The One That Escaped

"The Reincarnation Stone transported my Yang Soul incarnation, which unknowingly allowed me to separate my Yang Soul from my body!"

Zhang Xuezhou used the Reincarnation Stone to enter the secret area of Mount Tai, and the 500-mile journey was completed in a very short time.

This cutting-edge technology prompted Zhang Xuezhou to consider how to use it in the future.

He didn't even realize he had separated from his physical body after he passed through.

"I really lay on the ground for half an hour?"

"Really, Master Dong, I only searched you because I thought you were completely dead. Please, have mercy and let me go. Please don't strangle me. I can't take this!"

Zhang Xuezhou subdued Li Shaojun very quickly.

He always thought of himself as a useless coward who couldn't fight a direct battle, but Li Shaojun's performance in a direct battle was even worse, not to mention Zhang Xuezhou's sudden sneak attacks.

After grabbing Li Shaojun by the neck, Zhang Xuezhou also learned about his own situation, thus clarifying many things.

"This is really bad news for me," Zhang Xuezhou complained.

If entering the Reincarnation Stone only allows one to travel through the Yang Soul Body, the value of using the Reincarnation Stone for travel will be further reduced, and Zhang Xuezhou will even find it difficult to find many ways to utilize it.

The only commendable thing is that the Reincarnation Stone seems to have protected the connection between his Yang Soul and his physical body, and it did not cause any difficulty in reuniting them just because he was separated from the 500-mile range.

"It's already a miracle we survived," Li Shaojun said. "That old swindler lowered our guard with words before ambushing us. He's the most unreliable emperor I've ever met!"

"That's nothing, you're not afraid to die anyway!"

"Master Dongfang, my heart is bleeding, bleeding like a river!"

Li Shaojun felt that he hadn't had a single good day since he started working with Zhang Xuezhou; whenever they spent too much time together, he always seemed to lose a few lives.

He can live ninety-nine times, not nine hundred and ninety, and certainly not nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.

At first, it might not have mattered much, but after dying many times, he found himself unable to live without this ability, and Li Shaojun felt that this situation was causing him unbearable pain.

Getting stuck in a habit is a terrible thing. Li Shaojun even got used to his own death, but the repeated deaths didn't bring enough reward, preventing him from reaching a higher level.

If he cannot break through the corresponding cultivation level, his only solution when encountering problems will still be death.

There's a limit to the number of times you can die. As the number of deaths decreases, Li Shaojun suspects that one day he might collapse and never regain consciousness.

He didn't want to die in a muddled way, like having his neck broken by Zhang Xuezhou right now.

"Don't think I'm not afraid of death!" Li Shaojun shouted. "I've already died sixty-three times in the past ten years. At this rate of squandering my life, my time is not far off!"

"To be able to die thirty-six times, that's amazing!"

"Please don't add another death to my record! I only looted you because you were dead; it was just to avoid wasting anything," Li Shaojun pleaded. "I was even thinking of building you a tomb and putting up a tombstone!"

"You're such a great person!"

Only after retrieving his pouch from Li Shaojun did Zhang Xuezhou release his right hand from Li Shaojun's neck.

He looked at the Suihou Pearl, and then at the Heavenly Robe, the Storage Bag, the Ring of Controlling Law, and other items that had not accompanied him to Mount Tai. He knew that the Suihou Pearl must have played a role when he used the Reincarnation Stone to travel.

He can travel through time, while Li Shaojun, who hasn't even achieved the Yang Soul realm, obviously can't.

At this point, Li Shaojun hadn't even grasped the wondrous uses of the Reincarnation Stone. He only knew that this Reincarnation Stone suppressed the entire secret land and controlled the cold Spiritual Qi of this underworld secret land.

"Master Li, have you been to any other secret places in the underworld?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"And what else? This is the first time I've ever been to this godforsaken place," Li Shaojun said sullenly. "I've been wandering around these secret areas for ages, I don't even have enough lives to survive!"

"Are these Reincarnation Stones found in every secret place in the underworld, or are they only found here?" Zhang Xuezhou continued to ask.

"It should only be here," Li Shaojun said uncertainly. "These kinds of heavenly materials and earthly treasures rarely overlap!"

"There's a secret underworld at the foot of Mount Tai, and it seems there are similar reincarnation stones there too!"

"Really? Don't lie to me again!"

"It's true, that was once the sacred site of the Heavenly Orthodox God of Mount Tai, and there really are such stones there!"

Zhang Xuezhou even mentioned his full name, which didn't seem like a fabricated story. Li Shaojun, suspicious as he was, couldn't help but ponder it as well.

As he said, the rare and heavenly materials and earthly treasures are diverse and cannot be the same for everyone.

If identical items appear, it can only prove that these reincarnation stones are related or have other functions.

"You Daoists have so many classic texts passed down, haven't you heard of them?" Zhang Xuezhou pressed.

Compared to Li Shaojun's skills, Li Shaojun's knowledge is far superior. He can boast that he is a legitimate successor of Daoism, and Li Shaojun can indeed produce some classical Daoist content.

Compared to what Zhang Xuezhou knew, Li Shaojun knew something else entirely, which might involve Zhang Xuezhou's blind spots.

"Long ago there was a goddess named Houtu, who was in charge of many secret places in the underworld. These stones may have been left behind by her!"

If it's a special thing that's naturally grown, Li Shaojun feels that it has nothing to do with others, but if there's to be consistency, then it must have been mixed with human intervention.

Zhang Xuezhou confirmed the situation, and Li Shaojun kept recalling the relevant information from his memory.

Not only them, but even Gaozu, King Liang and others were latecomers to the secret land, and they were not given the opportunity to explore and search for the original Law Treasure treasures and heavenly materials and earthly treasures the secret land.

"But that was over a thousand years ago," Li Shaojun said. "Back then, it was still the era of the Human Emperor!"

"The Era of the Human Emperor?"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded, indicating that he understood.

What is secret to them may simply be a path already trodden by those who came before.

In special circumstances, it would be difficult for Zhang Xuezhou to investigate further.

However, if this is a product of the era of the Human Emperor, Zhang Xuezhou felt that he could ask the Emperor directly in the future. The Emperor might not be aware of the rapid changes brought about by external changes, but he would certainly be knowledgeable about ancient artifacts.

After thinking it over, Zhang Xuezhou had no intention of staying any longer.

He felt that asking around was a simpler approach than constantly researching.

The Emperor Gaozu may have had a possible connection with the new emperor, and he was ready to kill these imposters. This was not a place for Zhang Xuezhou to stay for long, and this secret place also involved the Bai and Liang kings, so it was probably better to leave as soon as possible.

Thinking about how he had been delayed because of this secret place and had missed the new emperor's sacrifice at the ancestral temple, Zhang Xuezhou felt that there would be some minor troubles later.

But for a patient, these things are easier to find excuses to resolve.

Just as Zhang Xuezhou was about to ask Li Shaojun where he had crawled in from, the figure of the Great Ancestor reappeared on the Reincarnation Stone.

"The Great Derivation Number is fifty, its use is forty-nine, and one is omitted!"

He shook his head and muttered to himself, but this time, he did not launch a direct attack, nor did he try to outsmart Zhang Xuezhou and the others with other schemes. Instead, he simply watched the two of them calmly.

Having decided to leave, Zhang Xuezhou had no intention of using the Suihou Pearl to subdue the other party time and time again.

He held up the Suihou Pearl as a threat, while Li Shaojun spat and quickly ran a few steps.

"He's still alive," Li Shaojun said, a hint of fear in his eyes.

Li Shaojun had always been the one to come back from the dead and constantly scare others; he never imagined that he himself would one day be afraid of such a thing.

If the calculation is correct, this is the fifty-first time the opponent has displayed this special form.

He wasn't afraid of death, but Li Shaojun didn't want to die meaninglessly, dying again and again after encountering the High Ancestor's Manifestation or the remnant soul of the other party.

"Young men, you have won. I am convinced!" said Emperor Gaozu.

"Pah!" Li Shaojun spat.

"Pah!"

Zhang Xuezhou recalled Sima Tan's assessment that Emperor Gaozu's words were mostly true, and couldn't help but spit out his own words as well.

Having subdued the other party fifty times in a row, and looking at the Suihou Pearl, which resembled a golden ball, Zhang Xuezhou had no intention of continuing to tinker with it.

He even suspected that with the constant repetition of the operation, Sui Houzhu might suddenly go on strike at some point, which would be the end for him and Li Shaojun.