Riding the Dragon

The Prince of Liang and Emperor Jing were brothers, and they had a very close relationship.

Although Zhang Xuezhou had little contact with the Prince of Liang and Emperor Jing, he witnessed the struggle between the two emperors and gleaned some insights from it.

After entering the imperial court, Zhang Xuezhou had heard some gossip.

King Liang had many schemes, but ultimately he was defeated by the very art of manipulation that he excelled at, and was even killed by Emperor Jing, whose manipulation skills were inferior to King Liang's.

The King of Liang was clearly the more capable one in the contest of strategy, yet he was still no match for Emperor Jing. This situation must have been incredibly frustrating and hard to describe.

Zhang Xuezhou once believed that as long as he was skilled in strategizing, he could make the new emperor helpless.

But the King of Liang's experience told him that such things were not so reliable.

He may not have solved the problem of the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon yet, and may one day be killed by the new emperor.

"This ring was obtained from Liu Wu, the King of Liang. If he died at the hands of an emperor, what could a man like him do to avoid such an end?" Zhang Xuezhou asked cautiously.

"As long as you can't be killed," the voice replied. "Only the immortal can withstand the relentless fluctuations of favor and malice."

"It sounds simple!"

"It wasn't exactly simple, was it? I went through countless hardships to obtain the Void Jade and imprint my soul mark on it," the voice recalled. "Imprinting itself was easy, but obtaining the Void Jade was truly difficult!"

Are Void Jade items rare?

"In some places, these precious stones are rare and hard to find, while in others they are quite common. The existence of such gems depends entirely on the circumstances. It's like someone having a gold mine right outside their door, while you only have a pile of yellow earth in front of yours. You might not understand it, but you can only accept it."

What you said is truly insightful!

Zhang Xuezhou felt it was terrible.

The terminology differs across regions, but he speculated that the Void Jade mentioned by this being and the Divinity mentioned by Huang were similar things.

Finding such an item is extremely difficult; even Huang can only endure the passing years, waiting for Yu to return and perhaps bestow it upon him.

Of course, Zhang Xuezhou heard Huang mention that the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon possessed divine status.

But the immortal and indestructible ones are the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, and have nothing to do with Zhang Xuezhou.

Zhang Xuezhou not only felt that achieving immortality was too difficult, but also that defeating an immortal being like the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon was an impossible dream.

This made him feel down for a while.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, he was just a clown, an alternative version of King Liang, who could not turn the tables no matter how hard he struggled.

This truly discouraged Zhang Xuezhou.

If someone knows they are destined for a crushing defeat, it's hard for anyone to muster the courage to Struggle and then face that inevitable failure.

"An immortal being like you must be incredibly powerful, so why are you bound by a single iron nail?" Zhang Xuezhou asked after a moment of contemplation.

"He said he'd use some kind of leverage to pry open my suppressed soul, but little did I know that little rascal had ulterior motives," the voice said bitterly. "Not only did he fail to save me, he added insult to injury. This is truly another instance of malice the world has bestowed upon me!"

"You've been suppressed? Is there anyone who can suppress an immortal being like you?"

"My immortality does not mean I am so powerful that no one can stop me. If someone is stronger than me, although I will not be killed, it is normal for me to be defeated," the voice said.

"I've always believed that immortality is the ultimate strength!"

"Many beings are immortal, but this immortality is only relative. We are still subject to the limitations of lifespan; time will bring us decline and eventual death!"

Time truly flies by unnoticed!

Zhang Xuezhou received an answer, but the answer seemed unsatisfactory.

He was young, but Zhang Xuezhou didn't think that living another twenty years would be enough to outlast an immortal Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.

Unless the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon are so unlucky as to only have nineteen years left to live.

As Zhang Xuezhou pondered, he asked himself a question, and suddenly realized that such a situation might not be impossible.

If the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon projected onto his body really only has twenty years of lifespan left, and he just happened to have this incredible luck, then there's a tiny chance that it's not impossible.

This requires him to have extremely good luck.

Zhang Xuezhou was lost in thought for a moment, and couldn't help but ask himself again how to garner the world's favor and protection.

"You know I'd love to help you, but look how weak I am," Zhang Xuezhou pointed to himself, "I definitely can't even pull up something this tall. If I could gain favor and become stronger, then I would certainly be able to help you."

"Your story is exactly the same as that of a little thing who came here ten years ago," the voice said. "I taught him the skills to navigate life and death, but he's still useless and can't even pull out this nail!"

"The ability to control life and death sounds very powerful?"

"Simply hand over your soul to me for imprinting, and become a false god under my command, and you will enjoy the ability to be resurrected ninety-nine times," the voice said.

"This ability is truly amazing," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"But your bodies are too weak. Why are all the weaklings here?" the voice said dejectedly. "Even if you had the strength of a thousand pounds, you could still pull out this long nail!"

"It's possible that one needs Technique Method powers to come here," Zhang Xuezhou said. "Only those with Technique Method like us can enter this place; martial artists and powerful demons have no chance of entering this underground space."

"I sensed a strong sense of malice!"

The voice sounded somewhat muffled.

He must admit that he has been fortunate to survive this long, but he must also admit that the malice he has encountered has never stopped.

Having been suppressed here for over a century, the people he encountered were either incapable of saving him or were simply wicked individuals.

However, it would be very difficult for him to escape. Removing the shackles of the King of Liang was one of the challenges, but the most important suppressive force was planted by another person.

As long as the other party's dynasty exists, the world's favor will be continuously drawn from him.

As one side gains and the other loses, the malice he encounters may also become increasingly intense.

He waited for over a century, but instead of witnessing the fall of the opposing dynasty, he suffered even more severe trauma.

Adding insult to injury made him feel terrible, but everyone he encountered was a good-for-nothing.

One good-for-nothing came and left, and now another weak and useless person has arrived.

"You can teach other people skills, why not teach me some skills too, like how to obtain this power of world favor? As long as I succeed in my cultivation, I will definitely come to save you!" Zhang Xuezhou clamored.

"Cultivation is fraught with peril. The most important thing for success is survival. Only by surviving can you make progress in cultivation," the voice said. "My subordinate deity has already been given away, so I cannot grant you the power of false god resurrection. However, you can learn the power of riding dragons!"

"Riding a dragon?"

"Once you find the location of the World's Favored Power and mark it, you will gain the ability to travel short distances, thus escaping danger!"

On the long iron nail, the technique of 'riding the dragon' appeared.

The script used by the other party was not the Great Han script, but the Small Seal script from the Qin Dynasty.

Zhang Xuezhou was also grateful that he had learned some characters from Dong Zhongshu.

Moreover, the person who produced this technique is still alive, so he can directly ask them about any words he doesn't understand.

"You don't even recognize the characters for 'Monument Road'? I feel the deep malice of the world once again!"

When Zhang Xuezhou asked several more questions, the ancient being who spoke seemed disheartened, clearly not optimistic that Zhang Xuezhou could successfully rescue him.