Chapter 0129

Chapter 129: Mo Liu Su’s atonement by installments

Seeing hope, Mo Liu Su rushed straight at the little demoness.

Xia Hong Xiu tensed. A moment ago she had been enjoying the sweetest music in the world, Mo Liu Su’s screams. Now this woman even wanted to save herself. How greedy.

Since she was already a ruined person, wouldn’t it be better to die quietly?

With that thought, Xia Hong Xiu grew cruel. She flicked a pinch of powder into the air. It was the essence of Calamity Attracting Incense that she always carried. At last it had a use.

It became the last straw. Mo Liu Su jolted like lightning had struck her, and the final bit of strength she had saved up scattered completely.

You Jing Feng had been ready to strike with a heavy blow, but to his surprise, the woman dropped with a thud and knelt before the little demoness.

Mo Liu Su looked up, eyes full of pleading, and reached out: “Please… help me just once, only this once. Lend me that Jade Token!”

Her humbled shape made people click their tongues and snicker.

“Look at her. She looks like a dog,” someone said, loud and sharp. Mo Liu Su pretended not to hear. Right now she only wanted to live. Living was more important than dignity.

“No,” the little demoness said, turning away.

“No!” Mo Liu Su cried, her voice breaking with despair.

Qian Miao Yu watched with interest. She nudged Zhou Tong, which instantly put Chen Ling’er on alert. Was the empress eyeing junior brother too?

Qian Miao Yu ignored Chen Ling’er and asked Zhou Tong with a smile: “Seeing her like this, how do you feel?”

“Not a ripple. I even want to laugh,” Zhou Tong said with contempt. “She was gifted, but she never faced tribulations. She always looked for others to take them for her. A coward like that has no right to seek the Dao. Because she never suffered, her resistance is far below normal. Now the strongest tribulations have come all at once. Even a Saint could not bear it. She will die.”

Just then, the unexpected happened. The little demoness’s Jade Token flashed for a heartbeat. That brief glow fell across Mo Liu Su and gave her a moment to breathe.

“Hm? Strange. There’s still a turn for the better,” You Jing Feng murmured.

Hearing that, Mo Liu Su bowed low to the old man and begged: “Senior, I was foolish and offended you. Please show mercy and point me to a way out.”

“Arrogant first, humble later. Laughable,” You Jing Feng said with a curl of his lip, yet he still explained the solution: “Disasters and tribulations rise from the heart and begin with the Heavenly Dao. The more wild and selfish your heart is, the more the Heavenly Dao senses it and sends matching trials. You ended up like this for two reasons: your special physique and your many guilty deeds. If you want to resolve it, pray to the Heavenly Dao with true sincerity and confess your past wrongs. You might still have a slim chance.”

“I repent. I am willing to repent!” Mo Liu Su said at once. She knelt facing the east. With each bow, she spoke.

She listed her mistakes from the past ten years one by one, leaving nothing out.

At first, the people around her kept straight faces. They were all cultivators and knew how cruel this world was. Truly clean hands were rare. Mo Liu Su had made the mistakes most people make.

But soon they noticed something wrong. As she went on, the name Zhou Tong came up more and more.

It wasn’t hard to tell. Zhou Tong had once been her first disciple, and an outstanding one, deeply filial. To other experts, a disciple like that was a priceless treasure, something you could never force or find twice.

What had Mo Liu Su done to him?

She had used him to block tribulations. Worse, to keep control over him, she had isolated him, pushed him down, and even smeared his name.

“How could a master be so heartless?” people muttered.

By the time Mo Liu Su had banged her head five hundred times, everyone felt numb. Each of those wrongs alone was excessive but not unforgivable. Put them all together and heap them on one person, and to that person she was a devil.

Even worse, she remembered each thing clearly. She knew she was wrong and still charged ahead without changing. She was a pro at burning bridges, scum among humans, a master among beasts. Only pain could truly crush her pride.

Boom.

The laws of the sky surged, and a giant single eye opened overhead. Gasps ran through the crowd. Her prayer had really drawn the gaze of the Heavenly Dao.

A solemn voice asked: “Do you repent?”

“Disciple repents,” Mo Liu Su said, shaking.

“Are you willing to atone?”

She froze. Wasn’t confession enough? She still had to atone?

You Jing Feng snorted and said: “Did you think saying sorry would settle it? The Heavenly Dao cannot forgive on someone else’s behalf. If there is guilt, there must be punishment.”

“I am willing to atone,” Mo Liu Su cried, at last accepting reality.

Heavenly light spun and gathered. Countless rays formed a projected contract.

The Atonement Contract stated that Mo Liu Su willingly accepted punishment for all her past deeds. For the next ten years, every single day, she must endure the Five Punishments for at least two hours.

The Five Punishments were named: a boiling water bath, tendon extraction and marrow washing, ten thousand arrows through the heart, deboning and flesh carving, and soul dissolving with spirit refining.

Mo Liu Su went pale and almost fainted. [Ten years. Ten years. Ten years!] For cultivators, that wasn’t long. For someone under torture, it was longer than ten thousand years.

Worse, the contract had an extra clause. Even if she wanted to die, she could only die after finishing her atonement. If she died early, her soul would fall into endless hell and suffer forever.

True criminals didn’t get to end things with death. They were nailed to a pillar of shame and made to endure without end.

“Do you accept the punishment?” the solemn voice asked again, pressing her.

“Disciple… disciple…” Mo Liu Su trembled, then bit her fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the contract. “Disciple is willing,” she said, her voice empty, like a walking corpse.