Just as Xing Yi finished those words, the purple butterfly on his shoulder disappeared into motes of light and he suddenly regained control of his body. And so did his confident mannerisms.

“I-I didn’t mean to say that! A purple butterfly was controlling me,” Xing Yi frantically explained as soon as he could.

Xing Yi’s complete three-sixty caused the crowd to be greatly confused. As were the elders. But, a certain elder thought him to be lying.

“Insolence! Why spout such lies. You are clearly doing this for attention,” Elder Jin objected. His hair was tied up into a tight bun and he had hawk-like eyes.

“And what of that butterfly? Neither my eyes nor my spiritual sense had seen such a thing!” Elder Ge added. He was an elderly man with black, ugly spots all over his face.

“Hmph! Having delusions of grandeur despite being a mere mortal. Wu Jia, teach him a lesson for his foolishness!” Elder Hui ordered . He was man that looked akin to a skeleton. His wrists were like tiny sticks and his cheekbones popped out. Despite this, he had a full head of healthy black hair.

Elder Wan did not say a word and watched the situation unfold blankly. As for Elder He, a handsome young man who sat adjacent to Elder Wan, neither did he.

Elder Yang didn’t either. He had an amused expression on his face.

“Interesting,” Elder Yang held a hand on his chin. He took the situation very lightly.

Whatever that happened would not be his problem.

And the only person who ended up speaking up was Elder Ye.

“What are you three saying! I, along with Martial Brother Kun-“

Wait, he left.

Elder Ye bit his lip as he realised that Brother Kun had left and wouldn’t come to his aid to back him.

“I saw that butterfly sitting on Xing Yi’s shoulder the entire time. Then, it disappeared right as he challenged Wu Jia to a duel. Brother Yang, don’t you agree?” Elder Ye looked to Elder Yang. Tied onto his waist by string was a yellow book.

Elder Yang stayed silent and gave Elder Ye a cursory look.

“Tch,” Elder Ye clicked his tongue in annoyance. Elder Yang had a strange temperament. He just didn’t care for anything other than his herb garden, three disciples, money, and anything that would end up benefitting him. Unfortunately, Xing Yi wasn’t one of them.

And in the end, it was his opinion versus three other elders. If Elder Kun was here, he could stop this madness. But without him, he could only let it happen.

He couldn’t get any help from the disciples either. Of course, some of them may have seen the butterfly. But they were mere disciples, their voices would not be weighed in arguments between the strong.

Elder Jin, Ge, and Hui smiled. And sitting on his earthen foundation from far away, Wu Qing was delirious.

All was going to plan. That was when he sneaked a look at someone who was seated on the opposite side of the arena. On a necklace around their neck was a flute, their hair was done in a ceasar haircut. There face was a pale white.

This man was Li Guoji. He had attempted to keep Xing Yi out of the Golden Blood Assembly, even making an exemption for him. But Wu Qing wouldn’t let that happen.

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After all, what would happen if Xing Yi embarrassed the sect like this? All because of some Heaven Chosen Medallion that was an ancient relic of the past?

“As you wish,” Wu Jia bowed with closed eyes, hands cupped as he heeded the orders of Elder Hui.

As Wu Jia exited his bow and turned to a vulnerable Xing Yi, he summoned a wooden sword from his storage pouch.

“Little boy, I will do my best to not kill you. But I will warn you, this will be very, very painful.”

The many sleepless nights that he had accumulated over the last three-month period had caused dark eyebags to form under his eyes. The droopy, dejected expression that Wu Jia gave Xing Yi, gave the young boy a big fright.

His entire body shaking, he ran away and attempted to leave the arena. But, he encountered a barrier at its edge. Where he impacted it face first, a blue ripple was made and spread throughout a massive invisible dome that had covered the arena.

Elder Wan had held up her hand at that instant, not allowing Xing Yi to escape.

Xing Yi scrambled back up from his fall and kept running along the arena edge to gain distance from Wu Jia. The sword-wielding teenager didn’t let his eyes off his prey and walked at a brisk pace, knowing that Xing Yi, like a cornered animal, would eventually run out of energy.

“Please, don’t do this!” Xing Yi begged, tears starting to form at his eyes.

He felt so frustrated that it had already been almost two years since his cultivation journey started, yet he was so weak. He had made little progress despite how hard he has worked and because of this, he was forced to run away from Wu Jia like this. If only he had been stronger, he could stand with his head up high and fight him on equal terms.

Regardless, he was completely helpless and couldn’t do anything but run.

He hated being weak.

Xing Yi, over the course of several minutes, ran circles around Wu Jia while trying to persuade Wu Jia to stop. However, his words fell on empty ears and the sword-wielding youth continued to walk towards him with a calm expression. There was simply nowhere for him to run.

Still, Xing Yi’s work hadn’t been for nothing. By passively circulating his inner qi, he could keep running for hours. Even days if he had cleansed just a couple more meridians. Other than circulating his qi really fast for quick bursts of strength, it was his only ability.

It wasn’t too long before Wu Jia and the elders noticed he wasn’t tiring out.

“Wu Jia, just get to it already,” Elder Hui ordered.

Nodding, Wu Jia used qigong to cross the distance.

“No, please-“

These were the last words Xing Yi said before being smacked squarely in the face with the end of Wu Jia’s sword. It stabbed right into the gap between the bones of his jaws and caused all his teeth to rattle and ache in pain.

Anticipating the next attack, Xing Yi put up his hands to defend his face. However, this ended up being useless as Wu Jia slashed down the slim gap between his fists and forearms, hitting him right on the top of the head.

Xing Yi moaned in pain as he held the top of his head in pain.

Another blow to his side sent him to the ground in a ball.

The only thing he could do now was to wait out the storm. Until it finished.

Again and again, at random places all over his body, Wu Jia’s sword hit him. Each hit was followed by a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream. In between were Xing Yi’s incoherent murmuring and him begging Wu Jia to stop.

But Wu Jia didn’t. He continually hit Xing Yi again and again, in places where it hurt most. The stomach, legs, head, face, and back. He had a soulless expression as he acted out this beating, not a shred of human emotion showing.

On the inside, Wu Jia did his best to distance himself from what he was doing. This wasn’t like him, and he wouldn’t do something like this again. Well, he hoped he didn’t.

He had done this kind of thing before when other disciples had challenged him but not to this extent. But after those three-months of training, he didn’t feel like doing these types of things. Especially to a kid. Maybe it was just a phase?

He would be lying if he didn’t feel bad when he heard how Xing Yi was wailing and crying.

This beating continued for several minutes, each seemingly lasting for an eternity as Xing Yi’s cries echoed throughout the mountain top. A few cultivators had left at this point, not wishing to see a child be beat.

But at some point, Elder Ge had raised his hand.

“You can stop now,” Elder Ge said with a satisfied expression.

“Yes, Elder Ge,” Wu Jia put away the wooden sword into his storage pouch and bowed. He exhaled a big breath of air, slightly exhausted by the experience.

Despite his emerging hatred for the man and the rest of the elders who had let this happen or even approved of his beating, Elder Ge’s words had left him filled with gratitude that the pain had just finally stopped.

For the first time, he understood what it was like to really feel pain. Something that wouldn’t stop no matter how much he wanted it to. He felt a strong feeling of catharsis, ecstasy coursing through his entire body.