My disciples are all villains.

Originally, Lu Zhou only planned to visit Great Yuan's royal palace after he had seven or eight Birth Charts. However, today's incident called for a change of plan. Currently, he already activated six Birth Charts; coupled with his Deadly Strike Card and the Reduction Card, even a 12 Chart expert would not be a match for him. Apart from that, he still had quite a lot of merit points. Finally, there were not many 12 Chart experts around. For all these reasons, he decided to visit Great Yuan's royal palace today.

Meanwhile, Lu Qianshan's blood was boiling; his fighting spirit had been reignited.

On the contrary, Eunuch Zhang was dumbfounded. He stammered, "N-not… Not… n-not everyone… not everyone's allowed to meet His Majesty…"

Lu Qianshan said with a touch of arrogance, "Will His Majesty refuse to meet me, General Lu?"

"Yes, yes, yes..." Eunuch Zhang was flustered; he was no longer arrogant. He was rather certain Lu Qianshan had lost his mind; it was best not to provoke a madman. He would be done for if Lu Qianshan acted recklessly in a moment of insanity.

Lu Qianshan turned around and said to his clan members, "Stay in the estate. No one's to leave without permission."

…

After walking out of the Lu clan's estate, Lu Zhou, Si Wuya, and Lu Qianshan rode in Eunuch Zhang's carriage back to the royal palace.

Meanwhile, the members of the Lu clan who had gathered at the entrance of the estate discussed among themselves.

One of the concubines asked in a low voice, "Old Jiang, who's that young man?"

"It's best not to ask too many questions," Old Jiang said in a low voice.

Madam Lu said, "At this time, you're still being so secretive. He's handsome and possesses an extraordinary bearing. It's clear he's not from an ordinary family. Even Master was respectful toward him. Perhaps, we can form a marriage alliance with him. Yu'er is 28 years old and is compatible with him…"

"..."

Madam Lu's train of thoughts was truly admirable. Even at such a time, she could miss the main point.

The old butler wished he could tell these people that the young man was the ancestor of the Lu clan. However, he remembered his master's words and could only say with a bow, "Madam Lu, I'm afraid that's inappropriate…"

"Why is it inappropriate? Is the Young Miss of the Lu clan not worthy of him?"

"Uh…" The old butler looked troubled. He said in an increasingly soft voice, afraid of angering Madam Lu, "In fact, t-that… that's truly the case…" He forced himself to say these words; some things had to be nipped in the bud before they became troubles.

Madam Lu was taken aback by those words. After a while, realization seemed to dawn on her. She looked at the carriage that was getting further and further away as she said, "What a pity!"

…

Meanwhile, in a forest in the red lotus domain.

Yu Shangrong had been testing the height and limits of his avatar for a few days now after sprouting the eleventh leaf.

He let his avatar grow to 450 feet tall, which was equivalent to the height of the avatar of a Four Chart cultivator.

When he increased his avatar's height to 500 feet, he discovered he had the strength of a Five Chart Thousand Realms Whirling cultivator.

When it grew to 550 feet tall, he found that it was getting difficult to control his avatar. In other words, after sprouting the eleventh leaf, his strength was roughly around that of a Four Chart cultivator to a Six Chart cultivator.

Yu Shangrong smiled faintly; he was very satisfied with this result. He murmured, "Problems will eventually resolve themselves with time…"

It did not matter to Yu Shangrong if he had Birth Charts or not. After all, the powers from the life hearts were deeply engraved in his bones and flowing through his Extraordinary Eight Meridians. Moreover, he still preferred to rely on his sword to kill people. It was not his style to kill people from afar. All in all, he was very satisfied with his current state.

He wondered out loud, "I wonder what will happen if I continue absorbing life hearts? Will I sprout the twelfth leaf?"

Swoosh!

At this moment, Ji Liang landed in the forest.

Yu Shangrong smiled. "Old friend, I knew you'd come. What do you think about returning to the royal palace with me?"

Ji Liang neighed.

"Don't worry about master. Let's go," Yu Shangrong said as he leaped onto Ji Liang's back.

…

In the Indestructible Hall of Great Yuan's royal palace.

"Your Majesty, General Lu requests an audience," a eunuch said.

A middle-aged man dressed in a casual but fine robe was playing with something in his hand at this moment. He was none other than Mu Ertie, Great Yuan's emperor. Otherwise, known to others as the Black Emperor.

"Lu Qianshan?" Mu Ertie appeared confused. "Hasn't the Imperial edict been sent out? Why is looking for me?"

"Eunuch Zhang's people had informed us that Lu Qianshan openly disobeyed the Imperial edict and destroyed the Imperial edict," the eunuch said.

Mu Ertie grew unnaturally still when he heard these words. After a moment, he slowly turned around and looked at the eunuch who had prostrated himself on the ground. He walked to the dragon throne and took a seat before he said, "Pass down my orders: punish Lu Qianshan for the crime of disobeying the Imperial edict. Due to his meritorious deeds in the past, he won't be sentenced to death. Instead, he will be exiled to the Black Sea and is prohibited from ever returning to the capital."

"Understood," the eunuch replied before respectfully leaving the hall.

…

At this time, Eunuch Zhang led the way. The royal palace was very vast after all. However, only a few guards, eunuchs, and palace maids could be seen within a few thousand meters.

Lu Qianshan said bluntly, "Eunuch Zhang, you're walking abnormally slow today. Are you stalling for time?"

"You're thinking too much. We're already in the royal palace; what's the point of stalling for time?"

As soon as Eunuch Zhang finished speaking, four figures arrived from afar in just a blink of an eye.

"His Majesty has decreed that Lu Qianshan is to be sentenced to death for disobeying the Imperial edict and insubordination."

It was normal for orders to change after it was passed down from the top.

Lu Qianshan said with a frown, "I want to see His Majesty."

The four experts swooped down.

One of them said, "You're just a condemned criminal now. Please come with us."

Before Lu Qianshan could make a move, Lu Zhou raised his left hand to stop Lu Qianshan. Then, he pushed his right hand out. To save time, he decided to act instead.

Lu Qianshan was about to make a move.

To save time, Lu Zhou raised his left arm and placed it in front of him. He raised his right palm.

The Nine Cuts Hand Seal!

The golden palm seal sent the four experts flying in the air.

Lu Qianshan was rather calm at this moment. With the help from the Pavilion Master of the Evil Sk Pavilion, everything should be fine.

After regaining their footing, the four experts stood in a row in the air and said, "This is the royal palace. It's not a place where random people can behave as they please. Senior, you've come to the wrong place."

Lu Zhou said indifferently, "I'm here to see the Black Emperor."

"You want to see His Majesty?"

The four experts did not ask any other questions and charged toward Lu Zhou again.

Lu Zhou shook his head and sighed, "You don't know what's good for you."

Lu Zhou thought it would not be difficult to meet the emperor with Lu Qianshan's status. Who knew it would be so troublesome? In the end, he still had to resort to force. He flashed forward before launching a blue palm seal. His speed, boosted by Di Jiang's life heart, was so fast that the four experts only saw his afterimages.

In fact, Lu Zhou had launched four separate palm seals. However, due to his speed, it seemed to the others that he only launched a palm seal.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The four palm seals landed on the four experts respectively, shattering their protective energies and breaking their ribs before sending them flying back.

Lu Qianshan and Eunuch Zhang. "..."

Si Wuya, who had gotten used to scenes like this, said, "Since my master dares to enter the royal palace, do you think he'd be afraid of mediocre cultivators?"

'Mediocre cultivators? Those four are expert internal guards!' Eunuch Zhang's face was drenched in sweat. He hastily said, "P-please follow me. His Majesty is waiting for you in the Indestructible Hall…"

Lu Zhou ignored the four cultivators. He placed his hand on his back and continued following Eunuch Zhang to the Indestructible Hall.

When they were just 100 meters outside of the Indestructible Hall, everyone suddenly came to a stop.

A man dressed in brown armor, wielding a longsword, hovered 10 meters above the ground. His eyes were slightly closed, and his head was lowered; it looked as though he was asleep.

Lu Qianshan said, "He's the strongest expert in the royal palace, An Se."

"Strongest expert?" Lu Zhou looked at the swordsman who was hovering motionlessly in the air.

"He's the only expert in the capital who's allowed to carry a sword. Those four earlier can't be compared to An Se at all. Even at my peak, I was no match for him," Lu Qianshan said.

Lu Zhou asked, "How strong is he at his peak?"

"At his peak, his strength should at least be that of a Ten Chart expert," Lu Qianshan said, "However, that's not the terrifying thing. The most terrifying thing is An Se went from a One Chart cultivator to a Ten Chart expert in less than 300 years. He's known as the most promising cultivator in the black lotus domain. Many predicted he'll be able to surpass the Black Tower Council's Xia Zhengrong in another 300 years."