Chapter 192 - - 192 Plucking Feathers in Passing_1

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Stealing the starlight?

The hardships, frustrations, and despair of these past days had constantly troubled Guan Xuan.

She saw no direction for the future.

Duge’s words were like sunshine piercing through the sky, gradually dispelling the fog in her heart and making her eyes sparkle with light.

Indeed!

The Big Dipper Seven Star Skill was precisely about seizing the starlight from the heavens for oneself; the foundational cultivation technique of Seven Star Gate explicitly told them they must snatch and compete…

The third senior brother wasn’t wrong; they must snatch, they must take!

Guan Xuan’s admiration for Duge grew, but then she thought of a realistic problem, “Sect Head Senior Brother, what if we can’t snatch from others?”

After establishing robbery as the dao for Seven Star Gate, Duge found his attributes had risen yet again. He was delighted and, tirelessly instructing Guan Xuan, said, “Open robbery, secret robbery, cleverly named robbery, as long as our thinking doesn’t slide downhill, there will always be more ways than difficulties. It’s not easy to be a good person, but is it easy to be a bad one?”

Guan Xuan was stunned for a moment, “Sect Head Senior Brother, are we going to become bad people in the future?”

“No, that was just a metaphor,” Duge chuckled. “The means can be wicked, but the heart should be kind. If you rob the poor, then indeed you are a bad person, but what if you rob those who are rich but not benevolent? That’s called ‘Actions on Behalf of Heaven’.”

Although not intending to work on being noble anymore, Duge still wanted to leave a little room for nobility.

If one completely blocks the road, it becomes difficult to turn back when one wishes to.

After all, he could take the skill associated with the second keyword with him…

In the worst case, once he had built up his strength and wealth through plundering, he could then turn back to working on being noble.

Hasn’t Buddhism said it before? Lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha on the spot.

…

‘Actions on Behalf of Heaven’?

Guan Xuan learned a new term and looked towards Duge with bright eyes, “Third Senior… Sect Head Senior Brother, I feel you’ve changed.”

“Different is just right.” Duge looked up at the sky and sighed wistfully, “These days I have been thinking, why has Seven Star Gate become what it is now? We did nothing wrong, is it just because Sky Mist Valley fancied our sect? After much thought, I still couldn’t understand the principle. I saw no way out, so I decided to leave with the seventh junior brother, seeking a new direction. But when I stood in front of our master’s spirit tablet, when I saw you ready to embrace death with the Yellow Dragon Pill in hand,

my heart was touched at that moment. I suddenly understood the foundation of where to find peace and purpose in life. I think that’s probably ‘Enlightenment Dao’!”

Bang!

Guan Xuan’s heart thudded heavily.

Was the third senior brother feeling pity for me?

She stared blankly at Duge.

At that moment,

it seemed as if he was enveloped in a layer of light.

The junior sister’s heartbeat quickened, and at that moment, only one thought remained in her mind: it’s father, father’s spirit has manifested, father heard her prayers, awakened the third senior brother, Seven Star Gate could be saved.

Since the third senior brother was awakened by father, then everything would be all right.

Guan Xuan stopped, bowed to Duge once more, and said with determination, “Sect Head Senior Brother, I will follow your lead, whatever you ask me to do, I will do.”

What’s this?

She believes it just like that?

Isn’t this a case of desperately seeking a cure in a panic?

Duge glanced at Guan Xuan and nodded, “Get up! Let’s get to work.”

“Yes.”

Guan Xuan nodded forcefully, appearing much more obedient.

The two walked out to the front yard and happened to see a few handymen packing up large and small bundles, heading towards the gate. One of them was even holding a chicken in his arms.

Guan Xuan’s expression changed on the spot.

“Stop right there.” Duge called out to them abruptly upon seeing the group.

The handymen, upon seeing Duge and Guan Xuan, stood still, looking lost and awkward as if they had been caught red-handed stealing.

“What are you doing with those things?” Duge asked.

“Replying to the third young master, we saw the seventh young master carrying a bundle down the mountain just now. Thinking that the Seven Star Gate might be done for, we planned to find another way out,” replied one of the older handymen, who was quite honest, nodding and bowing in his response.

“I’m still here, and so is the sect elder brother. Who says the Seven Star Gate is no more?” Duge snapped angrily.

“Even the young miss is carrying a bundle, looking to escape. What Seven Star Gate is left to speak of?” A younger handyman, bolder than the rest, pointed at the bundle Guan Xuan was carrying and said with confidence, “If you can leave, why can’t we?”

“I have her detained,” Duge took out the Sect Leader Token and said coldly, “From now on, I am the Sect Leader of Seven Star Gate. The gate has its master. As long as I am here, I will not allow anyone from the Seven Star Gate to desert, not even the young miss…”

I didn’t desert!

The bundle is obviously yours.

Guan Xuan’s face turned red immediately. She wanted to argue, but thinking of Duge’s position as Sect Leader, she silently took the blame; she couldn’t smear the Sect Leader’s reputation.

…

Several handymen looked at the Sect Leader Token in Duge’s hand and were stunned on the spot.

“Even if you are the Sect Leader, we are just handymen, not sold to the Seven Star Gate. Why can’t we leave?” the bold young handyman said.

“Of course you can leave, but the items belong to the Seven Star Gate. To steal from the gate right in front of me, the Sect Leader, is theft…” Duge glanced at them and with a crack, drew his sword, “Killing thieves who steal from the sect’s property, wherever you go in the world, you won’t be justified.”

Seeing Duge draw his sword, the handymen turned pale and hastily threw the items they were holding on the ground.

The honest handyman knelt down on the ground, kowtowing like pounding garlic: “Sect Leader, we were wrong. We have heard about what happened to Seven Star Gate, and the old Sect Leader is dead. With elderly to care for and children to feed, staying in the Seven Star Gate means we can’t even support our own families. Third young master, please let us leave!”

“Sect Head Senior Brother, why not let them go?” Guan Xuan, seeing the kowtowing handyman, felt compassion and quietly tugged at Duge’s sleeve, “Their hearts are no longer here. After solving the problem with Sky Mist Valley, we can find several new handymen; it’s no big deal.”

Duge didn’t turn his head, continuing to face the handymen and asked, “So, this is your reason for taking the sect’s property?”

“We’ve already left the goods, haven’t we!” complained a handyman.

To rob them?

Duge looked at the few handymen, who had become as silent as cicadas in winter. Suddenly losing interest, he waved them away and could not be bothered to argue with them any longer!

After all.

The handymen couldn’t even practice martial arts. Forcibly keeping them would not lead to proper work. Guan Xuan was right, it would be better to let them leave. Once everything had settled, it would be simpler and more efficient to find a few new handymen.

Robbing them offered no sense of accomplishment.

The handymen sighed in relief, stood up, and cast one last longing glance at the possessions they had abandoned before heading towards the exit of the sect.

The handyman who had caught a chicken picked it up from where it had been tied up on the ground and held it as he walked out.

Duge watched that handyman and asked without thinking, “Wait, what’s with the chicken?”

“Third young master, the pheasant was caught in my own field when I went up the mountain day before yesterday; it’s my personal property…” the handyman explained.

Eh!

Duge gave a choked gasp and waved his hand at him once again.

The handyman smirked and muttered as he turned away, “Really losing their minds to poverty, wanting to snatch even a chicken…”

Snatch?

A spark of inspiration crossed Duge’s mind.

I spared you out of pity, not to give you the impression that the Seven Star Gate is easily bullied!

A mosquito leg is also meat…

He suddenly dashed over, snatched the chicken from the handyman’s arms, plucked the two most beautiful feathers from the chicken’s tail, and threw the chicken back to him: “Letting you leave was out of my generosity, not because the Seven Star Gate is to be taken advantage of. The chicken has been raised on the mountain for a few days, using the sect’s territory. Plucking two of its tail feathers can be regarded as compensation to the sect, as a form of punishment. Now go, and I hope you won’t regret today’s decision.”

You’re insane!

Watching Duge snatch the pheasant only to pluck two feathers, the handyman stood there dumbfounded, clutching his chicken and hurrying away, more convinced than ever that Seven Star Mountain had no future.

Duge’s action of grabbing the chicken and plucking its feathers left Guan Xuan equally stunned. She stared at Duge, her face a picture of helpless amusement: “Sect Head Senior Brother, why did you pluck just two feathers from that chicken? How childish!”

“Didn’t I say? To plunder the earth, the sky, the air.” Duge looked at his flickering personal panel and spoke offhandedly, “Of course, it has to start with small things. We need to gradually form the habit so that robbery can come naturally. You should learn it too…”

Then.

He stopped speaking abruptly.

Because he saw a new advanced skill on the panel:

Plucking Feathers in Passing: Any target that passes through your hands will definitely have something taken by you.

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