I'm on catsitting duty again ;p CATS CATS CATS!!!
Lineir spent several breaths of time meditating and restoring himself. He had been completely drained after invoking the powers of World Without Gods. He knew inside that what he had used was simply a poor attempt at copying the presence which had possessed his body during his breakthrough. However its power was astounding! He had lifted an entire lake! It had to be said that thousands of tons of water resided in the lake and using his control over the Darkness Laws he had lifted a huge amount of the lake into the sky. How much power did that take normally? Keep in mind that this was the Higher Realms, not the mortal realms.
"Hahahaha, I realized something about Madness when that being possessed my body. Additionally, I learned a lot when I broke through, its as if my mind has suddenly unlocked after all this time. Madness's nature is anathema to the Laws. I do not know what it is but it would seem that its very presence distorts the Laws and when I attempt to actively call upon it the Laws will actually shatter. Once shattered I will become the master of all within my Domain! That is why it is called World Without Gods! Without the Laws even Celestials and True Gods will be forced to bow down before my will!" Lineir was exuberant as he realized the true potential of the World Without Gods Domain. One day he would be able to control even the Heaven's and Hells if he could master such a Heaven defying ability!
"Alright, I've recovered my energy. Gosh, the Higher Realms are so much richer than the lower realms. I recovered my energy in a fraction of the time it would have taken before." Lineir straightened his robe as he stood up from the lotus position he had been meditating in. He mournfully looked at the lake which had absorbed the blood of the 400 strong Jin Clan army into its waters. Even as he watched, now that the Laws had returned, the extreme cold causing a thin layer of frost to rebuild on the surface as things returned to equilibrium.
"I wonder how these mysterious terrifying beasts ended up in Star Stream Lake though. They devoured the entire Jin Clan in instants. I really don't understand how such terrifying beasts came to exist in this lake." He grinned as he walked away. There were pieces of armor and treasure from the Jin Clan army floating everywhere in the lake but he didn't bother trying to collect them. Soon they would be lost under the ice again and all traces of the once proud force would disappear from this world.
***************
"Speak! Where would the Snow Empress have gone! Speak or I'll make you wish you had never been born!" Jayi Jin smashed a hand into the wall to illustrate what would happen to the little girl if she did not answer. However, as always she made no move to answer. Her sister as well was characteristically silent. Suddenly his brother Chen Jin came into the room and grabbed him by the shoulder. He motioned for them to go outside away from the girls. As they exited the room,
"Ugh. Jayi stop wasting your time. What's the point of torturing those girls anyways, we know where the Treasure Ground is anyways." Chen Jin said. Jayi Jin straightened up and moved away his eye's flashing with frustration.
"Brother, I know that boy has something to do with the one who destroyed the city walls! Think, Darkness and Lightning Laws who else could it be but that boy's master? How else would he have had the balls to sneak attack us? It is the only way! I think it's highly suspicious that this man came after us just after we captured the Snow Goddess don't you? Who else would have a grudge deep enough for blood with the Jin Clan? Who knows perhaps this is that whore's new lover or something!" Jayi Jin venomously spat full of rage. Chen Jin shook his head at his brother's outburst but he also tilted it slightly as he thought.
"I thought my brother was crazy but maybe...just maybe there is some truth to what he says. I too have wondered...could it really be?" Chen Jin cocked his head more and more until finally he could resist this train of logic no longer,
"Alright Jayi. I'll admit this theory is worth investigating. Just let me do the talking. You've no idea how to properly conduct an interrogation. Sometime's the brute path is not the fastest way!" He said as he strode back into the room with the little Wei girls.
"Girls! We've already captured your mother!" He said as he burst in, acting as if he was in a great rush. Jayi Jin walked in behind with an intimidating air, playing along. The Wei girls looked up from their chained ankles.
"Liar! Our Mistress is too smart to be captured by you!" They cried and Jayi Jin was about ready to step in.
"You're too soft on them... let me handle this." Jayi Jin said in a secret sound transmission to Chen Jin. However Chen Jin threw an arm on Jayi's chest as he tried to stride past him.
"I told you. I got this." He said and Jayi Jin harrumphed.
"You better. Let me know when you give up so I can start breaking things!" He transmitted. Chen Jin just walked up to the little girls looking them in the eyes the entire time.
"Hah! Your silence proves it. You don't have Mistress Wei! We don't tell you anything you dirty liars!" Ting Wei yelled and her sister Qing Wei vehemently nodded her head in agreement. Chen Jin only responded with a sinister and confident smile,
"You don't believe me?" He said and the little girls rattled their chains.
"If you have her then prove it and bring her to us!" She said and Chen Jin shrugged.
"I can't do that. The ancestors are questioning her right now. And I assure you, what she is experiencing is a hundred times more painful than even my brother Jayi here can come up with. However, before she was taken away, screaming I might add, I did snatch this."
He held up an intricate bracelet of white ice crystals intertwined in a snowflake pattern.
"Mother's bracelet!!!!"