Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Rice Balls
The Law Must Not Be Transmitted Lightly.

Not to mention the Purple Mansion Superior, even a Dharma Transmission Elder of high-tier Qi Cultivation charges no small fee for individual guidance.

When those four characters are broken apart, what fills them is nothing but white, shiny Spirit Stones!

Wang Chen estimated the cost for a face-to-face communication slot with Chang Chun.

At least a hundred Low Spirit.

It sounded like a lot.

But he believed that among the tens of thousands of cultivators present, many could afford to bring out that many Spirit Stones.

This was called targeted filtering, precision harvesting!

Wang Chen touched his kidney and took a big step out of the Dharma Transmission Hall.

It was just past 11 a.m., mealtime.

Wang Chen found a streetside teahouse, spent ten Fragmented Spirit Stones for a pot of High Fragmented Cloud Mist Spirit Tea, then chose a window seat on the second floor to sit down and took out the rice balls he had made in the morning to satisfy his hunger.

Of course, Cloud Mountain City was home to plenty of restaurants.

Yet even the cheapest meal set in these various establishments cost one Spirit Stone.

And it wasn’t even filling.

So before coming, Wang Chen had prepared his lunch.

The small teahouse was more economical, where ordering a pot of tea allowed one to sit for a couple of hours,

If business was slow and there were many empty seats, the servers wouldn’t come to chase customers away even after that time had passed.

Most importantly, one could hear gossip and news inside the teahouse.

So every time Wang Chen came to the city for business or shopping, he would sit here.

He filled his stomach and listened to the news.

To ensure that he wasn’t too isolated from the world.

He had just swallowed two rice balls when he suddenly heard someone shouting on the street below, “At 13 p.m. at the east gate, the Punishment Hall will execute seventeen Sin Cultivators, hurry if you want to see!”

The entire teahouse stirred with excitement.

Many people hurried to the windows, craning their necks to look out.

The street buzzed with movement, a few people hurried to spread the news in front, followed by many onlookers of all ages eager for the spectacle.

Seeing such a scene, the teahouse patrons lost interest in bragging and chatting.

They paid their bills and left.

Wang Chen finished the rice balls he brought, drinking the pot of Spiritual Tea to the last drop.

Only then did he leave the teahouse.

Following the crowded throng, he exited the east gate.

There was still some time before 13 p.m., yet the area around the Sins Execution Platform outside the east gate was already surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.

The Cloud Sun Sect was strict with its rules, and the heaviest punishment was to be beheaded on the Sins Execution Platform as a public warning.

Among those beheaded were cultivators who had committed crimes within the sect’s territory or offended the majesty of the Cloud Sun Sect as Loose Cultivators.

The crowd eager to watch the beheading swelled, the scene as bustling as if at a large market, with small vendors flocking to the excitement, adults shouting for children and creating a commotion, everyone appearing excited.

However, next to the Sins Execution Platform was a group of people with faces etched in sorrow and pain, some crying pathetically.

Thump—

The bell of 13 p.m. arrived as expected.

A fully armed contingent of Punishment Hall disciples escorted over a dozen Sin Cultivators onto the Sins Execution Platform.

These Sin Cultivators had all their mana sealed and their senses blocked, like spineless dead dogs being manipulated by the Punishment Hall disciples to kneel in a line on the platform.

The atmosphere at the scene immediately reached a climax!

As soon as the seventeen Sin Cultivators were all kneeling in a row, a Punishment Hall Elder with a date-red face appeared and shouted, “Sect laws are ironclad and must not be violated. Beheading as a public warning, to deter others by example!”

His voice boomed like thunder, instantly suppressing all the other sounds around.

This Punishment Hall Elder unfolded a scroll of paper and started reading from the text, “Sin Cultivator Xiao Penghai, a disciple of the Three Halls Reserve Camp of the Outer Sect, spreading rumors and slander to besmirch the sect, causing harmful influence—the punishment is beheading!”

“Sin Cultivator Liang A’Da, a Battle Cultivator of the Seventh Reclamation Camp, deserted during battle and violently resisted arrest—the punishment is beheading!”

“Sin Cultivator Teng Bao, a Battle Cultivator of the Ninth Reclamation Camp, attacked an Upper Cultivator without cause, inflicting serious injury—the punishment is beheading!”

“Sin Cultivator Xin Dan, a Spiritual Plant Farmer from Yi Six Defense Area, privately worshipped an Evil Wraith…”

With each crime he recited, and each Sin Cultivator’s sentence announced, many of the onlookers looked around, bewildered.

Gone were their earlier excitement and agitation.

Because none of these sin cultivators were loose cultivators.

All of them were Outer Sect cultivators!

And their crimes did not seem severe enough to warrant public beheading.

But shocked and incredulous as they were, no one was foolish enough to speak out at this time.

The incident didn’t involve their own family members after all.

Only the group of people next to the Sins Execution Platform, presumably the relatives of the sin cultivators, appeared even more anguished and sorrowful.

Nor did anyone dare to cry out for justice or plead for mercy!

Unless a significant figure stepped forward, the sentences from the Punishment Hall could not be altered.

Whoever dared to stick their neck out at this time

was definitely in for major bad luck!

Two teams of elite Punishment Hall disciples were watching closely with a menacing presence.

After the Punishment Hall Elder finished reciting from the scroll, he put it away, his gaze sharp and soul-piercing: “Begin the execution!”

No sooner had he spoken than three brawny executioners stepped onto the Sins Execution Platform.

They were bare-chested, wearing black shorts, holding nine-ring magic sabers, expressionless and indifferent in their eyes.

“Carry out the execution!”

One of the executioners strode forward, standing beside a kneeling sin cultivator.

He swung the magic saber down with ferocious force.

A head tumbled to the ground.

“Ah!”

Some people in the crowd couldn’t bear to watch and cried out as they shut their eyes.

The executioner kicked, sending the headless body tumbling down from the Sins Execution Platform!

At this moment, a dozen or so old men and women rushed over competitively.

In their hands, they clutched rice balls.

They quickly withdrew back into the crowd and hurriedly stuffed the hot rice balls into their children’s mouths.

Those who didn’t want to eat were forcefully fed.

Some children cried out of fear, receiving no pity from their usually affectionate elders.

A group of Punishment Hall disciples watched from the side, their eyes filled with mocking, with no intention of intervening.

Having all five elemental Root Bones is the foundation of cultivation; without a complete set, one simply cannot cultivate.

However, some rare treasures can help one replenish their Root Bones.

The problem is, such treasures are by no means accessible to ordinary families.

Then there was a rumor, spread by someone unknown.

They claimed that such an act could potentially allow a child with incomplete elemental Root Bones to replenish them.

This was called exchanging blood for bone marrow.

Although most people were well aware that such a notion was utter nonsense,

there were always some credulous fools who believed it.

After all, in the world of immortal cultivation, having incomplete elemental Root Bones meant absolute severance from the path of cultivation; even if one could practice martial arts to strengthen their body, they were not even eligible to be a mere Spiritual Plant Farmer.

For those born into wealth, it was still manageable, but children of common families could only become human servants, living out a lowly and insignificant life.

These children who were forced to swallow the rice balls.

All had incomplete elemental Root Bones.

And these old men and women.

They had all paid with Spirit Stones.

The Spirit Stones they brought out, a portion would end up in the hands of the executioners!

Heads were chopped off, bodies fell…

A crowd scurried and fought over.

More people watched numbly.

Wang Chen felt his stomach churning, wishing he could vomit all the rice balls he had previously eaten.

He turned his head and left.

———–

PS: Made some edits.