The towering figure was beaten until his gaze lost focus. The overlapping cosmoses that had been floating around him vanished, and his aura plumted.
He plumted from the Daluo realm, a state beyond the flow of Years, down to the Celestial Realms level—omnipresent and reflecting all heavens. Then he fell again, to the Immortal level of endless life, where his descent barely managed to stop.
Old Nong clapped his hands and said with a smile:
"Alright. Beat him."
"Yes!"
Lu Xuan looked at the Emperor of the Upper Palace of Gouchen, who was sprawled on the ground coughing up blood, his gaze vacant. A vicious glint flashed in Lu Xuan’s eyes. He cracked his knuckles and strode forward.
"I command infinite strength, which even an Immortal cannot withstand."
As his words beca law, infinite power converged on Lu Xuan. He hauled up the Emperor of the Upper Palace of Gouchen, raised his fist high, and brought it crashing down!
"Do you confess?"
Emperor Gouchen, his cultivation suppressed to the initial stage of the Immortal Level, was seeing stars from the blow. Just as he was about to speak, another fist ca down.
BAM!
This Emperor, the ruler of the West Pole who presided over weapons and misfortune, was smashed into the floor of the Emperor’s Palace amid a spray of shattered stone.
Lu Xuan rembered the hundred cities slaughtered in the Sui Region, the Drought Demon that had rampaged unchecked, and the hundred thousand li of frozen land. His eyes turned red as he strode forward.
"Do you confess!"
The mont the words left his lips, his fists rained down, one after another. With his mind and Divine Soul also suppressed by Old Nong, Emperor Gouchen was utterly unable to endure the agony and let out a wretched, involuntary scream!
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Lu Xuan used no other Divine Techniques, no Great Slaughter Techniques, no Heaven and Earth’s Marvelous Skills. He used only his fists, pure and simple, striking again and again, punch after punch!!
The gates of the Emperor’s Palace closed, blocking all lines of sight, but Old Nong left a tiny crack open, allowing the sounds to spill out.
The sickening thud of each punch landing and the agonized howls of Emperor Gouchen spread throughout the Thirty-Three Celestial Realms, echoing through the West Pole Celestial Palace and the other Four Directions Celestial Courts.
Even the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on Spirit Mountain heard the commotion. They all stopped chanting their scriptures, their stunned gazes turning toward the West Pole Celestial Palace.
"rcy, rcy." Shakyamuni Buddha’s expression grew sowhat strange. He pressed his palms together and chanted softly.
In the Central Celestial Court, the Emperor Corpse, seated upon his throne in Lingxiao Palace, heard the wails of the Great Emperor from the west. A faint smile touched his lips.
The smile grew wider until it erupted into booming laughter that shook not only the entire Lingxiao Palace but all of Milo Celestial Palace as well!
And up in the clouds, the expressions on the faces of the nurous Immortal Officials and Divine Officials grew incredibly complex.
Venus and Li Jing exchanged a silent, blank stare, both utterly speechless.
The agonized screams and the thud of landing fists continued unabated for ten full days and nights.
Ten days later, the wretched cries from within the Emperor’s Palace finally stopped. A Daoist’s cold question could then be heard, spoken one deliberate word at a ti:
"Do. You. Confess?"
The assembled Immortals, their hearts pounding in fear, strained to listen.
After a long, dead silence,
a weak voice finally sounded from within the Gouchen Emperor’s Palace.
"I... confess."
An uproar erupted among the Immortals and Buddhas.
The faces of the trembling Immortal Officials and Divine Officials of the West Pole Celestial Palace drained of color. Outside the palace gates, Zhao Zheng suddenly roared with laughter.
And inside the Emperor’s Palace, the Daoist was laughing too—a sound that was both a laugh and a sob.
"Not enough,"
he said.
Lu Xuan’s eyes were still bloodshot. He stared at the mangled form of the Emperor of the Upper Palace of Gouchen and brought his fist crashing down again, eliciting a faint, pained whimper.
He spoke again.
"Still not enough."
Taking a deep breath, Lu Xuan withdrew his fists, now stained with Emperor’s Blood. He took up the Ancient Tree Branch and spoke in a cold voice.
"Since you have confessed, I will now pass sentence. Do you accept my judgnt?"
Emperor Gouchen lay collapsed on the ground, his Heaven-Reaching Dao Foundation shattered. From his physical body and cultivation to his very soul and mind, everything had been suppressed to an extrely low level by Old Nong.
’Otherwise, how could a mighty Daluo be unable to withstand re physical agony?’
He weakly lifted his head and sighed.
"I accept the punishnt."
’Gouchen suddenly understood the Supre’s intentions. He knew that if he refused the punishnt, this would not end well. If the Supre decided to flip the entire chessboard, disregarding the monuntal shifts in history, he would likely face true, final death!’
At this, Lu Xuan, stained with Emperor’s Blood, nodded. He lowered his gaze and said dispassionately:
"Then I sentence you. First, you shall receive nine thousand lashes under the watchful eyes of the Immortals in the Celestial Vault. Afterward, you will enter the Underworld and suffer the tortures of each of the Eighteen Hells for one thousand years. Then, you will enter Reincarnation. Only after you have accumulated a million rits and saved a hundred million souls may your sins be absolved. Do you accept this sentence?"
"...I accept!"
Gouchen gasped, his breathing heavy.
"Good."
Lu Xuan hauled Emperor Gouchen up, threw open the gates of the Emperor’s Palace, and, under the silent gaze of all the Immortals and Buddhas in the heavens, tossed the Emperor out before the hall. Then, he raised the Ancient Tree Branch high.
He declared:
"This whip strikes the True Spirit and lashes the very Soul. A single blow is equivalent to ten thousand years of punishnt. Not even Immortals or Buddhas could endure it."
As his words beca law, the Ancient Tree Branch began to tremble, and profound, mystical patterns swirled over its surface.
The next instant, as the terrified hosts of Immortals and Buddhas watched, the Daoist brought the branch whipping down, and the screaming began once more.
Emperor’s Blood flew through the air. Whenever a drop or two fell into the Human World, the Innate Material and Divine Essence contained within would burst forth,
forming a vast tide of Primordial Qi that blessed the entire Human World.
Countless people left their hos, raising their heads to the sky. They could faintly make out one figure wielding a whip, striking another figure again and again.
So said the one wielding the whip was Saint Lu, and the one receiving it was Heaven itself.
For to mortals, the lord of a Celestial Court was no different from Heaven.
「anwhile, up in the clouds.」
After the nine-thousandth lash fell, Lu Xuan once again used his power of Words Beco Law in front of all the assembled Immortals. He summoned the Ghost Gate and called forth the Yellow Springs of the Nine Nether.
The Ghost Gate swung open, and the Ten Halls Yama erged to receive him. From the east, an emperor’s might surged like a tide as a ten-thousand-zhang-tall giant approached.
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