"Little Hai, please tell me a joke."
"Alright. Once upon a time, there was a mountain. On the mountain, there was a temple, and in the temple, a monk was telling a story…"
"Wait a minute, what kind of joke is that? Where's the humorous part?"
"A joke without the humor isn't humorous?"
"…"
"Of course, if you're not satisfied, I can polish up the joke again. A talented cultivator from Ten Thousand Arts Sect, a top rank sect within the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, who is about to reach Jindan Stage before thirty years, a man who has already married and has a family. He is completely wrapped up in his work, even leaving behind his family behind to handle official duty as your secretary, yet now were asked to tell a joke without the humor by you… don't you think it's funny?"
"Little Hai, your resentment is almost materialized." Wang Lu sighed and pushed the documents on the table. "It seems that prolonged business will cause more stress than expected. I don't think we should work anymore today. Let's go to the red light district of Mysterious Sky Mansion together."
Hai Yunfan sorted out the manuscript in his hand and said without batting an eye, "I am a man who already has a family."
Wang Lu said, "That's precisely the thing that will make it more exciting! As the saying goes, a wife is not as good as a concubine, and a concubine is not as good as someone else's wife!"
"…"
Seeing that Hai Yunfan remained unmoved, Wang Lu changed his way in persuading him, "You might think otherwise, but what you and I are doing now is related to the lives of hundreds of millions of people in Nine Regions. If we can't maintain a positive attitude, any flaws in our work would be a crime against hundreds of millions of people. So at this point, the most important thing is to make ourselves happy. As for your personal family matters, it should give way to the overall situation in Nine Regions."
Upon hearing this, Hai Yunfan gasped in amazement. "Unexpectedly, after only being a bureaucrat for more than a month here, destroying other people's marriage and family can even be risen by you to the same height as the overall situation in Nine Regions… If you want to take a break, then go for it yourself. I still have some documents to draft, so I won't accompany you. Also, no need for you to worry about my condition, Feifei has just come to see me two days ago, so I'm in a good shape."
"Tsk, what an ugly face of a married man. But since you say so, then please take a look at these. These documents need to be reviewed."
With that, Wang Lu put more than three feet high pile of documents in front of Hai Yunfan at his table and then disappeared without a trace.
Seeing the pile of documents in front of him, the writing brush in Hai Yunfan's hand uncontrollably fell down. "F*ck… me!"
——
After escaping from the office, Wang Lu took a deep breath.
The scorching atmosphere of the lava from the back mountain of Royal Soldier Sect immediately poured into his body, but it was quickly cooled down by the cooling magical power.
Wang Lu had to stimulate his Non-Phase Immortal Heart in order to make himself relaxed… Now it was less than half a month before the competition began, and the closer it got, the greater the pressure. Over the past month, Wang Lu had used various means to stimulate the groups, and the results were significant. However, there was still a big gap from having a clear chance of success. This was especially true in the case of the fighting group.
As the chief planner of the event, the pressure that he bore was particularly heavy. Even the Head of the entire Organizing Committee, Supreme He Tu didn't have as much pressure as him. Supreme He Tu was merely overseeing the overall situation. The event was completely left to Wang Lu while he was only responsible for the specifics of the implementation, so the pressure on him was not so heavy. The heavy responsibility of Wang Lu might even be impossible to shoulder on.
"It this continues, perhaps I might end up telling the participants to use Heaven Burning Blood Technique to win the fight. But the effect of the Heaven Burning Blood Technique on Jindan Stage and above is very weak. Moreover, if it's truly come down to a desperate fight situation, the methods of Earth Immortal would certainly be more effective… And this is also an evil way. Although from the beginning there's not much hope on the fighting event, the cultural level of the Earth Immortals is unknown, so blindly betting on the cultural event is not rational. Secondly, the proportion of the fighting event is not lower than half.
While considering what resources were available and which fighting group could be further improved, Wang Lu took a walk at the back mountain of Royal Soldier Sect. In regard to going down the mountain to visit the red light district, he was merely teasing little Hai.
In times like this, how could he have the time to play with women? Moreover, some time ago when he visited the beauty contest group to inspect the cheerleader team, he had already seen all sorts of beautiful girls and handsome lads of Nine Regions. In addition, after watching several literary and artistic performances, his vision had been influenced by the beauties that he had seen. Therefore, right now, the average women were nothing in his eyes. He completely uninterested in them.
"Hey, it's Senior Brother Wang Lu…"
An unexpected greeting interrupted Wang Lu's thought. Turning his head, Wang Lu immediately frowned. It took him a bit of effort to hold himself back from making his move and hacking the demon.
"Hahaha, don't look at me like that. Although I'm indeed a bit weaker in the Jindan fighting group, I just successfully broke through a barrier, so my strength is greatly improved, it will absolutely make you notice it!"
A black-clad zen cultivator in front of Wang Lu and enthusiastically showed the recently restored black robe. This new version had obviously been strengthened compared to the previous one.
"It's really thanks to the fact that you broke my black robe last time that I realized that the life-saving skill that I had been relying on was not safe. Thus, braving myself from my sense of shame, I was able to improve both my black robe and my method. Now even if the opponent that I have to face is from the Deity group, I still have some assurance. This could also be considered as without destruction there can be no construction, hahaha!"
Luo Xiao heartily laughed. Of course, he didn't get any respond in kind.
"Hm, I think you look a bit upset. Is it because you are worried about the grand competition? Ai, truly amazing, a Jindan Stage cultivator is already working hard for the hundreds of millions of people throughout Nine Regions."
Wang Lu said, "Since you know that I'm busy, why don't you help me do something?"
Luo Xiao was elated. "Please do say! As long as I can help, I will do my best!"
"Please perform self-disembowelment in front of me."
"Huh?"
Wang Lu said, "I have recently suffered a disease that makes me depressed when I can't see someone commit a suicide. Since you are willing to solve problems for me, you might as well commit suicide so that I can see it. It would make me feel happy and contribute more to Nine Regions."
Luo Xiao was stunned for a while and then let out a laugh. "It really is as they say, you are indeed humorous! Unfortunately, Flower Stern School prohibits its disciples from committing suicide, so I can't really help you with this problem."
Wang Lu thought for a moment. "You can't make a move against yourself, but I can help you with it." With that, he summoned out his Rouge Tears.
"Em… there's no need to be aggressive." Luo Xiao quickly took a few steps back and then said, "Although I know that my strength is weak and my face is ugly, never attracts people's affection, but if I work hard, I can still be of a little use! Right now, we are all needed by Nine Regions, so please show some mercy."
As they spoke, a crowd of onlookers began to gather around them. Wang Lu thought that the gesture that Luo Xiao put on was extremely low, and moreover, he also participated in many events as one of the main forces… Momentarily, Wang Lu couldn't find any excuse to kill the man in broad daylight.
However, if he just let him go like that, Wang Lu was unwilling. This Luo Xiao was really unpleasant to his eyes. He wished that he could kill him then and there… There was no reason for this intuition, and there was no precedent. Prior to this, Wang Lu, for no reason, never hate anyone so much that he gritted. And because Luo Xiao was this special, Wang Lu didn't intend to let him go.
Regarding his own intuition, Wang Lu trusted it to the extreme.
"How about this, Luo Xiao, I do have a difficult task here that I need you to complete—rest assured, I'm not talking about taking your life."
Luo Xiao was full of energy. "Great! I will work hard to complete it!"
Wang Lu pointed down to the ground. "Last month, I buried a kind of fire prison red lotus seed deep in the sea of lava. Because of the spiritual energy of fire element of the place is pure and rich, it must have blossomed and born fruit at this time. So I want you to help me to go deep into the sea of lava to pick up the fruit."
"..." Luo Xiao gawked for a moment. "Do you mean the sea of lava that was used by the Royal Soldier Sect as their weapon's arsenal?"
"Yes."
"That sea of lava which double its fire power at every level of depth, and when its deeper than one hundred feet its enough its enough to annihilate any Daoist Master of Jindan Stage?"
"Yes, you've heard it clearly. That fire prison red lotus seed was planted at three hundred feet deep. The matter should not be delayed, so you should go at once."
"There's no going back from there! In three hundred feet deep, how could I keep my life!"
"Surpass yourself and break the limit. Didn't you find a way to perfect the black sword after being damaged by my sword strike last time? Perhaps after being baptized by the sea of lava, this time your black robe could be promoted to immortal level."
"How could there be such a possibility!"
"Tsk, if people don't have dream, what's the difference between us and salted fish?" Wang Lu shook his head. "If you can't do the fire prison red lotus, I remember that there's a Feng Shui array that could produce spirit stones on the Top Ground Mountain on Eastern Border Region. Among which, there should be a multicolored stone, which should be very useful for my next plan. Go there and help me get it."
"Looking for multicolored stone on the Top Ground Mountain? There should be no problem with this, but Top Ground Mountain is the largest mountain in the Eastern Border Region, its peak alone has an area of thousands of miles. Is there a clue to where this multicolored stone is?"
Wang Lu said, "The details are not that clear, you can look for it slowly."
"..." Luo Xiao was stupefied. "Em, if this is really an important thing, I can slowly look for it on the Top Ground Mountain, but the grand competition is going to officially begin in half a month…"
Wang Lu patted Luo Xiao on the shoulder. "This task is far more important than the victory or defeat of one or two events. If you can find that stone, our entire groups in the grand competition will truly have hope. Therefore, even if it's ten years or a hundred years, you have to find me that stone! I want you to take a demon heart oath that you will not go down the mountain before you find that stone, do you dare take that oath?"
Luo Xiao was backed into the corner by Wang Lu that he was rendered speechless. He stood in his spot frozen like a statue.
However, at this time, an unexpected person rushed over.
"Wang Lu, if you are looking for multicolored stone, my sect has three thousand outer court disciples that would do it for you, but Luo Xiao is an absolutely indispensable main force in many events in Jindan group. Wasting his power in finding things is really inappropriate."
Wang Lu looked at the coming man and then slowly tilted his head. "Four Element Supreme?"