“Ding! You have received the devout worship of 35 people and are rewarded with 350 merit points.”
Lu Zhou nodded slightly and murmured under his breath, “They are not unteachable after all…”
…
Instead of seeking carnal pleasure, Mingshi Yin continued flying west for half a day and landed in a wooded area outside the capital city of the Yi Province.
“This should be Tiger Ridge.” He took out a map and carefully studied it before putting it away.
It was a beautiful place, magnificent and quiet, but thick with mist that hid dangerous things behind it. It seemed as if a scary beast might jump out of any corner. But, it was not something that Divine Court experts would be afraid of, because no ordinary beasts could be their match at this level.
“Old Eighth, your senior brother is here to visit you…”
As he said that, he drifted into the woods, moving like a ghost as each of his steps took him a hundred feet away.
Inside the Tiger Ridge…
The chief of the gang, Zhu Honggong, was sleeping soundly.
“Chief, a cultivator is asking to see you out there.”
“Make him go away. He’s disturbing my sleep!”
“But, the man said…said…”
“If he says anything again, castrate him and feed him to the beasts behind our base!”
“…”
At that moment, a burst of hearty laughter came in from outside. The voice shook the whole base as it echoed through the air, which could only be achieved by a very strong cultivation base.
Zhu Honggong’s eyes grew wide and his lips trembled. ‘Is Master here to kill me? Oh, heaven…’
At the thought of that, strength left his legs and he slipped off his throne.
Over the past few days, he had not been sleeping well; he was on tenterhooks all day long. Just now, he finally managed to get good sleep, but this happened.
“Haha! Old Eighth, why are you so afraid?” Mingshi Yin drifted over from outside. Although some of these bandits in the Tiger Ridge were cultivators, it was impossible for them to stop a mighty cultivator like him.
“Senior Brother!” Zhu Honggong patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. “You scared me! I thought Master was here to kill me!”
“Oh, you still have the cheek to call me Senior Brother?” Mingshi Yin said.
Zhu Honggong snorted and said, “Why are you here, Senior Brother? Have you decided to join me? I’ve told you that Golden Court Mountain is not the place for us. As long as you join me, I’ll make you the deputy chief of my gang!”
“Don’t give me that!”
“Why?”
“You want me to join you and stay in this shabby place? No way!” Mingshi Yin swaggered over. Several members of the gang wanted to stop him, but he glared at them, scaring them and making them hurriedly step back.
Soon, he walked beside Zhu Honggong and snapped, “Get up!”
“Hehe! Please have a seat, Senior Brother!”
“I’m here on a task to find out…”
“Task? What task?” Zhu Honggong was in a panic.
“Are you behind the kidnapping of the members of Anyang’s Ci Family?” Mingshi Yin sat in the chair and looked askance at Zhu Honggong.
“What! No, it has nothing to do with me!”
“Really?”
“I swear it has nothing to do with me! The Ci Family is Little Junior Sister’s family. No matter how evil I am, I will never touch her family!” Zhu Honggong held up three fingers.
“I’ve killed the whole gang of mounted brigands. They were backed by a cultivator of the Sense Condensing realm, who mentioned about your Tiger Ridge Gang just before he died. Do you think I simply accused you for the fun of it?”
That made Zhu Honggong furrow his brows. “Over the years after I founded the Tiger Ridge Gang, I have offended many orthodox cultivators in order to gain a foothold. I suspect someone has framed me.”
“That’s not my business! You have to come back with me to see Master!”
At the mention of their master, Zhu Honggong’s fat face trembled instantly and he fell back on his buttock. With a crying face, he grabbed Mingshi Yin’s arm and said, “Please don’t do this to me, Fourth Senior Brother! Isn’t Master wounded? You can just turn a blind eye…Why should you be so serious? In any case, you will leave Golden Court Mountain sooner or later.”
“Shut up!” Mingshi Yin glared at him and snapped, “How dare a traitor like you say something so treacherous in my face! Get down on your knees!”
Plop!
Zhu Honggong dropped to his knees obediently.
…
“Ding! You are rewarded with 200 merit points from taming Zhu Honggong. Please continue taming…”
Lu Zhou raised his head slightly and looked to the west as he stroked his beard and said, “This Old Fourth is interesting!”
…
“Fourth Senior Brother, I was wrong!” Zhu Honggong hurriedly bowed and dared not to say much.
“A while ago, Master defeated the top ten Nascent Divinity Tribulation experts of the cultivation world. I believe you have heard about it…How dare you show no respect for him!” There was a hidden message in his words: in addition to warning Zhu Honggong, he also told him that their master’s cultivation base had improved instead of receding, and that their days were coming to an end.
Zhu Honggong took out a letter and handed it to Mingshi Yin as he said, “Fourth Senior Brother, this is a letter from Seventh Senior Brother. I believe what he said should give you some hints.”
Mingshi Yin took the letter suspiciously and read it. When he was halfway through, his brows frowned slightly.
Zhu Honggong continued, “Seventh Senior Brother said that Master’s cultivation level is at the perfected stage of the Nascent Divinity realm, and that Master had tried to break through to the higher realm several times two hundred years ago but failed. Also, when Master was ambushed by the top ten experts, someone witnessed him getting wounded by them. So, how did Master recover his cultivation base?”
“Does Old Seventh mean that Master used some kind of secret drug?” Mingshi Yin frowned.
“Exactly!”
Zhu Honggong stood up slowly as he cleared his throat and said, “Fourth Senior Brother, both you and I know Eldest Senior Brother’s cultivation base very well. He is not weaker than Master. But, why did he still dare not do anything to Master after so many years?”
Mingshi Yin threw away the letter and said, “Nobody knows how many trump cards Master has up his sleeves!”
“So what? No matter how many trump cards he has, his life will come to an end one day! He will die sooner or later,” said Zhu Honggong.
“Hey, Old Eighth, what you just said is not in Old Seventh’s letter. Who told you that? Could your pig brain have figured that out?” Mingshi Yin looked at Zhu Honggong with surprise.
“Fourth Senior Brother, it’s wrong of you to insult me like that. I do have a brain.”
“Oh, forget it! Saying that you have a pig’s brain is insulting for pigs…” Mingshi Yin said snappishly. “Who told you that? Is it Sixth Junior Sister or Second Senior Brother?”
“I really figured it out myself!” Zhu Honggong said with an innocent look.
“Alright, forget it if you don’t want to tell me! Look how scared you are.” While smiling, Mingshi Yin walked down the steps and said, “I have thought about the same thing mentioned in the letter. However, I’m different from you…I still respect Master very much.”
Zhu Honggong, “???”
“Recently, Master has been cultivating in seclusion on the mountain, so he probably won’t leave the mountain. You just stay in Tiger Ridge and don’t cause trouble everywhere. Fortunately, Master didn’t order me to kill you!”
Overjoyed, Zhu Honggong bowed and said, “Thank you, Fourth Senior Brother!”
“Also, find out about those mounted brigands, so that I can answer to Master.”
“Senior Brother has a point. I will definitely look into this matter.”
Mingshi Yin walked away, leaving numerous afterimages behind as each of his steps took him a hundred feet away. In just the blink of an eye, he disappeared and was nowhere to be found.
“Farewell, Senior Brother!”