The Demon Lord arrived at the appointed time, neither early nor late.
He was refined in appearance, looking to be a little over thirty, although in truth he had already been a Master Fan thirty years ago.
Upon entering, he paid no attention to Assistant Li, who stood on guard as if facing a great enemy, nor to the bodyguards on duty. He went straight to the chair opposite Qin Jingzhou, sat down, and smiled before he spoke. "Now this is what a proper Medical Dao leader ought to look like."
As the greatest expert of the Demonic Sect, the Demon Lord had suffered his fair share of obvious and hidden injuries over the years. Yet, most of the masters with unique skills in the Medical Dao had been drawn into the association, leaving him almost a veteran doctor just from long illness. Now that he finally encountered a Medical Dao master who treated everyone equally, he was determined to meet him in person, no matter the risk.
Qin Jingzhou pointed to the pulse pillow in front of him. "You have manners. I should show you a little respect in return."
Because of the Demon Lord’s arrival, most of the security personnel downstairs—mainly recruited from the association—were left indulging in sweet dreams or hallucinations. No one was directly harmed.
Assistant Li lingered by the door, wanting to say something, but after hesitating for a moment, decided to do as he would for any other patient and turned toward the kitchen to make tea. Out of sight, out of mind!
He had cultivated qi according to his boss’s official practice method. By the rules of Gu martial arts, he was no longer supposed to be partial to the association.
The Demon Lord watched Assistant Li walk into the kitchen, then glanced at Lu Jiuxiao, Qin Er, and Xu Chen, who were sitting side-by-side on the sofa, busy sorting medicinal herbs. Smiling, he extended his wrist. He hardly circulated any true qi before his pulse was taken, and watched as Qin Jingzhou, expressionless, withdrew his hand and tapped at the notebook computer for a while. A moment later, an A4 sheet with nothing but a few numbers on it came out of the printer by the wall.
Without waiting for a word, the Demon Lord took the sheet, glanced over the listed herbs. A few were rare, but none so rare as to be unattainable.
The most surprising thing was that the amounts for every ingredient were spelled out clearly.
This… approached the point of overconfidence. Yet he became ever more convinced that the man before him was truly exceptional. Now he understood why the association could do nothing with him. After hearing "Eight million, payment first. Your treatment happens when you’ve prepared the ingredients," and seeing Qin Jingzhou’s blunt expression—clearly meaning "You can leave now"—he just wanted to stay a little longer.
The Demon Lord took out his phone and snapped a picture of the paper. "So it can truly be cured, then." Without warning, he changed the subject. "Xuan Wei is my grand-disciple. Grabbing that child was just a whim of her Master’s wife. She was meant as a trump card against Lin Baiming from the start, but my disciple does care for that little girl… Now that she’s reunited with her Master at the association, it’s not so bad. Lu Zhentong is my last disciple."
Lu Jiuxiao’s head shot up, eyes blinking. "No wonder Lu Zhentong is Fate’s Son."
The Demon Lord deliberately asked, "Oh? You believe in fortune as well?"
Lu Jiuxiao muttered, "Lu Zhentong does feel like my nemesis."
The Demon Lord glanced once more at the divine doctor and saw not a flicker of emotion. Sensing he could make no impression, he rose and took his leave.
Less than five minutes after the Demon Lord left, the next patient, right on time, arrived as if their schedules were seamless. This one, right forearm covered in blood due to a foreign true qi infestation, asked with curiosity, "Was that the Demon Lord just now?"
Qin Jingzhou gave a lazy "mm-hm."
The Demon Lord taking Lu Zhentong as a disciple didn’t surprise him in the least. With Lu Zhentong snatching the magical earring, it was as if he’d swallowed the bulk of Gu Su’s fortune. Now with the luck of both the male and female leads combined, of course he would be important to the Demon Lord.
But where a true righteous Grandmaster might genuinely train the Fate’s Son, Lu Zhentong had instead chosen the Demon Lord, which was like lighting a lamp in a latrine—pointless.
To this, Qin Jingzhou could only say: his respects and best wishes.
As for his foolish son treating Lu Zhentong as a fated enemy, it was childish but not wrong. If the fool could really defeat Lu Zhentong, he might replace him. Qin Jingzhou would have no trouble letting his silly son inherit the family’s great assets.
Sending off this patient, he found a spare moment to ruffle his silly son’s hair. "That’s a goal I can get behind."
Lu Jiuxiao caught the deeper meaning. "So Lu Zhentong really is Fate’s Son! Hey, Dad," he turned eyes blazing to his father, "does that mean I have to focus on cultivation for years before I can win?! Like raising a pig before slaughter… I just feel that if I wait until the Demon Lord has cut him down to size before I make my move, I’ll face heart tribulation…"
Qin Jingzhou laughed. "You’re thinking far ahead. But you guessed right."
Lu Jiuxiao grinned in triumph. "Dad, ever since moving in with you, my intuition is spot on. Looking back, Lu Zhentong crippled me just like the stone-hearted male lead from a novel deals with minor villains in his way," he lifted his head, left eye gleaming, "and now that he got the little one, the old master’s coming after us. You don’t think the two of us are just experience fodder, do you? That your exclusive inheritance will end up in Lu Zhentong’s hands in the end?"
Qin Er could not help chiming in, "You really are Uncle Cheng’s own son! Uncle Cheng’s a hidden boss if I ever saw one!"
With that, Qin Jingzhou picked up his foolish son and hung him from the chandelier once again. "You’ve overestimated my abilities. Better take a moment to think it over calmly."
Helpless, Lu Jiuxiao could do nothing but protest vocally, his voice full of grievance. "Okay."
The following days were fairly peaceful. After all, every major player needed time to build up strength before the moment of truth arrived.
Qin Jingzhou saw about a hundred patients. Both Lin Baiming and Xi Lao—the one missing third of his neck—were fully recovered. This led to the conclusion that among the association’s young generation, Lin Baiming was far and away the most outstanding. There had been almost a complete lack of promising talent among their ranks for decades. Meanwhile, most of the old Master Fans were set to run out of lifespan within ten years, in stark contrast to the Demon Lord, who had at least another sixty years in him.
Within the association, the only reliable "youngsters"—defined as between twenty and sixty—mostly remained anonymous, their levels clustered around the middle and late stages of Houtian. Among them, Lin Baiming alone had reached the Houtian perfection stage.
In this world, if you hadn’t reached Houtian perfection by sixty, Xiantian was out of reach—unless you had a miraculous inheritance or swallowed an extraordinary Heavenly treasure.
This was why, in the Demon Lord’s eyes, Lin Baiming was all that mattered. He was determined to take him down.
While Qin Jingzhou was gaming, the system appeared, sighing, "So, both the Yunling grass cultivation method and the Gu martial association—indeed, the Demon Lord wants them all! Taking Lu Zhentong as disciple, he’s clearly planning to sacrifice the Fate’s Son… But Lin Baiming just can’t see through it."
Qin Jingzhou blew a smoke ring. "It’s not that he can’t, he’s probably being held back. Within the association, he stands alone, and many people resent him for it. No matter how closely the Demon Lord watches for his chance, the association’s own infighting won’t let up."
The system added, "It depends on whether he can get past this hurdle or not. Otherwise he’ll never reach Xiantian." Even as it spoke, its entire sphere glowed a little brighter, "Hey, look, he just posted a public notice, real-name reporting several major Lu projects for bribery and tax evasion."
At the system’s words, Qin Jingzhou opened his phone and quickly found Lin Baiming’s post. While explaining to his obedient fool of a son, he commented, "It’s a well-written expose. Lin Baiming is Righteous. He can let small matters pass, but when it comes to major issues, he insists on clear conscience and full transparency. If he achieves unity of knowledge and action, keeping his mind open, he might be able to form a rudimentary ‘Dao heart’ in advance. Even if it doesn’t do much at the Xiantian stage, at least his will would be strong enough not to be easily troubled by heart tribulation or heart demon."
The system replied, "Even if Lu Zhentong doesn’t get much luck from being part of the Lu Group now, every little bit helps."
Lu Jiuxiao closed his laptop. "Is that a Xie Wen?"
Qin Jingzhou smiled. "You could call it that. You should try reading it for yourself."
Meanwhile, on the other side, Lu Zhentong was dining with his son Baobao when his assistant messaged him to check the trending topics. He told Baobao directly, "Daddy has pressing business to handle. Baobao, amuse yourself for a bit, okay?"
Baobao nodded, waved his hand, and trotted out of the little dining room on his own.
Lu Zhentong watched his son disappear at the end of the hall before heading back to the study off the dining room, closing the door behind him and sitting at his computer. He had a feeling the drama Lin Baiming was stirring up would be no small matter.
After reading the announcement, even someone as stoic as he couldn’t help but show a bitter smile. "Lin Baiming really does have quite a bit. Or, rather, his grandaunt left him plenty of key assets before she passed."
Don’t be fooled by how readily he’d orchestrated an "accident" to cripple Lu Jiuxiao. When it came to handling company affairs, he was always meticulous, staying strictly within the law—at most skirting the edge but never crossing the line. He simply didn’t want to saddle his old man with any mess.
It wouldn’t be beyond the old master to sacrifice a grandson for his own sake.
The elderly man had doted on Lu Jiuxiao for so many years, taught him hand-in-hand so many things, yet when his hand was crippled, the old man pretended not to see, never meting out any punishment.
In truth, Lu Zhentong had been prepared to accept punishment. He was sure the old master would never favor a ruined grandson over a perfectly healthy one, so at least a stern scolding and demotion were in order—yet nothing came.
The old master’s ruthless streak was enough to make anyone shudder.
If anyone treated his own son Baobao the way he’d treated Lu Jiuxiao, Lu Zhentong would never let it go.
His thoughts wandered, his mood eased a bit, and then he focused on Lin Baiming’s post and started taking notes, strategizing a response. At the heart of it all was still making sure the old man took the heat, not him.
In fact, even after buying a new cultivation technique and resources from the Demon Lord and successfully gathering qi into his body, with an obvious boost to his constitution, his ever-reliable instinct told him he must maintain a good public image. If nothing else, it would benefit his cultivation.
However, this time Lu Zhentong was wrong. After reading the announcement at home, Old Master Lu spent about an hour furious and impotently raging. Realizing that any more rage might give him a stroke, he calmed. He knew every point Lin Baiming made in his post was true, some decisions were even his own. He would not underestimate Lin Baiming’s power and was already preparing a few scapegoats to take the fall when the time came.
Zhentong… Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed through his head. After a few breaths, he rapped the table. "Zhentong’s grandfather it is. That good-for-nothing should finally give something back to the family."
At the very moment he picked his own son—Lu Zhentong’s grandfather—the pain struck in Lu Zhentong’s chest, his intuition screaming that something crucial was slipping away from him.
Just two villas away, the Demon Lord smiled slightly, touched the earring in his hand that flashed with a crimson light, and said, "Tell me, shouldn’t I be thanking Lin Baiming for this?"