Chapter 794: A Tragic
“Tell me. Where are those two people now?”
Elder Zheng was grim-faced, staring coldly at Hu Qingsong as if he was interrogating a prisoner.
“I do not know.”
Hu Qingsong said, shaking his head. “I only met them by chance. They are not even my friends, so how would I know where they went?” he added.
“You do not know?”
A cruel look flashed across Elder Zheng’s face. Ominously, Inner True Force burst from his palms, forming a long whip of s.h.i.+mmering energy, and he lashed Hu Qingsong mercilessly.
THWACK!
Hu Qingsong wailed in agony as the energy-charged whip ripped across his chest, leaving a long lash mark that looked like a knife had sliced through his flesh. The wound started bleeding profusely, and in excruciating pain, Hu Qingsong groaned loudly again.
“Supervisor Hu!”
Watching his supervisor being tortured while he helplessly watched without being able to could do anything made Luo Jins.h.i.+ feel anguished.
“Do not worry. I am okay,” Hu Qingsong said as he smiled weakly at him.
Wearing a nasty scowl on his face, Elder Zheng asked again, “Where are they?”
He sounded stern and impatient.
Hu Qingsong looked at him impa.s.sively, then shook his head again, and said, “I do not know where they are. I have already said that we only met…”
THWACK!
Elder Zheng whipped Hu Qingsong again before the latter could finish his sentence. The sound of the whip touching his body was horrific enough to freeze anyone’s blood.
“ARGHH!”
Hu Qingsong cried out loudly. Another vivid lash mark appeared on his body, and this time the wound was so deep that it exposed his bones.
Elder Zheng’s eyes glowered viciously, and he looked as if he wanted to kill Hu Qingsong. “This is the last time I am asking you. Where the h.e.l.l are they?”
“N-no… no… idea,” Hu Qingsong said with great effort.
Elder Zheng narrowed his eyes, and he was exceedingly angry. “Very well… Very well… Very well”
He repeated those words slowly in a cruel and sinister tone. Then, he lashed his whip at Hu Qingsong repeatedly, brutally ripping into the flash of the man tied-up. The skin broke open at each strike and his body covered him with blood, and it was a disturbing and frightful sight.
“Hiss!”
The disciples of the Mu City Academy watching the punishment could not help but gasp. They felt sorry for Hu Qingsong.
“Elder Zheng is cruel indeed. Is he going to beat Hu Qingsong to death?”
“Hush. Be careful. Don’t cause any trouble for yourself.”
“You are ignorant. Elder Zheng is a powerful person. His reaction is normal and understandable. Think about it. Would he still be respected if he did not act after his relative was a.s.saulted? We would deem him a coward!”
“Exactly. Elder Zheng is a dependable person. Besides, Hu Qingsong is useless and his life is worthless. I could not care even if he dies. The academy can even save more food.”
“I am with Elder Zheng!”
Most disciples chose the side of Elder Zheng as he was an influential personality in the academy.
The other supervisors were standing in the outer circle. They felt upset watching Elder Zheng punish their fellow supervisor so brutally, even though they looked down on Hu Qingsong for being the only one at the Martial Spirit level.
“Stop beating him. Please stop. Stop it now!”
Luo Jins.h.i.+ cried, pleading with Elder Zheng, but it was pointless. Elder Zheng continued whipping Hu Qingsong, ignoring the heart-wrenching pleas of Luo Jins.h.i.+.
Hu Qingsong was his supervisor and the man who taught him cultivation step by step. Seeing his supervisor so severely tortured, Lin Jins.h.i.+ felt deep anguish, and it was as if Elder Zheng was whipping him instead of Hu Qingsong.
“Stop! I will tell you where those people are. Stop beating Supervisor Hu, please, please…” Luo Jins.h.i.+ cried out, almost on the verge of a breakdown. He kept begging Elder Zheng, with tears streaming down his face endlessly.
Only then did Elder Zheng stop the whipping. Luo Jins.h.i.+’s words got his attention, and he glared at the pleading man. In an emotionless voice, he shouted, “Tell me!”
“They… they are…”
“Shut up!”
Covered with blood, Hu Qingsong roared at Luo Jins.h.i.+ and cut him off. His eyes looked like they belonged to a bloodthirsty beast. “If you dare tell him their whereabouts, you will no longer be my apprentice!”
“I…”
Luo Jins.h.i.+ was in a dilemma. He knew Hu Qingsong meant it. If he disclosed the whereabouts of Xiao Luo and Ghost, Hu Qingsong would never forgive him.
“Stubborn!”
Elder Zheng snorted coldly. He flung his whip at Hu Qingsong once again.
THWACK!
The whip slashed Hu Qingsong across his face that time. A frightful wound instantly appeared on his left cheek, and blood flowed out of his nose and mouth.
“Hahaha, haha… haha, haha…”
Hu Qingsong suddenly burst out laughing. There was no more fear in his eyes. Instead, he looked dauntless as he looked directly into Elder Zheng’s eyes.
What was going on?
Had the beating driven Hu Qingsong mad?
His strange behavior puzzled the disciples.
Hu Qingsong berated Elder Zheng in a provoking voice. “Zheng Hais.h.i.+, go on… Beat me. Why did you stop? You act like a tyrant in the academy and the entire Mu City. You have the final say on everything. Everyone has to follow your orders. So what? The entire world may fear you, but I, Hu Qingsong, do not!”
In my eyes, you are just an old dirty swine who kills people at your whim and fancy. You have done so much evil. Everyone in the academy has followed your lead and taken to abusing their powers and bullying others. And all this started from you. It is you who turned the Mu City Academy into an evil force, and you are the biggest sinner in the Mu City. The heavens should punish you!”
Laughing insanely with his teeth all covered with blood, he looked as hideous as an evil ghost. Suddenly, Hu Qingsong became a different person.
“He is crazy. Hu Qingsong has gone crazy!”
“He is irritating Elder Zheng intentionally so that Elder Zheng will vent his anger on him. He is trying to divert Elder Zheng’s attention from the two who injured Zheng Feihan and Chen Junbin.”
“Elder Zheng would forgive him if Hu Qingsong just told him the whereabouts of those two. But now, it is hard to say… Elder Zheng is famous for his cruelty.”
The disciples were talking among themselves in low voices, whispering to each other.
Elder Zheng twitched one corner of his mouth. He gave Hu Qingsong a long, hard stare.
Hu Qingsong ignored him. Instead, he addressed the thousands of disciples who were there. “Disciples of the Mu City Academy, you had to go through many rounds of strict selections before you got admitted by the academy. But before that, you were also sons and daughters of the common folk living in the Mu City. All of you have n.o.ble ambitions, determined to make contributions to Mu City. Don’t you wish to benefit the common folk?”
Many of you took an oath led by the Dean at the square. You vowed to make it your mission to protect the lives and properties of the people. But look at how things are being run in the academy now. When we walk down the streets, the folks are avoiding us as if we have the plague. They have fear in their eyes. Perhaps in their eyes, the members of the Mu City Academy are robbers, not their protectors.”
Have you ever thought about the reason for this? Ask yourselves—do you still hold fast to your initial aspirations? Or have you deviated so far from it you have forgotten why you took the oath in the first place? Dear disciples, this is a wake-up call. Look at Mu City—it is already devastated. Look at how this evil att.i.tude is gnawing away at our morals at Mu City Academy. Stop being so foolish. Wake up to fight against those vile practices and repel these hateful evil forces!”