Chapter 261 The Nine Tribulations Thunderblast  

A short while later, Lu Zhou led the others to the Cave of Reflection.

They saw Pan Zhong standing at the cave’s entrance with a blank expression on his face.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As soon as they arrived, they heard the deafening sound of rocks breaking.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“What?! That’s impossible! It can’t be possible!” Pan Zhong mumbled in a daze.

“What are you talking about? What’s impossible?” Mingshi Yin asked.

“I was the one who restricted Mister Eighth’s cultivation base. How did it come undone?” Pan Zhong felt like his confidence had been dealt with a heavy blow. An expression of shock and incredulity could be seen on his face.

“Oh, that. What’s there to be surprised about...” Mingshi Yin rolled his eyes.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Zhu Honggong kept launching energy seals at the walls.

“This is chaotic energy. This is caused by forced cultivation. We must suppress it as quickly as we can,” Hua Wudao said when he saw the bursts of energies around Zhu Honggong. “Chaotic energy?”

“Cultivating an incomplete cultivation method would usually cause chaotic energy. The cultivator has to fill in the blanks of the incomplete method to improve his or her cultivation base. If he were a genius, this might be beneficial. However, if he’s not, this is what happens,” Hua Wudao said.

The words ‘incomplete cultivation methods’ caused the disciples to shudder. They no longer dared to continue the conversation and only looked at their master.

Lu Zhou shook his head. He looked at Zhu Honggong in the Cave of Reflection and said, “He’s making a rod for his own back.” After he finished speaking, he walked into the cave.

At this moment, Zhu Honggong looked up and saw his master. “Master?”

He was about to launch a Nine Tribulations Thunderblast from his palms so he quickly and forcibly reversed the direction of his attack and sent the attack to his chest. The blast from the attack sent him reeling several meters back before he crashed on the floor.

“Ouch!” Zhu Honggong cried out as he rolled on the ground.

‘At least, he recognized me and stopped himself from hurting me at the cost of hurting himself. He still has a conscience.’

Lu Zhou raised his palm and sent an energy seal over.

Bam!

The gentle energy seal landed on Zhu Honggong’s chest.

Zhu Honggong felt as though he had been doused with a bucket of cold water and calmed down. The heat and energy that roiled and surged from his body seemed to subside as well.

Upon seeing this, everyone had a shocked expression on their faces.

Hua Wudao looked at Zhao Yue, Mingshi Yin, and the others. He said, “This is what I mean when I spoke about skill and experience earlier. Zhu Honggong is a Dao Transforming Divine Court realm cultivator after all. The Primal Qi in his body is extremely chaotic so forcibly suppressing it would only make matter worse... Instead, it’s much more helpful to use a gentler and weaker energy. Don’t look down on that palm strike. If one doesn’t have extraordinarily precise control over one’s powers, it would be extremely difficult to guarantee the other party would remain unharmed.” Zhao Yue said, “I’ve learned a lot from you, Elder Hua.”

Hua Wudao merely smiled and said, “It’s nothing worth mentioning... Sometimes, I envy all of you.” “Envy?”

“A master merely takes you in while cultivation depends on the individual... The pavilion master is occupied with many matters every day, and perhaps, he might not have much time to instruct you about cultivation. However, the pavilion master’s actions are worth much more than verbal instructions or teachings. Alas, I’m getting old, I’m afraid I won’t have a chance to learn.” Hua Wudao sighed.

“Uh...’

‘Why did that sound wrong?’

Nevertheless, Zhao Yue and the others nodded their heads. There was nothing wrong with Elder Hua’s words. It merely sounded awkward due to his identity, position, and age. Perhaps, he was just trying to flatter their master?

Meanwhile, Lu Zhou stood with his hands on his back as he looked at Zhu Honggong, Old Eighth, quietly. He was rendered speechless when he heard Hua Wudao’s lengthy explanation. In truth, he did not put much thought into the palm strike he had sent out. All he planned to do was calm Zhu Honggong’s chaotic energy. He did not really take into consideration whether he would injure Zhu Honggong or not since Zhu Honggong was quite hardy.

After Zhu Honggong caught his breath, he shuddered before he hastily kneeled and said, “Master... you’re here!” He thanked the heavens when he recalled how he managed to redirect his attack to himself earlier. Otherwise, he really did not dare to imagine the consequences.

Lu Zhou looked at Zhu Honggong sternly and said, “Speak. What’s the matter?”

“Master... Three days ago, the Five Mice came and stole my zen tunic... The zen tunic helps suppress my chaotic energy... Please help me, master!” Zhu Honggong said fearfully.

“The Five Mice of Upper Prime City?”

Zhu Honggong, Old Eighth, raised his voice and spoke in such a righteous tone that it would inspire admiration from people who did not know better, “They wanted to take me away from Golden Court Mountain. However, there’s no way I’d leave them. I resolutely rejected their preposterous request without any hesitation at all! That exasperated the Five Mice so they robbed me of my zen tunic. They’re truly despicable! The sun and moon can bear witness to my loyalty! I hope you don’t suspect my loyalty to you, master!” Mingshi Yin was speechless. ‘Is this the same idiotic Old Eighth I know? He’s really got a glib tongue!’

Lu Zhou asked, “How many levels of the Nine Tribulations Thunderblast have you cultivated?”

“Uh...” Zhu Honggong’s forehead was drenched in sweat as he stammered, “In reply to your question, master... t-the... the seventh, Phenomenon.”

Lu Zhou said disapprovingly, “The audacity... Were you thinking of filling in the blanks for the two remaining levels with your cultivation base and experience?”

“I dare not!” Zhu Honggong quickly kowtowed and said, “I’m stupid. When I cultivated the fourth level, Compassion, and the fifth level, Indifference, something went wrong. My Primal Qi flared up, and I nearly descended into depravity.”

Lu Zhou said, “Hence, that rascal, Old Seventh, took the Heavenly Choice Temple’s zen tunic to suppress your Primal Qi?”

“...” Zhu Honggong seemed like a deflated balloon at this moment. He had no choice but to nod and say, “Yes.”

Mingshi Yin cupped his fists as he stood outside the cave. He said, “Master... We can’t be tricked by Old Seventh. He’s currently afflicted by the Binding Mantra and wants to lure you into making a move.”

“Hm?” Lu Zhou turned around slowly.

“I’m guessing that Old Eighth’s condition can only be managed by a Binding Mantra. Otherwise, this will happen again in the future. Since the Binding Mantra is cast by you, you’ll, naturally, be the only one who’s able to undo it. For this reason, I suspect that Old Seventh has planted some connective spell or seal on Old Eighth to break the mantra that has been placed on him!” Mingshi Yin said.

The so-called connective spell was one of the arcane arts from the Daoist sects. The cultivators who were connected by this art could share the same damage or healing for a certain amount of time. Then, the Buddhist sects improvised on this art and developed the Buddha’s Shine, which was a healing art with an area of effect that could treat many of the wounded at the same time. However, due to the large amount of power needed to cast this technique, it was rarely used.

Zhu Honggong was rendered speechless by Mingshi Yin’s words. Mingshi Yin looked at Zhu Honggong as he ridiculed Si Wuya inwardly, ‘Old Seventh, you can’t even fool me with this trick, do you really think you can fool master? Keep on dreaming!’

“Mingshi Yin has a point,” Hua Wudao said in agreement.

Lu Zhou did not nod nor did he shake his head. Instead, his gaze fell on Old Eighth, Zhu Honggong, as he said, “Old Eighth... I’m waiting for your explanation.” Clearly, Si Wuya would not be able to come up with this method if Zhu Honggong did not agree to collude with him.

Zhu Honggong’s face was wet with tears as he said pitifully, “Master... I’m wrongly accused! I’m wrongly accused...” “Wrongly accused, my ass... Old Seventh has helped you many times. You have every reason to help in return,” Mingshi Yin said. Lu Zhou said, “Inspect him.”

After all, an examination was all it took to see if this was true. If there really was a connective spell, Mingshi Yin’s suspicion would be proven true. If there was none, then, their suspicion was wrong.