My disciples are all villains.

Although the Qingyun Sword Sect was a Daoist cultivation sect, the Confucian school and Daoist Societies had always had a good understanding of each other.

The Abandon Wisdom Ma Qing knew was completely different from the Abandon Wisdom Lu Zhou had cast. He had never seen anyone launch a palm seal with just a single hand.

Whether it was from below, above, or launched with a single hand, they made no difference for Lu Zhou. He was only hitting a fly. It would die no matter how he hit it. Only those who were not strong enough would think about smashing the fly against the wall or against the ground.

After the palm seal landed, the target was reduced to ashes that scattered in the wind.

There was no longer any trace of an Other Tribesman there.

"Ding! Killed a target. Reward: 3,000 merit points." (Note: The target of Fated Bond was included.)

The palm seal did not fade away. Instead, it continued moving forward, flying down.

Boom!

Dozens of trees fell with a crash.

When the clouds of dust settled, a clear palm print could be seen on the ground.

The others did not even dare to breathe loudly. Many of them gulped in fear as they looked at the palm print and wondered just how powerful Old Villain Ji was. They did not expect the legendary Old Villain Ji to be so vicious. As expected, none of the members of the Evil Sky Pavilion were nice people. It was no wonder that practically nobody survived when the seven great sects laid siege on the Evil Sky Pavilion. They were indeed merciless! However, it had to be said they felt satisfied as well. After all, compared to the Evil Sky Pavilion, the members of the Qingyun Sword Sect loathed the Other Tribesmen more. Although Old Villain Ji's attack was an overkill, it was still satisfying to watch the Other Tribesman being killed.

Lu Zhou retracted his palm. He did not earn much from this battle. He basically depleted his extraordinary power to kill Lanni.

With the palm strike and the intimidating effect of a Nine-leaf cultivator, the sword cultivators of the Qingyun Sword Sect showed their allegiance to him. For some reason, Old Villain Ji was not hostile toward them, but they could not help but feel that the atmosphere was peculiar. This made them nervous, and some of them even began to tremble.

After a moment's silence, a gust of wind blew this suppressive atmosphere away.

Ma Qing cupped his fists and said, "Your Abandon Wisdom has truly widened our horizons, Old Senior Ji!"

"You've widened our horizons!" The other disciples did not know how they should express what they felt so they echoed Ma Qing's words.

Lu Zhou looked at them calmly as he stroked his beard and said, "I'm not an unreasonable person. You've played a part in eliminating the Other Tribesmen. I'll grant you that beast, Tiangou."

A living Tiangou could be of some help. A dead one… was useless. A vicious beast that roamed the great forests would have tough and dry flesh that was not even palatable. It might even be poisonous. So, it could not even be served as food.

Lu Zhou knew they were ignorant so he said, "Tiangou was a vicious beast of the land. The radiance it leaves in its wake is like a meteor in the skies that extends for several hundred feet. It moves like the wind, cries like a clap of thunder, and shines like a bolt of lightning… Its hide can be used as powerful armor, and its bones are earth-grade. Many dream to get their hands on this beast."

When Ma Qing heard this, he was clearly overjoyed. His eyes lit up, and he hastily bowed. "Your explanation has enlightened us. Listening to your explanation is better than reading books for ten years. We were foolish and ignorant. Thank you for bestowing Tiangou to us, senior!"

The others were shocked after listening to Lu Zhou's words as well. They bowed and thanked him. "Thank you, Old Senior Ji."

"Ding! Received pious worshiping from 105 men. Reward: 1,050 merit points"

The matter was finally settled.

At this moment, Lu Zhou remembered the mysterious coffin and the secret tomes of cultivation methods, he no longer lingered at this place. He waved his arm, and Whitzard came on the clouds.

Lu Zhou leaped onto Whitzard and flew away.

The members of the Qingyun Sword Sect bowed. "Safe journey, senior."

Whitzard vanished among the clouds in just a blink of an eye.

Ma Qing looked up at this moment with a faraway and admiring gaze. He muttered, "This trip is well worth it. I got to see a Nine-leaf expert with my own eyes!"

The others nodded in agreement.

…

When Lu Zhou returned to the Evil Sky Pavilion, the sun was already setting.

Duanmu Sheng hovered outside the barrier and waited quietly for his master's return. When he saw Whitzard, he bowed when Lu Zhou was still some ways away. "Master!"

Lu Zhou leaped off Whitzard's back. He moved as though he was light as a feather. He passed through the barrier and asked, "What's the situation?"

"The two Other Tribesmen were already dealt with by Fourth Junior Brother and me. It's Little Conch that seems slightly off," Duanmu Sheng replied.

"I'll take a look." Lu Zhou flew toward the southern pavilion. When he landed there, he walked toward Little Yuan'er's room.

Many female cultivators were already there.

"Pavilion Master."

"Master!"

The others made way for Lu Zhou. Lu Zhou's appearance greatly reassured them.

Little Yuan'er walked up to him and said, "Conch says that she remembers some things."

Lu Zhou thought that Conch was injured. As he entered the room, he saw Conch supporting her own head with both hands as she leaned back on a chair. She did not look too good.

Lu Zhou walked up to Conch and sat down slowly. He said, "Give me your hand."

"Oh." Conch was obedient.

After examining her pulse, Lu Zhou nodded slowly. Her body was fine.

Lu Zhou looked at Conch and gently asked, "What do you remember?"

Conch said, "Red… red lotus."

Something stirred within Lu Zhou. He was shocked. He did his best to maintain a neutral expression so that he would not scare Miss Conch. He raised a palm.

Whizz!

A miniature avatar hovered above his palm. Under the avatar, two leaves were spinning around the Golden Lotus.

Mingshi Yin, Little Yuan'er, and Duanmu Sheng glanced at it. They nodded silently.

'Master's control over his avatar has truly reached great heights. With his skills, he can easily control the number of leaves on his avatar.'

After all, it was extremely wasteful of Primal Qi to manifest all of one's leaves.

Lu Zhou pointed at the Golden Lotus and asked, "Little girl, is this what the lotus you mention looks like?"

Conch blinked. After observing it, she nodded. "Mhm…"

Lu Zhou clenched his fist. His avatar vanished. Although he was as steady as an old dog, he was still shocked. Conch's words meant that someone was cultivating the red lotus!

"Do you remember where?" Lu Zhou asked.

Conch pouted. She shook her head and said, "I don't know."

At this moment, Mingshi Yin interjected, "Master… is she saying that someone is cultivating a red lotus? This… can't be real, right?"

Duanmu Sheng nodded and said, "Nobody has ever cultivated a red lotus…"

However, they suddenly recalled their master's blue lotus and the barrier's power as well.

He said, "Could it be some sort of mutation caused by a secret technique?"

Under normal circumstances, the energy condensed from Primal Qi was golden. Fiend zen would cause it to turn black, healing made it green, and absorbing the barrier made it blue. However, this was their first time encountering the color red.

Lu Zhou did not answer their questions. He remembered the book and the coffin.

The young girl might be lying or have dreamt about it. They could not rely on her words alone. They would need concrete evidence to authenticate her words. He remembered the row of words on the final page of the book: I hope it stays this way forever. I hope that there are no Nine-leaf cultivators in this world. I hope that there are no Ten-leaf cultivators in this world. What did those sentences mean?

Lu Zhou pondered about this for a moment before he looked at Conch again and asked, "What else do you remember?"

"I don't remember anything else." Conch shook her head helplessly.

"Amnesia?" Lu Zhou guessed.

At this moment, Mingshi Yin bowed and said, "Master, I don't think she has amnesia."

"Hm?"

"A person with amnesia has either lost their memories or sealed the memories. When they try to recall their memories, it will certainly trigger some reaction in their heads. Yet, here she is, sitting here unaffected," said Mingshi Yin. "I suspect that she's more likely in some pre-awakened state."

"Why do you say that?" Lu Zhou thought about this before as well, but he could not be sure.

"Some are born with innate abilities while some are born to cultivate. For example, the Fairfolk, such as Sixth Junior Sister, can reconstruct their Extraordinary Eight Meridians naturally. They can even reconstruct a destroyed sea of Qi." Mingshi Yin stroked his chin as he inferred, "She remembers how to play the tunes and remembers the appearance of the lotus. This means that the consciousness is still inside her mind."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "You're saying that if she starts to cultivate and enter the Sense Condensing realm, the consciousness can be fortified."

"You're brilliant, master! If the consciousness is fortified, her fuzzy memories will certainly grow clearer!" Mingshi Yin said.

For a cultivator, the Body Tempering stage and the Mystic Enlightening realm were related to the physical body. Starting from the Sense Condensing Realm, they would start to train their consciousness.

Mingshi Yin had a point. At least, this was a lead. They were no longer clueless.

However, there was the matter of Conch skipping the Body Tempering stage and directly entering the Mystic Enlightening realm. How was she supposed to cultivate when her meridian vessels were fragile?