Hum~
With a flash of azure, a flicker of flame appeared on Zhuo Fan's forehead.
Elder Yuan's eyes bugged out in shock.
With a light pop, Zhuo Fan's aura doubled. He just stood there like nothing happened yet his cultivation rose to the 7th layer of Profound Heaven Stage.
Elder Yuan was flabbergasted.
[Having witnessed the Asura Circle, the kid has come to his own discoveries driving his cultivation to rise.]
[Even though cultivation defines your strength, while the heart defines one's potential. The two are unrelated.]
Such a case where a heart's state improving leads to an increase in cultivation, had been far and few, since time itself.
[Yet here and now, Zhuo Fan has done it. It is proof of his immense insight, of his great talent.]
Elder Yuan was stirred watching Zhuo Fan, his throat became dry. When the azure flame withdrew and Zhuo Fan opened his eyes, he found the golden halo in his eyes flashing brighter and brighter.
Ugh!
Zhuo Fan frowned. Having an old timer watch him with such heated gaze was not normal, "Ahe-hem, Elder Yuan, what is this? If you're pent up, don't come to me, I don't swing that way."
Elder Yuan recovered from his stupor and beamed, "Sir Zhuo must never ever misunderstand. I may be old but I am straight!"
The two burst out laughing.
"Elder Yuan, I must say I never thought the materials from the Labor Office were picked this way." Zhuo Fan and Elder Yuan were walking out, "It only makes Elder Yuan's survival over all these years even more peculiar."
"What's so strange about it? We each live our own lives. "The strong have their own path and so do the weak. Besides, in my days there was no Asura Circle. The elders came to pick the materials and in fear of being included, I suppressed my cultivation. Not registering in their eyes meant going on living. And that is how I am the only one reaching such an old age here. It's only natural that they've put me in charge and absolved me from dying here."
"Then the Asura Circle…" Zhuo Fan raised an eyebrow.
Glancing around, Elder Yuan whispered, "Zhuo Fan, Asura Circle is something sir Kui Lang came up with when he first came here."
"Why would he do that?" Zhuo Fan asked, piqued.
Elder Yuan smiled, "Zhuo Fan, the Labor Office has two kinds of people, one are the cast out disciples. They can either resign to their fate as materials, or break the mold and become elders. The other type are those demoted here as punishment. They are forever criminals with a short road ahead of them and a high chance of never leaving this place. But the sect has a rule, those with great merits will have a clean slate."
"That's what they tell the others. What great merit could a criminal get in the Labor Office?" Zhuo Fan shook his head.
Elder Yuan smiled, "That's not entirely true. Like I said, the strong will always find a way. Like now for instance. Keeping Asura Circle going is a great merit."
"What makes you say that?" Zhuo Fan asked.
Elder Yuan's eyes glinted, "Those in the Labor Office know the condition but few manage to escape which makes everyone mediocre, living their lives like me, who suppress their cultivation to avoid becoming some elder's guinea pig. That makes the materials here dregs.
"While now, because of the Asura Circle, people here want to live longer and thus have to become stronger and cultivate harder. Soon the materials' quality improved and the elders were satisfied. And there's an illusion about Asura Circle as well, that they are the masters of their own fate. The dead become materials while the living continue existing and not get picked by elders. Strength gives you life while weakness takes it away. With this trend, the level of the Labor Office will soon reach outer disciples'."
"Especially after Yue Ling came, adding a few rules. Bone Tempering Stage needn't join Asura Circle, keeping the new blood pumping and saving them from drying out. Everything was made so that the Labor Office's standards grew, another great merit. The two of them might even return to the inner sect with their credit."
Zhuo Fan nodded. [All the two did was use mind games, throwing these abandoned slackers through a murder machine to awaken their ambition.]
An objective watcher would see them as lambs, but in the Asura Circle, they turn into wild animals who would do anything to survive.
Looking at it from another angle, if these people had resources to boost their cultivation, they'd reach far greater heights than even inner disciples.
Zhuo Fan's eyes flashed, muttering, "Does that mean Xie Wuyue threw me in here to first earn great merit for the sect?"
"What did you say?" Elder Yuan stared.
Zhuo Fan shook his head, "Nothing, I was only lamenting. These two are some motherfluffing geniuses. It's such a waste letting them be stuck here and not higher up in the sect."
"Yeah." Elder Yuan nodded.
"By the way, what were their crimes?" Zhuo Fan continued but Elder Yuan's response was cut short.
Rustle~
The moon hanging in the night sky draped the land in a silver curtain, revealing a delicate figure dancing among the stars with her blade tracing bizarre arches.
Zhuo Fan watched the dazed figure, like a fairy, and clapped with a smile, "Such exquisite swordsmanship, Miss Yue'er."
The graceful figure stopped and Yue'er's fine features turned icy. She ignored Zhuo Fan, looking elsewhere.
Her cultivation had to stop when Zhuo Fan's cawing resumed, "Miss Yue'er, what a coincidence. Have you been punished as well since you've come here?"
Stumbling, Yue'er turned a hateful glare, "You're the one punished!"
"True, I am in the Labor Office." Zhuo Fan answered with a smile.
Yue'er was lost for words, gnashing her teeth. Elder Yuan was giggling at the side.
Yue'er mocked in the end, "When you arrived, you said you'd be an elite, but Sect Leader didn't even let you in the hall, throwing you in the Labor Office. You only know how to boast!"
"How did you know that I didn't enter the hall? Were you… looking out for me? I didn't know you cared." Zhuo Fan chuckled.
Yue'er flushed and raged, "Who would? Everyone knows about your scandal now. You're the first person to not even get to see the Sect Leader before getting dumped in the Labor Office."
"I see." Zhuo Fan's eyes glinted.
He was sure someone was keeping an eye on him when he entered the sect. There was no way that a common disciple's matter would spread otherwise, not so fast at least.
But he reckoned all of this stopped the moment he was placed in the Labor Office.
Or with how the Labor Office was filled with all kinds of people, there was no way he wouldn't detect something after so many days.
Zhuo Fan smiled, "Miss Yue'er, did perhaps senior sister Mei'er miss me as well?"
"Senior sister didn't care one…" Yue'er caught herself and blushed harder. Zhuo Fan had played her again and she was irate, "I-I don't care about you…"
"Ha-ha-ha…"
Elder Yuan laughed. [Zhuo Fan is just like the rumors say, cunning and sly. An ignorant miss won't stand a chance.]
It was the worst possible reaction as Yue'er's eyes flashed with bloodthirst and she slashed at them, since she was put on the spot.
Elder Yuan cowered behind Zhuo Fan on the double while Zhuo Fan just stood there, grabbing her soft wrists before the blade touched him.
She cried out as the blade fell from her grip and she frowned.
Zhuo Fan let her go at once, "I've barely used any strength so how could it hurt? Don't tell me you're still wounded from last time."
"None of your business!" Yue'er huffed.
Just then, another cute voice came, "How dare you mess with my sister…"