My disciples are all villains.

Lu Zhou used every Heavenly Writing's power to preserve Conch's Extraordinary Eight Meridians. However, they were merely preserved. He could not help her undergo Body Tempering or cultivate. Having used his power over and over again, he knew this very well. However, Conch had easily and naturally entered the Mystic Enlightening realm.

Lu Zhou stroked his beard as he thought about this. He really could not make sense of it. What happened?

Mingshi Yin remained kneeling on the ground, too afraid to speak.

Little Yuan'er, on the other hand, stopped crying. She was now looking at Conch.

Lu Zhou could not seem to find the answer to his question despite his thousand years of experience and knowledge. He stood up and mumbled, "Incredible."

Mingshi Yin looked up at his master in confusion as he asked, "Master, how's she doing?" He furtively looked at Conch who was lying on the bed. He could sense that Conch was still breathing and smoothly at that. She did not seem to be in any danger.

When Mingshi Yin saw his master frowning and lost in thought, he stood up of his own accord, walked up to the bed, and placed two fingers on Conch's wrist. His eyes widened. He could not believe it and examined her pulse again. "Good heavens!" The results were the same. He stuttered, "M-mystic Enlightening?"

He leaped backward and said in an alarmed tone, "Master, is she a spy sent by the other sects? Did she intentionally hide her cultivation base and strength?"

Without waiting for a response from Lu Zhou, Mingshi Yin shook his head and refuted his own guess. "No, it makes no sense to send a Mystic Enlightening cultivator."

Little Yuan'er was shocked and puzzled. "Fourth Senior Brother, is Conch dead?"

"She's not dead, she's doing fine… She's now in the Mystic Enlightening realm," Mingshi Yin replied.

"Mystic Enlightening realm?"

"Entering the Mystic Enlightening realm directly without undergoing Body Tempering…"

"…"

There was no doubt Conch had entered the Mystic Enlightening realm, but Lu Zhou could not figure out how for now. This was truly strange. If she were from the modern world, it could be considered as her skipping a grade. In fact, she was even more terrifying than those grade skippers in the modern world. A grade skipper merely learned faster compared to other students. Essentially, they still have a foundation. However, Conch had no foundation whatsoever, but she directly skipped the Body Tempering process and directly entered the Mystic Enlightening realm. Even the outstandingly talented Little Yuan'er was not capable of this.

Lu Zhou was still lost in his thoughts when the four elders appeared in the courtyard. "Greetings, Pavilion Master."

Lu Zhou stopped thinking. He calmly said, "Come in, all of you."

The four elders entered the room. They glanced around and could roughly guess what happened. At the same time, they looked at Conch who was lying on the bed.

"What happened?" Zuo Yushu asked, puzzled.

"Allow me, allow me…" Mingshi Yin raised a hand. He seemed enthusiastic about recounting something so sensational. He stood before the four elders, cleared his throat, and said, "Genius… A super genius! A peerless genius… She directly entered the Mystic Enlightening realm… Don't look at me as if I'm some lunatic."

"…"

What was he talking about? They could not understand Mingshi Yin's words. Only when Mingshi calmed down and properly recounted what happened did they understand. All of them clicked their tongues in wonder and amazement. There had never been a cultivator who entered the Mystic Enlightening realm without undergoing Body Tempering.

The four elders took turns walking to the bed to examine Conch's Extraordinary Eight Meridians.

Even the knowledgeable four elders were baffled by this strange occurrence. They could not understand it.

The four of them frowned, lost in their own thoughts.

Lu Zhou stroked his beard and looked at the four elders. "Elder Pan, any ideas?"

"Uh…" Pan Litian's wizened face twitched. He said with a smile, "I'm sure Elder Leng knows. I won't embarrass myself."

Leng Luo said in a hushed tone to Hua Wudao, "Elder Hua… you answer this."

"Me? I think it's better to leave this to Senior Zuo…" Hua Wudao hastily stepped backward.

Zuo Yushu frowned. 'These three old men are bullying a woman. How could they do this? This shameless lot!'

However, Zuo Yushu did know something about this. Hence, she said, "I don't think that she has never undergone Body Tempering."

When the others heard this, they looked at Zuo Yushu.

"What makes you say that?" Lu Zhou asked as he stroked his beard.

Zuo Yushu looked to the side before speaking with the air of a female tutor, "You've preserved her meridian vessels with some unconventional method, Pavilion Master. With the addition of the powers from the four of us, it's not impossible for her to complete Body Tempering in a short amount of time under those conditions."

"But her bodily functions aren't strong. She's no different from a mortal," Mingshi Yin said, still perplexed.

"The pavilion master's power and our powers complemented each other. When we activated her dantian's sea of Qi, our powers canceled each other out, which led to this outcome," Zuo Yushu cupped her fists at Lu Zhou and said, "Of course, these are only my speculation."

"It's no small feat to enter the Mystic Enlightening realm under such conditions."

Pan Litian said, "In that case, this young girl might be a rare cultivation genius who only shows up once every thousand years."

"Indeed…" Zuo Yushu said.

Mingshi Yin rolled his eyes at them, speechless. After going on for so long, they had reached the same conclusions he did.

At this moment, Hua Wudao stepped forward and said with a bow, "Pavilion Master… I'm willing to take her on as a disciple. I'll do everything I can to teach her everything I know. Please agree to my request, Pavilion Master!"

Leng Luo said, "You're going to teach a young lady to fight with your tortoiseshell technique? I think this young lady is suitable for the Dao Invisibility technique. I guarantee that she'll become the next Eight-leaf Dao Invisibility elite."

Pan Litian said in a disapproving tone, "I don't think that there's much difference between the Dao Invisibility technique and the tortoiseshell technique… With her talent, she should be learning about energy seals with me. Becoming an Eight-leaf cultivator is nothing. I hope that she'll become a Nine-leaf cultivator!"

Zuo Yushu joined the Evil Sky Pavilion late. However, when she saw a young talent such as Conch, she felt an urge to teach her as well. She was a female as well, and she resented the Confucian Societies' patrilineal inheritance. She felt that it was a waste for her to bring all that she learned to the grave. "I… I…"

Before Zuo Yushu could finish her sentence, Lu Zhou raised a hand and calmly, "That's enough."

The room fell silent.

Nothing was for certain yet, and they were already fighting over a potential disciple. When Lu Zhou looked at the elders, none of them dared to speak. "I have my arrangements for her… Let's call it a day."

The four of them bowed and left the southern pavilion.

Outside the southern pavilion, the four of them sighed and shook their heads.

"What a shame that a genius such as her can't become my disciple…" Pan Litian sighed.

"Let's not think about it anymore. With the pavilion master around, we won't get the chance…"

The others were taken aback. That made sense. How could they have forgotten this?

…

Inside the room.

Lu Zhou looked at the unharmed Conch. Indeed, he thought about accepting her as his disciple, but accepting another disciple would not benefit him further. In fact, it would only distract him.

According to Ji Tiandao's sequence of recruiting his disciples, the nine disciples were somehow related to the poem. In that case… if the tenth disciple's name was Conch, did that not mean that everything would deviate from the original plan?

"Look after her," Lu Zhou ordered.

"Yes, master."

Lu Zhou decided to focus on unraveling the mysteries behind Conch for now. Why couldn't the Eye of Truth see through her? How did she directly enter the Mystic Enlightening realm? Where did she come from? Where would she go?

…

Two days later.

The battle of Jing Province began.

With the support of the Penglai Sect, the Nether Sect launched an all-out attack against the city under Yu Zhenghai's leadership.

Huang Shijie and Yu Zhenghai, two Eight-leaf elites, attacked Jing Province City with Hua Chongyang and the other Nether Sect elites.

Jing Province was in turmoil.

In less than three days, Jing Province's garrison was pushed back.

The Nether Sect rode on the momentum and occupied the General's Mansion.

...

Inside the General's Mansion.

Yu Zhenghai was in a more positive mood than he was before. He said to Huang Shijie who was next to him, "Thanks to you, Brother Shijie, that we're able to defeat Wen Shu."

Huang Shijie waved his hand and said, "It's nothing. Your Great Dark Heaven Memorial, Sect Master Yu, has truly widened my horizons. The way you shook the lands with a swing of your saber is amazing."

Everyone said that Yu Zhenghai's cultivation base was profound. However, few had witnessed him in action.

After the battle at Jing Province, Huang Shijie had to admit that even though he was also an Eight-leaf cultivator, it would be difficult for him to defeat Yu Zhenghai.

"If you have any requests, Brother Shijie, please feel free to speak. I will do my best to fulfill them," Yu Zhenghai said.

Huang Shijie initially had many requests, but when he thought about Ji Tiandao's Nine-leaf Golden Lotus, he said, "There's no need to thank me. We're just friends helping each other out..." As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Brother Shijie!" Yu Zhenghai cried out.

"I'm fine… That old brigand Wen Shu couldn't beat me directly and resort to a sneak attack… How despicable!"

At this moment, Hua Chongyang hurried into the mansion. He cupped his fists at the two of them and said, "Report, sect master. We've searched every corner of the Formation. The old brigand Wen Shu has gotten away!"

When he heard this, Yu Zhenghai said in a deep voice, "Find him even if it means turning the city inside out!"

"Yes, sect master!" Hua Chongyang bowed.

…

Meanwhile, in a channel north of Jing Province, five battered armored men were running.

"General Wen, this way… If we follow this channel that runs between the huge trees, we'll reach Measure Heaven River that's 50 miles away. I've prepared a boat there."

An old man was sandwiched between them. His armor was damaged, and his face was wounded. This was one of the eight great commanders who guarded Jing Province City and the Confucian Society elite, General Wen Shu.

Wen Shu glanced at Jing Province City. Then, he shook his head and said, "I won't rest until I get my revenge."

The moment he said this, a calm and gentle voice rang from above a tree. "My apologies."