Nine Bulls and Two Tigers

At midnight, the time came. Someone came walking over with a clatter.

Eleven treasure hunters, torn to pieces by biting, arrived before Luo Zhou as dead spirits.

They touched Luo Zhou one by one. Then, as though freed of a heavy burden, they slowly took on the appearances they'd had before they died.

Luo Zhou looked at them and lit three sticks of incense.

The liberated treasure hunters looked at Luo Zhou with gratitude. They thanked him, bowed, and paid their respects.

"Everyone, congratulations on regaining your freedom. Go now, return to the cycle of reincarnation, and begin a new life!"

The many treasure hunters slowly dispersed, returning to the cycle of reincarnation!

Luo Zhou let out a long breath and waited in silence. His Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil ability quietly activated!

"Luo Zhou, a dead spirit has sensed a plea for help. A spirit is doing evil. Punish it!"

"Punish evil: kill the man-eating Crocodile Dragon. Good deed—this deserves a reward!"

"Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil complete. Reward!"

In a daze, Luo Zhou felt essence, energy, and spirit slowly flow into his body.

Killing a Crocodile Dragon brought the same reward as killing a Woodworm Devil.

But it wasn't always so. If he hadn't found the dead spirits before killing the Crocodile Dragon, he wouldn't have received this reward.

Luo Zhou had now killed five Crocodile Dragons, but only three had earned him a punishment-for-evil reward.

As essence and energy entered his body, Luo Zhou's body silently evolved once more.

He gained another nine strands of true qi, all Water Tide Qi, which flowed into his dantian.

This was the Crocodile Dragon's qi. It had no cultivation method and relied entirely on instinct, so it had accumulated very little true qi.

Now, Luo Zhou's dantian held twenty-seven strands of Geomagnetic Qi, twenty strands of Water Tide Energy, three strands of Heavy Dust Qi, and one strand of Three Eyes Qi.

As for spirit, aside from some experience controlling water and silently stalking prey, the Crocodile Dragon's life held nothing of value.

Luo Zhou woke early.

This day was unlike the ones before. It was the third day of the sixth month, and tonight, the Devil of the 3rd of the Month would surely break into a household and wipe out the family.

As soon as he got up, he had the feeling that someone was reminding him: thirty days remained!

And there were still four Woodworm Devils...

After getting ready, he headed to the Dao Academy.

Luo Zhou was in high spirits today. It was time to reap another harvest.

Whenever he had the chance, he treated everyone at the Dao Academy to porridge for one purpose: to invite his classmates to play his heroic justice game.

The other person pretended to be a villain, doing evil and bullying a classmate, while Luo Zhou upheld justice.

It seemed like a game, but he was really using his classmates to complete Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil, and in turn gain their spiritual talents.

By now, Luo Zhou had gained twelve spiritual talents: Dragon-Slaying Thrust, Keen Dharma Eye, Flash of Inspiration, Water Avoidance Technique, Water Control Technique, Consecutive Swift Steps, Rapid Recovery, Light Technique, Truthful Hearing, Evil Suppression, Flying Pounce, and Insect Control.

To be honest, Dragon-Slaying Thrust was the most useful. The rest were mostly support talents.

Consecutive Swift Steps, Rapid Recovery, and Truthful Hearing had all been repeatedly stacked. Only then had his ability evolved.

There was no helping it. The students with truly powerful spiritual talents were mostly in Xianya Class One. His classmates in Class Three were more or less all at this level.

Still, it wasn't a problem. The Ascension Ceremony only came once every five years, and the next one was a year and a half away. He could take his time.

Besides those, Four Bulls' Strength, Hand of Thought, and Vortex Guard were three powerful spiritual talents he'd truly earned through Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil.

One of the key elements in using the heroic justice game to activate Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil was Zuo Sanguang, who played the victim.

The plea for help needed to come from the heart. Otherwise, it was meaningless.

Luo Zhou had tried many times with all his classmates except Zuo Sanguang, but none of them could do it—not even Luo Zhou himself. They couldn't send a heartfelt plea for help.

After helping once, Zuo Sanguang had to rest for two or three days before he could send another heartfelt plea.

Every time, Luo Zhou secretly gave him Broken Spirit as extra compensation.

He arrived at the Dao Academy and began another day of cultivation.

When his classmates saw Luo Zhou arrive, they were delighted. They knew there'd be a bowl of Spirit Grain Porridge for them today.

Zuo Sanguang looked full of energy and chatted and laughed with Luo Zhou. He'd recovered after two or three days, so he was ready again today.

Aside from five classmates who didn't get along with Luo Zhou, he'd more or less drained the spiritual talents from everyone in the class.

In truth, there were three wealthy students, one aloof student, and Zhang Quan, the former school bully, who had awakened the Raging Bull Strength talent and liked to bully his classmates.

The one he bullied most was Zuo Sanguang. Back then, Zuo Sanguang hadn't awakened any spiritual talents and was bullied by Zhang Quan every day.

As it happened, Luo Zhou had just awakened and heard Zuo Sanguang's heartfelt plea for help. He stepped in and taught Zhang Quan a lesson.

At first, he could only sneak in a kick and count it as punishing evil, but unexpectedly, he gained Zhang Quan's Raging Bull Strength talent.

Later, after fighting Zhang Quan several more times, a single punch at him also counted as punishing evil, earning Luo Zhou one Bull's Strength.

After Luo Zhou built up Four Bulls' Strength, he could easily crush Zhang Quan.

During that time, Zuo Sanguang also awakened Flash of Inspiration and entered Xianya Hall.

Zhang Quan never dared bully Zuo Sanguang again, but he also never drank Luo Zhou's Spirit Grain Porridge.

He couldn't beat Luo Zhou, so whenever Luo Zhou showed up, he kept his distance.

Huh? Where was Zhang Quan?

Luo Zhou noticed he couldn't see Zhang Quan anywhere.

As though sensing whom Luo Zhou was looking for, Zuo Sanguang said:

"Zhang Quan? He was here just a moment ago. Did he run off when he saw you?"

"We can't let him get away. Let's go!"

Luo Zhou and Zuo Sanguang went out to look for Zhang Quan.

"There!"

Zuo Sanguang's heart-sense was particularly strong. He sensed Zhang Quan's whereabouts.

Luo Zhou immediately gave chase. He couldn't let Zhang Quan get away—not when today's prize was Five Bulls' Strength!

When Zhang Quan saw Luo Zhou, he turned and ran.

They chased each other out of the Dao Academy and into the streets.

There were plenty of uneven, winding alleys outside the Dao Academy, with a maze of twists and turns.

They began their pursuit.

They ran and ran, but Luo Zhou couldn't see Zhang Quan and had no idea where he'd gone.

He wasn't in a hurry. He activated Truthful Hearing and listened carefully.

Then he shouted, "Found you!"

With Flying Pounce, he could leap wherever he pleased within three zhang. He sprang straight onto the courtyard wall of an alley.

He activated Consecutive Swift Steps and ran at full speed.

Consecutive Swift Steps had come from Senior Brother Cui Jian's Swift Steps. After Luo Zhou drained it three times, it had become Consecutive Swift Steps.

He passed through three alleys in a row, then suddenly leaped down, landing right in front of the fleeing Zhang Quan.

"Hahaha, Zhang Quan, where do you think you're going?"

"What's the matter? Not going to fight me today? Where's your courage? Why are you running? Think you can get away?"

At that moment, Luo Zhou looked more like a thug who bullied his classmates!

Luo Zhou blocked Zhang Quan. His face changed drastically, filled with anger, hatred, and unwillingness...

He muttered to himself:

"I've been avoiding you this whole time!"

"You show up, and I run. I've been avoiding you and fleeing as hard as I can, but you still chase me..."

Gradually, his expression turned sorrowful, then anguished...

"So this is what it feels like to be bullied."

"So all those classmates I chased before, the ones who could never get away—they must have felt this awful."

At that moment, the former school bully remembered how he used to bully others and understood what it had felt like for his victims!

He hadn't turned completely rotten. He still had empathy!

Suddenly, he burst into loud sobs.

The sudden outburst startled Luo Zhou into taking a step back. Why was he crying?

Had he gone too far this time?

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Zhang Quan lunged at Luo Zhou, sobbing.

Luo Zhou reached out. With Four Bulls' Strength, he completely overpowered Zhang Quan's Raging Bull Strength and pinned him down.

Zhang Quan shut his eyes and waited to be beaten.

The last two times they'd fought, Luo Zhou had beaten him black and blue.

But instead, Luo Zhou released Zhang Quan, stepped back several paces, and bowed to him.

"I'm sorry, Zhang Quan.

"You used to bully people all the time, and I couldn't stand it, so I taught you a lesson every time. I hoped you'd stop bullying your classmates.

"I feel like you're different now.

"This time, you weren't bullying anyone. I was the one chasing you. I was the one bullying you.

"When you do something wrong, you have to make it right, so I sincerely apologize.

"From now on, as long as you don't bully your classmates, I won't fight you again."

He bowed once more.

Then he turned and left, leaving Zhang Quan standing there in a daze.

After Luo Zhou left, Zuo Sanguang came running over and ran right into Zhang Quan.

Zuo Sanguang looked around. When he couldn't find Luo Zhou, he turned to flee.

But Zhang Quan bowed to him.

"Zuo, I used to be immature and bully you for no reason.

"Today, I understood the pain of being bullied. I was wrong, and I sincerely apologize!"

Zuo Sanguang was left completely dumbfounded.

Luo Zhou returned to class, came up with an excuse, and treated everyone to porridge.

Naturally, Senior Brother Cui Jian ran out to buy it. Then Zhang Quan suddenly appeared and said, "Get me a bowl too!"

Then he bowed to all his classmates.

"I used to be immature and bully everyone for no reason. Now I sincerely apologize!"

Seeing Zhang Quan's sincere apology, the classmates looked at one another, unsure what to do.

Luo Zhou began to clap. Senior Brother Cui Jian joined in, and soon the whole class was applauding.

Not far away, the Dao Academy's dean, Zhao Bochen, nodded in his office, deeply pleased.

After school, Luo Zhou went home. He finished his porridge, and they played the heroic justice game.

Meng Junzheng played the villain, and Zuo Sanguang naturally played the victim, sending out a coordinated heartfelt plea for help.

Back home, Luo Zhou forged two more Dragon-Slaying Thrusts and hid them inside his Eyebrow-Level Staff.

In his dantian, six strands of Geomagnetic Qi remained, along with twenty strands of Water Tide Energy, three strands of Heavy Dust Qi, and one strand of Three Eyes Qi.

The next time he forged a Dragon-Slaying Thrust, he could only use Water Tide Qi.

At midnight, his Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil ability quietly activated!

"Luo Zhou, a spirit has been sensed doing evil. Punish it!"

"You helped your classmate and punished a bully. Punishing evil is a good deed!"

"Rewarding Good and Punishing Evil complete. Reward!"

This was Meng Junzheng's Keen Dharma Eye, obtained from the game. Luo Zhou was using it to strengthen his own Keen Dharma Eye.

By repeatedly stacking traits like this, he would inevitably trigger an evolution and become stronger.

The reward ended, but Luo Zhou wasn't expecting that, in a daze, he'd hear countless people cheering!

"Luo Zhou, you changed Zhang Quan's bad habits and cleansed his heart. From this day onward, Zhang Quan's fate has taken a new turn, and he's embarked on a different life. This is a great good deed!"

"A great good deed deserves a great reward!"

Luo Zhou was stunned. In the past, no matter what good deeds he'd done or how many Woodworm cultivators he'd killed, they'd only counted as good deeds. He'd never gotten one that counted as a great good deed.

And there hadn't even been a heartfelt plea for help to trigger it?

In a daze, Luo Zhou felt a force descend from the heavens and pour into his body.

His whole body shuddered. In that haze, he felt countless shouts echoing in his mind!

Somewhere deep in his mind, Luo Zhou saw a wild bull.

The bull roared, bellowed, and charged with all its might!

Luo Zhou felt his flesh and body transform, giving birth to strength.

"Body..."

"Bull... strength..."

Then another wild bull appeared, followed by yet another!

"Rewarding good!"

"Reward: Nine Bulls' Strength. Gather two tigers to gain the divine power Nine Bulls and Two Tigers!"