"The message talismans have been sent, and your calls have been made. Now stand straight and wait for your masters and ancestral patriarchs to arrive!"
Gu Qingfeng kicked out, sending Dan Lei flying to the front of the Flame Cloud Grand Carriage.
"You too!
And you!"
Thud! Thud!
Bai Teng and Liu Kaiyun were also tossed over by Gu Qingfeng.
The three of them now consisted only of a head and an upper torso. Lined up side by side on the ground where Gu Qingfeng had thrown them, they lay half-dead, groaning weakly.
Nearby,
Xuan Yun, Liu Feng, and Bai Yufei, who had earlier been crippled by the mere force of Gu Qingfeng's shout—their meridians severed and their Immortal Spirits scattered—were kneeling on the ground, disheveled and utterly broken. After forcing themselves through a few kowtows amidst excruciating pain, they could no longer continue, utterly unable to endure the agony that felt like being sliced by a thousand blades.
"I said one million kowtows, and not a single one less today!"
Gu Qingfeng walked over, reached out, grabbed Xuan Yun by the head, and hauled him up. Then, he slammed him viciously onto the ground. Crack!
Xuan Yun's legs were shattered into pulp, flesh and blood flying. Xuan Yun immediately let out a howl of agony.
Gu Qingfeng then seized Bai Yufei and Liu Feng, smashing them onto the ground as well. Their legs were similarly pulverized into a bloody mess, and each of them released heart-wrenching, soul-tearing screams of pain.
"Keep kowtowing. If any of you dare stop, I'll refine your souls today, making you suffer eternal torment!"
Gu Qingfeng's voice rang out, terrifying Xuan Yun and the other two into stifling their cries. Enduring the intense pain, they prostrated themselves and began kowtowing again. With each bow, their skin would split open, fresh blood oozing out. The sight was unbearable for the onlookers; merely watching was torture, let alone imagining the agony the three were enduring.
Witnessing this scene,
the crowd gathered at the Tower of Stolen Gold buzzed with discussion, sighs of pity escaping many.
There was a time when Xuan Yun, Liu Feng, and Bai Yufei, though not the top-tier geniuses of the Dual-Pole Heavenly Domain, were undoubtedly rising stars of some renown. Be it in cultivation strength or family background, they stood out among the younger generation.
And now?
Their meridians were severed, their Immortal Spirits scattered, their legs crippled. Covered in blood, they looked neither human nor ghost. Everyone knew these three were utterly finished. Even if powerful healing arts could reconnect their severed meridians and regrow their crippled legs, whether they could ever cultivate again remained a mystery. Taking it a step further, even if they could resume cultivation someday, their shattered willpower would find it nearly impossible to recover.
Powerful healing arts might mend their broken bodies, but they could hardly heal a willpower already crushed.
In the Great Wasteland, those mighty experts who lost all their cultivation due to cultivation mishaps often failed to rise again not for lack of resources, but because their willpower simply couldn't withstand such a devastating blow. They would collapse, never to stand again.
Compared to them, Dan Lei, Liu Kaiyun, and Bai Teng were in an even more tragic state.
There was a time when these three were respected seniors of repute in the Dual-Pole Heavenly Domain, especially Dan Lei. Having cultivated for tens of thousands of years, backed by the ancient heritage of the Lotus Secret Realm, and possessing the cultivation of a Forty Heavens Zhenxing Golden Immortal, he commanded respect from Secret Realms great and small across the Dual-Pole Heavenly Domain.
And now?
Not only was his Immortal Spirit gone, his physical body was ruined, leaving him with barely a breath, groaning half-dead.
The three youths, Xuan Yun and the others, might still have a sliver of hope to rise again one day. But for these three elders who had cultivated for tens of thousands of years, there was no hope left. After cultivating for millennia, only to see it all vanish in an instant—such a devastating blow was too much for any mind to bear, no matter how strong. Their willpower had likely dissipated into nothingness the moment their Immortal Spirits scattered.
Pitiable?
Perhaps.
But no one sympathized with them.
Everyone present knew that whether it was the three elders, Dan Lei and the others, or the three rising stars, Xuan Yun and his peers, they had brought this fate upon themselves through their own actions. They had reaped what they sowed.
Everyone knew.
All of this stemmed from the wager.
Losing a bet was just that—losing. They should have accepted defeat and the penalty, or at least offered a sincere apology if unwilling to pay the price.
But what did these people do? Under the guise of apologizing, they relied on their powerful backgrounds to threaten the other party.
Fine, they threatened him, and he initially let it slide without holding it against them.
If they had known when to stop then, they wouldn't have ended up like this. Yet, when the Jinwu Li Clan arrived with reinforcements, they jumped out again, swaggering and throwing their weight around. Strutting about and showing off was bad enough, but they had to push their luck even further. And the result? They thoroughly enraged the Great Lord.
Was this not bringing misfortune upon themselves? Was this not reaping what they sowed?
Within the scene,
the Great Lord had returned to the Flame Cloud Grand Carriage, sitting in that wide, comfortable chair. He leaned back, closed his eyes, as if resting with them shut.
Huadiexianzi and Mu Lingyao stood obediently to the side, not daring to speak.
Qian Ling, Qian Niao, Horse Lord, and the dozen or so people from the Little Luo Secret Realm were thoroughly terrified, hiding inside the carriage, not even daring to breathe loudly.
More and more people gathered at the Tower of Stolen Gold. Looking around, the place was packed, crowds everywhere.
Moreover, the Fengyue Small World was the liveliest trading center in the Dual-Pole Heavenly Domain, and with a grand event about to be held, it had been exceptionally bustling these past few days. Now that such a major incident had occurred at the Tower of Stolen Gold, naturally many curious onlookers had come to witness the spectacle.
Many rising stars and senior experts from various Secret Realms had arrived, including numerous stewards and managers from the Fengyue Small World itself.
Since the Fengyue Small World was the busiest trading hub in the Dual-Pole Heavenly Domain, disputes and fights were commonplace here. If it was just minor scuffles, hardly anyone paid attention. Even if someone got killed, the Fengyue Small World usually couldn't be bothered to intervene, as such incidents happened too frequently—every day, even every moment. The Fengyue Small World simply couldn't manage them all.
Of course,
if things escalated—for instance, if two major Immortal Clans engaged in a large-scale clash involving thousands or even tens of thousands of people, disrupting the normal order of the Fengyue Small World—then the Fengyue Small World would step in to mediate.
Typically,
once the Fengyue Small World intervened, if both parties were willing to accept mediation, the Fengyue Small World wouldn't mind acting as an impartial arbiter to resolve the conflict. If both parties refused mediation and insisted on fighting to the end, the Fengyue Small World wouldn't forcibly stop them. However, the prerequisite was that they couldn't battle within the Fengyue Small World. If they wanted to fight, they had to leave the Fengyue Small World and take their conflict elsewhere, as long as it didn't disrupt the normal order of the Fengyue Small World.