Lu Zhou waved his hand after reading it. The two sheets of paper burst into flames and were burnt to a crisp. These blueprints and the method of reaching the Nine-leaf stage must have been the most valuable components of Luo Shiyin’s notes. Now that he had reached the Nine-leaf stage, and he possessed the blueprints, there was no longer any need to pay attention to other matters.
‘Is she Luo Xuan or Luo Shiyin? What a headache!’
After burning the two sheets of paper, he looked at Little Yuan’er and Conch who were standing at the back.
“Conch.”
Conch walked over.
“Give me your hand.”
“Oh.”
Like before, he placed two fingers on her wrist.
The others remained silent.
The other Eight-leaf cultivators had seen Conch make her move earlier. She was a bona fide red lotus cultivator.
Nan Gongwei bowed before he said, “Senior Ji, I saw it with my own eyes. This young lady released red energy earlier… Is she…”
The others nodded in agreement.
Lu Zhou retracted his fingers after examining Conch. Just like his examination, he determined she was now in the Nascent Divinity Tribulation realm.
When he saw the puzzled expressions of the others and the way they were looking at her warily, he said clearly, “She’s my tenth disciple.”
Lu Zhou’s words were like a single pebble that gave rise to 1,000 waves.
Everyone seemed frightened as they looked at each other. After Jiang Wenxu was exposed, the cultivators who were aware of it had developed a hatred for red lotus cultivators. Moreover, when Lu Zhou was demonstrating to the world, an elite in the Sky Shuttle had launched a sneak attack with red lotus karmic fire. It was only natural that they were wary of anything red. However, it was completely out of their expectations that the young girl was Lu Zhou’s tenth disciple.
Lu Zhou continued to say, “Although she possesses a red lotus, she’s as pure and innocent as my ninth disciple.”
“…”
How awkward.
‘Senior Ji, we can understand if you say your tenth disciple is pure and innocent, but your ninth disciple is far from being pure and innocent!’
“Any other questions?” Lu Zhou swept his gaze across everyone. With his words, he was obviously openly supporting her. His intention was clear: she was her disciple, and none of them should have any ill intention toward her.
In the end, the Eight-leaf cultivators could only bow and greet her. “Greetings, Miss Tenth.”
Lu Zhou nodded, pleased. “Conch, show me your avatar.”
“Oh.” Conch extended her hand. Soon enough, a red Hundred Tribulations Insight avatar appeared above her palm. The avatar had two leaves.
Those who did not know Conch from before were not surprised by this. After all, with disciples such as Yu Zhenghai and Yu Shangrong, there was nothing wrong if the pavilion master accepted a Two-leaf disciple.
On the contrary, the people from the Evil Sky Pavilion were shocked. They knew how recent Conch had joined the pavilion. However, in just such a short time, she had already sprouted two leaves? Was this something achievable by humans?
“So, this is what the red lotus looks like.”
“It looks just like the golden lotus; the only difference is the color.”
Conch retracted her avatar, clearly excited.
“Not bad,” Lu Zhou said, pleased.
Zhu Honggong felt slightly aggrieved when he heard his master’s words. He was told to get lost when he was a Four-leaf cultivator, and yet, Conch was praised just for being a Two-leaf cultivator. He felt that his master was too biased.
Lu Zhou studied the corpse and the damaged limestone floor for a moment before he said, “Clean this up.”
“Understood.”
“If there’s nothing else, let’s call it a day.” Lu Zhou turned around with his hands on his back and walked toward the eastern pavilion. Before he left, he paused for a moment and glanced at Ye Tianxin. “Come to the eastern pavilion later. I’ll personally heal you.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Tianxin’s fingers trembled slightly. She was overwhelmed by her master’s favor. She bowed immediately as she replied, “Yes, master.”
The others bowed and waited for Lu Zhou to leave.
Zhu Tianyuan looked at Lu Zhou’s retreating back. After Lu Zhou left, he said to Zhu Honggong, “Son, can you plead on my behalf for your master to heal me as well?”
“Forget it, father. Even I won’t be given that treatment…” Zhu Honggong muttered.
“…”
Some of the other cultivators found the atmosphere awkward and left immediately
Meanwhile.
In order to make his stance clear, Nan Gongwei said loudly, “I’ll take care of the corpse.”
Feng Yizhi hurriedly chimed in, “I’m great at fixing floors. Allow me!”
Chu Nan rolled his eyes before he looked up as he said, “I’ll check the top of the Evil Sky Pavilion. That was a huge tremor earlier. I think some of the tiles must’ve been dislodged.” After saying this, he flew up along the western and northern pavilions, as stealthy as a thief, as he looked for signs of damages.
The other Eight-leaf cultivators who remained were taken aback by this; they quickly surveyed their surroundings.
Zhang Zhishui and Lu Liang pointed at the barrier and said, “The barrier is slightly damaged. Although I’m injured, I still have some Primal Qi left. I’ll mend the barrier!” As soon as they finished speaking, both of them took the sky.
The Sect Master of the Tian Sect, Nan Gongwei, was a recultivated Eight-leaf elite. At this moment, he had dedicated himself to ridding Jie Kai’s corpse and rubble with strangely familiar movements.
Pan Zhong and Zhou Jifeng stood in front and spread their hands helplessly. They were slightly stunned that they were left with nothing to do.
“Brother Zhou, I think our jobs had been taken for us.”
“I can see that; I feel slightly pressured.”
“That’s right. Say, they aren’t pretending to be Eight-leaf cultivators, are they? Why do I feel that they’re no different from commoners on the streets?”
“I don’t know if they’re pretending, but there’s one thing I’m sure of: If the Eight-leaf cultivators are here to take over our jobs, we’re in quite dire straits.”
…
Lu Zhou did not speak about the way to manifest the golden flames or his experience of breaking through the Nine-leaf stage. After all, they were related to his personal secrets. He had attained the Nine-leaf stage using Reversal Cards, after all.
At this moment, he still felt as though he was dreaming.
When he returned to the eastern pavilion, Lu Zhou called up the system dashboard to confirm it again.
Remaining life: 219,003 days.
600 years of life! It was true.
Merit points: 14,640.
Although he was certain he was now a Nine-leaf cultivator, he could still hardly stop himself from manifesting his avatar again.
Whizz!
A miniature avatar appeared in front of him. The golden flames surprised him again. This had exceeded his imagination of the Nine-leaf stage before he had a breakthrough.
The red lotus had a karmic fire, and the golden lotus had golden flames, but Jiang Wenxu had neither. This meant that not everyone possessed this power.
After admiring his avatar for half a day, a problem suddenly occurred to him. Since he was now a true-blue Nine-leaf cultivator, would he attract the beasts? Jiang Wenxu had attracted the manmans… So, who attracted Qiong Qi?
“Is anyone there?”
“Yes. Your orders, pavilion master?”
“Summon Si Wuya.”
“Understood.”
…
At this moment, Si Wuya was stunned as well. He was rendered speechless as he watched the Eight-leaf cultivators busying themselves with menial chores. He was rather taciturn compared to the others, he felt it was too much of an effort to speak up and stop them. Moreover, they were diligent in their tasks, and the Evil Sky Pavilion did need to be cleaned up.
Upon learning that his master had summoned him, he left for the eastern pavilion without wasting any time.
…
Lu Zhou looked at Si Wuya and said, “I summoned you here for two things. First, keep an eye on the changes in Great Yan’s nine provinces, especially the movements of the beasts. Second, I suspect there are more red lotus cultivators in Great Yan. Come up with a way to smoke them out.”
“I understand,” Si Wuya replied.
“You’ve been busy and have many matters to attend to recently. However, make sure you’re not neglecting your cultivation,” Lu Zhou said.
“I’ll remember your words, master.”
“That will be all.”
Then, Si Wuya retreated from the room respectfully.
…
Lu Zhou entered his meditative state. He was used to having the Heavenly Writing powers at his disposal. Now that he did not have his extraordinary power, he felt as though something was missing.
…
Meanwhile, news of the Evil Sky Pavilion’s Patriarch preaching to the world spread like a wildfire.
…
Half a day passed, and the sun was setting.
At this time, Ye Tianxin arrived at the eastern pavilion. “Ye Tianxin requesting an audience, master.”
Lu Zhou opened his eyes slowly and said, “Enter.”
Ye Tianxin opened the door and entered the room. Perhaps, she had suffered heavier injuries during the day, she did not seem to be in a good condition. In the candlelight, she seemed paler and feebler. Coupled with her white hair, she seemed to lack vitality.
Lu Zhou could hardly heal her with the power of healing with a wide range that he had used during the day. The power was spread between too many injured people, after all.
He pointed to the rush cushion three meters before himself and said tonelessly, “Sit.”
“I dare not.” She did not feel worthy enough to sit across her master.
“If I tell you to sit, you will sit,” Lu Zhou said with no inflection in his tone.
“Understood.” Ye Tianxin sat down respectfully before her master.
Lu Zhou looked at her and said, “You should’ve acted within your means… Do you know what your mistake was?”
Ye Tianxin immediately prostrated herself and said, “I’ve made a mistake; I shouldn’t have held you back.”
For a Nine-leaf cultivator, indeed, an Eight-leaf cultivator could be considered a burden.
Lu Zhou shook his head. He could tell that Ye Tianxin’s understanding of him was still based on his host, Ji Tiandao, even though his way of doing things had changed considerably.
“I’m only pointing out what you’ve done wrong. There’s no need to be nervous or overcautious,” Lu Zhou said.
Ye Tianxin raised her head slowly with a puzzled expression on her face.
