"Your Holiness... you've suffered so much..."
Countless people, especially the female Soul Masters, were already sobbing too hard to speak.
Their gazes toward Ning Lin brimmed with reverence and adoration.
Their gazes toward Bibi Dong were filled with sympathy and understanding.
But when they looked at Yu Xiaogang, nothing remained but endless, unadulterated disgust.
In a corner of the crowd.
Tang San stood motionless.
His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles kept turning white.
He had heard the entire story.
He looked at Ning Lin on the platform, a man who stood tall beneath heaven, ready to press onward even against ten million foes.
Then he looked at Yu Xiaogang on the ground, whose love had turned to hatred, leaving him twisted and vicious, now a puddle of rotten mud unable even to lift his head.
An unprecedented sense of shame surged from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.
This was the teacher I, Tang San, once took pride in and vowed to honor for life?
This was the "Grandmaster" I, Tang San, once defended even at the cost of making an enemy of Spirit Hall?
Tang San closed his eyes. His chest churned like an overturned sea, so clogged with revulsion that he almost vomited.
Slowly, inwardly, he cursed, enunciating every word.
This stupid fuck was a goddamn disgrace to me!
Tang San's inward curse seemed to draw a temporary pause in this farce.
Yet Yu Xiaogang, whose reason had been utterly swept away by shame and hatred, clearly thought otherwise.
His limp body suddenly convulsed, and he actually struggled back to his feet.
"Lies!"
A painfully hoarse roar squeezed out of his throat.
"They're all lies!"
Yu Xiaogang's hair hung disheveled, his eyes blood-red, his appearance that of a man possessed.
He extended a skeletal finger toward Hu Liena, then pointed at Bibi Dong, a crazed, savage grin plastered across his jealousy-warped face.
"Made up! All of it is bullshit you two, master and disciple, cooked up to fool everyone!"
"What Nine-Revolution Nirvana Pill? What burning away his life? Nothing but lies you fabricated to whitewash yourselves and win sympathy!"
His shrill, piercing voice echoed across the silent Square.
"Ning Lin is trash! Back then, Qian Xunji beat him until he fled like a dog! And you, Bibi Dong..."
He turned toward the peerlessly magnificent Pope, the lust and venom in his eyes no longer concealed.
"You're nothing but a used-up whore Qian Xunji fucked to pieces!"
"What right do you have to stand here pretending to be pure and lofty? You..."
Smack!!!
An extraordinarily crisp slap suddenly cracked through the air!
Yu Xiaogang's words cut off abruptly.
A red afterimage had appeared before him before anyone knew it.
It was Hu Liena.
The Saintess of Spirit Hall's lovely face was now murderous. Her soul-stealing, foxlike eyes held not a trace of allure, only killing intent cold enough to freeze the soul.
"You're courting death."
Hu Liena's voice seemed to rise from beneath the nine hells.
The slap left Yu Xiaogang completely dazed. Half his face visibly swelled, a vivid red handprint branded clearly upon it.
Before he could react.
Hu Liena's next blow had already arrived.
There was no dazzling Soul Skill.
Only the purest violence, imbued with the power of a Soul Saint.
A whipping kick tore through the air with a piercing whistle and slammed viciously into Yu Xiaogang's abdomen!
Thud!
Amid the heavy crash, Yu Xiaogang flew backward like a kite with its string severed, his body curled like a shrimp. He smashed into the Judgment Platform's hard stone pillar before tumbling to the ground.
"Pff—"
A great mouthful of blood mixed with stomach acid sprayed from his mouth.
But this was only the beginning.
Hu Liena followed him like his shadow, closing in instantly.
She planted a foot on Yu Xiaogang's chest, pinning him so he could not move an inch, then struck with alternating hands, raining one resounding slap after another onto his face.
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
"This slap is for my teacher!"
"This slap is for Lord Ning Lin!"
"This slap is for myself!"
"You shameless, despicable beast who twists black into white!"
"You think you're worthy of speaking my teacher's name?!"
"You think you deserve to live in this world?!"
The crisp slaps and Hu Liena's furious rebukes rang throughout the gathering.
In the blink of an eye, Yu Xiaogang's once reasonably refined face became a mangled mass of flesh and blood, barely recognizable as human.
Below the platform, there was deathly silence.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden, incredibly brutal scene.
But no one spoke up to stop her.
After their brief astonishment, the crowd even erupted into irrepressible cheers of delight!
"Well done!"
"Beat that beast to death!"
Among the Shrek Academy contingent.
Oscar whistled, then realized it was inappropriate and hurriedly covered his mouth, though he could not conceal the excitement in his eyes.
Zhu Zhuqing simply turned her head away, but the corner of her mouth quietly lifted.
Even Flender and Liu Erlong, who had always defended Yu Xiaogang, opened their mouths, only to find themselves unable to utter a single word.
The bastard really was begging for a beating.
As Yu Xiaogang drew more breath in than he let out, on the verge of being beaten to death by Hu Liena.
Tang San finally moved.
He could no longer stand by and watch.
However disgraceful Yu Xiaogang was, he was still Tang San's teacher, the man Tang San himself had acknowledged with the words, "A teacher for a day is a father for life."
If he let a woman beat Yu Xiaogang to death right before his eyes, where would that leave his own dignity?
"Ahem."
Tang San cleared his throat twice, trying to draw Hu Liena's attention.
But Hu Liena, her eyes red with murderous fury, ignored him entirely.
Left with no choice, Tang San moved his right hand slightly.
Several translucent Blue Silver Emperor vines silently emerged from the ground like living spirit snakes, instantly coiling around Yu Xiaogang's body before yanking him backward.
Hu Liena was about to raise her foot and crush Yu Xiaogang's neck when her foot found nothing beneath it. A supple yet powerful force had already dragged his body behind Tang San.
Hu Liena halted, her murderous gaze instantly locking onto Tang San.
Tang San met her gaze, his expression calm, and slowly spoke.
"Your Highness the Saintess, where mercy can be shown, show mercy."
"Whatever happened in the past, whether true or false, has already happened. There's no point in dwelling on it any further."
His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly throughout the gathering.
"We stand here today to judge Ning Lin."
As Tang San spoke, his gaze shifted back to Ning Lin, and his tone turned chilling.
"Let's return to the matter of him assaulting a female Soul Master in the street."
"The witness is here, and the evidence stands ironclad as a mountain!"
He abruptly pointed at the trembling female Soul Master below the platform.
"Under imperial law, he must be executed!"
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