Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 346 Clear rewards and punishments
The three walked to the lakeside and encountered four disciples of the Shangchi Sect along the way.

The four men didn't recognize Xu Zhen, but they did recognize Li Jianbai and Tong Xu, and they all knew about what had happened on the mountain a few days ago. When they saw Tong Xu, each of them was slightly taken aback, thinking that the Qingpu Sect had realized Li Wuxiang's power and had submitted to him in the past few days, so they all stopped to greet Tong Xu respectfully.

Upon seeing them, Xu Zhen asked Li Jianbai, "When you were guarding the foot of the mountain, were you preventing them from coming up?"

Li Jianbai replied, "Yes. My master and the God-King both instructed that, in order to avoid being caught up in the fighting on the mountain, they should not be allowed to go to the top."

Xu Zhen laughed: "Now that you see them here, aren't you going to punish these people who broke the sect rules?"

Li Jianbai was stunned for a moment: "Originally, it should have been done, but..."

“It is what it is, there’s no ‘but’ about it.” Xu Zhen pointed at the man and said, “Go and kill them.”

"Huh?" Li Jianbai was stunned again. He felt he should listen to Xu Zhen, but deep down he knew it was absolutely wrong. This contradiction was like a small knife, slowly breaking through the fog in his mind. He stood there, swaying from side to side, as if trembling.

Upon hearing the conversation, the four men realized something was wrong. They exchanged glances, and one of them pointed at Li Jianbai and shouted, "Li Jianbai, so you've been colluding with the Qingpu Sect—"

Two of the other three immediately turned and ran after hearing his words, while the only one who was kind-hearted tried to pull him back and tell him to shut up before running away as well.

But after the two of them took a step, one of them had just reached out his hand, and the other had only uttered half a sentence, they all froze. Then, their bodies relaxed and their faces softened, and they walked to Li Jianbai's side and stood down, bowing to Xu Zhen in unison: "Fellow Daoist is right, we really deserve to die."

Xu Zhen nodded: "Then let's go together. It's not time for you to die yet."

He and Tong Xu led the five people along, and when they reached the maple forest, they could see the reclining ox stone by the lake in the distance through the gaps in the trees. Eleven disciples of the Shangchi Sect had already gathered around them.

Xu Zhen stopped and said to Li Jianbai, "It's right here. Do you know why I told you to cut off your own head?"

Li Jianbai shook his head: "I don't know."

Xu Zhen smiled and said, "I heard that your master is going to become the sect leader of Shangchi, and you will also become the sect leader in the future. Since you are the candidate for sect leader, how can you disregard the sect rules? What I hate most in my life is people who do not follow the rules - I asked you to cut off your head, and you agreed, which means that you also have a guilty conscience. Do you understand?"

Li Jianbai nodded: "I understand."

"Okay, now cut your head off."

The disciples of the Shangchi Sect wore iron armor when descending the mountain, but soft armor when on the mountain, and also carried swords at their waists. Upon hearing this, Li Jianbai drew his sword without hesitation and raised his hand to slash his own neck.

Just then, someone shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?!"

A beam of energy shot over with a whoosh, knocking the knife out of Li Jianbai's hand. Then Xie Qi rushed out from the nearby woods, followed by Li Yin.

The two were taken aback when they saw Tong Xu and Xu Zhen, but they couldn't care less about them at the moment. Xie Qi rushed to Li Jianbai's side, pulled him a few steps back, and glared at Tong Xu: "When did you get up here?! Sigh! If you have a grudge, come find me. You are the dignified sect leader of Qingpu, why make things difficult for a junior! Sigh!"

Tong Xu remained expressionless and silent.

Xu Zhen looked at Xie Qi and asked Tong Xu, "This must be Elder Xie, right?"

Tong Xu nodded.

"Is that Li Yin next to him?"

Tong Xu nodded again.

Xu Zhen then went to Xie Qi: "We have no grudge against him. But since I'm in charge of the Shangchi Sect from now on, we must abide by the rules. Your disciple did a poor job and deserves to die. Otherwise, ask him if he should have his head cut off?"

Xie Qi was taken aback: "And who are you? Oh... you're Xu Zhen? The demon king from Qingpu Mountain?"

Xu Zhen didn't answer him, but Li Jianbai said, "Fellow Daoist, you're right, I deserve to die."

After saying this, he bent down to pick up the knife. Even Xie Qi, who was slow to react, realized that something was wrong with his disciple. He raised his hand and tapped Li Jianbai's back twice, and Li Jianbai fell down like a piece of wood.

He touched his chest again, and a golden light flashed across his body, instantly transforming him into his previous appearance, fully armored, holding a large spear and blocking between Li Jianbai and Xu Zhen.

Xu Zhen laughed: "Now that you're going to be the sect leader, you're already breaking the rules. How are you going to gain the respect of the people? Someone always has to take the blame—"

"Pah! Demon! Shut your mouth and come at me!"

Xu Zhen's face turned cold: "It's because of idiots like you, who can't distinguish between interests and consequences, and who don't understand rewards and punishments, that your great cause has come to a standstill. You want to come at me? You think you're worthy to fight me?"

His tone became stern, but he did not attack Xie Qi. Instead, he waved his hand and said to the two Shangchi Sect disciples beside him, "You two, receive your punishment."

Upon hearing his words, the two men simultaneously drew their swords, intending to slit their own throats like Li Jianbai. Xie Qi was shocked and unleashed another burst of energy to deflect their blades. But Xu Zhen seemed to have anticipated this, and as Xie Qi raised his hand, he shouted to another disciple, "Come here!"

As Xie Qi unleashed his aura, the third disciple stepped forward and bumped into it. With a soft "poof," Xie Qi's aura pierced through his head. Two sharp clangs followed; the two disciples behind him had already severed their own necks with their swords, which fell to the ground.

As they faced death, the two suddenly came to their senses. They raised their hands to cover their necks, choking on the blood. These two must have been disciples of Li Yin's lineage, and they crawled towards Li Yin while still clutching their necks.

Li Yin's expression shifted between anger and uncertainty. He glanced at the disciples on the ground, then at Xu Zhen and Tong Xu, and finally at Xie Qi. Suddenly, he roared, "Sect Leader Tong! You've finally returned! I've suffered enough with this old scoundrel! Master Xu, I'll offer you his head right now!" He struck Xie Qi from behind, delivering a palm strike to Xie Qi's back. Although Xie Qi was wearing armor, he was completely unprepared for Li Yin's sneak attack. Both of them were at the Nascent Soul stage, and after this blow, Xie Qi staggered forward, coughing up blood.

Overjoyed at his successful strike, Li Yin kicked Xu Zhen to the ground, drew a small knife from his waist, and shouted at Xu Zhen, "Master Xu, I—"

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Xu Zhen frown. Li Yin was still wondering if Xu Zhen wanted to take him alive when he saw Xu Zhen's body tremble slightly, and a burst of energy suddenly emanated from his back. That energy was tangible, creating ripples in the air. At that moment, Li Yin felt that the transparent ripples resembled a Qilin, but instead of two horns on its head, it had a single horn like a sword.

He only caught a glimpse of it for a moment before the energy surged towards him with a whoosh. Li Yin had no way to dodge it and thought he would be hit hard, but the next moment he only felt a chill in his chest, as if the energy had turned into a gust of wind and passed through the gaps in his soft armor.

Li Yin was startled and nearly dropped the knife in his hand. He hurriedly cried out, "Master, please calm down! Master, please calm down! I won't kill him! I—"

Xu Zhen looked at him coldly: "Give it to me? Do you even deserve it? You became a master, yet you turned your back on your disciple and harmed your fellow disciples. I despise people like you the most."

Li Yin stood there, stunned, then turned to look at Tong Xu, hoping she would say a few good words for him. The demon king had just said, "Since I will be in charge of the Shangchi Sect from now on," which meant he intended to subdue Dapan Mountain as well—since he didn't want Xie Qi, he naturally wanted to appease the people on the mountain himself.

This reprimand was clearly meant to intimidate him, and the breeze certainly did just that—his force made him feel weak in the knees, and he was so frightened by him that he felt powerless. That should be enough…

But when he saw Tong Xu's gaze, he sensed something was off. Her eyes were wide with surprise, a hint of fear mixed with shock; she wasn't looking at his face, but rather at his chest…

Li Yin looked down—

A huge hole had been torn in his chest!
It wasn't a trauma, but a hole, slightly to the left of the heart, about the size of a head, running from the front of the chest to the back, even letting the light through from behind!

Li Yin was stunned. He reached out to touch the edge of the large hole, but what he touched was soft flesh and blood. There wasn't a drop of blood on his hand, as if the injury wasn't on his body.

He looked up at Xu Zhen in a daze, only to see him sneer: "You've lost your heart, how come you're not dead yet?"

Immediately after this, blood gushed out of the large hole in Li Yin's chest—the former Shangchi Sect Master hadn't even had time for his Yin spirit to leave his body before he collapsed to the ground with a thud, motionless.

Xu Zhen then looked at Xie Qi again: "Do you want me to clean house for you, or do you want me to clean you up too?"

Xie Qi wasn't actually knocked to the ground by Li Yin's kick. He was just suddenly struck by a palm, causing his internal energy to become disordered. He fell down because of that kick, trying to feign weakness so he could launch another attack.

Having witnessed how Li Yin died, he no longer had any thoughts of retaliating—this demon king named Xu Zhen was terrifyingly strong, and his cultivation might even be deeper than Li Wuxiang's!
He knew he was no match for him, but he couldn't really kill Li Jianbai and those sect disciples—his mind went blank for a moment, and he lay on the ground speechless.

At this moment, Tong Xu spoke up: "Let's keep them. At least keep Xie Qi and Li Jianbai. If anything happens to Pianpian, Li Wuxiang will be willing to exchange Pianpian for the two of them."

Xu Zhen turned to look at her, her tone softening, and a smile returned to her face: "Oh? You think I can't beat him?"

"That's not it. It's just that if Li Wuxiang has your sister in his grasp, you'll be more hampered in your actions, and you won't be able to fight to your heart's content. Besides, have you forgotten? You're only here to see how skilled he is and whether he knows what's good for him. If you actually kill him, it will backfire."

Xu Zhen was silent for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "What you said makes sense. Alright, then you guys can take your punishment."

He waved to the few Shangchi Sect disciples beside him. The remaining seven men simultaneously drew their swords from their waists and slit their own throats.

Seeing blood seemed to lift Xu Zhen's spirits. When she looked at Xie Qi again, her expression softened: "Look, these people died because of you. When doing things, you must be clear about rewards and punishments. If you can't distinguish right from wrong, they'll die."

Xie Qi's eyes were reddened by the blood of his disciples. He stood up from the ground, glaring at Xu Zhen: "You sent your demoness to the mountain to eat people, to eat the disciples of the Shangchi Sect, and you did such a thing. You, you, you won't say anything—"

Xu Zhen laughed loudly: "We are demons, you are humans. Aren't these rules all set by you humans, by your Great Emperor Li Ye? So naturally you humans have to abide by the rules, while we don't necessarily have to. Unless you don't want to be human anymore—Xie Qi, if you don't want to be human, I can send you to be reincarnated as a demon and take you under my wing to serve. Are you willing?"

Xie Qi was speechless. Xu Zhen waved his hand and said, "If you don't want to, then stop arguing. Sect Leader Tong, I'll leave him to you. I'll go check on Pianpian."

He walked past Xie Qi and strode towards the lake, leaving only Xie Qi, Tong Xu, and the temporarily immobile Li Jianbai in the woods.

Xie Qi, panting, glared at Tong Xu: "Sect Leader Tong, I thought you were allied with the Blood God Sect... but you actually sided with the Eastern Continent Demon Clan, you, you, sigh!"

Tong Xu glanced at the large spear in his hand: "Is there any difference, Elder Xie?"

"The Blood God Sect, the Mysterious Sect, the Demon Clan—in the end, one of them will dominate the world. Just like you, me, and these juniors on earth, what difference do we make in front of Xu Zhen? I advise you not to act rashly. Xu Zhen is a man of principle… at least he is very principled with people. I was able to persuade him once, but I can't persuade him a second time."

"Li Wuxiang let you go that day, and you still—"

Tong Xu sighed, "Elder Xie, I've always admired you people from Dapan Mountain. If it weren't for you, Li Yin would have done countless outrageous things. That's why I'm advising you, don't bother thinking about Li Wuxiang anymore; he's no match for Xu Zhen. Not that I'm talking about today—Xu Zhen likes to play around, he won't do anything to Li Wuxiang today. I'm talking about the future—after we leave today, you can think about it yourself..."

"Bah! This one on Mount Dapan is a minor deity, but there's a great deity on Mount Dajie, Sect Leader Tong—"

"Elder Xie, Xu Zhen is very similar to Li Wuxiang. Li Wuxiang also had a master in the Great Calamity Mountain. Do you think Xu Zhen has one in the Eastern Continent? The Taiyi Sect has not yet gained a foothold in the Central Continent, but the Eastern Continent is full of demons, and unlike us, there is no conflict for more than three thousand years."

"You'll die a horrible death for being a lackey of the Eastern Continent's demon race! Don't forget you're human too!"

Tong Xu smiled slightly: "Of course I remember. But what I want is not power, Elder Xie, someone like you wouldn't understand. Go and invite that young girl next to Li Wuxiang over, but don't even think about taking her away. You've seen Xu Zhen's methods, don't let her get hurt too."

(End of this chapter)