Chapter 7
2
Lu Zhou stood in front of the four disciples as his eyes moved from Duanmu Sheng to Mingshi Yin, and finally to Zhao Yue.
“Little Yuan’er.”
That made Duanmu Sheng and the other two shivered with fear.
“Master?” Little Yuan’er quickly answered.
“You may get up.”
“Yes!”
Lu Zhou noticed that her loyalty had risen to 65% while Duanmu Sheng, Mingshi Yin, and Zhao Yue’s loyalty were at 30%, 20%, and 40% respectively, which had stopped declining and begun to rise. However, this level of loyalty was far from enough.
1“Yes, Master!”
“Now get up!”
“Yes.”
Little Yuan’er was overjoyed at being forgiven.”Hehe! Master is the best… Let me massage your shoulders.” Little Yuan’er hopped behind Lu Zhou like a rabbit.
Lu Zhou sighed in his heart. Although Ji Tiandao had cultivated eight villainous disciples, at least there was still one who had a conscience to be filial. If he had not arrived in time, he reckoned that this youngest disciple would soon turn evil as well.
Peers could influence one’s behavior in positive and negative ways. Although Little Yuan’er was quick-witted and mischievous, her mind was simple and easily corrupted.
1“Ding! You’ve completed a task. Ci Yuan’er’s loyalty has reached 80%. You are rewarded with 100 merit points.”
2Lu Zhou glanced at Little Yuan’er. Sure enough, her loyalty had reached 80%. He nodded with satisfaction and said, “Go get the three of them here.”
“Yes.” Little Yuan’er ran down the mountain as quickly as a monkey.
Lu Zhou was slightly relieved.
‘System, are there better ways to punish villainous disciples?’
In his previous life, he was an executive of the company. Although he did not have Ji Tiandao’s experience of living in the world for a thousand years, he had his own opinions on training subordinates. He believed that the same was true when it came to teaching disciples.
The more they were pressured, the more likely they were to bounce back.
4At the end of the day, the reason why these disciples were evil was all the result of Ji Tiandao’s teachings, so it was Ji Tiandao whom they hated. Since Lu Zhou had replaced Ji Tiandao, he had to follow this road as well.
Anyhow, the system did not answer.
“Since you won’t answer me, I’ll do it according to my own ways,” said Lu Zhou.
After a while, Duanmu Sheng, Mingshi Yin, and Zhao Yue came up the mountain into the gazebo with their heads bowed and a little frightened, falling to their knees immediately. Meanwhile, Little Yuan’er stood aside in silence.
“Master, please spare my life!”
“Master, please forgive me!”
“Master, please spare my life!”
Their loyalty was 40%, 35% and 42% respectively.
The numbers were still very low. At this level of loyalty, they would fall to the other side easily with the slightest change.
There was dead silence in the gazebo. No one dared to speak since Lu Zhou had not uttered a single word.
At this moment, silence was better than verbal language. The silence made the three of them uneasy and gave them chills down their bones. A quarter of an hour passed, and Lu Zhou still did not speak. He just sighed or shook his head from time to time.
Finally, the fifth disciple, Zhao Yue, could no longer endure the bizarre atmosphere. She threw herself on the ground as she burst into tears and said, “Master, I was wrong! I got confused in that moment! Ever since I joined the sect, I’ve never thought of betraying Master! I beg your forgiveness, Master!”
Since someone had taken the lead, Duanmu Sheng and Mingshi Yin followed suit and begged for mercy.
“Master, I’ve been in the sect for over a hundred years! During all these years, I’ve really put in a lot of effort in everything I did…Considering I’ve followed Master for so long, I beg Master to spare my life!”
“Master, I joined the sect sixty years ago, and I’ve never once disobeyed Master. It was only in my ignorance that I committed such grave disobedience! I beg Master to spare my life!”