144 The End of the Burning Heaven Clan - Part 1

With her knee impacting Fen Juecheng's face like a wrecking ball, he hit the ground dazed and confused. Before he even had time to lift his head, Cang Yue followed through with a vicious kick to his jaw, busting his lower lip and breaking a few teeth. And then, she mounted him like an MMA fighter and started delivering devastating punches to his face that turned it into a bloody mess. When Fen Juecheng naturally raised his hands to try and defend himself, Cang Yue would simply snap them like dried twigs and continue punching and yelling out insults like:

"How do you like that you little bitch!"

"Don't you fucking touch me you limped dick little faggot!"

"Having me on top of you like this is what you always dreamed about isn't it you fucking maggot!"

And on and on she went, getting ever more colorful with insulting vocabulary as she beat the everloving shit out of Fen Juecheng. It even surprised Mesa who was watching this morbid scene in front of him with slack jaw.

'Wow! I knew she nurtured some deep, deep hatred for Shinji and that she wanted to beat him up herself. But this potty mouth is not what I had expected' Said Mesa to himself with genuine surprise at Cang Yue's sheer level of rage.

After beating up Fen Juecheng so much that he was but a bloody, unmoving mess that was wheezing his every breath and being barely conscious and a hair's breadth away from death did Cang Yue finally stop beating him up. Standing up and looking down at this pathetic wretch, Cang Yue spit on his face for good measure, her anger still not sated.

"You think I'm just gonna let you die on me like that." Said Cang Yue angrily to Fen Juecheng whose only answer was a wheezing breath and a slow roll of his only eye that wasn't completely swollen shut to look at her and Mesa. Even after everything that had happened to him, he still had that fire of hatred visible in his eye. Mesa didn't need to read his mind to know that though he feared him, he also hated in equal measure and that he was still dead set on destroying him, as pointlessly pathetic as that ambition was after everything that happened.

'Gotta hand it to him. He is not a quitter, even when the odds are stacked so heavily against him and he has no chance what so ever.' Thought Mesa for a second before they were interrupted by Cang Yue.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. We are far from done here." Said Cang Yue as she motioned to Mesa to give it to him and he responded by tossing her a little pouch. Catching this pouch, she opens it up and fishes out a small bean. Jamming this bean into Fen Juecheng's mouth who could only weakly protest against it, she forces him to swallow it.

Moments later, Fen Juecheng shoots up and takes a deep breath and all of the pain just disappeared. He could see clearly now as he touched his face with his hands and felt all of the swelling being gone, even his lost teeth had miraculously reappeared. He could move perfectly fine now which meant that all of his broken bones had healed up instantly. He even felt his exhaustion, his soreness and his pain being gone. In other words, he was healed back to full health in mere moments. It had to be that thing that Cang Yue had forced him to swallow. If so, then that thing was a medicine of unparalleled might. Without thinking, he turned to Cang Yue and was struck silent when he saw her.

Standing there was Cang Yue cracking her knuckles. And like that, the fleeting moment of wonder that Fen Juecheng had experienced after being healed back had come crashing down and he realized that he is far from being freed from this nightmare.

"Round two." Was all Cang Yue said before she laid him down with a punch square to jaw. And like that it continued, Cang Yue would beat Fen Juecheng to within an inch of his life, heal him and repeat the process all over again. And all the while, the screaming and cursing Burning Heaven Clan that were trapped inside the Birdcage were desperately, but futilely, trying to destroy it bars to come to their Young Master's aid, or fling every attack that pass through the bars at Cang Yue but which were all blocked by Mesa.

"Please… please. No mohohohohoreeee... I am sorry! I am sorry!" Pleaded a crying beaten up Fen Juecheng. But Cang Yue had no mercy and raised her fist to strike at him once again, but stopped when a voice boomed out across the Burning Heaven Valley.

"STOP!"

Looking at the source of the voice, Fen Duanhun was standing on shaking legs. His mouth and his clothes stained by blood, his eyes bloodshot with rage. But in his hand, he held a Sound Transmission Jade up high for everyone to see.

"Princess Cang Yue." Whispered Fen Duanhun with barely contained rage through clenched teeth. "I am certain you remember that your father is still being held hostage by us."

Cang Yue said nothing, she merely looked at Fen Duanhun with contempt. Fen Juecheng on the hand was ecstatic to see that there was finally a way out of this nightmare.

"I see that you indeed remember. Now then, step away from my son and strike down Mesa Uchiha right now or I will send the order to kill your father immediately!" Said Fen Duanhun confident in the fact that he was once again in control. No way would Mesa dare harm Cang Yue and no way would Cang Yue endanger her father. So the only choice would be for Cang Yue to attack Mesa.

For a long moment nobody said anything, nobody moved either. That was until Cang Yue said: "Do it."

"What?" Taken aback by her response, Fen Duanhun, and everyone else of the Burning Heaven Clan for that matter, were flabbergasted for a moment and staring at Cang Yue.

"What, you think I'm joking! I am deadly serious." Said Cang Yue. To hammer home her point, she kicks Fen Juecheng in the balls so hard that it turned one of them to mush.

"Do it!" Shouted Cang Yue.

"You bitch!" Roared Fen Duanhun angrily. "You think I am bluffing!"

Infusing the Sound Transmission Jade with some of his Profound Energy, it started to light up indicating that it was making contact with another Sound Transmission Jade.

"You have but yourself to blame for your father's death." Said Fen Duanhun as the Sound Transmission Jade made contact with the one inside the Imperial Palace.

"Clan Master Fen Duanhun." Said a voice coming from the Sound Transmission Jade in Fen Duanhun's hand.

Bringing the Sound Transmission Jade to his mouth, Fen Duanhun spoke into it: "Yes, it is me. Do as has been planned. Kill Emperor Cang Wanhe!"

For a moment, nobody moved, everything and everyone was silent. Until…

"We are afraid that that is not going to happen."

With wide bulging eyes, Fen Duanhun looked at the Sound Transmission Stone for it was not the voice of one of his Burning Heaven Clan disciples, but the voice of Emperor Cang Wanhe himself coming from it.

"AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!" Came Mesa bellowing laughter which made them all focus on him and the implication was crystal clear.

"Fen Duanhun, if you don't mind, can you put Mesa on. We want to speak to him." Said Cang Wanhe.

Having no desire to do this what so ever, Fen Duanhun attempted to throw the Sound Transmission Jade on the ground and crush it to dust, even though they're very valuable tools that any sect treasures dearly. Holding his hand high above him, Fen Duanhun threw the Sound Transmission Jade down with all his might. But just as the Sound Transmission Jade leaves his hand, it flies off into the distance and straight into Mesa's hand. Having foreseen that this would happen, Mesa had shot out a string from his finger, wrapped it around the Sound Transmission Jade and yanked it towards him.

"Good day to you your majesty. I trust you are doing fine." Said Mesa.

"Good day to you Mesa. We are indeed doing just fine. We assume that Yue'er is safe with you." Said Cang Wanhe.

"She is indeed. In fact, she is standing right next to me and she can hear you." Said Mesa.

"Father." Said Cang Yue, her voice cracking with joy as she tries to hold back her tears. "It's so good to hear your voice again."

"Yue'er." Said Cang Wanhe through his sobbing voice. "Thank the heavens you are alright. We can't wait to see you again."

After collecting himself, Emperor Cang Wanhe addressed Mesa once again directly. "Mesa, these traitorous dogs must to be punished for what they have done. Severely punished. We trust that you can handle it, so do with them however you see fit. But make sure that they are made an example of for anyone else who would even dare think about committing such treason ever again."

And with that, the fate of the Burning Heaven Clan was totally and utterly sealed. Putting the Sound Transmission Jade away, Mesa stood up and stuck out his right hand. With the swallow tattoo on it glowing an icy blue color, he brought out Articuno. Knocking out Fen Juecheng with a pulse of Conqueror's Haki, Mesa bound and gagged him and put him on Articuno's back and Cang Yue afterwards. When Cang Yue asked why Fen Juecheng was coming along, Mesa said that he had another punishment in store for Fen Juecheng. After telling Articuno to fly away from here and wait for him just beyond those mountains and pointing towards the mountains he meant, Articuno took to the skies with Cang Yue and Fen Juecheng and flew off. After that was all over, Mesa turned around to finally deal with the Burning Heaven Clan once and for all.

"So, now that all your plans have failed and you have nowhere left to turn, it's time to administer to you all your long overdue punishment." Said Mesa calmly while cracking his knuckles.

"YOU BASTARD!" Screamed Fen Duanhun as he was slamming his Burning Heaven Blade in a frothing murderous rage against the bars of the Birdcage in a vain attempt to slice the strings. "Bring back my son! Bring him back!"

"You are in no position to make demands of me!" Shouted Mesa tersely, his face set in rictus of barely contained anger devoid of all the nonchalance he had mere moments ago before it melded into a face of uncaring calmness. This sudden outburst had come with a wave of his Profound Energy washing over everyone, rooting them in place with its great power. With a flick of his finger, Mesa set the Birdcage to slowly close in on itself.

"Your time has now come to an end. If you have any last words, I suggest you say them now." Said Mesa.

Seeing the bars of the Birdcage descend upon them, all of the Burning Heaven Clan members were huddling together in fear to try and get as far away from the bars as was possible. Those lower ranked members were either breaking out in tears and begging for mercy or had their minds shattered and they were rocking back and forth where they sat on the ground mumbling to themselves. The higher ranked members were either defiantly gazing at Mesa in some last defiance of their fate and determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing them break down in tears or they had resigned themselves to die and simply stood where they were and calmly closed their eyes with a look of no regret on their face.

Out of all of them, Fen Duanhun stepped forward, his body having recovered somewhat thanks to him circulating his Profound Energy around his body and healing himself somewhat. Though nowhere near recovered, it was enough for the moment.

"So, do you have any last words for me Fen Duanhun?" Mesa asked calmly.

"Don't think you have won just yet you bastard! We still have one final ace up our sleeves." Said Fen Duanhun garnering the attention of the Burning Heaven Clan and in some a renewed hope when they understood what he was talking about.

Mesa on the hand, didn't react at all and his expression didn't change at all. He simply looked at Fen Duanhun with the same uncaring neutral gaze and not deigning to answer this boast of his. His only answer was a twitch of the finger that set the bars of the Birdcage to close in on themselves faster than before.

'And there comes the Fen Chu card, a.k.a. Xuanyuan Wentian. Took them long enough to use it.' Thought Mesa.

Standing far, far away from this whole thing was Xuanyuan Wentian himself in his Fen Chu disguise observing everything from the very beginning.

"And the puppet moves to the will of its master." Said Xuanyuan Wentian to himself.

But after seeing the Birdcage being deployed, and being ever more surprised by Mesa and evermore convinced that he too was from another universe, he did start to get a little nervous.

"I'd better be ready to intervene at a moments notice. Cannot have that Mesa Uchiha kill Fen Juechen and ruin all of my plans."

(A.N.: In the next chapter I will finally, FINALLY! end this whole Burning Heaven Clan story that I had been stuck on for so long and move on to a side story where Mesa will go on another Infinity Quest for the third Infinity Stone. I have quite a surprise for how I am gonna do that so stay tuned. And if you have any ideas, be sure to share them in the comment section. Could be about which of the Infinity Stones he should get next or how his next Infinity Quest should look like. I am open to all suggestions and willing to use them if they appeal to me.)