Nine Veins Gathering

“They don't know.” Hou Saner said with a face full of misery: “Elder Li has been living in a cave at the top of the mountain and does not ask about things. We did mention it to Sister Miaoxin, but Sister Miaoxin also does not dare to defy Big Brother's intentions. Many times she takes out a portion herself and makes up for our losses.”

Lin Xiaolu was confused when he heard it and could not believe it: “Is Sister Miaoxin so silly? Why is she so good to that dog Big Brother?”

Hou Saner scratched his head and was too embarrassed to directly say the reason. Lin Xiaolu and Xiao Yuer were still young, so he was not convenient to chat with them about these adult topics.

After Hou Saner left, Lin Xiaolu ate beef angrily while complaining with his little mouth: “That dog Big Brother is really not a good guy. He is full of evil at Pluck Star Peak. He actually bullies outer disciples.”

Xiao Yuer nodded again and again, while sipping porridge with a spoon, she complained: “Brother Hou Saner is such a good person. He even bullies Brother Hou Saner.”

“I've decided!” Lin Xiaolu slapped the small table with an indignant look: “When I become powerful in martial arts in the future, I will collect protection fees from him 20 times a day and make him cry!”

“Yeah, good!”

The next day, Lin Xiaolu woke up from bed early as usual. After washing up, he ran a lap around the mountain waist, then did horse stance for half an hour.

After finishing the horse stance, the big bell of Pluck Star Peak was struck on time, and the melodious bell sounded throughout every corner of Pluck Star. Soon, Li Miaoxin came out of her residence with Xiao Yuer and started combing their hair.

“Today is the day to test your skills. You have to dress more formally.” Li Miaoxin smiled and tied Lin Xiaolu's hair into a little bun, and said, “Later Master, Sister, and your Big Brother will take you to Emei Peak. At that time, the elders of the Nine Sects of Emei will be there, even the sect leader will be there. Remember to be cautious in speech and behavior.”

“I know, I know, Sister, you are so nagging.” Sitting on a high stool, Lin Xiaolu swung his legs impatiently.

Li Miaoxin was not angry when she heard this. She continued to smile and comb his hair.

“Sister, will that Li Yaoxi also go?” Lin Xiaolu suddenly asked.

Li Miaoxin twisted his ear when she heard his appellation and scolded: “He is your senior brother. How can you talk like this, child?”

“He looks down on me, so why should I look up to him?” Lin Xiaolu pouted at the bronze mirror and said angrily, “The teacher at the academy taught us that respect is mutual. If others don't respect me, I don't have to respect others.”

Li Miaoxin pursed her red lips and didn't say anything for a while, carefully combing his hair. Soon, she made Lin Xiaolu into a cute and lovely little Taoist boy, then lifted him off the stool and sat Xiao Yuer up to comb her hair.

“Sister, what kind of person is the sect leader?” Lin Xiaolu asked curiously. He had been at Emei for almost a year and still hadn't seen the sect leader.

Li Miaoxin gently said, “The sect leader is our Master's senior sister. Don't be nervous.”

Lin Xiaolu oh'ed in understanding.

Soon, the siblings were dressed up. The clean blue Taoist robes, round buns tied with light blue hair bands, they looked as beautiful as golden boys and jade girls standing together.

At this time, Li Mingru's shouting came from outside: “Xiao Yuer, Lord of Winter Melon Village!”

A few people hurried out of the yard and paid homage to Li Mingru and Li Yaoxi.

Lin Xiaolu only paid respects to Li Mingru, ignoring Li Yaoxi. Li Yaoxi also glanced at him coldly, seeming too lazy to care about him.

Li Mingru said, “Today is the day to test you all. Although our Pluck Star has few people, we are always united as one for big events like this. Let's go together!” After finishing speaking, Li Mingru poured a mouthful of wine heartily into his mouth.

Seeing Li Mingru drinking alcohol early in the morning, Lin Xiaolu complained, “Boss, if you drink alcohol early in the morning, you will drink yourself to death.”

“Hahahaha, don't worry about it.” Li Mingru laughed and looked at Lin Xiaolu and said, “Are you ready, kid? Use your martial arts to blow away all cultivators!”

Lin Xiaolu put his hands on his waist, looked up and shouted, “I'm ready!”

Big Brother Li Yaoxi snorted and said to Li Mingru, “Master, you really spoil this child too much. You should let him understand reality earlier, otherwise he will only suffer more pain in the future when his efforts come to nothing.”

“Go to hell, you pretentious jerk!”

Lin Xiaolu suddenly flared up and cursed before Li Mingru could respond to Li Yaoxi.

He had disliked Li Yaoxi for a long time. Damn, he was always sarcastic. Lin Xiaolu was angry now, pointed at Li Yaoxi's nose and cursed, “If you keep blabbering, don't think I won't slap you!”

Li Yaoxi's eyes glared when he heard this. He didn't expect his junior brother to be so wild and actually dare to curse him in front of his master!

His eyes turned cold, and he raised his hand to teach this ignorant junior brother a lesson, but was interrupted in time by Li Mingru next to him:

“Stop it! You two say less.”

After speaking, Li Mingru looked at the time and urged, “It's getting late, let's go.”

Li Yaoxi could only stop. He snorted and no longer paid attention to the brat.

The five people from Pluck Star followed Li Mingru, who carried a gourd and drank as he walked, across the Bridge of Seeking the Way, and arrived at Emei Peak.

At this time, the elders of the other branches also brought their respective disciples here. The mountain road was bustling with people coming and going, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.

"Elder Fang, I heard you recently forged several top-grade Spirit Swords again, very impressive."

"How can you say that, Junior Brother Liao? I heard your Universe Revealed has reached a new level, that is the real blessing of Emei."

"Master Zhao, I heard you took in a disciple with an innate Earth Spirit Body in the Nine Infants Branch some time ago, I'm really envious!"

"Hahaha, that can't compare to Elder Sun's heaven-reaching methods. Those several Dragon Fish Pills you gave me last time are truly inexhaustible in their wondrous uses."

"Haha, Master Zhao is too polite."

On the mountain road, the elders of each branch were chatting enthusiastically, the atmosphere was harmonious and joyful, a scene of peace and prosperity.

However, at this time when the Emei masters were chatting merrily, the casually drinking Li Mingru suddenly appeared, walking over with unrestrained steps.

The elders were all stunned when they saw Li Mingru, and the conversations instantly stopped as they all looked towards him.

To be honest, Li Mingru only had four disciples by his side in total: Li Yaoxi, Li Miaoxin, Lin Xiaolu, and Xiao Yuer.

Compared to the number of disciples around other elders, it was really insignificant.

Each of these elders had hundreds of inner disciples! Some prosperous branches like the Spirit Sword Branch even had over a thousand inner disciples!

So this time they only brought the little disciples who needed testing, but even so, they still had a much larger entourage than Li Mingru. Each elder was surrounded by disciples, so by comparison, Li Mingru's four disciples looked rather shabby.

But this did not mean they dared to look down on Li Mingru.

The reason was simple. Li Mingru could fight! He was famously good at fighting!

And Li Mingru was not only famous at Emei, looking at the whole of Shenzhou, the six major immortal sects and Taoist schools, as well as the Buddhist Sect, Confucian Sect, and countless minor sects, even evil cultivators and demonic path practitioners, all knew of the figure Li Mingru.

It's no exaggeration to say that cultivators from other sects in Shenzhou may not know who the elders of Emei's Spirit Sword, Medicine, and Nine Infants Branches were, but they must have heard of Li Mingru's name!

Of course, the current Li Mingru was getting older and had gradually begun to retreat in recent years, and his temper had also become relatively mild and restrained. In his younger years he had been extremely arrogant and ostentatious, and had beaten many elders. Over time, his Pluck Star Branch had always been ostracized by the other branches. Except for the Sun God and Communicate Demon Branches, people from other branches did not like to interact with Pluck Star.