Chapter 80: Chapter 78: A Fate Worse Than Death

"Don’t! Don’t come any closer!" The middle-aged woman retreated steadily. "This is the Zhou Residence, and an Immortal Master is in charge here. Don’t you dare try anything!"

"Immortal Master?" Mo Qi sneered. He had already swept the area with his Divine Sense; Fang Min wasn’t in the estate, nor were there any other Cultivators.

Even if they were all here, Mo Qi wouldn’t have been afraid.

"Aren’t you the least bit curious why she would target a mortal like Sister Kexin?" Mo Qi continued his advance, closing in on the middle-aged woman one step at a time.

The middle-aged woman had a bad feeling and subconsciously asked, "W-why?"

"Because she offended someone she can’t afford to provoke, so she has to take her anger out on a mortal."

The woman was horrified. Putting on a brave front, she shrieked, "Nonsense! You’re just a little punk! How dare you slander an Immortal Master? I suggest you scram before it’s too late!"

Having said her piece, she seemed to find a sliver of courage and lashed out at Mo Qi with her long whip.

Mo Qi flicked a finger, and the force of the motion effortlessly obliterated the whip, turning it to dust.

The middle-aged woman froze. The whip was made with refined iron woven into it.

An ordinary sword would have struggled to even leave a scratch on it, yet Mo Qi had destroyed it with a single flick of his finger!

When had a simple mortal woman like her ever witnessed such a feat?

’Could it be... Could this wild brat who appeared out of nowhere also be an Immortal Master?!’

The middle-aged woman swallowed hard. Her legs began to tremble uncontrollably, and her throat went dry.

"Immortal... Immortal Master!" She collapsed to the ground and began kowtowing frantically.

"Immortal Master, spare me! Please, spare my life!"

Mo Qi casually slapped the woman across the face. A spray of blood and half her teeth flew from her mouth.

The woman was sent flying, crashing into a small mountain of dirty laundry.

"Cough, cough..." She spat.

The woman crawled out of the pile, half her jaw hanging loose. Her head had swollen to the size of a pig’s, and she couldn’t stop coughing up blood.

But she didn’t dare wipe the blood away. She crawled to Mo Qi’s feet like a dog and continued to beg for her life.

"Eat it. Lick it all clean," Mo Qi said, pointing to the sour-smelling congee and the flattened, trampled steamed bun on the ground.

"Yes... yes, I’ll eat it. I just beg you, Immortal Master, please spare my life!"

The woman scrambled over, picked up the moldy, footprint-covered bun, and shoved it into her mouth without a moment’s hesitation. She wolfed it down in just a few bites.

She licked the nearly-dry congee clean off the floor, even scraping away the top layer of dirt in her desperation.

Her movements were disturbingly efficient.

"Immortal Master, are you satisfied now? I’m begging you, please let me live," the woman pleaded, her face a mask of misery and her eyes swimming with tears.

"Hah." Mo Qi let out a small, cold laugh. "You ungrateful beast. You think you get to live after this? Compared to the suffering Sister Kexin endured, what you’ve gone through is nothing!"

SHING!

The Obsidian Kitchen Knife appeared in Mo Qi’s hand. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

A blur of light flashed from the blade, dazzling the eye.

The woman felt a sudden breeze, a cool wind that caressed every inch of her skin. It came and went in an instant, like a fleeting dream.

The wind died. The light from the blade vanished. Mo Qi turned and walked over to Niu Kexin, not sparing the middle-aged woman another glance.

’What happened?’

The woman was completely bewildered. But a moment later, an unprecedented wave of agony washed over her, crashing against her nerves like a tsunami and assaulting every corner of her body.

"HNNRGHH!"

The woman tried to scream, but she couldn’t feel her own throat. All that came out was a dry, wheezing sound, like air being forced from a bellows.

She tried to flee, but her strength was gone. Her body swayed, and she collapsed.

As her gaze drifted downward, the woman saw a sight she would never forget for the rest of her life.

Her body was completely devoid of flesh. Her limbs and torso were nothing but white bone, with blood-red tendons wrapped around them, still pulsing with the beat of her heart.

"No, no, no! This isn’t me!"

The woman instinctively tried to flee, but her arms, now nothing but bone, wouldn’t even lift.

’A Demon! He’s a Demon!’

Though her flesh had been flayed, Mo Qi hadn’t damaged any of her vital organs. All her Meridians were intact, and her organs continued to function.

She wouldn’t be dying anytime soon. But as for living? Not even a Divine Being descending from the heavens could save her now.

The agony she was suffering now was countless times more intense than death by a thousand cuts.

People talk about a fate worse than death. *This* was a fate worse than death.

Mo Qi was, by nature, a soft-hearted and easygoing person. But this woman’s actions had gone far beyond simply crossing a line or provoking his fury. She had gouged out his heart and set his very soul ablaze.

"Waaah, this is so awful! San Pang’s heart hurts so much."

Having finished healing Niu Kexin’s injuries, Jin Sanpang burst into tears. His tears, of course, were not for the middle-aged woman, but for Niu Kexin.

"Brother Mo, this young lady... she’s suffered so much... Waaah..." Jin Sanpang was so choked with sobs he couldn’t form a complete sentence.

Mo Qi clapped him on the shoulder. "San Pang, go outside for now. Without my permission, no one is to come within a hundred meters of this place. Kill any who try to force their way in."

Jin Sanpang nodded and left the woodshed, dragging the half-dead woman out with him.

With a wave of his hand, Mo Qi sent countless Top-grade Spirit Stones flying out, forming a large bathing pool inside the woodshed.

A stream of pure spring water flowed out from the space within his Chaos Scripture, filling the pool.

He tossed in stalk after stalk of Spirit Medicine, which dissolved and released a radiant, multicolored light.

In an instant, dense Spiritual Energy billowed out of the woodshed, lighting up half the sky.

The people of Nanyang City all saw the spectacle. The common folk mistook it for a celestial phenomenon and fell to their knees in worship.

The city’s few Cultivators, however, were overjoyed. Believing a Precious Treasure had emerged, they all rushed toward the source.

Naturally, the first to arrive were from the Zhou Family.

News that Mo Qi and Jin Sanpang had broken in and committed murder had already reached the Zhou Family.

The Zhou Family’s young master, Zhou Rui, had immediately rushed over with his personal Guards.

He was the one who had ordered the seizure of the Niu Family’s property, all to curry favor with a certain female Cultivator.

"Miss Fang, take a look. Is the one responsible for this the enemy you mentioned?" Zhou Rui asked with a grin, leisurely waving a paper fan.

Standing beside him was a woman with an exquisite figure. Half of her face was visible—a beauty capable of toppling nations—while the other half was hidden behind a small, mysterious silver mask.

Had Mo Qi been there, he would have instantly recognized her as Fang Min, the woman whose face he had sliced in half.

A flash of venomous hatred crossed Fang Min’s eyes, but it was quickly concealed by a smile.

She gazed at Zhou Rui with a look of deep affection.

"I wonder, would Young Master Zhou be willing to help a humble girl like me get some payback?"

Inhaling her delicate fragrance, Zhou Rui was instantly captivated.

"I would be honored."

Just as he spoke, the woodshed door opened. Jin Sanpang emerged, dragging the middle-aged woman, who was now nothing but bones and viscera.

He tossed the woman’s remains aside and faced Zhou Rui’s group.

"Brother Mo’s orders! Stay one hundred meters away from this building. Anyone who disobeys will be killed!"