Menial Disciples, Lives as Lowly as Ants

"Lu Chen, you're outrageously audacious! How dare you injure a fellow senior brother? I'll whip you to death!"

Manager Pang immediately raised the whip in his hand and moved to strike Lu Chen.

"Stop!"

At that moment, two more people walked in from outside.

Manager Pang stopped at once upon hearing this.

Lu Chen looked over and saw that the person in front was a young woman dressed in black. She was none other than Senior Sister Su Qingqing, who had rewarded him with a Low-Grade Spirit Stone in the alchemy room that day.

Following behind her was Liu Heizi.

The woman in black sized Lu Chen up.

"It's you?"

Su Qingqing recognized Lu Chen as well.

"Why aren't you getting over here to pay respects to Senior Sister Su, the manager of the Outer Enforcement Hall?"

Manager Pang shouted at Lu Chen.

"This lowly one pays respects to Senior Sister Su!"

Lu Chen hurried forward and bowed.

He had not expected this inner sect senior sister to be a manager of the outer sect Law Enforcement Hall.

The Joyful Union Sect's Law Enforcement Hall was divided into an inner hall and an outer hall.

The Outer Enforcement Hall managed all outer sect disciples of the Joyful Union Sect.

Any outer sect disciple who broke the rules fell under the Outer Enforcement Hall's jurisdiction.

Lu Chen looked at Liu Heizi behind Su Qingqing.

This fellow had some skill. He had actually managed to alert a manager of the Outer Enforcement Hall.

"Did you break Liu Heizi's hand?"

Su Qingqing looked at Lu Chen indifferently.

"No!"

Lu Chen denied it without a second thought.

"Lu Chen, how dare you tell barefaced lies in front of Senior Sister? You were clearly the one who injured me."

Liu Heizi snapped.

"Lu Chen, what else do you have to say!"

Su Qingqing said coldly.

"No, Senior Sister, everything needs evidence. It can't be whatever he says goes, right?"

Lu Chen thought, I simply won't admit it. What can you do to me?

"My injuries are the evidence."

Liu Heizi trembled with rage.

With Manager Pang and Senior Sister Su present, he was no longer afraid of Lu Chen.

"Lu Chen, Lu Chen. You clearly know that the sect forbids fellow disciples from fighting privately, yet you still struck Liu Heizi so viciously. You simply have no regard whatsoever for the sect rules."

Manager Pang said coldly.

This was a fine opportunity to kill Lu Chen.

He could not let it slip away.

If outer sect menial disciples violated the sect rules, the light punishment was having their cultivation crippled and being expelled from the sect; the heavy punishment was being beaten to death outright.

"Lu Chen, come back to the Law Enforcement Hall with me!"

Su Qingqing looked at Lu Chen with a grave expression.

Lu Chen had knowingly broken the rules. He was as good as dead.

Liu Heizi looked at Lu Chen with undisguised glee at his misfortune.

Manager Pang also stared at Lu Chen with cold, sinister eyes.

"Senior Sister Su, I'll say it again: if you want me to confess, there must be evidence. You cannot rely solely on Liu Heizi's one-sided claims. Besides, I have reason to suspect that Liu Heizi is deliberately framing me."

Lu Chen said angrily.

"What... I'm framing you?"

Liu Heizi was so frustrated he was practically ready to spit blood.

"Am I wrong? Earlier, during a match organized by Manager Pang, I punched you so hard in public that you shit yourself. You then openly said you would kill me. Dare you say you never said that?"

Lu Chen looked coldly at Liu Heizi.

And you think you can kill me?

"I have heard a little about this matter as well."

Su Qingqing glanced at Liu Heizi.

The matter of a disciple from the Yellow-Tier Alchemy Room being punched so hard during a match that he shat himself, followed by everyone getting diarrhea, had long since spread throughout the sect.

Liu Heizi, the spraying warrior, had become a topic of conversation among menial disciples after meals and during idle moments.

It had turned Liu Heizi into a laughingstock in everyone's eyes.

Naturally, Liu Heizi hated Lu Chen enough to wish him dead.

"No, Senior Sister, Lu Chen really did attack me! Look, even my hand is broken."

Liu Heizi panicked.

"Liu Heizi, words come out of your mouth, and you can say whatever you please. But you had better produce evidence. Otherwise, I will charge you with falsely accusing a fellow disciple."

Lu Chen glared at Liu Heizi indignantly.

"Indeed. Liu Heizi, do you have any witness testimony or physical evidence?"

Su Qingqing nodded.

Every word Lu Chen said made sense.

"No, this..."

Liu Heizi was so aggrieved that he was about to vomit blood. Lu Chen had clearly beaten him, yet he could not produce any evidence.

Who would ever come to Waste-Pill Valley?

At the time, only he and Lu Chen had been there.

Witnesses simply did not exist.

As for physical evidence, there was none either.

"Then are all these injuries on me supposed to be something I inflicted on myself?"

Liu Heizi was both anxious and furious.

"That is not impossible. You should know that there are at least seven or eight li between the alchemy district and Waste-Pill Valley. There are occasionally fierce beasts wandering the mountain, and Liu Heizi, you have offended quite a few people in your daily life too, haven't you?"

Lu Chen looked coldly at Liu Heizi.

"Liu Heizi, Liu Heizi. To pin the blame on me, you actually dared deceive Senior Sister Su. Your nerve is truly enormous."

Lu Chen continued.

"How outrageous..."

Upon hearing this, Su Qingqing's willow-leaf brows shot up as she glared furiously at Liu Heizi.

"No, Senior Sister, it isn't like that. Even if I had ten times the courage, I still wouldn't dare deceive Senior Sister."

Liu Heizi's expression changed drastically, and he collapsed limply onto the ground in fright.

"Then, Manager Pang, are you an accomplice as well?"

Lu Chen smiled at Manager Pang.

"What..."

Manager Pang was truly shocked beyond measure.

How had this gotten dragged onto him?

Deceiving a manager of the Law Enforcement Hall was no trivial matter.

"Hm?"

Su Qingqing turned to look at Manager Pang.

"Nothing of the sort happened! Liu Heizi caused all of this himself. It has nothing to do with me!"

Manager Pang hurriedly said, washing his hands of the matter completely.

He had to protect himself.

"Senior Sister, Liu Heizi bears a grudge against this lowly one and has falsely accused me. Please uphold justice for this lowly one!"

Lu Chen said sorrowfully and indignantly.

Inside, he was immensely pleased.

You two want to kill me? Dream on!

Manager Pang was also trembling with fear at this moment.

He had never dreamed that Lu Chen would turn the tables on him.

He hated Liu Heizi to death.

If not for this fellow stirring up trouble, he would still be cultivating right now.

There were only a few days left until the Sect Grand Tournament.

He had originally intended to raise his cultivation and challenge for the manager position of the Mysterious-Tier Alchemy District.

Who would have thought that Liu Heizi would come to complain, saying Lu Chen had beaten him and even broken his left hand.

He had not wanted to involve himself in this matter.

But Liu Heizi had been blinded by rage and actually took the matter directly to the Outer Enforcement Hall.

With the Sect Grand Tournament approaching, outer sect disciples were fighting privately?

How could that be tolerated?

They had to be severely punished.

Thus, Su Qingqing, the newly appointed manager of the Outer Enforcement Hall, had brought Manager Pang and Liu Heizi to Waste-Pill Valley to hold Lu Chen accountable.

"Senior Sister, please uphold justice for me!"

Lu Chen said indignantly.

"Liu Heizi, what else do you have to say? If you cannot produce evidence, then you are falsely accusing a fellow disciple. Do you know the consequences?"

Su Qingqing looked coldly at Liu Heizi, who was sprawled on the ground.

Only then did Liu Heizi realize that aside from his injuries, he could not produce a single piece of evidence.

"Manager Pang, say something!"

Liu Heizi looked pleadingly at Manager Pang. At this moment, he had grievances he could not voice.

"What you have done has nothing to do with me."

How could Manager Pang dare say anything?

He looked coldly at Lu Chen.

This fellow was not simple.

He had always harbored one question: why did inner sect Senior Sister Jiang Yurou want Lu Chen dead?

Jiang Yurou was the sect master's Personal Disciple.

Could Lu Chen have some hidden identity?

As Manager Pang thought of this, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"How outrageous! You actually dared deceive me?"

Su Qingqing stared at Liu Heizi, killing intent rising within her.

"No, no, no... Senior Sister, I truly didn't deceive you..."

Liu Heizi lay prostrate on the ground, shivering all over in terror.

"Please investigate the truth, Senior Sister, and restore my innocence!"

Lu Chen shouted once more.

"Investigate my ass!"

Su Qingqing raised her hand and brought it down, slamming a palm onto Liu Heizi's crown.

Liu Heizi fell straight to the ground, dead on the spot.

A mere menial disciple dared play tricks before me? He deserved to die!

"..."

Manager Pang stood frozen in fright.

Menial disciples' lives were as lowly as ants!

Lu Chen looked at Liu Heizi's corpse, but he felt no sympathy for him.

This fellow had wanted to kill him.

So he had gotten this fellow killed.

But Su Qingqing had casually killed a menial disciple.

It weighed heavily on his heart.

The status of menial disciples was simply too low.

Within the sect, they were slaves at everyone's beck and call.

"Throw this fellow into the mass grave."

Su Qingqing turned and left after saying that.

Manager Pang gave Lu Chen a deep look, grabbed Liu Heizi's corpse, and dragged it away.

At that moment, Lu Chen yearned incomparably for powerful strength.

Only by becoming strong could he preserve his life, seize control of his own fate, and earn the right to flip the table and shatter this injustice.

Otherwise, Liu Heizi would be a warning from the past.

Before becoming strong enough, he had to keep his head down. He had to be even more careful.

After Su Qingqing and Manager Pang left, Lu Chen sat cross-legged in front of the small building and began cultivating.

Before he knew it, evening had arrived again.

After dinner, Lu Chen entered the depths of Waste-Pill Valley.

He opened the innermost Waste Pill Repository, then shut the door.

He intended to restore several Realm-Breaking Pills to raise his cultivation.

Realm-Breaking Pills could actually be divided into ordinary Realm-Breaking Pills and Nine-Turn Boundary-Breaking Pills.

Lu Chen took out the failed Realm-Breaking Pills.

Restoring one failed Realm-Breaking Pill consumed fifteen strands of Yin-Yang Essence.

That was the amount of Yin-Yang Essence required to restore an ordinary Realm-Breaking Pill.

Ordinary Realm-Breaking Pills could only raise a minor realm within a major realm, and they were only useful to cultivators below the Nascent Soul Realm.

To break through a major realm, only the Nine-Turn Boundary-Breaking Pill possessed such medicinal efficacy.

He searched all through Number Eighteen Waste-Pill Room, yet failed to find even a single failed Nine-Turn Boundary-Breaking Pill.

He had no idea whether the other Waste Pill Repositories contained such failed pills.

However, ordinary Realm-Breaking Pills were already enough for him.

He took out the Yin-Yang Cauldron and directly tossed three failed Realm-Breaking Pills into it.

Very soon, he obtained three graded Realm-Breaking Pills.

A total of forty-five strands of Yin-Yang Essence had been consumed. He had previously possessed one hundred and forty-seven strands.

Now, he only had one hundred and two strands of Yin-Yang Essence left.

He stored the three Realm-Breaking Pills in a small jade bottle.

It was time to go down the mountain.

Lu Chen walked out of the Waste Pill Repository. Night had fallen, and the valley where the Waste Pill Repositories stood was deathly quiet.

Without hesitation, he left Waste-Pill Valley.

Yun Household, rear courtyard side chamber.

"Senior Sister, are you really going to meet that mysterious pill-dao cultivator?"

Jiang Yurou looked at her eldest senior sister, Yun Feiyan.

"Of course. I want to see just who he is."

Yun Feiyan replied calmly.

"There's something I've thought over, and I still have to tell you, Senior Sister."

Jiang Yurou clenched her teeth and spoke to Yun Feiyan.

"You're hiding something from me?"

Yun Feiyan frowned.

"That fellow Lu Chen is still alive."

Jiang Yurou looked cautiously at Yun Feiyan.

"What? He's still alive? How is that possible? Didn't you say he opened the box containing the failed Nascent Soul Pill? That was the pill poison of a failed Nascent Soul Pill—even we wouldn't dare bear it."

Yun Feiyan stared at Jiang Yurou in disbelief.

"Senior Sister, could it be that Junior Sister still has lingering feelings for Lu Chen and secretly gave him a protective Spirit Artifact?"

Jiang Yurou mused.

"Very likely. Who would have thought that a lowly menial disciple in the sect was actually the fiancé of our Joyful Union Sect's Holy Maiden? Junior Sister is the hope of our Joyful Union Sect. Master told us to keep watch over her. If Junior Sister hadn't secretly met Lu Chen in the back mountain, we would still have been kept in the dark. Junior Sister cultivates the Path of Severed Emotions. Men are stumbling blocks on her path to enlightenment. Lu Chen must die. But the Sect Grand Tournament is important now; after it is over, we'll find an opportunity to kill him!"

Yun Feiyan spoke calmly. Killing a mere Qi Refining Realm menial disciple would be as easy as turning over her hand.

"Senior Sister is right. Let Lu Chen live a few more days. So long as Senior Sister forms a Golden Core before the Sect Grand Tournament, no one will be able to shake your position."

Jiang Yurou nodded.

"Come, we're going to the House of Ten Thousand Beauties!"

Yun Feiyan said as she rose and headed outside.

More than half an hour later, Lu Chen arrived near the House of Ten Thousand Beauties.

He put on a bronze mask, then swaggered straight into the House of Ten Thousand Beauties.

To his surprise, the main hall of the House of Ten Thousand Beauties was packed with people.

The moment he stepped into the hall, everyone's eyes turned toward him in unison.

Yun Feiyan, the Joyful Union Sect's eldest senior sister, and her junior sister Jiang Yurou were also among the crowd.

Both women had veiled their faces with gauze.

Naturally, Lu Chen had no idea who Yun Feiyan and Jiang Yurou were.

Even the white-clad veiled woman who had wanted to discuss pill dao with him last night sat quietly in a corner of the hall, looking toward him.

"What's this..."

Lu Chen had not expected so many people to be sitting in the hall.

"Master, these people are all here to ask you for pills!"

Zhao Hong came forward to greet him.

"What? So many people came to ask me for pills?"

Lu Chen was dumbfounded.