Blame

"Besides me, those who learned this skill at that time included Li Shang, Zuo Wu, Tian You, Mao Bei, Wu Bei, Jin Chang, Su Fei, Da Shan, and Xiao Shan!"

It is not surprising that feudal lords practiced magic arts; although these people were not legitimate emperors, they were still feudal lords.

Even members of the royal families of these feudal lords might practice magic.

Regardless of the varying levels of skill among these individuals in cultivating their spiritual arts, these people were at least related to the royal family and hoped to gain benefits by binding themselves to the fate of the Great Han Dynasty.

However, outside of the Great Han imperial family and the royal families of the vassal states, Zhang Xuezhou must say that those who practice cultivation techniques are extremely rare.

Otherwise, he and Dong Zhongshu wouldn't have had to sneak around like thieves to cultivate their techniques.

But Zhang Xuezhou didn't expect that there were actually quite a few people like them.

Zhang Xuezhou was unaware of the King of Huainan's intentions, yet he bestowed the teachings of magic upon numerous high-ranking retainers and even recommended them to practice it.

"The King of Huainan is truly generous. What's the name of this 'lucky charm' technique you're using?"

"Honglie!"

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't persuade Lei Bei not to practice cultivation techniques, nor could he easily mention the various hidden dangers involved.

If he were to speak out of turn, his cultivation of magical arts would inevitably become known to others.

If one fails to cultivate successfully, that's fine, but if one succeeds, it will undoubtedly arouse suspicion and may even trigger potential conflicts in cultivation techniques.

Zhang Xuezhou's current skill level is limited, and the range of the battle after using his skill is only a few dozen or a hundred miles. However, the casting range of a spell by someone with a high skill level like the King of Huainan may be as long as a thousand or even several thousand miles.

Even if he were to hide in the Huai River's water palace, he would still face risks once a conflict breaks out.

As Zhang Xuezhou pondered this in his mind, he finally figured out a way to deal with Mao Bei, the guardian of Xiashi Mountain.

Zhang Xuezhou's cultivation technique was not particularly advanced, and his strength was far inferior to that of the King of Huainan and others. However, he had repeatedly crossed several thresholds in his cultivation and even condensed his cultivation body, which made him stronger than Mao Bei and others who had not been involved in cultivation techniques for very long.

These people helped to achieve a certain wish through the creation of the "Tomb Classic," but their skill in execution was not particularly high.

If Zhang Xuezhou used his martial arts skills as a starting point, the possibility of him defeating Mao Bei was extremely high.

"I'm really lucky in the water!"

Looking at the shallow water beneath his feet, Zhang Xuezhou felt he had obtained extremely important information from Lei Bei.

"Are there really no gold or silver treasures inside?"

Lei Bei, still unwilling to give up, asked another question.

"The location I've scouted is right here," Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile. "If you don't believe me, go dig it up!"

"Forget it, I'm not digging!"

Looking at the silt pits he had previously cleared, and considering the cost of hiring people to dig the riverbed, as well as the high probability of a complete loss, Lei Bei lost all interest in the Huai River Water Mansion.

He genuinely didn't believe that the rumored Huaihe River Water Palace was actually destitute, but he was willing to believe in Zhang Xuezhou's character.

Having known each other for a long time and having participated in many adventures together, Zhang Xuezhou may not have a high moral character, but none of the people who work with Zhang Xuezhou have ever said that Zhang Xuezhou a person of questionable character.

"When I get rich, I'll buy a mountain, establish my own sect, and become the head of a school of thought," Lei Bei naggingly. "Then I'll be in charge of everything myself, and I won't have to rely on others anymore!"

"That's a wonderful wish!"

As long as one follows the rules and regulations of the imperial court, the court turns a blind eye to many schools of thought; only those who go against the court will be constantly besieged and suppressed.

Lei Bei's wish wasn't outrageous, and it was indeed possible for it to come true.

As long as one has enough money to buy a training ground with the right 'geographical' element, then one can establish a sect. Lei Bei's skills are quite good, and perhaps he can develop into a decent swordsmanship sect.

Zhang Xuezhou and Lei Bei nagging about what happened after the other founded his own sect, and they also got to work on their own projects.

Both of them were heading towards Shouchun City.

Zhang Xuezhou needed to return to the city to recuperate, while Lei Bei ran back to Shouchun City to see what punishment he would have to receive.

The area where the Huai River water god was worshipped was more than sixty li away from Shouchun City. When Lei Bei returned to Shouchun City, he was dejected and kept complaining. This made Zhang Xuezhou understand the matter of the struggle over the Tathagata Tree.

He actually envied Buddha's abilities; as long as one wasn't afraid of being beaten to death, anything was easy for them.

Zhang Xuezhou knows how to dodge, Li Shaojun is fearless, and Rulai is indestructible. They each have their own strengths, but they are undoubtedly of the same ilk, and they can take advantage of any opportunity they find.

The Buddha's disciple was clearly using the incident of being inexplicably beaten outside Shouchun City as an excuse to demand justice.

This fair price is equivalent to two thousand-year-old ginseng roots and one five-hundred-year-old Polygonum multiflorum root. These are extremely rare medicinal herbs. Zhang Xuezhou has only ever seen people of the Venerable One or Emperor level use similar medicinal herbs. He has never even seen what a thousand-year-old ginseng looks like.

"You have so many treasures here in Huainan," Zhang Xuezhou said enviously.

"What's the use of having more? It's not ours anyway," Lei Bei said dejectedly. "Nobody has the ability to rush up North Mountain and steal things!"

That's it!

Zhang Xuezhou looked towards Wuzhu Mountain. Even if he had overestimated this place of alchemy, he had not expected that the Tibetan medicines in Zhang Xuezhou Mountain would be of such high quality.

"We've taken advantage of the people from Zhang Household Village for so many years, working for them for free and even using them to make medicine. We'll definitely try to squeeze more money out of you sometime in the future!"

Zhang Xuezhou smiled, but he also had his own plans in mind.

He rode after Lei Bei, showing no intention of leaving.

As the top swordsmanship retainer of the King of Huainan's Household, Lei Bei a highly valued talent who had entered the core ranks in just a few years.

Instead of Zhang Xuezhou searching for news about the Zhang Household Village family in various parts of Shouchun City, he might as well follow Lei Bei Lei Bei get firsthand information from him.

Zhang Xuezhou's guess was remarkably accurate.

Lei Bei's horse had just reached the city gate when he saw an official in a red robe rushing out of the city.

"Lord Lei, something terrible has happened!" the official in red robes exclaimed.

"Lord Wei, what brings you to the city gate? What terrible thing has happened? Could it be that His Highness the Crown Prince...?"

Lei Bei's heart skipped a beat.

He went to find the horse halfway last night, intending to take care of the punishment he was about to suffer in advance, but he couldn't find the horse, and the Huaihe River Water Palace was also empty-handed. If another major incident were to occur, Lei Bei could only think that the Crown Prince had been killed by the Buddha's son.

The prince's safety and the prince being killed are two completely different situations.

Lei Bei glanced at the city gate of Shouchun, flicked his whip, and prepared to flee for his life.

"That monk must have used some kind of sorcery to kidnap many people from our North Mountain!" said the red-robed official, Lord Wei, urgently. "An entire village has mysteriously vanished!"

"Is that so?"

Upon hearing that it was not Crown Prince Liu Qian who was beaten to death, Lei Bei whipped on the horse's rump, was treated leniently.

He awkwardly flicked his riding crop before replying.

"Yes, yes," the red-robed official, Lord Wei, nodded repeatedly, "His Majesty said that this Western monk has gone too far. He gave us the great medicine and still used sorcery to commit violence and kidnap people. His Majesty is furious and is urgently summoning all the first-class guests to teach that monk a lesson!"

"Those Tibetan monks are impervious to swords and spears, they're not easy to fight!"

"He still needs to rest, sleep, and eat. If he makes a mistake, won't that be your opportunity, sirs?"

"What Lord Wei said makes sense!"

Lei Bei finally agreed with Lord Wei's suggestion.

As long as it wasn't the Crown Prince who was killed and required Lei to pay with his life, Lei Bei felt there was nothing wrong with joining the others in carrying out some underhanded tactics.

Zhang Xuezhou, however, was surprised when he heard this Lei Bei behind. Many people from Zhang Household Village had fled last night, and the King of Huainan had actually blamed the Buddha's son for it.

The King of King of Huainan made a mistake in his judgment; he must have been searching in the wrong direction. This also meant that the people of Zhang Household Village had a high probability of being safe when they fled.