Di Jiang sized up Si Wuya and Little Yuan'er for a moment before it lowered its head and began to sniff the ground as it drew closer to them.
Quack! Quack!
Suddenly, Di Jiang lifted its head and quacked twice. Its eyes were particularly bright at this moment.
Quack! Quack!
Then, it ran past Little Yuan'er and stopped in front of Si Wuya.
"Seventh Senior Brother, it seems to like you," Little Yuan'er said, fascinated.
A woman's intuition was always accurate.
Si Wuya looked at Di Jiang curiously, not knowing it was doing.
Lu Zhou was puzzled. His mounts seemed to be very interested in his disciples. After a moment, he looked at Di Jiang and asked, "Di Jiang, do you want to follow him?"
Di Jiang did not have its life heart now and needed someone to take care of it. His disciples were the best candidate.
Quack! Quack!
As though it was replying to Lu Zhou, Di Jiang quacked twice.
Upon seeing this, Lu Zhou said to Si Wuya, "Since this beast is willing to follow you, you can take care of it from now on."
Si Wuya felt that Di Jiang was very strange. How did Di Jiang choose its target? He was different from his Fourth Senior Brother; his thoughts were more rational, and he did not believe in fate. Upon hearing his master's words, he bowed. "Understood."
"Apart from that, the cultivation resources and environment in the red lotus domain are much better than the ones in the golden lotus domain. Over the next period of time, I'll personally supervise your cultivation. You must reach the Ten-leaf stage in three years."
Si Wuya exclaimed in shock, "T-ten… Ten leaves?!"
It was almost impossible for ordinary people to reach the Ten-leaf stage in three years. Si Wuya knew this would not be a problem for his Eldest and Second Senior Brothers. If it were not for the shackles in the golden lotus domain, his senior brothers would have sprouted the ninth and tenth leaf a long time ago. As expected, once the shackles were broken, their cultivation base rose rapidly.
"You're not confident?" Lu Zhou asked.
"When cultivators sprout the tenth leaf, they'll attract Birth Chart Beasts. I'm afraid at that time we'll have a conflict with the black lotus domain. I've studied the points of the stone formations that Fourth Senior Brother obtained, and I've also consulted the Sky Research Court about it. I plan to use a new formation to mislead the black lotus domain."
Lu Zhou nodded. "You can make decisions on this matter. How's Li Yunzheng's performance?"
"He has just started cultivating, and it can be considered smooth so far. He'll have to depend on himself…"
Lu Zhou nodded.
"Master, there's another matter."
"Speak."
"Recently, I have also studied the activation of Birth Charts. Up until now, all known methods to activate Birth Charts center around the lotus seats. If that's the case, what should we do about Second Junior Brother, Third Senior Brother, and Eighth Junior Brother in the future?" Si Wuya said.
How were they going to activate their Birth Charts if they did not have a lotus?
Lu Zhou stroked his beard and mulled over Si Wuya's words. After a moment of silence, he said, "Since the lotus has been severed, it's irreversible. I'll think of a solution to this problem. Both of you may take your leave."
"Yes, master." Si Wuya and Little Yuan bowed before they left.
Di Jiang was honest and obedient as it tottered after Si Wuya.
…
After leaving the hall, Little Yuan'er asked curiously, "Seventh Senior Brother, it's following you."
The two turned around and looked at Di Jiang.
Di Jiang was acting like a domesticated pet at this moment.
"Great Void energy?" Si Wuya suddenly remembered Lu Li's words when they were in the Sky Shuttle above the Endless Ocean. In fact, he had been thinking about those words since he had heard them. He had a hunch when he saw Di Jiang sniffing around earlier.
Si Wuya glanced at Little Yuan'er. 'Am I the only one with the Great Void energy? Is that why Di Jiang didn't choose Little Junior Sister?'
"Seventh Senior Brother, what's the Great Void energy?"
"It's nothing. Let's go."
Upon seeing Di Jiang obediently following Si Wuya, Little Yuan'er muttered to herself, "All I said was you're a little small, and it's the truth! Is that why you didn't choose me? How petty!"
Di Jiang. "???"
…
In the Preservation Hall.
Lu Zhou did not meditate on the Heavenly Writing. Instead, he was mulling over Yan Zhenluo's words. A life heart could be used twice as long as one's willing to give up 1,000 years of life. However, there were probably not many cultivators who were willing to give up on 1,000 years of life. With 1,000 years, they would be able to find another life heart.
Lu Zhou brought out Di Jiang's life heart. It was like an ice crystal with white mist swirling inside. Then, he brought out the map Lu Li had given him and began to study the positions.
He muttered to himself, "Hidden jade, partial cultivation method to regulate one's breathing, increase the defenses of the Birth Chart disk… "
"Riding the wind and breaking the waves?" Lu Zhou looked at the human-grade Birth Chart. "Found it. Speed-type life heart."
'Riding the wind and breaking the waves' increased one's speed and was a very suitable position for a speed-type life heart.
Lu Zhou manifested his Thousand Realms Whirling Water. He recalled what he had learned from the book Yan Zhenluo had given him. It was said that he could manifest individual parts of his avatar.
He decided to only make the avatar's body vanish.
He flicked his sleeve. Nothing happened.
He tried again. Nothing happened.
After trying about ten times, he finally succeeded.
There was only a lotus in front of him.
He could clearly see his Birth Palace on his lotus seat now compared to previous times when he had to enlarge his avatar to the point where his head was level with his avatar's crotch just to have a better look at his Birth Palace. It was a rather awkward position.
Lu Zhou knew he had to keep practicing how to use the individual parts of his avatar until he was familiar with it. For this reason, he was not in a hurry to activate his next Birth Chart. Instead, he studied the different methods to use his avatar's parts. He only stopped when he was familiar with them.
It took him almost an entire day to familiarize himself with the methods.
…
In the evening.
Lu Zhou manifested his golden astrolabe without his avatar.
The golden astrolabe was like a shining golden mirror.
The front of the astrolabe was the Birth Chart disk where the Birth Charts were manifested. The back of the astrolabe was a shield.
Lu Zhou would only choose to strengthen the shield at the end. After all, he had Unnamed that could easily transform into a shield if needed.
"So does this solve the danger of getting shot in the head?" Lu Zhou said to himself with a smile on his wizened face.
All that was left now was for him to activate his fourth Birth Chart.
He withdrew the astrolabe and manifested his lotus. Following that, he opened the system interface.
Remaining lifespan: 961,423 days (2,634 years in which 110 years are from Reversal Cards)
"2600 years… 1500 years…" He checked his Reversal Cards and discovered he had 77 left. After a brief moment, he decided to use the Reversal Cards.
"Use."
Ten Reversal Cards disappeared immediately as rich vitality energy surged in the Preservation Hall.
…
At the same time.
The four elders of the Evil Sky Pavilion who were in the vicinity of the Preservation Hall raised their heads and saw the rich and surging vitality energy above the hall.
Xia Changqiu, Ji Fengxing, and WuWu looked up in surprise.
"Four elders, this is…" Xia Changqiu pointed at the strange phenomenon above the Preservation Hall.
Pan Litian smiled before he said, "Pavilion Master is cultivation. If it isn't urgent, no one should approach the hall…"
"I understand, I understand…" Xia Changqiu said, "I'll inform the patrol team and tell them not to go close to the hall."
"Thank you."
Xia Changqiu turned around and left.
The moment the trio from the Thousand Willows Monastery left, Pan Litian said to the other three elders, "I have three urgent matters to attend to. Please excuse me."
Pan Litian did not even wait for their replies before he tried to leave.
"Stop pretending, Old Pan. Even if you just move your old butt a little, I know what's going through your mind… Let's go together…" Leng Luo said as he placed his hands on his back and walked toward the Preservation Hall.
Back in the Evil Sky Pavilion, whenever this phenomenon occurred, they would take advantage of it. How could they let such a good opportunity slip past them now?
Therefore, the four elders of the Evil Sky Pavilion snuck close to the Preservation Hall like thieves to absorb the excess vitality energy.
They were there until the next morning.
…
After using up all his Reversal Cards, Lu Zhou looked at the light streaming into the hall from outside.
He inhaled deeply. He wondered if there was a limit to the vitality energy that converged. Each time he used ten Reversal Cards, it took a moment before it fully converged.
"Is it a heaven and earth shackle?"
Based on what he knew, whether it was the golden lotus domain, the red lotus domain, the black lotus domain, or even the weak yellow lotus domain, every domain had a heaven and earth shackle.
The golden lotus domain had gotten rid of the eight-leaf limit, but it was still bound by the shackles of heaven and earth.
The more he used his Reversal Cards, the feeling of the heaven and earth shackle grew stronger and stronger.
"What is it exactly?" Lu Zhou wondered to himself as he looked up.
He only thought about this matter briefly before he dismissed it.
Subsequently, he looked at the system interface again.
Remaining lifespan: 100,7628 days (2,760 years in which 236.5 years are from the Reversal Cards)
"I gained more than 200 years from the Reversal Cards…"
Lu Zhou looked around for a moment before his eyes finally landed on a bronze mirror on the table. He used his energy and brought the bronze mirror to him.
'I gained more than 100 years of life this time, I wonder if I've become more handsome…'
When Lu Zhou looked in the mirror, he saw himself with a head full of black hair.
