"You are still afraid, Senior Sister." Ye Tianxin smiled and said, "Look at Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, and me...Aren't we still alive and kicking? I admit that the old thing does have trump cards, but he is very cautious, and he won't use them easily. Otherwise, do you think he would spare our lives? It also proves that...his trump cards are limited."
"Besides, he is growing older, so his Sea of Qi is getting drier. When the time comes, he will be filled with hatred and use all his trump cards. It will be most dangerous to stay with him."
That swayed Zhao Yue slightly, and she said, "You have a point there."
"So...the pressing matter at the moment is to use a trick to find out about his trump cards. In the worst case, if he knows that we are behind it, we can just avoid him. Yes, we may be no match for him, but we can wait until he dies," said Ye Tianxin with a dangerous smile.
"..."
It was safe to say that Ye Tianxin had not relied on her cultivation base alone to have her current status, but also her cunning wisdom.
'No wonder even Old Seventh praised Sixth Junior Sister for her cleverness when we were together on the mountain...'
Although Zhao Yue was her senior sister, there was a big gap between their cultivation bases, and Ye Tianxin had a heaven-grade weapon—the Amorous Hoop. As a result, she was weaker than her junior sister.
"Senior Sister, stay in Derived Moon Palace for the time being. When you make a decision, I'll definitely help you in every way possible."
"Alright. Sorry to trouble you, Junior Sister!"
...
After staying in seclusion for two days, Lu Zhou still did not come out on the third day, nor the fourth day.
He almost scratched his scalp bloody from studying the Human Scroll of Heaven Writing. He could understand the summary on the title page, but he failed to comprehend the meaning of the rest.
Lu Zhou felt that the difficulty to understand them was one hundred times more painful than reading and comprehending classical Chinese writings in the college entrance exam.
"To get the mental intelligence of others, we should know that there is no difference in the hearts of the people in the three thousand worlds. They are like one world."
"To get the divine power of an unobstructed, pure heaven eye, we should know that the so-called..."
"..."
Lu Zhou's brows frowned slightly when he read that, and he said to himself, "This is somewhat similar to Taoism among the hundreds of schools of thought on Earth..."
In his previous life, Lu Zhou did not study these things, and he only knew that they existed. But, even if he did study them, he might not comprehend them at all, because most of them were too mysterious and somewhat abstract like philosophy. At times, they sounded like nonsense that made sense no matter where they were used.
"Is this the extraordinary power of Heaven Writing?" Lu Zhou scratched his head.
"Master, you have been staying in seclusion for four days. Fourth Senior Brother was here to see you yesterday, but I did not dare to disturb you, so I've asked him to leave."
Lu Zhou closed the Heaven Writing's interface in the system when he heard that. Time had flown by. Reading the Heaven Writing was a boring process, at least in his opinion. Yet, he did not expect that four days had passed in the blink of an eye.
"Did Old Fourth mention anything?"
"No."
"He should have encountered problems while cultivating the last part of the Bluewood Technique."
Lu Zhou slowly rose to his feet and touched his gray and white hair. His face was a little ruddier than before. The moment he walked out of the chamber, Little Yuan'er's eyes grew wide as she stared at him and said incredulously, "Ma-Master!"
His expression was calm, and he stood there with hands clasped behind his back. He was ten years younger. Although the change in his appearance was somewhat obvious, the lofty air of an old villain was still in his bones.
"Master, you've grown younger!" said Little Yuan'er.
Lu Zhou said faintly, "The reason I shut myself in seclusion is not only to improve my cultivation base, but also for the sake of this old body. You've been working hard these days."
"Hehe! This is my duty as Master's disciple. I believe Master can definitely make the breakthrough and become the first cultivator in the world of Great Yan who steps into the Mysterious Heaven Saint realm!"
Lu Zhou laughed and asked, "Did Old Third send back any letters these days?"
He had not heard any prompt from the system about the task he had assigned to the disciple.
With Duanmu Sheng's cultivation base, it should not be difficult to investigate Zhou Jifeng. However, a few days had passed, and he had not heard the system's prompt.
Even so, Duanmu Sheng should have reported the progress with a letter. Why was there no news from him at all?
"Senior Brother did not send back any letters."
"This is strange." Lu Zhou stroked his beard as he walked slowly out of Evil Sky Pavilion.
Outside, the sky was bright and clear, with the sun shining dazzlingly.
"Master, could Third Senior Brother be the same as Senior Sister Zhao Yue..." Little Yuan'er said worriedly.
"No, that's impossible!" Lu Zhou lifted a hand and stopped her.
He knew Duanmu Sheng's loyalty was over 70%, not as low as Zhao Yue's. And if he deserted the sect, the system should have prompted him. But, he heard nothing from the system, and that meant Duanmu Sheng had not deserted yet.
'Then why is he not reporting back?' Lu Zhou pondered silently.
Little Yuan'er said, "Master, I also don't think Third Senior Brother will betray the sect. He is an honest man and would not do such a treacherous thing."
Lu Zhou did not say a word. It was impossible to judge a man's heart from his face. Unless their loyalty reached 80% and above, he would not trust them completely. After all, Zhao Yue's loyalty was 60%, and yet she still deserted the sect.
In this world, it was extremely hard to predict one's mind. He had to be on guard at all times.
Right at that moment, Little Yuan'er pointed at a figure flying over in the sky and said, "Fourth Senior Brother is here!"
Mingshi Yin wheeled in the air over them as fast as a bolt of lightning.
If he were in his peak form, Lu Zhou would not feel strange upon seeing this speed. But, his current cultivation base was too far away from the Divine Court realm.
'He has almost completely comprehended the last part of the Bluewood Technique...' Lu Zhou envied the amazing talents of these villainous disciples.
Mingshi Yin went into a nosedive. As he descended, he saw Lu Zhou, whose aura had changed, and his heart trembled.
'Is that...Master?'
The change in Lu Zhou's appearance had only slightly surprised Mingshi Yin, but the aura frightened him completely. And when that was coupled with the seed of fear Ji Tiandao had planted in his heart, he felt a chill run down his back. He hurriedly landed on the ground and dropped to one knee as he cupped his fist and said, "Greetings, Master!"
"You may rise."
"Yes, Master!"
"I can see that you have almost completely comprehended the last part of the Bluewood Technique. The cultivation technique you are practicing is a wood-element technique, which has the ability to give you extra life force. Make good use of this advantage and don't neglect your practice," Lu Zhou said faintly.
"Thank you for the guidance, Master! I will remember it!"
His loyalty increased by 2%!
Mingshi Yin looked calm on the outside, but he was extremely shocked in his heart. Ever since Ye Tianxin left Golden Court Mountain, Ji Tiandao had stopped guiding his disciples. He even gave Little Yuan'er, whom he doted on the most, just a book of cultivation technique and rarely talked to her.
Mingshi Yin did not expect that under the situation where almost everyone was deserting, his master would still be so generous as to provide him guidance. That truly startled him.
"Master, when I was practicing the Bluewood Technique, I flew over Anyang and heard a piece of news."
"Tell me."
"It seems that the people of the Ci Family, which is also Little Junior Sister's family, have been kidnapped by someone again," Mingshi Yin reported.
"Ah?" Little Yuan'er's eyes grew wide, and she frowned her brows in anger.
"I volunteer myself to investigate this matter, and I'll definitely find out the culprit and get rid them of them once and for all!" said Mingshi Yin with a cold and fierce look.