Chapter 148: A Knuckle Rap

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Just as Liu Ping was preparing to greet the two adorable little girls, he was met with such an abrupt question that it felt as though five thunderbolts had struck him at once. He was stunned on the spot.

So, in this little flower’s heart, am I nothing more than a lecher? He could not help feeling wounded, tears nearly streaming down his face. Though this body of his had quite a few lovely women at his side, he was still an utterly pure, utterly kind, utterly pitiful virgin—ahhh!

Little Hua’er loved clinging to Liu Ping more than anything, so it was only natural that her manner of speaking, and even the things she said, resembled him somewhat. Now she could even deliver such a devastatingly sharp retort. Liu Ping was left speechless with shock, and could not help sighing inwardly: the student had indeed surpassed the master.

Beside her, Little Ye’er heard Hua’er’s remark and immediately burst out laughing.

Liu Ping was deeply embarrassed. Under normal circumstances, he would have gone over at once and kneaded the unrestrained little girl’s cheeks as punishment. But with Ying Ning on his back, it was not convenient to move, so he could only glare fiercely at her and ask, “Hey, is that really how your Martial Uncle appears in your eyes?”

“Isn’t it?” Hua’er looked genuinely bewildered. “It’s a perfectly reasonable deduction.”

“What perfectly reasonable deduction?” Liu Ping was rendered speechless. Was this little rascal planning to defy the heavens? Wait—he suddenly felt a chill in his heart as a horrifying thought sprang into his mind, leaving him drenched in cold sweat.

Was Little Hua’er growing into a troublesome child?

At the thought of the destructive power, violence, and utter lack of restraint possessed by such children, Liu Ping was startled all over again. He swallowed, carefully arranged his words, and threatened her, “From now on, don’t even think about eating anything I cook.”

“Ah!” His ultimate weapon had been unleashed. Hua’er was instantly stricken with panic. Her smug little face crumpled into a crying expression as she hugged Liu Ping’s leg and pleaded, “Good Martial Uncle, please forgive me! Hua’er was wrong!”

“If acting cute worked, what would be the point of punishment?” Liu Ping sneered.

Fortunately, their horseplay finally came to an end. Ye’er could stand it no longer and called out loudly, “Martial Uncle, what have you come here for?”

“Of course I have something to attend to.” Liu Ping thought for a moment. “The girl on my back has suffered damage to her soul. I want to ask Senior Sister to examine her and see whether there is any way to treat it.”

Before long, Liu Ping got his wish and met with his Senior Sister.

After hearing his request, Senior Sister did not ask any unnecessary questions. She merely nodded, then carried Ying Ning into a quiet chamber for a careful examination.

Liu Ping waited outside, unable to suppress his unease. After roughly fifteen minutes, the door opened.

“Senior Sister, how is she?” Liu Ping asked.

Drunken Red Dust wore a solemn expression. She shook her head and said, “Her soul has been injured and is continually disintegrating. The situation is extremely dangerous. Fortunately, you brought her here in time. Otherwise, she would most likely have died and lost both body and soul.”

Liu Ping was startled. “It’s that serious?”

He was stunned. If he had known this earlier, he would never have waited until nightfall. He would have come straight to his Senior Sister.

Drunken Red Dust shook her head at that. “It is not quite so severe. The soul will take seven days to completely disintegrate, and this is only the beginning. Still, the injury she sustained is truly strange. I have never seen anything like it… How peculiar. Where could it have come from?”

As she finished speaking, she looked at Liu Ping.

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Under his Senior Sister’s gaze, Liu Ping gave a bitter smile and recounted everything that had happened from beginning to end.

After hearing the story, an angry expression rose on her face. She even reached out and rapped him hard on the head.

The blow hurt terribly. Liu Ping’s tears nearly shot from his eyes. Feeling that pain, he seemed to understand a little better why Ying Ning had been so frightened back then.

He hurriedly covered his head and looked at Drunken Red Dust with an aggrieved expression. “Senior Sister, why did you hit me?”

“And you still have the nerve to ask why I hit you!” Drunken Red Dust was furious. She paced around twice before saying, exasperated and angry, “Do you have any idea what a terrible disaster you have caused?”

“Huh?” Liu Ping froze. Inwardly, he cried out in alarm. Was that rat spirit, the Grey Family, really so formidable? To think they could make Senior Sister show such an expression! He had thought that, having mastered his divine arts, he would dominate the novice village and no one would dare oppose him. Yet reality clearly had other plans.

But when Drunken Red Dust spoke her next words, Liu Ping realized that he had completely misunderstood.

She scolded him angrily, “You! Do you understand how serious the consequences are when you recklessly create such a mountain of killing karma? It was an entire household! I know you were enraged because your little beloved was abducted and forced into marriage, but you still should not have slaughtered the entire family of that rat spirit!”

“Senior Sister, are you jealous?” The words slipped out of Liu Ping’s mouth before he could stop them.

Drunken Red Dust’s face seemed to redden for an instant, but the change vanished at once. She glared fiercely at him. “Jealous? No interrupting!”

“She’s my cousin, not my little beloved…” Liu Ping hurriedly tried to explain, but one look at Drunken Red Dust’s eyes forced him to close his mouth.

“You have truly infuriated me.” Drunken Red Dust sat down in a chair and reproached him. “That entire household, from the old to the young, belonged to the Grey Family, one of the Five Wild Immortal clans. In the eyes of Heaven’s Law, these spirit creatures and demons are no different from ordinary people unless they have committed killing karma. You slaughtered them all—an entire family. The killing karma produced by such an act will directly affect the severity of your future heavenly tribulations!”

“Unless you cultivate virtue and accumulate merit, or use great fortune to offset your sins, your future tribulations will be extremely perilous!”

“Cultivators already live in constant fear, walking on thin ice and considering every step. Yet you went on a killing spree and enjoyed yourself thoroughly—did you ever consider the consequences? The White Emperor governs slaughter, true, but the path you cultivate is still the Treasure Record of Essence and Splendor!”

Each reprimand was filled with unmistakable concern. She was afraid that Liu Ping would die and lose both body and soul beneath the heavenly tribulation.

After completing the Three Transformations of a Human Immortal and gathering the Three Flowers at the Crown, one had to undergo the second tribulation of Yang Fire before advancing to the Earth Immortal realm, transforming the yin soul into a yang soul. After that came another tribulation of heavenly thunder. Only upon surviving both, attaining an indestructible yang spirit and an imperishable body, could one truly establish the fruition of an Earth Immortal.

If one possessed great fortune or tremendous merit, this thunder tribulation could be avoided entirely. One could advance smoothly into Earth Immortality. But if one carried sin, had damaged one’s fortune, and become entangled in karma, the severity of the thunder tribulation would be no small matter. A little sin might bring only a touch of Heaven’s wrath, but too much would inevitably summon overwhelming thunderous punishment.

Liu Ping had once heard Ying Ning speak of the Third Matriarch Hu. In her early years, she had been nothing more than an ordinary yellow-furred fox, with the poorest of aptitudes—far inferior even to one-tenth of Bai Zhi’s. Her cultivation had been difficult at every step. Seeking an easy shortcut, she had begun engaging in illicit unions with men and absorbing their essence, ultimately causing the deaths of more than a dozen people.

By the time the Third Matriarch Hu gradually realized the consequences of her actions, the dead could no longer be saved. Having incurred karma and ruined her fortune, she continued cultivating until she reached the peak of Human Immortality, then stepped into the threshold of Earth Immortality. Even after accumulating enough strength to break through, she still did not dare face the tribulation.

Afterward, the Third Matriarch Hu spent three hundred years performing good deeds and accumulating virtue, slowly offsetting her sins. Yet though her death sentence could be commuted, punishment in life remained unavoidable. The thunder tribulation still blasted her to the brink of death, and she nearly perished, body and soul alike.

The power of the thunder tribulation could be imagined from that alone.

How could Liu Ping not know it? But he was confident that he could withstand it. For the sake of a clear conscience and the satisfaction in his heart, he had killed them, and so be it! If fortune was needed to offset the karma, then he would spend it. If that was not enough, once he had fully mastered the first stage of the Divine God of Gods and Demons, he was confident that he could withstand even an Immortal Tribulation!

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Of course, he could not say any of that to his Senior Sister, or he would probably receive another rap on the head.

“Senior Sister, I know I was wrong.”

“Alas…” Drunken Red Dust sighed helplessly and shook her head. “Remember this from now on. Do not act so recklessly again. Do you understand? Becoming entangled in karma and damaging your fortune does not merely make the heavenly tribulation more dangerous; it also affects other matters. How could you possibly think it so simple? When the time comes for you to undergo your tribulation, you must inform me beforehand.”

Liu Ping nodded solemnly.

After finishing her lesson for this exasperating junior brother, Drunken Red Dust said, “In that case, I have a general idea of where the injury came from. It was caused by a talisman seal. What a sinful act. Those demon cultivators actually used such a method—and they even tampered with her soul rather than merely placing a seal on her body…”

Hearing this, Liu Ping could not help feeling worried. He thought of Bai Zhi. What if Bai Zhi had suffered the same treatment…

Drunken Red Dust continued, “Her injury requires quiet recuperation. I have stabilized her soul for the time being, but this only treats the symptoms, not the root cause…”

At that, Liu Ping raised his brows and hurriedly asked, “Then what must we do to cure her?”

“Did I not already tell you?”

“Huh?” Liu Ping was startled.

“She must recuperate slowly… She may not recover completely, but to a considerable extent, she should be able to. As for how far her recovery will go, that can only be left to fate.” Drunken Red Dust sighed softly.

Liu Ping’s expression grew complicated. Ultimately, he was the one who had caused Ying Ning to become what she was now. From the standpoint of his own desires, there was perhaps something appealing about the situation, but that would mean completely disregarding Ying Ning’s wishes. He could not do that, nor would he ever choose to. Yet the past could no longer be undone, and even the extent of her recovery depended on that wretched thing called fate. His feelings and expression were tangled with a hundred conflicting emotions.

For the time being, Ying Ning would remain here to recuperate. Before that, however, Liu Ping had to leave for a while. He desperately wanted to stay by her side, but he needed to find Bai Zhi, find the Third Matriarch Hu, and settle the many matters that remained unresolved.

Before long, Liu Ping arrived at Bai Zhi’s mountain.

Bai Zhi was in secluded cultivation, but the moment she sensed Liu Ping’s arrival, she hurriedly emerged from seclusion. With a playful grin, she threw her arms around him and kissed him.

Seeing Bai Zhi eased some of the gloom in Liu Ping’s heart. She seemed to notice his poor mood as well, tilting her head slightly before asking, “Little husband, what’s wrong? You look unhappy. Did something happen?”

Liu Ping then told her, without leaving out a single detail, how Ying Ning had been forced into marriage.

Bai Zhi stared at him in astonishment. “How could this happen?! The Third Matriarch Hu actually forced Sister Ying Ning to marry…”

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