Chapter 2412

Ling Jinbao deliberately laughed and said: "What nonsense are you muttering? Who are you, daring to speak disrespectfully to our mother lord?"

The white-browed old man closed his eyes, not wanting to deal with him.

Ling Jinbao continued: "Just answer obediently, satisfy my curiosity, and maybe I'll use a bit less force later."

At this moment, Zhu Xiuer whispered to He Lingchuan: "Are they trapped inside the Secret Realm behind the screen?"

He Lingchuan nodded: "No physical form, just souls."

He had already seen that these two were not living people at all. The area behind the screen was also a Secret Realm; the Earth Mother had imprisoned them there, restricting their movements, and for these thousands of years they have also suffered the torment of being burned by earth-fire.

What kind of deep hatred and great grudge is this?

But compared to the golden sword, Immortal Mingke paid more attention to the stone statue. It wore robes and stood over seven feet tall.

"I recognize him." Immortal Mingke felt he was somewhat familiar, and after looking more closely, he was moved and said: "This is the last sect master of Windwind Valley, Wang Xie! I... I have seen his statue before."

He had seen Wang Xie's statue on Ling Mountain.

Ling Mountain has a method to preserve three-dimensional holograms of people, lifelike, and it is said to be indistinguishable from the actual person.

The other three, hearing the sound, all turned to look.

The Earth Mother actually had the stone carved into the likeness of the Windwind Valley sect master, and moreover inserted a sword into its chest as a mechanism, deliberately placing it outside the screen Secret Realm—

This is blatant humiliation, so that these two souls can see it every day and every night.

Ling Jinbao's condition moved the white-browed old man. The suffering he endures here is endless; if he could speak a few more words and suffer a little less punishment, why not?

Anyway, what does he have left to lose?

"I am Liu Yisheng, sect master of Bai Le Peak in Windwind Valley."

He then pointed at the stone statue with the golden sword embedded in its chest and said slowly: "This is the sect master Wang Xie of Windwind Valley."

"This is just a stone statue."

"What do you know, you little demon?" Liu Yisheng said expressionlessly: "This is Wang Xie's true self. After his death, the master of Yujing City specially molded a clay shell over his body and fired him into this stone effigy."

Even the well-traveled Immortal Mingke felt a chill run through his heart upon hearing this. Windwind Valley was also a major sect thousands of years ago, yet its sect master's remains suffered such treatment, being toyed with by the Earth Mother in the palm of her hand.

And he had also heard the name "Liu Yisheng" before.

After the sect master's death, Windwind Valley split into three factions, and the leader of one faction was Liu Yisheng.

All four had heard that legend: the Earth Mother is the final destroyer of these three factions.

Ling Jinbao couldn't help but say: "Where would an ordinary person even think of such an idea?"

This kind of vulgar taste—without a bit of creativity and cruelty, it couldn't be done.

"It's not an ordinary person!" Liu Yisheng gave a strange smile: "My Windwind Valley truly suffers from sect misfortune, actually cultivating the most vicious demon head since the sect's founding thousands of years ago."

How could this sound anything but strange? The Earth Mother's age is what it is, and she is an innate stone body, older than any human—does Windwind Valley really need to "cultivate" her?

Ling Jinbao pointed at the middle-aged man crouching nearby: "Then what about him?"

"He was originally my grand-disciple, Li Yun, master of Golden Wind Cave." Liu Yisheng likewise glanced at the middle-aged man: "He is also that wicked one's martial uncle, and now he has gone mad."

Though called a grand-disciple, his gaze at Li Yun was as cold as that toward a stranger.

"Which wicked one?"

"How did he go mad?"

Ling Jinbao and Zhu Xiuer asked at the same time.

Liu Yisheng lowered his eyelids: "If you were trapped in such a place for thousands of years, daily enduring torment, occasionally still burned by earth-fire, and unable to end your own life, you too would break down."

This is truly seeking life but not obtaining it, seeking death but not attaining it. Li Yun, a dignified immortal, ultimately was driven mad by being slowly tormented.

Zhu Xiuer asked him: "Then why are you unharmed?"

"I must retain a thread of clarity, to see what final fate that wicked one meets!" Liu Yisheng said word by word: "He has done absolute evil, will certainly not meet a good end, and will certainly suffer a hundred times more miserably than we do!"

He laughed, revealing his deathly white teeth: "For this, I can wait! Even if heaven and earth grow old, it makes no difference!"

His sect is gone, his physical body is gone, only a solitary soul remains, enduring purgatory.

Only hatred can sustain him on this path.

Zhu Xiuer saw clearly the hatred and madness in his eyes: "You also have a bit of madness, just not as bad as his."

After saying this, it raised its claw and placed it on the golden sword embedded in the stone statue's chest.

It had originally only wanted to test the material, but who knew that the dazed Li Yun, upon seeing this action, suddenly cried out in alarm:

"It's starting, it's starting!"

"My bowl, my bowl!"

He lowered his head and searched for a bowl on the ground.

Liu Yisheng said nothing, kicked a stone bowl from under his foot toward him. Li Yun then crouched on the ground holding the bowl, scooping and counting: "One, two, three, four..."

The bowl contained millet and fine sand, the grains almost identical in size and color, so Li Yun wanted to scoop them out separately and pile them into two heaps on the ground.

This is a task requiring patience, or rather, a boring torment, yet Li Yun focused completely, working with unusual vigor.

Ling Jinbao couldn't help but ask: "What use is there in separating them like this?"

"None." Liu Yisheng said lightly: "After we separate them, that wicked one will just pour them back together again, making us continue counting the grains."

"He just wants to see us labor in vain." He then pointed at the golden sword on the stone statue's chest: "If we refuse, he will trigger that mechanism; if we count too slowly, he will also trigger the mechanism."

So as soon as Li Yun saw Zhu Xiuer's movement, he immediately crouched down to count the grains, fearing that even a slight delay would bring punishment.

Even if he has gone mad, this conditioned reflex has already been cultivated, deep into the marrow.

Even if he has gone mad, the Earth Mother has not spared him, still forcing Li Yun to count grains day after day.

Zhu Xiuer looked at him: "Is this fellow pretending to be mad?"

Would pretending to be mad let him avoid much humiliation?

"He went mad less than a thousand years after being imprisoned here." Liu Yisheng said expressionlessly: "No one can pretend to be mad for thousands of years. Besides, that wicked one has never relaxed his torment on us—what use would pretending to be mad be?"

As Li Yun lowered his head and reached out to pick things up, everyone immediately saw that his arms and shins were covered with one whip mark after another, red and black intertwined.

The red is bruised blood, the black is purplish scabs—it looks horrifying.

These are old wounds that haven't healed, with new ones added on.

He Lingchuan instinctively glanced at the long whip on the statue's neck—was it this whip that did the damage?

Ling Jinbao went even further, reaching out and grabbing the whip.

Li Yun, upon seeing it, was so frightened he rolled all over the ground, shouting "huo huo huo" like a donkey.

Where is there any trace of an immortal's demeanor?

Mingke Xianren, unable to bear it, snatched the whip back and rehung it on the stone statue: "He's suffered too much."

"How did the whip marks on your bodies come about?"

Liu Yisheng had kept his sleeves rolled up front all along; only now did he extend his hand, his entire arm torn and swollen, resembling a radish.