Chapter 375: Thoroughly Crippled, Zou Zilong’s Despair

Translator: Minotauruz

Ye Xiuwen hardly noticed what his master was saying at this point in time. Even if he heard the contents of what was said, he barely took it to heart.

His gaze was trained on Jun Xiaomo’s body right now. As soon as he noticed how Jun Xiaomo’s clothes appeared disorderly and slightly loosened, and her lips showed traces of being bitten, his pupils immediately contracted, and he squinted his eyes.

For some strange reason, the old man felt a chill down his spine and goosebumps creeping up the back of his arms.

Ye Xiuwen squatted down, pulling Jun Xiaomo into a tender embrace as he gently ran his finger across her lips. Jun Xiaomo’s lips were bleeding slightly from Zou Zilong’s earlier roughhousing, and she appeared incredibly frail and feeble.

“What’s going on here?” Ye Xiuwen asked dispassionately. His voice appeared calm, devoid of any undulations in his intonations. However, the old man knew that this were a mere cover for the roiling emotions within that were ready to explode in an instant. After all, Ye Xiuwen’s territorialism was obviously at an all-time high.

“Cough...Disciple has to promise to keep his cool when I explain everything.” The old man stated his precautions upfront.

“Mm.” Ye Xiuwen responded placidly. Unfortunately, the old man found his assent hardly persuasive at all.

“The culprit is Zou Zilong, the First-Seat Disciple of the Stoneknife Peak. It seems like he was going to do the unthinkable to yer wife. When I obstructed him earlier, he was still adamant about bring yer wife away from this place.” The old man recounted the incident to him, before placing his hand on Ye Xiuwen’s shoulder, coaxing him, “Disciple, yer master has already taught him a lesson and given him what he deserves. Maybe ye can drop it given that yer wife isn’t too injured either? Zephyr Sect is a Greater Sect after all. There’s no need for us to make the entire sect our enemy.”

However, Ye Xiuwen clearly had his own mind, and he simply glossed over the old man’s coaxing, “Where’s he right now?”

Infuriated, the old man glared at Ye Xiuwen, “Why can’t you take my word for it? Do ye treat everything that Master has said as rubbish?”

“Where is he?!” Ye Xiuwen suddenly cocked his head around and stared straight at the old man, uttering one word at a time as the vile energy swirled dreadfully in the depths of his eyes.

The old man was momentarily taken aback. However, he knew in an instant that Ye Xiuwen’s rationality had once again been consumed by the vile energy in his eyes.

He sighed with exasperation – Sigh, this won’t do. Given Disciple’s current condition, he might even start treating me like an enemy if I continue attempting to persuade him.

Sigh, forget it, forget it. Whose fault was it to begin with? If not for the fact that I’d been such an alcoholic, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Furthermore, since Ye Xiuwen has already killed Princess Linglong, it’s only going to be a matter of time before we’ve got to deal with the Zephyr Sect anyway.

The old man suddenly realized that he had never had a peaceful nor restful day ever since he accepted Ye Xiuwen as his own personal disciple.

With some measure of frustration in his heart, the old man pointed at a tree nearby, “I was afraid that ye would immediately hack him into pieces, so Master has hidden him behind that tree. He’s already unconscious right now. Go do what you must. Master can’t give a damn anymore!”

Ye Xiuwen’s eyes gleamed coldly. After placing Jun Xiaomo down gently, he slowly marched towards the large tree a distance away. As expected, he located an unconscious Zou Zilong just behind the tree’s trunk.

At one glance, Ye Xiuwen immediately noticed the bite marks on Zou Zilong’s lips and scratch marks on his arms. These were evidently traces of Jun Xiaomo’s earlier struggle against him.

The vile energy in the depths of Ye Xiuwen’s eyes began to seethe and practically seep out of his eyes. Mustering his spiritual energy, Ye Xiuwen gripped onto Zou Zilong’s throat and lifted him high into the air.

The choking and suffocating sensation snapped Zou Zilong out of his stupor. With much difficulty, he opened his eyes and barely made out the image of a man with chiseled appearances gazing coldly at him. The most striking thing about this man was the roiling, dark energy in the bottom of his eyes.

“You...cough cough...you are...” As his surroundings became gradually clearer, he began to recognize the man that was standing before him, lifting him in a chokehold, “You’re Ye Xiuwen?! Cough cough cough...”

Ye Xiuwen chose not to snap Zou Zilong’s neck in an instant. Rather, he left him hanging in mid-air, allowing him to suffer the torturous sensation of being on the brink of death.

Zou Zilong was suffocating so hard that even his eyeballs had started to bulge out. He barked hatefully, “Ye Xiuwen! Do you know who I am? If you kill me, my master will never let you off lightly! Just you wait!”

Ye Xiuwen remained taciturn. Instead, he simply waved his hand lightly, sending a Wind Blade slicing precisely through Zou Zilong’s mouth, cutting open the sides of his lips.

“Aaghh!” Zou Zilong cried out in pain, before he shut his mouth entirely. Blood trickled down the sides on his mouth profusely, and he would be afflicted with an immense, electrifying pain whenever he opened his mouth. Thus, Zou Zilong was effectively silenced with just one strike from Ye Xiuwen.

“Pfft...” The old man watching at the side couldn’t help but secretly give his own disciple two thumbs up in his heart – This move is brilliant! Silencing his opponent’s flapping lips with just one simple strike!

After squelching Zou Zilong, Ye Xiuwen glared coldly at him as he quipped, “Do you think that a person who dares to even kill Princess Linglong would deign to let you off on account for your measly master?”

Zou Zilong’s eyes widened and he stared at Ye Xiuwen with disbelief – Ye Xiuwen has killed Princess Linglong?! He actually killed Princess Linglong?! Is he not afraid of death at all?!

Ye Xiuwen continued dispassionately, “What a couple. One wanted to cripple my wife and send her to a whorehouse in the mortal world; while the other wanted to do the unthinkable and tarnish my wife. There’s no way I would be able to let you off on account of just these things alone.”

As Ye Xiuwen finished speaking, he sent a powerful punch imbued with wind force smashing straight towards Zou Zilong’s Dantian. Zou Zilong had a layer of spiritual energy protecting his body. Unfortunately, Ye Xiuwen’s abilities were well above his, and he was able to punch straight through the protective layer of spiritual energy and shatter the Golden Core within Zou Zilong’s Dantian.

As the excruciating pain coursed through his entire body, Zou Zilong’s eyes widened and bulged so much that they looked almost as though they had fallen out of their sockets. The extreme pain even caused his hands and feet to start convulsing uncontrollably.

After the initial wave of intense pain, the only thing that numbed Zou Zilong’s mind was the overwhelming, endless despair and despondence in his heart – My cultivation has been crippled? My cultivation has been crippled?!!!

There was nothing more painful to a cultivator than having their cultivation crippled. Zou Zilong had initially expected Ye Xiuwen to only have been slightly more powerful than he was. Thus, he had hardly thought to place Ye Xiuwen in his sights.

Who would have thought that Ye Xiuwen possessed the ability to cripple his cultivation entirely?! Just what level is Ye Xiuwen’s cultivation in? Elementary-tier Nascent Soul stage? Or secondary-tier Nascent Soul stage?!

If Zou Zilong had earlier known that Ye Xiuwen was already in the advanced-tier Nascent Soul stage of cultivation, perhaps he might not have been so hell bent on capturing and devouring Jun Xiaomo in the first place.

Most importantly, he had never expected Ye Xiuwen to dare to treat him this way.

“My master...will never let you off...” Zou Zilong spat out several mouthfuls of blood as he glared hatefully at Ye Xiuwen.

Even though his lips hurt immensely, the despair and rage in his heart was far more intense than the relatively slight measure of pain in comparison. He knew that even if his master got revenge for him, the fact would always remain that his entire life ahead of him had been thoroughly and irreversibly ruined.

Ye Xiuwen ignored Zou Zilong’s feeble threat. Whether Princess Linglong or Zou Zilong, it seemed that the only thing they knew was to toss around their master’s name – they were truly made for each other.

Zou Zilong looked at the calm and collected gaze in Ye Xiuwen’s eyes as the hatred for Ye Xiuwen etched its way into his heart – Ye Xiuwen has just ruined my life, yet he seems completely unfazed by my threats. Does he have something else up his sleeves?

These thoughts brewing in Zou Zilong’s mind caused a sense of begrudging attitude and resentment to fill his heart, and he couldn’t help but take a jibe back at Ye Xiuwen.

Turning his gaze back to Jun Xiaomo as she lay unconscious on the ground, Zou Zilong suddenly smiled wickedly, “No wonder you’d be so mad. Jun Xiaomo is truly a premium prey. Those tender cherry lips of hers...”

Ye Xiuwen’s gaze stiffened momentarily. Then, he waved his hand, sending a Wind Blade swishing straight towards a particular spot just between Zou Zilong’s legs.

Zou Zilong was unable to avoid Ye Xiuwen’s attack, and it landed exactly where it was designed to hit, causing Zou Zilong to cry out in intense pain – this time, Ye Xiuwen had not only crippled his cultivation, he had even crippled his manhood.

This crushing wound was not something that could simply be described by the word “pain”. The kind of pain that washed throughout his body caused him to break out in profuse cold sweat. At this moment, Zou Zilong could only be described to be living a life worse than death.

“Kill me...just kill me already...”

Zou Zilong’s arrogance and fiery passion had finally been crushed. Instead, he was simply filled with remorse and regret for all of his actions. He suddenly realized that he should never have offended such a fiendish man just to indulge himself in the passionate pursuit of a lady.

“I won’t kill you. After all, I’ll still have to trade you for the key to the chains on Xiaomo’s limbs.” As Ye Xiuwen finished speaking, he knocked Zou Zilong unconscious so that Zou Zilong wouldn’t tarnish his own clothes with the tears from his eyes.

Just before Zou Zilong passed out, the only things awash in his heart were an intense sense of despair and regret.

“Hehe, who would’ve thought that my mild-mannered disciple would have such a vicious, aggressive side to him?” The old man shook his head seemingly ruefully. Yet, his voice was hardly laced with the intention to criticize or condemn Ye Xiuwen’s actions. In fact, it was even filled with some measure of praise and approbation.

Truth be told, the old man was pretty pleased by how Ye Xiuwen had taken care of the arrogant lad Zou Zilong. As for whether doing so would attract the wrath of the Zephyr Sect, this was a problem that could be dealt with much later. After all, it was already far too late for regrets right now.

Ye Xiuwen returned to the old man and lifted Jun Xiaomo before turning to his master, “Master, let’s go. Bring that useless fool from the Zephyr Sect.”

“Eh? Go? Where are we going to?” The old man lifted Zou Zilong with some displeasure.

“We’re going back to where the Zephyr Sect is so that we can trade him for the key to Jun Xiaomo’s shackles.” Ye Xiuwen explained placidly.

The old man was astounded by Ye Xiuwen’s response, and he stared at Ye Xiuwen with widened eyes – Bringing a half-dead Zou Zilong back to where the Zephyr Sect is located? Isn’t that tantamount to turning himself in?!

“Eh, Disciple, I say, why don’t we think of another plan to remove the shackles from Disciple-in-Law’s limbs, huh? ...eh? Disciple, wait up...”

The old man was just about to persuade Ye Xiuwen when he simply walked away.

“Argh! This Disciple is going to be the death of me!” The old man shook his head in exasperation before lifting Zou Zilong and running after Ye Xiuwen.