Disciplinary Hall

"You have traveled long and hard, so rest well for the night.

Tomorrow, follow me up the mountain. Report the full details of your attack, then register your cultivator status at the Outer Hall." After a moment's thought, Lu Zhi made these arrangements.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning,

the Lu Family's Blessed Land lay atop Mihe Peak.

Lu Qingshan followed Lu Zhi up the mountain path for half an hour. Only when clouds and mist swirled ahead, obscuring the road entirely, did they stop.

Lu Qingshan knew that this mist was the Lu Family's Gatekeeping Illusion Array.

Lu Zhi took an ancient bronze token from his robes. A single character—Lu—was inscribed upon it in wild, dancing script.

This was the Lu Family's Communication Token.

Lu Zhi tossed the token into the mist.

Driven by Lu Zhi's spiritual power, the token transformed into a streak of light and flew into the clouds.

Before long,

a young cultivator emerged from the mist.

He was presumably responsible for guarding the Gatekeeping Illusion Array—commonly known as a gatekeeper.

"Who goes there, and what business do you have?" the young cultivator asked, holding the token Lu Zhi had just thrown in.

"Lu Zhi of the Outer Hall. I have a matter to report to the Disciplinary Hall."

The young cultivator nodded and turned his gaze toward Lu Qingshan beside him.

"And him?"

"His name is Lu Qingshan. He recently cultivated spiritual power, and I am taking him to the Outer Hall to register."

A flicker passed through the young cultivator's eyes, and he could not help looking Lu Qingshan over a few more times.

He looked fifteen or sixteen. Though becoming a cultivator at this age was already somewhat late,

as long as one cultivated spiritual power before turning eighteen, one could enter the Lu Family's Outer Hall.

That made him a future colleague, after all.

With that thought, the young cultivator's tone became a little more courteous. "All right, you may enter."

With a wave of his hand, the clouds and mist instantly dispersed, revealing a narrow, winding path.

The young cultivator shifted slightly aside, making way for Lu Zhi and Lu Qingshan.

Lu Zhi thanked him, then led Lu Qingshan inside.

At first it was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass. After several dozen steps, the view suddenly opened up.

Auspicious clouds floated overhead, emerald mountains circled all around, and even the air was far fresher than outside.

Lu Qingshan could not help taking a deep breath, immediately feeling much more clear-headed and refreshed.

That was because the spiritual power here was incomparably abundant.

The Lu Family's Blessed Land had been established atop a third-grade Spirit Vein.

The spiritual power output of a third-grade Spirit Vein was also limited. To avoid draining the pond to catch every fish, the Lu Family had always controlled the number of people within the Blessed Land.

Many cultivators like Lu Zhi, already advanced in years and with little chance of breaking through to the next realm, would be dispatched by the Lu Family to Mihe Town to manage the Lineage's industries, preventing the spiritual power within the Blessed Land from going to waste.

This was Lu Qingshan's second visit to the Lu Family's Blessed Land.

His first visit had been to test his spiritual roots.

All Lu Family descendants underwent a test from the Lineage at the age of five.

What was tested was the spiritual roots within their bodies.

If the results showed excellent spiritual-root aptitude and outstanding talent for cultivation, the child would receive the Lineage's favor and be allowed to remain in the Blessed Land to cultivate.

If the test showed poor spiritual-root aptitude, then one could not remain in the Blessed Land.

But that did not mean one would be forever cut off from cultivation.

Though talent was an extremely important part of cultivation, it was absolutely not everything.

Had one not seen how many cultivators with ordinary spiritual-root aptitude ultimately became mighty cultivators?

The Lu Family would naturally not be so shortsighted, and it was willing to give its descendants a chance to prove themselves through their own efforts.

Descendants with poor cultivation talent could each receive a cultivation technique to take home and cultivate on their own in their daily lives.

If they could cultivate spiritual energy before the age of eighteen and become cultivators, they could enter the Lineage's Outer Hall.

Lu Qingshan's first spiritual-root test had yielded unsatisfactory results, so he had not remained in the Lu Family's Blessed Land.

Though Lu Qingshan usually made time to practice cultivation techniques, he had never managed to sense qi successfully, and so he had never entered the Lu Family's Blessed Land again.

The entire complex within the Blessed Land faced east with its back to the west, built against the mountain and following its contours.

The surrounding mountains coiled like jade dragons, layered in terraces.

A silver-glinting river wound down from the mountaintop. This was the so-called Mihe River.

Lu Zhi led Lu Qingshan along the Mihe River. Before long, a three-story building came into view.

"This is the Disciplinary Hall. Once we go in, tell the Disciplinary Hall cultivator the full details of your attack. Once he records it, that will be enough," Lu Zhi instructed.

Naturally, Lu Qingshan had no objections.

The moment they entered the Disciplinary Hall, a black-robed cultivator with a cold, stern face came forward. "What is it?"

He was a Qi Refining eighth-layer cultivator.

Foundation Establishment cultivators held extraordinarily lofty status even within the Lu Family, so the people handling affairs in its various halls were still mostly Qi Refining cultivators.

Lu Zhi explained why they had come.

The black-robed cultivator understood. Without another word, he led Lu Zhi and Lu Qingshan into a side room.

All four walls of the side room were lined with large cabinets, each divided into countless small compartments.

Each compartment contained a Jade Slip.

These Jade Slips recorded every task of the Disciplinary Hall.

"On what day did the attack occur?" the black-robed cultivator asked.

"The thirteenth day of the fourth month." Lu Zhi thought for a moment before answering respectfully.

"The thirteenth day of the fourth month." The black-robed cultivator's gaze swept over the cabinets as his fingertips continuously tapped one Jade Slip after another.

"Here it is!" Before long, the black-robed cultivator removed a Jade Slip from one of the compartments.

"On the thirteenth day of the fourth month, Chang'an Year 20,000, Lu Qingshan of the Lu Family garment workshop, son of Lu Bei, mysteriously vanished while transporting goods. This matter has been reported to the Lineage, in hopes that the cause may be investigated.

Reporter: Lu Zhi of the Outer Hall

Date reported: Fourth month, seventeenth day

Resolution: Unresolved. The Disciplinary Hall dispatched personnel to investigate on the eighteenth day of the fourth month, but found nothing and no witnesses. An unsolved case."

The black-robed cultivator slowly read out the contents of the Jade Slip.

When he saw the note identifying him as Lu Bei's son, the black-robed cultivator could not help raising his head to look at Lu Qingshan again.

It was precisely because Lu Qingshan was the son of Lu Bei, a Golden Core cultivator, that the Disciplinary Hall had diligently investigated the circumstances of Lu Qingshan's attack.

Otherwise, if every ordinary Lu Family mortal who was attacked and went missing had to be handled by the Disciplinary Hall, how could the Disciplinary Hall possibly keep up?

"This is the one, correct?"

Lu Zhi nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now tell me the detailed course of events."

Lu Zhi looked toward Lu Qingshan. Lu Qingshan did not hesitate for long before recounting once more the explanation he had previously given Lu Zhi.

Following Lu Qingshan's account, the black-robed cultivator first changed the resolution from unresolved to resolved, then added much more information to the Jade Slip.

"All right, I have recorded it. This matter can be considered closed." Once Lu Qingshan had finished recounting the events and the black-robed cultivator had completed the registration, he returned the Jade Slip to its compartment and looked up at the two of them.

Clearly, the black-robed cultivator did not understand what the name Zhishou Tower represented. Otherwise, he would never have let the matter pass so easily.

There would be another chapter later, but it would be after midnight.