I Accidentally Triggered the Restricted Punishment Protocol - Chapter 13

Above was the black, boundless night sky; below was the vast, snow-white desert. Only Yi Hanxing was suspended in mid-air, her body devoid of strength. She could feel the eerie, slippery vines tightening around her inch by inch.

Countless thick vines coiled forcefully around the girl’s upper thighs, squeezing the soft flesh into ridges. Other curious tendrils crept forward, kneading and pinching her tender skin as if they had found a precious, irresistible toy.

The culprit was none other than Qin Wuzhou. The Banyan Demon had originally intended to strangle Yi Hanxing to death, but someone had interfered. Its vines were now under external control; unable to kill, they were being used as Qin Wuzhou’s new playthings.

He showed not the slightest intention of stepping in to save her. This rebellious disciple had provoked him time and again; it was high time she was taught a lesson.

Yet, for some reason, a misty haze gradually clouded the girl’s eyes, and a peach blossom flush spread across her face. Her frail body was constricted by the undulating, snake-like vines. In her struggle, she had lost an embroidered shoe, and her delicate bare foot looked startlingly bright against the dark night.

As Qin Wuzhou watched, there was a fleeting moment where he felt as if he had become those vines, holding her firmly in his embrace: wrapping, coiling, tightening, and locking her away.

He abruptly flicked his fingers. The Banyan Demon instantly exploded into a mist of blood, and Yi Hanxing fell from the sky, landing in an embrace that smelled faintly sweet.

Something warm seemed to be flowing down her face. Yi Hanxing’s head spun. Is this brain matter? Please do not let there be blood.

Darn it, she was faint at the sight of blood.

“Ah, too violent. I have made a mess of you,” Qin Wuzhou’s grinning face appeared dimly in her blurred vision. He suddenly cupped her face, using his sleeve to carefully wipe away the bloodstains.

“Master, my legs are a bit weak,” Yi Hanxing said, closing her eyes tightly while still feeling waves of dizziness.

Qin Wuzhou draped her over his arm. He picked up the fallen shoe and weighed it in his hand as he slipped it back onto her foot. She was quite light; no wonder a mere Banyan Demon and a few vines could suspend her in mid-air.

He stroked his chin, beginning to wonder if he should not have brought her to the Skeleton Ruins. “You really are even weaker than I imagined.”

As Yi Hanxing closed her eyes to recover, she quietly clenched her fists. Once the familiar dizziness passed, she immediately pushed Qin Wuzhou away and stood up straight. Having been rejected, he remained indifferent.

However, his golden double pupils shone much brighter than when they first arrived at the ruins. He curled his lips into a smile, looking like a child picking out a favorite toy, as his gaze slowly swept over the demons below the dunes.

Wherever his gaze landed, the demons froze. These monsters, who in the original book were known for pillaging and devouring hearts, now did not dare to utter a sound.

“You will do.” Qin Wuzhou finally picked a demon with three massive snake heads and pointed a finger. “You, come up here.”

The chosen demon stiffened. A moment later, it let out a shrill scream. Its three snake heads suddenly bit into their own necks, violently severing all three of its own heads.

Yi Hanxing was shocked. Was he so terrifying that they would rather commit suicide than fall into his hands?

Qin Wuzhou clicked his tongue again. He jumped down from the dune with efficiency, snatched a bird headed demon that had not managed to escape, and despite its struggles, hauled it back by the collar.

“Fight it,” Qin Wuzhou commanded, tossing the bird headed demon in front of Yi Hanxing.

Yi Hanxing was stunned. “Wait, me?”

Qin Wuzhou took it for granted. “I want to see exactly how poor your skills are.”

After a long silence, Yi Hanxing gave up resisting. “But I do not have a weapon.”

Qin Wuzhou glanced around and plucked a branch from a nearby dead shrub. “Use this as a sword.”

Yi Hanxing reached her limit. “Who can fight a demon with a wooden stick?!”

Qin Wuzhou said with a grin, “I think you can.”

“It is not about what you think; it is about what I think!” Yi Hanxing snapped instinctively. “Besides, I have never even seen a sword technique. How am I supposed to use one?”

Qin Wuzhou replied, “The sword comes from the heart; it is free and spontaneous. Only mediocre talents need to follow a textbook move by move.”

Yi Hanxing pointed at herself. “Has Master ever considered that I might just be an ordinary person?”

Qin Wuzhou looked enlightened. “Oh, right.”

Yi Hanxing thought, Fine, I will just have to give it my all against you geniuses. “Then can Master demonstrate it personally?”

Qin Wuzhou raised an eyebrow. He took the wooden stick from her, but instead of swinging it, he began sketching in the sand. Yi Hanxing leaned over to look and said awkwardly, “Master, your drawing skills are… well, sigh.”

She did not explicitly say anything, but that sigh seemed to carry a thousand words. Qin Wuzhou’s brow twitched, feeling the need to clarify. “To be honest, my drawing is actually decent. It is just that this stick and sand are difficult to work with.”

As he spoke, the forgotten bird headed demon lunged at him. He casually slapped its long beak and said with a smile, “What, do you want to observe my artistic skills too?”

His moves were decisive and ruthless. Before Yi Hanxing could even feel a ripple of spiritual energy, the demon’s head exploded. Seeing a blood mist for the second time, Yi Hanxing felt numb. If this continued, she suspected her phobia of blood would be cured through this exposure therapy.

Qin Wuzhou’s tone was slightly disdainful. “Given your level, learning one move tonight would be an achievement.”

Yi Hanxing squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before looking back at the ghostly scribbles on the ground. The flailing little stick figure, though crudely drawn, conveyed the movement clearly. However, it felt strangely familiar.

She could not help but ask, “Master, what is this move called?”

Qin Wuzhou thought for a moment and said offhandedly, “The Great Swan Arrives.”

Yi Hanxing replied, “You just made that up. And why is it not called Eaglet Taking Flight?” This movement was identical to the first set of the national physical exercises for students!

Qin Wuzhou smiled broadly. “Eaglet Taking Flight; interesting. You can call it that if you like.”

“Is it really that casual?” Yi Hanxing muttered to herself. This man had no respect for the Way of the Sword; though, to be fair, he was not a sword cultivator.

Having killed the bird headed demon, Qin Wuzhou’s intense bloodlust was partially satisfied, leaving him excited. He let out a loud whistle and leapt heavily down the dune, causing the demons to scream and scatter. He grabbed a demon’s head and grinned up at Yi Hanxing on the dune. “Watch closely as I demonstrate.”

With that, he pierced through the demon with one hand. Perhaps to accommodate a beginner like Yi Hanxing, he only used his left hand, keeping the other behind his back. Without using spiritual energy, his body moved lightly and swiftly, his black hair fluttering in the wind. He wove through the collapsing crowd of demons, leaving a trail of blood wherever he went.

“Spiritual energy and techniques are related as essence and application. Energy is the internal essence, while techniques are the external application.”

Enduring her discomfort at the blood, Yi Hanxing translated this in her head. It was like the relationship between electricity and an appliance.

“Whether it is a living being or an inanimate object, everything in this world has a weakness. The only difference is whether you can calm your mind to observe and find it.” He continued his cultivation lesson while effortlessly tormenting the monsters. “For example, this Snake Shaped Stone Demon: though its body is like reinforced steel and incredibly hard, it lacks flexibility.”

He suddenly clenched his fist and struck the stone snake’s vitals. It instantly crumbled into powder. The flying stone dust fell like snow. Yi Hanxing stared intently at the young man in purple below, committing everything to memory while daring to test the waters. “Then what about Master? What is your weakness?”

Qin Wuzhou curled his lips slightly, his voice certain. “I will not have a weakness.”

Was it that he would not, or could not? She thought about it but decided not to ask.

The stone snake had been suppressed the entire time, but before dying, it lashed out in a final, unwilling burst of rage. Spikes covering its body suddenly shot out toward Qin Wuzhou. By chance, Yi Hanxing was standing directly behind him. Qin Wuzhou dodged with a flash, but the cold, glinting spikes flew straight toward her.

Her wrist was suddenly pulled. Yi Hanxing stumbled forward and saw Qin Wuzhou’s profile. A bright halo, a teardrop shaped silver earring, swayed in her magnified field of vision, appearing almost in slow motion. She realized once again that if her master were in the modern world, he would likely be a trendsetting, fashionable guy.

Qin Wuzhou let go of her hand and leaned in with a grin. “Did you see it clearly just now?”

Yi Hanxing froze for a moment before nodding.

“Good. Now, you go and fight it.” Qin Wuzhou shoved the wooden stick into her hand.

Yi Hanxing was dumbfounded. His demonstration did not involve a sword at all!

“What are you waiting for?” Qin Wuzhou pointed to the scribbles in the sand, his tone slightly mocking. “With your skill level, one move is enough.”

That stone snake was a tough one; even after being beaten black and blue by Qin Wuzhou, it still lunged at Yi Hanxing with full energy. Yi Hanxing forced herself to trade a few blows, but the spiritual energy in her body already showed signs of drying up. This terrible furnace constitution meant that while others used energy to control a sword, she just leaked it. While struggling to defend herself, she peeked at Qin Wuzhou’s expression.

He sat cross legged on a rock, arms folded, staring at her with a calm face. Oh no, did he notice something?

Yi Hanxing grew increasingly anxious, and her sword movements grew erratic. Suddenly, she missed a thrust, and the stone snake seized the opportunity, lunging with its scarlet tongue! Suddenly, it stiffened, and the entire demon froze in place.

Sensing something, Yi Hanxing turned around. Sure enough, Qin Wuzhou’s eyes were shimmering, just as they had in his bedchamber, as if thousands of glass shards were hidden within them. He had controlled the stone snake with his Illusion Flower Pupil technique. Under the terrified gaze of the monster’s rolling eyes, he walked over, casually twisted its head off, and kicked it down the dune along with its body. He even took care to pull Yi Hanxing aside so she would not be splashed by blood again.

Yi Hanxing’s feelings were complicated. She remembered now that this demon actually had a minor role in the original book. The female lead, Wei Ruyi, once went out to exorcise demons and encountered a creature with skin that swords could not pierce and a lethal poisonous tongue. She and several sect cultivators had to set a complex trap, sacrificing a young disciple’s life before finally cutting the stone snake into four pieces. But now, it seemed this monster had finished its role early.

Before she knew it, Qin Wuzhou had caught a new demon, one with a human head and two snake bodies. This time, he did not say a word and simply tossed it in front of her. Having witnessed the brutal deaths of its kin, this demon was terrified. Not only did it not dare to attack Yi Hanxing, it even clumsily wagged its heavy snake tails, looking like a stupid dog trying to please someone.

Yi Hanxing was speechless. She only knew the one move, Eaglet Taking Flight, but since the opponent was intentionally throwing the match, the two of them, one genuinely bad and one pretending to be, managed a clumsy stalemate.

After about a dozen moves, just as she thought she was getting the hang of it, Qin Wuzhou suddenly called out coldly from behind, “Stop.”

Confused, she watched him walk up to the demon. The creature, thinking it had earned its life by cooperating with her practice, was met with a smile from Qin Wuzhou. He said, “Thank you,” and then snapped its neck.

“That is enough for tonight. Your talent, well, sigh.”

He left Yi Hanxing with a comment that made her blood pressure spike, then handed her a cup of honey water that seemed to appear out of nowhere. He told her to sit on the dune and wait while he went down to continue the slaughter.