"I'm not fit to be a teacher?" Martial Heaven stared at Qin Yang.
"Ahem, how could that be? Anyone who says that will answer to me!" Qin Yang declared with mock seriousness.
"And I can't hope to leave alive?" Martial Heaven pressed.
Qin Yang gazed skyward. "The weather's quite pleasant today, isn't it? Ha ha."
"You call me Martial Heaven Face?" Martial Heaven's eyebrow twitched.
"Well, your face is certainly dark... Wait, no! That's the perfect color for a true badass! Handsome!" Qin Yang shot him a thumbs-up, though his words rang hollow.
Crack!
Martial Heaven's fists clenched, knuckles whitening.
Qin Yang's expression hardened. "Don't use your Stellar Realm strength to bully people! You're a Celestial Academy teacher, I'm a prospective student. You can't physically punish students!"
"Oh? Now you remember who's the teacher and who's the student?" Martial Heaven's gaze turned predatory as he eyed Lou Mengyu cradled in Qin Yang's arms. "Put her down."
"Not happening!" Qin Yang tightened his embrace instead.
"Back in the secret realm, you were quite the hero, weren't you? Scared now?" Martial Heaven taunted.
"Absolutely," Qin Yang admitted without hesitation.
Martial Heaven froze, momentarily stunned. Where was the demonic killer from earlier? This sudden surrender completely contradicted Qin Yang's previous murderous reputation.
Martial Heaven looked at Lou Mengyu with a complicated expression. With the truth revealed, Lou Mengyu stood completely unharmed, having pulled Qin Yang back from the brink of becoming a demon.
This Lou Mengyu was Qin Yang's Achilles' heel.
"He must pay a price too!" Martial Heaven recalled how Qin Yang had suppressed him in the secret realm, and a surge of frustrated anger burned through him. His figure blurred as he lunged forward with a fist strike.
He didn't activate any cultivation technique, nor did he use any martial techniques.
Seeing this, Qin Yang hastily set down Lou Mengyu and clapped his hands together.
The tremendous force sent him flying like an arrow. Just as he was about to crash into a massive tree, his figure suddenly vanished.
"You think you can escape?" Martial Heaven's divine sense swept out, immediately locating Qin Yang who had entered hunting stance.
With a wave of his hand, a black pagoda-shaped magical treasure appeared. A crack running down its center made Martial Heaven's heart ache.
"This isn't just a defensive treasure!" Martial Heaven gently waved his hand, causing the magical treasure to grow larger. It suddenly appeared above Qin Yang, who was still in hunting stance, and descended with a thunderous boom.
In the secret realm earlier, this magical treasure couldn't unleash its full power. Now, it finally revealed its true might.
The black pagoda gradually shrank and returned to Martial Heaven's hand.
"Let me out!" Qin Yang's voice echoed from within the tower.
"Hmph, you should use this time to reflect properly," Martial Heaven replied coldly.
"Imprisonment Tower..." Jin Wanshan stared in disbelief. The rumors about Martial Heaven possessing such a tower where students who committed grave mistakes would be confined to meditate on their wrongdoings proved true - this was the very artifact!
"Mr. Martial!" Lou Mengyu began, wanting to plead for mercy.
Martial Heaven cut her off: "Putting aside the Qin family matter, Nangong Ling, Wei Yu, and others died by his hand."
"Wei Yu wasn't killed by Qin Yang - it was Nangong Ling! All their underlings were slaughtered by Nangong Ling too!" Jin Wanshan argued desperately.
Martial Heaven paused. "So it truly wasn't Qin Yang?"
"Qin Yang has never killed anyone outside the Qin family!" Jin Wanshan insisted.
Martial Heaven exhaled deeply. He'd misjudged Qin Yang. The young man hadn't been corrupted by power - his sense of right and wrong remained intact.
This revelation elevated Martial Heaven's estimation of Qin Yang even higher.
Martial Heaven shook his head. "I believe you, but will others?"
He turned to Gongsun Ming and Lou Qinru. Both remained silent. In their eyes, if they hadn't fled swiftly, they would have perished under Qin Yang's blade.
Moreover, what about the others on the Celestial Continent? What about the Wei Family?!
Martial Heaven continued, "Let's not speak of Wei Yu. Nangong Ling did indeed die by his hand."
At this point, Martial Heaven felt a surge of anger. The boy had killed the person he was protecting right before his eyes... and even taunted him with "What can you do about it?"
"I'll confine you for a month first!" Martial Heaven said through gritted teeth.
"A-Da!" The panda quietly circled behind Martial Heaven and kicked out.
Before it could even touch Martial Heaven, the Imprisonment Tower swallowed it whole.
The world seemed to clear. After Qin Yang and his beast were taken away, everyone felt a sudden sense of relief - a relief they'd never experienced before.
"The assessment will continue. I'm taking Qin Yang with me," Martial Heaven said to Jin Wanshan and Lou Mengyu.
He then bowed to the middle-aged men who had come to help. "Thank you for your efforts. Celestial Academy will remember this kindness."
"Of course, of course," the middle-aged man replied with a stiff smile.
The others also responded politely.
Fear showed on everyone's faces. Now that they knew how vicious Qin Yang was, they'd never dare to help him again.
Everything had returned to normal, yet the events within the secret realm remained etched forever in everyone's hearts as indelible memories.
"If I died, would you do this for me?" Lou Qinru asked Gongsun Ming.
Gongsun Ming's face stiffened momentarily, words catching in his throat.
What would he do? Declare war on the entire world? Even if he possessed such resolve, he lacked the strength to follow through. Moreover, Gongsun Ming refused to pay such a steep price.
"Hmph!" Lou Qinru snorted in displeasure, her gaze lingering on Lou Mengyu's figure with a hint of envy.
"Three against one!"
Inside the Imprisonment Tower, Qin Yang, Panda, and Treasure Rat formed a circle. Behind them stood the Three-headed Flame Hound, Nine-feathered Ice Phoenix, and Thornstone Turtle.
"Can't play."
"Can't play."
Panda and Treasure Rat stared intently at the two cards in Qin Yang's hand.
"I'm busting! If you've got bombs, drop them now!" Qin Yang declared with a grin, holding his crudely made cards.
He'd already calculated - these two fools didn't have any bombs at all.
"Play! Play!" Panda urged impatiently.
"Three against one! Let's move!" Qin Yang slammed two cards onto the table. He reached out to snatch a Flame Ruby Crystal from the pile before the Panda and plucked a Demon Spirit Fruit from beside the Treasure Rat.
The Treasure Rat clutched the fruit in its tiny paws, refusing to let go.
"Better luck next time! Can't handle the loss? Then don't play!" Qin Yang sneered with contempt.
Under the spotlight of the surveillance artifact, the once-dark Punishment Wall transformed into a lively scene of animated exchange.
"I told you to keep it for the bomb, but you wouldn't listen!" the Fire Dog growled from behind the Panda.
"If I kept it for the bomb, he'd have stolen it ages ago! Do you even know how to play cards?" the Panda retorted.
"With hands like yours, I could beat you blindfolded!" the Fire Dog bared its teeth.
"Hey! You got a problem with that? Wanna practice?"
"Practice it is!"
The Panda suddenly swelled to massive proportions, pouncing on the Fire Dog for a round of roughhousing.
Qin Yang laughed heartily at the spectacle before sighing heavily.
Time meant nothing in the Imprisonment Tower. Who knew how long had passed outside?
Where do Lou Mengyu and Jin Wanshan rank now? Qin Yang wondered, then suddenly realized, Wait, I've been locked up for a month. My ranking must have...