Chapter 53 (1/2)
Eternal Life (永生) Ch. 53
Heavenly Punishment Stage
[TL: I don’t know why I used court instead of stage, but it’s changed now. Sorry about the mistranslation]
The ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’ was the Yu’hua School’s stage for conflicts regarding life and death. These conflicts could even result in the deaths of true disciples. The elder in control of the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’ had extremely great power, and incomparable abilities. His mana was as deep as the water of the four oceans, immeasurable.
Jin Ri Lie brought his son, Jin s.h.i.+ Tai, and strut towards the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’. They pa.s.sed through level after level of pavilions, the Hua’yu Edifice, and finally arrived outside, at the base, of the giant palace.
The palace towered above them. There were three thousand six hundred white jade steps which led up to it. Only by walking step by step up these steps could one truly arrive within the great palace. Lining both sides of the white jade steps were thousands of various weapons. There were countless machetes, axes, shuang gou, ropes, swords, spears, halberds, longspears, hammers, locks, flails, maces, shovels, etc. Each weapon was very large, a full ten times the size of an ordinary weapon. Glancing at them made one feel as if they had entered the land of giants. However, after further observation, it gave off a kind of feeling of solemn and dignified, yet b.l.o.o.d.y qi.
The grounds of the ‘Heavenly Punishment Great Palace’ was where the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’ resided.
The entire ‘Yu’hua Sky Palace’ was an incomparably immense city within the sky which into the depths of the white clouds. No one knew how large it was inside, how serene, and how mysterious. No one could explain how such a large city was suspended in the air; just what kind of power was needed to suspend it in the sky?
Although the ‘Yu’hua Sky Palace’ was so vast and mysterious, there was no doubt that within it, the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’ was the place with the densest murderous qi. It was also the most solemn place.
Arriving at this place, even someone like Jin s.h.i.+ Ta with his personality, couldn’t help but shudder for a moment. A chill seemed to be rising up from the depths of his heart. Ever since this ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’ had been built by the Yu’hua School founder, who knows how many powerful people who had traversed various worlds had been executed here.
It was truly as if the school was slaughtering in place of the heavens, determining karmic justice without the slightest bit of remorse.
Even an old cultivator like Jin Ri Lie smoothed out his clothes, and began to ascend step by step up the thirty six hundred step long, white jade staircase. These white jade steps were speckled with what seemed to be drops of blood which had seeped into it. Perhaps it was blood which had spilled when an extremely powerful person was executed here.
With his cultivation, Jin Ri Lie was able to fly. However, at the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’, he didn’t dare fly. This was a rule pa.s.sed by the Yu’hua School, and even elders couldn’t be exempted.
After ascending step by step, one would finally see the front of the ‘Heavenly Punishment Great Palace’, an extremely wide, majestic square. Atop the square, there was a gigantic square stage. It was nine zhang long, nine zhang wide, and nine zhang tall. It was clearly not made of jade, and its color made it seem as if it were made of some ordinary rock. Amidst its simplicity, it emanated an extremely ancient qi. No one knew just what rock this stage was made from.
This place was the executor of traitors and the beheader of devils. It was where true disciples fought on the precipice between life and death, the administrator of punishments, the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’.
Bloodstained steps! Countless weapons!
A towering hall! A vast square!
An ancient stone stage!
All together, it created a powerful picture of the execution ground of Immortals.
Jin s.h.i.+ Tai froze, his eyes looking into the distance. However, what shocked him wasn’t the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’, but rather the person who stood atop it, none other than his target, Fang Qing Xue of the ‘Purple Lightning Peak’! Furthermore, another cultivator in green clothes with curved eyebrows like the moon was on it with her.
“Tian Dou senior brother !”
The cultivator in green clothes was none other than the person who rescued Mo senior sister and Yuan Jian Kong and their group of people, the owner of the ‘Sky Rooster Yang Rope’, Hua Tian Dou.
“‘Heavenly Punishment Elder’, within the group of disciples that I rescued, an outer court disciple called Liu Kang died while the remainder of them were able to expel the ‘Six Wishes Yin Mine’ poison qi from their bodies. However, all of their flying swords disappeared. Yuan Jian Kong’s ‘Silver Snake Sword’ is also gone. Even, even my ‘Sky Rooster Yang Rope’ has mysteriously disappeared without a trace and has seemingly been destroyed. This is no small matter. I have come to report to you, first off to determine the punishment that should be given to these disciples who have lost their flying swords and bao’qi, and secondly to request for a thorough investigation of the matter to find out whose hands these flying swords and bao’qi landed in.
Hua Tian Dou paid no regard to Jin s.h.i.+ Tai, and faced the ‘Heavenly Punishment Great Palace’, slowly recounting his findings. He rhythmically enunciated each word.
From within the depths of the ‘Heavenly Punishment Great Palace’ emanated out a lazy voice, “They lost their flying swords? Even the Yang Rope was lost? This group of disciples is so disappointing! The matter of investigating will be given to you, you must find the school’s magic treasures and flying swords. Although the school has quite a large base, it still cannot suffer such a loss! Let that group of disciples be punished by having them sent to the ‘Immortal Prison’ for three months. At the same time, suspend their rations of pellets for eternity. Let them eat the low quality food of the ‘Five Qi Immortal Pot’. If they can even lose their own flying swords, then there is no hope of them reaching the ‘Divine Realm’.”
“As you say, this disciple understands. This disciple will thoroughly investigate this matter,” Hua Tian Dou nodded, “However, Yuan Jian Kong is ranked tenth on the Shan’he Rankings, a distinguished disciple with one of the highest hopes of breaking through into the ‘Divine Realm’. Isn’t an unanimous decision across the twelve elders necessary to stop providing him with pellets.”
“Hmph! If they break the rules, then they must be punished. Otherwise, why would there be school rules? Stop your pleading. Leave! Your work is always reliable, and you are the first true disciple of the Yu’hua School. Thus, I empower you with the power to thoroughly investigate this event. Naturally, the power of deciding who lives and dies also goes to you. This is the ‘Heavenly Punishment Seal’! With this seal, you can request that any true disciple, as well as any elder, help you carry out an action. The Yang Rope was refined with a great deal of effort, and must definitely not fall into the wrong hands. We must also find it to prevent other Immortal schools from saying that we lost a bao’qi. Otherwise, we will have nothing to say.”
The lazy voice gradually became faster. While they spoke, something shout out from within the ‘Heavenly Punishment Great Palace’ like an arrow, landing within Hua Tian Dou’s hand.
“Also, recently I heard that some outer court disciples are becoming more and more restless, you need to control their morale. I hope that the ‘Heavenly Punishment Stage’ doesn’t become a daily killing ground in the near future.”
Hua Tian Dou caught the seal in one go, his face showing a sliver of happiness. Afterwards, he turned around and saw Jin Tai s.h.i.+ and Jin Ri Lie. He shook his head, not saying a single word, and instead faced Fang Qing Xue, “I believe that under Fang junior sister’s command, there is a person called Fang Han. Rumor has it that upon his body, he holds an extremely precious Devil Sect treasure, one which was bestowed upon him by Fang junior sister. Furthermore, it is said that he had a conflict with an inner court disciple, and stole the other party’s ‘Spirit Wind Sword’. Moreover, he was very closely involved with those disciples who met with disaster. Since the ‘Heavenly Punishment Elder’ has given me the great responsibility of investigating and executing, I shall comb a little through Fang junior sister’s people. I am clarifying this with Fang junior sister right now to avoid any conflict over this in the future.
While Hua Tian Dou spoke, he was already calculating deep within his mind.
He pondered over the problem, carefully considering every small detail. He looked at the big picture, and spoke with grace. He surprisingly emanated a sliver of the same aura as the school headmaster.
“Hmph!” Fang Qing Xue’s eyes turned towards Jin s.h.i.+ Tai and Jin s.h.i.+ Ri, ignoring Hua Tian Dou’s words. She coldly retorted, “The rumor is correct. The Devil treasure upon Fang Han’s body was indeed bestowed upon him by me, it is called the ‘Seven Evil Spirits Gourd’. It is something I wrestled over from ‘Sky Wolf Little Master’ w.a.n.g Mo Lin. Since Fang Han is a person from my Fang Clan, I greatly appreciate him. Furthermore, who cares about one flying sword? The Devil General offered him seven flying swords and he refused to accept them. Hua senior brother, if you must investigate then investigate. However, if there is some unprecedented death, I will never let it go. Even if I have to go to the headmaster, I will seek justice.”