Lu Zhou advanced slowly. As he drew closer four clear notifications rang in his ears.
“Killed a target. Reward: 1,500 merit points. Domain extra: 1,000 merit points.”
So far, he had obtained 10,000 merit points. There was no reason for him to not welcome these people who offered these points to him. He smiled.
The four cultivators were dead so he no longer paid any attention to them. He made his way to the sole survivor. He stroked his beard as he shook his head. “Did you have fun chasing after me?”
“…” The man immediately discarded his pride as an Eight-leaf cultivator. He knocked his forehead on the ground and pleaded, “Spare me, Elder Meng… I mean, old senior! Spare me, old senior!”
“Who’s Ye Zhen?” he asked when he recalled the notification he received of Ye Zhen’s death. The notification sounded strange to him.
Ye Zhen had clearly manifested a red lotus avatar, but Lu Zhou was not given domain after killing Ye Zhen. The four people he had just killed all gave him domain points. Why did he not receive any for killing Ye Zhen?
“Elder Ye… is the Grand Elder of the Flying Star House,” the man said with a trembling voice.
“I hate liars the most.” Lu Zhou lifted his hand that shone with golden radiance.
The man hastily waved his hands and said, “I-I truly don’t know… All I know is his cultivation base is unfathomable. Even the house master has to show consideration to him. Throughout these years, it’s all thanks to Elder Ye alone that the Flying Star Height manages to reach its current height!”
Lu Zhou did not strike yet. He continued to ask, “Since Meng Changdong is a thorn in Ye Zheng’s side, why didn’t Ye Zhen get rid of him?”
“Uh… how would I know what Elder Ye is thinking about? Elder Ye has always been difficult to read,” the man replied nervously.
“What good are you alive if you don’t know anything?” Lu Zhou pushed his hand out before he pressed down.
At close range, a palm seal shot out.
The man’s eyes widened. His body stiffened as he instinctively tried to resist. He unleashed all his Primal Qi.
Boom!
The blue palm seal bore down on the man’s body, pressing him into the ground.
“Ding! Killed a target. Reward: 1,500 merit points. Domain extra: 1,000 merit points.”
The man had self-exploded at the final moment.
The trees in the surroundings fell as clouds of dirt were stirred up. When the dust finally settled, a plain formed within a 100-meter radius.
Lu Zhou, still glowing with a faint blue light, turned around slowly. After a while, the blue light faded away. His expression remained the same, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
He pushed away from the ground and flew away.
…
The forest was extremely silent.
At this moment, Ye Zhen’s forehead was wet with sweat. After he regulated his breathing, his internal injuries were slightly relieved. At this moment, he had regained his composure; he was once again the smiling, graceful, and calm Confucian scholar like before.
Similar to Lu Zhou, Ye Zhen wondered about Lu Zhou’s identity as well. Although he was calm, it did not mean he was not furious that Lu Zhou managed to kill him once.
He raised his palm slowly before a strange red lotus appeared above it. Soon after glowing red dragon heads appeared, several heads emerged. The avatar was finally completed after the fifth head appeared.
At the end of the left side of the avatar, only a headless neck remained. Meanwhile, three other heads were lowered; they seemed wilted. They did not glow red nor did they look alive.
There were nine nascent souls and nine lives contained in Ye Zhen’s avatar. Currently, the nine-headed avatar was only left with eight heads. His eyes flashed with killing intent as he said through gritted teeth, “No matter who you are, I’ll remember this grudge of you taking one of my lives.”
The mostly humanoid avatar looked dim. At this moment, one of the nine leaves fell.
Ye Zhen clenched his fist, and his avatar disappeared. His figure faded out of sight as he flew back to the middle peak. He deliberately skirted around the place where he had ‘died’ and returned to the five-story courtyard on the middle peak.
The dojo was deserted.
Ye Zhen patted the dust off his robes expressionlessly again. Perhaps, he felt his image was not quite right so he smoothed his hair and straightened his sleeves.
At this moment, the dojo’s wooden door opened.
Jiang Xiaosheng ran out and quickly protracted himself in front of Ye Zhen. “Master, you’re finally back! I’d driven away the disciples who came over earlier. I’ve been waiting for your return!”
Ye Zhen looked at Jiang Xiaosheng emotionlessly and said, “Fetch me a robe.”
“Understood.”
Ye Zhen entered the dojo. A slight frown appeared on his face as he looked at the broken wall. When Jiang Xiaosheng approached him with a new set of robes, he did not look at Jiang Xiaosheng at all. Instead, he lifted his arms up and coldly said, “Dress me.”
“Understood.” Nobody in the world understood his master’s temper better than Jiang Xiaosheng. He carefully put on the robes for Ye Zhen. Not even a single wrinkle could be seen on the garment. However, due to being nervous, he accidentally used too much force when he was smoothening the sleeve and pulled the sleeve over his master’s left hand.
Ye Zhen raised his right hand swiftly.
Smack!
Jiang Xiaosheng was slapped on the face. He did not stop adjusting Ye Zhen’s robes as he apologized profusely, “Forgive me, master!”
Similar to the robes before, these Confucian robes hung loosely on Ye Zhen’s body as well. Finally, he looked like the Ye Zhen of old again.
If someone had witnessed the battle earlier, they would find it difficult to believe Ye Zhen had been engaged in a battle at all. He did not look like he had left the dojo at all.
“Xiaosheng, clean the dojo. Restore it to its original appearance,” Ye Zhen calmly said.
“Understood! I’ll get to it right away.” Jiang Xiaosheng, who had suffered two slaps today, was incredibly nervous.
“Xiaosheng.”
“Yes, master?” Jiang Xiaosheng shivered.
“I hit you in hopes that you’ll remember this: I’m the only one under the heavens who’s allowed to hit you. Since Meng Changdong hit you, I’ll stand up for you and take his life,” Ye Zhen said.
Jiang Xiaosheng was delighted upon hearing these words. He prostrated himself again and said, “Thank you, master!” After a moment, he mustered up his courage and asked tentatively, “Meng Changdong really doesn’t know his place… He even dares to attack you, master! Why… Why didn’t you get rid of him?”
Ye Zhen replied, “Naturally, I have my reason for that. However, I didn’t expect him to betray the Flying Star House.”
“Betray the Flying Star House?”
“Notify all the disciples that Meng Changdong has betrayed Flying Star House… Notify the Sky Martial Court, the palace, and all the sects in the cultivation world. Anyone who manages to take Meng Changdong down, dead or alive, will be handsomely rewarded.”
“I’ll get to it right away.”
…
Night fell. The moon was bright tonight, and the stars were scarce.
Lu Zhou returned to Thousand Willow Mountain. During the journey back, he grumbled inwardly, ‘Why are the two mounts taking so long? They’re so slow! Did the drown in the Endless Ocean?’
Fortunately, he had a profound cultivation base. The speed of his flight was still acceptable. However, after fighting Ye Zhen, he was left with less than one-third of his extraordinary power.
After landing in his courtyard, he unleashed the power of hearing. His surroundings were quiet; there was nobody in the vicinity.
As he entered the room, he grumbled to himself again, ‘What amazing disciples I have! None of them are even worried that I might get into trouble! Ungrateful brats!’
Lu Zhou did not rest immediately. He lit up a candle and brought the memory crystal out. He had done all he could to protect the crystal after he obtained it.
He placed the crystal under the light from the candle. When the light shone on the crystal, he discovered there were chips on the edge of the crystal, just as Ye Zhen had said.
“I hope that important memories won’t be affected by these damages…”
