Chapter 77: Binding Cage   Lu Zhou did not reply to Little Yuan’er’s question. Instead, he waved his hand and went into the room alone. The others waited outside since they did not dare to follow him.

The few female cultivators from Derived Moon Palace kneeled at the door, worried sick.

Duanmu Sheng, Pan Zhong, and Zhou Jifeng came over when they heard about the matter.

Duanmu Sheng dragged his chains along as he made his way over, but they did not seem to impede his speed. It seemed as though his wounds were almost completely healed. He asked, “How’s junior sister doing?”

Mingshi Yin shook his head and said, “Things aren’t looking too good.”

Duanmu Sheng frowned and asked, “Old Fourth, what happened?” In other words, he was asking about what happened between Lu Zhou and Ye Tianxin.

As soon as Duanmu Sheng finished speaking, everyone turned to look at Mingshi Yin.

Mingshi Yin sighed and said, “All I know is Sixth Junior Sister was brought back from the Fish Dragon Village, south of Great Yan’s river. Ever since then, she’s been staying on the mountain.” He did not dare to divulge much information about his master. He shuddered just thinking about the consequences of speaking too much.

Pan Zhong chimed in, “South of Great Yan’s river... That’s the territory of Yun, Tian, and Luo Sect.”

As soon as the three sects were mentioned, a stifling atmosphere seemed to descend on the place.

However, Little Yuan’er clearly did not notice the strange atmosphere. She said in confusion, “Fourth Senior Brother, Senior Sister, I don’t understand...”

Mingshi Yin said in a hushed tone, “All the lands under the heavens belong to His Majesty. Some years ago, there were Other Tribes near the Measure Heaven River. They were constantly fighting with cultivators. Shortly after master brought Junior Sister back, the Fish Dragon Village vanished.”

Duanmu Sheng frowned. “So, does this mean that master...”

Mingshi Yin started and quickly interjected, “Shh!”

As soon as Mingshi Yin hushed Duanmu Sheng, a deep voice rang from the room. “Have you said enough?”

Duanmu Sheng and Mingshi Yin’s hearts sank. ‘We’re dead.’

“Slap each other 30 times and reflect on your actions in the Cave of Reflection for three days.” Lu Zhou said in a tone that was neither heavy nor light.

Duanmu Sheng and Mingshi Yin felt like crying but no tears came out.

Mingshi Yin kept shooting looks at Duanmu Sheng.

The others did not dare to speak up on their behalf. They did not even dare to breathe heavily.

A boneheaded teammate could do more harm than a formidable opponent.

Duanmu Sheng and Mingshi Yin could only bow toward the room with a gloomy expression on their faces. “We accept our punishment.”

Zhou Jifeng and Pan Zhong used to be proud and boastful. However, since they arrived on Golden Court Mountain, they had been forced to become humble and to keep a low profile. Being nosy here came with its own consequences.

...

Inside the room.

Ye Tianxin had regained her consciousness after leaving the Cave of Reflection. Since her cultivation base had been disabled, she could not heal her wounds. She did well for being able to hold on until now. She opened her eyes in a daze, the room was quite bright. As soon as she saw Lu Zhou, she instinctively shrunk back.

Upon seeing this, Lu Zhou was speechless. Among his nine disciples, Little Yuan’er was the only one who did not fear him.

“M-master?” Ye Tianxin called out, a hint of disbelief could be heard in her voice. It was as though she could not believe her master would send her to a room.

Lu Zhou’s expression was cold as he shook his head and said, “I don’t have a disciple like you.”

Ye Tianxin had instinctively addressed Lu Zhou as master. She realized she had misspoken as soon as she heard Lu Zhou’s words. She looked at him and stubbornly said, “I deserve to be in this condition.”

“Yes, you do,” Lu Zhou replied.

“...” Ye Tianxin was speechless. She did not know how she should react. She did not dare to retort with a stronger language, afraid that she would drag her sisters in Derived Moon Palace into this matter.

The room was deathly silent for quite a while.

When Ye Tianxin recalled what her Fourth Senior Brother said in the cave, she hesitated for a moment before she asked, “Since you’re capable of annihilating the entire Fish Dragon Village, why didn’t you kill me as well?” A hint of derision could be heard in her voice.

Lu Zhou was bewildered when he heard this. After all, he had no recollection of annihilating the entire Fish Dragon Village. He saw Ye Tianxin had gotten emotional as she spoke. Apart from that, her hatred had increased slightly from 40%. It was obvious her hatred stemmed from his apparent destruction of the village. He could not be certain if he was the culprit behind that. However, based on the memories he had access to, Ji Tiandao was not the type who would slaughter innocent people even though he was the most powerful villain in the world, outrageous with his actions, and strict and harsh toward his disciples.

Lu Zhou sighed. His lost memories were proving to be a problem. ‘Why did I lose them? Is this an effect of transmigrating?’ He knew there was no point thinking about this matter too much, he could only slowly look for the answers. After a moment, he looked at Ye Tianxin and asked, “Did you see me destroying the village?”

Ye Tianxin was slightly stunned, her expression was not right. Finally, she bit out a reply, “It’s the same as personally witnessing it.”

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “The ones who know me best under the heavens are the nine of you. Have I ever acted in secret?”

Ye Tianxin was speechless.

Indeed. Lu Zhou was the greatest villain the world had ever known. He was number one on every blacklist. Did he need to hide or cover up his actions?

“Ye Tianxin,” Lu Zhou called out softly, causing Ye Tianxin to shudder inwardly, “If you ever try to slander me...” He did not finish his sentence, leaving it up to Ye Tianxin’s imagination.

Lu Zhou’s meaning was clear. He was no longer the old Ji Tiandao. Although he did what he wanted, he would not allow anyone to slander him.

“Ding! Disciplining Ye Tianxin. Obtained 100 merit points.”

Lu Zhou waved his sleeve and walked out of the room. He did not bring up Ye Tianxin’s identity as a Bai nor did he press her about it.

Ye Tianxin was stunned. At this moment, she heard the pleas from her sisters from Derived Moon Palace outside the room.

Unfortunately, Lu Zhou was unmoved. He returned to the Evil Sky Pavilion.

Little Yuan’er was trembling with fear along the way. She did not even dare to speak. After they entered the Evil Sky Pavilion, she quickly brought her master a cup of tea in an attempt to appease him. She said, “Master, please don’t be angry. If there’s no other way, I’ll kill that little traitor for you.”

Lu Zhou was not angry. On the contrary, he was calm. He even felt cheerful. At the very least, he had gained some basic information. “Yuan’er, send word to Jiang Aijian.”

Little Yuan’er nodded and said, “I’ll grab a pen and papers.”

“Tell him to investigate the incident of Measure Heaven River’s Fish Dragon Village. Tell him to get back to me as soon as possible,” Lu Zhou said before he returned to the hidden chamber.

Initially, Lu Zhou had planned to continue reading the Heavenly Writing. However, when he recalled how his Brahman Sea opened up his eight meridians, he felt conflicted. He did not expect his avatar would restrict his cultivation base. He had thought it was a good thing that he was able to directly purchase his avatar. After all, this meant he would not encounter any bottleneck when cultivating. Many cultivators spent their entire lives trying to break through a bottleneck but to no avail.

Currently, Lu Zhou did not have enough merit points as well.

“210 points.”

‘What can I do with these meager merit points?’

“Lucky draw.”

“Ding! Spent 50 merit points. Gained Binding Cage x3.”

“Binding Cage: 30% chance of shackling the target.”

Lu Zhou’s eyes brightened. The system was suddenly being kind to him. He finally had a stroke of good luck.

“Lucky draw.”

“Ding! Spent 50 merit points. Thanks for trying. Luck +1.”

As expected. He had a bad feeling about this.

He chose the lucky draw three times consecutively, and he was only thanked for his efforts. In the end, he was left with 10 merit points and 3 additional luck points. ‘Just as well. There’s no need for me to keep drawing.’

Lu Zhou turned his attention to the Binding Cage. “30% chance. Isn’t that too low?” He could just imagine how embarrassing and humiliating it would be if the world’s greatest villain missed when trying to capture his target.