Chapter 73

"...Now, if you don't want internal injuries, hold your breath."

Dang Ran-yeong patted Cheong-ra's shoulder, speaking with feigned kindness as he steadied the staggering Cheong-ra. Then he repeatedly punched him in the stomach. Thud, thud! The sound of flesh being struck echoed. As the pain of having his breath knocked out hit him, the poker finally fell from Cheong-ra's hand with a clang.

When Dang Ran-yeong released his grip, Cheong-ra had no choice but to collapse to the floor. Dang Ran-yeong pushed the crawling Cheong-ra, who was clutching his stomach, over with his foot and quietly admired his pained expression. The heat from the brazier gradually transferred to his gaze as he watched Cheong-ra gasping and coughing. His black eyes, devoid of their green tint, fixated intently on the furrowed brow and clenched teeth.

"Such a handsome face..."

Saying this, Dang Ran-yeong raised his foot and placed it on the beaten stomach. As he applied pressure with his weight, Cheong-ra let out a short scream. When Cheong-ra grasped the other's ankle, the heel dug in even deeper. As Dang Ran-yeong was gleefully watching the other's increasingly pained expression, the iron door opened.

"Lord Owner, I've brought what you ordered."

The man bowed his head deeply and glanced at Cheong-ra. That gaze felt like a needle. Even in his agony, Cheong-ra gritted his teeth, feeling ashamed to be seen in such a state by others.

"Young Master Baek Ri. Shall we start now?"

Dang Ran-yeong dragged Cheong-ra and threw him into a corner. It was clear he was about to begin a proper interrogation or torture. Cheong-ra panted, feeling a suffocating sense of betrayal along with painful emotions. He had clearly asked not to be called Young Master Baek Ri, and the deliberate use of it again hurt.

The person who had carefully set the box on the floor soon closed the iron door and left. Cheong-ra looked desperately at the closed iron door.

Before he could gather himself and try to escape, Dang Ran-yeong painfully twisted his arms behind his back and bound them. Metal shackles tightened around both forearms, fixing them in place. It was a restraint he couldn't escape no matter how much he struggled. Cheong-ra's face turned red from his futile efforts. It wasn't just because of the exertion.

"Ugh...!"

A cruel hand pulled up on the shackles binding his arms. Even that alone caused pain as if his arms were about to be dislocated. To avoid dislocation, he had no choice but to raise his upper body and endure, but his body trembled as the effects of the drug hadn't fully worn off.

"Why... are you doing this!"

As he barely managed to spit out the words, the shackles were pulled up higher. Just as he was about to fall forward, unable to endure any longer, Dang Ran-yeong released the shackles. Cheong-ra tumbled ungracefully to the floor. His clean, well-groomed appearance was instantly disheveled.

Immediately, a large hand pressed firmly on his back. Even with just a light application of weight, the heavy pressure bore down on his body. Cheong-ra's body flinched as he was helplessly pinned to the floor. It was because Dang Ran-yeong had suddenly grasped between his legs.

"I thought you might have wet yourself out of fear, but you didn't?"

Cheong-ra's face turned bright red with shame. Although the fabric was slightly damp, it was certainly not enough to be mistaken for having urinated. It was just meant to mock him.

While he was pinned down unable to move, the firm hand had already lifted his damp undergarments. Cheong-ra jerked his body in shock at how blatant the fingertips were as they rubbed his sticky, wet urethra. However, he couldn't do anything about the lightning-like pleasure that struck him. As he grasped the rapidly hardening member in his hand, Dang Ran-yeong sneered.

"Look at you getting excited even after being dragged to a torture chamber. How lewd and perverted."

Cheong-ra squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't deny the other's words. How his heart had pounded as he was paralyzed and dragged here. How base the anticipation and desire hidden beneath the fear and anxiety had been...

These were emotions a normal person shouldn't feel in this secluded prison cell... Knowing the shame well, Cheong-ra panted and denied it.

"No! This... this isn't like that."

As the hand gripping his penis tightened, Cheong-ra's face turned pale. Dang Ran-yeong removed his hand after drawing a long line across his lower abdomen with his fingernail.

"Let's see how long you can keep this up."

Until then, Cheong-ra had been harboring the assumption that Dang Ran-yeong might be roughly granting his request to act basely towards him, as per their deal. No, until just a moment ago, he had been half-convinced of it. However, the next question shattered that assumption.

"What's your relationship with the Blood Cult?"

"...What?"

Cheong-ra's eyes widened at the completely unexpected question. He unconsciously tried to turn his head to look at the man pressing down on his back, but his head was grabbed. Dang Ran-yeong pressed down hard, forcing his forehead to touch the floor, and asked in a cold voice.

"It shouldn't have been such a difficult question to understand. I asked what your relationship is with the Blood Cult."

"What do you mean, my relationship with the Blood Cult? How could I possibly have any relationship with those crazy cultists?"

Cheong-ra thought the other was joking. He had grown up as a proud disciple of Moon Lake Sect since childhood. He had never associated with the Blood Cult, let alone any evil sects. It wasn't for nothing that he had made a name for himself in the Central Plains martial arts world as Moonlight Flashing Sword. To Cheong-ra, they were only targets to be eradicated. Among those he had associated with, Dang Ran-yeong was the closest to being from an evil sect.

"Yes, that's what they all say at first."

There was a cruel laughter in Dang Ran-yeong's voice. Feeling the sincerity in his voice, Cheong-ra shuddered. Was this not a joke or an act? The torture devices scattered around the prison cell suddenly caught his eye anew. The harsh questioning continued.

"Why did you disobey my words at the Hengshan Sect? Did you perhaps pretend to be captured by the Blood Cult to have a private conversation with them?"

"What nonsense is that! Of course I couldn't let Nun Mu-hwa be captured alone. I simply couldn't follow Young Master Dang's words at that time!"

He couldn't leave a young nun who wasn't even twenty years old to be captured by such brutal people, nor could he run away. That was only natural for Cheong-ra. At the same time, he had believed in Dang Ran-yeong's abilities then. He had faith that if they could just find out the location of their base, Dang Ran-yeong would easily resolve the situation.

Feeling wronged and dumbfounded, Cheong-ra bit his lip hard. He hadn't thought that this would be suspected. However, the words that fell on the back of his head made him hold his breath.

"Among those imprisoned there, only you weren't pressure pointed. As if you had been deliberately allowed to act freely."

Cheong-ra was instantly at a loss for words. Shocked by the cultists' actions he had witnessed that day, he had almost forgotten about it until now, but it was something he had found strange at the time too. However, he had never dreamed that Dang Ran-yeong would have kept that in mind. Trembling with fear, Cheong-ra tried to stay calm as he answered.

"I really don't know anything about that. From the moment I woke up... I was like that... I found it strange too, but..."

He tried his best to answer truthfully, but not knowing the reason for it, even to his own ears, his words sounded like excuses. It must have sounded similar to Dang Ran-yeong, as a voice full of cold mockery was heard from behind him. That sound struck Cheong-ra like lightning. He crouched down in front of Cheong-ra.

"Right, I didn't expect you to answer honestly from the start."

The narrowed, smiling gaze and the hand patting his cheek were particularly cruel.

"I really have no connection to the Blood Cult at all!"

Cheong-ra desperately insisted, but instead of answering, Dang Ran-yeong stood up and moved. There was a dragging sound, as if a heavy box was being pulled across the floor. It must have been the box the man had left earlier. Cheong-ra barely managed to turn his head, but he could only see the edge of the box.

The sound of the box lid opening was very unsettling. Unable to see anything, his ominous imagination only grew wilder. What kind of terrifying torture device could be inside? Dang Ran-yeong leisurely rummaged through the box and took something out.

"This should do."

Judging by the clinking sound as it was set on the floor, it seemed to be a metal tool. Was he really, really going to torture him? Cheong-ra's face turned deathly pale.