Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  “So everyone, please applause to welcome the arrival of our newcomer. This man is Xie Chi, who is originally an elder in the Seven Stars Sect. From the total of eighteen elders, he was ranked as the seventh, which was much higher than Old He. Moreover, he is a highly talented person; in the future, he would actively contribute to our Intelligence Revenue Service, so please assist him in any way you can.”


  In the room, Wang Lu, happily smiling, highly praised Xie Chi while patting him on the shoulder. The people beside him, Little Ling’Er, Wen Bao, He Yun, and Wu Feihua all showed different expressions; each has their own thoughts.

  It all happened while Xie Chi’s face was stiff as a zombie.

  In the warehouse, he received Wang Lu’s passionate solicitation, as a result… he naturally accepted the offer.

  Firstly, Wang Lu’s proposed three advantages were indeed exciting, secondly…


  He has no choice—his life was in the other party’s hand; did he have to die for the Seven Stars Sect for nothing? Even if he, Xie Chi, has a sincere loyalty, he still wouldn’t be able to convince the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader to let the sect join the Ten Thousand Flower House Sect.

  What was even more terrifying was that, in that warehouse, that youth Wang Lu had fed him a dark pill, which allegedly was a legendary insect poison imported from the southern border, Three Corpses Brain Pill. If, after eating, he was not obedient, his soul would fly out of his body and never return… Of course, Xie Chi didn’t know that that was not an imported poison, not to mention as a hardworking and thrifty person, how could Wang Lu be willing to import the insect poison and give it to a low-level soldier like him? The so-called Three Corpses Brain Pill was nothing more than the spurted out coal lump from that gray spherical altar.

  Therefore, Xie Chi did not hesitate to bow his head and give in, in any case, he has nothing to lose.

  However, regarding Xie Chi joining the Intelligence Revenue Service, the Holy Maiden Feng Ling sighed with emotion, thinking that though the motley crew of the Intelligence Revenue Service was getting stronger, the number of low-level scums was getting higher. Originally, she came here looking for fun, and in recent days, she happily played with the altar, trying her luck in that eleven-spout-per-day altar. However, her result was, she got nothing of value, eleven-zero, eleven-zero, eleven-zero in succession… This result only inflamed her spirit of “keep on fighting despite continual setbacks”. She didn’t care at all whether Wang Lu’s Intelligent Revenue Service would succeed or fail.

  As for Wen Bao, he welcomed the arrival of Xie Chi, because it meant that there was more helping hand in the construction of their building in the village, thus his pressure would be greatly reduced. As for other things, they were way out of his IQ’s scope.

  For Wu Feihua, she was secretly happy. This Xie Chi originally came from an eighth rank sect, and though his cultivation was not high, it was higher than that of old man He Yun. Moreover, he was also quite rich; he had many magical tools that he brought from his former sect, plus his face was quite handsome; in short, he was the typical “prince charming”! If only she could hook up and sleep with him, then her hard work in the Wang Family Village would not go in vain.

  The only one who was filled with concern was He Yun. First, he was worried that this handsome little b*tch would shake his position. Right now he was the Deputy Director of the Wisdom Sect; it didn’t mean that his power and influence were monstrous, but he was responsible for the development of the Wisdom Sect and also carried out most of its affairs, so his benefits were numerous… However, if he wanted to be honest with himself, he got his position because Wang Lu had no other helper. The Holy Maiden was strong, but she did not obey the Director. Wen Bao was obedient, but his “stupid-ness” was heartbreaking. Among the Wisdom Sect’s higher-ups, only he was useful. However, in the Seven Stars Sect, Xie Chi’s position was higher than him. No matter if it was on the cultivation level, perception, or practical ability, the guy was simply better than him; in short, the threat was too big.

  Secondly, it was a deeper level of anxiety: Wang Lu’s movement was so reckless that the Seven Stars Sect was bound to retaliate. Different from his small position in the sect, Xie Chi was regarded as one of the core inner circles in the sect. The Sect Leader even had the intention of grooming him to be the Vice Sect Leader and eventually his successor! His own disappearance, at most, would only accentuate the Seven Stars Sect’s imperfect system, but Xie Chi’s disappearance and defection would definitely turn the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader hostile against them.

  What then? Would the Seven Stars Sect’s Sect Leader command the sect’s Elders to attack them? If they were to fight, they would definitely lose. No matter how powerful Wang Lu was, a Qi Cultivating Stage could never defeat a Xudan Stage. Even if the Holy Maiden was factored into this, against more than a dozen Foundation Establishment Elders, the odds were not in their Wisdom Sect’s favor.

  Of course, Wang Lu didn’t need to fight with the Seven Stars Sect. He just needed to raise the huge bright flag of the Spirit Sword Sect, and a mere Seven Stars Sect naturally could only prostrate and lick their feet. However, wantonly using their trump card like that would only trigger the Disciplinary Elder of the Spirit Sword Sect’s ire, which would lead to a similar dead end to them.

  Thinking to this, the dirty old man could not help but become nervous. Seeing that Wang Lu was spiritedly assigning many important affairs to Xie Chi, he tried to signal his counterpart with his eyes. At the moment, He Yun still couldn’t use the Primordial Spirit to secretly send his message, while talking through secret spell most likely would be heard by Xie Chi.

  Unfortunately, Wang Lu didn’t catch his signal. After he had finished his step-by-step nonsense, Wang Lu clapped his hands. “Well then, I think that’s enough for today, everyone can go now.”


  The dirty old man still wanted to say something, but Wang Lu has started to close the door, which was a very clear sign that the meeting was over. Thus, he could only helplessly pull Wu Feihua to go out with him, only to discover that Wu Feihua was giving coquettish glances at Xie Chi; He Yun couldn’t help but seethe with rage!

  ——


  “Hey, don’t you think that what you did wasn’t right?”


  When all the people had left, Holy Maiden suddenly said so.

  Wang Lu curiously asked, “What’s not right about it?”


  “Don’t you think that your move was a bit reckless? This is not just simply poaching the Seven Stars Sect’s people; you basically threw sheet on their face, and there’s no middle ground here. I'm not worried that you’d lose to a mere Seven Stars Sect, but if this thing gets bigger, your experiential learning will come to an end a lot sooner.”


  Wang Lu nodded in agreement. “It’s rare indeed for you, Sister Ling, to use your brain to seriously think of something… Is today another eleven zero?”


  “… I will get it sooner or later, don’t flatten other people’s hope okay!”


  Wang Lu, who was sitting at this time, cast a glance at Sister Ling’s breast and pursed his mouth. “Flatten or not, they still look… Hey, ouch, why did you hit me?!”


  After getting up from the ground, Wang Lu patted the dust and then said, “What you said previously is right. That being the case, tomorrow, we should probably be ready for a big showdown with the Seven Stars Sect. However, the thing that you could think, do you think I couldn’t think it too? Rest assured, I’ve already taken care of it, they wouldn’t be able to come.”


  Little Ling’Er was suddenly curious. “Wouldn’t be able to come?”


  “Humph, do you think a motley crew of people who couldn’t even take care of themselves like them have the qualification to look us for trouble? However, we must make the best use of the time, taking advantage of this rare strategic opportunity period; we should maximize the spread of the Wisdom Sect as fast as we could and improve the sect’s members’ cultivation level. When we have raised our sect’s scale and members’ cultivation level sufficient enough, even if the Seven Stars Sect wants to look for trouble, they have to think twice. At that time, we should already have the upper hand, and thus, no longer need to worry about them.”


  Seeing Wang Lu happily talking, Feng Ling quickly interrupted. “Hey, hey, what do you mean by you’ve already take care of it?”


  Wang Lu smiled. “In fact, it’s not a big deal actually. Two days ago, I wrote a letter. Now, it should’ve arrived at the destination and produced the due reaction.”


  “Letter, to who?”


  “The Union of Ten Thousand Immortal’s Blue River Region office of the Hall of Mortal Reason.”


  “… What is that?”


  “It’s a department that specifically deals with mortal affairs. Given Blue River Region’s particular characteristic, it’s simply a group of idler-and-waiting-to-die pain in the ass cultivators. However, one of their duty is that: to ensure the mortal world’s order in their area of jurisdiction does not receive unjustified external interference.”


  “And this unjustified external interference refer to…?”


  “For example, Zhifeng’s action at the White Moon Country. This department mainly deals with the cultivator who misbehaves in the mortal world. Actually, interfering in the world of mortals is not really strange for cultivators. As long as a cultivator receive permission from the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, that cultivator could even openly facilitate change in the royal family of a country. However, if it’s not permitted by the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, even if you just randomly point at a few mortal world’s children, you would definitely get into trouble, and without a doubt, it’s impossible for the Seven Stars Sect to get the permission from the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals.”


  Little Ling’Er frowned for a while before she realized the meaning behind Wang Lu’s talking in circles remark. The girl’s eyes went wide as she incredulously asked, “You… as a Sect Leader, actually reported your own sect to them!?”


  Wang Lu righteously spoke, “Reporting a sect is everyone’s responsibility!”


  “Why would you report your own sect!”


  “Lady, please respect our Wisdom Sect’s lofty ideal, our sect is intrinsically different than an evil cult.”


  “Yeah, an evil cult would not be as foolish as you!”


  “Thank you. It’s rare hearing you praise me so highly like that.”


  Wrangling with Wang Lu was really a hard and unprofitable task that only wasted one’s energy. Feng Ling rubbed her painful temple. “… According to your view, the people in that department are just a bunch of idler-and-waiting-to-die pain in the ass cultivators, so why did you send your letter to them? It’s not like we’re a big shot or something, so they wouldn’t care about our little sect’s little problem.”


  “Thank you for asking. That’s because I signed my real name on that letter. If a report from a Successor Disciple from one of the Five Unique couldn’t make them move their asses, then this department would not get their necessary budget.”


  “What the! You use your real name!?”


  “Yeah, it’s open and aboveboard, is there a need to cover up? This is called helping one another when we see injustice along the road, so please call me little snitch expert.”


  “You’re an idiot dead snitch…”


  ——


  In some barren hill that was shrouded with mist in the Eastern Way Prefecture of Great Ming Country, the Seven Stars Sect convened an emergency council of Elders meeting.

  Most of the participating Elders have been informed of the recent occurrence of that jaw-dropping event.

  Xie Chi’s defection.

  For the majority of the Elders, this was an inconceivable matter. Xie Chi was a highly talented person that the Sect Leader personally courted away from the Ten Thousand Flower House Sect. When he entered the sect, he immediately became a middle-rank Elder. That was because his age was too young and he was still a low-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, it would be too unacceptable to put him ahead of the several high-level Foundation Establishment Elders. However, his actual influence was comparable to the several most senior Elders that had accompanied the Sect Leader the longest.

  He was the hope of the Seven Stars Sect; in the future, the sect would basically fall on his hand. Even now, the sect’s resources distribution was partial to him. How… could he defect!?

  This was the main reason why the Sect Leader arranged for this emergency meeting. However, when the Elders gathered at the meeting hall, they felt that the air was somewhat cold, sticky, and slightly damp, which was extremely uncomfortable.

  This… seemed to imply that the Sect Leader was in a very bad mood. Moreover, it was like he was in a bind and powerless to do something about it.

  What exactly happened here?

  Fortunately, the mystery was soon revealed. When most of the Elders had arrived, the Sect Leader’s voice came through the air.

  “A delegate from the Hall of Mortal Reason of… Union of Ten Thousand Immortals… have arrived.”