After paying homage, Lu Li walked back to his small courtyard with his head down all the way.

  As soon as he arrived at the courtyard gate, he heard the sounds of laughter and shouts coming from inside. Lu Li quickly put away his lonely look, tidied up his clothes, raised his head and walked in. Looking at the busy figure, he smiled and shouted, "Fatty, did you miss me?"

  "Boss?"

  Chen Zhong was slightly stunned when he saw Lu Li coming in. Then he was overjoyed and rushed over in a few steps. "Boss, you're finally back. I heard that the Grand Elder has a really strange temper. Come on, let me see if you're missing any arms or legs!"

  Lu Li's face twitched and he scolded with a smile, "What do you mean by missing arms or legs? Can't you see that I'm fine?"

  "Uh, I said something wrong." Chen Zhong scratched his head, looking embarrassed.

  "Alright, I'm not blaming you." Lu Li patted Chen Zhong on the shoulder. "How's it going? Did Wen Hong make things difficult for you?"

  "No, I haven't seen him since you left."

  "That's good..."

  As Lu Li had expected, Chen Zhong had completed this month's work in just three days. Then he had been hiding in the courtyard to cultivate. Except for having meals, he hardly went out. His diligence in cultivation was no less than Lu Li's.

  Moreover, his Mountain-Shaking Fist had reached a minor accomplishment level, achieving a threefold explosive power, which was quite terrifying.

  Lu Li hadn't cultivated the fist technique for a whole month and was still at the minor accomplishment stage. However, his Fireball Technique had been cultivated to perfection. He could cast the Fireball Technique as he wished, and the power of the explosion depended entirely on the amount of true qi in his body.

  The two of them chatted for a long time before separating. When Lu Li returned to his long-unseen room, he couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity. The spiritual energy here was far inferior to that on Tianjue Peak. Lu Li was a bit tired after a month, so he didn't plan to cultivate today.

  Without caring whether it was dark or not, Lu Li directly covered his head and went to sleep.

  He didn't know how long he had slept. In a daze, Lu Li suddenly heard a knock on the door outside. He frowned, thinking that he had told others not to disturb him.

  Feeling a bit annoyed, he scratched his head and got up to open the door.

  When he opened it, he found that it wasn't Chen Zhong but a burly middle-aged man. Lu Li was stunned for a moment and said, "Sir Deacon, what's the matter?"

  The person who came was Wen Hong.

  Wen Hong smiled and looked into the room. "Shall we have a chat?"

  Lu Li quickly stepped aside. After Wen Hong went in, he followed and sat down at the table. As it was a bit dark, Lu Li also lit the lamp.

  "It seems that you had a good time on Tianjue Peak this month?" Wen Hong looked Lu Li up and down and said.

  "It was okay. The Grand Elder wasn't as hard to serve as I had imagined."

  "Grand Elder?" Wen Hong was slightly taken aback. "Didn't you meet Deng Qingsheng?"

  "I heard that Senior Brother Deng seemed to have made the Grand Elder unhappy and was punished to reflect on his mistakes at the back mountain, so I didn't meet him." Lu Li didn't mention the reason why Deng Qingsheng was punished and just said casually.

  "Oh, you're really lucky, kid."

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Wen Hong said with some emotion, "Quite a few people in our Handyman Hall have been tortured by him. Now, whenever Tianjue Peak is mentioned, basically no one dares to go there."

  Hearing Wen Hong say this, Lu Li's face immediately looked a bit ugly. He thought to himself that Wen Hong was really not a good person. He didn't even tell him the situation before he went there. Fortunately, he was lucky.

  "Don't blame me, kid. I had no choice. Besides, aren't you fine now?"

  "Your subordinate wouldn't dare."

  "Heh." Wen Hong gave an awkward smile and took out a purple card casually. "Take it. This is one thousand contributions. I promised to give you three hundred contributions before. Seeing your resentful look, the extra amount is to make it up to you."

  A glint flashed in Lu Li's eyes. He quickly took the contribution card and said with a smile, "Sir Deacon is really straightforward."

  Counting it up, he now had a total of seven thousand contributions. He could exchange for seventy Condensing True Pills. However, this amount of contributions was still far from enough for him.

  Now he was in urgent need of more contributions to exchange for Condensing True Pills to quickly break through to the third level and become a formal disciple. Because only formal disciples could exchange for more advanced spells. If he was just a handyman, even if he had contributions, he couldn't exchange for some spells.

  "Very good. I like your greedy character."

  Seeing Lu Li's expression, Wen Hong nodded with satisfaction. "How's your consideration of the matter I mentioned last time?"

  The matter last time?

  Lu Li frowned. Only then did he remember that before leaving, Wen Hong had said that he wanted him to do something for him. But this reputation of being a "lackey" was really a bit too unpleasant.

  There were sixty-six disciples in the Handyman Hall, and at least more than half of them extremely hated people like Sun Zian.

  "You'd better think it over. You should know that even if you don't do it, as long as I say a word, there will definitely be plenty of people in the Handyman Hall scrambling to do it." Seeing Lu Li frowning, Wen Hong casually reminded him.

  "Alright, I'll do it!"

  After a brief hesitation, Lu Li agreed. If he was just an ordinary handyman, three hundred contributions for a normal task in a month would be the limit. In this way, he didn't know when he would be able to break through to the third level of Qi Refining and become a formal disciple.

  He couldn't wait to become a formal disciple.

  Then he asked, "Sir Deacon, I can do it, but I want to know, if this matter is exposed, will there be any trouble?"

  "Trouble?" Wen Hong sneered. "Don't worry. This has been a tradition in the Handyman Hall for a long time. The people above are well aware of it. As long as you don't kill anyone, I can handle other things for you."

  "However, let me make it clear first. If you cause someone's death and it gets exposed, then don't blame me for cutting off all ties with you."

  So that's how it was.

  Lu Li finally understood why Sun Zian had dared to be so unscrupulous before.

  The two of them chatted for a while longer, and then Wen Hong left. Lu Li was still sitting at the table, gently tapping his fingers on the tabletop, with his eyes wandering, not knowing what he was thinking.

  Dang, dang, dang, dang...

  The next morning, the first day of May.

  Early in the morning, the familiar knocking sound came from outside. Lu Li had had a good rest for the whole night, which was rare. After getting up, he came to the courtyard to wash up, and then went out of the courtyard gate with Chen Zhong.

  "Boss, I heard that Wen Hong is going to choose a new lackey. When he chooses one, how about we secretly kill him?" While walking, Chen Zhong said mysteriously.

  "What!"

  Lu Li's face twitched and he glared at Chen Zhong fiercely. "What lackey? Watch your words."

  "Did I say something wrong?" Chen Zhong scratched his head behind him, looking puzzled.

  When the two of them arrived at the square of the Handyman Hall, almost everyone had arrived. They gathered in twos and threes, whispering about something. Lu Li listened for a few sentences and found that they were mostly discussing who would be the new "lackey" chosen by Wen Hong.

  There were still four people who had followed Sun Zian before. They were now in extreme fear. They used to rely on Sun Zian's support and had bullied others a lot in front of everyone.

  While listening to everyone's discussion, Lu Li walked forward. Just then, a tall and thin man in gray clothes suddenly stopped him and whispered a reminder:

  "Junior Brother Lu, don't go forward. Today is different from usual. If you rush forward and are seen by the 'lackey' chosen by Wen Hong, he will surely think that you're deliberately showing off. Then you'll inevitably be targeted again."

  Lu Li recognized that person. His name was Chu Qingfeng. He had been a handyman for seven or eight years and was still at the second level of Qi Refining. However, it seemed that he was about to break through to the third level of Qi Refining and become a formal disciple.

  Chu Qingfeng was a nice person. When they first came to the Handyman Hall, Chu Qingfeng had kindly reminded them that following Sun Zian would only make them handymen for a lifetime.

  As for the fact that Lu Li and the other two were targeted by Sun Zian later, many people in the Handyman Hall felt sympathetic, but it was just sympathy. Only Chu Qingfeng had gone to Lu Li's courtyard to comfort them.

  Lu Li had always remembered this in his heart. Seeing the other party's reminder, Lu Li nodded and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother Chu, for your reminder." Then, under the astonished gaze of the other party, he walked straight up the stone steps.

  And then...