Zhao Wuya’s feelings toward the Dragon Seeking Hall were rather complicated.
"Why does your family’s factory need to pay tributes to the Dragon Seeking Hall? Without the Dragon Seeking Heavenly Master, can’t the boilers in your factory light up?"
"Jing Country is a theocracy. All major factories need to align themselves with a Great Hall. With a hall backing us, those gangs won’t dare target our factory."
"Then don’t call it a tribute. Call it protection money."
Zhou Xuan never expected... the awe-inspiring Dragon Seeking Heavenly Master turned out to be someone who collects protection money.
"You could say that. That’s why my father wants to send me to the Dragon Seeking Hall. As long as my cultivation realm is high enough, the Dragon Seeking Hall won’t collect fees from our family anymore. Instead, they’ll protect our factory meticulously."
Hearing this, Zhou Xuan suddenly felt a bit sorry for Zhao Wuya and said, "Then you should absorb the Dragon Qi. I’ll hold off for now so it won’t delay your family’s business."
"Really?" Zhao Wuya asked.
"Really. Go ahead and absorb it... By the way, how high does your cultivation need to reach before the Dragon Seeking Hall stops charging your family’s protection fee?"
"At least eight sticks of incense, preferably nine."
"Then stop absorbing it. This little bit of Dragon Qi is like a drop in the ocean for you. When the hell will you motherfucking reach eight sticks of incense?"
Zhou Xuan domineeringly hoarded all the Dragon Qi again... Eight sticks of incense, enough for Ya Zi to cultivate for twenty years.
The Music Masters and Painters—weren’t they only able to reach eight sticks of incense in middle age? And that was with the help of the Kongming Mirror.
While absorbing the Dragon Qi, Zhou Xuan asked Zhao Wuya, "Ya Zi, there’s a Kongming Mirror that helps with cultivation. Want me to teach you the Mirror Awakening Technique?"
"No, no," Zhao Wuya quickly waved his hands, saying, "I’ve heard from my Grand Master that if you learn the Kongming Mirror, you’ll constantly be hunted down. Hidden Dragon Mountain got annihilated over it. For our Zhao family, safety comes first. Even though we’re paying tributes, we’re eating and living comfortably. My dad even has enough free time to take all eleven of my stepmothers to the movies."
Rich boys really don’t need to risk their lives... Zhou Xuan totally understood Zhao Wuya. If his dad could afford to support eleven wives, living such a lavish life, why fight to the death?
A nobleman doesn’t stand beneath a collapsing wall...
Mingjiang Prefecture, Nine Li Estate,
Star Covering lay in the coffin, sighing.
"Second Brother, the Zoroastrian Fire Sect insists we destroy the Mingjiang Magic Device."
Nanny Yuan, the estate’s maid, connected with the Zoroastrian Fire Order and communicated with the Fire Sect for a long time. However, their stance was unyielding: the Mingjiang Magic Device must be destroyed. If it wasn’t, the Fire Sect would destroy Nine Li Estate and expose Star Covering.
"The Magic Device cannot be destroyed!"
The coffin lid was flung open, and a bizarre creature with a lion’s head and a human body sat up from inside the coffin. He shook the mane on his face, each strand of hair shimmering with starlight as it swayed.
He wasn’t exactly what Zhou Xuan and the others had imagined—he wasn’t Star Covering’s secret lover... but the Seven-Leaf Venerable.
He truly was Star Covering’s Second Brother, a member of the "Qunxing" from the Divine Brilliance Star Country.
"Little Sister, we should return to the Star Country. We can’t fight the Zoroastrian Fire Sect or the incense fire Taoists."
Qunxing stared at the coffin lid,
Inside the coffin lid was a Star Map. Day and night, Qunxing and Star Covering hid in the coffin, relying on the Star Map to shield their aura, so the incense fire Taoists couldn’t track their whereabouts.
"Second Brother, just stall for a few more days. Once the Ancestor Dragon is fully contaminated, the six children can merge. They’ll inherit our will and turn Jing Country upside down.
When that time comes, you and I will initiate the Star Array and return to the Divine Brilliance Star Country."
"We can still leave now. Wait any longer, and we might not be able to leave at all."
Among Qunxing’s mane, the starlight was already gathering intensely, as if he were preparing to draw a Star Array on the ground to escape at any moment.
"I can’t leave. I must avenge Seven-Leaf and confront the will of Jing Country," Star Covering said. "I also need to fight for my dignity."
"What dignity? Are you trying to settle the score because you and Seven-Leaf gave birth to Buddha’s son—the Six Desires?"
"I’ve been the Human World Guardian in Jing Country for over a hundred years. I used my Star Mist to block gods from descending into the human world. Before I was prosecuted, I never committed any heinous acts. On the contrary, I helped the human world."
"But just because Seven-Leaf and I developed mutual feelings and did something every human beings do, Seven-Leaf got his head chopped off. If you hadn’t arrived just in time, I would have been prosecuted too.
This injustice, I can’t swallow. I need to confront the will of Jing Country and ask it... what exactly did I do wrong?"
"Ah, Little Sister, don’t be stubborn. Let’s leave while we still can."
"Second Brother, you go. Destroying the Mingjiang Magic Device? I’ll take care of it myself."
Faced with Star Covering’s persistence, Qunxing ultimately didn’t leave. He let out a sigh, lay back into the coffin, and once again used the Star Map on the inside of the lid to cloak his aura.
"Then we’ll think of a way to destroy the Mingjiang Magic Device," Qunxing murmured softly.
Zhao Wuya and Zhou Xuan had already left Hui Feng Medical College,
The two each hailed a rickshaw to head back to East Market Street.
The rickshaws pulled into Yasan Road, where a small Buddhist temple stood on the street—a bit bigger than a common pawnshop.
Upon seeing the temple, Zhao Wuya called out to the rickshaw puller, "Stop for a moment. I’m going to burn some incense."
Zhao Wuya’s rickshaw came to a halt, and the rickshaw behind him stopped as well. Lounging lazily in the cart, Zhou Xuan asked Zhao Wuya, "Ya Zi, why are we stopping?"
"I’m going to offer a stick of incense at that temple."
"You out of your mind? You’re practicing as a Taoist yet burning incense at a Buddhist temple? What kind of logic is that?"
"I just felt like burning one stick."
Zhao Wuya swung back his sleeves and walked confidently into the temple. He handed the temple priest a folded paper bill and received three sticks of incense in return.