"Things are getting tricky," Lu Yang said with a click of his tongue, sensing something was off. The others from the Yanjiang Sect had already left in a hurry to do bad things, leaving just the three of them behind.
If they were to act freely, they could turn the entire Flying Immortal City upside down. Unfortunately, their nature wouldn't allow it; they were undercover in the Demon Sect, surrounded by real practitioners of the dark arts.
"No wonder no one has ever infiltrated the Immortal Sect as an undercover agent. Turns out there’s this test," Meng Jingzhou also found the situation particularly challenging.
"What’s the worst thing you want to do?" Lu Yang asked.
Meng Jingzhou thought for a long time before uncertainly saying, "Does going to a brothel count?"
He had been forbidden by his family from visiting places like that since he was a child. The uncles who had gone to brothels always said it was a terrible place, not suitable for kids. Meng Jingzhou had seen his uncles come home and kneel on washboards as punishment, and he really believed that brothels were scary places.
Now, as a single man… oh no, as someone with a pure Yang spirit root, he felt he definitely couldn't go. For Meng Jingzhou, going to a brothel was the ultimate act of rebellion.
Man Gu couldn’t even think of anything.
"Forget it, we still have a day. Let’s go to a brothel and relax," Lu Yang suggested. He already had an idea; jokingly, he thought, how could rules restrict him?
It was still early, and there was no need to act right away. After all, this was a rare opportunity, so why not first fulfill Meng Jingzhou's wish?
Meng Jingzhou's eyes lit up. Right, this wasn’t their real bodies, so a visit wouldn’t hurt.
"Let’s go, let’s go!" he urged the other two.
He felt uneasy going alone to such a place.
The other two couldn’t refuse Meng Jingzhou, so they had to go together.
The brothel was in a very obvious location, and the three of them found it easily.
The women outside, dressed in fancy clothes, waved handkerchiefs to attract customers, beckoning passersby with a flick of their hands.
When they reached the entrance, Man Gu hesitated and kept stepping back. "I’m a scholar; this isn’t a place for scholars."
"The sage said that beautiful women are like skeletons, turning cities into ruins. I can’t make a mistake."
The other two tried to persuade him for a long time, but they couldn’t change his mind, so they had to give up.
Lu Yang was quite loyal: "Since you don’t want to go to the brothel, I’ll go in your place."
Man Gu sighed in relief, thinking that Lu Yang was reliable.
Then he watched as Lu Yang performed a set of Shaped Fist moves and transformed into his likeness.
Man Gu: "!!!"
Lu Yang patted the stunned Man Gu, signaling him to relax. "I’m going."
Man Gu quickly grabbed the other version of himself. "You can’t go! Even if you go, you can’t turn into my shape!"
"I’m doing this for your sake; it’s a pity you can’t go," Lu Yang said earnestly.
Man Gu firmly disagreed.
"Don’t be shy," Lu Yang encouraged.
In reality, Lu Yang was also quite nervous. He had never been to such a place before. What if something went wrong? He didn’t want Meng Jingzhou to laugh at him for life. So, it made sense to turn into Man Gu; if anything embarrassing happened, it wouldn’t be him.
This was something he definitely couldn’t say out loud.
While the three were arguing, they suddenly heard a loud crash from the brothel, followed by a woman’s scream and the raucous laughter of men.
They turned sharply to see over ten practitioners behaving recklessly inside the brothel, holding women who seemed to have been taken by force.
These practitioners didn’t even bother to hide their cultivation levels; they were all at the Foundation Establishment stage, and a couple of them had auras comparable to the previous tiger demon!
These people were all here to take the test.
"How outrageous!" The three felt a surge of anger rising within them, wanting to step in and stop these people.
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu wanted to act, but Lu Yang stopped them.
"Don’t be impulsive. There are only three of us; we can’t defeat them."
"What do you suggest we do then?" Meng Jingzhou asked anxiously.
Lu Yang waved his hand. "I have a way to temporarily boost my strength. You two wait for me."
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu were curious. They didn’t have any strength-boosting pills on them. Did Lu Yang learn some secret method to temporarily increase his cultivation?
Lu Yang took a deep breath, his movements becoming softer, and his expression turned from lively to cold and expressionless, giving off a high and aloof aura.
Meng Jingzhou squinted his eyes and then widened them in surprise.
This movement was just like Senior Sister Yun Zhi!
Lu Yang was using the Lu Family's Shaped Fist to transform into Senior Sister!
He had joked before that the Lu Family's Shaped Fist had nine levels, and reaching the ninth level could allow one to transform into a tribulation-transcending expert in an instant.
He said this because he found that when he transformed into Man Gu, his body was stronger than his own.
The Lu Family's Shaped Fist could gain part of the strength of the person being transformed into!
This strength surely had its limits and couldn’t be infinitely increased, but it was still quite powerful.
Lu Yang wanted to see how much power he could gain by transforming into Senior Sister and if he could defeat these people!
Senior Sister, I’m sorry.
A breathtakingly beautiful woman appeared, her eyes sparkling, with an aura of eternal frost about her.
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu instinctively held their breath and trembled at the sight of her.
Lu Yang successfully transformed into Senior Sister!
He felt a powerful force pouring into his body!
…
At the Dao Seeking Sect, on Tianmen Peak.
Yun Zhi sat cross-legged at the peak, her eyes open, gazing at the sky as if she could see the endless sea of stars far away.
She had suppressed her aura to the utmost; anyone looking at her would only see a mortal.
But a mortal wouldn’t float atop the peak, nor would they have eyes filled with brilliant starry rivers.
"Hmm? Who borrowed my power?" Yun Zhi withdrew her gaze, sensing a trace of her power drifting away into the infinite distance.
"I must see who has the audacity!"
Yun Zhi had never encountered such a bold thief!
She dropped her mortal guise, releasing her aura like a sharp war spear, breaking through the clouds, fully displaying the demeanor of the Dao Seeking Sect's Senior Sister!
Yun Zhi’s spirit left her body, transforming into a sharp stream of light, following the trace of power that had separated from her.
…
"Cough!" Lu Yang couldn’t handle even a fraction of Senior Sister’s power and reverted back to his original form.
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu also sighed in relief; Lu Yang’s presence as Senior Sister was too overwhelming.
Crack—
A crisp sound came from above.
Whether it was the rogue practitioners committing all sorts of crimes or the three who were preparing to act heroically, they all stopped and stared in shock at the sky.
A crack appeared in the previously boundless space, as if something had collided with it.
Crack, crack, crack…
The crack widened like a dried-up riverbed, and with a loud crash, it turned into a gaping hole, as if the heavens had opened up.
A striking figure appeared at the opening, frowning slightly.
"This aura… is from the Demon Sect?"
In the first year, Princess Da Qian first encountered a "gentleman," a person with righteous spirit who upheld justice. She sneered, "A hypocrite."
In the second year, during the struggle for the throne, a single misstep led to total defeat. With her eyes closed, she sought death, but that person was the only one who stood up to protect her life and return her to the capital. She scoffed, "Still counts as a gentleman."
In the fifth year, after a coup and ascension to the throne, the Empress granted that person high positions and beautiful women, all of which he refused. She frowned slightly, "Indeed a gentleman."
In the tenth year, waking up in the morning, her body sore, she cursed the person beside her, "What a shame to be a gentleman!"
(End of Chapter)