Chapter 542: This Cabbage Is Contracted by Me
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
The problem of Liu Li was really difficult to solve.
Because of some reasons which were inconvenient to point out directly due to courtesy, it was a fantasy to expect this child to keep the secret. Although Wang Lu had been teaching her for years, right now, there was only one way to get Liu Li to keep the secret.
Kill a person to prevent them from divulging the secret!
Of course, this move was completely unfeasible. No matter how distressed and mad Wang Lu was, it was impossible for Wang Lu to make his move against little Liu Li. However, he also couldn't leave her alone. Otherwise, it would not be long before the entire Spirit Sword Sect knew that he was back.
And he was not ready to go back to the sect.
The problem seemed to be at a standstill. However, if the problem couldn't be solved forward, solving it in reverse would also be the same thing. Since Liu Li couldn't keep a secret, it was better to turn Liu Li into a part of the secret. In short, don't let Liu Li go back to the sect!
However, before doing that, the question of why would Liu Li run toward Mt. Mang City needed to be figured out first.
"Master told me to come."
"Uncle Zhou Ming? Why would he send you here?"
Liu Li took out a piece of paper and read the content word by word, "Slay the evil, exterminate the demon, help rectify the justice, contribute to the development of the just cause of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals."
"... How did he tell it to you in private?"
Liu Li said with a smile, "He told me to chase a cultivator from blood refining sect and then take his token of oath back to Plentiful City to receive a reward as my experiential learning."
"Oh, bounty hunter?" Wang Lu suddenly got it. This was the bounty hunting order issued by the Management Committee of Plentiful City.
Since the rise of Plentiful City, the Southern Heaven Region could be said to have become the gathering place for those who looked for opportunities, where dragons and snakes mingled 1 with each other. No need to say about super sects like Shengjing, Spirit Sword, and the others, even some cultivators from lower rank sect had also come to the Southern Heaven Region in search of 'gold'. However, more people meant more trouble, and many evil cultivators took the opportunity to fish in troubled water and make waves. The young cultivator from the blood refining sect was one of them.
Nowadays, although cultivators from the righteous path were dominant in Nine Regions, the number of evil cultivators was quite large. Although the high-level power of the Management Committee of Plentiful City was strong, it was impossible for them to cover everything. Therefore, in regard to those evil cultivators that wandered around Plentiful City, the usual method was to issue a bounty hunting order. In any case, although the human resources in Plentiful City were tight, money was never lacking.
When the bounty hunting order began to come out, immediately, many energetic organization rapidly grew like mushrooms, causing severe blows to the evil sects, but also added a lot of trouble… However, for the elite disciples from big sects, this was a very good opportunity for experiential learning.
Those that managed to appear on the bounty hunting list by the City Management Committee were all the elites of the evil sects. Their means were endless, and their life-saving ability was particularly strong. To deal with these people, it was appropriate to send cultivators from the right path. Liu Li was among the top three strongest disciples of Spirit Sword Sect, so naturally, such experiential learning was indispensable.
"Is there any requirement from Uncle for when you have to return the latest?"
Liu Li shook her head. "No, Master only told me to be careful, not to eat food given by strangers, not to drink water given by strangers, not to read any unknown or strange cultivation method, and also not to spend money recklessly…"
Listening to this, Wang Lu inwardly sighed: Oh Uncle, it is indeed a headache to supervise this kind of disciple.
"Then… During my absence, what is the situation on the mountain?"
Liu Li smiled happily and said, "It's very good, Carefree Peak has invited a new chef and launched a lot of new dishes!"
"... I mean, did the Elders have nothing to say about me? I haven't been back to the mountain for a long time, they…"
Liu Li said, "Oh, at first Sect Leader Uncle was very worried. He even held a meeting to discuss whether they should arrange a huge starry sky array and use the great stellar divination to search for you. Afterward, Fifth Aunt suggested that if we have this budget, it'd better be used to build a luxurious office building at Non-Phase Peak, saying that you must have been disgusted with the bareness of Non-Phase Peak and thus ran away. So as long as the home is decorated magnificently, plus adding beautiful women in the room, you would certainly be attracted to return home…"
"And then?"
"And then they seemed to be arguing, and the matter was over."
Wang Lu nodded. "She is indeed my good Master. If anything really happens to me, I can count on her to come and kill me."
Speaking to this, Wang Lu recalled the young introverted girl in the dreamland, and he could not help but sigh with emotion. Time was really a brutal and unfeeling refinement, the current comrade Wang Wu had been completely unrecognizable...
"Besides this, is there any other change in the sect?"
Liu Li pondered about it and then said, "Everyone really misses you."
Wang Lu was curious. "Everyone?"
According to his understanding, his relationship with the others in the sect was not bad, but it was not good either, because he had never spent too much time on the interpersonal relation. Except for a number of people that he had to come in contact with daily, the majority of the sect members would only exchange a nod with him upon meeting. Right now, after several months of not seeing each other, how could everyone suddenly miss him?
"Yes, they just held a rally last month and went to Non-Phase Peak to lay a wreath for you."
"... Lay a wreath?"
Liu Li nodded. "Yeah, there were also a lot of magical tools, magical treasures, spirit stones, which were said to be used to express their grief. The more expensive the gift means the more sincere the grief. I also went there that day and brought you a bag of flying red clouds candy."
"... That is indeed enough spirit of loyalty." Knowing that the flying red clouds candy was Liu Li's current most favorite food, Wang Lu stroked Liu Li's head until she let out a pleasant purring sound, and then asked, "Was this my Master's idea?"
"Yes, it was proposed by Fifth Aunt, saying that you are after all the sect's lead disciple, so everyone should express their condolences… Although I didn't understand what it meant, after she proposed this, the atmosphere in the entire mountain turned heavy for several days."
Wang Lu sneered, "Wang Wu, you must not let me go back and catch you."
However, on the other hand, since Wang Wu that shameful thing had the leisure time to do this kind of mischief, she probably really believed that he would not have any mishap. Thinking in this way, then the trust between Master and disciple was really moving.
"Very well, in short, basically nothing big happened in the sect, so that's good. Then…" Wang Lu stroked the head of Liu Li once again, "How about playing with me for a couple of days?"
"Yes, of course!" Liu Li danced with joy and then summoned out her flying sword. "How are we going to play?"
Previously, when they were in the mountain, the most common way of entertainment between the two was fighting with their sword. Back then, until Wang Lu reached Jindan Stage, the cultivation base and stage of Liu Li and him were almost on par, the gap between their comprehensive strength was very little, and it could even be said that they were evenly matched. Every time they exchanged sword, each of them benefited from it greatly.
Right now, although Wang Lu had reached Jindan first due to a rare encounter, and his strength was already one step ahead, the sword strike that Liu Li just demonstrated showed that her cultivation base had also advanced by leaps and bounds, meaning that he hadn't thrown her off behind very far, still on the same level as him.
Wang Lu was inwardly moved. Exchanging swords with Liu Li while he was lying low was indeed a good idea. Right now, regardless of shrinking the golden core or fusing the two methods, actual combat experience would be an excellent catalyst, especially the Brilliant Sword Heart of Liu Li whose sword intent was even purer than that of him.
However, when Wang Lu was about to nod, suddenly, the golden core in his jade mansion trembled, seemingly reacting to something. After a while, a bright lightning flashed across the sky. He saw a long-haired, elegant sword cultivator floating down to the ground. When he landed, he immediately cupped his hand across his chest.
"Greetings, fellow daoist. I am Chi Xuanying, disciple of Reaching Firmament Temple of Red Magnificent Mountain."
Wang Lu glanced at him, but was not in a hurry to return the courtesy. Instead, his vision seemed to show a bit of ridicule.
Reaching Firmament Temple of Red Magnificent Mountain was a famous top rank sect in Nine Regions, one of the strongest force after the Five Uniques. Its headquarter was in Southern Heaven Region, but they also had branches in all the other regions. Their influence within the entire Nine Regions was even above that of Spirit Sword Sect. Chi Xuanying was the current generation lead disciple of Reaching Firmament Temple. In his fifty years of immortal cultivation, he had reached peak Jindan Stage, which could be considered as valiant. In his sect, he had gained quite a considerable power, and had obtained a bit of fame in Southern Heaven Region. Thus, many people no longer regarded him as a disciple, but rather as an area bully. One year ago when he met with the lead disciple of Shengjing Sect, Qiong Hua, he was neither servile nor overbearing. After that meeting, Chi Xuanying's reputation became even more prominent, so much that even Wang Lu had heard of his name.
However, these were not the main points. Let alone a mere lead disciple of Reaching Firmament Temple, even if Qiong Hua herself was here, Wang Lu would not bother to look at her twice. It was the true intention of Chi Xuanying that made Wang Lu felt somewhat ridiculous.
Because he felt ridiculous, he sneered at him unceremoniously. This sneer made Chi Xuanying somewhat puzzled and even more annoyed. In his view, all his action was fully in accordance with the etiquette, but the lead disciple of Spirit Sword Sect was unexpectedly coarse and rude.
"Fellow daoist, you…"
Wang Lu interrupted him unceremoniously, "Stop pretending. What you want, you think I won't be able to see it? This Mt. Mang is known as the Blind Mountain, so for many years, no cultivators had ever ventured here. Zheng Liming was here to escape, while I am at home wherever I am at, and Little Liu Li is here because of Zheng Liming. But you, what are you doing here?"
"Chi Xuanying frowned and said, "I…"
Before he could say anything, he was already interrupted, "You are the lead disciple of Reaching Firmament Temple, so you're not here for a hike. Zheng Liming is just Peak Xudan Stage +6, far from having the qualification for you, who is a peak Jindan Stage +8, to deal with him personally… Therefore, don't tell me you're here for me."
Upon hearing this, Chi Xuanying finally understood the meaning of Wang Lu. Thinking about the consistent image of this lead disciple of Spirit Sword Sect, which was really unreasonable, he could only sigh.
"Yes, I came here for Junior Sister Liu Li."
Wang Lu nodded. "You can go now then."
"..." Chi Xuanying stared at Wang Lu in disbelief, but found that the opposite party's eyes were extremely calm, seemingly very serious.
Holding back his anger, Chi Xuanying said, "Maybe there's a misunderstanding here, I'm just…"
Wang Lu sneered. "You are just doing things with the excuse of performing the responsibility as the local host, as well as willing to lead the way and fight the enemies for Junior Sister, but with a true intention as a loli-follower pervert, that's all. My Liu Li has only been cultivating for twenty years, and in our immortal cultivation world, she could be regarded as only in her teenage years, still a pure loli. But you have already been cultivating for fifty years, already an uncle, so you should not get any ideas."
These words were tantamount to shedding all the pretense, but Chi Xuanying still maintained his self-control and said, "I…"
As a result, before he could continue, he was immediately interrupted. He saw Wang Lu stretch out his hand and put it on Liu Li's head.
"Just go back, lead disciple of Reaching Firmament Temple, this cabbage has already been long contracted by me. 2 "
…