This is the outcome for anyone who practices dark arts!!!" The old man's voice rang out again. But no one reacted as they continued to watch the torture progress in sheer horror.

Suddenly, the old man in red robes pushed his hand further into her chest, making her scream so loud that her voice began to break. Then, he took his hand off her chest, leaving everyone to see a bloodied and mangled chest which had been entirely burned. If she had undergone any more damage, she would surely be dead. But long after his hand had been taken off her chest, her screams of agony continued.

Then, without any mercy or hesitation, he grabbed her shoulder, and the process of torture continued. Within only a few more moments, Su Lin had completely lost her voice, and her eyes had gone hollow from the pain. But still, she had looks of excruciating pain on her face.

The torture continued until every part of her body but her face was burned. Her hair had long ago burned off from the heat, and her face was also covered in burns, but they were not to the point that her flesh had been burned off like the rest of her body. Instead, it was mainly just surface burns from the residual heat.

At this moment, Su Lin had completely stopped reacting, and many thought that she was dead. Su Tao watched this with blank eyes. Long ago, he had fallen into despair. His vision was a thousand times better than anyone else's so he was capable of seeing the beating of her heart on her exposed veins and flesh.

He knew for a fact that she was still alive. He knew that she could still feel every bit of pain that she endured. But she had already had her mind almost completely destroyed, rendering her incapable of reacting.

She was not like him, who was capable of bearing pain that was many times stronger than what this elder could deal to her. As such, her mind was almost shattered and any more pain would completely destroy it.

At this moment, the blue robed elder from the Su family spoke again. "This is the result of using the dark arts. Anyone caught doing them will end up exactly like her. This is a warning to everyone here. Do not follow in her footsteps."

As Su Tao was brought back to his senses, he looked at his mother. His face was twisted in agony, and he could not contain his anger. Everyone around him could sense the anger radiating off of him, but none of them recognized him as her son.

He wanted to rip off the red robed elder's head. This was not only because he tortured his mother and basically destroyed her mind, but it was also because he seemed to enjoy doing it.

Everyone could see that the red robed elder was twisted, but no one could deny his strength. No matter how wicked one was, in this world, strength ruled supreme. If a supreme being killed half the city, no one would dare to even call them out on it, but as they suspected someone as weak as Su Lin, they could do whatever they wanted to her, and no one could possibly hope to stop it.

Then, the blue robed elder spoke again. "This woman will be brought to hell where she belongs, and all of those who practice dark arts will follow along with her.

DO IT!!!!!!" This time, he yelled, and his voice boomed in everyone's ears.

Before the red robed elder attacked, Su Tao saw his mother's eyes look towards him, and a tear rolled down her face. That tear was full of pain and suffering, but it was not full of vengeance like one would expect. Instead, it was full of love and hope.

Then, the red robed elder struck. He struck his hand into her chest, and this time, he did not hold back any strength. His hand instantly tore through her flesh and bone, and he grabbed and ripped out her heart.

His whole hand was covered in blood, and in his hand lay her lifeless heart. Her body fell over, dead, and the session of torture was finally over. Then, the red robed elder closed his fist, crushing the heart, and at the same time, he used his fiery red inner energy to burn the heart into ash.