My Disciples Are All Villains

"Huh?"

"I said, 'kneel'," Lu Zhou said tonelessly.

Duanmu Sheng felt rather reluctant to kneel, but when he saw his master's stern expression, he fell to his knees immediately.

Lu Zhou said again, "Kowtow."

Duanmu Sheng kowtowed to Duanmu Dian.

Duanmu Dian was moved upon seeing this. Although Duanmu Sheng's face carried the traces of the vicissitudes of life and time, in Duanmu Dian's eyes, Duanmu Sheng was like a child who had yet to grow up. No matter how much times had changed or how much time had passed, there was no denying they had the same blood coursing through their veins.

Ancient people said that men had gold under their knees and that they were only to kneel in front of their parents.

As such, how could Duanmu Dian remain unmoved?

After living for tens of thousands of years, Duanmu Dian had long been numbed by time. There were no fluctuations in his emotions for the longest time now. However, the sight of Duanmu Sheng kneeling and kowtowing to him almost brought out the tears in his eyes.

After Duanmu Dian calmed his surging emotions, he stepped forward and helped Duanmu Sheng to his feet as he said, "It's alright…"

Duanmu Dian felt slightly awkward. He did not know what to say. After all, he had never been good at expressing his feelings.

At this time, Lu Zhou said, "He's your ancestor. Without him, there'd be no you. Moreover, there are many things you don't understand in the cultivation world."

Duanmu Sheng remained silent.

Duanmu Dian smiled and said, "It doesn't matter; it's just a trivial matter. As the saying goes, 'As distance tests a horse's strength, time will reveal a person's heart'."

Lu Zhou nodded before he asked, "Let's go back to the main point. How much do you know about the Great Void?"

Duanmu Dian said, "I only have a general understanding of it. For example, the Great Void is divided into ten halls. After the land split, the Sacred Hall was founded to maintain the balance of the world. It's one of the ten halls, and the most powerful hall."

"Ten halls…" Lu Zhou did not expect there would be so many of them.

"The ten halls were originally named after the Heavenly Stems, which are also the aliases of the Ten Great Supreme Beings. The twelve Great Dao Saints occupied the 12 Earthly Stems and belong to the ten halls. Among them, the Sacred Hall is located in the position of the Great Yuanxian."

Qin Naihe asked, "That's to say it's above Ren Ding?"

"That's right," Duanmu Dian said, "The 12 locations in the Unknown Land named after the ancient system of time are precisely the 12 Earthly Branches. However, the 12 Earthly Branches were later pushed up into the sky by the Pillars of Destruction."

Everyone was thoroughly shocked by Duanmu Dian's words.

"It's so high up in the sky so the air and the vitality energy are thin. How do the people there survive and cultivate?" Yan Zhenluo asked.

Duanmu Dian replied, "The Pillars of Destruction endlessly supply a lot of vitality energy. Moreover, the vitality energy from the pillars is richer and purer than the Unknown Land. After all, the vitality energy has been nourished by the Great Void soil."

Upon seeing the confused expressions on everyone's faces, Duanmu Dian explained, "Alright, think of the ten pillars as ten bottomless wells filled with vitality energy."

"..."

'He's quite good at describing…'

"So it's like this!" Lu Li exclaimed, amazed, "It's like, it's like…"

"It's like what?" Yan Zhenluo interjected.

Lu Li brought out a piece of paper from his sleeve and spread it out in front of him before he said, "This is the final picture drawn by Mr. Seventh based on the ancient sheepskin map. Please have a look."

Everyone gathered to have a look.

After taking a look at it, Duanmu Dian exclaimed, "That kid has been to the Great Void?"

Lu Li shook his head and said, "No, he had never been to the Great Void."

Duanmu Dian was surprised by this answer. "He's never been there, but he managed to draw such detailed maps of the Great Void and the nine domains. What a rare talent!"

"Old Seventh was the master of the Darknet. In the past, he assisted Eldest Senior Brother to conquer the Divine Capital and unified the golden lotus domain," Duanmu Sheng said proudly, trying to prove his earlier point that the members of the Evil Sky Pavilion were amazing in their own right. He was also trying to say that despite being a Great Saint, it was not a loss for Duanmu Dian to join the Evil Sky Pavilion.

Unexpectedly, Duanmu Dian asked, "Where's he?"

Duanmu Sheng fell silent.

Everyone sighed.

Lu Zhou calmly replied, "Dead."

"..."

Duanmu Dian frowned. "My condolences."

When Duanmu Dian saw the gloomy expressions on everyone's faces, he lowered his voice and asked Lu Zhou, "Can you tell me who did it?"

"The Great Void, the beast tamer; Yue Qi, and the Halcyon Bird," Lu Zhou replied.

Duanmu Dian was stunned. He did not know what else to say. He could understand the meaning behind these words; there was a blood debt between the Evil Sky Pavilion and the Great Void, and their differences could not be reconciled.

Lu Zhou added, "Yue Qi and the Halcyon Bird are dead."

"..."

Duanmu Dian sighed.

Lu Li was annoyed with himself for inadvertently leading the topic to Si Wuya. Hence, he swiftly changed the topic and said, "Senior, if the ten Pillars of Destruction are like ten wells, if the supply is cut off from below, won't it be over for the Great Void?"

Duanmu Dian nodded. "You're right. However, it's almost impossible to do so. First of all, the structure of the pillars is so complex that even Great Dao Saints can't shake the pillars. Second, the pillars have strong repairing abilities. If a crack appears, it'll burst forth with the power of heaven and earth to repair the crack. Finally, due to their importance, the Great Void has people guarding it all year round. Keep in mind that anyone who shows any potential is taken away by the Great Void so you can just imagine how strong the people there are. With all these factors, let me ask you, who can destroy the pillars?"

Lu Li nodded. "The pillars are truly powerful…"

Duanmu Dian said, "There's only one thing that might affect the pillars. Those who are recognized by the pillars can enter the barrier and take away the soil. If too much soil is taken away, it'll damage the pillars."

"No wonder rocks tumbled down from pillars before this!" Zhu Honggong said as he nodded.

Duanmu Dian: "?"

Upon seeing the expression on Duanmu Dian's face, Zhu Honggong hurriedly said, "Don't misunderstand. It's not what you think. I mean, the Great Void…" After a pause, he said, "Forget it! I won't pretend. Indeed, we took a lot of Great Void soil, but the pillars didn't collapse. In fact, it even repaired itself!"

Duanmu Dian turned to look at Lu Zhou immediately and said, "Old Lu, you're really walking on the edge of a knife!"

"So what?" Lu Zhou said nonchalantly.

"..."

Duanmu Dian sighed. "The Pillars of Destruction can't be destroyed so easily. If the soil is lost, the seedlings will die. Then, the next cycle will just begin again."

"Then, how do we destroy the pillars?" Lu Li asked curiously.

"..."

Duanmu Dian looked at everyone with a complex gaze, wondering what kind of group he had joined. Why did it feel like everyone was a lunatic?

Finally, Duanmu Dian said, "I don't know. All I know is that the pillars are indestructible."

Lu Zhou said, disagreeing, "There's nothing indestructible in the world."

"Old Lu, I agreed to lead you to the other pillars, but I didn't agree to help you destroy the pillars!" Duanmu Dian said, clearly anxious.

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid," Lu Zhou said.

"Good. That's for the best."

Lu Zhou did not respond. Instead, he asked, "Since you're leading us to the pillars, what are you going to do about the pillar here at Dunzhang?"

Duanmu Dian looked at Lu Wu and said, "Let Lu Wu guard it on my behalf. Moreover, I know about the passages that lead to the other pillars so it won't take long."

Everyone was overjoyed upon hearing these words. Although the harvest had been great in the Unknown Land, after such a long time, they would inevitably feel tired. It would take a long time to travel to all ten Pillars of Destruction, after all. Previously, just thinking about it made them feel tired. If there were shortcuts, it would be the best.