"Who beat him up?" Li Yang raised an eyebrow, asking curiously.
"We all had a part in it, but Emperor Capital probably deserves the most credit," Chen Xia replied.
"I'm quite skilled at taming such beasts," Emperor Capital said proudly. He had a long-standing grudge against Jia Bai, so he was the most enthusiastic and heavy-handed.
In other words, he went there specifically to beat up Jia Bai.
Qiu Li stroked his chin and asked, "Did we tell him what we were going to do at the time?"
"No," Chi Yu replied tersely, arms crossed.
"Who cares? These beasts need to be beaten first. They won't behave unless you beat them. Look, he immediately agreed after we beat him. How obedient he's become after being tamed."
Amidst the noisy chatter around him, Jia Bai opened his eyes groggily. Looking at the six people discussing in front of him and hearing their conversation, tears of frustration welled up in his eyes.
"Look, look! He's been successfully tamed. He's so moved that he's crying!" Emperor Capital exclaimed excitedly, pointing at Jia Bai.
Jia Bai opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound, only managing to move his lips silently.
"What does he mean?" Li Yang asked.
"He must be saying 'thank you,'" Emperor Capital confidently speculated.
"Is it possible he's saying 'fuck you'?" Qiu Li countered.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible," Emperor Capital said with conviction, firmly believing his taming had been successful.
Chen Xia, standing to the side, spoke to Jia Bai with concern.
"The injuries on your body will probably take a few hundred years to heal. But don't worry, it's just a minor wound. Welcome to the Blue Sky Sword Sea. Let's give him a round of applause!"
"Congratulations, congratulations."
"The beast has become domesticated. I deserve most of the credit."
"Why didn't we beat you to death?"
"Hmm."
They all spoke different words.
Chen Xia smiled again and said, "Welcome to our big family. We call ourselves a loving family when we're out. Don't be shy, just act like you're at home."
Jia Bai could only whimper, unable to speak. He couldn't even transmit messages through his spiritual sense and could only keep crying.
These people had certainly left an indelible psychological trauma on him.
Even though he was in such a miserable state, the group still wouldn't leave him alone.
They even made him watch them play chess, with Chen Xia directing. The excuse was that lying down wasn't good for his body, and they didn't want his brain to atrophy. So they had him watch their chess game to stimulate his mind.
After saying this, Chen Xia had Emperor Capital prop Jia Bai up to watch.
Chen Xia might not be good at chess, but he was certainly good at torturing people.
A single game of chess with Li Yue lasted half a day, and that half day was pure torment.
Fortunately, Chen Xia still had some humanity left. The medicinal pills he gave Jia Bai daily were of good quality, allowing for faster recovery.
When Jia Bai was finally able to move, Emperor Capital brought out some chains and excitedly said to Chen Xia,
"Brother Chen, let's put these on him so he doesn't run away again."
"That's quite an elaborate setup you've got there," Chen Xia remarked.
"You're really treating him like a beast. Aren't those chains meant for savage beasts?"
"Why don't we just put him in a tiger-head guillotine and be done with it?"
"Hmm."
Jia Bai's body trembled. He was speechless at these people's behavior and could only look to Chen Xia for help.
"Alright, alright. He's already in this state, how could he possibly run away? I know you guys had some grudges before, and I had grudges with him tens of thousands of years ago too. But enough is enough. We haven't even returned to the Blue Sky Sword Sea yet. It would be a waste to kill him now."
Jia Bai was startled again.
Chen Xia quickly apologized, "Sorry, I accidentally let that slip... I misspoke."
Jia Bai shook his head, whimpering, and couldn't help but cry. He felt he had never been so frustrated in his tens of thousands of years of cultivation.
"Alright, stop scaring him. We're all on the same side now, we need to work together," Qiu Li played the peacemaker.
Chen Xia played good cop, Qiu Li played bad cop, effectively keeping Jia Bai under control.
Emperor Capital didn't play any role; he just directly tamed by force.
Overall, the plan was going smoothly. They now had another of the Fourteen Sons of Vast Sky in their team. Once Huang Can joined, only Hu Linye would be left.
Chen Xia's main body hadn't shown any movement yet, so they weren't in a hurry. They would slowly search for Hu Linye.
By now, their reputation had spread throughout the Star Region. They were known for being unreasonably brutal, beating up whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
And there was no one in the Star Region who could subdue them.
If one were to describe it in detail, they now had a bit of the flavor of the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
Their main characteristic was being invincible in the Star Region.
The days that followed were peaceful.
Qiu Li would read various books to increase his knowledge and further refine his Mysterious Dao.
"Holy shit, 'Uniform Temptation'? That's a good book. What's it about?" Emperor Capital curiously asked when he saw the book in Qiu Li's hands.
"It's about Buddhism," Qiu Li replied calmly, peeking out from behind the book.
"That's boring. It's ancient stuff from who knows how many great eras ago." Emperor Capital waved his hand disinterestedly and went back to check on his "tamed beast" Jia Bai.
Jia Bai had recovered quite a bit by now, regaining about 30% of his strength. He could live normally, but for some reason, he was now afraid whenever he saw Emperor Capital.
For example, now as Emperor Capital approached him, he inexplicably backed away.
Chen Xia told Emperor Capital to be gentler and more refined in his treatment of others.
So Emperor Capital, in a falsetto voice, smiled and said softly to Jia Bai, "Beast, hurry up and acknowledge your master."
This earned him a slap from Chen Xia, who frowned and asked, "Do you think you're being refined?"
"Yes!" Emperor Capital said confidently.
"Then why did you say such things? Was it intentional or accidental?" Chen Xia asked again.
"Intentional!" Emperor Capital was still very confident.
This earned him another slap.
Although there was some playful bickering among them daily, overall, they got along quite well.
Originally, Chen Xia had planned to wait for his main body to show some movement before going to the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
But a hundred years later, there was a disturbance in the Star Region.
A beam of light from the outside world forcefully shot into the Star Region. Within it, a figure violently crashed into the Blue Sky Sword Sea.
Chen Xia stood at the highest point of the universe, his eyes narrowing as his Time Dao pierced through. After a moment, he said gravely,
"White Emperor!"