"Suggestion? What kind of suggestion?" Zhou Bao was a little surprised while glancing at Wang She. There was a sense of distrust in his eyes. Subconsciously, he felt that Wang She would probably offer him a lousy idea which might damage his interest, so he had better be cautious.
"Stop looking at me like that. You're very strong. It's okay if you cause some trouble. Besides, you're intelligent and thoughtful. You can kill two birds with one stone."
"What do you want me to do?" Zhou Bao raised his eyebrows and looked at Wang She. He still did not trust him.
"Your strength is quite powerful, but the result of this battle will never be circulated. And if not, then people will think that your cultivation is at Level Seven and your combat capability is at the peak of Level Eight. And with this kind of power at your age, it will make a sensation in the entire world. It qualifies you to marry the emperor's favorite daughter, but that's all, and you can't even be sure about that. What's more, you've humiliated Jin Emperor Yan Yuntian. Given his personality, he won't agree with you marrying his daughter unless you give him some pressure," Wang She said confidently.
"Well, tell me, who provoked you?" Zhou Bao asked while laughing.
Wang She's face flushed with awkwardness. He said, "It can't be considered a provocation. It's just that we don't see eye to eye. Mingyi School will be the best target for you to cause trouble."
Zhou Bao asked, "You seem to have many grievances against the school, but why do you want to destroy it?"
"Fighting against the school isn't only my problem, but also yours, because both Mingyi School and Yan Yuntian are one group who represent the orthodox power. As far as I know, the school has expended many efforts to destroy the bloodline of the Fiery Eyes in the past!"
Zhou Bao reacted very seriously. His eyes narrowed as he said, "What do you mean? Am I the one who must cause trouble for the school?"
"Haha. That depends, but I think something must be prepared. Doing it earlier can weaken their strength, and you'll benefit from it. You already possess the combat capability of the Mysterious Realm at the age of 17, but you should know that cultivation and combat capability are different and cannot be compared. However, you're destined to become an immortal in the future. At that time, do you think you can conceal your Fiery Eyes? Once they know that you possess the Fiery Eyes and have become an immortal at such a young age, they won't let you go. Now, you should make plans and be well-prepared in order to save yourself some room to escape instead of fighting against them later. Otherwise, you will only have two choices by then. One is to be killed by them and the other is to stand on the same side as the Immortal Palace. I believe that you won't want either of these two choices!"
"Become an immortal? What do you mean?" Zhou Bao heard those words for the first time and was somewhat curious.
Wang She said, "When your cultivation breaks through Level Nine and enters the Mysterious Realm, you can achieve the Individual Immortal Karma Rank and become an immortal!" He added, "That phase is my lifelong pursuit!"
"The Individual Immortal Karma Rank!"
Zhou Bao had heard about it from Green Spirit. However, he knew nothing about becoming an immortal.
"That's interesting! Can obtaining the Individual Immortal Karma Rank make a person become an immortal? We must get the Genuine Immortal Karma Rank at that time, or else we can't be listed."
"Cannot be listed as an immortal?" Zhou Bao's expression slightly changed. However, since Wang She was right in front of him, it was inconvenient for him to communicate with Green Spirit. Thus, he forced himself to smile and said, "Breaking through to the Mysterious Realm is a thing for the future. We'd better talk about what I should do right now!"
"Then do me a favor!" Wang She smiled and relaxed when he saw Zhou Bao's expression had softened. "I want to do something, but Mingyi School will definitely stop me by using many people. Besides, I can't get any assistance from Tian Long Taoism. Originally, I intended to get Wu Shuang and Lei to help me in private. However, since you're so powerful, I don't need to bother them anymore!"
"Be specific!"
"I'll go and get a corpse there in 10 days. I need you to challenge the experts on that day and distract their attention from me!"
"Why do you want to get a corpse there?" Zhou Bao blinked as he looked at Wang She. He added, "It won't take long!"
"Mingyi School is one of the Three Great Sects in the Great Jin and has numerous experts. Moreover, guarded by several senior and sophisticated experts, the corpse is placed in an important place. If you don't display your true strength to draw them out, I'll be really inconvenienced!"
"Could it be that you're going to dig up the ancestral graves of that school?"
"The school has no ancestral graves. It only has mausoleums of the sages of every generation."
"But digging up their ancestral graves is still equal to it!" Zhou Bao exclaimed.
Wang She was helpless. He said, "Well, sort of!"
"The school will have a lot of animosity toward me if I help you!"
"The animosity between you and the school can't be solved if you still have your eyes. Your action to cause it trouble is the preparation for the future. What's more, you have a justified reason to cause trouble to it!"
"And what's the reason?"
"Obviously, it's about your marriage. You need to put some pressure on Yan Yuntian. More importantly, there must be people from the school among the 10 who besieged you. I'll investigate their identities for you. Then you will have enough reason to attack."
"How will you investigate?"
"I have my ways. You only need to do me that favor!"
"If there are people from the school who really are involved in that case, I won't mind making trouble for it!"
"Within three days or, at most, five days, I'll get the evidence into your hands," said the overjoyed Wang She.
Swoosh, Swoosh, Swoosh!
Wheeze, Wheeze, Wheeze!
Zhou Bao sat with legs crossed on the bed. He put his hands on his knees as some light smoke surrounded him.
The room was small. There was nothing strange inside except the bed that he sat on. Nevertheless, if you were to put a flat iron griddle in the black fog, you would be surprised to find that it would melt like a candle.
Inside the black smoke was a sinister and horrible monster. It wandered around in the fog. Suddenly, Zhou Bao turned his hands over and five strands of scarlet Qi shot out from the five fingers of his left hand. The Qi hovered around the black fog and they fused together instantly, transforming into a Nine-headed Bird!
After the Nine-headed Bird had taken shape, Zhou Bao suddenly opened his eyes and shot two red rays inside its head. Then, some changes began to take place in the newly-formed monster. Scarlet Qi was surging and flashes of red and flickering lightning were faintly visible in the Qi. Finally, all the Qi unified and transformed into an abstruse Chinese character that had many strokes. It gave people a sense of desolation and simplicity but it looked kind of strange. If it was observed carefully, it could be found that it was surrounded by an obscure black flow, which was very unpleasant to the eye.
"Whir!"
Zhou Bao felt deeply relieved when the character came into being. He waved his hands, only to see that the character collapsed suddenly. It turned into a red vortex and entered the place between his eyebrows.
"That's good! Pretty good! I didn't expect that you could practice the turtledove's Divine Sense named Soul Cutting so quickly. However, I'm not that surprised. You have the Heavenly Magic Eyes. You're destined to infuse your special eyes into the turtledove's claw, one of the Nine Changes of Heavenly Birds, and practice Soul Cutting successfully. Haha!"
Green Spirit showed up and laughed loudly when he saw that the black vortex had entered Zhou Bao's eyebrows.
"The Soul Cutting Skill is weird. Although I haven't used it to fight against my opponents, I can feel its place of horror. If a Level Eight or Level Nine expert is hit by it, his spirit will be greatly damaged. Moreover, he'll lose combat capability and his spirit can even be destroyed, leaving him an empty corpse. It's so horrifying!" Zhou Bao inhaled the black fog around him into his body and his countenance became solemn. "This Divine Sense is very sinister. If I use it too often, something bad might happen."
"Hey, kid. Don't worry. It indeed is insidious, but it's not easy for you to practice it to perfection. It's especially practiced to harm the primordial spirit. Ordinary people, especially those below the Mysterious Realm, can only comprehend the divine thoughts. The spirit and body are closely connected. Under the obstruction of the body, the power of the Soul Cutting Skill will be weakened greatly. At least it can injure others' spirits and let them lose combat capability temporarily. It won't kill them. You can display its true power only if you have become an immortal. Its real effect can be manifested only when everyone attacks each other with Dharma power. Therefore, you don't need to be anxious!"
"Is that true?"
"Of course it's true. Do you think that the human body is so vulnerable that our spirit can be attacked casually?" Green Spirit laughed. "For you, the Soul-cutting Skill is quite powerful. Almost every Level Eight and Level Nine expert can feel the divine thoughts. However, their divine thoughts are too weak to protect themselves. If you use the Soul Cutting Skill to attack them, although it may not dissipate their spirit, it can severely injure their spirit and suppress their newly-born divine thoughts. This is the best application of the Soul-cutting Skill!"
"Sounds good!" Zhou Bao was excited after he heard its magical effects from Green Spirit. He added, "That's right. I forgot to ask you about one thing earlier. What is Divine Sense? It seems to be different from special techniques and secret skills!"
"Yeah, they're different. Unlike Divine Sense, special techniques and secret skills are the application methods of the essence of the world and one's own pneuma. You may notice that Divine Sense doesn't rely on the essence of the world or one's Real Essence Internal Qi. It refers to the enlightenment of the Dharma in the world. You can directly use the Law of Heaven and Earth to get the effect you want if you have comprehended it thoroughly. The big talisman you saw just now is the application of the Law of Heaven and Earth. You can condense a big talisman when you comprehend a kind of Dharma in the world to a certain degree. At that time, you can do things that are beyond the imagination of ordinary people!" Green Spirit then drifted toward Zhou Bao. "Your Great Fusion Technique is the same. I believe you have noticed that a talisman is concealed in your Gang Qi when you are using it."
"That's right. I discovered that I trigger the power of this talisman every time I use the Great Fusion Technique. But I have no enlightenment of Dharma, so how am I able to use it?"
"Application and enlightenment are two concepts that are totally different. You can apply a skill without comprehending it. Take the Celestial Device for example; most people don't know how to create it, but they know how to use it. The reasons are the same." Green Spirit continued, "You just need to know how to use Divine Sense. As for comprehending it, you can give it a try when your cultivation reaches the phase of Human Immortal."
"Human Immortal?" Zhou Bao blinked his eyes and laughed awkwardly. It was too soon to think about that.
"The Nine Changes of Heavenly Birds can evolve into nine Divine Senses. I've just practiced one of them. There are eight left. Perhaps..."
"Don't even think about it! You can practice the Soul Cutting Skill successfully just because of your Heavenly Magic Eyes. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to succeed in 30 or even 50 years!"
"Then why do you let me do it?"
"Compared to the trouble that your strange fist intent brought, 30 or 50 years is nothing!" Green Spirit said.
Zhou Bao also got a headache when he thought about the Universe Fist Intent that he practiced.
Now, his cultivation had reached a state that was beyond his imagination and his fist intent became much more powerful as well. The power his fists could display now was way stronger than his two Big Iron Hammers. However, at the same time, he could not control the enormous fist intent easily anymore. He understood that it was because his cultivation had increased too fast compared to his perception and comprehension of the punching skill. The only thing he could do was practice his dull punching skill again and again. In this way, he hoped that he could strengthen his perception of the punching skill and control his fist intent.
Moreover, even if he had the perception of the punching skill and could control his fist intent, it would not last long because his fist intent expanded without limitation. Though it was a simulation of the universe, it still was a universe. The universe was infinite, and so was his fist intent. He had to comprehend and practice it over and over. Only in this way could he get his punching skill to keep pace with the expansion speed of his fist intent and truly control his punching skill.
"I've truly found big trouble for myself!" Zhou Bao narrowed his eyebrows as he thought of it.
"Doing some closed-door training is necessary, but your knowledge and future achievements will be limited if you practice it at home all your life!" Green Spirit continued, "Your cultivation and strength are quite powerful, but the cultivation of your mind can't keep pace with your strength. It's the same as your punching skill not being able to control your fist intent. What you need to do is temper yourself in the secular world immediately rather than stay at home!"
"I got it. Indeed, I have to go out to do something. But it will depend on Wang She's efficiency. It's already the third day. He said that he can find evidence for me so I can cause trouble for Mingyi School. I wonder if he's found any yet."
Wang She was effective. He threw a pile of portraits in front of Zhou Bao the next day.
"Take a look. Did any of them give you trouble on that day?"
Zhou Bao unfolded the portraits. His expression changed because there were two Level Eight experts who had besieged him among the eight portraits.
"Who are they?"
"They are the eight First Elders of Mingyi School!" Wang She smiled as he saw Zhou Bao's expression. He added, "It has a total of eight First Elders. Six of them are Level Eight experts while the two are Level Nine experts. These are their portraits!"
"These portraits are quite vivid!" Zhou Bao's mouth twitched. He took out two of them and said, "Are they truly Elders of Mingyi School? Don't lie to me!"
"Haha! Take the two portraits to Mingyi School and you'll know for sure!" Wang She laughed insidiously. He added, "The school claims itself to be prestigious and upright. They will surely confess everything when they see these portraits. As long as they admit it, you'll have a reason to make trouble!"
"Humph, I'll surely kick up a fuss if they were the ones that besieged me!" A chilling light flashed through Zhou Bao's eyes. He continued, "I'm not willing to swallow my grievances!"
He was furious. His anger rushed to his forehead from his Dantian as he thought of those experts who had besieged him.
No matter what purpose Wang She had, the two people in the portraits had besieged him. He had never seen them before and they had no enmity toward each other. However, they had tried to kill him in such a way. At last, he knew who they were. If he did not take revenge and regain his reputation, the anger in his heart would control him. And if the madness stayed for too long, his heart would be defective and his future practice would be impeded. Therefore, he had to take revenge personally.
"It seems that I must help you this time!"
"Haha. The only explanation is that I'm fortunate, but the school isn't." Wang She smiled. A sharp Qi Power appeared deep in his eyes. He added, "Junior Leopard, I'm ready to make Mingyi School suffer this time!"
"You can do whatever you like, that's your business. The thing that I want to do is simple. I just want to nab those two guys!"
"What will you do after that?"
"I'll kill them of course. Haven't you told me to weaken their strength? It's a good opportunity for that. And aside from them, I might kill other Mingyi School Elders."
"It seems that you're quite confident."
"Of course I'm confident!" Zhou Bao replied. He glanced at Wang She and added, "I know that you have some cards up your sleeve. But Chief Wang, I can kill you if we fight each other. Believe it or not!"
"Really?" Wang She's pupils shrunk and a cold spirit emitted from his body. He stared at Zhou Bao and suddenly began to laugh.
"Hahaha. Fine, that's pretty good! It's good to have confidence. However, it's better to have the corresponding strength. Boy, I wholeheartedly hope that you can become an immortal quickly!"
Wang She left while laughing.
"Boy, you're provoking him purposely!"
"I'm just testing him!" Zhou Bao narrowed his eyes. "He knows most of my secrets. Although he has no evil intention toward me, I'd better be careful and guard myself. Hence, I warned him that he'd better think twice if he intends to take advantage of me, lest I'll be harmed by him."
"He should have no evil intention toward you!" Green Spirit said. "You're destined to fight against his enemies because of your Fiery Eyes. The more powerful you are, the happier he is. I think that is the reason why he has spared every effort to help you. Some animosities are acquired but some are destined. Like you and his enemies, you're destined to fight each other because of your inborn Fiery Eyes. Therefore, he helps himself by helping you. It's beneficial for him to cultivate a strong enemy for his enemies."
"Therefore, he will not hesitate to reveal my secrets when I reach a certain phase. He can sit and acquire the benefits by letting me and his enemies fight against each other!" Zhou Bao said coldly.
"That is his intention. But you don't need to let his purpose be achieved so easily!" Green Spirit said. "Jin Emperor Yan Yuntian originally intended to make you his puppet. But you got out of his control before he could react. Wang She is the same as Yan Yuntian. As long as you enhance your strength quickly and control him before he begins to take advantage of you, maybe he can be your man by then."
"Be my man?" Zhou Bao doubted and shook his head. "I don't have that idea. My greatest wish is to practice and enhance my strength constantly rather than forming cliques and factions."
"You'd better not. I'm afraid that your mind and practice will be influenced and linger on authority when you have acquired the benefits it has brought to you." Green Spirit said gently, "Thus, you must keep a clear mind at all times. The ways of practice are infinite. Only those who can endure loneliness can find the real Great Way!"
"You don't need to tell me those general principles, I've heard them all many times!" Zhou Bao waved his hands. He forcefully put this verbose guy into the green lamp and began to meditate.
Over the next three days, he stayed at home to get familiar with the Soul Cutting Skill, to comprehend Real Essence Mystery, and to fill the Real Dragon's Nine Acupoints with Internal Qi.
The Real Dragon's Nine Acupoints was his biggest advantage. Ordinary people only had one Dantian, so the Internal Qi that they could store was limited. However, he had nine Dantians. Adding on to the Real Dragon's Nine Acupoints that he had opened, he could store much more Internal Qi because the Internal Qi that one acupoint could store was several times more than one Dantian could.
In this world, even a Level Nine expert could only have the opportunity to refine acupoints after his cultivation had broken through to the Mysterious Realm if he did not have the lucky chance like Zhou Bao did. The capacity of his Dantian would not enlarge either. If he wanted to enhance his strength, he could only work on upgrading his Internal Qi's quality and his cultivation.
Zhou Bao was totally different from them. He had refined nine acupoints which were equal to nine Dantians and each Dantian was several times larger than that of ordinary people. If one likened a Dantian of theirs to a pond, Zhou Bao's Dantian and acupoint would be a gigantic lake. And these nine Dantians formed a huge Dantian that could be likened to a boundless sea. The result was that Zhou Bao's Internal Qi was immense and thick even compared to that of experts at the peak of Level Nine or the Demi-Mysterious Realm. The quantity of his Internal Qi was much greater compared to others and could be said to be infinite. Besides that, because of the Demonic Fire of the Dragon Chimera, the quality of his Internal Qi was equal to Real Essence Energy. Therefore, though his cultivation and body were at Level Eight, his real combat capability was equal to that of experts in the Mysterious Realm. Frankly speaking, he was a freak.
Of course, he could not be called an immortal because although the power of his Demonic Fire Internal Qi was equal to that of Real Essence, it was not real Real Essence after all. His Internal Qi could not display the superb applications of Real Essence yet.
Therefore, he could not be called an Individual Immortal of the Mysterious Realm now.
Taking a lot of time and energy to fill it with the gigantic acupoints was the consequence that his profound and thick Internal Qi brought. Although these nine acupoints accelerated his recovery speed, it still took him three days to fill all of it.
Time elapsed quickly when he practiced hard. Three days passed by in just a moment. Today was the sixth day and, in four days, it would be time to set out to help Wang She.
The General Yard of Mingyi School was located in Western Capital. However, all the people knew that quiet and poetic small yard merely was a branch location. It received ordinary guests, honored guests, and admirers. The real General Yard of Mingyi School was located in a suburb of Western Capital. It was a giant building complex which was equal to a small city. It was called Mingyi Lane.
Although it was not that prosperous compared to Western Capital, it did not pale in comparison to other large cities around the world.
Of course, as the General Yard of Mingyi School and the headquarters of the leader of upright people, Mingyi Lane had its own characteristics. It had no brothel.
Mingyi School was one of the top schools in the martial arts world. It had numerous experts and emphasized literacy as well. There were countless bookstores on the streets. The smell of ink floated in the air. Even the peddlers who sold wonton on the road would say some famous sayings when they were bargaining with you. They might discuss literature with you and treat you with free wonton when they were happy.
There were few citizens there. Most of them were nominal disciples or people who were closely related to the disciples of the school. Only these people could live on Mingyi Lane.
Though citizens there were few, the tourists were innumerable. Among these tourists, there were martial arts practitioners and many scholars. Aside from the strong fighters, Mingyi School had knowledgeable scripture masters as well. These scripture masters and philosophy masters always went to some academies on Mingyi Lane to teach lessons. Therefore, the scholars outnumbered the martial arts practitioners on Mingyi Lane because not every martial arts practitioner could have the chance to be a disciple of the school. However, every scholar could listen to the lessons of true knowledgeable masters if they patiently waited on Mingyi Lane for about half a month. Hence, Mingyi Lane was more attractive to scholars than martial arts practitioners.
Scholars belonged to a special group in this world. They might have had no strength, but they were the ones in power. In the authority system of the world, scholars possessed great power, which permeated every aspect and every corner. Their power was much greater than the practitioners'. Therefore, many times practitioners needed to behave according to the attitude of the scholars. However, the most powerful practitioner was able to control the greatest power. When one's cultivation broke through to Level Seven, he could disdain most of the world's laws and make the scholars conduct themselves according to his attitude. But at the bottom, how many people could reach Level Seven among those innumerable people?
Therefore, the scholars belonged to a strong group in this world. Even some well-known families and martial arts schools were afraid of these short-lived and weak scholars.
Early in the morning, a man was slowly walking along the official road of Mingyi Lane.
He was a 17- or 18-year-old teenager who was handsome but somewhat thin. The smile on his face was hardly visible. He was empty-handed and wore a cyan robe that was made from ordinary materials, so he looked like a poor scholar. No one knew how he had appeared on the official road leading to Mingyi Lane. But at the moment, there were few people. Hence, no one cared about him.
The cyan-robed teen was Zhou Bao, who had hurried to Western Capital from the northwest region. Though he was strong, it still took him a great deal of time to reach here.
"Mingyi Lane is right in front of me!"
Looking up, he could see Mingyi Lane and the giant wall of Western Capital clearly.
"Should I find a place to take a rest? I've been on the road for several days. Chi Hengxing should have arrived at Western Capital and reported my words to Yan Yuntian. I wonder what kind of expression His Majesty will have. Will he marry off Yan Fei-er to me? Will he suppress me again? However, I've shown such powerful strength that there should be no one to suppress me given the power of the Jin Royalty. As for the orthodox strength behind him, Wang She said that they won't show up, what do you think?"
"The world has changed, but I can roughly guess what orthodox strength means. Since the person who achieves the Individual Immortal Karma Rank can be an immortal in this era, the so-called orthodox strength will not exhaust much of their strength because of you!" Green Spirit kept communicating with Zhou Bao in spirit. "Boy, you must get involved in this world and experience a lot if you want to integrate into it and know its secrets. So, it's right to come here whether they'll show up or not. Don't worry, your strength is sufficient to handle any risks in this world. Don't worry about the presence of experts in the Mysterious Realm from Mingyi School. They won't cause you trouble over trivial things!"
Zhou Bao nodded in agreement. He was very interested in becoming an immortal. However, Green Spirit seemed to worry about it. Therefore, he never told him anything in detail about being an immortal.
He moved another distance and Mingyi Lane was now in sight. It was the location of the General Yard of Mingyi School. Unlike Western Capital, it had no city wall.
If anyone thought carefully, he would find that the so-called city wall was useless especially for martial arts practitioners that were above Level Seven.
"What a strong spirit!" Zhou Bao stopped at a place that was 1,000 feet from Mingyi Lane because he felt a mighty spirit that was obscure right in front of him.
"It's a powerful formation!" Zhou Bao felt the psywave of Green Spirit, who was somewhat restless. "The entire Mingyi Lane is covered by a giant formation. Once it is launched, it will be extremely powerful. It's superior to your Yin and Yang Dust Formation. However, unlike your formation, it's complete. Therefore, it's way powerful than your formation!"
"Damn! What should I do?" Zhou Bao's eyes twitched. It was evident that there were no easy things in the world. Mingyi Lane was the nest of Mingyi School. How could it not be tightly guarded?
"Wang She wanted to get me to cause trouble in the nest of Mingyi School! Am I that stupid to listen to him? Can it be that he thought I could fight against so many experts and break the formation as I leave?" thought Zhou Bao.
"Let me take a look!" Green Spirit turned into a cyan fox and flashed away. After a while, he came back and said, "Right. It's a formation. Once it is launched, you'll have no chance to escape. It's way more powerful than the formation that we met last time. But don't worry, they can't launch it!"
"Why not?"
"Hehe. This is a great formation!" Green Spirit laughed. He continued, "There's a giant dragon vein under Western Capital that has great fate. Once the formation is launched, it will require the essence of the world within a radius of 10,000 kilometers and the fate of this dragon vein. Even in antiquity times, such a formation was used to guard the sect. It is only unleashed to eliminate powerful enemies when the school encounters risks of destruction. But you're coming alone to cause trouble instead of to destroy the school. So how can they launch it?"
"Are you serious?"
"Why would I deceive you? Once it is launched, neither of us can escape!" Green Spirit was a little bit angry as he added, "If you don't destroy the foundation of the school and don't take it too far, they won't launch it!"
"How about digging up their sages' mausoleum? Can that be counted as destroying their foundation?" Zhou Bao asked strangely.
"No, actually not." Green Spirit shook his head. "Wang She surely knows about the existence of the formation. He must understand that Mingyi School won't launch it over this matter. Otherwise, how could he dare to come here and plan to steal corpses?"
"Then I should have no more worries!" Zhou Bao stepped into the coverage of the formation. "Let me see how powerful this so-called one of the three greatest sects is!"
"What are you going to do? Are you planning to go to Mingyi School and cause trouble directly?"
"No, no, no. Why should I cause trouble in the General Yard of Mingyi School directly? I'm not going to dig up tombs!" Zhou Bao shook his head. "Sometimes, there is no need to do it directly!"
"Then what will you do?"
"Wait and see!" Zhou Bao wore a mean smile and went directly to Mingyi Lane.
Mingyi Lane had no walls, so naturally, it had no city gate. There was only a tall archway, above which was a plaque that read "be sensible and righteous".
This place was named Mingyi Lane because of this large archway.
There were few soldiers guarding the archway. Thus, everyone could freely enter Mingyi Lane.
Zhou Bao arrived there very early, few people were on the street at that time. Moreover, he dressed casually, just like a good-looking but poor scholar. Hence, few people paid attention to him. He went directly to the main street of Mingyi Lane.
There were few pedestrians but some of the early risers had already awakened, especially businessmen. Some shops that sold breakfast were already open. A Chinese pancake store had ignited their fire to make cakes and peddlers who sold wonton began to peddle on the street.
Zhou Bao had never been to Mingyi Lane. So on the way, he glanced around as if he was looking for something. Those who sold breakfast thought that he was going to buy food and began to greet him.
He sat down in front of a restaurant and bought a bowl of beancurd and two fried dough sticks, eating them directly outside of the restaurant.
That small restaurant had only one table. Though it was early, many people had already gotten up by now. Since a man occupied the table, Zhou Bao could only sit outside the restaurant. However, he did not mind it as it was good to eat while enjoying the scenery of Mingyi Lane.
"Young Master, are you going to the capital city for the imperial examination?"
The talkative store owner thought that he was a scholar who had come to the capital city to take the imperial examination because he looked civilized and gentle.
"Haha. I'm not coming to take the test but to be an examiner."
"To be an examiner?" The store owner was confounded. But before he could understand, other guests had arrived.
"Boy, something is wrong!" Green Spirit suddenly sensed something and began to communicate with Zhou Bao in spirit.
"Yeah, I feel it too." Zhou Bao narrowed his eyes. At the very moment, he sensed several strong spirits that had suddenly appeared on Mingyi Lane. These were special spirits of Level Seven experts who practiced Gang Qi. They did not cover their spirits at all. Zhou Bao was confused and he asked, "Are experts of Mingyi School born in this way? They've gotten used to the environment they've lived in but don't care about whether other's being able to bear it?"
The spirit of a Level Seven expert was quite powerful. Ordinary people whose spiritual minds were blunt might not sense it from a distance. But if it was a Level Three practitioner whose mind had been tempered, his spiritual mind would be stronger than that of ordinary people. This kind of Junior Master could easily feel the spirit of any Level Seven expert. Moreover, the spirits of experts possessed powerful coercion. Hence, they did not need to fight but just released their spirits to completely suppress their opponents when facing masters of martial arts. Of course, Zhou Bao was an exception.
Generally speaking, only when confronting enemies and encountering special needs would experts release their spirits lest they frighten others.
There were many martial arts practitioners on Mingyi Lane now and most of them were Level Four or Level Five Junior Masters. All of them gathered here and were able to sense the experts' spirits. What did these experts mean by releasing their spirits?
Could it be that they intentionally pressured these Junior Masters to temper their minds?
No way. Even if it were so, there was no need for about 20 experts to release their spirits all at the same time. Zhou Bao sensed it carefully and found that there were 17 strong spirits, among which two spirits were very familiar to him. They were his targets for this trip as well.
"Humph. Wang She is right. These two guys did come from Mingyi School. I haven't come here in vain. But I didn't expect there to be so many experts on Mingyi Lane. It seems that I must really be cautious!"
Zhou Bao murmured secretly. Suddenly, he heard a cry and as he looked up, he saw a pale-faced Level Four Junior Master squatting on the ground, tightly hugging his chest. It was evident that experts' spirits had suppressed him.
Soon afterward, this same kind of situation happened to other people surrounding him. He saw that these strong spirits had suppressed innumerable Junior Masters very clearly.
"What happened? Does the school know that I've come here to cause them trouble and, thus, puts pressure on me?" He thought of another possibility.
"No!" The spirits suddenly combined as one. It did not have the same coercion from earlier, but it became more heavy and imposing. The atmosphere of the entire Mingyi Lane changed all of a sudden. It had an imposing and boundless atmosphere similar to Western Capital.
"Ding! Ding! Ding...!" 18 distant rings suddenly echoed above Mingyi Lane.
Those sounds were distant and ear-pleasing.
"Today seems to be special, otherwise, there wouldn't be so many strange things!" Zhou Bao gently sipped a mouthful of beancurd. He glanced at the highest ground of Mingyi Lane, the Mingyi Tower, with interest. It was three to four miles away from him. He noticed that atop the tower, a scholar wearing a long robe was ringing the over-10-ton copper bell.
"Boss, what special day is it today?" Zhou Bao asked the restaurant owner who stood at the door. As the latter looked in the direction of Mingyi School, the location of the General Yard, jealousy could be easily seen on his face.
"Haha. You must be an outsider just arriving on Mingyi Lane. Besides that, you're not a martial arts practitioner!"
Zhou Bao smiled and asked, "Really? How did you figure that out?"
"That's easy, for today is a good day for His Excellency, the Man of Honor, Ji Zhongtang, who is becoming an Elder of Mingyi School. You would know that if you were a martial arts practitioner because the news has spread around the martial arts world. The people around here also know about it, so I guess you must be a foreign scholar!" The boss smiled.
"Is it the Man of Honor Ji Zhongtang, the chivalrous man who killed his son and wife?" Zhou Bao raised his eyebrows and asked sarcastically.
The boss's face became awkward and his tone became gruff. He said, "Mind your words. Master Ji is the example of our generation. You can't slander him venomously!"
"Am I a slanderer? That's a joke! People in this world understand how the title of Fighting For Justice comes. I said that he killed his wife and son. What's wrong with that?" Zhou Bao snorted. His voice was unsubdued. He even operated his Internal Qi to make his voice spread out so his words could be heard several streets away.
The atmosphere suddenly became strange around the beancurd restaurant.
Ji Zhongtang was a chivalrous example molded by Mingyi School. He was a famous gentleman in the world.
The word "chivalrous" represented the standard judgment of Mingyi School toward fighters.
Even though Ji Zhongtang was being scorned and opposed by the people because he had killed his son and wife, he had no conflict of interest with them, so they could not offend the school by gossiping about him.
However, on such a special day, a man criticized his past in public on Mingyi Lane, the headquarters of Mingyi School. What did this mean?
The man had spoiled the reputation of the school in broad daylight.
How did he have the guts to behave like this?
"It's funny. A murderer can become an Elder of Mingyi School. It seems that being an Elder of Mingyi School is worthless!"
Zhou Bao voiced his opinion again. This time, it was louder and more disdainful. It spread throughout Mingyi Lane, which had been busy before but became quiet all of a sudden.