With that command, the expressions of the Big Dipper Academy’s elders turned ashen as they hovered in the air. There was only a single road left for them to take and that was to die. Was there anything more depressing than this in this world?
The energy arrows in Hua Yuexing’s hand thrummed. She would adjust her aim frequently. It was clear that she would release the arrows at the slightest movement.
“Fine, fine…” One of the younger elders from the academy could no longer withstand the pressure. He descended slowly. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he fell limply to the ground. Although he tried to suppress his fear with all his might, it was futile. The fear overwhelmed him as soon as he landed. His body trembled violently, his palms were wet with sweat, and his heart felt as though it was going to jump out of his chest. His fear was exacerbated when he saw Wang Yue’s corpse pinned to the wall and Liu Gu’s lifeless body that was dressed in the dragon robes on the ground. His despair made him abandon his pride, and he began to kowtow and beg for mercy. “Mercy! Have mercy, old senior! Have mercy, old senior!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The elder’s head made a loud noise whenever he kowtowed.
There were all kinds of birds in a big forest. Some were timid and some were bolder. It was the same with people; there were many types of people. Some were blindly loyal, some were cowardly, and some would stand by their actions to the end.
One of the older Sky Conduct Academy elders in the skies on the left began to curse. “You’re a complete disgrace to my academy. You’re the elder of an academy, but you’re kowtowing to a villain just to save your own skin. You’re a great humiliation!”
Lu Zhou looked up at the old elder who was cursing. Lamenting. “Hm?”
“Old Villain Ji, the others might be afraid of you, but I’m not… What’s there to be feared about death?! If the grand Great Yan’s Divine Capital is truly covered in darkness, it’ll become the greatest joke in the world. Where would justice be? Where would the heavenly path be?!” His outburst continued. “The Ten Terminal Formation is restored… Even if I die, I’ll bring all of you down with me!”
With a calm expression, Lu Zhou said, “Very well.” He waved his right sleeve. A blue palm seal sailed toward the old man.
Everyone looked at the palm seal. It was the Sole Diamond Seal of the Daoist Nine Cuts Hand Seals. It looked unique and terrifying now that it had changed colors.
Upon seeing this, the old elder summoned his measly Four-leaf avatar!
Bam!
The palm seal easily destroyed the elder’s avatar and reached his face. Nobody was surprised by the outcome.
How was a Nine-leaf cultivator swatting a Four-leaf cultivator different from a person swatting a fly?
The elder fell.
Boom!
The elder was grievously wounded and lost all power to fight.
Lu Zhou had intentionally kept him with a dying breath. This was partly because he had spent half of his extraordinary power saving Yu Zhenghai above Cloud Rage River. With half left, it was equivalent to the full amount he had before he obtained the Earth Scroll. He wanted to conserve as much of the extraordinary power. Naturally, there were some targets like Liu Gu and Wang Yue whom he would not hold back in attacking.
To kill Liu Gu, Lu Zhou had used his final Deadly Strike Card. Against such a target, it was meaningless to consider the cost-performance ratio. It was more of a question of… worth.
Lu Zhou did not put much extraordinary power into this palm strike. However, it was enough to render the elder powerless to fight. He would die soon enough.
The casual palm strike stunned the elders of the two academies. Unlike the elder who had spoken out, none of them were filled with righteous indignance or viewed death like an old friend,
Si Wuya, who was standing before the crowd, bowed and said, “Master, this person is one of Sky Conduct Academy’s ten elders, Chen Ranzhi. He’s the guide for the Ten Terminal Formation.”
Lu Zhou nodded slightly. He stared at Chen Ranzhi and said indifferently, “You like to talk about justice… In that case, I’ll discuss justice with you.” He turned and looked at the other elders in the air as he continued to say, “I’ll give you a choice. If any one of you can tell Chen Ranzhi what justice is, I’ll spare that person… However, there’s a limited quota. Only one person will be spared.”
As soon as Lu Zhou finished speaking, the Sky Conduct Academy elders hastily raised their hands.
“Me!”
“I’ll go… I’ll tell him what justice is!”
“Shut up! What do you know about justice? I should be the one to …”
The Sky Conduct Academy elders began to quarrel among themselves immediately. Their faces turned red as they argued over who would get the chance to answer the question.
Chen Ranzhi looked up with difficulty with wide eyes.
At this moment, someone began to curse at Chen Ranzhi from the skies. “Chen Ranzhi, what right do you have to talk about justice when all you think about is your own fame and benefits? Didn’t you get to where you are today because you bribed the president? I spit on you!”
“Chen Ranzhi, you shunned your wife who was with you when you were poor. You did everything you could to get rid of her. You went so far as to personally kill her and took on new wives and concubines! How dare you talk about justice?”
“Cheng Ranzhi…”
There was nothing more destructive than being attacked by one’s comrades.
Their insults were grating to the ears. Chen Ranzhi pointed at the elders in the air. “You… you… you…”
At this moment, Lu Zhou pointed at one of them and said, “You.”
The elder was overjoyed. He hastily dove! After landing on the ground, he kowtowed at Lu Zhou without a second word and said, “Thank you, Senior Ji!”
Si Wuya shook his head.
Everyone in this world could see through a person’s feelings, but it was impossible to fully understand the workings of a person’s heart. If there were those who sought death, there would surely be those who sought life as well.
“Master, this is one of the Sky Conduct Academy’s ten elders, Zhao Jianghe.”
Zhao Jianghe smiled ingratiatingly as he stood up. However, the instant he looked at Chen Ranzhi, his smile disappeared and his eyes flashed coldly. “Those who never seek knowledge but treasure riches without a sense of justice are barbarians. Chen Ranzhi, there’s no need for you to stand on the moral high ground. Your crimes are now laid bare before you. Can you shamelessly preach about justice in front of everyone?”
“You!” Chen Ranzhi was so infuriated that he was rendered speechless.
“What? Those who work for the people are in the right. From what I know, the Nether Sect has sacrificed many of their own men to protect the civilians in the city during the battle in Yan Province City. On the other hand, the garrison general, Ma Luping, took the common folk as hostages. Is that what justice is? Why aren’t the people raising their flags to protest the Nether Sect’s dominion over the nine provinces but are supporting them instead? Those who do not fear a righteous death and shun an ignoble existence are just. Those who loathe evil and strive to do good are just. Your ears are deaf to knowledge, your eyes are blind to experience, and your actions are devoid of justice… What bullsh*t justice are you talking about?” He spat at Chen Ranzhi’s face after he finished speaking.
“Fine, fine, fine… You, what about you then?”
“Me? I admit that I’m afraid to die. I have old folks and young ones to look after back home. I am not ashamed of myself, be it before the heavens or the people… However, I am not as shameless as you to preach about justice, make thoughtless remarks, and distort the truth! You’re a humiliation to the Sky Conduct Academy! If I were you, I would look for a wall bang my head against it to kill myself!”
Chen Ranzhi’s eyes widened. He could no longer suppress the roiling blood essence in his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood before falling lifelessly to the ground.
“Ding! Killed a target. Reward: 1,000 merit points.”
Lu Zhou remained unmoved. Those of high office in the Divine Capital had stained their hands stained with the blood of others at some point in their lives. None of them could keep their hands clean.
However, this raised another issue. Insulting another person required some level of intelligence. There was no need to fear a gangster who knew how to fight, but it was wise to fear an intelligent gangster!
Lu Zhou found himself agreeing with Zhao Jianghe’s words.
When Chen Ranzhi died, the other elders fell into despair. There was no hope of them staying alive.
At this moment, Liu Gu’s body suddenly emitted purple smoke.
“Master…”
The others looked over.
One of the elders in the skies saw this, and something stirred in him. He shouted, “Activate the Formation!”
Infinity was found in a pinch of red sand; mystic occurrences increased in the Eight Trigrams furnace.
The red curtain-like barrier appeared in the skies again.
“Master… get on the chariot!” Little Yuan’er shouted.
“Bring her up!”
The cloud-splitting chariot left the barrier.
Primal Qi quickly left the area within the barrier.
The Nether Sect disciples looked up at the skies.
“The Ten Terminal Formation is activated again!”
With the Primal Qi gone, everyone dropped to the ground.
Naturally, none of them wished to fall to their deaths!
“Protect master!” Duanmu Sheng cried out as he swept his Overlord Spear at the enemies.
Dozens of Imperial guards were sent flying in just an instant.
Duanmu Sheng leaped toward Lu Zhou at his quickest speed and raised his Overlord Spear.
The curtain-like barrier changed again! Layer upon layers dropped down one after another.
The purple smoke around Liu Gu’s corpse thickened. His body was lifeless before. However, with the appearance of the purple smoke, his body began to move!
