"Boy and girl sacrifices?!"
Zhou PeiDe stiffened at once. Somewhat incredulously, he looked at Yuan Qu. "Isn't he a Law Lineage Disciple? What does he need those for? And he's in Xianyang City—doesn't he want to live?"
"My dear Senior Brother Zhou..."
Yuan Qu shook his head slightly. "Rules are only rules. If everyone in this world followed them, how would so many people ever rise to prominence?"
"If Left Political Counselor Lord Lu had followed the rules, could he have climbed to such a high position?"
"If Master had followed the rules, would he have taken me as his disciple?"
"If I followed the rules, could I have handled all those dirty jobs Master assigned me? How could the Zhou family have its present influence?"
"Rules are made for fools. Throughout history, which prince, marquis, general, or minister ever rose to power by following the rules?"
"Heh. If we followed the rules, we shouldn't avenge Zhou Bai at all!"
Seeing that Zhou PeiDe was still hesitant, Yuan Qu sneered. "Senior Brother, do you really think Master doesn't know about everything I've done?"
"Master Chen opened a shop in Xianyang and does whatever he pleases. You haven't seen anyone from the Enforcement Hall come looking for trouble, have you? He isn't afraid, so what are you afraid of?"
Zhou PeiDe's expression shifted between gloom and uncertainty. After a long while, he finally said in a deep voice, "The brokers' guild is under your control too. Finding a few people shouldn't be that hard..."
"Hard!"
Yuan Qu shook his head. "If it were that simple, why would they need us? Their birth characters must match. I've already searched everywhere I could."
"Don't you have the registers of the youths who signed up with the Divine Fist Societies in the various villages?