Qin Xuan held Zhunti up with one hand, adjusted the angle, aimed his head at the hard pillar, and then...
A dull thud rang out.
"Like crying, do you?!"
"Like smashing into pillars, do you?!"
"Fated with you, are we?!"
Expressionless, Qin Xuan held Zhunti by the head and slammed it against the pillar again, and again, and again.
The heavy impacts echoed through the silent Zixiao Palace, making everyone's scalps tingle.
The mighty figures present were all dumbfounded, their throats dry as they looked at Qin Xuan with awe.
After a moment, Qin Xuan tossed Zhunti onto the floor.
By now, several huge bumps had risen on Zhunti's head, and all the hair atop it had been knocked off, leaving him bald.
Blood and tears smeared his face, while muffled sobs escaped his mouth.
This time, Zhunti was truly crying.
He was not pretending...
His intestines had practically turned green with regret...
Had he known this would happen, even if he had ten times the courage, he would never have dared provoke this fiend!
Nearby, Jieyin lay on the floor and watched his junior brother's miserable state, his eyes nearly splitting with rage. He wished he could rush over and fight Qin Xuan to the death.
However, an incomparably tyrannical force Qin Xuan had left inside him was wreaking havoc through his body. Never mind fighting for his life—he could barely even stand.
Hou Tu looked at the wailing Zhunti on the ground, then at the struggling Jieyin, unable to rise, and felt a little pity for them.
She could not help recalling what Qin Xuan had said:
"Better short pain than long pain!"
Wisdom gleamed in her eyes as she actually began seriously pondering the meaning of those words.
"Better short pain than long pain... It probably means that one can compress prolonged suffering into brief suffering."
The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and she nodded unconsciously.
Thus, under everyone's astonished gazes, Hou Tu rose and walked over to Jieyin.
Imitating Qin Xuan's earlier actions, she lifted Jieyin from the ground and then... headed toward another empty pillar nearby.
Jieyin had still been grieving and raging over his junior brother's plight when someone suddenly lifted him up.
Seeing himself being taken toward that cold pillar, his soul nearly fled his body. Trembling without end, he used all his strength to painfully plead, "Fellow... fellow cultivator... please... show mercy!"
Hou Tu stopped, turned to look at him, and curved her lips slightly as she said gently,
"Leave it to me!"
"I've thought of a good way to ease your pain!"
Hearing this, Jieyin immediately sighed in relief.
Such a gentle and beautiful woman surely only meant to put on a show, frighten him a little, and give him a way out.
Not only him—even Qin Xuan and everyone else in the hall subconsciously thought so.
However, just as Jieyin was secretly rejoicing,
Hou Tu had already copied Qin Xuan's earlier movements, adjusted the angle, and aimed Jieyin's head at the pillar.
The next moment.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!...
A string of impacts, even more rapid and violent than when Qin Xuan had smashed Zhunti into the pillar, suddenly resounded throughout the entire Zixiao Palace!
That speed, that strength, that ruthlessness...
For a moment, every mighty figure in the hall shuddered involuntarily. Their gazes toward Hou Tu instantly changed, as though they were meeting this Ancestral Witch for the first time.
In their hearts, they all stamped her with the label: "Absolutely cannot be provoked."
Only a few breaths later,
Hou Tu stopped.
Jieyin's head had become just like Zhunti's—bruised purple and blue, covered in bumps, and bald.
That storm-like barrage of savage impacts had left him dizzy and disoriented, stars swimming before his eyes and his consciousness fading.
Before passing out, he only managed to murmur hazily,
"Where... where was the... gentleness...?"
Then his head tilted to one side, and he completely lost consciousness.
Hou Tu looked at the quiet Jieyin in her hand and nodded in satisfaction, seemingly very pleased with the pain-relieving method she had devised.
Mm, I should listen to Xuan'er more in the future.
Look, Jieyin isn't even crying. Obviously, it doesn't hurt that much. Unlike that Zhunti—he's still sobbing even now!
She casually tossed Jieyin beside Zhunti as though throwing away a worn sack.
The fall jolted the unconscious Jieyin awake, and excruciating pain instantly swept through his entire body.
The two looked at each other and saw the same wretchedness and humiliation on the other's face. A surge of grief and rage welled up in their hearts.
Zhunti secretly sent a voice transmission, "Senior Brother, don't use mana to remove the bumps on our heads. Keep them there to remind us at all times of today's humiliation. We must never forget it for all eternity!"
A fierce glint flashed through Jieyin's eyes as he replied, "Indeed! If this vengeance is not avenged, I swear I will never rest!"
Zhunti added, "Senior Brother, if we establish a sect in the future, the first thing our disciples must do upon joining will be to shave all the hair off their heads! This humiliation must be passed down through every generation!"
Jieyin said in a deep voice, "Indeed. Not only must they shave their heads, these bumps must become a tradition as well!"
"We must let future disciples remember that Qin Xuan and Hou Tu bestowed all of this upon us!"
Jieyin was gritting his teeth in hatred when he suddenly remembered the meditation cushions and urgently transmitted his voice, "Junior Brother, quickly! The cushions! Don't let anyone take them!"
However, when they struggled to turn back, a fiery red figure was already sitting firmly upon the cushion that belonged to them.
It turned out that while Hou Tu was violently beating Jieyin, Dijun had held the Hetu Luoshu while Taiyi brought forth the Eastern Emperor Bell. With the aura of late-stage Great Golden Immortals, they had firmly claimed the cushions.
They had lost their cushions and suffered a brutal beating as well. Jieyin and Zhunti could no longer endure it and burst into tears, crying even louder than before.
Seeing this, Hou Tu hurriedly returned to her own cushion. Qin Xuan had gone to so much effort to help her seize it; she could not lose it.
At that moment, Qin Xuan stared at his Sister Hou Tu with a strange expression, his heart full of bewilderment!
Is this... really the gentle and kind Sister Hou Tu I know?
She wasn't like this in Pangu Temple!
Who corrupted my gentle and adorable Sister Hou Tu?!
Step forward! I guarantee I won't beat him to death!
The farce finally came to an end, and calm gradually returned to the Zixiao Palace, as though nothing had happened.
Yet the names Qin Xuan and Hou Tu, along with their earth-shattering actions just now, had been deeply engraved in the hearts of every mighty figure.
Just then, above the foremost seat at the center of the great hall, purple qi swirled, auspicious clouds gathered, and golden lotuses emerged from the void. An aged figure slowly solidified amid radiant light.
The newcomer held a whisk and wore a simple Daoist robe. His face was as still as an ancient well, yet he exuded an indescribable majesty and detachment.
It was Hongjun.
"Greetings, Dao Ancestor!" Haotian and Yaochi, who stood in attendance beside the throne, were the first to kneel.
"We pay respects to the Dao Ancestor!" The three thousand guests in the hall rose and bowed, their expressions reverent.
Hongjun's calm gaze swept across the hall, pausing imperceptibly on Qin Xuan for an instant.
A variable... From the moment this man stepped into the Zixiao Palace, everything changed!
Before you continue