A Path of Cultivation Together

Real Person Shuxin lashed Ling Bao twelve times in a row, as if venting her fury. She beat him until he could no longer straighten his back or even move. Only then did she toss the golden whip into the medicinal oil to soak. Crouching beside him, she removed the ropes binding him and took out some healing salve, slowly rubbing it into the cracked, broken sores on his skin. The pain jolted him awake again.

"Ling Bao, do you know what you did wrong?"

"...This disciple... knows his mistake..."

"Oh? And what did you do wrong? Tell me."

"This disciple... this disciple brought shame upon the sect..."

Real Person Shuxin sneered and ripped off the blood scabs that had just formed under the salve's healing effects.

"Ah! Master... spare me..."

"What are you, anyway? Are you an Inner Sect disciple of the Extreme Truth Sect? You're nothing but a servant registered under my name. What right do you have to say you brought shame upon the sect?

"Bah! You brought shame upon me! You worthless piece of trash can't even beat a southern barbarian rogue cultivator! What right do you have to take me as your master? What right do you have to become my Dao Companion?"

Real Person Shuxin flew into a rage and kicked Ling Bao away. She summoned the golden whip and lashed him seven or eight times. Clutching his head, Ling Bao screamed, "Master, spare me! Spare me!" as he rolled about, teetering between life and death.

Ling Chan and Ling Juan shrank their necks, wishing they could curl into a ball. They didn't dare even breathe too loudly.

Real Person Shuxin kept beating him until her anger finally subsided. Looking down at the child who was barely recognizable as human, she sighed, then gathered