Chapter 70 Execution
"That's not how it is, Master!"
Cheng Yuan struggled to move towards Chu Jianshan, but the iron chains behind him made a clanging sound, preventing him from moving an inch.
"What would that be like?" Chu Jianshan took a barely perceptible half-step back, just in time to avoid being touched by Cheng Yuan: "You want to say you're innocent? You want to say that Qiao Yi controlled you, and you know nothing, right?"
“…Master.”
Cheng Yuan's eyes were bloodshot. Ignoring his wounds, he desperately tried to break free of the chains. The wooden frame shook from his movements, and his clothes, which had been dry, were soaked with blood again.
"Don't struggle anymore," Chu Jianshan reminded him, "I've sealed your spiritual power, it's useless."
Cheng Yuan finally stopped moving, panting heavily, trying hard to recall what happened that day, but his memory was like a fog, impossible to clear. Yet Chu Jianshan's expression told him that it was all true.
He suddenly felt an unprecedented despair. Whether he was under control or not, Chu Qinglan was indeed killed by him. Even if Chu Jianshan didn't blame him, he would never be able to face himself again from now on.
"Master..." Cheng Yuan called out to him in a hoarse voice, his tone trembling, "Do you hate me now?"
Chu Jianshan said, "I hate myself even more."
Upon hearing his words, Cheng Yuan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly lowered his head and confessed, saying each word earnestly, "It is I who deserve to die, Master, please kill me."
Chu Jianshan's vision suddenly blurred, and he struggled to hold back his tears. He had long expected Cheng Yuan to say such things. He didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that Cheng Yuan understood him so well.
Chu Jianshan asked him in a low voice, "Didn't you say you couldn't remember? Why are you in such a hurry to confess?"
Cheng Yuan said expressionlessly, "I lied to Master. I remember clearly, it was I who killed Madam."
Chu Jianshan looked at him with tears in his eyes and disappointment, then laughed: "What's the reason?"
Cheng Yuan looked up at him: "In order to make contributions to Linyi Sect, so that we can gain a firm foothold when we return."
"So, Master," he pleaded again, "kill me."
The tears in Chu Jianshan's eyes finally fell, melting into the filth at his feet without even making a splash.
After a long pause, he said, "So eager to die? It's not that simple."
"What do you mean?" Cheng Yuan asked, looking somewhat flustered.
He killed the sect leader's wife, and no matter what his reasons were, he was doomed to die. If Chu Jianshan could kill him with his own hands, no one would make things difficult for him. But he was afraid that Chu Jianshan would do something foolish to save him.
But Chu Jianshan suddenly stepped forward and grabbed his neck with considerable force. Cheng Yuan felt a strong sense of suffocation, and soon his face turned purple, veins bulged, and tears welled up in his eyes. He didn't even struggle; he even tilted his head back to make it easier for Chu Jianshan to choke him.
Fortunately, Chu Jianshan released his grip in time, and Cheng Yuan couldn't help but cough violently, bringing up specks of blood. It looked like he was about to cough up his lungs.
Chu Jianshan asked softly, "Is it painful?"
Cheng Yuan gasped, "It's nothing compared to even a fraction of the suffering Master endured."
Chu Jianshan said, "No rush, there's more pain waiting for you."
Cheng Yuan's eyes reddened, and he softly called out, "Master..."
Chu Jianshan: "There's no need to call me anymore."
Cheng Yuan said, "If Master wants revenge, he can just kill me with one sword. Why torture me like this?"
Chu Jianshan looked at him: "You killed my sister, shouldn't I blame you?"
"Killing you with one sword would be too easy for you. The pain my sister suffered, I must make you pay back a thousand times over. That's what revenge is."
Cheng Yuan froze, his eyes empty and blank. His already pale face lost all color, and his lips twitched uncontrollably. He opened his mouth, but only managed to utter a few broken syllables.
"Master...then...what about between us?"
Chu Jianshan asked, "What do you mean, 'between us'?"
Cheng Yuan panicked and desperately tried to explain, "What happened between us...does it all not count? Is all you feel for me now just hatred?"
Chu Jianshan chuckled lightly: "Only you would take it seriously."
"What's the meaning……?"
Cheng Yuan seemed to have lost all his strength. His scarlet eyes widened as he stared intently at Chu Jianshan, wanting to hear an answer.
Chu Jianshan continued, "It's exactly what you mean. There's nothing between us. It was just a farce I put on with you. Now that the farce is over, it's time for you to pay the price for your actions."
"How can it not count!" Cheng Yuan exclaimed excitedly, the chains clanging again. "Chu Jianshan, tell me how it doesn't count!"
"If you... if you hate me for killing Madam, you can just take my life. You can't... you can't deny what happened in the past. I beg you..."
Chu Jianshan chuckled lightly: "You really are childish. All those things in the past were just me feeling indebted to you and trying to make it up to you. You really thought I was unable to control my feelings? Now that you have made a big mistake, it is because I was too lenient with you. In fact, it was my fault."
Cheng Yuan looked at him in disbelief: "Chu Jianshan...you're not like this."
Chu Jianshan corrected him, "I've always been like this. You should have understood this seven years ago. I could abandon you for Xie Yin, and now I can abandon you for Changjin Mountain. Whether you are under control or not, you are still a member of Linyi Sect. You are only a threat to Changjin Mountain. Based on that alone, I will kill you."
Cheng Yuan's eyes were blank and unfocused, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face. He suppressed sobs in his chest, his hands hanging limply on the iron rings: "So... even if I don't kill Madam today, Master still won't let me go?"
Chu Jianshan replied, "Yes."
"Ha," Cheng Yuan gave a bitter laugh, tilting his head back to stop the tears from falling, his lips pressed tightly together: "I don't believe it... You said you wouldn't abandon me again, you said it!"
Chu Jianshan clenched his fists, leaving a bloody mark on his hand from his fingernails: "You don't need to put on this act of deep affection. It makes it seem like I'm the one who's wronged you. You know better than anyone whether you want to go back to Linyi Sect as the young master or not."
“When I went down the mountain before, I specially changed Bai Qianfan to accompany me. It wasn’t for the so-called protection of you. I just guessed that Linyi Sect would make a move against Changjin Mountain, so that I could give you a chance to make a move, seize your weakness and then act. But I made a mistake and you took advantage of the situation.”
"Perhaps I did have feelings for you before, but now that you killed my sister, there are none left. I only feel hatred for you."
Cheng Yuan was furious at his words, his voice choked with sobs, "You... don't need to provoke me. I won't believe anything you say. If you want to deny the past, you'll have to die."
Chu Jianshan gritted his teeth and met his eyes: "Fine, you want to die? That's easy enough."
"Guards!" Chu Jianshan summoned the guards outside the door: "Drag him to the execution ground."
Outside the prison, a crowd had long been waiting by the execution ground, anticipating Chu Jianshan's so-called outcome.
The dazzling sunlight stung Cheng Yuan's eyes, and his wounds burned with pain. He was violently pushed onto the execution platform, unable to stand, and struggled to his knees to get up.
He looked up and saw that all around him was silent, but everyone's eyes were fixed on him—pity, indifference, numbness, hatred—all of these were like needles, piercing him one by one.
"Immortal Chu," Li Xi spoke first, asking, "is this the explanation you promised?"
She sneered, "This person only suffered minor injuries, which is far from enough to warrant an explanation."
Chu Jianshan said, "Don't rush."
He raised his hand and waved his sleeve, activating the array on the execution platform, which quickly solidified into a barrier, with flashes of lightning above it.
Jiang Yan whispered, "Thunderbolt punishment? Isn't that... a bit too harsh?"
Chu Jianshan said coldly, "He deserves it."
Li Xi asked, "How many?"
"One hundred questions."
Li Xi turned his head away and didn't say anything more, as if he was very satisfied with the number.
Bai Qianfan hurriedly ran to Chu Jianshan's side and whispered in his ear, "Are you crazy! An ordinary person can only withstand twenty strikes even if they use all their spiritual power to resist. Now that you've sealed his spiritual power, a hundred strikes... he's already dead beyond dead!"
"Chu Jianshan, stop pretending to be deaf! Speak up!"
Chu Jianshan lowered his eyes and said, "No, he can handle it..."
Bai Qianfan grew anxious: "You think you can just say it? Of course not..."
“Immortal Chu,” Li Xi interrupted him, urging, “the time has come.”
Chu Jianshan raised his head and met Cheng Yuan's gaze through the barrier. He couldn't see Cheng Yuan's eyes clearly, but he was sure it wasn't hatred.
"Execute."
As soon as the order was given, the lightning above the barrier rapidly expanded, ready to strike. Cheng Yuan knelt on the spot, his eyes tightly closed, preparing to take the blow.
"Wait!" Li Xi raised his hand to stop them.
Chu Jianshan rolled his eyes at him: "Does Hall Master Li have any other requests?"
Li Xi smiled and said, "Isn't it a bit too tedious to carry out executions like this?"
Chu Jianshan asked, "What do you mean?"
Li Xi feigned thought and suggested, "How about this? Let Immortal Chu personally administer the punishments, what do you think?"
Enraged, Bai Qianfan pointed at Li Xi's nose and yelled, "Li Xi! Do you have any conscience at all! How could you come up with such a cruel method as having a master personally punish his own disciple?!"
"I'm cruel?" Li Xi laughed angrily. "When he killed the sect leader's wife, why didn't you say he was cruel? When so many Changjin Mountain disciples died because of him, why didn't you say he was cruel then? In terms of cruelty, how can I compare to him even a fraction?"
"You...!" Bai Qianfan was about to argue when Chu Jianshan stopped him.
“Alright, I’ll preside over the execution.” Chu Jianshan agreed and walked step by step toward the execution platform.
Cheng Yuan turned his head to look at Chu Jianshan, his eyes bloodshot, his pale, chapped lips framed by strands of hair soaked with sweat, and the tattered hem of his clothes swayed helplessly in the cold wind.
He cried out to Chu Jianshan in a hoarse voice, "Master...no, it can't be you..."
Chu Jianshan walked up to him, looked down at him, and said, word by word, "The thing I regret most in my life is bringing you back to Changjin Mountain."
Cheng Yuan stood frozen in place, his eyes red, and knelt helplessly before him. He, who had once been taller than Chu Jianshan, now seemed so small. He reached out with all his might and grabbed the hem of Chu Jianshan's clothes, his blood staining it.
"Master...it's not like this, it shouldn't be like this..."
Chu Jianshan took three steps back and pulled his hand away.
This barrier has the effect of isolating sound, usually to block out the screams of prisoners during executions so as not to offend the ears of noblemen. But now, Chu Jianshan took advantage of this and said word by word, "I have never liked you."
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