“Do you know Xun Xue?”
The words had barely left her lips when Lu Qiancha immediately wanted to smack herself—what a stupid question! If the other party could call out that name, how could she possibly not know her?
“Lin Dong’s Tear, the youngest Heavenly Immortal in the history of Snow Country,” Wan Shuang snorted softly, casually ruffling the furry head in front of her twice.
“If I didn’t even know her, I might as well give up this position as leader. Besides,” a trace of nostalgia flickered in her silver-gray eyes, “I have some sort of connection with her.”
“By the way,” Wan Shuang added lightly, as if it just occurred to her, “when you fainted earlier, I already sent a message to Xun Xue. Considering the time, she should be arriving soon, right?” She glanced meaningfully toward the wind and snow outside the door.
Lu Qiancha wasn’t too surprised to hear this, after all, she had previously received news that Xun Xue was recovering from injuries in Bei Juluzhou.
Moreover, in her current state, she basically looked like a mold copy of Xun Xue. It wasn’t strange that she had been recognized.
“By the way, what did you do with the person who was with me before?”
Lu Qiancha blinked, almost forgetting about that big iceberg after chatting for so long.
“You mean that Rénzú?”
Wan Shuang’s silver-gray pupils instantly grew cold.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Lu Qiancha nodded fiercely.
“She’s locked up in the Ice Prison.”
The tone was as flat as if she were talking about locking up a noisy little animal.
“Uh…” Lu Qiancha’s heart skipped a beat as she cautiously probed, “Well… now that the misunderstanding is cleared up… can you let her go? She really isn’t a bad person…”
Hearing this, Wan Shuang walked over to Lu Qiancha’s side and leaned down to look at her.
“W-what’s wrong?”
Lu Qiancha felt a shiver under that gaze filled with coldness.
Wan Shuang suddenly squinted her eyes, leaning forward. An invisible pressure instantly enveloped the little wolf cub sitting on the bed.
“Oh?” The cold breath nearly brushed Lu Qiancha’s ear, “Little Qiancha, I’m very curious… what kind of potion did that Rénzú feed you to make you speak so loyally on her behalf?”
Her voice slowed, laced with a dangerous scrutiny, “First, they stole my precious medicine together, and now you want to defend her… If you can’t give me a convincing reason, then the charge of ‘sowing discord’ will be added to her crimes!”
“I already said!” Lu Qiancha put her hands on her hips, trying hard to look righteous, attempting to use her momentum to counter Wan Shuang’s chill, “I’m a disciple of the Tianyuan Sect! She’s my junior sister! Shouldn’t fellow disciples watch out for each other?”
“A disciple of the Tianyuan Sect?” Wan Shuang sounded like she’d just heard the biggest joke in the world, her lips curling into a deeply sarcastic smile.
“Ha! Do human immortal sects really accept Yao Clan disciples? Do you think I’m a three-year-old wolf cub who’s easy to fool?”
Her gaze grew colder and sharper, “I think that Rénzú is crafty, feeding you some crooked sorcery to teach you how to lie at such a young age!”
“I never said I was Yao Clan.”
Lu Qiancha pursed her lips and muttered quietly.
That was like pouring gasoline on a fire.
The cold aura around Wan Shuang surged violently. At this moment, she was absolutely certain that the damn Rénzú locked in the Ice Prison outside had brainwashed little Qiancha.
Otherwise, how could this young one, with pure Royal Bloodline coursing through her veins, renounce her own roots?
She took a deep breath, suppressing her anger. That Rénzú wouldn’t escape; the debts could be settled slowly. But first, this little scatterbrain had to be turned around!
“If you don’t think you’re Yao Clan, then what do you think you are? Rénzú?”
“If not?!”
Lu Qiancha straightened her neck and stared back with unblinking blue eyes.
“Heh… heh…”
Wan Shuang was outright amused.
“Since you’ve ‘firmly decided to be human,’” she said slowly, wearing an extremely dangerous “kind” smile, “then the punishment we agreed on just now naturally won’t be spared.”
She emphasized the words “firmly decided.”
“What punishment? Spanking?”
Lu Qiancha’s ears perked up with alertness.
“Exactly.”
Wan Shuang’s face bore a dangerous grin. She felt it necessary to help her friend properly discipline the child.
“Then go ahead and hit me.”
Lu Qiancha spoke indifferently, not the least bit afraid.
“But since you’re still young, I plan to punish you in a different way.”
Wan Shuang said this as she stood up, grabbed the collar of Lu Qiancha’s clothes, and lifted her up like a little kitten.
“What kind of way… Hey, put me down! I can walk myself.”
Lu Qiancha immediately flared up, kicking and clawing wildly in midair, but the hand holding her didn’t budge. Wan Shuang’s strength and cultivation suppression were fully on display.
Ignoring her protests, Wan Shuang sat steadily back down on the wooden chair, then twisted her wrist—
“Ugh—?!”
Lu Qiancha felt the world flip upside down, her back facing downward, then was pressed down with irresistible force onto Wan Shuang’s firm thigh! The posture was incredibly humiliating!
“W-what are you doing?!”
Lu Qiancha struggled in horror, trying to turn over. The next moment, she felt a chill on her back—the heavy hem of the robe was easily lifted by a hand.
“You’ll know soon enough.”
Wan Shuang’s voice sounded above her, carrying an unprecedented, chilling “gentleness.”
“Smack!!!”
A sharp, crisp slap suddenly echoed inside the simple wooden hut! The sound was so penetrating it even caused a faint echo. Wherever the palm landed, a burning pain immediately surged through her nerves!
“Aooh—!!! It hurts!!!”
Caught off guard, Lu Qiancha let out a deafening scream! Her little face instantly scrunched up in agony.
Wan Shuang’s strikes were measured; although seemingly ruthless, she used refined immortal energy to subtly infiltrate Lu Qiancha’s meridians, helping to smooth out blockages and expel stagnation.
But at the same time… the effect was like having red-hot needles stabbed into flesh! It was a torment of both spirit and body!
“Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack—!” A series of rapid, crisp slaps followed.
At first, the little wolf cub still tried to keep up a tough front: “Ha! Is that all? Just this little force?”
“You promised 800 hits, hurry up! I have training to do after this! Ugh!”
“It’s so light… did you not eat… aow aow aow! Don’t hit harder!!!”
By the time the punishment reached around one hundred sixty—
“Smack!!!”
“Waaah—!!!”
Lu Qiancha twitched violently, tears nearly bursting out! Wan Shuang casually increased the force. The pain’s intensity multiplied exponentially.
Lu Qiancha felt as if her butt was repeatedly branded with a scorching hot iron plate.
“Stop… stop… ugh! It really hurts too much!” She finally softened, her voice thick with tears.
Wan Shuang paid no heed, her strikes precise and steady, one after another.
After four hundred hits, Wan Shuang again intensified her strength…
“Smack!!!”
“Waaaaaahhhh—!!!”
Lu Qiancha completely broke down! She felt as if her soul was about to be shattered and blown away. Tears poured uncontrollably, her voice strained and cracked.
“Wuu… Elder Wan Shuang. I was wrong, I really know I was wrong! I won’t touch your clan’s things again! Not even a single blade of grass! Waaa… please… stop…”
The little wolf cub wailed and begged, crying in floods, trying to move Wan Shuang with her pitiful display.
But Wan Shuang remained unmoved. Whether Lu Qiancha softened and pleaded or sobbed until she was breathless, that steady, powerful hand still lifted and fell exactly on schedule, unerring.
The little wolf cub hopelessly realized that all 800 hits would be delivered—no less.
As the count neared six hundred—
“Wuuuu… yip.”
Her battered body had long given up futile resistance, limp against Wan Shuang’s thigh. The crisp slaps continued, but the only response was the weak, pitiful, and full-of-grievance whimper: “Yip… yip…”
The light in the little wolf cub’s eyes completely vanished, replaced by a blank, pain- and tear-clouded emptiness. She gave up thinking. The once Lu Qiancha was now reduced to Lu Yingying.
With the final “smack!” signaling the end, the count reached eight hundred. Wan Shuang finally withdrew her hand.
Looking down, the little one on her lap looked like a puddle of melting blue clay, motionless. A bright, scorching red flush adorned her rear, trembling slightly.
She was in an extreme state of exhaustion, grievance, and soul-detachment.
Only the occasional faint, soft, and muffled—“… yip…” sound escaping her throat proved she hadn’t completely passed out, merely utterly subdued, dazed, and spiritless.
At that moment, a trace of helpless yet tender smile finally bloomed deep in Wan Shuang’s previously stern eyes.
She silently summoned a pure and refined immortal spiritual energy, quietly channeling it through her palm into the little wolf cub’s heated meridians, swiftly soothing the intense irritation and nurturing new vitality.