Demonic Tribulations - Chapter 35 preview (Patreon)

Chapter 35 – Wu Ying

Was it wrong to be annoyed with ones captors if they interrupted you? Probably. Wu Ying was almost certain that most prisoners would have welcomed the interruption in their daily routines. Be thankful the enforced solitude and contemplation that imprisonment pushed upon them was broken up, by something more than a scurrying, enlightened roach or an extra long change of the guard and the occasional whispered line of gossip, brought to his ears by a wind that had wormed its way through the protective enchantments.

He should not be irritated, that his cultivation – moving along at a good pace as he studied all that had happened all his mistakes and his growing sense of the heavens and their relations to the mortal realm – was being set aside for something as trivial as his trial.

Still, as he shuffled down the corridors that led from his cell, arms and legs shackled by immortal, qi binding restraints, he almost asked if they could perhaps just do it without him. Make their judgments, let him know how long he might be trapped or if he was to be executed.

He did not, of course. Even if it was a close thing.

“Come now, there’s no need to frown so much. They are not likely to ask for your death. Just a couple hundred years o imprisonment and then, probably a few more centuries of service,” Bu Tsin, the jovial guard beside Wu Ying clapped him on the shoulder.

“No offence, but I hope not,” muttered the other guard. The sallow face man sighed. “I need a win.”

“You should stop gambling,” Bu Tsin said. “You know it’s bad for you and your dao. Already…”

“Tell everyone about my problems, why don’t you?” the gambler growled at Bu Tsin, shooting a look at a passing maid.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t be gambling on our prisoner’s fate. Or at least, not tell him!”

“Why not? It’s not like he’ll be our problem soon. If you’re right, he’ll be imprisoned and happier for it. If I’m right, then he won’t be our problem at all!”

“Ah Choy…” Bu Tsin sighed and looked at Wu Ying. “Don’t take offense at Ah Choy. I told him that following the dao of gambling was a terrible idea. Now he’s stuck and betting on everything, thinking it will let him improve. And all it does is make him a meanie.”

“What are you? A child?” Choy growled. “But Ah Ying here won’t take offense. Not as though I’m the one making the decisions, am I?”

Whether the pair meant it or not, at least their discussion took Wu Ying out of his own mind and the irritation of being forced to deal with the upcoming trial. At least until they reached their destination, for the stables were the last place Wu Ying had expected to be brought to.

“What…?” Wu Ying said, eyeing the moving cage that they prodded him to enter. It was – thankfully – not that dirty or disgusting, and so he climbed into the contraption with only the mildest hesitation. “Where am I being taken?”

“How are we supposed to know?” Bu Tsing said, shrugging his expansive shoulders. “They don’t tell us anything.” Making sure the cell doors were secured and the protective formations activated, he stepped back. “Good luck, boy.”

“Or not,” Choy said. “Maybe do this old man a favor, eh?”

“Guard Choy!” The voice that rung out caused both guards to snap to attention, straightening and going utterly rigid. “Are you betting on the outcome of the prisoners fate?”

“Captain Mao! I… I… am, sir!”

“Which lucky fool managed to take the other end of that bet? And are you willing to take another bet?” Captain Mao said, striding over and standing before the unfortunate guard.

“It’s with cook Hao, sir, on the fourth kitchen.” Choy gulped and added. “I… well, I don’t think I can take another bet. I’m already out next month’s pay if I lose…”

“Pity.” Then eyeing Wu Ying, he smirked. “Rejoice, Ascendent. If Choy here thinks you will be executed, you are almost guaranteed not to be.”

“Sir!” Choy protested.

Bu Tsing snickered.

“Are all of you that bored?” Wu Ying said, leaning forwards with his manacled hands between his raised legs. “Or is my fate just that interesting?”

“A little of both?” Bu Tsing muttered.

“Neither,” Captain Mao’s teasing disappeared, as quickly as the sun on a mountain ridge. “Your fate is no laughing matter, for me or my men. Which is why Guard’s Choy and Bu will be pulling a weekend shift too, doing inventory of all our gear.”

“Sir!” The pair shouted their acknowledgement, not a hint of protest there.

“As for me, I will be escorting this wagon to the trial grounds itself.”

“And where will that be?” Wu Ying could not help but ask again.

“The Palace of Greater Harmonies, of course. Where the Grand Minister of Justice himself will preside over your sentencing.”

“Oh.” Wu Ying gulped, sudden realization exactly how far his small act of defiance had risen. One did not receive the attentions of the Grand Minister without committing a truly heinous crime. That he had broken out of the Leser Palace, fled his pursuers across three realms and then utilized the gifted peaches of immortality to ascend a mortal had never seemed that criminal.

Obviously, he was wrong.

Suddenly, he was hoping that Ah Choy’s reputed ill-luck held true.

Or else, he truly might lose his head.

At least, if that was the case, Wu Ying comforted himself that he would not be losing out on much cultivation time. That, and the fact that Yang Mu had risen to immortality. So he just had to repeat his feat of climbing the ranks of cultivators again to see her.

After forgetting everything that had happened in this life, of course.