In Apricot Grove, complete chaos reigned.
Azhu looked at the utter mess the Beggar Sect had become, and blurted out angrily, "The Beggar Sect is nothing but a mob! Instead of punishing a murderer, they seize this moment to hound Chief Qiao about his ancestry."
Abi teased with a smirk, "Oh, sister Azhu, sounds like you're feeling rather protective of your precious Chief Qiao."
Azhu blushed, flustered, "Abi, you—you're talking nonsense!"
The Celestial Screen had already revealed that the two of them would end up together. Although the ending was destined to be tragic, now that she knew in advance, Azhu would naturally avoid the fate of dying by her lover's hand.
"Enough!"
Qiao Feng's entire presence erupted with a fierce aura, the hairs on his head whipping wildly in the wind driven by his inner energy. The commotion across the entire assembly instantly quieted down at this roar.
Qiao Feng once again unleashed his Dragon-Capturing Skill, drawing the emerald staff hanging behind him into his hand. After much deliberation, he decided to hand over the Dog-Beating Staff after all. It was also time to lay down the position of chief.
"My friends, I can no longer remain Chief of the Beggar Sect. I, Qiao Feng, am incompetent, and today I hand over the Chief's staff."
"Among all the Beggar Sect brothers present, whoever wishes to succeed Qiao Feng, please step forward and receive this staff."
Upon hearing these words, Elder Xu and Quan Guanqing both lit up. Happiness had arrived far too suddenly. Yet before they could take even half a step forward, Qiao Feng's next words rang in their ears:
"However, before my successor takes over, I, Qiao Feng, am still Chief of the Beggar Sect! And as Chief, I have the duty to purge the Beggar Sect of its filth and corruption."
Hearing this, the blood in the veins of Elder Xu, Quan Guanqing, and their accomplices froze solid.
"Bai Shijing and Madam Ma conspired to murder Deputy Chief Ma. Quan Guanqing disregarded morality and illicitly pursued a brother's wife. Both are core members of our Beggar Sect, guilty of heinous crimes that brook no forgiveness. They shall be dealt with according to the sect rules!"
"Execute them immediately!"
With a sweep of his arm, six blood-stained execution blades plunged into the ground before the two. Before they could even react, the Elders of Law Enforcement and Merit-Transmission stepped forward and directly drove their blades straight through the pair.
Thud, thud, thud—three consecutive strikes.
Bai Shijing and Quan Guanqing collapsed to the ground shortly after, breathing their last, their eyes wide with unfulfilled resentment.
According to the Beggar Sect's rules: three blades through six holes. Whether one survived depended entirely on one's own fate.
In this moment, Qiao Feng's decisiveness in slaughter was truly terrifying, successfully subduing all the Beggar Sect disciples and martial artists present.
Kang Min and Xu Chongxiao were so pale-lipped with fright at the sight of the two deaths that terror and remorse instantly flooded their entire bodies, terrified that the six blades still embedded in the corpses would fly toward them next.
However, Qiao Feng made no further moves against the pair. He handed the Dog-Beating Staff over to Elders Song and Xi, the guardians of Merit-Transmission and Law Enforcement, and swore an oath to the heavens before everyone present that he would never again take the life of a single upright hero. Should he break this oath, he would be like the snapped blade in his hand.
He resolutely tossed away the hilt and strode away, leaving the crowd in Apricot Grove with nothing but a sigh-evoking silhouette.
...
"Hiccup..."
Letting out a satisfied burp, Gu Xiaobei lay back on her bed, ready for a wonderful sleep. Hmm, maybe she'd scroll through some more videos first.
"Goodness, I've been typing for so many years, and only today did I realize the villain's 'he-he-he' laugh is so mesmerizing. Saved to favorites."
"Even tabby cats have side hustles these days. Favorite, favorite."
At the same time, night fell over the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils plane.
The Celestial Screen once again flared with a blinding light, instantly illuminating the entire night sky. Such a bizarre phenomenon naturally drew the intense attention of the common people, who poured out of their homes and stared with total concentration at the glowing screen.
"Is the heavens issuing another warning?"
"It must be some heinous scoundrel who displeased the deities, forcing them to come out and expose him even in the middle of the night."
"I wonder what kind of evil deeds will be dragged into the light this time."
Amidst the righteous indignation of the common folk, a tabby cat with a numb expression and dead eyes filled the entire screen.
Now the citizens were baffled. What was going on? Why was it a giant cat? Could it be that this big cat had displeased the heavens?
Many children poked their little heads out from behind their parents, their innocent eyes wide and brimming with a desire for toys.
"The kitty is so cute, I like kitties."
"So chubby! Mommy, I want to keep a kitty like that too."
"Goodness gracious, this kitty is fatter than I am."
Suddenly, a blood-curdling, terrifying female voice shrieked out, piercing the celestial canopy and shattering the dark starry sky:
["Heh-he-he-he... How can you reject Mommy's kisses? Mhm, mwah! If you reject Mommy's kisses, I'll make you go outside and wander as a stray! You're just a little kitty, hehe, you don't have a job and you don't have money, how on earth are you going to survive out there?"]
["Mommy will kiss wherever she wants! Mommy will kiss with her hands wherever she wants! Mommy will kiss your face, Mommy will kiss your mouth! Mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah..."]
["Every single inch of your body belongs to Mommy! Heh-he-he-he..."]
At that very moment, whether in the Song Dynasty, Khitan, Western Xia, or any other land, even full-grown men towering eight feet tall felt their scalps tingle and goosebumps erupt across their skin.
As for the children, they could no longer bear the terror and let out piercing screeches.
For a time, the sound of weeping children echoed across every nation.
"Wahh... Mommy, I'm scared, I'm scared..."
"The bogie woman is going to eat people, Mommy, save me, wahh... I'll always be good and listen from now on, wahh..."
"My meat doesn't taste good, eat my daddy, he has more meat... Don't eat me, wahh..."
Brutal! Utterly brutal! Complete madness!
"What kind of demonic woman is this, not even sparing such a cute cat?"
"Look, she scared my kid into wetting his pants! Do you know how cold it is to wash pants in the middle of the night?!"
"It's over, it's over, my child's soul has been scared right out of him! You wicked demoness, give my child back his soul!!"
"How cruel, how unimaginably cruel!"
Even though the camera never once showed the face of the woman 'ravaging' the kitty—leaving her true appearance completely a mystery—precisely because of this, it gave everyone boundless room for imagination.
Many noble ladies and young misses locked away in deep courtyards were also trembling with fright at those chilling 'heh-he-he-he' laughs, bolting out their doors like fleeing rabbits to rush straight into the beds of their parents or masters, completely abandoning all regard for decorum, feminine virtue, or family rules.
Many cat lovers, seeing the helpless plight of the big tabby cat on the Celestial Screen, felt a pain in their hearts that words could not describe. *The poor kitty must have had its vital essence sucked dry by that wicked woman!*
They couldn't help but hug their own pet cats tightly, looking left and right in panic, terrified that a cat-essence-sucking demoness might suddenly leap out from some dark corner.
...
*【Even a pervert like me thinks she's too perverted.】*
*【Lady Shiji, please exercise some self-control!】*
*【When de-fleaing your cat regularly, don't forget to exorcise the human too!】*
*【Furball: The above is the evidence I provide, Your Honor, I rest my case.】*
*【This old man has lived a life of countless sins, but catching this video today wipes the slate clean. May my wealth pour in and all my endeavors go smoothly from now on!】*
*【With a laugh like that, they'd have to pile on a few extra logs in medieval Europe.】*
The Celestial Screen shifted once more, scrolling out a title: 【Jianghu Bounty Order】
Once again, the camera focused on a tabby cat.
This time, the ancient figures of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils all stiffened in unison.
The parents lost their composure. *Again?! We can't take this anymore...*
Though they didn't understand what a cat had to do with a Jianghu Bounty Order, having already been traumatized by the previous video, their actions were swift and practiced: one parent was responsible for covering the ears, while the other took charge of shielding the eyes.
Without exception, not a single person actually shooed their children back inside. After all, fear was one thing, but warnings from the Celestial Screen simply had to be watched.
Who would have thought that what awaited them instead was a mechanical yet gentle female voice:
*【Tabby: Someone has put a bounty on your cat's life.】*