Prince Rui closed his eyes on reflex when the girl spat in his face but his hold on her hair remained firm. Wiping his eyes his lips lifted up in a crooked smile which suddenly froze as his body stiffened. The girl took advantage of this opportunity and freed herself from his hold.

This brat had done the unthinkable. Because she had been restrained in the cage earlier she couldn’t fight back. Now that she was out of the cage she brandished her claws determined to put up a fight.

She mobilized the very little strength she had left and infiltrated his mind attempting to mess with his psyche. She was well aware that she was in no condition to win against him but she could buy some time and flee from this horrible prison.

Prince Rui who hadn’t seen it coming was suddenly attacked by his children he ruthlessly murdered over the years. Though it was all in his mind the experience was as real as day. It was as though they had crawled out of their graves filled with a lot of resentment from all their grievances.

Their appearances were especially grim with their rotting flesh falling off bone and fluids seeping out of all four orifices as they clawed at him. These images were especially disturbing but not disturbing enough to shake Prince Rui.

With his eyes still closed he broke free from the mental illusion and swung his hand as a long stream of black fog materialized into a whip which wound around the girl’s neck slamming her to the ground with a loud thud.

The girl struggled with her hands on the whip-like fog trying to free herself but no matter how hard she kicked and screamed it was useless.

She was dragged back in a swift move as her intense emotions spilt over to everyone around her. From the servants that were still kowtowing to Rui Fei who was chained to the wall, they all felt it deep into their souls.

She was like a projector casting her amplified emotions to the people around her. The best way to describe this ability would be emotional manipulation by projecting her emotions to others so they would help her.

The effectiveness of her ability was later proven when the servants afraid of Prince Rui suddenly turned brazen and rose to their feet to defend the girl who was being strangled by a thick black fog.

“Imbeciles!” bellowed prince Rui as he flung his sleeve sending the servants flying in several directions. The spacious hall was suddenly filled with sounds of bodies hitting the wall before falling to the ground.

Enraged he picked her up by the neck his fingers digging into her delicate skin as he glared at her with crazed eyes. The veins on his neck were protruding filled with the gushing blood of a thousand rivers. He brought her closer and said, “I wanted to make it painless but now… I have changed my mind.”

He squeezed her throat even tighter making her face turn red with her eyes wide open. It was then that he heard the violent clanking of chains that attracted his attention. He abruptly turned around like a fiend in a horror movie and glowered at Rui Fei who was behaving manically as he harshly pulled the chains hurting his wrists and ankles in the process.

His head was lowered baring his teeth as he used all his strength to pull at the chains like a beast trying to get off its leash. Maybe it was the emotional manipulation by his half-sister or that he had reached the breaking point that he was behaving this way but Prince Rui was undoubtedly shaken.

His nerves tensed as a glint of fear flashed by. He knew there was no way his son would break those chains but he couldn’t help but be perturbed. His knitted brows relaxed as he suddenly said, “Down boy… just sit and enjoy the good show.”

As soon as he said this a malicious grin appeared on his face before he began to absorb the distraught girl’s seraphic energy. A mixture of pink and white lights like that of the aurora trickled out of the girl’s abdomen.

Her lower lip quivered with her eyes puffy and red as her body was drained of all her energy. The entire time she was looking right into Rui Fei’s eyes mumbling something that only he could hear.

As soon as the light in her pink eyes disappeared, Prince Rui tossed her away like trash as he absorbed all that power that didn’t belong to him with a look of satisfaction.

Once all the beams of seraphic energy entered his body he turned to Rui Fei with a mocking smile. He ambled over to the still aggressive youth and said, ‘No need to worry because you are next,’ telepathically with a slight tilt of his head.

The steward scurried over with an open wooden box containing a glass syringe with some unknown liquid inside. It seemed Rui Fei knew what it was because his aggression skyrocketed glowering at Prince Rui with his bloodshot eyes.

Prince Rui smirked as he picked up the glass syringe like he was holding something of great value. He slowly raised his head to look at his victim and said, “Since the show has ended it’s about time you go back to your cage.” He plunged the needle into Rui Fei’s neck with his other hand holding him in place.

The two were stuck in an intense stalemate till Rui Fei’s eyelids involuntarily closed and his head slumped forward. Prince Rui patted his hair as he said, “Good boy,” like they were on friendly terms.

***

A few kilometres away at the shores of Shangxin city another pair of father and son were at odds with one chasing after the other.

Ji Yao harshly kicked the door of the cabin as he strode out to the deck. From the looks of it, he was seething in anger making the crew on deck make way. No one wanted to be in this young master’s way when he is pissed.

Their so-called leader was following behind him trying to convince his son to do something even crazier. “Come on this is very important….. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t… Ya Ya!”

At the mention of that heinous nickname, Ji Yao abruptly turned around clenching his fist as he glared at his father.

Everyone, “…..”

A skinny lad directly jumped into the sea as he was the closest to Ji Yao. He would rather take his chances with sharks than this young master’s explosive strike. The other crew members tiptoed as far away as possible with Big Hei hiding behind a fish barrel.. The once boisterous deck was devoid of anyone because all of them were hiding.