Chapter 29: Mighty Experts
Lu Zhou sighed: Little Yuan’er lost her patience eventually. It was almost one hour when the system prompts finally stopped.
He looked at the system panel.
Name: Lu Zhou
Race: Human
Cultivation base: The Qi Refining and Soul Forming stage of the Sense Condensing realm
Merit points: 1,254
Avatar: Three Condensing Flowers
Remaining life: 4,505 days
Items: Ji Tiandao Peak Form Card x 2, Critical Block Card (passive) x 3, Whitzard
Cultivation technique: Three Scrolls of Heaven Writing
...
The merit points had accumulated to more than 1,000. Deducting the rewards from disciplining the disciples and the tasks they had completed, Little Yuan’er had killed at least 50 evil men.
Lu Zhou did not expect her to handle the matter properly as soon as she entered the world. After all, she was still young and had no discretion in doing things. Moreover, he had learned from Wang Fugui over the past few days that the Azure Dragon Association had done many evil deeds, and common people had been suffering under them. The authorities had turned a blind eye to them because they were backed by the Nether Sect, which turned them into a major scourge in Anyang. They deserved to be killed, and Lu Zhou did not pity them.
“Fugui, I want you to find out if there are any unusual activities in the Murong Family recently.”
“I’ll go right now.”
“Hold on!”
“Is there anything else, Old Mister?”
“Bring this token. No one will dare to stop you if you show it to them. Go now.”
“I understand.”
All the items Ji Tiandao obtained through the system were gone, but the goodies he plundered when he held sway in the world remained. And this royal token was one of them. As for the rest, which were not convenient to be brought along, Lu Zhou left them in Evil Sky Pavilion.
In the afternoon...
Lu Zhou was resting with his eyes closed when Little Yuan’er jumped off the roof again and came in front of him as she greeted with a playful smile, “Master.”
Lu Zhou frowned slightly and said, “Kneel down!”
Plop!
Little Yuan’er dropped to her knees immediately, and the smile on her face disappeared. “I was wrong, Master! I shouldn’t have killed them!”
“I don’t blame you for that.”
“Ah?”
“I’ve told you that this is your home and you have to come in through the front door. Have you forgotten that? Or did you take my words as a mere gust of wind?”
“I’m sorry, Master! I was in a rush and I forgot about that...I promise I won’t do it again,” Little Yuan’er bowed her head and said.
If he forgave her every time she made a mistake and said that, she would not remember and become better. So, Lu Zhou pointed to a block of stone beside them and said, “Lie face down.”
“Ah?”
“You have a pure nature, which is a good thing, but you can’t be so wild and have no regard for rules. Since your parents are away, I’ll teach you on their behalf.”
Little Yuan’er obediently went to the block of stone and lay down. Lu Zhou knew he could not relent at this moment. So, he lifted a hand and produced a weak wave of energy, which he threw at her buttocks.
Pak!
‘Hehe! It doesn’t hurt at all...’
“How dare you play tricks with me!” Lu Zhou said angrily. “Remove your protective energy.”
“Have mercy, Master! I will not do it again, I promise!” Little Yuan’er pleaded.
“Remove it!”
“...”
Without the protective energy, Little Yuan’er was just an ordinary girl. It was not wrong to be free, but she could not act without rules. Lu Zhou could turn a blind eye when she was on the mountain, but if she still acted like that in Anyang, she might attract unwanted attention and spread the news of their presence here to the other villainous disciples. He must punish her appropriately and make her remember not to make mistakes again.
Pak!
“It hurts, Master!”
The second stroke was a solid one. Although Lu Zhou was only in the Sense Condensing realm, he could muster enough energy to hit an ordinary girl.
Pak! Pak! Pak!
He hit her three more times in a row. In his memory, Little Yuan’er was the only disciple whom Ji Tiandao had never beaten before. The other disciples, from the eldest to the eighth, had been beaten and even seriously wounded by him since they were young, but he always saved their lives and healed them with medicines.
After the punishment, Little Yuan’er was full of grievances and almost burst into tears.
In front of others, she was a formidable and terrible little devil, but when facing Lu Zhou, she was just a child who had not yet grown up. Since she was little, her parents were not with her, and her senior brothers and sisters could only give her so much of love, which could not replace her parents. Master was the only person she could rely on. But now, her most respected master had beaten her. How could she not be filled with grievances?
“You may get up,” said Lu Zhou with hands clasped behind his back.
“Master, it really hurts!”
“Good, I want you to feel that. I’ve told you to forget everything I taught you in the past and remember what I tell you now.”
“I will, Master!” Little Yuan’er pursed her lips.
“Ding! You have sternly disciplined the ninth disciple, Little Yuan’er. You are rewarded with 300 merit points.”
Lu Zhou was watching her loyalty when he punished her, and he found that it did not reduce. It meant that when the loyalty was over 80%, it would not reduce as long as he did not do something that disappointed the disciple in principle.
Little Yuan’er was easy to educate, but the other eight disciples...
He shook his head. There was still a long way for him to go, he knew.
Although full of grievances, after Little Yuan’er got up to her feet, she pursed her lips and said, “The Azure Dragon Association said there was no Lakeside Gang, and it was just a fake gang temporarily formed by a group of cultivators...”
“Temporarily formed?”
“Yes. They lied and even invited helpers from the Yi Province to kill me. I was seized by anger, so I beat them.”
“Beat?”
“Ugh...I killed them,” Little Yuan’er corrected hurriedly. “They had invited some mighty experts. If I didn’t fight back, I wouldn’t be able to see you again, Master...”
“That’s enough. Who dares to bully you if they are not Divine Court experts?” Lu Zhou reproached her in a faint voice.
Little Yuan’er did not dare to speak again.
Lu Zhou calculated the time. By right, Wang Fugui should have returned by now, yet he did not. After considering for a moment, he said, “Wang Fugui has not returned. Come with me.”
“I understand!”
They left the Ci Family and walked along the street toward the Murong Family.
...
At the Derived Moon Palace...
Zhao Yue looked a little agitated and restless, and she kept pacing back and forth.
“You needn’t fret so much, Senior Sister. Now that things have come to this stage, there’s no point regretting it. We have to walk to the end.” Ye Tianxin walked out from behind the screen while smiling.
“Junior Sister Tianxin, you don’t understand. I wouldn’t be so worried if we did this a month ago. The old thing was always short-tempered and selfish. But recently, there has been some changes in the ways he handles things.”
“What changes?”
“It’s difficult to put it in words...I just vaguely feel that his approach is gentler, and he is no longer so short-tempered.” Zhao Yue thought of the various scenes after Lu Zhou drove back the top ten experts.
Ye Tianxin chuckled and said, “Your fear for him has reached a new level. You have survived his torture for so many years and finally left him. You shouldn’t be afraid of him now.”
That made Zhao Yue recall the painful years she had been through, and she sighed. “Maybe I think too much...Do you think he will take the bait?”
“With that old thing’s suspicious character, I think it is very difficult. But, Little Junior Sister might fall for it. She has a simple nature and has only been away from her family for five years. If she learned about it, she will definitely return to Anyang. We just need to capture her. Once that old thing leaves Golden Court Mountain, he will lose the protection of Third and Fourth Senior Brothers and the shield, and I will have countless ways to exhaust his trump cards.”
“How do you plan to exhaust his trump cards?”
“There are many orthodox sects and cultivators in this world who have suffered from him. What will these people do if I spread the word about him? Especially the Heavenly Sword Sect. Luo Changfeng was killed by that old thing.”
“What if they are all afraid of him?”
Zhao Yue had witnessed the scene when the top ten experts and tens of thousands of cultivators fled in the face of her master. She could never forget that for the rest of her life. Perhaps Ji Tiandao was the only person in the world who could make tens of thousands of cultivators flee in terror like that.
“I’ve informed the top ten orthodox sects that the old thing has a secret drug. The top nine experts are no fools. When they figure it out, they will attack him sooner or later.”
Just when she finished, one of her subordinates came in and said, “Master, we have just received a letter from Anyang. The Azure Dragon Association was destroyed, and a token of the imperial army was seen in the city.”