[ON HOLD] Defy the Heavens: The Journey of Miss Black Belly

21 I Like Mother, Like Daughter

Within a flash, Xiren found herself in front of the Jing Pagoda.

Currently, it was late in the night. Most stores were closed and the streets was mostly empty--except for a few drunkards roaming around here and there, jumping from bar to bar. Thus, nobody took notice of the youngster in dirty, bloodstained clothing walking down the street.

Xiren walked around the inner city trying to find an inn. But coincidentally, she passed by the Peking Duck Restaurant, reminding her of someone. Xiren thought about giving Tang Di a visit to inform him that she made it back safely; however, it was late and this matter could wait till morning. Right now she had more important things to think about and do—one of them being sleep. Fortunately, she found a nearby inn and passed out from exhaustion once her head touched the pillow.

....

In the dead of the night, while Xiren was deep in dreamland, two men in black shinobi clothing professionally sneaked inside her room soundlessly and effortlessly—as if they did this thousands of time before.

At this moment, the two shinobi's attention was directed at the sleeping Xiren.

"That's the Third Miss alright. Thank the gods we finally found her....," one of the shinobi's said telepathically while using a transmission stone to communicate with the other man.

"What are you waiting for? Let's bring her back now!" shinobi no.2 replied.

The two nodded in understanding. In a flash, one of the shinobi's pressed Xiren's pressure points to make her fall into a deeper slumber, while the other shinobi promptly threw her body over his shoulders before disappearing out the window.  

....

When Xiren woke up to see her mother's face before her eyes, she almost had a heart attack.

"Mother!" Xiren exclaimed in fright. 

"Oh? It seems that you still remember that I am your mother," Madame Wang calmly said in a long drawl as she stroked the bone whip in her hand. 

Xiren's face paled and she started to sweat profusely, yet her entire body felt cold to the bone. 

Currently, she was tied up and her body was suspended up 7 feet in the air by metal chains. And by her side, her older brother, Wang Xue, did not looked much different than her.  

"Wuuhuhu....Mommy, I admit my wrongs," Xiren meekly cried. Her soft, but shaky voice sounded so innocent and sweet that it could pull one's heartstrings. Her cries were so pitiful--so beautiful and tempting--that it could make any mortal suffer with pangs of heartache.

If some red-blooded men were here, they would already be under Xiren's spell and be compelled to throw themselves into the pit of fire at her command. But unfortunately, no one was here to save the damsel that was chained up inside her mother's dungeon of impending doom, so she had to save herself by pulling out her trump card--her tears!

Madame Wang stared at her daughter with narrowed eyes. Originally, she had wanted to teach her daughter a lesson about being disobedient, but seeing her precious baby girl looking so pitiful, her heart fell and her anger slowly dissipated. Madame Wang walked closer to her daughter and stroked her long scattered hair lovely, before releasing Xiren from her chains. 

Xiren fell onto her knees and wrapped her arms around her mother's thigh. 'Oh golden thigh, please have mercy!'

"Explain yourself!" Madame commanded.  "Or else...."

"Mother, I can explain!" Xiren said, her heart pounding.  "I wanted to find the reason to why I couldn't cultivate. You know very well that this has always been a thorn in my heart; therefore, I wanted to try my luck. I don't want to marry the emperor as his royal concubine, and I was desperate. Hence, I ran. If I could cultivate, then perhaps I could change my own fate!"

"You...." Madame Wang paused, as if she wasn't sure anymore. "So, did you find what you were looking for?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at her daughter. 

"En. I did," Xiren replied and looked up at her mother straight in the eyes. "I've met the Lord of Mythos Hall and he founded a way to help me. Can you believe it? I am able to cultivate now! My body doesn't hurt anymore and I am able to sense Qi essence!"

"Mythos Hall?" Madame whispered to herself, and a dangerous glint flashed past her eyes. "What did the Lord of Mythos Hall want in exchange?" she asked,  narrowing her eyes into a killer gaze with lips set in a sardonic straight line.  

"Um ... about that," Xiren murmured, twisting her hands in her lap nervously. Although she did not want to lie to her mother, she didn't know how her mother would react if she knew the truth. However, she instinctively feared her mother more than she feared Lord Mythos. Thus, she answered truthfully, "He wants the [Temporal Demon Spirit Tome]."

Xiren tried to meet her gaze, but there was no light behind her stare. "Mother?"

Madame Wang's face was unreadable, but Xiren could see that it had struck a nerve within her mother.  A tinge of apprehension appeared in her mother's eyes. 

After a moment of silence, Madame Wang turned around to leave, before saying, "Go to your room, I will deal with you later!"

When her mother  left, Xiren let out a sigh of relief and looked over to her pitiful, semi-conscious brother.  As she glance at him, all she saw was a blotch of white, his ripped white robe contrasted against the somber darkness inside the dungeon. She untied the chains that held him, carried him up,  and walked towards the door.

Suddenly, one of the guards at the entrance stopped her.  "Third Miss, you should't do this. The Madame hasn't ordered for Second Master Xue to be released yet."

Xiren knew her mother's temper the best. It was already a blessing that they got off this light. Madame Wang can be pretty vicious in her punishments, even her children weren't always spared. 

Her eyes narrowed and glared at the guard as she hissed, "I will take responsibility for my brother's release. But if you try to hinder me, I will make you disappear. After all, I am my mother's favorite little girl. Understand?"

The guard gulped down cold air. 'Who said that the Third Miss was weak and stupid? Clearly, it was all baseless rumors', the guard thought to himself. 'How is it possible for a 13 year old to give off such a chilling aura? The feeling wasn't much different from Madame Wang herself!' 

Without thinking, he quickly steeped aside and opened the door. As he watched Xiren's back, the guard couldn't help but think, 'Like mother, like daughter.'