Annoying to Death-Kill Them All!

Seeing that Chu Lu showed no sign of repentance, Ji Xiangshan trembled with rage.

"You, you, you! Tell this old man the truth!" Ji Xiangshan roared. "If you utter even one false word, this old man will skin you alive!"

Chu Lu could not be bothered to explain, but Liu Yan'er scrambled and crawled to Ji Xiangshan's side, shouting, "Grandmaster, Grandmaster, the Sect Leader has gone mad."

Then Liu Yan'er embroidered the story as she recounted everything Chu Lu had just done, focusing especially on how he had started slaughtering people the moment they disagreed with him.

It sent Ji Xiangshan into a furious frenzy.

"Beast! Beast! You filthy beast!" He pointed at Chu Lu and cursed. "You actually committed something so utterly inhuman! Are you even human?!"

"I merely demanded justice," Chu Lu said blandly.

"Hah! Putting on airs and playing the hypocrite—you beast, do you think I do not know what you are thinking?" Ji Xiangshan sneered.

Chu Lu: "?"

—Wait, why do you look as though you know Luo Qingdie very well too?

"You speak of justice? I think you are simply still jealous of your dead junior sister!" Ji Xiangshan shouted. "I saw it back then—you were narrow-minded, no good thing at all!"

Chu Lu: "???"

—Junior sister? Where did a junior sister suddenly come from?

He questioned Luo Qingdie in his mind.

She fell silent for a moment before beginning her tale.

"That happened many years ago. Back then, Master was traveling outside. Through one careless misstep, he encountered demonic cultivators, suffered grave injuries, and fell off a cliff. Afterward, a farming family took him in and cared for him. Once he recovered, Master wished to repay their kindness. He told them that if anyone in that household possessed a spiritual root, they could come to the Inquiry Sword Sect and notify him. He would accept that person as his disciple."

"Later, as time flowed on, that farming family never sent anyone over. Master grew curious and went looking himself. Following the trail like a vine leading to its roots, he finally found my family. He discovered that I possessed a supreme-grade spiritual root and accepted me as his disciple. But several years later, a woman suddenly appeared, claiming to be the descendant of Master's benefactor. I thought she had come to make trouble, so I drove her away. Yet I never expected it to be true."

"Master later took her in and learned that she was the only one left in her Lineage. It turned out that after Master left back then, the demonic cultivators had followed after him and begun taking revenge. They had spent all these years hiding from place to place, until only recently did they finally have the chance to come to the Inquiry Sword Sect."

"Master felt terribly guilty, so he treated her exceedingly well, giving her every magical treasure and medicinal herb while leaving me neglected at the side. He said that although I had cultivated beside him for ten years, he could not simply cast me out of the sect. Yet whenever he saw my face, he felt even more guilty toward my junior sister. I complained a few times, and Master flew into a rage, cursing me for being jealous and petty. I had no choice but to stop speaking. Later, that woman suffered qi deviation during cultivation and died unfortunately."

"So that was it." Though Chu Lu now understood, a trace of confusion remained on his face. "But what does that have to do with the current situation?"

At that moment, Ji Xiangshan spoke again. "Back then, you hated your junior sister so much your teeth itched with rage. Now little Yan'er has appeared. She resembles your junior sister by seventy percent, and she and I hit it off at first sight, so you became jealous again! You would even commit such slaughter just to take her life."

"Come to think of it, I was puzzled even back then. How could your junior sister have suffered qi deviation when she was perfectly fine? Could it have been your doing as well? Vicious! How vicious you are!"

Chu Lu: "??"

—What kind of nonsense is this?

"Did you really do it?" Chu Lu asked in his mind.

"Of course not," Luo Qingdie answered at once.

Chu Lu thought so too. If this good-for-nothing had possessed that kind of nerve, she would not have been tormented so badly by Liu Yan'er.

The disciples began whispering among themselves again.

"I never thought the Sect Leader had such a past."

"No wonder he is so practiced at killing fellow disciples."

"I bet his usual kindness and approachability were all an act."

"Kill him and uphold justice for Heaven!"

Amid the noisy background, Ji Xiangshan drew his sword and said with murderous intent written all over his face, "I should have killed you back then. I regret that I softened for a moment, never imagining it would lead to such a catastrophe. This is all my fault, and I should be the one to resolve it! Wicked disciple, if you still possess even a shred of conscience, a shred of humanity, a shred of guilt toward me, then obediently accept your punishment!"

Hearing this, only one thought arose in Chu Lu's mind.

—Good grief, after all that nonsense, he is finally going to make a move.

Still, he asked out of habit, "Master, have you made up your mind? You will not change it?"

Ji Xiangshan showed no particular reaction, but everyone else present changed expression.

They stared at Chu Lu in shock, thinking, No way? Does he really dare? That is his master! The master who raised him from childhood!

"This old man's word, once spoken, cannot be chased down even by four horses. Die!" Ji Xiangshan roared. He swung his sword and was about to unleash his strongest sword art. In an instant, white light burst forth and the Dao rhythm surged.

Yet facing Ji Xiangshan's strongest strike, Chu Lu merely raised his sword slowly, just as he had when facing Xiao Yichen, the Supreme Elder, and the Disciplinary Hall elders.

Phoenix Arrives!

Thud!

Ji Xiangshan's head fell to the ground.

In an instant, the Disciplinary Hall fell into dead silence.

Everyone's eyes widened.

—He killed him? He actually killed his own master?

"He has fallen to demonic cultivation."

A mutter suddenly rose among the disciples, then instantly spread.

"He has fallen to demonic cultivation! The Sect Leader has fallen to demonic cultivation!"

"Run! Run for your lives!"

The disciples were so terrified that tears streamed down their faces as they scattered in flight.

Those who could still use spiritual power flew away on their swords. Those too frightened to use spiritual power ran madly. Those whose legs had gone weak crawled and rolled away.

Only Liu Yan'er remained without fleeing.

Because Chu Lu had already set his sights on her.

Watching Chu Lu slowly approach, Liu Yan'er knew she could never escape. Her only chance was to beg for mercy.

So she knelt down and frantically kowtowed to Chu Lu. "Sect Leader, Sect Leader, I was wrong. I know I was wrong."

She saw Chu Lu's feet stop before her, but he did not strike.

Delighted, she continued, "I am despicable and shameless. My crimes deserve ten thousand deaths. I should not have plotted against you in secret. I deserve to die! I deserve to die! I should not have spread rumors that you were jealous of beauty, nor should I have incited Fan Bailu and the others to deal with you. It was all my fault. I deserve to die!"

As she spoke, she slapped herself.

The slaps rang out sharply.

When Chu Lu remained silent for so long and still did not strike, she thought this tactic was working and pressed further. "Sect Leader, give me a chance to atone. I am willing to do anything. I can teach you how to win over those men. Once you learn, every man will be utterly captivated by you, all right?"

By then, Liu Yan'er felt she had this in the bag, so she boldly raised her head to look at Chu Lu.

To her surprise, Chu Lu was not looking at her. He was gazing outside.

He muttered, "I waited this long and no one came. Looks like there really is no one else. Fine, do it."

With that, he casually swung his sword.

Liu Yan'er froze. She only felt the world spin around her, then she saw her own body.

"Eh?"

Bang. Her corpse fell to the ground.

With an indifferent expression, Chu Lu stepped over the corpse and came outside the Disciplinary Hall. His figure flickered, and he soon blocked the fleeing disciples.

Looking at these utterly terrified Inquiry Sword Sect disciples, he wore the expression of someone looking at fools. "How did you think you could escape the palm of a Mahayana Stage cultivator?"

The disciples immediately fell into despair.

"Everyone, die." Chu Lu raised his sword.

Phoenix Arrives!

That day, Chu Lu began a massacre. Of the Inquiry Sword Sect disciples, fewer than one in ten survived.