Nearly the whole class gathered around Luo Zhou.
"Senior Brother Luo, you're incredible!"
"Hero Luo, congratulations on your promotion! Shouldn't we celebrate?"
They rarely called Luo Zhou by name. They always called him Senior Brother Luo, Hero Luo...
Even Cui Jian, the senior disciple in charge of Class Three at Xianya Hall, came over to flatter him.
"Hero Luo, congratulations on your promotion! Don't you think we should celebrate?
How about treating everyone to a bowl of porridge?"
So it wasn't that Luo Zhou was popular at all. They just wanted him to treat them to a bowl of porridge!
Luo Zhou smiled and said,
"Since Senior Brother has spoken, we definitely have to celebrate!
Senior Brother!"
Cui Jian immediately called out, "Here!"
Luo Zhou gave him fourteen Broken Spirits!
One thousand Broken Spirits were worth one Spirit Stone.
A single Broken Spirit was worth roughly five hundred copper coins, or half a tael of silver.
"One bowl of Spirit Grain Porridge for everyone in class! It's on me!"
"Thanks!"
"Now that's generous!"
Praise rang out all around. Cui Jian called over Zuo Sanguang, Wang Heyu, and Meng Junzheng to help carry the porridge.
Spirit Grain Porridge was made by boiling spirit grain into porridge. For cultivators in the Body Tempering realm, it offered endless benefits.
One bowl could replace three days of hard cultivation.
It was sold in the academy's cafeteria.
One Broken Spirit could buy two bowls of Spirit Grain Porridge.
By the standards of ordinary currency—copper coins and silver—it wasn't cheap. An ordinary family could afford to give their child some only three to five times a month, to improve their constitution.
Cui Jian and the others arrived at the academy cafeteria. From a distance, they saw a huge copper pot as tall as a person, with charcoal blazing beneath it.
Spirit Grain Porridge had to be brought to a boil over charcoal to bring out its warmth, and the spirit grain had to simmer for three days before it softened and turned into porridge.
Everyone knew the routine. Cui Jian took out the Broken Spirits and began buying the porridge.
The cafeteria's immortal master personally handled the sale of Spirit Grain Porridge, to prevent the staff from skimming any.
He carefully ladled the porridge into large bowls, then sealed each one with a lid.
As they watched and waited, the group started chatting.
"It smells so good."
"One bowl of Spirit Grain Porridge is worth more than anything, even to the immortals."
"Thank you, Hero Luo!"
"Hahaha, you're really calling him a hero now? Luo Zhou's just a big fool.
Fourteen Broken Spirits! If he keeps treating the whole class to Spirit Grain Porridge every few days, what kind of fortune could possibly withstand that?"
"You're out of line. You ate his porridge, and now you're mocking him.
There are three rich young masters in our class who are wealthier than he is, and not one of them has ever treated us to porridge!"
Someone took offense and argued back!
The two of them traded retorts, on the verge of a fight.
Senior Brother Cui Jian said slowly,
"Two months ago, Luo Zhou hadn't awakened his spiritual nature. He was so poor he could barely afford to eat—he had it worse than any of us.
Back then, anyone in class with leftovers would save him a bite.
He'd lived through hard times.
After awakening his spiritual nature and inheriting his parents' estate,
he might look silly, even a bit dim, but deep down, he's just repaying everyone for looking after him back then.
He's so loyal and generous, willing to spend his Broken Spirits to treat us to porridge and not forget his classmates. He deserves to be called a hero!"
At those words, everyone nodded.
"Ah, there's just one thing I don't like. He got rich all of a sudden.
He keeps making us act out scenes with him, playing villains while he plays the hero who steps in to help. It's such a pain."
"I remember he used to say that if his parents had met a hero back then, they wouldn't have died.
Then he wouldn't have been orphaned, and his siblings wouldn't have been scattered. I guess it was just a fantasy he used to comfort himself."
"Ah, a lot of people died that year. Seems like he's the only one of our childhood playmates who was orphaned and still made it this far."
"Just put up with it and play along. It's not like it'll cost us anything.
He's treating us with real money. Besides, doesn't this Spirit Grain Porridge smell amazing?"
By then, the porridge had been served. They carried it back. Fourteen Broken Spirits bought twenty-eight bowls, and Cui Jian handed them out, one to each person.
There were twenty-seven people including Luo Zhou, so he got two bowls.
Senior Brother really knew how to handle things!
Each classmate who received porridge called out,
"Thanks, Brother Zhou!"
"Thank you, Hero Luo!"
A few of the girls had soft, sweet voices, and sounded wonderfully lovely.
There were actually thirty-three students in Class Three. Five of them, including Yuan Zhen and Liu Yueqing, came from wealthy families and ate Spirit Grain Porridge at every meal. They didn't care about this one bowl, and weren't about to call Luo Zhou a hero just because they'd eaten his porridge.
Thanks poured in without end. Luo Zhou laughed heartily, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being surrounded and protected by everyone.
He started drinking his porridge too.
The delicious Spirit Grain Porridge warmed him from head to toe as soon as he drank it. It felt wonderful.
Looking at all his classmates, Luo Zhou was truly laughing on the inside.
His classmates had each taken a mouthful of his Spirit Grain Porridge and gotten themselves a bargain at his expense.
But this porridge wasn't so easy to drink!
What Luo Zhou wanted wasn't to be surrounded and protected. He wanted their various spiritual natures!
His innate ability was Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil: saving lives earned him good karma!
As long as Luo Zhou heard a living being call for help, if he saved them and punished evil, he would be rewarded for his good deed and could obtain the wicked person's power!
Take Zhang Quan, the class bully, who had awakened the Raging Bull Strength talent and liked to bully his classmates.
Luo Zhou stopped him from bullying them, punished evil, and gained his Raging Bull Strength.
Every time he stopped Zhang Quan from bullying someone, he gained another instance of his Raging Bull Strength. By now, he'd accumulated the strength of four bulls!
That was one of the core keys to Luo Zhou's divine ability, the Dragon-Slaying Thrust!
Otherwise, how could he have killed a Woodworm Devil above his level?
But opportunities to punish evil were rare in the academy.
There were immortal masters and rules, and the students were all honest and simple. There were hardly any wicked people.
Even the class bully Zhang Quan now avoided him. He wouldn't even drink the porridge Luo Zhou offered, so there was no chance to get his Raging Bull Strength.
Luo Zhou had no choice but to think of another way. He handed out money and played dumb. After drinking his porridge, they felt too embarrassed to turn him down and would play along with his hero game.
Since he couldn't genuinely reward good and punish evil, he'd just have to manufacture a fake version of it himself. He could still get his rewards!
You couldn't let yourself be choked to death just because there was no toilet!
If Heaven and Earth wouldn't give it to him, he'd take it himself!
That was how Luo Zhou obtained his classmates' spiritual natures.
Take Zuo Sanguang, who was carrying the porridge. He'd awakened the spiritual ability Flash of Inspiration.
Luo Zhou got it through their hero game!
But the spiritual nature he copied had quietly mutated.
Unlike Zuo Sanguang's Flash of Inspiration, which let him achieve sudden enlightenment during cultivation,
Luo Zhou's Flash of Inspiration let him sense future events.
That was how he learned that in a hundred days, he would encounter the most terrifying Woodworm Devil in the city—and die without a doubt!
Wang Heyu's spiritual nature was the ability to unleash all his strength. After Luo Zhou obtained it, it had actually transformed into the divine ability Dragon-Slaying Thrust, completely changing his fate.
The spiritual nature Luo Zhou had obtained from Meng Junzheng, the Keen Dharma Eye, was another core key to the Dragon-Slaying Thrust!
Most of his classmates' spiritual natures, however, were quite ordinary.
After all, they were students in Xianya Hall's Class Three. The truly gifted students with powerful spiritual natures were all in Class One.
Besides, Luo Zhou still didn't fully understand all the wonders of Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil. He could only feel his way across the river by touching the stones, and figure it out bit by bit.
After drinking two bowls of Spirit Grain Porridge, Luo Zhou felt his blood and energy gradually boil. With Immortal Master Wang's transfer of spiritual energy, he let out a long breath and began his hard cultivation.
Everyone went off to cultivate on their own!
They all knew this was the key to changing their fate and living well in the future. Not one of them slacked off.
They practiced the White Sun Body Refining Technique, one move after another.
Rising stance to split the mountain, kneeling and coiling the bones, the Vajra pounds the mortar, six seals and four closures, wild horses parting their manes, advancing with a twisted step...
They were young and in their prime. Only by enduring hardship and training hard now could they enjoy the good life in the future!
After a day of hard cultivation, classes at the academy ended, and everyone headed home.
Luo Zhou went home too. Along the way, he saw those Dead Spirits, but there was nothing he could do for them.
"In another day or two, Zuo Sanguang's telepathy should recover, so I can get another spiritual nature.
I wonder if I'll get Zhang Quan's Raging Bull Strength or Meng Junzheng's Keen Dharma Eye?
If only I could get the spiritual natures of Yuan Zhen, Liu Yueqing, and the other three. Too bad they won't give me the time of day..."
Lost in thought, Luo Zhou had already returned to Ping'an Quarter, where his home was.
Suddenly, Luo Zhou thought he heard a young child crying out.
"Help me, somebody, please! Dad, stop hitting me! Help!"
This wasn't a shout. It was telepathy!
Luo Zhou was overjoyed. He'd been searching high and low, and now it had come right to him.
He immediately rushed in the direction of the telepathic signal.
The cries of a child came from a house in Ping'an Quarter.
Several gossipy women had already gathered outside to watch, whispering among themselves.
"Old Wang's beating his kid again."
"Ever since he married his second wife and she had a son, he's been beating the child every few days."
"Wang Xiaoya's only eight years old. He'll beat her for hours over any little mistake. He'll beat her to death one of these days..."
"Her real mother's dead. A child without a mother is like a blade of grass. That stepmother's just too cruel."
"Why bother? If they don't want to raise the child, they could sell her. Why beat her to death?"
"I heard that stepmother's brother is in the Sanjiang Gang, mixed up with the underworld."
"What? Those bastards in the Sanjiang Gang? We can't afford to cross them!"
Luo Zhou knew the Wang household. The family head, Wang Dong, cut hair at the east end of the street. He had no spiritual nature and had never cultivated; he was an ordinary mortal.
Delighted, Luo Zhou didn't slow down. He kicked hard at the gate.
Boom! The moment his foot landed, the strength of four bulls burst forth.
The gate flew open.
Luo Zhou charged inside and shouted,
"Hey, you old bastard! You wicked stepmother! You're so cruel, the child's about to be beaten to death!"
In the courtyard, a bald old man was beating a child with a stick.
Beside him, a young, alluring woman held a baby and cracked sunflower seeds, watching the show with glee.
The child lay curled up on the ground, arms shielding her head as she wailed nonstop.
Seeing Luo Zhou barge in, Old Wang, the bald man, flew into a rage and cursed,
"Where'd you come from, you little brat? You dare trespass in my home? Aren't you afraid of the law..."
Luo Zhou kicked out, using the White Sun Body Refining Technique's Wild Horses Parting Their Manes.
His foot struck Old Wang's wooden club, shattering it.
The force sent Old Wang flying through the air before he crashed to one side.
Then Luo Zhou stepped forward, kicked again, and pinned Old Wang's chest underfoot as he shouted,
"You old bastard, are you going to hit anyone again?"
Old Wang was immediately trampled until he could barely breathe.
The wicked stepmother, the young alluring woman, dropped her sunflower seeds and turned to run.
Luo Zhou let go of Old Wang, darted forward, and slapped her hard across the face. The young woman fell to the ground, wailing.
Evil had to be punished—all of it. Not a single one could be allowed to get away.
Old Wang struggled to his feet and tried to go inside for a kitchen knife to fight back. Luo Zhou kicked him down again.
"Tell me, you old bastard. Are you going to hit the child again?"
That was the difference between cultivators and mortals. Luo Zhou was only fifteen, but he was already at the sixth level of Body Tempering and could completely overpower an ordinary mortal.
The bald Old Wang struggled a few times, but he couldn't fight back.
He immediately begged for mercy. "I won't hit her again! Never again!"
"Were you wrong?"
"I was wrong, I was wrong!"
"Are you convinced? Do you admit it?"
"I'm convinced, I admit it!"
Luo Zhou threw his head back and laughed. "I'm Luo Zhou, the Hero Luo, from Class Three of Xianya Hall at the Dao Academy!"
"Remember that—the one who beat you was Luo Zhou, the Hero Luo, from Class Three of Xianya Hall at the Dao Academy!"
He even had to announce his name? What an idiot...
Everyone lived in the same neighborhood, so there was no way to hide his identity. He might as well announce it openly.
Then he turned around, picked up the child, and carried him to the Medical Hall for treatment.
The surrounding neighbors immediately broke into cheers!
"Serves him right! Serves him right!"
"The second son of the old Luo Family has been righteous since he was little!"
"Well done, Hero Luo!"
Luo Zhou smiled. This counted as a freebie Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil. He wondered what kind of reward he would receive.
Before you continue