Chapter 14: No, Wait! It’s the Divine Fire Sword!

“This… this…”

Lu Zhiyun looked at Lin Shu, who was wearing a gloomy expression, and then at Wu Qinglong, who was stifling his laughter in the corner, not sure what to say.

Actually, she really wanted to laugh too!

No, no!

Be serious!

Don’t forget, the person across from her was an evil cultivator.

If she carelessly mocked him, she might suddenly vanish from Tianque Sect one day.

Right now, the most important thing was to make him realize that she was on his side.

Comfort him first and talk later.

“Uh, Senior Brother, I feel like sealing off Senior Brother’s version just like this is a bit too hasty, isn’t it?”

Anyone who had read “The Art of Speaking by Lu Zhiyun” would understand the depth in her words!

Her sentence stood firmly from Lin Shu’s perspective, speaking on his behalf.

It allowed him to intuitively feel her support!

A simple rhetorical question not only expressed her indignation at Lin Shu’s unfair treatment but also made her stance clear!

Come to think of it, Senior Brother Ye Bufan’s cultivation method was just a little disgusting, a little vulgar, a little despicable…

Apart from not seeming like a righteous sect, there really wasn’t much else wrong with it.

Lu Zhiyun was very satisfied with her answer, quietly raising her favorability with the evil cultivator.

“Senior Brother, Little Junior Sister said she hasn’t seen enough yet!”

Wu Qinglong said with a laugh.

“Eh! I-I-I-I didn’t mean that!”

Lu Zhiyun stammered in panic.

Senior Brother Wu, what are you doing!!!

With what he just said, didn’t her words sound like mockery?

In an instant, her words of comfort twisted in meaning—“That’s it?”

That’s it?

I thought it had to be something much more impressive to be banned!

Turns out it’s nothing special!

Face-to-face ridicule of an evil cultivator—did Lu Zhiyun have a death wish?

But… saying she hadn’t seen enough, did that mean there was more?

Lu Zhiyun couldn’t imagine how many other disgusting cultivation methods there might be.

She nervously glanced at Lin Shu, only to find that he didn’t care at all.

He simply pulled a few more memory stones from his sleeve.

“Take a look! These are all old stories now.”

Then, under Lu Zhiyun’s curious yet fearful gaze, several memory stones played their contents in turn.

In the images, Lu Zhiyun saw Tianque Sect’s overwhelming strength befitting a super-grade Sect, crushing the other Sects—though the wins were quite tragic to witness.

Watching the memory stones, Lu Zhiyun only remembered the opponents’ anguished wails.

For example:

“Heh! Your clones only have a third of your strength. Summon as many as you want, it won’t help!”

“What?! Why did your clone self-destruct? How can a Wood Root clone explode with the Explosion Effect of a Fire Root?!”

“No! Don’t come over! Don’t hug me! Ah—”

And another example: “Your water and fire roots are mutually exclusive. Even disciples like that are accepted—Tianque Sect still dares call itself a super-grade Sect?”

“Those Talismans of yours are just for show. They’re useless! Fire talismans? Go ahead, throw them at me!”

“How can ‘evaporation’ deal 1.5 times the damage? Who taught you that?!”

***

Afterward, during interviews with those Tianque Sect disciples, they all used Ye Bufan’s Template—

“It’s all thanks to Senior Brother! His teachings enlightened us. Without him, we wouldn’t be here today. We offer our loyalty to Senior Brother!”

Lin Shu had smoked the whole night and still couldn’t figure out where the problem lay.

He vaguely remembered that he only told the junior brother who liked “clones”: “Junior brother, your clones drain too much spiritual sense. Having them do too many complex tasks will only trip you up.”

“And besides, the Fire Root and Gold Root powers aren’t being utilized at all. It’d be better to have the clones focus on single tasks and use your mental energy elsewhere.”

What Lin Shu really wanted was for him to try making clones with different attributes to fight simultaneously.

Who knew the kid would develop “living suicide bombers”?

Those clones truly only did one thing—“Rush forward, grab the enemy, and wait for self-destruction.”

Then there was that junior sister with mutually exclusive roots.

Lin Shu had seen her troubled over her self-created method’s conflict, so he simply designed a secret realm in his notes: clear three stars to succeed.

His intention was for her to learn to fuse the two root attributes together.

Who would have thought she’d discover something new—in a short time, if you tagged an enemy with different elements, you could deal different damage multipliers.

So the girl abandoned her self-created technique and started studying Talismans, traveling the world to seek all the different elemental reactions.

Oh, by the way, rumor has it she’s found seven elements so far.

The memory stones ended, leaving Lu Zhiyun’s mind in a daze.

No wonder Wu Qinglong said, “Behind great power lies the distortion of human nature and the collapse of morality,” and no wonder “Senior Brother’s version” got banned.

Wasn’t this basically a “Manual of Evil Cultivator Inspiration”?

If it spread freely for disciples to watch, Lu Zhiyun couldn’t imagine what would happen.

In reality, what Lu Zhiyun didn’t know was that, from then on, Tianque Sect started a new class: Dao of Morality and Law.

New disciples who wanted to watch Lin Shu’s annotated “Sanqing Unity Art” had to first complete that course.

No one complained about this; all the disciples said they’d study hard and strive to use their disgusting self-created spells within the law!

“Little Junior Sister, after watching, do you still want me to teach you?”

Lin Shu asked.

He sometimes wondered if the problem was really with him. If his little junior sister was willing to trust him, then he definitely wouldn’t let his other junior brothers’ and sisters’ “tragedies” repeat with Lu Zhiyun.

“I… I do!”

After a moment of confusion, Lu Zhiyun agreed without hesitation.

This was her chance to get close to an evil cultivator—she had to seize it!

“Then… huh?”

Just as Lin Shu was about to agree, a panel popped up before him.

[Agree directly. Root Quality +10,000]

[Refuse, and say, “Do you even deserve it?” Speed +10,000]

[Crush the memory stones, dump them into the teapot and make your junior brother drink it, then turn and say, “Just don’t end up like them!” Random Attribute +1]

Seeing Wu Qinglong’s face turning bright red from holding back his laughter, Lin Shu, for the first time, didn’t doubt the system’s advice and followed it straight away.

“Senior Brother! Why are you crushing the memory stones?! I still need them to promote your glorious achievements!”

“Wait! I’m not drinking that! Gulp gulp gulp…”

Watching his junior brother get drunk and pass out after drinking the tea, Lin Shu was thoroughly satisfied.

That was the right move!

Almost ruined my reputation again!

Now there was only…

Lin Shu turned, smiling at Lu Zhiyun, and said, “Just don’t end up like them!”

Looking at Wu Qinglong, who was now unconscious, Lu Zhiyun trembled.

Why did Senior Brother suddenly crush the memory stones and make Wu Senior Brother drink them?

Was he destroying evidence?

And that sentence—what did it really mean?

Lu Zhiyun began to analyze the text.

Lin Shu’s “them” definitely wasn’t referring to Wu Qinglong, so it must mean the senior brothers in the memory stones.

Don’t be like them…

Did it mean not to create such disgusting cultivation methods?

No!

That can’t be!

Lu Zhiyun, don’t be so superficial!

He’s an evil cultivator!

That can’t be what he meant!

A moment later, Lu Zhiyun understood Lin Shu’s real meaning.

So that’s it!

That sentence was actually left half-said, with one word deliberately omitted!

What Lin Shu really meant was, “Just don’t end up like them (and let me down)!”

Lin Shu clearly thought the self-created techniques of his senior brothers and sisters weren’t even worth his attention, so he was hinting that she’d better surpass them!

Lu Zhiyun had never thought that, one day, in order to gain the recognition of an evil cultivator, she’d have to invent her own evil cultivator techniques…

Now, there was no turning back—she could only grit her teeth and agree.

“I! I definitely won’t let Senior Brother down!”

Lu Zhiyun almost said it with her face flushed red.

For the sake of her investigation plan, she had to surpass her senior brothers and sisters!

Inventing new techniques?

Lu Zhiyun could definitely do it!

Lin Shu nodded in satisfaction—this junior sister was really on the right track.

No wonder she was the flower bud of Qingluan Peak!

The future was promising.

Those other junior brothers and sisters had all misunderstood and twisted his intentions, but this little junior sister was so pure and innocent—she couldn’t be corrupted by them.

Without paying any attention to the notification for [Comprehension +1], Lin Shu prepared to help Lu Zhiyun make her cultivation plan.

“By the way, Little Junior Sister, I’ve checked your spiritual roots, and it seems you have a variant root…”

“Yes, Senior Brother. My roots are fire, thunder, and sword,” Lu Zhiyun replied.

Sword Root was a mutated derivative of the Gold Root.

After listening to her, Lin Shu felt something was off.

“No! It’s thunder, fire, and sword!”

Lu Zhiyun was puzzled.

Was there any difference?