"Since you're not pressing the matter, I'm in no hurry to leave. Let me take a look around." As he spoke, Chu Feng began examining the markings on the palace walls.
"Ha ha ha ha…" But the bald old man threw his head back and burst into laughter.
"Young friend, I forgot to introduce myself."
"My name is Qin Changhong."
"I am the Hall Master of the Punishment Hall of the Firmament Immortal Sect."
"I have been cultivating for twenty-three thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven years. My cultivation is currently at the fifth level of True God."
"Fifth-level True God — while that's no weak feat within our Firmament Immortal Sect, it is far from the top tier."
"But the Punishment Hall is of utmost importance."
"Young friend, do you know why I, with my fifth-level True God cultivation, was able to sit in the position of Hall Master of the Punishment Hall?" The bald old man looked at Chu Feng with a deliberately mysterious air.
Chu Feng's expression remained calm, but he still played along and asked, "Why?"
"Because I, by nature, am cold-blooded, and I am well-versed in the ways of punishing others."
At those words, the bald old man swept his sleeve, and countless instruments of torture materialized, floating before him.
Not just instruments of torture — there were also all manner of venomous insects, and even a terrifying creature that stood thirty meters tall.
The creature's body was shaped like a maggot, but its surface was covered in black claws resembling centipede legs, making it look utterly disgusting.
"Young friend, I know that you haven't left the palace not because you don't want to, but because you can't."
"Because you helped Xia Xingchen activate the formation inside the stone palace."
"But young friend, you surely don't know the full picture. You were most likely misled by Xia Xingchen."
"The stone palace formation is incredibly powerful, but it requires a stone palace token to activate. The tokens are limited in number, and each use depletes one permanently."
"Because of this, even our Firmament Immortal Sect's past sect masters would not activate this formation for cultivation lightly."
"Others, naturally, have even less qualification to come here and cultivate."
"So you should understand by now where Xia Xingchen got that stone palace token, right?"
"She stole it…"
"Stealing our sect's precious treasure, trespassing into our sect's forbidden grounds, activating a cultivation array that only the sect master himself may open…"
"These are all capital crimes punishable by execution."
"But young friend, since you didn't know the full story, you absolutely must not get dragged down by her."
"If you help me — interrupt the formation and force Xia Xingchen out — I can pretend none of this ever happened and let you off without consequence."
The bald old man said.
"So Xia Xingchen stole the token after all. I truly had no idea before — she really did deceive me."
"However, even though I helped her activate the formation, I genuinely don't know how to interrupt it," Chu Feng said.
Seeing Chu Feng's response, the bald old man let out a laugh. When he smiled, he revealed a full mouth of yellow teeth — the smile was sinister, the laughter chilling.
"Young friend, if that's how you're going to be, then this won't be fun at all."
The bald old man stared at Chu Feng, his gaze gradually turning cold and venomous.
"I'm not lying to you. I really don't know how to interrupt this formation."
"This formation can't be interrupted at all, can it? You're someone from the Firmament Immortal Sect — you should know best," Chu Feng said.
The old man's eyes still held their vicious edge, but he smiled meaningfully.
Then he extended his aged hand and slowly caressed the torture instruments floating in midair one by one.
As he touched them, he spoke:
"According to the stone palace records, if no junior serves as the formation's core, it indeed cannot be interrupted."
"But if a junior can serve as the formation's core, the formation is not only enhanced — it can also be interrupted."
"Young friend, as the formation's core who has merged so perfectly with it, how could you possibly not know?"
"It seems, young friend, that you'd rather drink poison than wine. You want to experience firsthand the methods this old man uses to torture people."
The old man grinned wickedly, then let his hand settle on a dagger covered in barbs.
In the next instant, he appeared before Chu Feng. A dull thud rang out as the dagger plunged straight into Chu Feng's chest.
But with the dagger piercing through his torso, Chu Feng not only did not cry out — he looked at the bald old man standing right before him and let out a mocking smile:
"Old man, it seems your reputation is rather hollow after all."
"Oh? You'll soon find out whether my reputation is hollow or not."
The bald old man smiled wickedly, but in those ugly eyes burned absolute confidence.
In the blink of an eye, an hour passed.
Xia Xingchen's handmaiden was still standing there, but her eyes — wide with shock — were fixed on the depths of the palace.