I’ve taken on a disciple who’s very good at bullying old men!

Sure enough, none of the disciples I’ve taken are any good!

This old man’s heart aches so much!

“Do you know what this is called?”

After a long while, Fudao Shanren finally calmed his emotions, holding up his chicken leg and taking a bite.

Jian Chou had already stopped, staring at that chicken leg and frowning: “Chicken leg.”

“…”

This foolish disciple.

Fudao Shanren directly tore all the meat off the chicken leg in one bite and casually threw the bone on the ground.

The smooth floor of Lanyue Hall rippled like water the moment the chicken bone hit it, and the bone immediately sank as if thrown into water, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Jian Chou stared blankly, blinking, somewhat surprised.

Fudao Shanren didn’t explain, just rolled his eyes and said directly: “This old man certainly wasn’t asking you about the chicken leg! Don’t you use your brain at all? Why would I ask you about something you already know?”

“Then why would Master ask me about something your disciple doesn’t know?”

Wouldn’t the result be the same, not knowing?

Jian Chou muttered under her breath.

“Pfft.”

Zheng Yao laughed out loud shamelessly.

Fudao Shanren truly had a splitting headache, the pain unbearable.

He stamped his feet in place, but the expression on his face gradually changed.

His gaze fell on Jian Chou, seeing that her aura was not weak at all, even more carefree than ordinary female cultivators.

For some unknown reason, Fudao Shanren smiled.

“Too lazy to argue with you, little brat. In cultivation, there’s a special constitution called the Heavenly Void Body, quite similar to your situation. Regardless of where, with just a thought, there are battle discs everywhere. But I’m not certain if you are one, so answer your master a few questions.”

Heavenly Void Body?

Jian Chou blinked: “Please ask, Master.”

“Can you truly do as you wish, wherever you think?” Fudao Shanren asked his first question.

Jian Chou nodded: “That’s correct.”

They had already tested this just now, but Fudao Shanren asking again was safer.

His face was full of wrinkles, all carved with traces of time. When asking questions now, he put his hands behind his back and furrowed his brow, looking quite proper.

“You mentioned before that when cultivating, you felt it was particularly easy. So when opening meridians and lighting up Kunxian lines, what did it feel like?”

“Many of the earlier Kunxian lines were learned from jade slips in the Scripture Pavilion, so following the routes described in the jade slips, I almost always succeeded on the first try. Only when reverse-engineering meridian positions from the Kunxian lines on the battle disc did I often fail, but if I found the right position, I could generally succeed.”

This was also why Jian Chou felt her cultivation was too easy.

Fudao Shanren’s brow immediately furrowed even tighter.

His originally relaxed expression suddenly disappeared, his eyes constantly flickering, as if recalling something.

Zheng Yao had been listening without speaking, but now stepped forward: “Master Uncle, is there something improper about this?”

There were plenty of improper things.

Fudao Shanren shook his head without answering, and asked Jian Chou again: “What about the Dao Seal? Succeeded on the first try?”

“Yes.”

On this point, Jian Chou was certain.

However, she thought this was purely luck.

She didn’t know what this Dao Seal was, only that its power was extraordinary. For her, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, to be able to unleash such terrifying attack power meant this Dao Seal itself must be exceptionally profound.

Different methods of channeling through meridians brought different effects.

Cultivators skilled in combat often liked to research how to use the least spiritual power to deliver the strongest attacks.

Jian Chou guessed this Dao Seal was probably of that type.

“Do you still have strength?” Fudao Shanren asked again.

Strength?

Jian Chou thought about it: “I still have strength, and spiritual power too.”

She just didn’t know which kind of “strength” Fudao Shanren was referring to.

Fudao Shanren glanced at Zheng Yao, directly turned around, grabbed his collar, and pulled him aside: “Come here, don’t block the way.”

“Hey hey hey! You can’t do this! What are you trying to do? Master Uncle!”

Good, he was put down.

Zheng Yao stopped shouting, looking at Fudao Shanren suspiciously, feeling he seemed a bit off all of a sudden.

“Master Uncle, are you too severely shocked?”

“Shut up.”

Two simple words.

Fudao Shanren’s expression wasn’t good.

This time, so obviously, Jian Chou noticed too.

She rarely saw Fudao Shanren with such a serious face—usually, he was either pretending or being cheerful and playful like an old child.

Feeling somewhat worried, Jian Chou hesitated for a moment: “Master, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just find him blocking the way.” Fudao Shanren glanced at Zheng Yao beside him, as if returning to normal. He casually clapped his hands: “In a moment, when I say start, you switch to a different place. This time, don’t use your leg, try your hand, use that Dao Seal.”

Switch to using the hand for the Dao Seal?

Jian Chou was surprised.

Before she could comprehend the meaning of this sentence, Fudao Shanren quickly retreated to one side, pointing to a spot not far in front of Jian Chou.

That was the main entrance of the great hall, but there was no path outside—it faced the direction of the Yashan cable bridge, which was the direction of the Thousand Tombs where Jian Chou had first arrived.

“Don’t blast toward the inside, blast outward, hold back a bit, just see if it works.”

As he spoke, he retreated two more steps.

Was this necessary…

Jian Chou’s mouth twitched, feeling her master was being too dramatic.

She was just a Foundation Establishment cultivator—what threat could she pose to two great cultivators?

But she had already deeply understood Fudao Shanren’s exaggerated inner style, so she simply didn’t think about it further and didn’t care.

Turning around, she faced the hall entrance.

The sun in the sky was still blazing hot, just reaching midday. From where Jian Chou stood, she couldn’t see any trees or flowers below the mountain, much less any peaks that could enter her view.

This was a good place for unleashing big moves.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t see the effects.

However, she didn’t dare to blast another wall of Yashan.

Recalling the arrangement rules of that Dao Seal, Jian Chou remembered the four positions she had determined: two hands and two feet, with techniques originating from these two positions.

So she slowly extended her right palm and looked at it carefully.

At some point, her palm lines had become somewhat blurred.

On her pale palm, she could vaguely see the winding blue blood vessels inside.

The names of acupoints arranged on her palm appeared one by one in Jian Chou’s mind.

Seven Dao characters.

Seven acupoints.

Which combinations should she try?

Jian Chou began to ponder.

Spiritual power slowly surged at her ancestral aperture between her brows, flowing from her shoulder through the Tianquan acupoint, Shaohai acupoint, to her arm…

At the same time, her arm slowly lifted outward, naturally extending her arm.

The wind around them seemed to stop at this moment.

The surroundings became terrifyingly quiet.

This time, it seemed somewhat different from using her leg before.

Jian Chou felt a little nervous.

Fudao Shanren also sensed this strangeness, extending his hand to grasp the cracked Wujian sword.

“It’s fine, continue.”

With this reassurance from Fudao Shanren, Jian Chou felt much more at ease.

She calmed her heart, the battle disc beneath her feet rotating according to her will.

At this moment, flowing light gathered at a certain position on the battle disc, lighting up one Dao character, then extinguishing as it moved to the next position.

Jian Chou’s spiritual energy moved through acupoints, also reaching the third position.

The Jianshi acupoint is located on her forearm.

Wind suddenly rose, not blowing from outside, but from Jian Chou’s battle disc.

The rotating battle disc stirred up the surrounding concentrated spiritual energy.

Jian Chou’s heartbeat quickened somewhat.

Spiritual energy successively passed through Daling, Shenmen, and Shaofu acupoints, finally reaching—

Zhongchong!

The tip of her right middle finger suddenly felt an intense stabbing pain, while her palm was simultaneously guided by a mysterious force, slowly pushing forward!

Boom—

There was no sound around them, yet everyone seemed to hear a sound!

With Lanyue Hall as the center, all the spiritual energy around the entire mountainside trembled, as if sensing some summons, surging forth!

Countless streams of spiritual energy gathered together, forming a massive phantom composed of spiritual energy!

This time, it was a palm!

Almost simultaneously, Jian Chou felt the battle disc suddenly become uncontrollable!

Spinning madly!

The ancestral aperture between her brows blazed with light, constantly drawing out stardust-like radiance, feeding it into the battle disc, into her palm!

“Girl!”

Fudao Shanren had already sensed the loss of control and rushed forward in alarm to intervene.

But at this moment, it was completely out of control.

When she had used leg acupoints to execute this Dao Seal before, Jian Chou could control the amount of spiritual energy input in time, but now she discovered that when this Dao Seal was in her hand, it seemed like a massive whirlpool leading to a boundless black hole!

Her entire body felt a stabbing sensation!

This was because the spiritual energy stored in her flesh and blood was being drawn out bit by bit!

She could no longer answer Fudao Shanren’s questions, only feeling excruciating pain throughout her body, as if being cut by a thousand knives!

Fudao Shanren was greatly alarmed, stepping forward. The Wujian sword would certainly be useless now, so he quickly reached forward with his hand, and a massive eagle immediately appeared behind him.

In Lanyue Hall, there seemed to be a long cry!

The eagle spread its wings and struck with its claws!

Fudao Shanren formed his five fingers into claws, also reaching toward Jian Chou!

The massive phantom in front of Jian Chou’s palm had gradually solidified, thundering forward, finally breaking free from her palm!

At that moment, she felt the massive black hole, the massive whirlpool, finally stop rotating and stop absorbing external spiritual energy, moving away from her.

A tremendous fatigue and pain suddenly struck.

Jian Chou’s vision darkened, her throat tasted of blood, and a mouthful of fresh blood surged up.

Fudao Shanren’s claw strike came from behind but arrived first, just in time!

***

In front of Lanyue Hall, on the mountainside, was the Yashan cable bridge.

Three figures emerged from around the Yashan path, finally getting onto the cable bridge, quickly crossing the Yashan tributary of Nine-Head River, and stopping on the high platform on the other side.

“Put me down!”

Zhou Baozhu was being carried by another female cultivator from the Jianzhu Sect. The moment they left Yashan territory, she immediately ordered coldly.

The female cultivator quickly put Zhou Baozhu down, calling out: “Senior Sister Zhou.”

Jiang Ling stood beside this female cultivator, also wanting to speak: “Zhou—”

“Slap!”

Zhou Baozhu, who had just steadied herself and hadn’t had time to wipe the blood from her lips, raised her hand and slapped Jiang Ling!

The originally delicate young woman was caught off guard and stumbled from this slap!

She staggered several steps before stopping, looking up in surprise, completely confused.

“Zhou, Senior Sister Zhou?”

Raising her hand to touch her cheek, Jiang Ling was completely stunned.

For cultivators, physical harm really wasn’t much.

But there was a saying: don’t hit the face when hitting someone—cultivators were people too!

Though Zhou Baozhu hadn’t truly used blade or sword against Jiang Ling, this slap was ten, a hundred times more cutting than any blade!

Looking coldly at Jiang Ling’s pitiful appearance, Zhou Baozhu sneered directly: “What do you think you are? How dare you take advantage of my injury, take advantage of that Yashan bitch backing you up, to step on my head and dare disobey me?!”

“Senior Sister, I didn’t mean that…”

Jiang Ling tried to explain.

In that situation, no one would have thought Jian Chou harbored good intentions toward them.

If all three had perished at Yashan, that would have been truly disastrous.

“At that time, we had no choice but to bow to Yashan to escape. If they had gotten angry and decided to settle accounts with our Jianzhu Sect, what would we do? With Yashan’s strength, we simply couldn’t…”

“Shut up!”

Zhou Baozhu gritted her teeth, stepped forward, grabbed her pointed white chin, and smiled viciously.

“Yashan? You think Yashan is something? What do you know?!”

“Senior Sister Zhou…”

Jiang Ling looked at the scene before her, somewhat dazed.

She cast a pleading look toward the other female cultivator.

Unexpectedly, the other person stepped back, looking somewhat fearfully at Zhou Baozhu.

Zhou Baozhu was injured and had recovered some strength halfway. If Jiang Ling resisted now, Zhou Baozhu would be no match for her.

But she didn’t dare.

In the Jianzhu Sect, Zhou Baozhu’s status was second only to Xu Lan’er. Who knew what kind of life awaited her if she offended Zhou Baozhu?

Jiang Ling began to tremble, her voice carrying a sob: “At the Sword Drawing Platform, it was truly desperate circumstances, Senior Sister Zhou, I…”

“You?”

Zhou Baozhu laughed contemptuously, her sharp nails digging into flesh, leaving shallow bloody marks on Jiang Ling’s jaw, yet she watched with satisfaction, not knowing restraint.

“What are you in the sect? Bringing you this time was only because you seemed obedient enough, but I didn’t expect you’d dare act on your own! What do you think you are? Master’s confidants have always been Xu Senior Sister and me! Knowing nothing, yet daring to stand out and embarrass our Jianzhu Sect—you, Jiang Ling, have some ability.”

These words truly chilled Jiang Ling’s heart.

She didn’t know what she had done wrong.

“The matter of Senior Sister Nie’s injury was originally caused by Senior Sister Xu. Master protects her forcefully, which will surely anger Wuwang Studio. Now Senior Sister Nie is also on good terms with Senior Jian Chou—we can’t guarantee Yashan won’t go back to Wuwang Studio in the future. Senior Sister, why must you risk yourself for Senior Sister Xu? We were wrong to begin with!”

“Slap!”

Another merciless slap.

Zhou Baozhu’s face showed an almost vengeful satisfaction.

Seeing Jiang Ling becoming unsteady, she gradually became clearer.

“Today, you think this way only because Yashan is still the pinnacle of the Central Domain, with thousands of years of foundation, but if one day Yashan is gone, destroyed, fallen! Would you still think this way? The Nineteen Continents have always respected strength above all. If our Jianzhu Sect had Yashan’s current status and reputation, who would dare say we’re wrong?”

The light in her eyes was both mad and calm.

Zhou Baozhu looked down and saw that Jiang Ling had frozen.

At this point, she wasn’t in a hurry anymore.

Coughing gently, Zhou Baozhu stood on the high platform, her gaze crossing the long cable bridge to fall on the high Yashan.

The Thousand Tombs lay quietly on the broad riverbank, occasionally flooded at the edges by rising waters.

This trip wasn’t entirely without gain.

Yashan’s Jian Chou?

Heh.

Zhou Baozhu turned around without even glancing at Jiang Ling: “When we return, Master will deal with you properly. Let’s go!”

Jiang Ling stood in place, feeling cold all over.

She didn’t understand where Senior Sister Xu Lan’er got the courage to provoke Nie Xiaowan, who was with Yashan cultivators, nor did she know why Master specifically sent the sharp and vicious Zhou Baozhu to apologize to Yashan, and even…

She still didn’t understand where Zhou Baozhu’s confidence came from.

The other female cultivator looked at Jiang Ling with some sympathy but finally hurried to follow Zhou Baozhu’s steps.

On the vast land of the Nineteen Continents, green mountains stretched endlessly, and white clouds drifted.

Below the high platform flowed the ancient Nine-Head River.

On the long cable bridge, a figure gradually appeared after the three from Jianzhu Sect left.

Dressed in deep gray robes, one hand behind his back, one hand in front, the long wind blew but couldn’t disturb his thoughts.

Qu Zhengfeng had been standing here for some time.

Entrusted by Jian Chou, worried that Jianzhu Sect disciple Jiang Ling might face trouble after leaving Yashan, he followed to observe the situation.

He hadn’t expected to witness such a scene and hear so many strange words.

From Zhou Baozhu’s behavior, Jiang Ling’s safety seemed temporarily secure.

But once they returned to the Jianzhu Sect, it would be hard to predict.

That was beyond Qu Zhengfeng’s ability to interfere.

He pondered for a moment, with some confusion in his eyes, standing silently for a long time before withdrawing his gaze from the distance.

At this moment, he stood in the middle of the Yashan cable bridge, with the great river flowing beneath his feet day and night.

Broken light like gold scattered on the rippling river surface.

Qu Zhengfeng looked back to see the thousand tombs on the riverbank across, withered grass still stretching in patches. He slowly walked across the cable bridge, his steps seeming to carry a strange heaviness.

Just as he was about to reach the end of the bridge, Qu Zhengfeng’s steps suddenly stopped.

Looking up, he saw Shen Jiu in white robes standing before the Yashan path.

“Why are you here?”

Qu Zhengfeng asked.

Shen Jiu looked casual and carefree, smiling as he stepped forward three paces: “Nothing much, just found something interesting in my room, thought about it, and decided to come have a heart-to-heart with Second Senior Brother.”

Qu Zhengfeng said nothing.

Shen Jiu directly extended his hand, waving what he held.

A white jade bowl, lustrous and translucent, gleaming with fine radiance in the sunlight.

“Tsk tsk tsk, truly unexpected. I, Shen Jiu, pride myself on being clever all my life, yet nearly got played by Second Senior Brother. Impressive, impressive. I almost went to ask Senior Sister Jian Chou for the Heavenly Fire Lamp, not realizing it never left my room.”

Qu Zhengfeng finally smiled.

“Finally discovered it?”

“Seems a bit late.”

Shen Jiu looked disdainfully at the small bowl in his hand and stuffed it into his sleeve, where it disappeared. He stepped forward, put his arm around Qu Zhengfeng’s shoulder, patted it, and smiled cunningly: “But you know, Second Senior Brother, you’re just not honest! If you want to fight me, just say so! I know you’ve never been part of our sword-drawing faction, but… occasionally breaking principles and drawing swords can be quite fun, right? Why go in such a big circle to make me challenge you to a sword fight?”

“…”

Qu Zhengfeng didn’t speak for a moment, only reaching out to throw off Shen Jiu’s hand from his shoulder.

His brows were long and his eyes narrow, his demeanor elegant.

“I didn’t deliberately provoke you to draw swords, I just detest you.”

Shen Jiu froze, looking at his pushed-away hand, slowly raising his head to look at Qu Zhengfeng.

Qu Zhengfeng’s face was bland, his words impossible to tell whether true or false.

“Second Senior Brother, you…”

Shen Jiu wanted to say something.

Qu Zhengfeng lowered his eyelids and walked directly forward, completely ignoring Shen Jiu.

At this moment, Shen Jiu finally became angry.

He stood in place, suddenly turning to look at Qu Zhengfeng’s retreating figure.

“Stop right there!”

Qu Zhengfeng paused for a moment but didn’t stop, continuing forward.

Shen Jiu gritted his teeth, feeling some wicked fire rising.

This Second Senior Brother, originally their Senior Brother, had always been mysterious, with everyone saying he was sneaky at heart.

But Shen Jiu felt he was thorough in his work, meticulous in thought, often able to think of things others couldn’t even imagine, and was one of the rare steady people among the senior brothers.

At the same time, Qu Zhengfeng was also Fudao Shanren’s earliest disciple.

Shen Jiu had only been Fudao Shanren’s disciple for over three hundred and fifty years, three hundred of which were when Fudao Shanren was absent.

But according to Third Senior Brother Kou Qianzhi, Qu Zhengfeng had been Fudao Shanren’s disciple for over six hundred and eighty years.

He wasn’t the most talented among the senior brothers, but he had the highest cultivation now, almost matching Fudao Shanren.

Shen Jiu only felt that though he was thorough, he usually kept jokes light and wasn’t like the others. But he never expected…

His goodwill had earned him such a vicious word as “detest” from Qu Zhengfeng!

Qu Zhengfeng had been stuck at the Great Circle of Nascent Soul for quite some time.

Going from Nascent Soul to Soul Separation wasn’t such a simple matter. Shen Jiu had only thought he needed combat to find a breakthrough feeling.

It seemed…

He had thought wrong.

Watching Qu Zhengfeng’s figure recede further, Shen Jiu’s emotions became more turbulent.

Unable to bear it any longer, he finally shouted: “Fine if you detest me, but I’ll ask you one thing—do you dislike Senior Sister too?!”

After shouting, Shen Jiu himself was stunned.

Qu Zhengfeng, who had been walking normally ahead, finally stopped.

He slowly turned around, glanced at Shen Jiu standing in place, a faint smile on his lips, his voice cool: “Think whatever you want to think.”

With that, he paid no more attention, a dark blue light rising beneath his feet as he flew away on his sword.

Why had he suddenly asked such a question?

Shen Jiu suddenly wanted to slap himself.

But strangely…

After asking, he vaguely felt he hadn’t been wrong to ask.

This contradictory feeling made him extremely conflicted, almost wanting to go mad.

Boom—

Shen Jiu sensed something, suddenly raising his head to look up at the high Lanyue Hall!

Terrifying aura surged from the front mountain’s Lanyue Hall. Shen Jiu felt as if he heard the shrill cry of an eagle spreading its wings!

A palm phantom slowly pushed forward.

A claw print immediately followed, but I couldn’t intercept it in time. Though powerful, it couldn’t completely block that palm phantom!

The glazed flying eaves of Lanyue Hall were smashed by this phantom, tiles falling down.

The phantom continued forward, parting countless clouds, disappearing who knows how far away.

This scene was so familiar!

Shen Jiu felt all his hair stand on end, almost immediately thinking of Jian Chou.

And that eagle claw phantom!

If he remembered correctly, that was from Fudao Shanren’s “Mountain Eagle Spreading Wings” technique.

Had something happened?

Standing in place, Shen Jiu hesitated only briefly before immediately rising into the air, transforming into a streak of light flying toward Lanyue Hall!

This time, he entered through the front door of Lanyue Hall, landing on the platform before the hall and looking inside.

The floor was completely clean, only the air seemed to carry a faint scent of blood.

Bronze bird lamps stood tall, fires burning brightly in bronze braziers.

It was still the usual Lanyue Hall, seeming no different.

Only…

Shen Jiu remembered very clearly that the strike just now was not his imagination. Senior Sister Jian Chou and Fudao Shanren had been in this Lanyue Hall.

He remembered Senior Sister Jian Chou had been called in by Fudao Shanren and the Sect Master, apparently to discuss something.

Logically, there should be three people in the hall now.

But now the people were gone.

Shen Jiu slowly walked in, making a circle around the great hall.

Finally, his gaze fell on the smooth floor beneath his feet.

“Could it be they went there?”