Searching for People

"Cousin!"

In the real world, Zhang Xuezhou has Zhang Manqian; in this world, he has Rong Tianding.

However, when he called out to people today Rong Tianding did not respond.

This deprived Zhang Xuezhou of the opportunity to be fed without any support.

He had no choice but to lift the Grain Avoidance spell on his body and then quickly went into the kitchen to find some leftover food to fill his stomach.

"That's strange, my cousin always saves me food even when he's busy, what's wrong with him today!"

Only a few embers remained buried in the ashes in the stove, and the leftovers in the pot had turned into aspic.

Zhang Xuezhou lit a fire and ate a meal, but couldn't help wondering where Rong Tianding could have gone at this time, which led to him not returning for a day or two.

"Old Zheng, do you know where my cousin went?"

Zhang Xuezhou knocked on the door of Zheng Wukong's residence, but Zheng Wukong was not home at the moment; only an old apprentice was there to look after the house.

"Master Zheng said he was going to find a treasure to exchange for the gourd, and he's been gone for almost ten days," the old apprentice said.

Where is Chunyu Tiying?

"He went out with Master Zheng!"

"Where is Yi Shuo?"

"Sixth Senior Sister hasn't come over these past few days!"

The old apprentice's answers were utterly clueless; Zhang Xuezhou asked several more questions but received no useful information.

"Old Di, have you seen my cousin?"

Zhang Xuezhou had no choice but to go to the right-hand house to inquire.

He interacted more with his left neighbor Zheng Wukong, and less with his right neighbor Di Rang.

Di Rang's family ran an inn, and for Zhang Xuezhou, without a large number of relatives coming to Chang'an City and lacking accommodation, it would be almost impossible for him to have a supply and demand relationship with Di Rang.

There was little exchange between the two parties regarding their respective interests; they merely greeted each other when they met.

However, Di Rang gave Zhang Xuezhou an important piece of information.

"Your cousin and Yishuo took a shovel and went that way a couple of days ago!"

Di Rang pointed to the depths of Old Tree Alley.

"Shovel?"

Zhang Xuezhou made a rough guess after only a little association.

If they weren't there to help dig canals and wells, and weren't interested in the imperial tombs around Chang'an City, their remaining destinations are not hard to guess.

But how could the secret place of Our Lady of Wudang be a place that can be dug up with a shovel?

If the other side's location were so easy to reach, the millions of people in Chang'an City wouldn't be blind, and the court's civil and military officials certainly wouldn't turn a blind eye.

Either the Holy Mother of Wudang possessed such power that the Chang'an City court had to give way, or the Holy Mother of Wudang's location was so difficult to find that no one in the Great Han Dynasty knew how to get there.

Regardless of the possibility, the secret place of Our Lady of Wudang is not something that Rong Tianding and Yishuo could find.

On the contrary, the fact that these two haven't returned for so long suggests they might have actually fallen into some kind of trap tunnel.

Zhang Xuezhou quickly sorted out his thoughts.

He thanked Di Rang, then picked up his blue rock staff and began searching for the person.

If he were really locked in some underground cave, his fossilization technique would come in handy, and Zhang Xuezhou even possessed the Azure Rock Staff, which could amplify the power of his fossilization technique.

"They were fighting like cats and dogs just over ten days ago, and now they're making up and heading out to find treasure?"

Zhang Xuezhou found it difficult to understand Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo's thought processes.

However, Zhang Xuezhou currently quite free.

He answered the new emperor's four questions, and for the next few months there was no need for him to take office, so Zhang Xuezhou did not have to wait for orders at the Golden Horse Gate.

Except for Kong Anguo not returning the Sage Kong Decree, everything else is fine.

Zhang Xuezhou wasn't afraid of the Kong family defaulting on their debt. Firstly, Kong Anguo was an official in his department, and secondly, the Sage Kong edict was not something he could control.

He no longer had a portrait of Sage Kong to harness the power of this sacred decree, and Zhang Xuezhou couldn't afford such a treasure.

If Kong Anguo and the others return the treasure, Zhang Xuezhou will consider it as having kept a stone. If he fails to return the treasure and dies during the imperial siege, Zhang Xuezhou will consider it as if he never saw Sage Kong.

He banged on the old tree alley with his blue rock cane, trying to find any possible underground passages.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't expect to discover the tunnel used by the Holy Mother of Wudang; he only hoped to find Yi Shuo and Rong Tianding, who might have dug the tunnel haphazardly.

"I wonder if Ning Cheng's tracking method will ever be passed on. If he learns it, then he won't be ashamed!"

Zhang Xuezhou thought about the tracking Technique Method that had once tormented him to the point of near death, and couldn't help but regret that such Technique Method was usually useless, but lacked the necessary skills to be used.

"Master Dong is not in Chang'an City either!"

Besides Ning Cheng, Dong Zhongshu was also skilled in investigation and tracking. However, Dong Zhongshu's technique of Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven" was extremely difficult to cultivate and was also Dong Zhongshu's exclusive secret technique. Zhang Xuezhou did not have the audacity to learn it.

He sighed a few times and had no choice but to search along the street.

After searching all along the way, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't find him, but he did discover that red lanterns were hanging everywhere on Chang'an.

Almost every household on the main street has one hanging there.

These lanterns are of a very uniform design; unless someone is wholesaling them in large quantities, they could only have been distributed by the government.

"I've heard that a Divine Ability Buddha with supernatural abilities has arrived from the West and is currently performing rituals in Yangling to ward off calamities!"

"As long as we hang lanterns here, the Great Buddha of Divine Ability will bring us blessings and good health!"

Zhang Xuezhou paced back and forth listening for a while, but only managed to glean a few words of information.

It wasn't that Zhang Xuezhou wasn't good at gathering information; rather, the peak of the discussion had passed, and he could only eavesdrop on a few words from some belatedly informed people who were showing off their inside information.

"Did those two go to the Holy Mother of Wudang, or to Yangling, or perhaps they just stumbled and fell into some hole in Chang'an City?"

Zhang Xuezhou had a fleeting thought of leaving the city to check on the situation in the area where the Holy Mother of Wudang was located, but then he couldn't help but look towards Yangling. He also glanced at the remote, undeveloped areas of Chang'an City.

In any area, people may find themselves unable to escape.

In the region where the Holy Mother of Wudang resides, the punishment will most likely be minor, since she has met with Yi Shuo and will not go too far.

Digging pits in certain remote corners of Chang'an City would go unnoticed, and might even lead to being caught and investigated by the government.

Yangling was the most dangerous place, and Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo would only go there to watch the excitement.

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

He had no choice but to find a wooden board and borrow a pen to draw two pictures.

"Looking for someone! Anyone who has seen this man and woman will be rewarded with one hundred and a half taels of silver if they know where they went!"

Zhang Xuezhou found a spot on the street and set up the wooden planks.

Compared to his aimless searching, Zhang Xuezhou would have been better off using money to ask for directions.

In this day and age, it's difficult to ask for favors everywhere, but as long as you have money, the problem is easy to solve.

Zhang Xuezhou placed a piece of broken silver under the wooden board, and within a short time, dozens of onlookers gathered to watch the spectacle.

"Hey buddy, did this guy kidnap your wife?"

"If I told you that these two people went to the mountains outside the city, would you give them the money?"

Some were just joining in the fun, others were eager to swindle Zhang Xuezhou out of his small change, still others were staring intently at the portrait and pondering it, and some even spread the story as a topic of discussion.

In just a quarter of an hour, more than ten people in front of Zhang Xuezhou's stall said they had seen Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo.

"What are they holding?" Zhang Xuezhou asked casually.

They were walking hand in hand!

"Next!"

"They sneaked into some inn. Give me the money, and I'll tell you which inn they are!"

"Next!"

It would be incredibly difficult to deceive Zhang Xuezhou.

Those who tried to swindle money were directly dismissed by Zhang Xuezhou, and were inevitably ridiculed by many people.

"I saw those two. The man was holding a shovel, and the woman was holding a long stick!"

Some were deceived, while others had actually met Rong Tianding.

Chang'an City was bustling with people, and Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo were not walking invisibly, so undoubtedly many people had seen them.

After asking around for an hour, wave after wave of people passed in front of Zhang Xuezhou, until finally an old man chopping and selling firewood gave Zhang Xuezhou the answer he needed.

"Think about it carefully, think about what clothes they were wearing and where they went together?"

Zhang Xuezhou gestured for the old man to carefully consider where Rong Tianding and Yi Shuo had gone.

The old man nodded. He hesitated for a few seconds before opening his mouth to describe the location, but Zhang Xuezhou muttered something and then placed his finger on the spot.

Fragments of memories quickly floated by, eventually settling on the image of the old man deep in thought.