Chapter 10: A Fatal Blow
Lu Zhou paused for a moment and then nodded with satisfaction.
Disciples could complete quests as well, and the master could get merit points from the disciples. It was very reasonable, very nice!
Within an hour, Little Yuan’er actually killed a dozen bold cultivators. At that moment, Lu Zhou called up the menu and glanced at it.
The merit points had accumulated to 300.
“Shopping mall.”
“Purchase an apprentice-rank Taiji avatar.”
“Ding! You’ve received an apprentice-rank Taiji avatar.”
The moment he received the avatar, Lu Zhou felt spring water rush out of his dried-up dantian as streams of power flowed throughout his whole body.
He had broken through!
He had stepped into the Mystic Enlightening realm from the Body Tempering realm!
The Body Tempering realm only trained tendons, bones, and skin after all, so those in this realm could not use energy like cultivators. But, when a person became a cultivator, his ability was multiplied.
“Sure enough, there is no bottleneck.” Lu Zhou felt the changes in his body. After a short moment, the activities within him quieted down.
Name: Lu Zhou
Race: Human
Cultivation Base: Mystic Enlightening realm, Heart Aperture
Merit Points: 0
Remaining life: 613 days
Items: Ji Tiandao Peak Form Card x 2, Critical Block Card (passive) x 5
...
A Two Transformed Powers avatar cost 1,000 merit points. It was a huge rip-off!
It seemed that it was not as easy as he had imagined if he wished to reach the same height as Ji Tiandao. Besides, there was no suitable cultivation technique he could practice for the time being.
“Should I practice the old cultivation techniques?”
In Lu Zhou’s mind, there were indeed many cultivation methods and experiences related to Ji Tiandao, the cultivation methods of his nine disciples, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. However, those cultivation techniques were tailored for them and not suitable for him.
As for Ji Tiandao’s own cultivation technique, it seemed that it became stagnant after practicing because of his aging body. It meant that he had to further prolong his life before he could consider continuing with it.
Before that, he would rather not practice any cultivation technique than practice a bad one. He could wait anyway.
By now, his merit points seemed to have stopped increasing.
“Little Yuan’er’s cultivation base is at the Divine Court realm, so it is very easy for her to deal with these small fish and shrimps.”
“I have to give them more work.” Since the disciples could help him get merit points, he had to make good use of them.
Lu Zhou slowly stood up and flexed his body. As he was about to step out of the door, a shadow suddenly rushed toward him.
Swoosh!
‘Eh?’
Like a bolt of lightning, the shadow broke in from the window on the west side of the pavilion with a glinting short sword in hand. With Lu Zhou’s current strength, he could tell at one glance that the attacker was an expert.
There was a great amount of energy on the edge of the sword as it went right to his heart.
‘Should I shout for help?’
Bam!
The sword was stabbed on Lu Zhou’s chest. Yet, he was unhurt!
A critical block card was finally triggered.
It was also at this moment that Lu Zhou saw the attacker’s appearance.
“The eldest disciple of Heavenly Sword Sect Zhou Jifeng?” Lu Zhou said in surprise.
Zhou Jifeng never thought that he would be recognized at a glance. In his panic, he pulled back the sword and leaped backward before thrusting the sword again.
“Die!”
Lu Zhou frowned slightly.
The Mystic Enlightening realm was, after all, the most useless realm in the cultivation world. There was no way he could resist Zhou Jifeng, who had stepped into the Divine Court realm.
He was just like meat on someone’s chopping block!
This Zhou Jifeng was obviously here to seek revenge. He was a bold fanatic who did not care for his own life!
Bam!
It was another fatal blow.
But, the sword was knocked away by Lu Zhou’s bizarre block once again. Zhou Jifeng rolled backward in the air and felt a numbness in his arm.
How...was that possible?
The Evil Sky Pavilion fell silent.
Zhou Jifeng swallowed hard as his eyes went wide and were shot with blood. The sword in his hand trembled slightly, and he did not know whether he should continue attacking or not.
“Do you want to continue?” Lu Zhou’s eyes gleamed like torches.
“...”
Strength ran out of Zhou Jifeng’s legs, and he fell back on his buttocks. The gap between them was too tremendous, so much so that he had completely given up the thought of attacking.
“You’ve overestimated yourself,” Lu Zhou snorted and slowly turned around. ‘Calm down. I can’t let him see my weakness.’
“You killed my Master...I will avenge him even if the cost is my life!” Zhou Jifeng clenched the sword tightly.
“You are wasting your time.”
Zhou Jifeng rushed forward with his sword again, moving as fast as a gust of wind. An expert in the Divine Court realm was incomparable with any ordinary cultivator.
At this critical moment...
“Master!”
A blue figure flashed in from outside. Meanwhile, Zhou Jifeng’s heart trembled and his movement slowed down.
Bam!
The blue figure threw out a beam of energy and knocked him flying away. As a result, Zhou Jifeng coughed out a mouthful of blood and fell on the ground.
“How dare you sneak attack my Master! Are you blind?” Little Yuan’er landed, showing her teeth with a murderous smile on her face.
“Stand down, Yuan’er!”
“Master, he attacked you. I want to cut him into pieces to help you vent your anger...”
When Zhou Jifeng heard that, his face turned pale as a sheet. Sure enough, the nine disciples of Evil Sky Pavilion were all extremely ferocious.
What he knew about them came from rumors, which were full of exaggeration and falsehood after all. But, he found that the rumors were quite true when he saw it with his own eyes today, because even this cute-looking little girl was so scary!
Zhou Jifeng was a little regretful about coming here to get his revenge!
Meanwhile, Lu Zhou was poised on the surface, but he kept sighing in his heart. ‘This old body is really weak.’
When he was in the peak form, he did not even pay attention to someone like Zhou Jifeng. But just now, he was nearly killed by this guy. Fortunately, his little disciple arrived in time. Otherwise, his five critical block cards would not last him for too long, and he would have to waste another peak-form experience card.
Lu Zhou was not surprised that Zhou Jifeng, with his cultivation base of the Divine Court realm, could sneak up the mountain, since the shield was not yet repaired, and his few disciples’ attention was somewhere else. He just did not expect that the other would be so bold as to sneak attack him.
His eyes fell on Zhou Jifeng.
Name: Zhou Jifeng
Race: Human
Cultivation Base: Early Dao-shaping stage of the Divine Court realm
Status: Enemy, hostility level 85%
...
“I killed your master, and it is reasonable for you to come to me for revenge. However, you have overestimated yourself, and this is no different from committing suicide. There is no point in doing so.”
Lu Zhou sat down slowly, searching his mind for memories related to the kid. It happened that Ji Tiandao did cross paths with the latter in the past.
“You began to temper your body when you were eight years old, stepped into the Mystic Enlightening realm at the age of nine, Sense Condensing realm at thirteen, Brahma Sea realm at eighteen, and Divine Court realm at twenty. This made you a rare genius even in the cultivation world. You could totally wait for a few more years before you came to me for revenge. Why must you come to get yourself killed now?”
Zhou Jifeng really regretted it.
He was a genius known to the whole Heavenly Sword Sect.
Meanwhile, Little Yuan’er mumbled, “Master, you call this a rare genius? When I was ten years old, I acknowledged you as my master, and I’m fifteen years old this year, but I have already stepped into the Divine Court realm...”
Lu Zhou, “...”
When Zhou Jifeng heard that, the little bit of pride he had just now vanished in an instant.
“Don’t interrupt!” Lu Zhou glared at her.
Little Yuan’er stuck out her tongue and stepped to the side. Then, Lu Zhou continued, “Zhou Jifeng, do you know why I didn’t kill you?”
“Old villain, you don’t have to be hypocritical. Whether you want to kill or torture me, do it now!” Zhou Jifeng put on a brave face.
Lu Zhou shook his head. “You really think Luo Changfeng is a gentleman?”
“What do you mean?” Zhou Jifeng’s glared at him.
“What an ignorant young man! You weren’t even born when I met Luo Changfeng.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“If I told you that the person who killed your father was Luo Changfeng, would you believe it?”
“Ding! A hidden side quest is triggered: Instigate Zhou Jifeng’s defection.”
“Hint: Everything you do has the potential to trigger hidden quests.”