Chapter 49: Poison Again

"Heh," Ji Yunhe laughed softly.

"Is there still anything new in this world?" The Grand Master straightened up, looked at Ji Yunhe from above, and said, "You."

A demon master turning into a demon was something new indeed. Ji Yunhe did not speak. The Grand Master took out a dagger and threw it into the cell. Ji Yunhe picked it up and asked, "Grand Master wants me dead?"

"Blood."

She looked at him and sliced the back of her hand without hesitation. The blade drank her blood like a leech and turned red in no time. Ji Yunhe then turned the dagger around and gave him the handle. She knew why he wanted her blood. He was the one who had developed the frost poison.

The double pulse physique of a demon master was very special. It not only gave them spiritual power, but also made them immune to poison. The Grand Master was able to invent one they were susceptible to.

The frost poison was harmless to a normal human being, but it was deadly for those with a hidden pulse. With this poison, the Grand Master changed the order of the world. Reigns of demon masters were suppressed and the status of the royal family was pushed to the very top. The Grand Master was an extremely powerful demon master, but at the same time, he was also an extremely intelligent doctor.

Ji Yunhe always suspected that the poison Lin Canglan had been feeding her every month was maybe the frost poison, but it turned out to be far more complicated. Those pills somehow transformed her body.

The Grand Master wanted to find out what Lin Canglan had done to her, and Ji Yunhe was equally curious. Except she did not think she would live long enough to see it. The Grand Master took a hold of the handle, but she did not let go.

"Medicine and bandages to stop the bleeding."

The Grand Master raised his eyebrows at her request. Ji Chengyu, standing next to him, immediately offered a white silk handkerchief and said,

"Here, hope you don't mind." Ji Yunhe did not complain.

She reached out and grabbed it from him, then wrapped it around her hand with the help of her teeth.

"It's not so great being a prisoner. Better to take whatever I can get." The Grand Master did not say anything. He glanced at her then walked out with the blood filled dagger. Ji Chengyu breathed out in relief and looked at Ji Yunhe with some helplessness.

"Other than the princess, you are the only one who dares to speak to the master like that." Ji Yunhe looked at her wrapped up hand and smiled.

"The Grand Master looks angry even when he's not. It is normal for people to be afraid of him."

Ji Chengyu asked her, "Why aren't you?"

"People are afraid of him because they are afraid of death," she said.

"I'm not." Ji Yunhe talked about death with such lightheartedness that Ji Chengyu was a bit lost for words.

"Yunhe, you are not an evil person, the master is not either. Many people now choose to strangle their babies with a double pulse upon birth. We demon masters are growing less year after year. If you cooperate well with the master, he will not kill you..."

"It has nothing to do with who kills me or not, it is just my fate." She looked at him. "But I'd still like some medicine to stop the bleeding on my hand." Ji Chengyu sighed at her attitude.

"I'll go get it for you." He got up and left. The prison fell into silence again.

Ji Yunhe looked at the bars of the cage that had been with her for almost half of her life. She reached out to touch it, but her hand was immediately flicked back by a magic seal. Sigh...

"Changyi, was it this boring for you too?" No one was there to answer her. Ji Yunhe then fell back on her head and went to sleep.

She dreamed of the ocean. A huge fish tail splashed under the waves and swam away. He swam so fast, faster than the birds flying in the sky. She chased after him and watched him swim into the horizon, disappearing into the depths of the sea...

Never turning back. Ji Yunhe had such dreams many times in the days that followed, so she fell in love with sleep. She slept through most of the day, and every time she would wake up with a smile.

And that smile would linger for some time because of the freedom and joy she felt inside the dream. But tonight, she woke up with a smile she could not maintain.

Her heart, again, ushered in the familiar pain. Her poison had started attacking. This time there would be no Qing Shu or Ling Haoqing to come to her aid.

She huddled on the ground and tried to not scream, but the pain grew stronger every second. Finally she could stand it no longer and brutally slammed her head against the cage bars.

She did not want to break out and escape, she just hoped it would knock her unconscious, or better yet, knock her dead. She did not want to endure this anymore, this meaningless torment bestowed on her by mere existence.

And of course she did not get what she wanted. The bars did not knock her out cold nor did they kill her. She did, however, manage to make herself bleed. Her face was now covered with blood and looked extraordinarily gruesome. But Ji Yunhe did not give up, she slammed her head into the bars again.

This time the pain felt different from before. It did not come in waves where she could have a bit of relief in between. The poison in her body seemed to have gone awry, not giving her the slightest break. Ji Yunhe finally howled out in pain.

When an alarmed Ji Chengyu rushed in, he saw her rolling around on the floor with blood all over her face. Ji Chengyu panicked.

"Miss Yunhe? What happened to you?"

Ji Yunhe clutched at her chest and repeatedly banged her head against the floor while wailing, like a trapped beast grown mad. Except her pain had taken away most of her strength, so it looked like she was screaming and bowing at the same time. As if the hand of fate had finally reached down and forced her into submission, making her kowtow to the gods.

Each contact a bloodstain, each cry a struggle. Ji Chengyu was frightened. Then her body grew still and all movements stopped. Just like that night on top of the cliff, when she knelt there like a lifeless statue.

Ji Chengyu cautiously inched closer. "Yun..." Her head, which was still resting against the floor, suddenly turned over, and a pair of bright red eyes glared out at him.