Chapter 56

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 56: Hung Out to Shame

At Fang Lie’s command, several Law Enforcement Heavenly Soldiers rose into the air without hesitation. They swiftly sealed Zhou Hongjian’s cultivation and dragged him before Fang Lie.

Those who had considered supporting Zhou Hongjian immediately swallowed their words, trembling.

They vividly recalled how, mere days prior in this very hall, Fang Lie had ordered thousands of family disciples beaten for causing disturbances. Many still bore the bruises!

With such fresh memories, none dared speak now.

Though Fang Lie often played the blunt fool, his sharp mind had anticipated Zhou Hongjian’s ploy before the words left his mouth. Striking first, he’d neutralized the threat.

The tactic worked perfectly. Potential troublemakers fell silent, cowed into submission.

With the crowd quieted, Fang Lie jeered, "See? No one cares for your nonsense. Your words hold less value than wind!"

"You—" Zhou Hongjian’s eyes watered with rage. "You hold the Benevolence Token Lordship! How can you act so unjustly?"

"The injustice lies with you!" Fang Lie retorted. "What are you but gilded trash? A bloodsucking parasite! Shameless vermin unworthy to lick a dog’s paws!"

Zhou Hongjian shook with fury, struggling against his captors. "Fang Lie! This insult won’t go unanswered!"

"Insult?" Fang Lie snorted. "I merely state facts. You’re a blight upon our Ancestral Hall’s sanctity. Slaying you here would cleanse our sect!"

"Lies!" Zhou Hongjian howled, past caring for decorum. "I’ve lived honorably! Name my crimes!"

"Gladly." Fang Lie turned to the gathered Mo Sect disciples. "Let all witness your true nature!"

He slapped his chest sharply. "The Fang Family belongs to Mo Sect’s Eight-Hundred-Generation Families! Our ancestors bled for this sect. My late father died in battle—facts none dispute!"

"What’s that to me?" Zhou Hongjian spat.

"Everything!" Fang Lie’s grin turned feral. "For ten years, I toiled in lightless mines—drinking sludge, eating rot, lashed for missed quotas. A decade of slavery!"

"Yet the sect gave me neither spirit stones nor pills!"

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Some exchanged disbelieving glances.

"My second brother," Fang Lie continued, "abandoned as an infant, rescued frozen solid. His ice-aligned roots left bones brittle as glass. He fed stinking demon beasts in toxic pens for ten years—and earned nothing!"

"Third brother Fang Huo watched furnace flames day and night, drenched in sweat, for empty hands. Fourth sister and fifth brother broke their backs on spirit fields—ten years of thankless labor!"

"Five orphans served Mo Sect like beasts!" Fang Lie’s voice cracked. "Our rightful Sect Benefits stolen! Our contributions erased! Zhou Hongjian—" He thrust an accusing finger. "Your silks, feasts, and squandered spirit stones were ripped from our flesh! Parasite! Sect’s disgrace!"

The crowd murmured as Zhou Hongjian flushed crimson. "Subordinates did that! The guilty were punished!"

"Murdered to silence them!" Fang Lie roared. "Since when does Mo Sect execute without Ancestral Hall trials? As Hall Leader’s kin, you knew!"

"This is vengeance!" Zhou Hongjian cried.

"Justice!" Fang Lie shot back. "Ten years your Zhou Family sucked us dry. Now I reclaim what’s owed!"

"Where are your precious rules now?" Zhou Hongjian sneered desperately.

"Observed perfectly." Fang Lie’s smile chilled blood. "You’re charged with Disrupting Proceedings. Submit or face threefold punishment."

Zhou Hongjian wept, realizing the trap. Resistance meant torture. Compliance meant accepting any sentence.

The spectators understood Fang Lie’s true aim—not just Zhou Hongjian, but the entire Zhou Family. Their alliance with the Lin Family during recent attacks left no doubt.

Zhou Hongjian gritted his teeth. So long as Ancestral Hall Leader Zhou Zhengqing remained, hope endured. "I’ll endure your rods!"

"Rods?" Fang Lie chuckled darkly. "Today’s punishment requires no violence. Guards! Strip him bare and hang him inverted outside the Ancestral Hall for three days!"

"NO!" Zhou Hongjian’s scream pierced the air as Law Enforcement Heavenly Soldiers tore his robes. "You can’t!"

"Can’t?" Fang Lie’s eyes glinted. "Your Zhou the Skinflint skinned me for a decade. The Lin Family tried flaying me yesterday. Now taste your own medicine!"

Ignoring Zhou Hongjian’s wails, the soldiers hauled the naked man outside, stringing him upside-down like butchered livestock for all to mock.