Chapter 269: Just you!

Xiao Ningxun pulled his sister behind him, but Tuan Tuan poked out a little head from the crook of his arm, completely unafraid, and stared at Xuan Xu.

"You say I'm a bad guy?" Xuan Xu spoke slowly, "Little girl, you can eat food at random, but you can't talk nonsense."

Tuan Tuan sized him up: "I didn't talk nonsense! You're clearly full of dark energy, you've done lots and lots of bad deeds! You're a big bad guy!"

Xuan Xu furrowed his brows: "Ignorant brat, don't you know that harsh words hurt others and disaster will surely befall oneself?"

"I don't know!" Tuan Tuan put her hands on her hips, "I only know that good people do good deeds, bad guys do bad deeds, what you say doesn't count!"

Xuan Xu smiled slightly: "You're still young, discussing the Dao with you feels like bullying you. How about this: we each cast a divination and see who's more accurate?"

Tuan Tuan's eyes rolled: "Fine! You're so old, I'll divine yours first, then you can divine mine."

"How am I old?" Xuan Xu suppressed his anger and nodded.

The surroundings instantly burst into laughter.

"Comparing divination skills with Taoist Priest Xuan Xu? This little girl truly doesn't know the height of heaven and depth of earth!"

"Taoist Priest, give her some color to see!"

Tuan Tuan opened the embroidered pouch, pulled out the little disc she had just picked up, and said, "It's you!"

She raised her little hand high: "I'll use this to divine for you!"

Xuan Xu glanced at the disc, the corner of his mouth twitching: "A mere trinket, and you dare to show off before this humble daoist?"

He, confident in his high cultivation, would not fear a yellow-haired girl's tricks; he immediately flicked his whisk: "Very well, this humble daoist shall see what you're capable of."

He sat down on the stall's stool, composed: "How do you plan to divine?"

Tuan Tuan sat opposite him, with Xiao Ningxun and Xiao Ran sitting on either side of her, while Xiao Er and Lu Qi stood behind her.

Tuan Tuan pushed the disc toward him, shook it hard, and the three-colored beads inside began to roll rapidly.

"Look closely at this disc and count how many red beads there are."

Xuan Xu glanced and casually said, "Seven."

"Nope," Tuan Tuan shook her head, "count slowly, let's do it again."

Xuan Xu frowned, endured and counted again: "One, two, three... it's still seven."

Tuan Tuan tilted her head: "No, no! You really are old, your eyesight isn't good—count them one by one clearly; if counting forward doesn't work, you can count backward!"

Annoyed by her repeated counting demands, Xuan Xu felt a bit irritated, but under everyone's gaze he had to endure: "Seven, six, five..."

The red, yellow, and blue beads mixed and intertwined, rolling under the glass cover in a dazzling trajectory.

As he counted, his gaze unconsciously followed the swirling beads; before he knew it, his eyes began to glaze over and his breathing grew slow.

Watching his eyes gradually lose focus, Tuan Tuan softly said: "Hey, doesn't this disc look like a hole? Dark and deep, you can't see the bottom..."

Xuan Xu nodded blankly, staring fixedly at the disc, as if he truly saw an abyss.

"Go in and take a look," Tuan Tuan's voice grew lower, "is there someone formidable sitting inside?"

Xuan Xu's whole body shuddered, his pupils constricted, and his face instantly drained of color.

To the onlookers, Tuan Tuan was just holding a toy and spouting childish talk.

But in Xuan Xu's eyes, the disc had turned into the gateway to the netherworld, where the solemn Fengdu Great Emperor sat, awe-inspiring, coldly gazing at him.

"Ah—!" Xuan Xu cried out, rolled off the stool, fell to his knees, and kept kowtowing: "Fengdu Great Emperor above! Spare my life! Great Emperor, spare me!"

This sudden change left everyone stunned.

"Taoist Priest, what's wrong with you?"

"Possessed?"

"The Fengdu Great Emperor? That's the sovereign of the underworld who rules the thirty-six hells!"

Tuan Tuan nodded satisfactorily: "Now, raise your head."

Xuan Xu slowly lifted his head.

Tuan Tuan tugged at Xiao Ningxun's sleeve, and Xiao Ningxun hastily leaned in.

Tuan Tuan pressed her ear to his and asked: "What did he just say about an emperor?"

Xiao Ran covered her mouth, almost laughing out loud.

Xiao Ningxun suppressed his smile: "Fengdu Great Emperor—just remember the Great Emperor."

"Oh oh!"

Tuan Tuan put on a stern little face, trying to look imposing: "Look carefully, who is that high-seated Great Emperor?"

Xuan Xu lifted his gaze to midair, his eyes wide and round, but unfocused.

He stared for a moment, then exclaimed in shock: "It's you! You are the Fengdu Great Emperor!"

As soon as he spoke, the crowd that had been chattering fell instantly silent, their gazes at Tuan Tuan filled with shock.

Tuan Tuan blinked, "Me? Do I look like that whatever Great Emperor?"

Never mind, while his mind is scrambled, I'll just get him to talk—that's the way to go.

"Cough, cough." Tuan Tuan straightened her back, sat upright: "Right! I am the Great Emperor! Hurry up and tell me all the bad deeds you've done!"

Cold sweat dripped from Xuan Xu's forehead, soaking his collar.

"Hurry up and speak! I am the Great Emperor! I order you to speak! Dare you disobey me?"

Xuan Xu's inner turmoil: "Great Emperor above, this humble one dares not speak falsely, but I have lived a blameless life and have done no wrong."

Tuan Tuan's eyes flashed: "You're talking nonsense! Watch out, I'll punish you!"

Xuan Xu trembled all over: "Please, Great Emperor, spare my life! I don't want to fall into the Flowing Fire Hell!"

"Flowing Fire Hell? What is that?"

Tuan Tuan tilted her head, going along with his words: "If you don't honestly confess all your bad deeds, you'll be sent to the Flowing Fire Hell!"

Xuan Xu lowered his head; by now he fully believed what he had seen—how could a mere mortal like him deceive or hide from divine means?

He seemed to see the thirty-six hells flung open before him, countless wronged spirits reaching out to claim his life.

I'll speak! I'll say it all!

Xuan Xu tears and snot streaming: 'Twenty-five years ago I killed my fellow villager Liu Lao Han and stole his family heirloom!'

Twenty-three years ago I raped the Li family's daughter and threw her off a cliff! Ten years ago, to seize my senior martial brother's wife, I poisoned him......

He confessed item by item; with each one, the crowd burst into exclamations.

Good heavens! Liu Lao Han's death back then was mysterious, but it was him who did it!

Wasn't the Li family's daughter said to have slipped and fallen off the cliff?

No wonder his senior martial brother suddenly disappeared!

Xiao Ningxun gestured for Xiao Er to go to the clinic for paper and pen, then transcribed Xuan Xu's confession word for word.

Xuan Xu continued, saying that in his life, anyone who stood in his way, he killed.

Anyone who wanted to take others' wealth, he killed.

Anyone who wanted to seize another's wife or daughter but failed, he killed.

The onlooking crowd had already erupted into an uproar.

Beast! Simply a beast!

How could we have thought he was some enlightened master!

Beat him to death! Beat that stinking Daoist to death!

Xuan Xu kept confessing, laying out his crimes in full detail.

At the end, he went limp on the ground, his face ashen like death.

Xiao Ningxun picked up the confession, his face solemn, and asked: 'Xuan Xu, is everything you just said true?'

Xuan Xu weakly nodded: 'I've said it all, I really have said it all.'

Come over, press your handprint.

Xuan Xu's expression wooden, he dazedly climbed to his feet and, as instructed, pressed his handprint on the confession.

Xiao Ningxun quickly glanced at the confession: 'In under thirty years you've actually killed thirty-six people!'

I said he was a bad egg all along! Tuan Tuan put away the small round disk.

Xiao Ningxun collected the confession, looked at the onlooking populace, and said: 'Everyone heard it—just what sort of person is this Daoist Xuan Xu? The testimony is here; take him to the magistrate's office to be punished according to law!'

Xuan Xu stared at him, his eyes suddenly clearing, then a flash of strong killing intent crossed his face as he lunged forward to snatch the testimony from Xiao Ningxun's hand.