Cell 4 was not a cage; it was a theater of pain.
The room was circular, illuminated by torches that burned with a sputtering, green corpse-fire. The walls were hung with hooks, chains, and whips made of Spirit-Snake scales. But the centerpiece of the room was the Wooden Horse.
It was a long, horizontal beam raised on legs, but unlike a bench, the top was not flat. It was shaped like a sharp, inverted V—a triangular wedge made of Ironwood, polished to a dark sheen by the sweat and fluids of countless victims. The apex of the triangle was roughly two inches wide, designed not to cut skin immediately, but to press, split, and crush sensitive soft tissue under the weight of the victim.
Warden Gui and the two guards—Guard Zhang and Guard Li—dragged Su Qingyue into the room.
She was limp in their arms. The fresh brand on her pubic mound—FENG SLAVE—was throbbing with a searing heat that radiated through her pelvis. Her legs were weak, trailing uselessly on the damp stone.
"Up she goes," Warden Gui croaked, tapping the wooden beam with his cane. "Center her properly. The Master wants her hips widened, not broken."
Zhang and Li, two burly men with grimy skin and eyes filled with lust, grabbed Su Qingyue by the waist and armpits.
"No... please... just let me sleep on the floor..." Su Qingyue murmured deliriously.
"The floor is for dogs," Guard Zhang grunted, his rough hands squeezing her ribs. "You're a prize pony. You get to ride."
They lifted her naked body into the air. Her legs dangled helplessly.
They lowered her onto the sharp wedge.
"AAAAHH!"
Su Qingyue screamed as the wooden apex drove into her crotch.
It didn't enter her vagina—it was too wide for that. Instead, it pressed directly against her perineum and the sensitive outer labia. The wedge forced her legs apart, splaying her widely. Her entire body weight was concentrated on that thin strip of hard wood pressing against her most delicate flesh.
"Spread her," Gui ordered.
Zhang and Li grabbed her ankles and pulled them down, forcing her thighs to straddle the beam completely.
"Secure the weights."
The guards produced heavy iron shackles attached to large stone blocks. They locked the shackles around her ankles.
CLANK.
Gravity took over. The stones dragged her feet toward the floor.
"NNNGGGGG!"
Su Qingyue threw her head back, her neck veins popping. The pressure on her crotch doubled instantly. The wood dug deep into her pussy lips, spreading them open like a book, exposing the pink, tender meat inside to the cold dungeon air. The wedge pressed painfully against her clitoris and the fresh brand just above it.
She was immobilized. Straddling a razor-sharp beam, weighed down by stone, completely naked and displayed.
"Look at that," Guard Li whispered, wiping his mouth. He stepped back to admire the view. "The Ice Goddess... split open like a peach."
Warden Gui laughed, a dry, rattling sound. "Don't just look, boys. The Master said to 'prepare' her. That means the meat needs to be tenderized. Check the goods."
Permission granted.
Guard Zhang stepped forward first. He was a coarse man who smelled of garlic and unwashed armor. He stood right in front of her spread legs. Her face was level with his chest.
"Such white skin," Zhang muttered. He reached out with dirty, calloused fingers.
He didn't touch her face. He reached straight for her breasts.
"Ah!" Su Qingyue gasped as his rough hands grabbed her soft mounds.
He didn't caress; he groped. He squeezed her breasts like he was testing melons at a market, his thumbs digging into the pale flesh. The contrast was stark—the pristine, glowing white skin of the Holy Maiden being kneaded by the filthy, tanned hands of a dungeon guard.
"So soft," Zhang groaned, his breathing getting heavy. "Hey Li, come feel this. It's like holding water."
Guard Li circled around behind the wooden horse. Su Qingyue couldn't turn her head, but she felt his presence behind her exposed back.
Li placed his hands on her buttocks.
"The back is even better," Li chuckled. He traced the red handprints left by Feng Wuya and his friends earlier. "Look at how wide she is spread. I can see everything from back here."
He ran his finger down her butt crack, right over the swollen, abused ring of her anus.
"Stop... please stop touching me..." Su Qingyue sobbed, tears dripping off her chin onto Zhang's hands. "I am a person... I am not..."
"You're a slave," Zhang interrupted, flicking her nipple hard.
"Gah!"
"Look down," Zhang commanded, pointing at her crotch. "Read it."
Su Qingyue tried to close her eyes, but Zhang grabbed her jaw, forcing her head down.
There, right where the wood was digging into her split sex, the angry red brand stood out against her pale skin.
FENG SLAVE.
"That's what you are," Zhang sneered. "And slaves exist to be handled."
Guard Li, standing behind her, leaned in close to her ear. "I bet you've never had a commoner touch you, have you, Princess? You probably thought we were dirt."
He reached around her waist and slid his hands down to her belly, his fingers brushing the top of the brand.
"Now look at you," Li whispered, grinding his groin against her bare buttocks. "Riding the wood while we play with your tits."
Su Qingyue felt sick. The smell of the men, the roughness of their hands, the relentless pain of the wooden wedge splitting her crotch—it was overwhelming. But worse was the betrayal of her own body.
The Fire-Ice Harmonizing Pill and the conditioning she had received were reacting to the stimulation. Even though she was terrified and in pain, the blood flow to her crotch caused by the pressure was making her swell.
"She's dripping," Guard Zhang noticed, pointing at the wood beneath her.
A mix of clear fluid and the remnants of the wines/oils was leaking from her, running down the side of the wooden horse.
"The Holy Maiden is wet!" Zhang laughed, slapping her inner thigh. SMACK. "You like having rough men touch you, don't you, bitch?"
"No! I don't! It hurts!"
"Liar," Li growled from behind. He grabbed her hips and pulled down, adding his weight to the stones.
"AAAAAHHHH!"
The wedge drove deeper. It felt like she was being cut in half from the bottom up. The pressure on her clitoris was excruciating, bordering on a white-hot pleasure that made her brain short-circuit.
"Look at her twitch," Warden Gui observed from his chair, leering at her. "Her body is made for pain. It digests it like food."
Guard Zhang grew bolder. He began to massage her breasts vigorously, pinching the nipples until they were dark red and erect. He buried his face in her cleavage, inhaling her scent—the mix of burnt skin, expensive wine, and female fear.
"Smells like money," Zhang grunted against her skin. He licked the side of her breast. A long, wet stripe of saliva.
Su Qingyue shuddered. She wanted to vomit, but she had nothing left in her stomach.
"Let me taste," Li said from behind. He leaned over her shoulder and bit her earlobe, hard enough to draw blood.
They surrounded her. Four hands roaming over every inch of her naked, trapped body. Pinching, slapping, squeezing. They treated her like a piece of dough. They commented on her moles, the shape of her areolas, the tightness of her skin.
"Check the brand again," Gui ordered. "Make sure it's not infected."
Guard Zhang knelt down between her legs. His face was inches from her spread pussy. His hot breath blew onto her sensitive, tortured flesh.
"It looks angry," Zhang said, reaching out. He pressed his thumb directly onto the fresh burn.
"GYYYYAAAAAA!"
Su Qingyue thrashed against the chains, her scream echoing off the stone walls. The pain was blinding.
"Sensitive," Zhang grinned. He moved his finger down, dragging it through the wetness on the wooden beam, collecting her juices. He held his finger up to her face.
"Taste it."
"No..."
"Taste your own filth, Slave."
He jammed the fluid-coated finger into her mouth.
Su Qingyue gagged, tasting salt, iron, and musk. She was forced to suck his dirty finger, her eyes wide with humiliation.
"That's a good girl," Guard Li laughed, slapping her ass cheek again. "She sucks well. The Master trained her fast."
After what seemed like hours of fondling and degradation, Warden Gui stood up.
"Enough fun," he wheezed. "The Master said to leave her on the horse overnight. She needs to stretch."
The guards groaned in disappointment but pulled away.
"A shame," Zhang muttered, giving her breast one last, painful squeeze. "I could have played with those tits all night."
"Leaving her like this..." Li shook his head, looking at her spread, trembling form. "She won't be able to walk tomorrow."
"She won't need to walk," Gui said darkly. "She just needs to open."
They walked to the door.
"Enjoy the ride, Goddess!" Zhang called back, laughing.
The heavy iron door slammed shut.
CLANG.
Darkness fell, save for the single sputtering torch.
Su Qingyue was alone.
But the torture didn't stop. The silence made it worse.
The weights on her ankles seemed to get heavier with every second. The wooden wedge felt like it was slowly sawing through her pelvis. Her legs were cramping, locking up in agony.
"Ye Chen..." she whispered into the darkness, her voice a broken rasp.
But as the pain throbbed in time with the brand on her groin, a terrifying thought crept into her mind.
Her body... her treacherous, broken body... was still wet. The pressure of the wood against her swollen clitoris was providing a constant, maddening stimulation that she couldn't escape.
She was going to be stuck here all night, straddling a phallic beam, hovering on the edge of agony and orgasm, with the word SLAVE burning on her skin.
And somewhere deep in the darkness of her mind, the Ice Goddess died, and the Pet began to whimper for more.