In the Evil Sky Pavilion atop the Golden Court Mountain…
“Master, representatives from the Ci Family of Anyang wish to see you.”
“Which Ci Family?”
“Little Yuan’er’s family.”
The scene of Ji Tiandao taking Little Yuan’er as his disciple in the city of Anyang five years ago appeared in Lu Zhou’s mind as he nodded slightly and said, “Bring them in.”
“Yes, Master!”
Before very long, three villainous disciples led the people of the Ci Family into the Evil Sky Pavilion. Little Yuan’er had returned as soon as she got the news as well.
The three men of the Ci Family did not expect to enter Evil Sky Pavilion so smoothly. However, the smoother it was, the more uneasy they became. And when they saw the old Lu Zhou, they shivered with fear and dared not to show the slightest impoliteness.
“Greetings, my lord!” The steward of the Ci Family knelt, and his two companions followed suit.
Lu Zhou glanced at them and said faintly, “I’ve set a rule that those who join Evil Sky Pavilion cannot have any contact with their families and friends. Little Yuan’er, do you still remember this?”
“I do remember. I will send them away right now,” Little Yuan’er said hurriedly.
The steward turned to look at Little Yuan’er. With sweat trickling down his cheeks, he said, “Young Lady, it’s me…Ci An!”
“Ci An?” Little Yuan’er looked doubtfully at the middle-aged man in front of her. When she left her family, she was only ten years old, and it had been five years, so her memory had slightly faded.
Ci An suddenly burst into tears and said, “I’ve finally found you, Young Lady! The Ci Family and your parents are in trouble!”
Little Yuan’er had left her family for only five years. Over the years, she often thought of her parents, and she missed them very much. Fortunately, the old villain doted on her and did not lead her to the evil side completely.
But, Duanmu Sheng, Mingshi Yin, and Zhao Yue were different, and they did not like what they saw. They thought it was a shame for a man to cry like a child before so many people.
So, Duanmu Sheng shouted in a deep voice, “Be quiet!”
That stopped Ci An from crying and struck fear into his heart. He was so scared that he immediately bowed his head.
“The Evil Sky Pavilion is not a place for you to cry,” said Zhao Yue with a smile. “Little Junior Sister, if it weren’t for the sake that he is from your family, I would have sewed his mouth with my gold needle.”
Ci An, “…”
Little Yuan’er fell to her knees and said, “Master!”
Lu Zhou’s face was calm, devoid of emotions.
In the twinkling of an eye, Mingshi Yin had an idea. He cupped his fist and said, “Master, rules are made to be broken. As Little Junior Sister’s senior brothers and sister, her family is our family as well. We will be worse than pigs and dogs if we don’t help our family when they are in trouble.”
“I agree,” Zhao Yue said.
“Fourth Junior Brother has a point, and I think the same,” Duanmu Sheng said.
Little Yuan’er was surprised to hear her senior brothers and sister supporting her. Meanwhile, Lu Zhou nodded slightly and said, “There is some truth in what you said.”
He glanced at the three villainous disciples. Their loyalty had increased by another 5% each, almost reaching 70%.
“However, it depends on the trouble. Evil Sky Pavilion will not meddle in anything,” Lu Zhou’s eyes fell on Ci An.
“Exactly! Master’s mightiness is well-known throughout the world. If it is only some trivial matters, I think we can just ignore them,” said Mingshi Yin.
Zhao Yue rolled her eyes. ‘This is not called being good at analysis, Old Fourth, you are just sailing with the wind…And you are good at flattery!’
Little Yuan’er winked at Ci An. At the sight of that, the steward said quickly, “The Ci Family has always been well behaved in Anyang, and we only trade with common people. Over the years, we have lived in peace, and the business has supported the livelihood of over a thousand people in the family. A month ago, our trade caravan was robbed by a gang of mounted brigands while passing through a river valley. The Ci Family wanted no trouble, so we paid them some money…But, the gang did not stop there. They rushed to Anyang on the same night, robbed everything from us, and even kidnapped over a hundred people as hostages!”
When she heard what happened to her family, Little Yuan’er frowned slightly. The matter could be serious or minor.
Zhao Yue laughed. “It is only a gang of mounted brigands. Why don’t you get help from the local authorities?”
“Our family head thought so too, but as soon as the authorities heard about the mounted brigands of the river valley, they immediately drove him out. They dared not help us!”
“Are those brigands really so strong?” Zhao Yue scoffed.
Ci An said nervously, “It is said that this gang of mounted brigands is backed by cultivators…”
“No wonder!”
The whole story had become clear now, and everyone rested their eyes on Lu Zhou.
According to Ji Tiandao’s old ways, Evil Sky Pavilion would never interfere in such matters. But, that was in the past. Moreover, this matter was related to their little junior sister, on whom their master doted the most.
Therefore, before their master even spoke, Mingshi Yin jumped forward and said righteously, “Master, let me handle this! This gang of mounted brigands have gone too far. How could they kidnap Little Junior Sister’s family? I will make sure this is done right.”
Both Duanmu Sheng and Zhao Yue were rendered speechless. ‘Old Fourth is really shameless!’ they thought.
On the other hand, Ci An was overjoyed when he heard that, as if he were dreaming. It was much smoother than he had expected.
Meanwhile, Lu Zhou was thinking.
With his current strength, if he interfered with matters between cultivators, it was equivalent to looking for trouble. However, he could let his disciples handle it and be rewarded with merit points, killing two birds with one stone.
“Master, please allow me to atone for my crimes by doing good deeds. Little Junior Sister’s family is in grave danger, and as her Senior Brother, I can’t just turn a blind eye and do nothing. Yes, Master has ordered me to be grounded, but this is a special circumstance, and I hope Master can let me help them.” Mingshi Yin delivered his speech like an orthodox cultivator, which made Duanmu Sheng and Zhao Yue’s jaws drop in surprise.
‘When did Old Fourth’s acting become so good?’
Lu Zhou looked at Mingshi Yin and said faintly, “Supposedly, Little Yuan’er should deal with this matter herself. But, she is still young, and I’m afraid that she doesn’t know how to control herself. Since you, as her Senior Brother, have the heart to help her, I’ll let you handle it.”
“I will certainly complete the task!” Mingshi Yin was overjoyed.
“You have three days…”
“Ah? Three…three days? Master, don’t you think three days is a little bit too short?” Mingshi Yin tried to buy himself more time.
While smiling, Zhao Yue said, “Senior Brother, you are a Divine Court expert. If it were me, two days would be more than enough. When did you become so lacking in confidence?”
“Ugh!”
‘We grow from the same root, so why should you hurt me in such a rush? Do you think it is good to pull the rug from under my feet?’
“Go now,” Lu Zhou waved a hand.
“Yes, Master!”
The reason Lu Zhou only gave him three days was that he did not wish these disciples to be too unrestricted, lest they were gone for too long and caused too many troubles.
As he thought about that, he opened the system’s menu. Sure enough, there was an additional tab in the quest menu called ‘Assigned tasks’, and the first line clearly showed up as below:
Saving the Ci Family
Executor: Mingshi Yin
Countdown timer: 2 days and 23 hours…
At that moment, Little Yuan’er fell to her knees and bowed deeply as she said, “Thank you, Master!”
At the same time, Ci An and his two companions also bowed and said, “Thank you, my lord…”
“Ding! You have received the devout worship of three people and are rewarded with 30 merit points. Hint: Merit points will not be rewarded from worship that is deliberately planned.”
“Little Yuan’er, send them down the mountain.”
“Yes, Master!” She looked as if she had something to say.
Lu Zhou read her expression, and he said, “Although your Fourth Senior Brother loves the outside world, he always does things seriously and uses his brain wisely. He will solve the problem in less than a day. You don’t have to worry.”
“I understand now, Master!”
On the other side, Duanmu Sheng and Zhao Yue froze at the same time. Their master obviously knew that Mingshi Yin would spend two days doing his own things out there.
Everything was under their master’s control!
“Old Fifth!”
“Yes, Master?”
“I want you to investigate the Heavenly Sword Sect, especially its eldest disciple, Zhou Jifeng. You have two days.”
Zhao Yue beamed when she heard the order. “Yes, Master. I will definitely complete the task!”
Since he wanted to instigate Zhou Jifeng’s defection, he naturally needed to keep a close watch on him.