Chapter 43: What To Do Without Trump Cards?   Zhou Jifeng was shocked by the terrifying, unlimited energy as well. Previously, when he led other cultivators to destroy the shield, he had used all his strength, and yet it just would not budge. He never thought Ji Tiandao could fix it alone.

At that moment, Lu Zhou did not stop but continued to pour the energy. The shield was not truly fixed yet, and he needed to connect the eye with the arrays in different places. Only when they formed a continuous connection could the energy flow through the whole shield without interruption.

If truth be told, Lu Zhou himself was also surprised by the bug of the peak-form experience card, which provided him unlimited energy. If it were not for the time limit, this card would be truly invincible. With it, he no longer needed to improve his cultivation base.

He did not know how many times he had emptied his dantian, and he had lost count, because it would be instantly filled whenever that happened.

In total, it took him twenty-five minutes to fix the shield, which finally stabilized. When he touched it, he could see bright and terrible ripples spreading like waves on the ocean.

Lu Zhou took a deep breath as he looked around before glancing at the system panel. He still had three minutes. “Yuan’er, kill the rest of them,” he gave the order in a calm voice.

Little Yuan’er alone was enough to deal with them. There was no need for him to do it himself.

“I understand, Master!”

Fang Jinshan had been blown to bits. Among the rest of the Divine Court cultivators, the strongest ones were only at the Dao-controlling stage.

The Divine Court realm was divided into three stages: Dao-shaping, Dao-controlling, and Dao-transforming. There was a huge gap between each stage, and the gap was greater between one with a precious treasure and one without. However, these cultivators would never be a match of the nine disciples of Golden Court Mountain, even if their cultivation bases were on the same level.

At that moment, Little Yuan’er could finally vent her pent-up anger. She made full use of the Seven Stars Cloud Treading Steps, killing one Brahma Sea cultivator with every step while those Divine Court cultivators had become the target of her pursuit.

There was nothing more normal than a villain of Golden Court Mountain killing people. Some frightened cultivators were able to resist her attack, but that was only for a brief moment. They were like sheep waiting to be slaughtered in a cage, while Little Yuan’er was the hunter with a knife in hand.

Despair and fear pervaded the air.

Lu Zhou did not join the battle. With a wave of his hand, the huge avatar disappeared as he flew back to Evil Sky Pavilion.

“Master!” A trace of blood trickled down the corner of Duanmu Sheng’s mouth because he could bear no more.

Lu Zhou glanced at him and saw his loyalty reach 80%, which surprised him. He had simply taught him the Divine One Technique. Nevertheless, it was a good thing to have one more loyal disciple.

His injury should be from his battle with Dhūta Fang of the Righteous Sect. It was amazing that he could bear it for so long. Of course, it was also because of Ji Tiandao’s torture in the past that he had become so tough today. An ordinary cultivator would have collapsed to the ground by now.

“Where is Old Fourth?” Lu Zhou asked faintly.

“Fourth Junior Brother fought a fierce battle with Fang Jinshan and others, but he was outnumbered and eventually fled after they wounded him.” He paused for a moment and added hurriedly, “I...I don’t know where he is right now.”

Lu Zhou waved a hand. At the gesture, Whitzard carried Ye Tianxin, who was in a coma, and landed in the courtyard within Evil Sky Pavilion. After placing her on the ground, it flew up in the air again and disappeared into the sky.

“Sixth...Sixth Junior Sister?” Duanmu Sheng looked surprised.

Ye Tianxin owned the Amorous Hoop, a heaven-grade weapon, and was ranked ninth on the Black Roll. Even so, she was so badly wounded, which was something he found hard to believe.

Right now, the disciples there were all wounded except for Little Yuan’er, who was killing the cultivators like an unscrupulous wolf, filling Lu Zhou’s ears with system prompts that informed him about the merit points he was rewarded.

Lu Zhou turned slowly, and Zhou Jifeng trembled before walking quickly toward him from not far away. He dropped to one knee at about five meters away and said, “I wish to join Golden Court Mountain and serve you!”

“Ding! You have obtained a subordinate, Zhou Jifeng, a Divine Court cultivator. You are rewarded with 100 merit points.”

Lu Zhou gave him a sideways glance. He did not nod or shake his head, but just said in a faint tone, “Tidy up the place.”

He had no time to listen to Zhou Jifeng’s explanation, and he did not want to know what happened after he left Heavenly Sword Sect, so he just gave him an order.

“Yes, Senior!” Zhou Jifeng was overjoyed, and he unsheathed his sword. With a fierce look in his eyes, he leaped toward those fleeing Brahma Sea cultivators. Meanwhile, Lu Zhou turned around and walked into the Evil Sky Pavilion.

The interior of the pavilion was a secluded cultivation venue specially built by Ji Tiandao. Even a Nascent Divinity Tribulation cultivator would need to use a very long time to break it with force.

Lu Zhou pressed a secret switch, causing a door to buzz and slide open to the left. He stepped through it and closed it again.

The world fell silent, and the effect of the peak-form experience card ended at the same time. The enormous amount of energy in his dantian receded instantly like tides.

Anyhow, Lu Zhou was quite calm.

The interior of the pavilion was dimly lit, with only a faint light shining through the ceiling. This place was really suitable for cultivation.

Lu Zhou did not need to pay more attention to what was going on outside. He needed to sort out his thoughts and reorganize his trump cards now.

Name: Lu Zhou

Race: Human

Cultivation base: The Qi Refining and Soul Forming stage of the Sense Condensing realm

Merit points: 6,674

Avatar: Three Condensing Flowers

Remaining life: 5,506 days

Items: Critical Block Cards (passive) x 7

Cultivation technique: Three Scrolls of Heaven Writing

Weapons: Amorous Hoop (Owner: Ye Tianxin. It needs to be refined again before it can be used)

The peak-form experience cards were indeed gone, and he only had seven critical block cards left. A powerful enemy could attack ten or even a hundred times in the span of a breath, so seven blocks did not mean much.

Now that he had no more trump cards, what should he do? As the greatest villain of Golden Court Mountain, he was the target of many cultivators out there.

Lu Zhou sat cross-legged between the shafts of light, lost in thought.

The shield had been fixed, and it could stop any formidable enemies for ten days to half a month. Moreover, after using two peak-form experience cards in a row, Lu Zhou had shocked the righteous cultivators. No matter how stupid they were, they would not dare to invade Golden Court Mountain again like this.

The trip to Anyang had brought him over six thousand merit points. Along the way, he had heard many system prompts, and it was expected that he would have accumulated so many merit points. The kidnapping of the Ci Family, the submission of Pan Zhong, the capture of Ye Tianxin, all these had provided him merit points. As for those whom he had killed, he did not have the mood to count them.

Talking about weapons, Lu Zhou did not expect that the heaven-grade treasure he seized from his disciple could be used again. However, it was not easy to refine a heaven-grade treasure, because it was extremely difficult to change it after it had recognized a master. In fact, it was more difficult than changing a person’s mind.

“Ding! A Divine Court cultivator is killed. You are rewarded with 100 merit points.”

“Ding! A Brahma Sea cultivator is killed. You are rewarded with 10 merit points.”

Lu Zhou shook his head. They were only one realm apart, and yet the reward was ten times different.

Now that he had plenty of merit points, he needed to think about how he should use them. Should he try lucky draws? To him, it was like gambling. Although he could accumulate luck points through lucky draws, what should he do if he were down on luck and kept losing?

He thought he should just wait for a little longer until Little Yuan’er and Zhou Jifeng had killed the remaining cultivators. Thinking that, he rose to his feet and glanced around.

He seemed to have not come into the secret chamber for a very long time, so there were many things left forgotten in here. Although the chamber was dimly lit, he could still roughly see the things.

Many cultivation techniques of the righteous sects were kept here, such as the Ancient One Sword Technique, the Tranquil Spell, the Dao Heart Sutra, and many others. From what he knew, they were not practiced by any of his disciples.

He could understand the reason, because these techniques were nowhere nearly as good as those given by the system.

In addition to cultivation techniques, there were also some weapons. Most of them were just Mystic-grade and Yellow-grade, which were very inferior weapons in the eyes of Nascent Divinity Tribulation cultivators. It was the same for Lu Zhou, and he lost his interest after briefly glancing at them. They were all covered in a thick layer of dust, meaning that they had not been touched for a long time. Most of them were old, and Lu Zhou could not remember where they came from or how to use them.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard of Evil Sky Pavilion...

Ye Tianxin woke with a start from the excruciating pain in her abdomen. She opened her eyes with great difficulty and looked around her.

“This is...the Evil Sky Pavilion?” It was the place where the ceremony of her joining the sect was held many years ago, and she recognized it at a glance. Everything here was familiar to her, every tree, wall, even the lines on the walls...

Right then, a somewhat weak voice rang out. “Sixth...Sixth Junior Sister?”

Ye Tianxin was taken aback. She hurriedly turned toward the voice and saw Mingshi Yin stagger toward her. His hair were disheveled, face dirty, and chest stained with blood.

“Fourth Senior Brother?”

Mingshi Yin sat down beside her and showed a tired smile as he said, “Junior Sister, it’s right to come back...”

“What?” Ye Tianxin frowned slightly. She did not understand what he meant.

“Just get used to it...It is all tricks...Cough! Cough!” Mingshi Yin coughed and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.