Pei Qiansui scorned Chu Wangsun’s philosophy and despised the bastard for thinking that he could “bring him back to the straight and narrow” as a matter of course. Not a single minute passed by where he did not think of escaping Chu Wangsun or better, kill him.

That was why he had tried to instigate a fight between Chu Wangsun and Xie Taohua just now, preferably to the death. After all, one of them was ranked ninth on the Human Champions Ranking, and the other fourth. If a tiger and a dragon were to battle each other to the death, chances were one of them would die, and the other was going to be injured. That would allow him to make his escape.

If both men were grievously injured, then even better. He was perfectly fine with playing the fisherman.

In his opinion, Chu Wangsun was a so-called “disciple of the sages”, and he loathed evil like he loathed his nemesis. That was why he was certain that Chu Wangsun would kill Xie Taohua, a disciple of a demonic sect. He was wrong, however. As it turned out, Chu Wangsun was neither stupid nor blind. He had seen through his petty scheme in an instant.

Even worse, the bastard had the audacity to smack his hand with a ruler like he was a child, and he did it in front of all these ants too. If the rumors spread—who was he kidding, the rumors must be spreading like wildfire already—then he would be a laughingstock for ages to come.

Could he swallow this indignity?

Of course… he could. He literally did not have any other choice. If he did not swallow this indignity, then Chu Wangsun was only going to humiliate him further. Worst case scenario, he might just kill him outright.

It was said that ten years wasn’t too long for a nobleman to take revenge. He was no nobleman, but even he knew that he could not wash away his humiliation if he was dead. Only the living possessed countless possibilities.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

So he would admit his “fault”. He would endure.

And when the time came, he would make Chu Wangsun wish that he never lived.

“There is no better quality than being able to admit one’s mistake.”

Chu Wangsun nodded. “However, reward and punishment should not be mixed together. You made a mistake earlier, so I’m going to punish you for it. Do you accept?”

“I accept!” Pei Qiansui replied.

“Good.” Chu Wangsun said, “Your thoughts are impure, and you desire to do harm. But since this is your first time, I shall strike your hand nine times as a warning. Do you accept?”

“I accept.” Pei Qiansui nodded.

While wearing a stern expression that was not dissimilar to a teacher reprimanding a naughty student, Chu Wangsun raised his ruler about three inches before hitting Pei Qiansui in the palm.

Slap!

A crisp sound resounded throughout the restaurant once more.

Pei Qiansui’s expression was a mixture of regret and sincerity. To an outsider at least, it looked like he truly recognized his mistake.

The smack jolted the guests back to reality, and as if on cue, everyone stared at the scene with excited expressions.

Who would have thought that an notorious and untouchable genius would one day have his hand smacked like a boy? It was practically a once-in-a-century moment. They might never witness something like that ever again in their lives, so of course they wasn’t going miss every second of it.

Chu Wang paid no attention to their gazes whatsoever. He simply continued his punishment with a serious expression on his face.

Slap!

Slap!

For a time, the crisp and rhythmic slaps resounded throughout the restaurant like a wonderful melody.

While the guests were burning the sight into their retinas, Ye Qing was smirking and shaking his head a little.

These idiots. They had no idea that they’re about to die.

Most people wouldn’t notice this, but he could clearly sense the anger, hatred and killing intent boiling inside Pei Qiansui’s heart like a volcano. Furious and neverending, it was directed not just at Chu Wangsun, but everyone else inside the restaurant.

In fact, he couldn’t just feel Pei Qiansui’s emotions. Now that he was a Spirit Master, he could identify exactly what they were and how much they weighed inside their hearts. In his senses, the warrior’s emotions were now presented in different colors. For example, anger was red as fire, hatred was gray and filthy, killing intent was black as despair, and more.

The mixture of colors were vibrant and beautiful. Not only that, he could identify who the emotions were directed at. He could tell who hated someone the most, who wanted someone dead and so on.

Although he could already identify emotions when he was still a Spirit Purifier, it could at best be described as a blurry sensation with occasional fluctuations and changes. He could not have identified the type, quantity, or target of these emotions like he had grown a whole new sensory organ.

Pei Qiansui could not know this, but his emotions were completely bare to Ye Qing. If he wanted someone dead, he would know. If he wanted to take a shit, he would know as well.

This was just the first qualitative improvement his demonic thought gained after he created a Heavenly Demon Yin God, however.

Now that he could “see” emotions, he could also draw out or influence a person’s emotions and thoughts as well. He could make them obsessed with a certain emotion until it took precedence over their rationality.

“All hearts are bare to my eyes. My thoughts flow like water into the field that is your heart.” That was how the “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” described this power.

Ye Qing caressed his wine cup while feeling the growing fury, hatred, bloodthirst and more negative emotions every time the ruler dropped and struck him on the palm. Then, his lips slowly spread into a clear, bright smile.

“Everyone says that it’s not good to repress your emotions. Here, I’ll lend you a hand.”

Ye Qing gently placed the wine cup on the table, and a crisp sound resounded throughout the restaurant. However, Chu Wangsun’s ruler happened to be striking Pei Qiansui’s palm at the exact same time, so the sound was muffled, and no one noticed a thing, just like no one noticed that Pei Qiansui’s originally calm eyes slowly turned as red as blood, and as deep as the abyss.

Nine strikes later, Chu Wangsun put away his ruler and looked at Pei Qiansui, “It is done. I hope you will remember this lesson and never repeat this mistake again.”

“This one shall remember your teaching, young master.” Pei Qiansui saluted him with a simple smile on his face.

“Mm.” Chu Wangsun didn’t suspect a thing. As usual, he ignored the people around him and turned around to walk up the stairs.

However, right as he turned his back on Pei Qiansui, the redness in the warrior’s eyes abruptly erupted like a mighty volcano and enveloped everything.

At the same time, his hands turned illusory, and demonic, mysterious-looking patterns appeared on his palms. Without hesitation, he pressed his hands against Chu Wangsun’s back.

The surprise attack had come out of nowhere. No one saw this coming, not even Chu Wangsun himself.

Chu Wangsun paused for a brief moment before bright light burst out of his body. It was so bright and all-encompassing it was as if a second sun had appeared inside the restaurant.

There was righteous qi in heaven and earth, and it was vast enough to punch through the nine heavens.

For a time, everything inside Number One was dyed in white. No one could see even the fingers in front of their eyes, much less everything else. But despite how all-consuming the light seemed, not a single person was actually hurt. Not the furniture, the utensils or even the plants.

Pei Qiansui could not say the same, however. Every part of his skin began cracking as if he was boiling under the sun, and his feet sank into the floor as if he was bearing an unthinkable weight. His body was trembling from the strain.

“Why?”

Chu Wangsun asked calmly without looking back.

“You shamed me in front of all these ants, and you ask me why?”

Pei Qiansui uttered with bloodshot eyes, “You are a genius, Chu Wangsun, and I am a named warrior on the Human Champions Ranking. You’re stronger than me, and I have no qualms with that. You want me to be your follower, and I am okay with that either.”

“But you would shame me before these

scum

who are worth less than even ants? Who do you think I am? After what happened today, how do you expect me to show my face in the

jianghu

again?”

“I see that you do not regret your actions,” Chu Wangsun replied indifferently.

“Change my ass! Who the fuck do you think you are?!”

Pei Qiansui’s face contorted into a vicious snarl. “I may die today, but I will take you and everyone in this restaurant to the grave with me!”

“The price for humiliating me is DEATH!”