Chapter 19 - 15: The Beginning of Turmoil, Black Lotus Plunges the World into Chaos

Chapter 19: Chapter 15: The Beginning of Turmoil, Black Lotus Plunges the World into Chaos

"Lu, come back with me tonight. Old Mu wants us home for dinner."

Lu Chen looked at the text message sent by Mu Xiaoye on his phone and replied, "Sure."

After doing this, Lu Chen immediately opened the mini-game, *True Cultivation*.

[Name: Lu Chen (Cyan Cloud Sect Handyman)]

[Talent: Top Grade Mixed Spiritual Root (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth)]

[Cultivation: Qi Cultivation Third Level (3200/20000)]

[Current Experience Points: 2151]

"I can earn 50 Experience Points in a single in-game day. Now that I have a Top Grade Spiritual Root, my cultivation efficiency has definitely improved a lot," Lu Chen mused.

"This way, the game character doesn’t have to waste time completing Sect missions anymore. Just maintaining the daily routine is enough."

With this in mind, Lu Chen modified the game character’s idle mode, adjusting the daily idle task to ’Meditation Cultivation’.

Having set it up, Lu Chen stood up and walked straight out of the Cultivation Chamber.

...

Luocheng, Xingfu Garden District.

"Old Mu, I’m back!" As soon as she entered the house, Mu Xiaoye smelled the rich aroma of food and yelled excitedly. "Wow, did you win the lottery, Old Mu? You actually made so much good food today!"

She didn’t even put on her slippers. Kicking off her shoes, she ran to the dining table with a THUMP THUMP THUMP, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, and prepared to dig in.

But before her chopsticks could descend, a figure silently appeared behind her and delivered a karate chop to the back of her head.

"Ouch..." Mu Xiaoye grabbed her head in pain and complained, "Old Mu, why did you hit me?"

Dad Mu, wearing an apron, stood behind her and said in annoyance, "The guest hasn’t even touched his chopsticks yet, so why are you starting?

"And is ’Old Mu’ something you can call me? Show some respect."

"Lu isn’t an outsider, why be so particular... bleh, bleh, bleh." Despite saying that, Mu Xiaoye obediently put down her chopsticks.

Unlike his strictness towards Mu Xiaoye, Dad Mu’s attitude towards Lu Chen was noticeably much kinder.

"Ah, Lu is here? Wait just a moment, dinner will be ready after a few more dishes."

Lu Chen said politely, "Thank you for the trouble, Uncle Mu."

"Don’t mention it. If you weren’t around, with this girl’s reckless temperament, who knows how much trouble she would’ve caused me at school."

"Old Mu, what are you saying? I’m a genius of First High School. I’m the one protecting Lu at school, okay!"

Hearing this, Dad Mu looked at her with a ’disgusted’ expression. "You’re just riding on your Luck, girl. You somehow miraculously awakened your Talent Divine Techniques. Otherwise, what do you have to compare with Lu? The brain that gets you lost in our own district?"

"Hey!" Seeing Dad Mu bring up her terrible sense of direction again, Mu Xiaoye got anxious. "Old Mu, I’m warning you! I definitely wasn’t lost that time. I just didn’t want to come home so early."

"Ah, right, right, right. I wonder who was sitting on the ground, crying about not being able to find their way home."

"Hmph, I’m not talking to a stubborn old man like you anymore. How boring." Mu Xiaoye turned her head and ran noisily into the living room to watch TV dramas.

Lu Chen and Dad Mu couldn’t help but laugh at her frantic behavior. Afterward, Lu Chen rolled up his sleeves and took the initiative to enter the kitchen.

"Uncle Mu, let me help you."

"Alright, then prep these two Spirit Fish I just bought. I’ll make a bowl of pickled cabbage fish for you kids to nourish your bodies."

Lu Chen nodded and proficiently prepared the two Spirit Fish on the cutting board. Beside him, Dad Mu chatted casually while stewing meat in the pot.

"How have things been at school lately? Yezi hasn’t caused you any trouble, has she?"

"Everything is fine, Uncle Mu. You don’t need to worry."

"Sigh, it’s not that your Uncle Mu likes to nag, but look at the ridiculous things that girl has done. Getting into fights with her classmates in her first year of high school! Who does she think she is, a little demon king?

"I don’t know whose temper she takes after. How can a young lady like her be so fond of throwing hands?"

Lu Chen comforted him, "But you can’t entirely blame her for those incidents, right?"

"You’re right about that. The people she hit certainly deserved it. Besides, as her father, I can’t exactly scold my own daughter in front of outsiders.

"But she really needs to fix this reckless temper, or she’ll suffer for it once she leaves school."

While preparing the Spirit Fish, Lu Chen smiled and said, "You don’t need to worry so much, Uncle Mu. With Yezi’s talent, there really won’t be many people who can beat her in the future. She won’t be at a disadvantage."

Hearing this, Dad Mu’s expression shifted from his previous disdain for his daughter to immense pride. "Of course. Just look at whose daughter she is."

After saying that, Dad Mu gradually fell silent, as if he had something on his mind.

Seeing this, Lu Chen seemed to guess what it was about. "Uncle Mu, you called me over today... it probably wasn’t just for dinner, was it?"

Dad Mu glanced at Mu Xiaoye, who was still happily watching TV in the living room, and then lowered his voice. "You and Yezi shouldn’t run around aimlessly during this period. Just stay at school."

"What’s wrong? Did something happen?"

Dad Mu hesitated for a moment but decided to give Lu Chen a little bit of information. "I can’t tell you the details. I can only say that there will be some commotion in Luocheng recently, and it’s related to what happened ten years ago."

"The Black Lotus Sect has appeared again?" Lu Chen’s pupils shrank, and his gaze turned profound. "Uncle Mu, tell me the truth. Have those animals from the Black Lotus Sect crawled out again?"

Dad Mu didn’t give a direct answer; instead, he fell silent.

But sometimes, silence was an answer in itself.

Seeing this, Lu Chen’s thoughts gradually drifted back to that night ten years ago. On that day, flames and agonizing screams filled the entirety of Luocheng. Countless Demon Fiends shattered the Boundary Steles outside the city, turning this place into a Purgatory on Earth.

To this day, Lu Chen had never forgotten the scenes from that day, nor had he forgotten those fanatical Black Lotus Cultists.

"Uncle Mu, if this really is related to the Black Lotus Sect, I hope you can let me know when the time comes.

"It’s been ten years... these rats in the gutters have finally scurried out again."

"Lu..." Dad Mu looked at Lu Chen, but some words ultimately couldn’t be spoken.

"Don’t worry, Uncle Mu, I won’t do anything stupid. The current me... still doesn’t have the qualifications to collect the debt from ten years ago."

After saying this, Lu Chen focused entirely on washing the descaled Spirit Fish. However, his absent-minded demeanor made it clear he was deep in thought.

The Black Lotus Sect was one of the three great Demon Sects within the Nine Provinces Immortal Alliance. The Sect was a mixed bag, harboring Cultivators who had defected from the Immortal Alliance, as well as unknown Alien Races and Demon Fiends.

Its Sect Leader, the Black Lotus Saint Mother, was not only the number one wanted criminal within the Nine Provinces Immortal Alliance but also one of the rare Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators in the entire Nine Provinces Land.

If it weren’t for this fact, the Black Lotus Sect would have been eradicated by the Great Cultivators of the Immortal Alliance long ago.

Ten years ago, a faction of Black Lotus Cultists came to Luocheng and single-handedly orchestrated that tragic, inhumane war that nearly destroyed the city. Had the Immortal Alliance not responded in time, the current Luocheng might have ceased to exist entirely.

Investigations revealed that the reason the Black Lotus Sect incited such massive turmoil in Luocheng was seemingly to search for something hidden within the city.

After so many years, Lu Chen had initially thought that the Black Lotus Sect might just continue hiding in the shadows. But from the looks of it now, it seemed they still hadn’t given up on whatever that thing was in Luocheng.

Lu Chen didn’t care what that item was. The only thing he cared about was whether he would have the chance to encounter those animals again.

Especially that Core Formation Stage Black Lotus Sect Guardian... the White Bone Taoist.

SLAP!

Inside the kitchen, Lu Chen slammed the washed Spirit Fish onto the cutting board and gripped the kitchen knife resting beside it.

In the past, against the Black Lotus Sect, he had been the fish on the chopping block, entirely at their mercy. But now that he had gained the assistance of *True Cultivation*...

Even if he still couldn’t shake the foundation of the Black Lotus Sect in the short term, as long as he was given a bit more time, the roles of the butcher and the fish might just be reversed.

As these thoughts swirled in his mind, Lu Chen brought the knife down hard, chopping right through the Spirit Fish’s head...

Some things would inevitably meet their end one day.

And before that day arrived, he would do everything in his power to grow stronger, striving to exact vengeance for what he suffered back then, paying them back with interest.

For a gentleman’s revenge, ten years... is never too late.

"Alright, go call the girl for dinner."

"Okay."

...