Chen Song’s words were like a basin of cold water poured over Pei Wugou’s head, instantly jolting him fully awake.
He straightened up at once.
That was right. He was taking the punishment in Wen He’s place.
If he didn’t take it, was Wen He supposed to?
He immediately said, “I’m fine. Not even a little hurt.”
“Look, I can still smile, can’t I?”
Pei Wugou put on a bright smile, then turned his head toward the two soldiers carrying out the punishment. “You two, hurry up and get started. I still have things to do later.”
The two executioners froze for a moment.
What a tough bastard!
An ordinary person would have been screaming their lungs out under fifty strokes. Even if they could endure it, they would certainly have cried out. Yet this fellow had not made a sound all this time—and he even had the nerve to provoke them.
A true hero!
A genuine tough man!
And true tough men deserved to be dealt with in the way tough men dealt with one another!
The two exchanged a glance and questioned each other.
“Did you eat your fill earlier?”
“I ate plenty.”
“Afraid your wrists might dislocate?”
“Afraid of that crap? At worst, I’ll go home and nurse them back to health. I refuse to believe that after delivering beatings for all these years, I’d let someone look down on me over this!”
“Then what are we waiting for, brother? Let’s do it!”
…
The two soldiers’ tempers flared. With them came an unstoppable momentum, and the cudgels came down with tremendous force.
Smack!
Smack!
Smack!
…
Not only were the blows twice as loud as before, but they were also twice as hard.
Many of the soldiers watching instinctively took a step back, as though the cudgels were landing on their own bodies. They gritted their teeth, wincing at the pain.
But Pei Wugou…
He wore a faint smile as he looked toward Wen He.
Wen He was already in tears.
Blocked by the soldiers, she suddenly stretched out her hand, as though she wanted to clasp Pei Wugou’s hand across the several yards between them. Her lips moved as she murmured, “Ah Wu, Ah Wu, Ah Wu…”
“I’m sorry.”
“I dragged you into this.”
“I’ll treat you well from now on.”
“I’ll spend the rest of my life treating you well!”
…
By this point, Pei Wugou had taken fifty strokes. Under the fierce pain, the flesh on his back and buttocks had already split open, and his consciousness was beginning to blur.
But Wen He’s words were like an injection of adrenaline!
“Little He, I love you too!”
The two of them continued their passionate declarations of love in a scene like this.
The two executioners, provoked by their words, struck even harder.
Smack!
Smack!
Smack!
…
When the count reached eighty, Pei Wugou’s back was already a mangled, bloody mess, too horrific to look at. After enduring pain of such extremity, Pei Wugou finally—
“Ah!” he screamed.
And once the screaming started, stopping became exceedingly difficult.
Thus, with every stroke the two soldiers brought down, Pei Wugou let out another scream. The harder they swung, the louder his cries became.
Wen He could no longer bear to watch. She desperately tried to rush over.
But with so many soldiers guarding the area, how could they possibly let a young woman break through?
So Wen He could only turn to Vice General Chen Song for help.
“General Chen Song, Ah Wu—Ah Wu can’t take it anymore! Please save him! Please!”
Chen Song wore a solemn expression. “Miss Wen He, don’t worry. It’s only a little pain. With Ah Wu’s physique, he can endure it.”
“But—but…”
“There are no buts!” Chen Song cut her off directly. “This was what Ah Wu asked for himself. He’s doing it for love.”
“For his love for you.”
“Think about it. You’re such a wonderful person, and so compassionate that you cherish even stray cats and dogs. When Iron Gate Pass finally manages to catch fish, you can’t wait to release them. A kind-hearted woman like you—how could Ah Wu win your heart without paying some price?”
“He’s only taken a few strokes. What does that amount to?”
“Don’t worry. Ah Wu is doing this willingly.”
But Chen Song’s words clearly failed to convince Wen He. She cried out even more urgently, “No, General Chen Song! Ah Wu—Ah Wu is in unbearable pain! He’s about to pass out…”
As though her words had become reality, the moment Wen He finished speaking, Pei Wugou let out a loud cry. Then, with a sharp crack, he fainted on the spot.
The two soldiers had no choice but to stop.
Chen Song immediately realized that something was wrong. How could he pass out now?
This was the critical moment!
He hurried over and asked the two soldiers, “How many strokes has Ah Wu taken?”
The two soldiers reported, “Reporting to General Chen Song, ninety-three.”
“Only seventy-three? That absolutely won’t do!” Chen Song wore an utterly fearless expression as he asked, “In the army, if someone faints while being caned, what do we usually do?”
Chen Song actually knew the answer, but he still asked anyway.
The two soldiers had no idea what he was getting at, so they could only answer honestly. “Reporting to the general, under ordinary circumstances, we splash him with cold water to wake him, then continue the punishment.”
“Hmm.”
Chen Song nodded and strode over to Shadow. Bowing, he said, “My lord, the prisoner has fainted after only sixty-three strokes.”
“According to standard procedure, we should splash him with water to wake him before continuing.”
“However, I would like to ask Your Lordship for a favor. Let us not wake Ah Wu with cold water. Let him continue taking the punishment just as he is.”
Shadow was bewildered. He had been counting, and the number should not have been sixty-three. But Shadow was not an expert at this sort of thing, and he had been nervous as well, so he did not know the exact count.
Now that Chen Song had asked him this question, Shadow panicked.
He felt that he should not agree.
He was merely a puppet, after all, and everything he did was according to the wishes of Marquis Jingyi, Pei Wugou. But Pei Wugou had now fainted—and the person being beaten was the Marquis himself. How could Shadow possibly give permission?
“My lord, since you insist on punishing Ah Wu severely, I dare not plead any further. We shall have the soldiers splash him with water to wake him, then continue with the remaining strokes.”
“It’s just that Ah Wu may resent me for it afterward!”
The moment Chen Song said this, Shadow instantly sensed that something was wrong.
What did he mean, resent him?!
That was right—resent him!
When the time came, Ah Wu would resent not only Chen Song, but Shadow as well!
Shadow immediately said, “Fine, fine, we’ll do as General Chen Song says. Don’t splash water on Ah Wu.”
“Thank you, my lord!”
Chen Song beamed with delight. He rose and loudly announced, “You heard His Lordship! Do not wake Ah Wu. Now… beat him harder!”
Having received the order, the soldiers once again raised their cudgels.
Smack!
Smack!
Smack!
…
Stroke after stroke came down, tearing flesh and splitting skin.
Wen He was so frantic that she was nearly out of her mind. She had been too worried earlier to keep track of how many strokes Pei Wugou had taken. Now she could only pace around like an ant on a hot pan.
Unfortunately, a frail young woman could never break through the soldiers’ defensive line. All she could do was watch helplessly as Pei Wugou was mercilessly beaten with military cudgels.
…
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
saw a female celebrity tied up and stuffed in the trunk! Little did he know, countless cameras were aimed at him at this moment - this was a new type of reality show. The first randomly selected passerby was caught in less than an hour. But when Xu Moru was selected, things started to take an unexpected turn. "Damn, this isn't how the script goes. This Xu Moru is too bold, he's not following the rules at all." "Crap, is this guy taking it seriously?" "The female celebrity has been scared to tears!"
