Spare Me, Great Lord!

Li Yixiao had spent more than a decade wandering about all corners of the country. It was his rich experience that had transformed him into a difficult Heavenly King from the naive teenage boy he once was. No one knew how much he had been through, there was love and hatred, honesty and deception.

At the moment, he was not yet ready to be a father, and that was why he had avoided to give Nalan Que an answer.

Back in those years, he used to be a salesperson in an organization producing fake drugs. In order to make a living, he pretended to be ignorant of the company’s unethical doings, but was eventually chased out due to his super appetite.

After so many years of hardship, Li Yixiao believed that he had to be sufficiently prepared before he could welcome in a new life.

Maybe one day, he could proudly announce to his master when he visited his grave that… Wait a second, where was his master’s grave?!

Just when Li Yixiao was indulging in his memories, Lu Shu had already reached home and begun singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Currently he and Hai Gongzi were in a truce, after which they would continue with another round of intense battle.

How could he, Lu Shu, not be able to subdue an annoying sword spirit specially sent by Nie Ting?!

After midnight, Lu Shu went to the yard to practice his sword skills. This time, however, he used Cheng Ying sword instead of a wooden one.

After all, Cheng Ying sword would be his weapon in the future, which made it necessary to familiarize himself with it during his daily practice.

After a while, Lu Shu was drenched in sweat due to the intense practice. Suddenly Hai Gongzi emerged himself. He said to Lu Shu coldly, his robe flapping in the air, “I did not expect you to be willing to continue with such basic practice given your current level. Impressive. Nonetheless, your swordplay is nothing close to aesthetic. I can teach you something if you beg me with full sincerity.”

As he spoke, an air of pure arrogance surrounded Hai Gongzi.

Lu Shu rolled his eyes and retrieved another potato from his Seal of Lands. What position was he in to teach him? And he even hoped Lu Shu would beg him? How ridiculous!

“If you beg me with full sincerity, I can stop using Cheng Ying sword for this.” Lu Shu grinned.

“From Hai Gongzi’s distress, +399!”

Immediately he had returned to the sword before Lu Shu finished peeling the potato.

But that was not the end yet. Lu Shu believed that Hai Gongzi’s haughty comment was a hint at war. Hence, he had decisively resumed the cycle of summoning Hai Gongzi with his blood and peeling potatoes in front of him…

Lu Shu was getting paler, and angrier as well. In comparison to other sword spirits who listened to their hosts obediently, why was this one such a pain in his ass?

No way. It must be Nie Ting’s fault!

…

Lu Shu’s school life had become completely peaceful as the end of term examinations were drawing to a close. In Grade 12, even those who had no interest in studies were still willing to give it a try to test their hope at the final exams.

As for Lu Shu, he was isolated from the rest. He had no intention to interact with others, and so was the reverse.

All he was doing was revision of the entire syllabus on his own. People like Lu Shu would never let go of any potential opportunities. Unable to enter Luo Shen Cultivation College, there were still ordinary universities. Unable to move his body during his fight with Takashima Tairatsu, he resorted to scraping his chi mountain with his will. Even if he fell off a cliff, he would slowly pull himself up from the abyss by driving his fingers into the hard rock surface.

In fact, Lu Shu was an optimist, he would never be mired in utter despair no matter what happened.

Occasionally students would gather together to discuss the matter about the Luo City black market and those secret practitioners. A student who was not so academically inclined commented, “I only learned about it yesterday that a friend of my dad is actually a secret practitioner. Over dinner, he said that actually aptitude is not that important, because many secret practitioners, who are deemed to be lacking in training potential by the Heavenly Network, can still practice their powers, though less efficiently. However, that doesn’t affect their chances of success in the end. Moreover, they can make up for their disadvantage in aptitude by cultivation resources.”

Lu Shu overheard their conversation from not far away and he agreed with the person’s view to a certain extent. As a matter of fact, it had gradually been recognized that cultivation aptitude was not the only thing that mattered, and many insiders of the Network were aware that the so-called six-level power system was nothing but an imagined creation by people.

Those without talent could still excel in cultivation, but their progress would be too time-consuming to be worthy of the Heavenly Network’s investment.

But that student’s secret practitioner uncle must be boasting, because it was never an easy feat to acquire cultivation resources. Few were willing to travel large distances to purchase magical stones abroad and resell them in China for a profit. They had to put in so much effort just to make some money in exchange for a tiny bit of cultivation resources.

The student added, smiling, “At first my dad wanted me to join the army if I can’t get into a university, because universities are no hope for me considering my shitty grades. But now, he has changed his mind. He wants me to follow that uncle and become a practitioner!”

Having heard that, his friends all admired his luck. “Are you serious? Can you ask your uncle to teach us too?”

Now Lu Shu understood that his uncle was probably equipped with some lousy way of cultivation. Still, this was better than those pure metahumans.

However, was that really teachable? Lu Shu was suddenly wondering about the true aim of the Heavenly Network’s loosening control over civilian secret practitioners. Maybe they had hoped for a more prosperous non-governmental cultivation scene that could be tapped on during wartime. It was only Lu Shu’s ill-founded speculation, though, because the Heavenly Network had full control over the situation.

Apparently the student was in a dilemma, but he also wanted to save his face. “Haha, I will ask my uncle about that. I will bring you to them if he is willing to teach you.”

“Is he powerful?” a person asked curiously.

“You don’t say,” the student said with a smug face, “My uncle is rather famous in the Route 301 black market. He works for the Lord and the Venerable!”

His friends were stunned. Just a while ago, there was a proliferation of posts on the Golden Foundation forum regarding the black market. Hence, many of them knew that the Lord was actually their Heavenly King Li Yixiao. It would be impressive that his uncle worked for the Heavenly King, but who was the Venerable?

“Has your uncle met the Venerable before? I saw on the Golden Foundation forum that the Venerable’s swordplay is unparalleled, yet he is only a young man. Is that real?” another person asked.

The student replied in a mysterious tone, “Haha, good question. My uncle has seen the Venerable with his own eyes. He said that the Venerable was only wearing a mask during his first appearance, but his true face was much younger. My uncle said he was in fact of the same age as us.”

“My goodness! Are you kidding me? Same age as us yet as powerful as our Principal Li?” That was an interesting story.