Chapter 95 – Flogging
The black and red Ting rods made sharp cracking noises as they landed on Ji Yunhao’s back…
After three or four strikes, blood was drawn.
Ji Yunhao did not want to lose face as a prince in front of so many people. Hence, he gritted his teeth as he withstood the first few strikes. But after a few more, he could not hold back a groan. After a few tens of strikes more, his groans and moans crescendoed with every strike being dealt. He nearly screamed out in pain! Cold sweat streamed down his forehead.
Upon hearing his miserable wails, Emperor Le Xuan’s face sank!
‘It was just a few strikes with the rods; how painful can it be? He’s a grown man and an imperial descendant. How can he be unable to bear this small amount of pain? Why is he wailing so miserably?! This is really making the imperial family lose face!’ Emperor Le Xuan thought back to the war that year when he had been shot by a poisoned arrow. As the circ.u.mstances back then were less than ideal, the army physician could only operate on him without using any anaesthetics to take the arrow out. He even conducted the bone sc.r.a.ping treatment to remove any residual poison, causing his blood to flow like a small fountain. All the soldiers who witnessed it were so frightened that their faces changed colours, but he did not even make a single noise, even managing to joke around with the physician…
That incident earned him the nickname “Iron-Blooded Prince”, gaining him the loyalty and respect of the entire army. It laid the foundation for his standing amongst the military…
He possessed a tough, resilient character. Naturally he would not wish for his children to be so weak as to whine and squirm at the slightest pain like cowards.
Originally Emperor Le Xuan favored Ji Yunhao, but this incident had upset him greatly. Afterwards, the Emperor will be slightly colder towards this son of his. Of course, this was a matter for later.
Right now, Ji Yunhao even thought of committing suicide by biting off his tongue just to end the pain!
It was not as if he had never been injured or taken a beating in his life. It was just that this pain stood on a whole other level compared to those other times.
Those rods seemed to have been sprinkled with salt, causing every blow to ache like the sting of a wasp. As salt entered his wounds, he felt like he was being cut into pieces. That searing pain made him unable to contain his wails, making him want to struggle to escape…
However, before the punishment, his four limbs had been tied down to the punishment bench with iron shackles. Therefore, he could not escape no matter how hard he tried, causing him to just writhe on the bench with tears and mucus flowing out profusely from his eyes and nose. He looked like a dying caterpillar.
When everyone saw his miserable state, they all knelt towards the Emperor and begged for mercy on Ji Yunhao’s behalf. Even Ji Yunhuang could not stand it anymore and pleaded to his father, “Imperial Father, Sixth Brother has already admitted his mistakes. After all, he was pampered and spoiled since he was a child, so can you please stop the punishment a few strikes earlier?”
Emperor Le Xuan’s face became overcast. He too felt that he had spoiled this son of his too much and needed to harden his heart and beat that weakness out of him.
“Continue! It cannot be one strike short! Anyone who continues pleading on his behalf will be beaten along with him!”
The Emperor’s words made them too afraid to continue pleading for Ji Yunhao.
Emperor Le Xuan had not finished, and he ordered, “Shut him up! Don’t let him continue to wail like ghosts and howl like wolves!”
Ji Yunhao was silenced with a special gag that he could not spit out, making him unable to utter a sound t…
Because the pain was too severe, Ji Yunhao felt like he was hovering on the brink of life and death. He could not faint even if he wanted to.
Whenever he used his whip to beat people, he often worried that he had not inflicted enough pain on them. But now that he was experiencing this beating, he wished that there was not such a thing called pain…
He hatefully glared at the child, not comprehending how he had offended this fellow that caused him to be dealt with in such a way.
The figure of Ning Xuemo suddenly flashed through his mind, causing his heart to tremble!
That child’s figure was actually 80% similar to Ning Xuemo’s!
He stared at the child’s face. Even though the child wore a mask, he still tried his hardest to make out the child’s features.
He simply stared intensely at those eyes…
That child had a pair of extremely brilliant eyes that revealed intelligence. Those eyes seemed as if they were filled with water, like a pair of pure and limpid lakes.