The energy in An Se’s Dantian’s sea of Qi dissipated and returned to the world immediately. At the same time, his cultivation base dropped rapidly. He had fallen from a Ten Chart cultivator to a Five Chart cultivator; it was not simple as just having his power halved. In fact, the mysterious power had consumed at least 80% of his strength.
Unable to adapt to the sudden change, An Se fell rapidly from the sky.
Bang!
When An Se landed, he looked at his hands in a daze. He was dumbfounded when he felt the changes in his Dantian’s sea of Qi.
“How… H-how’s this possible?”
Let alone Lu Qianshan and the others, even Si Wuya was baffled; they did not know what happened.
Lu Zhou did not pay attention to them. Instead, he looked at the life heart in his hand.
“Ding! The giant turtle’s life heart; advanced life heart. Ability: gravity control.”
“As expected, it’s gravity control.” While Lu Zhou was observing An Se and Lu Qianshan’s fight earlier, he had found it strange. It looked to him as though Lu Qianshan weighed down by gravity.
Lu Zhou nodded. Indeed, this was a rather good life heart. He had profited by exchanging the advanced enhanced Reduction Card for the life heart. It was a pity that the life heart had already been used once so he could not give it to his disciple. In any case, he saw it as a positive thing; after all, he urgently needed to increase his lifespan.
Meanwhile, the experts gathered near the entrance of the Indestructible Hall to watch the strongest expert in Great Yuan’s royal palace was puzzled. They only saw the two black dragons vanishing into thin air before five spots of light struck An Se’s astrolabe. Just like that, the battle seemed to have ended; they did not even have time to enjoy the show.
Buzz!
An Se manifested his astrolabe in front of him. He studied the triangles on the Birth Disk carefully. He stroked the triangles with his fingers and felt the sharp edges and saw the brilliance.
‘One, two, three, four, five… five…’
No matter how hard An Se searched he could not find his sixth and other Birth Charts! He was so engrossed in his search that he failed to notice his astrolabe was still shrinking. It continued to shrink until it was the size of a plate.
An Se’s fingers trembled as he stroked his astrolabe. “No… No… Impossible! How can it be?!”
An Se began to lose his rationality; his emotions began to show themselves. How cruel was it to have one’s most prized possession taken away? He turned to glare at Lu Zhou. When he saw the life heart in Lu Zhou’s hand, his heart throbbed painfully and violently. With this, all he saw was red; he let anger dictate his actions. He stomped on the ground and charged at Lu Zhou with his astrolabe.
“Warrior Anse is finally making a move!”
The cultivators hovering in the distance exclaimed one after another, unaware that something was wrong. Many of them regarded An Se as their idol. Now that An Se was making a move, they felt their blood boil and their fighting spirits surge.
Bang!
When An Se’s astrolabe was near Lu Zhou, Lu Zhou pushed his hand out.
Bang!
An Se did not believe his power would suddenly disappear. He mustered up all his strength and pushed forward.
Bang!
An Se flew back and landed on the ground. As he slid back, he left a long trench on the ground. After he struggled to his feet, he did not give up and charge out again, leaving afterimages in his wake.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
An Se attacked in a frenzy.
“Golden Buddha Body.”
Soon after, An Se began to brandish his flood-grade sword.
Lu Zhou brought Unnamed, which was in the form of a shield, out to block An Se’s flood-grade sword.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
This continued for a long time.
When An SE’s speed greatly decreased, he took a step back, panting heavily. He looked at the expressionless and unaffected Lu Zhou resentfully.
Lu Zhou glanced at An Se and asked, “Are you done?”
An SE. “…”
Eunuch Zhang, Lu Qianshan, and the experts watching the fight stared at the scene in front of them incredulously.
“No! No! I’m not! Return me my Birth Charts!” An Se gritted his teeth as he attacked with his longsword again. He had let his emotions overwhelm him and was unable to think rationally at this moment.
Bang!
Lu Zhou suddenly waved his sleeve and struck with his palm. Then, he executed a series of moves that perfectly mirrored An Se’s fighting style. The only difference was he was much faster than An Se could ever hope to be.
Afterimages flashed around An Se. All of a sudden, five silhouettes surrounded him and struck with their palms. Five palm seals landed on him immediately.
“Ding! Destroyed one Birth Chart. Reward: 6,000 merit points.”
After the last palm seal landed, Lu Zhou received five of the same notification.
Everyone was stunned; the royal palace experts who regarded An Se as their idol were even more stunned. Where were the dazzling moves, intense fight, and the glorious defeat of An Se’s opponent? Just like that, the strongest expert of Great Yuan’s royal palace had fallen.
Silence descended outside of the Indestructible Hall as An Se lay unmoving on the ground.
Lu Zhou did not spare a glance at An Se and turned around to say, “Are you going to lead the way?”
Eunuch Zhang finally regained his senses. He discovered his back was drenched in sweat. “Y-y-yes…”
Lu Qianshan gulped before he inhaled deeply. It seemed like he had bet on the right horse.
With that, everyone walked toward the Indestructible Hall.
When Lu Qianshan walked past An Se, he looked at An Se and said with a sigh, “You’re a genius who went from a One Chart cultivator to a Ten Chart cultivator in 300 years. Now that you went from having ten Birth Charts to zero Birth Chart, you must be regretting your actions deeply, right?”
An Se spat out a mouthful of blood before he grabbed Lu Qianshan’s leg, leaving bloody handprints on Lu Qianshan’s pants. He asked in a trembling voice, “W-who… Who’s he?”
Lu Qianshan shook his head and sighed. “He’s Pavilion Master Lu of the Evil Sky Pavilion…”
“…”
Si Wuya quickly adapted to his master’s overwhelming power. He asked, “Master, why didn’t you kill him?”
“He’ll suffer more alive than dead,” Lu Zhou said.
Si Wuya nodded. “He prided himself on being a genius. Now that he has lost everything, it’s more painful than losing his life. Moreover, perhaps, we can gain information from him. After all, his master had been to the Unknown Land.”
With this reminder, Lu Zhou decided he should have a good talk with the emperor.
On the other hand, Eunuch Zhang was so scared that he could not even walk steadily. He was trembling like an old man while the others followed behind him. After a while, out of habit, he came to a halt right outside of the entrance to the Indestructible Hall. He opened his mouth, getting ready to announce Lu Qianshan’s arrival.
However, Lu Zhou waved his sleeve and walked into the hall with his hands on his back without waiting for Eunuch Zhang to make an announcement.
“This… This…. T-this isn’t appropriate…” Eunuch Zhang was so anxious he was about to cry.
Si Wuya pushed Eunuch Zhang out of the way and said, “Eunuch Zhang, are you really stupid or pretending to be stupid? Up until now, you still can’t tell who’s supposed to show respect to whom?”
Lu Qianshan nodded in agreement when he heard Si Wuya’s words. Moreover, now that he had fallen out with the emperor, was there a need to adhere to etiquette? It was useless to care about status right now.
When the group entered the hall, they saw Mu Ertie playing with his antiques.
When Mu Ertie turned around, he saw Lu Zhou, Lu Qianshan, and Eunuch Zhang who was crying. He frowned and barked, “Lu Qianshan, how dare you!”
Lu Qianshan straightened his back and said without kneeling, “Your Majesty, this subordinate has something to say to you.”
“So you still know to address yourself as my subject?” Mu Ertie’s voice resounded thunderously in the hall. When his eyes fell on Lu Zhou, he asked, “Who’s this?”
Lu Qianshan’s eyes darted around as he said with a straight face, “Your Majesty, this is the ancestor of our Lu clan.”
“…”
Since Lu Qianshan was planning to cling onto Lu Zhou’s powerful thigh, he shamelessly declared Lu Zhou as his ancestor. Even if it was not true, he would make it true! The Lu clan was in the midst of a life-or-death struggle. If they could rely on someone powerful, all their problems would be solved. Moreover, Daoist Master Lu and Pavilion Master Lu looked like they were made from the exact same old; it was too much to acknowledge Lu Zhou as their ancestor. The descendants would worship the ancestors while the ancestors would protect their descendants!
Lu Zhou and Si Wuya frowned.
Meanwhile, Eunuch Zhang looked at Lu Qianshan with his mouth agape. This joke was too unbelievable!
