My disciples are all villains.

Under Mingshi Yin's control, the cloud-splitting chariot instantly disappeared among the sea of clouds.

When Zhou Youcai looked up again, he could no longer see the flying chariot. At this time, he staggered and sat limply on the ground, panting heavily. It took him a while before he recovered.

Once the Big Dipper Academy disciples saw the flying chariot had vanished from sight, they hastily flew up to their president. They were shocked to find him sitting on the ground. A few of them landed and helped Zhou Youcai to his feet.

A few disciples stepped forward, concerned.

"President, are you alright?"

"President, where did Old Villain Ji hit you? Is it bad?"

Zhou Youcai who had risen to his feet suddenly slapped the disciple who had referred to Ji Tiandao as Old Villain Ji. "Shut up!" After slapping the disciple, he said, "Remember the saying, 'Loose lips sink ships'."

The disciple held his hand against his cheek and replied, "Yes."

"President, are we still going to Yan Province City?"

"Why would we?" Zhou Youcai did not even look in the direction of Yan Province City. At this juncture, unless they were seeking death, who would dare visit the city now? Did they not see how quickly the Sky Conduct Academy disciples had fled?

'Did I raise a group of f*cking dimwits?'

"Return to the academy," Zhou Youcai ordered. He stepped into the air before the others.

"Understood." The 1,000 disciples obediently took flight.

Soon after, Zhou Youcai said, "Let's visit the Sky Conduct Academy first."

"Understood!"

…

The Sky Conduct Academy in the Divine Capital.

Meng Nanfei, the President of the Sky Conduct Academy, lifted his teacup to his mouth and finished the tea in a gulp to calm his nerves.

It had been a while since Meng Nanfei returned. He could not help muse out loud, "Was it an illusion?"

"President, it wasn't an illusion… W-we saw it as well. There's no mistake that it was a Nine-leaf Golden Lotus avatar."

"I saw it as well! It was most certainly a Nine-leaf Golden Lotus. President, your call to retreat was made in a timely manner!"

Meng Nanfei looked at the two disciples. He was not in the mood to entertain these two Meng Nanfei swept his gaze at the two of them. He was not in the mood to entertain these two people with glib tongues.

At this moment, a disciple came running in and hastily said, "President, the Big Dipper Academy's President Zhou is here!"

"Show him in!"

Shortly after, Zhou Youcai hastened his way toward the Sky Conduct Academy's meeting hall with two disciples in tow.

Meng Nanfei emerged from the hall to meet him. With a smile, he said, "Please forgive our lack of hospitality, President Zhou. You've traveled far."

"I don't have much time to waste with you… The Evil Sky Pavilion's Patriarch wants me to convey a message to you," Zhou Youcai said with a tiny hint of impatience.

"A message?"

"I saw how you ran away..."

"Ran away? Who? Who's the coward?" Meng Nanfei asked with a straight face.

"Drop the act… I'm not mocking you. After all, I was there," Zhou Youcai said.

Meng Nanfei. "???"

The disciples. "???"

Then, Zhou Youcai recounted what he had seen and heard on the twin rocks peak before he conveyed Lu Zhou's message to Meng Nanfei.

Upon hearing Zhou Youcai's words, Meng Nanfei staggered backward. His knees were shaking as he thought to himself, 'That was close!'

When Zhou Youcai saw Meng Nanfei's pale face, he said, "You didn't take Zhou Wenliang seriously when he sent you the letter? He's the Taixu Academy's Second Elder, for crying out loud."

"Brother Zhou, that's enough. I'm scared out of my wits now." Meng Nanfei kept waving his hands. He felt fortunate that he did not personally show up. Otherwise, based on his initial attitude, he would have been the one who was killed with a single palm strike.

…

After the fall of Yan Province City, most people were divided into two opinions in the cultivation world.

There were those who supported the Nether Sect because it was backed by the Evil Sky Pavilion that housed the first Nine-leaf cultivator in the world.

Then, there were those who continued to support the Divine Capital because the capital was impregnable. Moreover, those who had severed their lotuses found their cultivation speed had increased. With that, they were confident new Nine-leaf cultivators would appear soon.

...

The next morning in the Evil Sky Pavilion's eastern pavilion.

After meditating on the Heavenly Writing scrolls for some time, Lu Zhou reassessed his extraordinary power. Although he was meditating at a faster pace now, his capacity had grown as well. Hence, he needed about five days to completely replenish his extraordinary power.

"I have more than 100,000 merit points. It's time to raise my own cultivation base." Lu Zhou assessed his cultivation base in his dantian's sea of Qi.

He nodded. It seemed his cultivation base was close to a breakthrough. He did not expect this. Perhaps, it was the result of combining the Human Scroll and the Earth Scroll. In any case, this was good news for him.

"Let's reverse my lifespan, for starters."

His current remaining life was 20,593 days.

Lu Zhou used one Reversal Card.

There was a great surge of life energy. With this, his days were increased by 500.

Before this, every Reversal Card only gave him 300 days. Now, it was increased to 500 days per card.

"57 years…" He was satisfied with his lifespan. For a cultivator, the downhill road was always the final 100 years. In other words, as long as he was younger than 900 years, his cultivation base would not be affected by his lifespan. Currently, he had more than 40 years to go.

With this thought in mind, Lu Zhou no longer hesitated. He said again, "Use the Reversal Card again."

The entire eastern pavilion was surrounded with vitality.

In the past, it had merely been a slight disturbance, and the others in the Evil Sky Pavilion were already used to it. They no longer found it strange.

At this moment, the Evil Sky Pavilion's four elders looked at the eastern pavilion at the same time.

"I say, is the pavilion master cultivating some arcane method?" Hua Wudao looked at the eastern pavilion, puzzled.

"Arcane method?"

"Look there, above the eastern pavilion. Powerful life energy is converging. The pavilion master is clearly at the Nine-leaf stage. Why is he still absorbing vitality now?" Hua Wudao wondered out loud.

Zuo Yushu shook her head and said, "If it's an arcane method, isn't it more convenient to absorb the lives of other humans? Why would he have to go through this much trouble?"

Pan Litian said, "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill. There's bound to be some disturbance when a cultivator experiences a breakthrough. The pavilion master, regardless of how extraordinary he is, is a cultivator as well. Get used to it. It'll die down in a second."

"You have a point, Elder Pan."

Bzzt!

Another buzz of resonance rang from above the eastern pavilion.

The four elders looked up in unison again.

"Didn't you say that it'll die down soon? It doesn't look like it's stopping?"

Pan Litian said, "Perhaps, the breakthrough isn't complete yet… I've experienced this myself. There were two consecutive commotions..."

"This is a rare occurrence. It seems like the pavilion master would benefit more than usual."

A moment later, the eastern pavilion finally quietened down. However, the peace only lasted for a brief moment before another commotion broke out.

Bzzt!

It was the same disturbance as before as vitality converged.

"This…" Pan Litian looked perplexed.

"Old Pan, go on…" Leng Luo turned to look at Pan Litian.

"How can this be?"

The four of them looked at the eastern pavilion at a loss.

After the disturbance died down, another one started just as they expected.

This went on for several cycles…

From the first disturbance to the tenth life energy commotion, the Evil Sky Pavilion's four elders sat in stunned silence, looking like statues.

After the umpteenth commotion, they finally regained their senses.

Zuo Yushu suddenly said, "Why don't we make use of the vitality. Isn't it a waste to let it fade away like that?"

The other three elders glanced at Zuo Yushu.

When such a vast amount of life energy converged, there was bound to be some leakage and wastage. To put it bluntly, since the pavilion master was eating meat, the four elders were trying to see if they could have a taste of the broth.

"You have a point…"

The Evil Sky Pavilion's four elders walked toward the eastern pavilion. The vitality that could not be absorbed would be wasted if it leaked out into the surroundings. If that was the case, would it not be better for them to use it to their benefit?

The four elders stood outside the eastern pavilion, looking up at the life energy that was still gathering above the eastern pavilion.

They looked up at the vitality gathering above the eastern pavilion. After exchanging a look, they walked in. Once they were in the hall, they sat with their legs crossed and began their breathing exercises.

The vitality in the surroundings flowed past them and into the room.