My disciples are all villains.

Since the condition of the abandoned Southern Kingdom was not good, everyone could only make do.

Lu Zhou surveyed his surroundings. Cracks snaked their way everywhere on the wall as the cold wind that carried the stench of dampness, decay, and the excrement of birds and beasts blew in the old house. Amidst the stench, one could smell a hint of the plants growing wild in nature.

Now that night had fallen, a chill permeated the air.

Lu Zhou was naturally not afraid of the cold as a cultivator. He brought out the Heavenly Writing scroll again.

"Ding! Obtained a new scroll of the Heavenly Writing. Would you like to use it?"

"Use."

The scroll in Lu Zhou's hand vanished into spots of lights before they entered his body.

As expected, when he looked at the Heavenly Writing interface, some of the previously unrecognizable scripts had turned into words he recognized.

"From a hundred fragrances of dawn, one can discern Qi and the difference in its viscosity. Even the slightest detail will not be missed. One can detect the smell, from any city or realm, as though one is there."

'What the hell are these?'

Lu Zhou studied the words for quite a while. Apart from these words, he could not understand the words below them.

The content of the earlier scrolls and the newest scroll of the Heavenly Writing had merged, increasing the length and the difficulty. Needless to say, the increased length and difficulty meant that the time it took for him to comprehend it would increase as well.

By now, Lu Zhou could vaguely guess the new Heavenly Writing Power, but without the supreme mystic power, he had no way to verify his guess.

He was not in a hurry to comprehend the new Heavenly Writing scroll. Instead, he looked at his item cards as he muttered to himself, "Since Ying Zhao is a rare intelligent Birth Chart Beasts, if I want to obtain its life heart, I'm afraid just strength alone won't be enough. I need to outsmart it as well…"

Nevertheless, Lu Zhou knew he still needed to increase his strength. The Black Tower Council and the White Tower Council were bound to make an appearance. Since an expert like Nangong Yutian had shown up, who knew how many other experts would show up? He needed to increase his strength to deal with the others.

Merit points: 230,600

After looking at his merit points, he felt he had gained a lot even though he had to use his Deadly Strike Card. He knew it was not good to use the item cards frequently, but he also knew it was not good to keep them for too long. The trick to using them to their maximum potential was by grasping the correct time to use them.

"Hmm, 33,000 merit points…" After mulling over it for a moment, Lu Zhou decided to buy three Deadly Strike Cards. The price hike after that was naturally within his expectations.

Following that, he brought his Synthesis Card out before stacking the four cards together.

"Synthesize."

In just a moment, an enhanced Deadly Strike Card appeared.

Lu Zhou nodded in satisfaction. Although the cost was slightly high, it could be useful during critical times. Moreover, with his current cultivation base, he no longer relied on the Deadly Strike Cards as much as he did when he was below the Eight-leaf stage. Therefore, the cost was still acceptable.

Subsequently, he brought out the Hades Ring and studied it for a moment. Through the system, he discovered the ring would not recognize an owner nor did it have a grade. Basically, it was just a tool to temporarily increase the user's strength. With this, he no longer paid attention to it.

He had been obtaining more and more weapons recently. However, since he could easily store them in the system, he did not worry about them at all.

Ordinary cultivators could never hope to possess the treasures he had. It would be considered amazing if they even possessed one or two of the many treasures he had.

Finally, Lu Zhou activated the Purple Glazed Ceramic and began to comprehend the Heavenly Writing. He was slightly looking forward to the next Heavenly Writing Power.

When he entered his meditative state, the scripts from the Heavenly Writing seemed to have come to life. A cool sensation seemed to permeate his body, making him feel very comfortable. At the same time, his body glowed with a faint blue light.

...

Time passed and soon it was dawn.

At this moment, Lu Zhou could clearly smell a strange fragrance. Apart from that, he could smell the soil and the remaining scent of the birds in the air. There were also the smell of trees, the smell of nature, a damp smell… All kinds of smells assaulted his nose.

Stimulated by these smells, Lu Zhou opened his eyes and touched his nose.

"Smell? Are all the Heavenly Writing Powers related to the five senses?"

Lu Zhou wanted to complain. 'Is this Heavenly Writing Power useful? Moreover, I have Bi An whose sense of smell is amazing. Is it necessary for me to master this skill?'

He sighed and tried to console himself that since Bi An was in the golden lotus domain and he was in the red lotus domain, this new power would come in handy since his other mounts like Di Jiang, Whitzard, and Ji Liang did not have this ability.

Following that, Lu Zhou closed his eyes and continued to meditate on the Heavenly Writing.

…

The sky was slowly brightening at this moment. The color of the sky in the east was like the underbelly of a fish.

In a rundown building without a roof.

Yu Zhenghai looked at the sky and sighed. "Second Junior Brother, did I commit any wrongs recently?"

Yu Shangrong, who was hovering half a meter above the ground, opened his eyes and said, "Ever since Eldest Senior Brother returned to the Evil Sky Pavilion, you've not committed any wrongs."

"Then why did master suddenly say that my apprenticeship is completed?" Yu Zhenghai had thought about this matter the entire night, but he still could not figure it out.

"Perhaps, it's because you've formed your Thousand Realms Whirling avatar. After all, he has so many other disciples to worry about. Naturally, there's also the possibility that it's because of your past schemes…" Yu Shangrong said with a faint smile on his face.

"..." Yu Zhenghai said, "Among our fellow disciples, is there anyone who didn't scheme behind master's back?"

"Ninth Junior Sister and Tenth Junior Sister," Yu Shangrong replied with a hint of smugness.

"..."

'I really can't get along with him!'

Yu Zhenghai sighed and looked at the foggy sky again.

Yu Shangrong said, "Eldest Senior Brother, why bother? It's not like master forced you to leave. It's better to stabilize your cultivation base and activate another life heart instead of thinking about useless things. There are two intermediate and two elementary life hearts here; you can choose first."

"No need. Since you're able to absorb a life heart's ability and energy, you can have them," Yu Zhenghai said, "I just formed the Thousand Realms Whirling avatar so I still need some time to stabilize it. I'm afraid it's not wise to activate the second Birth Chart in such a short time."

Yu Zhenghai was also not in a hurry to activate his second Birth Chart after experiencing the pain of activating his first Birth Chart. The pain was akin to being flayed with a knife.

"Four is a little too many for me. This intermediate life heart is beneficial to saber users…"

Yu Zhenghai no longer refused and caught it in his hand. Then, he asked, "Are you confident?"

"Of course." Yu Shangrong held a life heart that glowed with a faint green light. Then, he manifested his avatar and began to absorb the life heart. Ever since that time he discovered he could absorb life heart and even gain its ability without any bad side effects, he wanted to see what kind of change it would bring. Therefore, he was eager to continue absorbing life hearts.

…

Meanwhile, in the White Tower Council.

News of Nangong Yutian's shattered life stone shocked the high-ranking officials of the White Tower Council.

A man dressed in a long robe said grimly, "Tower Master, this matter definitely has something to do with the Black Tower Council. We have to act first to seize the advantage. We have to teach them a lesson. Perhaps, we can use their internal strife to our benefit."

At the head of the table that was dozens of meters long, a woman with long light blue hair that fell to the ground sat unmoving like still water.

At this moment, another person said, "Someone who's capable of killing Nangong Yutian has to be an expert. It has to be someone from the Black Tower Council."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"It's best to send someone to investigate this matter first. Ying Zhao is about to appear in the red lotus domain's Southern Kingdom. I don't think it's wise for us to fight the Black Tower Council for the Birth Chart Beast this time."

Someone asked, "Then are we not going to avenge Nangong Yutian?"

"Of course, we'll avenge him. However, we can take our time; we're not in a hurry."

"Tower Master, please make a decision!"