If I remember correctly... I don't think I've done anything that would incur divine wrath or public wrath, and I certainly haven't offended this Butler Li. What's with this interrogation-like manner?
Yu Ling almost lost control of her expression, and shrank back, causing the chair she was sitting on to creak.
He can tolerate being whipped a few times, but it's absolutely unacceptable to ruin the possessed body and delay his earning of survival points!
"What, are you scared?"
Butler Li looked at Yu Ling with a half-smile.
"I...I...I wasn't scared!"
Her mind raced, desperately searching for a solution. Yu Ling stammered, avoiding eye contact with the pile of things on the table.
"Heh~"
Steward Li was well-prepared this time. He was determined to completely break the boy's arrogance today, so as to curry favor with Lord Sun. He added,
"As the saying goes, the ten fingers are connected to the heart; if you get injured on your hand, the pain will be a hundred times greater than anywhere else... Come on, stretch it out."
Yu Ling looked up at Butler Li in terror, her fingers trembling slightly, and a pleading look in her eyes inadvertently appeared, which Butler Li keenly noticed.
"What are you standing there for? Help our young master Mo move!"
Li, the steward, leaned back in his chair and watched as Yu Ling's two slender, well-defined hands were forcibly pressed onto the table. He then began to pick and choose from a variety of torture instruments.
Yu Ling's face was pale, and she regretted her stubbornness. She should have backed down yesterday. She shouldn't have deliberately left herself with a bunch of injuries just to play the victim for Chi Yue, because she didn't want to do the Blood Shadow Pavilion's mission.
Thinking of this, Yu Ling caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye that Steward Li had already taken out several long needles and was gesturing with them in her hand.
But it would be too fake to give in before anything had even happened to her. She couldn't bear to actually cripple those hands. In a flash, Yu Ling subconsciously struggled, forcefully pulling her hands away and staggering backward as she stood up.
"Two useless fools! They can't even hold someone down?"
Butler Li raised an eyebrow, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
"Young Master Mo, didn't you say you weren't afraid? Why are you hiding so far away?"
"If it weren't for that damned Gu, I would have killed you long ago, you know that? Don't go too far!"
Yu Ling spoke stubbornly, but her body language betrayed her, her fists clenched tightly in a defensive posture.
Butler Li stood up with a smile, holding a long needle in his hand. He forced the man back against the wall. He had seen Yu Ling take the poison clearly. No matter how strong his martial arts were, if he dared to fight him, he would die from the poison.
Just as Steward Li had imagined, although Yu Ling kept shouting, she did not actually intend to unleash her inner power.
"Behave yourself, and you'll suffer less. Young Master Mo is now a member of the Blood Shadow Pavilion, so I won't really cripple you... As long as Young Master Mo cooperates and satisfies Lord Sun, he'll release you as soon as he asks, and then this matter will be over, won't it?"
Perhaps persuaded, or perhaps the pain from his wounds was unbearable for Yu Ling, he chose to comply. He tremblingly extended his left hand, but before he could even offer it, Butler Li grabbed his palm and forced his fingers to spread.
A cool sensation coursed through her body. Butler Li tightened his grip on the needle's end, and with a final push, the long needle pierced through Yu Ling's knuckles, piercing right through her. Yu Ling winced in pain, her hand trembling uncontrollably as if she had Parkinson's. (The main character is just pretending; he's acting and doesn't feel pain.)
"Young Master Mo, your hands are well-maintained, beautiful and soft without calluses. Don't worry, the needle isn't thick and won't leave a scar."
While commenting, his hands kept moving. The burly man next to him picked up the torture instruments that were originally on the table and placed them aside. Butler Li then picked out the long needles from the instruments and stabbed them one by one into Yu Ling's hand.
Actually, the original owner's hands had calluses from practicing swordsmanship, but the Longevity Turtle Breathing Technique also had skin-beautifying effects, and her hands soon became even more delicate than those of a young lady from a secluded boudoir.
But the more beautiful the hands were, the more sadistic desires Li, the steward, felt. Soon, Yu Ling's entire left hand was pierced through. Sweat streamed down his forehead, and painful gasps escaped from between his teeth. A single tear slid down his cheek.
Yu Ling's thoughts had actually wandered off course long ago. She was thinking, "It really hurts more than the whip last night. Luckily, it was handed to my left hand, otherwise it would have really affected the original owner's right-handed body in using swordsmanship."
Time passed in silence. When Butler Li realized he had nowhere else to go, he picked up a long needle and made a couple of strokes in the space between Yu Ling's thumbnail.
This time, he stabbed very slowly.
"Ugh... hiss—uhhh!!!"
Unlike before, as the needle went deeper, Yu Ling couldn't help but cry out in pain when it was only halfway in, her eyes red and filled with tears.
It hurts.
"Your skill is pretty good, isn't it? You perfectly avoided all the tendons and bones. It's just that your palms aren't big enough, otherwise you could have made dozens more."
Finally, the stubborn boy was brought to tears by his own actions. Butler Li felt his inexplicable desire satisfied and couldn't help but say smugly,
"If Young Master Mo wants me to stop, then say something nice."
Yu Ling let out intermittent cries of pain, her legs were so weak she could barely stand, and she could only lean against the wall for support. She was as stubborn as a mule and refused to say a single soft word.
Having already identified where the most pain was, Butler Li continued to hold the long needle piercing between the nails, pulling it out and stabbing it again, not really going all out, just torturing the person at the pain threshold.
--a long time--
"Young Master Mo, isn't it about time you gave in?"
After a while, Steward Li was also exhausted. I must say, this guy was shaking so badly that his hands were blurry, yet he was still so stubborn.
Shouldn't he have just pierced the guy's lips instead of stabbing him?
Yu Ling shifted her gaze from Butler Li's face and finally landed on her left hand, which was now covered in thorns. She gasped for breath, feeling dizzy from the intense, tingling sensation. Finally, she had no strength left and slid down the wall until she collapsed to the ground.
Seeing that Yu Ling could no longer hold on, Butler Li thought that he should not let her faint again, so he quickly followed her movements, squatted down, took out the long needle from his thumb, and began to approach the second nail seam.
"No...don't insert it..."
Yu Ling closed her eyes, her lips trembling, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she gave up in despair.
"I...I know it hurts, sob...Can you pull it all out...it hurts so much..."
Her lips, which she had bitten raw in pain, finally opened, her pleading voice weak and helpless. Yu Ling finally bowed her head before Steward Li.
"It would have been better to do this earlier."
Butler Li's expression was strange as he coaxed her in an extremely gentle tone.
"Good boy, Young Master Mo, please bear with it a little longer, I'll pull it out right away..."
Making someone submit is only the first step; the real show is yet to come.
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