Hearing this, Shen Qing suddenly raised her head and stared at Li Tianyun with a look as sharp as a knife.
Li Tianyun had been walking in front. When he heard the child's words, he thought something was wrong. At the same time, a chill ran down his spine.
Damn kid!
Li Tianyun glared fiercely at the excited kids running away in a group. Then he stiffly turned his head and met Shen Qing's extremely sinister eyes.
"Li Tianyun, you'd better explain this to me."
Li Tianyun was in great distress and had no choice but to confess to Shen Qing obediently.
"This was ordered by the emperor. It has nothing to do with me. The emperor has harbored resentment against the Ling Family for a long time. Now that he finally has the opportunity to punish them, how could he give it up?"
"Since the Ling Family was imprisoned, the emperor has ordered the jailers to pick out several people from the Ling Family every day and take them to the entrance of the vegetable market for execution. Sometimes it's the fire penalty, sometimes the hanging penalty. Anyway, all kinds of punishments are imposed on the Ling Family members, as long as their lives are not endangered."
Hearing this, the four of them were filled with indignation and secretly cursed the emperor.
Wang Wang, as if not making things bad enough, added another explanation: "Originally, these punishments couldn't harm the Ling Family members, but those torture instruments were refined by our national teacher. Their power is quite great."
Shen Qing's face darkened, and her teeth gritted.
Li Tianyun quickly waved his hand, signaling Wang Wang to shut up.
But Wang Wang just shrank towards Shen Qing. His real master now was Shen Qing, not Li Tianyun. Moreover, he had a personal feud with Li Tianyun!
"Take me there!"
Li Tianyun knew where Shen Qing wanted him to take her, but he was afraid that if Shen Qing saw the scene, her resentment towards him would deepen.
But he really didn't have the courage to refuse, so he had to lead Shen Qing forward with a look of near - tears.
The place where the Ling Family was being executed wasn't far. After walking a few hundred meters forward, a crowd had gathered.
"Hey, do you think the whip penalty today will kill a few members of the Ling Family?"
"It's hard to say. In the previous days, there were flames, but those Ling Family members only had a few layers of skin burned. I heard that after they were put in jail, their wounds slowly healed. I think it's unlikely."
"Damn it. How come these villains are so hard to kill?"
"Sigh. Who asked them to practice immortal arts for generations? Their bodies are not comparable to us ordinary people."
"It's really unfair of heaven. If I could practice immortal arts, I would definitely not do such evil things."
"May heaven open its eyes. Let the whip penalty today kill a few members of the Ling Family. It can be regarded as avenging those innocent common people."
As Shen Qing and her group walked along, they heard the scolding of the Ling Family members from the common people.
They openly showed their disgust for the Ling Family and wished that all the Ling Family members would die.
Shen Qing followed behind Li Tianyun. Li Tianyun felt as if Shen Qing's gaze was going to bore several holes in his back.
Only those who had wronged others knew how wronged the wronged were.
Li Tianyun naturally knew that the Ling Family members had never done anything wrong to the common people, but since the emperor said they had, the common people believed it.
In the middle of the main street, there was an execution ground built of wooden platforms. On the execution ground, seven members of the Ling Family were tied to the pillars, and behind them were more than a dozen officials watching the execution.
The leading official had a big belly and a long gray beard. He stared at the sun for a long time.
When he thought the time was about right and the surrounding was full of on - looking common people, the official then raised his hand and signaled the executioners to come onto the stage.
Supported by others, he slowly stood up and said to the common people below on the high platform, "Folks, today's penalty is the whip penalty. These seven people are all youngsters of the Ling Family. They are accomplices of the evildoers and deserve to be punished. Their crimes are clearly listed, and none of them is wronged."
"Today, to calm the public's anger, our emperor is wise. He imposes penalties on the villains of the Ling Family before killing them and allows the folks to watch the execution. Come on, execute the penalty!"
Seven burly men holding whips with a greenish glow in their hands walked onto the execution platform and stood in front of the seven youngsters of the Ling Family respectively.
Those youngsters didn't know what they had experienced in the prison. They were all sallow - faced, with sunken cheeks, but there was no fear in their eyes. Instead, they looked straight ahead fearlessly.
There was only magnanimity in their eyes. Even though they were in prison, the light in their eyes never faded.
Just by looking at these youngsters once, Shen Qing could tell that the Ling Family members definitely hadn't done anything wrong to the common people.
The executioner raised his hand and was about to deliver the first whip when a youngster of the Ling Family tied in the middle spat and shouted to the sky, "The Ling Family is wronged! There are many moths in the court. The emperor has been deceived by treacherous officials. The Ling Family has never done anything to be ashamed of the common people or the heaven and earth."
"Even if we are subjected to many punishments, our original intention remains unchanged. The Ling Family is wronged!"
Led by him, the other youngsters of the Ling Family also shouted loudly, "The Ling Family is wronged. We have never done anything to be ashamed of the common people or the heaven and earth!"
The official on the high platform was so angry that he stamped his feet repeatedly and quickly shouted, "Are you all deaf? I said execute the penalty. What are you waiting for?"
"Beat them quickly!"
The seven executioners seemed to wake up from a dream. The first whip, with the sound of breaking wind, hit the youngsters of the Ling Family hard.
The youngsters of the Ling Family endured the pain and didn't cry out. They still shouted that the Ling Family was wronged.
Some common people recalled the previous achievements of the Ling Family. For thousands of years, the people of the Great Zhou had been able to live in peace thanks to the generations of the Ling Family.
Therefore, some common people began to doubt whether the Ling Family had really done such evil things.
But the officials seemed to have thought of this too. They arranged a storyteller with a very loud voice. While the Ling Family members were being punished, he loudly read out the crimes of the Ling Family.
"Deliberately leading the monsters to massacre the village..."
"Killing innocent girls for alchemy, stealing yin to replenish yang..."
"Searching for the wealth of the common people..."
There were actually more than a hundred charges listed, and each one was described in detail as if it had really happened.
Originally, the voice of the storyteller alone couldn't cover the voices of the wronged, but as the execution time passed, the youngsters of the Ling Family were gradually beaten to the point of being on the verge of death.
They looked at the common people below despairingly and helplessly, hoping that some common people would stand up for them.
But until their throats were hoarse and they could no longer make a sound, no common people came forward to defend them.
The storyteller was spitting all over the place while listing their crimes, and the common people below seemed to empathize as if they had really seen the Ling Family do those evil things.
Some easily - enraged common people began to throw rotten eggs and vegetable leaves at the execution platform.
The youngsters were beaten all over their bodies. Blood slowly dripped to the ground along their bodies and clothes.
Shen Qing felt a sharp pain in her heart. These youngsters looked only thirteen or fourteen years old. They were just children!
If Ling Zhou saw the youngsters of his family being treated like this, he didn't know how heart - broken he would be.
Apart from that, if an ordinary person saw someone being wronged and unable to speak out their grievances, they would surely feel compassion.
Shen Qing gritted her teeth tightly, summoned Wu Wang, and almost jumped onto the stage impulsively, but was firmly held back by Li Xian.