I Accidentally Triggered the Restricted Punishment Protocol - Chapter 12

“Will you dare to do it again next time?”

This exact scene was identical to the dream Yi Hanxing had previously experienced.

Yi Hanxing was struck with terror. “Master, Master! Wait, wait, wait, wait!”

Qin Wuzhou took his time, looking perfectly composed. “Oh, so you still remember that I am your Master.”

Yi Hanxing composed herself and swallowed hard before speaking. “I have a question, Master.”

Qin Wuzhou did not seem the least bit worried that she would try any tricks to escape. He looked like a cat that had caught a small mouse and was ready to have some fun with it. “Speak.”

Yi Hanxing stammered, “Master, do you actually want to kill me, or do you want to sleep with me?”

Qin Wuzhou raised an eyebrow. “What do you think? Which one do you fear most?”

Between chocolate-flavored dung and dung-flavored chocolate, she did not want to choose either. “If I must say,” Yi Hanxing said tremulously, “I am most afraid that you will sleep with me first and then kill me.”

Qin Wuzhou let out two hearty, bright laughs. It was a sound that seemed to have nothing to do with a villain. He then pressed his hand against her neck. “In that case, I will just kill you directly.”

“Wait a moment!” Yi Hanxing flailed like a live fish on a cutting board, struggling futilely. “Did Master not tell me to win over Lin Wujiu?”

Feeling the hand on her neck loosen slightly, she took a breath and spoke rapidly. “Master must have seen it these past few days. Lin Wujiu treated me with extra care and even told me I could seek him out at Yuxu Mountain in a month.”

Qin Wuzhou spoke with a half-smile. “Is that so? I thought you were planning to betray your sect, kill your master, and find a new home.”

Yi Hanxing replied with solemn righteousness, “Master has wronged me! My heart for the Hehuan Sect and my heart for Master can be witnessed by Heaven and Earth. The sun and moon can attest to it!”

“Is that right?” Qin Wuzhou smiled thinly. “So, staying by Lin Wujiu’s side all this time was purely to complete the task I gave you?”

Yi Hanxing nodded with an air of martyrdom, only to hear Qin Wuzhou say slowly, “But Lin Wujiu does not think so. It seems he has already begun to suspect you.”

These words stunned Yi Hanxing. Subconsciously, she began to reflect on where exactly she had slipped up.

Qin Wuzhou suddenly gave a light chuckle. “I never actually expected you to succeed in seducing Lin Wujiu. You were merely a lively little fish released to muddy the waters, making it easier for me to act when the timing was right. Now that he is wary of you, you have lost even your function as a target, my stupid disciple.”

This was a bad sign. In books, the moment a villain starts explaining their inner thoughts to a character, it means they are about to kill them. After all, only the dead can keep a secret forever.

Yi Hanxing shuddered. She wanted to cover her ears, but her hands were tied. She could only squeeze her eyes shut. “No, no, no! I did not hear anything! I know nothing about Master’s plan!”

Qin Wuzhou watched her act like an ostrich with its head in the sand. He smiled. His hand remained on her neck, neither tightening nor letting go.

Yi Hanxing’s heart hammered in her chest. Previously, Qin Wuzhou had not killed her because there were too many witnesses at the Hehuan Sect, and later because he was injured by the Glass Sun and had no time for a small fish like her. But now that he had a free hand, she truly had no reason left to live.

The grip on her neck grew tighter. Her breath was stripped away inch by inch, and her vision began to blur.

“Master, I,” she gasped.

Abruptly, the hand on her neck released her. Yi Hanxing broke into a violent fit of coughing. She slumped against the edge of the bed, gasping for a long time before looking up.

Qin Wuzhou was staring at her with that same smile. “Will you dare to do it again next time?”

Having narrowly escaped death, Yi Hanxing shook her head like a rattle. In return, she received a perfunctory pat on the head. “That is a good disciple.”

She wondered if this was his way of giving a sweet reward after a bitter punishment.

Qin Wuzhou suddenly used a spell to untie Yi Hanxing’s wrists from the headboard. “Killing you just like that would be letting you off too easy.”

Wait. Fragments of the original book flashed through Yi Hanxing’s mind like a revolving lantern. There were scenes of Qin Wuzhou dealing with his mortal enemies using a thousand types of torture and ten thousand types of cruelty.

“Maybe you should just kill me directly,” she said, her voice trembling.

Qin Wuzhou had not expected such a sudden change in attitude. He raised an eyebrow slightly. “Where did this death wish come from?”

Compared to living and suffering under his hand, she would rather just be finished off. Thinking optimistically, perhaps if she died in this world, she could return to reality.

Seeing her silent and unresponsive, Qin Wuzhou suddenly laughed. “You want to die? Then I simply will not let you.”

She wondered why he was being so stubborn.

Yi Hanxing had just breathed a sigh of relief and tried to climb up when he suddenly grabbed her shoulders and flipped her over. She suddenly found herself draped across his knees. Before she could react, two loud smacks landed on her, and a burning pain erupted from her backside.

In an instant, her face turned beet red. She was twenty years old! No one had swatted her since she learned to walk! This was an absolute humiliation!

Yi Hanxing’s entire face flushed crimson as she flailed her limbs like a frog on dry land.

“Behave!” Qin Wuzhou barked coldly. Seeing that she was still trying to struggle, he showed no mercy and delivered another heavy strike to her soft flesh.

Looking at the person beneath his palm, even her earlobes were red enough to bleed. A trace of mockery flickered in Qin Wuzhou’s eyes. Since she was already practicing the Path of Hehuan, he wondered why she acted so innocent in front of him. Back in the Golden Scale Hall, she had not shown an ounce of shame.

What he did not know, however, was that Yi Hanxing was a typical keyboard warrior who was bold toward fictional characters but timid in real life. Facing a dream crush versus a real-life man was entirely different.

After a few more moderate swats, Qin Wuzhou’s anger subsided, and the annoyance from being abandoned and betrayed faded. He pulled the now-quiet girl up from his knees. Looking at her expression, which was full of honest grievance, she truly looked like a child who had been scolded by a teacher.

“Do you dare to do it again?” he asked with a stern face.

Yi Hanxing’s voice was as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz. Her words were unintelligible, but she shook her head.

Qin Wuzhou frowned slightly. He was old enough that there was no need to be so petty with an unstable brat. “Follow me,” he said.

Without giving her a chance to resist, he used the Shrinking Ground technique. In the next heartbeat, their surroundings transformed.

They appeared to be in a vast, white desert. There was no moon, only a few lonely stars hanging precariously in the sky. In the boundless sea of sand, the skeletal remains of giant creatures towered high, and a few dead shrubs looked desolate in the wind.

Yi Hanxing was caught off guard by the sudden transport. A gust of wind blew a mouthful of sand into her mouth. She spent a long time spitting it out before she could recover.

The heat on her face had cooled in the chilly wind, so she found the courage to speak to Qin Wuzhou. “Master, where is this?”

Looking at this barren wasteland where even birds would not stop to drop, she wondered if he was planning to find a remote spot to silence her forever.

Qin Wuzhou glanced at her, his face suddenly turning dark and gloomy. “Do you not think this is a great place to dump a body?”

Yi Hanxing was stunned.

“Hahahaha!” Qin Wuzhou changed his expression faster than turning a page. The next moment, he was clutching his stomach, doubled over with laughter. “Your face is too stupid! Hahahaha!”

Yi Hanxing was speechless. He was a chaotic man who lived for his own amusement.

Qin Wuzhou laughed for a good while, wiped away the tears of mirth, and cleared his throat. “This is the Valley of Withered Bones.”

Yi Hanxing froze. The Valley of Withered Bones was the place in the original book where Qin Wuzhou obtained the Glass Sun. Legend said the Valley was a gathering place for the Demon Race, a forbidden zone for immortals and mortals alike. In the world of the book, the Demon Race was chaotic and lacked reason. They knew only how to devour humans. Those lucky enough to survive a bite would be infected by demonic qi and turn into demons themselves. They were essentially like zombies.

Demons were immortal and indestructible, and the demonic qi spread rapidly. As their numbers grew, their lethality increased exponentially. Normal cultivators would never dare to enter a demon hive like the Valley of Withered Bones alone.

Yi Hanxing suddenly felt as though the sand beneath her feet might sprout walking corpses at any moment. “Master, why did you bring me here?”

Qin Wuzhou replied, “To teach you a few moves so you do not embarrass me by needing a rescue just because you twisted your ankle.”

He set off walking. Yi Hanxing followed half a beat later, wondering if he was referring to the incident at the Treasure Convention where her injury drew Lin Wujiu’s attention.

Qin Wuzhou was tall with long legs, walking with great strides. Yi Hanxing had to lift her skirt and run to keep up. After a few huffing steps, the man in front suddenly slowed down, and she nearly crashed into his back.

Qin Wuzhou glanced at her and continued walking, though this time his pace was much slower, allowing Yi Hanxing to walk alongside him.

“Master, where are we going?”

Qin Wuzhou looked confident, needing no pause to identify the direction. He replied in a deep voice, “I am looking for a spot to dig a hole and bury you.”

Yi Hanxing was not amused. Since he did not scare her this time, Qin Wuzhou looked quite disappointed. He glanced at her again and sighed.

Yi Hanxing wondered why he was so disappointed.

Before long, they climbed a sand dune. On the other side, dense, swirling demonic qi filled the air. It looked like a Van Gogh painting where the sky and earth were warped into one. The heavens were a deep purplish-red, the sand plains were pale, and the dead trees and boulders were pitch black.

However, there did not seem to be any demons.

Qin Wuzhou bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it steadily toward the ground below. The stone landed with a thud, but there was no movement.

“Tch,” Qin Wuzhou clicked his tongue impatiently. “Are they so scared of being beaten by me that they do not even dare to come out?”

“Hey! Anyone there?” He cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone and raised his voice. “I am going to count to three. Get out here, or I will kill your entire families again! I am starting now.”

Before he could even finish his count, the quiet desert suddenly surged violently like a stormy ocean. In an instant, countless pitch-black creatures crawled out from beneath the white sand. They were the demons.

These demons were grotesquely shaped. Some had dog heads on human bodies, some had multiple limbs, and others looked like a patchwork of unknown plants and animals. They ranged in size and wore tattered clothes. Crouching beneath the sand dune in the dark, they looked terrifying at first glance.

However, upon closer inspection, one could see that these demons were all trembling in fear and were as silent as cicadas in winter. They did not look like monsters. Instead, they looked like a group of gaunt, starving refugees.

Yi Hanxing looked at the shrinking crowd of demons, then at the satisfied, smiling Qin Wuzhou beside her. Somehow, she felt the guy next to her was more terrifying than the demons.

But soon, she realized her sympathy was misplaced. Among the demons, there was one who wanted to resist. Suddenly, a bright green vine shot out like lightning toward Yi Hanxing. It was a Banyan Demon!

As a Golden Core vessel, she could not dodge it at all. In a split second, the thick vine wrapped around her arms, torso, and legs. She was hoisted high into the air, her body pulled into the shape of a spread eagle.

Yi Hanxing was about to cry out for help, but even her mouth was stuffed with a vine. In her terrified vision, she saw Qin Wuzhou standing there calmly with his arms crossed. He made no move to save her. He even had an interested expression as if he had found a new toy. He curled his finger, controlling another vine to wrap around the base of her thigh.

In this situation, a terrifying thought arose. She definitely did not want to be part of this ordeal.