As soon as Mingshi Yin left Tiger Ridge, Zhu Honggong shuddered and wiped away the cold sweat from his face while his legs trembled uncontrollably.
'That was a close call...Seventh Senior Brother was right!'
Seeing this, one of his men cried out, "Are you alright, Chief?"
"I-I...I'm fine. Don't panic and calm down, all of you!"
Meanwhile...
Lu Zhou sat cross-legged in the gazebo. After trying to cultivate for half a day, he found that his disciples' cultivation techniques were useless for him. They could not produce energy at all. His meridians were too old, and his dantian and Sea of Qi lacked vitality, making it extremely difficult for him to gather energy.
He shook his head helplessly. It seemed that the cultivation techniques and experiences of his disciples in his mind were not of much use to him.
Lu Zhou speculated that it was probably due to physical reasons. The present cultivation world was facing a problem that was very difficult to solve. As a cultivator aged, his meridians grew old, and the vitality of his dantian and Sea of Qi reduced, causing his strength to drop. It was the same problem Ji Tiandao was facing.
And it was the most likely problem.
It was because Ji Tiandao was getting old and his strength was declining that he gradually became less and less intimidating to his disciples, which eventually led to their betrayal.
"Oh well, it feels really awkward for a young man in his twenties like me to pretend to be as old and steady as a rock."
But, he had to do it. It would be really strange if he jumped around like a child in his current appearance.
"It seems that I need to accumulate more life force," Lu Zhou speculated that it was because of longevity that he was facing his present situation. "Let's see how many merit points I still have."
Lu Zhou called up the system panel.
Name: Lu Zhou
Race: Human
Cultivation base: The Eye Aperture stage of the Mystic Enlightening realm
Merit points: 1,004
Remaining life: 1,209 days
Items: Ji Tiandao Peak Form Card x 2, Critical Block Card (passive) x 5, Whitzard
...
He still had one thousand merit points, but they were too few. According to the speed at which he accumulated merit points, it would be quite difficult if he wished to return to his youth.
He thought of the incident of Old Fourth killing those mounted brigands and the worshipping of many people, which had given him quite many reward points. These tasks all had very lucrative merit points as rewards.
"Yuan'er!"
"Yes, Master?"
"From today on, if anything major happens in the outside world, report it to me immediately," Lu Zhou said faintly.
That puzzled Little Yuan'er. 'Master has always been indifferent to the world. Why the sudden interest in worldly affairs?'
"Master, I stay on Golden Court Mountain all day long and cannot know what is going on in the world. This is something that Seventh Senior Brother is good at. His intelligence network covers the whole world and already has information nodes in many places."
That was a problem.
Lu Zhou said, "There is a station in Tangzi, the town nearest to Golden Court Mountain. Cultivators often stop there to rest and share information while others will pay them for information. You can go there and find out what is happening in the world."
Little Yuan'er beamed when she heard that she could leave Golden Court Mountain. She cupped her fist excitedly and said, "Really, Master?"
"Why are you so happy? Does staying on the mountain upset you?" Lu Zhou glared at her.
"No, no! I just feel a little bored because I haven't been out for a long time."
"Then go now...Remember, you're not allowed to reveal who you are or kill people at will."
"What if someone bullies me?" Little Yuan'er said in a low voice.
Lu Zhou knocked her on the head with a hand and said, "Just go and do as I bid. Don't give me so many excuses."
"Ouch!"
"Go now!" How could Little Yuan'er be bullied by others?
"Yes, Master!"
Little Yuan'er flew away happily from the Golden Court Mountain. Seeing her, Lu Zhou was a little envious, and he wondered when he could fly in the sky like that.
The gazebo fell silent while he was thinking about what he should do next. Although Golden Court Mountain was the home to villains, it did not rule out the possibility that there would be other assassins like Zhou Jifeng.
Right then, his third disciple, Duanmu Sheng, came beneath the steps that led to the gazebo, where he bowed and said, "Master, I've fixed three arrays. There are five more that need to be fixed..."
"Five more..." Lu Zhou murmured.
Originally, he wanted the three of them to fix the arrays together. However, with two of them out now to complete the tasks he had assigned them, it became quite difficult for Duanmu Sheng to fix them alone.
After all, it took a tremendous amount of energy to fix an array. Despite Duanmu Sheng's profound cultivation base, he alone could not withstand the constant absorption of eight arrays.
"Master, at this rate, I'm afraid I can't finish the task of repairing all the arrays myself..." Duanmu Sheng said honestly. At the same time, he looked up slightly to steal a glance at his master's expression.
Lu Zhou said in a deep voice, "Are you not convinced that I made you fix the arrays as punishment?"
"No, this disciple dares not!"
"If you can't fix them in one year, spend two years or even three years to fix them! I'll not spare you easily if you raise any objections again."
"Understand, Master! I was too lazy, please forgive me! I will continue fixing the arrays now."
When Lu Zhou was facing the top ten experts, they stood on the side and watched without helping him. Now, he only punished them by asking them to repair the arrays, and yet they came to him and complained!
He knew very well that he could not be weak at such a critical time. Disciplining disciples was essentially the same as managing subordinates in his previous life.
After Duanmu Sheng left, Lu Zhou called up the system panel once again.
"Lucky draw."
"Ding! This lucky draw costs 50 merit points. Thank you for trying, you have received 1 luck point."
"Lucky draw."
"Ding! This lucky draw costs 50 merit points. Thank you for trying, you have received 1 luck point."
"..."
He tried ten times in a row, and he got the same 'thank you for trying' prompt each time. Consequently, his merit points were downed by 500, and he had also accumulated 18 luck points.
While frowning, he said, "System, can you have a little conscience? Don't you feel guilty cheating my merit points?"
The system did not answer.
Looking at the remaining 500 merit points, he gave up trying his luck and opened the shopping mall.
"I want to purchase a reversal card!"
"Ding! 500 merit points are deducted. You have received 1 reversal card."
Now, he had spent all his merit points, with only 4 points left.
"Use it!"
Having used several reversal cards before, Lu Zhou had become rather calm and focused on the field of remaining life on the panel. Sure enough, it had increased to 1,509 days.
"If you spend all your money, you will not think about it anymore! So, the only thing left for me to do now is lie down and wait for death?" Lu Zhou suddenly felt bored.
It was hard to find anything to do with this old body. In his previous life, old people could still go to parks to play chess, card games, or walk the dog.
"Ding! The side quest of instigating Zhou Jifeng's defection is completed. You are rewarded with 200 merit points."
"Ding! Zhou Jifeng's hostility level is zeroed, and his loyalty is 10%."
"Ding! Two elders are killed. You are rewarded with 200 merit points."
Lu Zhou's eyes lit up.
"Zhao Yue has done a good job!"
Right as he was feeling happy with the reward, a figure drifted up from the foot of the mountain.
Lu Zhou glanced at the figure. It was Mingshi Yin.
"Master, this disciple has completed the task and is now reporting back to you."