It had been almost nineteen years since God had released TaiFeng into the world and started hunting her for sport, and during that time she had seen and been through a lot. Some of it good...most of it bad. But this was definitely in her top five worst experiences of all time.

She figured that whatever they had in store for her and Minshan would be pretty bad, she had read enough books about ancient torture methods to know that she wouldn't like this at all.

At first, she just thought that they would whip her a couple of times and try to get info out of her. She was very wrong.  Instead of being brought into the dungeons, her and Su She were going to be dragged out into the main courtyard for everyone within a hundred-mile radius to witness her public humiliation. 

Being brought down the winding hallways in restraints, the delicate fabric that was TaiFeng's self-restraint and sanity was starting to slowly unravel and fall apart at the seams. 

The look in her eyes was unreadable, and yet at the same time it seemed that her emotions were out in the open for all to see. As if her eyes were simply windows, free for any soul to peer into, and witness the cataclysmic storm that was brewing inside of her. 

The rain poured heavily like waterfalls from the heavens, soaking an already weary TaiFeng.

Every step of the way, TaiFeng screamed and cursed every swear word she knew. Heck, she had even made up new words. If she was going to be publicly humiliated, she was going down kicking and screaming. 

Harshly, her and Su She were tied up with ropes and made to kneel on the cold stone floors outside the darkly lit main hall. The rain making her bloody clothes stick to her in the most uncomfortable way possible. 

"Qian. Tai. Feng." a familiar voice rang out, venom dripping from every syllable. 

From the huge double doors, emerged a very angry Wen Xu. He had a large red leather eyepatch over his left eye, and his face looked haggard and pasty, most likely from all the blood loss. Behind him on his right was what looked like a high ranking Wen, most likely from the main family. Along with him was a smug looking Wen Chao. Oh, how TaiFeng wanted to permanently wipe that look off his face.  On his left was Wen Qing, nervously shaking, doing her best to steel her nerves as so not to look suspicious to anyone. One wrong move and not only would she be executed, but they would definitely come for her family. 

Wen Xu simply looked down with a depressed, solemn look on his swollen features, not even saying a word or looking at her.

'What's the matter with me?' Wen Xu thought, staring at his feet. 'Did I actually develop feelings for her? Impossible! Even if I did, it's not like that any more. If I can't have her, ill make it so that no one else can.' 

TaiFeng was too busy boiling over with vitriol and malicious intent to notice the change in Wen Xu's facial expressions. 

The man on his right stepped out from behind Wen Xu, holding a large scroll, most likely some sort of document of her "crimes". 

Opening the scroll, the man spoke in a booming voice addressing everyone, who was on in the pavilion roofs avoiding the rain. 

"Wen TaiFeng." he said, reading from the scroll. 

"My name is Qian TaiFeng." She spat from across the courtyard. " The day I take that surname is the day hell freezes over!."

'No offence Qing-jie.' 

"You've been charged with the crime of betraying the great Wen sect. " The man continued, after rolling his eyes.  "Are you guilty?"

"So what if I am?!" TaiFeng darkly spat, every bone in her body shaking with rage.

"Silence! You insolent wench!." The speaker barked. 

"I will not be silenced!" TaiFeng roared, eyes glowing like fog lights on a misty late night drive.  

"Wen Xu, listen and listen closely. You threatened my family, and you tore me away from my loved one! You, your sadist brother and your tyrannical father have brought nothing but poverty and famine! I will bring the oh so mighty Wen Sect to ruin! You and your pathetic power hungry family will all die by my sword!" Standing up with all her might, couching up another mouthful of blood in the process, she shouted as loud as she could. Making her voice reach every onlooker.   

"With the heavens and everyone here as my witness, I Qian TaiFeng, curse you. Even if I die, ill surely become a vengeful ghost and haunt the Wen Sect till the end of time!"

Wen Chao's face filled with worry at her bold statement. 

"There's no way you would turn into a resentful ghost!" He nervously barked. "You're just spewing nonsense! You would have received Soul Cleansing"

TaiFeng laughed maniacally. She laughed at Wen Chao's ignorance, at Wen Xu, at all the Wens, she laughed at the entire god-damn world!

"Wen Chao... I wasn't born into a cultivator family! "She cynically chuckled as she watched the colour drain from Wen Chao's face. The fear of all the people in the courtyard intensified. They had truly never seen someone so terrifying and purely frightening. After all, there was a reason that her name was TaiFeng. Everyone around her was trapped in a typhoon of unnerving and spine-chilling fear and intimidation. 

Her eyes narrowed into impossibly thin slits, her remaining spiritual every was gushing out, letting everyone have a mere taste of her power. 

Licking the blood off her lips in satisfaction, her bouncy raven hair was now soaking wet and falling flat on the sides of her face. Still the rain poured down, lightning struck, and the thunder roared like caged beasts, as if the gods were on her side, condemning the Wens alongside her. 

 "Where I lived, most people had never heard of cultivation. I had never even picked up a real sword until I was eighteen! Do you really think I got a chance to take part in a Soul Cleansing Ceremony?!" She screamed over the booming storm that had consumed all of Nightless City in its dreadful fury.

Wen Xu knew that she used to be poor, but had she really never started cultivation until she was eighteen? 

'She had started cultivating so late, and yet she's one of the strongest of our generation? Is that even possible?' They all thought. 

 "Wen Chao, don't try and fool yourself into thinking you're safe from me. Regardless of whether I live or die, I'll be coming to claim your soul first! I will never rest until I annihilate each and every one of you!"

"Whip them both!" Wen Xu commanded, turning his back and walking away with a heavy heart and a solemn expression. 

Two soldiers with large leather whips with metal spikes at the ends came from out of nowhere and took their place behind the two.

"Su She" She said to the oh so pitiful man kneeling next to her.

 Maybe if she tried to reason with him, she could have changed his fate. Instead, she stuck to her hatred for acts that he hadn't even committed yet. She condemned him, before he committed the crime. Maybe if she wasn't so resentful, things would have turn out differently. If she had just quelled her rage, she could have made him an ally. Maybe he could have been a friend, but now she had personally signed his death certificate herself. 

"Blame me. Blame me for everything! If it makes your heart feel a little bit lighter, you can resent me all you like!  So don't become a resentful ghost, and reincarnate as someone who has a better fate. It seems like both of us had been dealt the wrong cards in life. Who knows, we might end up good friends in the next life."

As Su She wept, his frail body racked with heartbreaking sobs, the guards raised their hands high to the sky, preparing to strike.  

Like the lightning flying across the sky overhead, the whips flew through the air, making contact with both their backs. 

Su She cried out in pain, but TaiFeng bit her tongue and silently suffered through the pain. The whip was strong, but TaiFeng's pride was far stronger. 

On and on, they were both heavily whipped, blood flying through the air, staining the faces of the cruel Wen guards. 

After twelve merciless whips, Su She finally passed out from the pain, but they still didn't spare him, and so regardless of him being conscious, they continued their relentless whipping.  

After the thirtieth whip, TaiFeng's brave facade started to crack, her robes dyed a horrid crimson red. Grunts of pain escaped her mouth sporadically, but she still wouldn't budge an inch. Even if it killed her, he would keep her pride. It was the only thing she had left.  

After the fiftieth whip, there was practically nothing left of the robes on her back, there was raw flesh and dripping blood. Her tormented cries of anguish tore through her throat, and filled the courtyard with her agony and suffering. But still, she would not fall. 

Most of the onlookers had already left,as it was just too much for them to bear witness to. Her full features were now sullen and thin, her cheeks had lost their rosy pink colour and her lips had gone pale. 

By the eightieth whip, Su She had long since breathed his last breath, the man lay lifeless on the cold hard tiles in the poring rain. His body now finally left alone so that his soul might find some peace in the afterlife. 

Wen Qing could only lean against a pillar for support as her benefactor, her family's saviour, her friend, was being beaten senseless by a punishment whip. Hot tears falling slowly and silently from her eyes, as she cried with the sky. Her fists tightly clenched until her knuckles were white. 

While the servants and other Wens from the main family watched on, TaiFeng could hear the whispers and slanders of these ignorant people that knew absolutely nothing. 

Every word that was said, every whisper that was spoken, was engraved in her bones and carved into her heart. Every slanderous and pitiful gaze was brutally etched into her soul with a dull blade. Every laugh darkened and dimmed her hopeful eyes and made her veins run with burning iron. Every face, she would remember. Every whip, she would never forget. Every humiliating moment, she would forever carry in her mind. 

And she would seek vengeance on every single one of them.