Hmm, So Pretty

But Luohu was, after all, Luohu.

Though afraid, his face still showed not a single ripple of emotion.

"Hong Yuan, I don't think you'll kill me!"

"Oh?" A hint of amusement flickered across Hong Yuan's face.

"What gives you, Luohu, that idea? Based on the measures you've preliminarily laid in the Western Earth Veins?"

The moment Hong Yuan spoke these words, Luohu's body involuntarily trembled a fraction.

A flash of panic crossed his expression for an instant.

But soon, he regained his composure.

"As expected of you, Hong Yuan. This Old Ancestor thought his methods could fool you."

It was precisely because of Hong Yuan's existence that Luohu had laid his own measures in the Western Earth Veins in advance.

Though he had once promised Hong Yuan he would not cause too great a harm to the Primordial Wilderness.

But that premise held only under the condition that his life and safety were not threatened.

If he were about to die, who would care about any of that then?

What Luohu hadn't expected was that, even with the aid of the Jade Plate of Creation fragments, his methods had still been discovered by Hong Yuan.

Facing Luohu's frankness, Hong Yuan couldn't help but chuckle lightly, a trace of contempt flickering across his face. "Forget it. With just one or two fragments in your hand, you still delude yourself into thinking you can deceive This Venerable? I wonder if I should say you, Luohu, still underestimate This Venerable far too much."

"Don't you know that thing belongs to my Elder Brother?"

Hong Yuan's words were not meant to startle, but they struck like a thunderclap deep in Luohu's heart.

Hong Yuan knew he had fragments of the Jade Plate of Creation in his possession?

How was that possible?

This fragment of the Jade Plate of Creation had only been in his hands for a mere tens of thousands of years, and he had never once revealed it before anyone else.

Causality and the group of minor underlings nearby were also dazed upon hearing these words.

Unlike those minor underlings, who still didn't fully grasp Hong Yuan's true identity—after all, before the Primordial Wilderness emerged, they had not yet developed sentience—

Causality and his two companions, however, knew exactly who Hong Yuan's Elder Brother was.

They hadn't expected that Luohu actually possessed a treasure left behind by Pangu.

No wonder Luohu's cultivation had advanced so swiftly.

"Hong Yuan, speak. What conditions must I meet for you to spare me?"

"Oh? When did I ever say I would let you go?"

Luohu smiled. "With your cultivation, Hong Yuan, if you truly wanted to kill me, you would have struck from the very beginning, rather than explaining so much to me!"

Hong Yuan looked at the confident expression on Luohu's face and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"You've guessed right, Luohu. I indeed have no intention of killing you, since you still have use for the Primordial Wilderness. But... yes, I never said I wouldn't beat you!"

The moment Hong Yuan uttered these words, the smile on Luohu's face froze instantly.

But before he could react, Hong Yuan merely waved a single hand, suspending Luohu in midair.

Then, in his hand, a long whip that Luohu was all too familiar with materialized.

Seeing this scene, Luohu's face turned pale.

"Hong Yuan, don't use such means to humiliate this Old Ancestor! If you've got the guts, kill me directly!"

"That won't do!"

Hong Yuan muttered softly.

With that, a single lash struck directly across Luohu's body.

"Haah!!"

This lash instantly flushed Luohu's face crimson. Even though he forcibly endured the searing pain, he couldn't help but let out a muffled roar.

After all, he still had a host of subordinates watching from the side.

He, Luohu, would rather die than suffer such humiliation.

He had also considered self-destructing on the spot.

But Hong Yuan had anticipated that. The cultivation of a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of the Origin directly suppressed Luohu completely, making it impossible for him to detonate himself.

As for Luohu's subordinates not far away, when they saw their own Old Ancestor subjected to such indignity, they dared not show the slightest resistance, nor even raise any anger.

They simply kept their heads down, staring at the rhythmic patterns of the great array beneath their feet.

Mm, quite beautiful.

He looked as if he wished he could bury his head in the ground.

Meanwhile, Hong Yuan held a long whip evolved from the Law of Strength.

Lash after lash, he struck Luohu.

This beating lasted a full three years.

Though this span of time was utterly insignificant to someone like Hong Yuan, for Luohu, each day felt like a year—a veritable hell on earth.

It was even more humiliating than when Pangu had slain him.

"Luohu, tell me, why must you oppose This Seat? This Seat hasn't interfered with your affairs—are you just bored out of your mind?"

But faced with Hong Yuan's taunts, Luohu remained silent.

Only when the whip lashed his body did he let out a miserable howl.

"Enough. This Seat will spare you this time, but you, Luohu, must do one thing for me. Are you willing?"

Only then did Luohu finally lift his head.

"Speak!"

"This Seat needs you to find a way to set up some defensive formations in the Primordial Wilderness, covering the entire Primordial Wilderness within them!"

Luohu had been listening carefully to Hong Yuan's request, but when Hong Yuan finished, he blurted out:

"That's impossible. I cannot do it!"

Given the vastness of the Primordial Wilderness, even as a Golden Immortal of the Origin, he could never envelop the entire land with a single formation.

Hong Yuan thought it over—this was indeed asking too much of Luohu.

After a moment's deliberation, he rephrased: "Then do this: organize everyone in the Primordial Wilderness to work with you on setting it up. Do your best. Whether you succeed or fail, this matter of you attacking me will be wiped clean. And I will have Fellow Daoist Yang Mei assist you as well."

"What do you think, Luohu?"

Luohu considered briefly and finally agreed.

"Fine."

After all, he didn't want to be hung up and beaten again.

That truly hurt.

And it was far too shameful.

Seeing Luohu accept, Hong Yuan turned to Causality and the other two and said, "I wonder if Fellow Daoists Causality and the others could help This Seat with this matter? After all, it is quite beneficial for you all as well."

Causality and his companions immediately agreed.

"Fellow Daoist Hong Yuan is too polite. Since the day we emerged into the world, we have been part of the Primordial Wilderness. Doing this is only our duty."

Hong Yuan nodded. "Excellent."

With that, he set Luohu down.

He waved his hand casually, and the formation Luohu had set up earlier collapsed in an instant.

Everyone appeared directly within the dojo on Mount Sumeru.

After a moment's thought, Hong Yuan took out some spiritual fruits and handed them to Causality and the other two.

He hesitated briefly, then tossed one to Luohu as well.

When the others saw the spiritual fruits Hong Yuan offered, their hearts jolted.

"This is... a fruit from the Chaos Spiritual Root?!"

"And from its grade, it's no ordinary Chaos Spiritual Root—at least a high-grade one. Such spiritual roots are extremely rare even in Chaos. I never thought such a root would still exist in the Primordial Wilderness, just after the world's creation."

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