Chapter 46: Down On Luck   “What are you talking about, Master?” Little Yuan’er asked.

“Nothing.” Lu Zhou cleared his thoughts as he slowly turned around and glanced at everyone present. He had a feeling that no matter whom he saw, they were all telling him: ‘Thank you for trying!’

Little Yuan’er could tell that her master was not happy, so she laughed playfully and said, “Don’t be angry, Master, I’ve killed all the invaders. If you’re still not happy, I can go back and stab their bodies a few more times with my knife.”

Zhou Jifeng, “???”

Lu Zhou raised a hand and said lightly, “Where is Old Fourth?”

“Old Fourth is badly wounded, but it also brought him a rare opportunity. He is now protected by woods and cannot come to see you, Master,” answered Duanmu Sheng while dragging the chain with him.

Lu Zhou was surprised before he said, “No one shall be near the woods for seven days.” It would take Mingshi Yin seven days to break through under the woods’ protection, and if the process was interrupted, he would never be able to step into the Nascent Divinity Tribulation realm again.

Ye Tianxin looked Lu Zhou in the eyes and said disapprovingly, “You don’t have to be a hypocrite. I’m pretty sure you’ll sneak up on him in the middle of the night and give him a slap.”

Lu Zhou simply ignored her and said in an indifferent voice, “Yuan’er!”

“Yes, Master?”

“Put her in the back of the mountain and let her face the wall to ponder over her misdeed.”

“Yes, Master!” Little Yuan’er walked up and grabbed Ye Tianxin.

Ye Tianxin shivered at the thought of the cold and lonely environment in the back of the mountain. She wanted to resist, but her dantian was empty, and she could not even muster a trace of energy.

After that, Lu Zhou’s eyes fell on Zhou Jifeng, who immediately knelt and said respectfully, “Old Senior, I am willing to join Golden Court Mountain. Please take me as your disciple!”

Lu Zhou had not thought of taking a disciple since he traveled to this world. From what he learned, the old villain was at the height of his cultivation base when he started taking in disciples. With his current cultivation base, it was difficult for him to be sure that he would not take in some ambitious and treacherous people as disciples. Moreover, the current nine disciples already gave him a headache, and he did not have extra energy to teach others.

‘The bright moon shines over the sea; from far away we share this moment together...’ he thought of the poem the old villain used to look for disciples. There was one last place to be filled. He wondered why the old villain did not fill it, but it was no longer important.

“You have a great talent, but too bad you have cultivated the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Sword Dao. If you change to another cultivation technique now, you will only get half the result with twice the effort,” said Lu Zhou.

His message was clear: he would not take Zhou Jifeng as a disciple.

“Old Senior...” Zhou Jifeng tried to plead with an eager expression.

Lu Zhou slowly raised a hand and cut him off, before he picked up a book from the table beside him and lightly threw it in front of him. “This is the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Ancient One Sword Technique. With your talent, you should have no difficulty mastering it.”

Zhou Jifeng’s eyes widened as he looked at the book with excitement. He was the eldest disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect once, and he certainly understood the meaning of this book. The Ancient One Sword Technique had always been taught by the master to the disciples. It was taught level by level, and only when the disciples had learned the first level would the master teach the second level. Although Zhou Jifeng had almost completely mastered it, Luo Changfeng never taught him all the sword techniques. This phenomenon not only existed in the Heavenly Sword Sect, but also in the other righteous sects in the world. Everyone thought it was a tradition and disciples thought it was normal, so no one had ever questioned it.

He never thought that Lu Zhou would throw him the sword technique, which was regarded as a precious treasure by the Heavenly Sword Sect, as if it were something worthless. How could he not be excited? With the sword technique, he did not have to worry that he would not reach the Nascent Divinity Tribulation realm!

“Thank you, Old Senior! Thank you!” Zhou Jifeng held the book with both hands and kowtowed, touching his forehead on the floor so that it made a loud sound.

Duanmu Sheng said, “Since you are not a disciple of the Evil Sky Pavilion, you will address my Master Lord Pavilion from now on.”

“Yes, I understand!” Zhou Jifeng said respectfully.

“There are many accommodations in Evil Sky Pavilion. Apart from the East Pavilion and the South Pavilion, you can choose anywhere to stay.”

“I understand.”

“You may leave us now.”

With the book in his hands, Zhou Jifeng bowed and withdrew from the Evil Sky Pavilion. Lu Zhou nodded slightly. It was plain that Duanmu Sheng was more experienced in managing disciples.

When Zhou Jifeng was gone, Duanmu Sheng bowed and said, “Master, this Zhou Jifeng is a disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect after all...”

It would take too much time for Lu Zhou to explain, and he had to tell Duanmu Sheng about Zhou Jifeng’s parents and the murder of his father. It was too troublesome, so he simply waved a hand and said, “I have my own plans.”

“I understand, Master.” Duanmu Sheng dared not to say he did not understand.

Lu Zhou took one look at the chain around him before turning and walking toward the inside of Evil Sky Pavilion.

Duanmu Sheng was about to say something when he vaguely heard his master murmur, “... luck should have turned...”

He quickly dropped to his knees and said, “Have a good rest, Master.” By the time he looked up, his master was already gone.

He wiped away the sweat on his cheek and tugged at the chain around him. He thought of asking Lu Zhou to remove the chain, but it seemed he had to bring it with him for the time being. He realized that his master’s indifferent attitude toward the disciples had not changed after all.

After locking Ye Tianxin in the back of the mountain, Little Yuan’er returned to Evil Sky Pavilion. She did not see her master, but only saw her third senior brother, who was sighing with a sad face. “What happened to you, Senior Brother?” she asked.

Duanmu Sheng waved his hand and said, “Nothing. I just feel that Master seems a little absent-minded.”

“Absent-minded? Did Master ask you to do anything just now?”

“No, he didn’t, but he did say something.”

“What is it?”

“Master seems dizzy,” said Duanmu Sheng. [1] 1

Dizzy?

Little Yuan’er nodded and said, “Master must be dizzied from all the riding and flying with Whitzard. After all, he is old already.”

“That makes sense.”

“Senior Brother, how should we deal with that traitor?”

“We’ll discuss after Old Fourth transcends the tribulation, since he’s the cleverest among us. If such a traitor is not punished, how can we face Master again?” Duanmu Sheng said sternly.

“There’s one thing I can’t figure out, Senior Brother. She had already deserted the sect, but why does she still want to kill Master?” Little Yuan’er felt angry at the thought of it.

Duanmu Sheng sighed. “Junior Sister Tianxin is actually an unfortunate girl...”

“Unfortunate?” Little Yuan’er lifted both hands and pointed her index fingers against each other as she said, “I’m also very unfortunate...”

Duanmu Sheng was speechless. “I’m going to heal my wounds. I’ll leave this place to you.”

“Oh! Take care, Senior Brother!”

...

Lu Zhou looked at the remaining merit points on the system interface. He had spent three thousand points on lucky draws, which left him with one thousand five hundred and forty points. His luck points had accumulated to sixty as well. He wondered if he should try again. He had truly been down on luck.

“Lucky draw.”

“Ding! This lucky draw costs 50 merit points. Thank you for trying, you have received 1 luck point.”

He had sixty-one luck points now.

“Very good!”

Lu Zhou was in a calm state of mind. He decided to stop now, thinking that he should wash his hands before he tried again. Suddenly, he thought of the ripples he saw when he read the Heaven Writing in the Ci Family’s residence, and he said to himself, “I will read the Heaven Writing to change my luck...”

Footnotes:

Ch 46 Footnote 1

What Lu Zhou said was ‘My luck should have changed/turned.’ In Chinese, change or turn is ‘zhuan’, luck is ‘yun’. However, spin is also ‘zhuan’ and dizzy is ‘yun’. When Duanmu Sheng heard that, he mistook it as ‘spin until dizzy’.