Watching Moqing about to turn the corner, he finally turned slightly and looked at me with indifference. I caught his gaze from afar and immediately ran forward a few steps, "Master, are you asking me to go out with you?"
"There are no living people left here."
So I hurried to catch up with him, and he waited for me in place. Seeing his attitude, I knew that there was completely no problem today.
But...
While he was fine, I had something to report:
"Master, I have something else to tell you," I said, "Although I am your disciple now..."
"Who said that?" He paused in his steps, interrupting my words with a cold look, then turned to stare at me.
I stared back at him straightforwardly, "We discussed this last time we met, about me being your disciple."
"I agreed to it?"
"You didn't refuse."
"..."
He fell silent again, so I took it as his acquiescence and continued confidently with my earlier topic, "I am your disciple now, although I paused here deliberately for a moment, glanced at him, saw no objection, nodded satisfactorily, and continued, "But I came later, so I deeply respect the brothers and sisters of the Xiyue Peak..."
Zhiyan couldn't catch up with my pace, but I heard her seemingly spit out a mouthful of blood.
I ignored her and continued, "So although they are very strict with me, I only consider it as their way of training me. But I didn't expect that some of the brothers have been behaving improperly recently, even dishonoring my innocence, which is really too much. Today I was planning to burn money, but they chased me all the way, and even all the paper money fell out. You see..."
Mo Qing did not stop walking and did not look back: "No one told you to respect them. In Wan Lu Men, strength speaks for itself."
The implication is clear: regardless of what anyone says.
I nodded, it was appropriate, my body belonged to me now anyway. In front of me, even the little demons from Xiyue Peak could still laugh. I respect you as mere underlings.
Following Mo Qing, not yet out of the valley, on the way, I heard a dispute ahead at the corner. One side was the voice of the small-nosed guy, saying: "I must report this to the sect leader. We can't enter without their approval, but you can. You can go in, capture the person from the Xianmen, and kill them directly. You won't have to worry, and we won't have to worry. When the sect leader asks, just say that she tried to break into the valley, and you couldn't stop her. In the end, you had to carry out the execution."
Listening to their conversation, it turned out that Zhiyan had been intruding into the forbidden area for so long, and they hadn't reported it to the sect leader.
I raised my eyebrows, defining the nature of this matter - a classic case of deceiving superiors and colluding with other departments to seek financial gain and harm others.
In my view, doing bad things is not a crime. We, practitioners of the demonic path, kill to cultivate and snatch magical treasures. Internal fighting within the sect, fierce battles behind the scenes, one thing in public and another behind the back - that's the true essence of it all. Otherwise, why bother practicing the demonic path? Adhering to the rules of the orthodox sects is enough for cultivating immortality. We, practitioners of the demonic path, are just seeking convenience and joy.
Therefore, based on this principle, I used to deal with matters and people in a very straightforward manner. Two principles.
One is based on my mood.
If someone commits an offense and I'm in a good mood, I won't care. If I'm in a bad mood, I'll break their legs and throw them out of the sect.
The other principle is if they do something bad that harms me, regardless of my mood, I will uniformly beat them to death, whip their corpse, and drag them out for public display.
Deceiving superiors and colluding with other departments, deceiving their superiors, will be dealt with according to the first principle. But if they deceive me and I find out without them properly making amends, it will be handled according to the second principle. The sect's whipping post is waiting for your visit.
So, if this proposal to "deceive the sect leader" had been made in the past, by the time dawn broke, it would have led to the offenders being hung from the hanging corpse pillar in front of the sect.
It's a pity the sect leader is not me now. I glanced at Mo Qing, who remained silent and composed, and waited to see how he would handle it later.
Walking around the corner of the mountain road, I saw a large stone at the front of the road with the words "Forbidden Area" written on it. It stood there quietly, and in front of the stone was a rare flat land in the mountains. The demonic practitioners and the small-nosed guy were arguing on the flat land.
Among the seven or eight low-level demonic practitioners of Xiyue Peak, it was the short-haired male demonic practitioner who appeared to be leading the way in arguing with the small-nosed guy. They hadn't noticed Mo Qing and me approaching.
The small-nosed guy, who was facing our direction, suddenly fell silent. A few moments later, they turned to look at us. At first, they didn't react, but when the small-nosed guy called out, "Sect leader," everyone's faces turned as pale as a sheet, as if they were actors changing their expressions. When they saw the living me beside Mo Qing, several demonic practitioners even turned pale.
Well, judging from appearances, Mo Qing has established himself as quite intimidating among the sect members.
"Someone has intruded into the forbidden area, why didn't you stop them or report it?" Mo Qing asked, fully aware of the situation.
Several demonic practitioners immediately knelt down, dare not lift their heads.
Meanwhile, the small-nosed guy looked at me with great difficulty, then at Mo Qing and said, "Sect leader, I really... don't know if I should kill..."
Thinking from his standpoint, I actually understood him. But he was truly foolish, so I couldn't help but interject, "I asked why didn't you stop and report, not whether you should kill someone." I turned to Mo Qing and said with an adorable smile, "That's what you meant, right, Master?"
As soon as I said that, the faces of the demonic practitioners on the ground became even more colorful, changing like a revolving lantern. And the small-nosed guy behind them, fiercely pounding his fist, had a look of sudden enlightenment on his face.
Mo Qing glanced at me but neither agreed nor disagreed.
He strolled to a few demon cultivators, casually speaking with a detached tone: "I have not paid attention to the matter of taking in disciples for a long time, but now, the disciples in my Wanlu Sect are audacious enough to not only fight among themselves, but also dare to manipulate others, deceive the superiors, and act wantonly in forbidden areas." His words paused, and the pressure around suddenly increased. Even standing behind him, I felt oppressed.
The demon cultivators kneeling on the ground, those with slightly weaker spiritual energy, vomited blood upon opening their mouths.
"Who gave you the courage?"
As he asked, all the demon cultivators on the ground trembled and cried out, "Master, have mercy, Master, have mercy."
However, despite their pleas, the overwhelming pressure around them did not diminish.
I thought to myself that Moqing would likely start killing tonight. His way of handling such matters was consistent with my previous experiences, and it seemed there would be another display of execution. Hmph, I thought disdainfully, lacking in originality.
I had been hoping to show off my skills after a long time without disciplining anyone, and my desire had been curbed by Moqing's stereotypical method. Now that I was returning to Xiyue Peak, I wouldn't need to establish my authority. Word would spread by mouth, and other demon cultivators would be scared to death without my intervention.
After all, Moqing let me leave the forbidden area alive, accepted my summoning of his master, and then killed several other offenders against "me". Regardless of the specific causes and effects, to outsiders, it seemed intriguing enough.
However, at this moment, the leader suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, collapsed to the ground, and Moqing's power slowly dissipated.
Huh?
I was a little puzzled. They hadn't died yet, so why did the pressure stop?
I turned to look at Moqing, who was coldly looking down at the demon cultivators, who seemed to have just experienced a walk through hell. Their sorry state was worse than that of Er Gouzi.
He ordered, "Send them to Shuan'an Town at the foot of the mountain to farm, and they are not allowed to return to the mountain for ten years."
What?
Wait...
Did I mishear something?
Where were the execution platform and hanging pillars? Instead of letting the vultures peck at them, they were simply sent down the mountain like this? For ten years? And they were asked to farm? What kind of torture was farming? How come I've never heard of it!
I stared in astonishment at the demon cultivators as they received their orders, helped each other to their feet, and walked away, limping.
They had all managed to escape unscathed!
Moqing, oh Moqing, you are truly an enigma to me!
You used to catch me off guard with your killings, and now, your method of dealing with this situation also caught me off guard.
I frowned at him as he finished dealing with the demon cultivators and did not waste any time before instructing me, "If she appears in your dreams again in the future, come and report to me." Then, his figure disappeared into the vast dark night.
I stood in the dark for a while, and Xiaotazhizi approached: "Miss." This time, he was very polite, "Shall I call for a sedan chair to take you back?" He almost bent his body in half in his inquiry.
I turned to look at him, "Xiaotazhizi, I have a question for you." I furrowed my brow, looking serious, "What does 'farming' mean? Explain it to me."
Small Tabby-nosed listened to me and silently pinched his nose, saying, "Just going to the farmland in front of the mountain gate to do farm work."
I couldn't understand it any more. Leaving aside the matter of punishing people with "doing farm work," the main thing is...
"Is there a place in front of our mountain gate where we can do farm work?"
When I was the head of Wanlu Men, in order to show the unique momentum of our Wanlu Men, I set up a thousand dangerous barriers in front of the main mountain gate of Chenshi Mountain.
Gun formations, arrow formations, demonic fire burning, freezing cold, those who dared to break in would either die or wish they were dead. Within thirty miles of the mountain gate, without the permission of our Wanlu Men, not even a fly could enter. In the eyes of the orthodox martial arts world, the mountain gate of Chenshi Mountain is a perfect representation of a worldly hell!
But now someone told me that they want to send people to do... farm work in front of the mountain gate?
Ah, I understand. So this is what Mo Qing likes to do. Give them tasks that are impossible to complete, let them do farm work in the killing formation, and thus torture them, right...
"Well, it didn't exist originally," Small Tabby-nosed explained earnestly, "After the head of the mountain took over Wanlu Men, he erased the previous formations and returned the land to the people, for everyone to cultivate food."
I almost sprayed blood in Small Tabby-nosed's face: "What did you say? He erased what?"
Small Tabby-nosed whispered to me, "The previous head's formations. The head erased them, the first year the land was barren, with little harvest. But the harvest has been good these past two years. Whatever is planted yields a good harvest. Now is the spring season, and there is a vibrant scene in front of the mountain gate of Chenshi, did you not see it before you arrived, miss?"
I...
If I had seen it, I would probably be so angry that I would blind myself...