That's How It Happened

"That's all there is to it!"

Zhang Xuezhou was far inferior to the Empress Dowager in terms of cultivation level, but his Yang Corporeal Soul level was quite good.

With the help of the Venerable Zhu Jiuyin, Zhang Xuezhou, while imprisoning his poor cultivation, also received the Yang Corporeal Soul condensed with the assistance of top cultivators.

After his Yang Corporeal Soul Transformation, it was like a physical body, even possessing the tactile sensation of flesh, which was far beyond what Zhang Xuezhou's illusory Yang Corporeal Soul Incarnation could achieve in reality.

Because of this, Zhang Xuezhou's ability in Yang Corporeal Soul is extremely high. He even directly overpowered Shen Peigong in the past, almost shocking the old man to no end.

Zhang Xuezhou's unique Yang Corporeal Soul Transformation Technique, combined with the Yang Corporeal Soul Dharma Form refined by the Venerable One, might make him inferior to the Empress Dowager in terms of Yang Corporeal Soul, but he wouldn't be so bad as to fail to detect the Empress Dowager's Yang Corporeal Soul's visit to the Zhang residence.

After delivering a few words that put Li Shaojun down, the Empress Dowager left satisfied.

Li Shaojun recounted in a low voice everything that had happened in Palace of Peace and Happiness.

As Zhang Xuezhou said, Li Shaojun did indeed become a guest of honor at Palace of Peace and Happiness.

Perhaps it was due to a decline in fortune, or perhaps it was due to a long-term serious illness, or perhaps it was because the Empress Dowager was too old, but Li Shaojun managed to get past the Empress Dowager with his cleverness and resourcefulness.

There were some things that Li Shaojun was ashamed to mention, but Li Shaojun accomplished the task to a very high degree. Even though he had obtained the ingredients for the second stage of the Longevity Formula that Zhang Xuezhou Li Shaojun asked for, he couldn't take them back and had to consume them at Palace of Peace and Happiness.

At the same time, he began to attract the attention of some high-ranking officials who were visiting the Empress Dowager. As long as he was in good health, he was very likely to be invited to visit by these officials.

"Congratulations!" Zhang Xuezhou said dejectedly, clasping his hands in greeting, though he hadn't received the medicinal herbs.

"From now on, we'll live the high life with you!"

They put on one face in front of the Empress Dowager, but once she leaves, Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding put on the same face again.

This change made Li Shaojun feel extremely comfortable.

He suffered in Palace of Peace and Happiness for several days, but soon he began to enjoy the pleasure of being a superior person. At least, his sharp-tongued cousins Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding started to beg him for favors.

If things weren't still undecided and the help of Zhang Xuezhou and others wasn't needed, Li Shaojun might have really gotten too cocky.

He pondered for a moment, then quietly asked Zhang Xuezhou for his advice.

"Is there anything else I should be careful about?" Li Shaojun asked.

"You did a great job, keep it up!" Zhang Xuezhou said, making a cheering gesture.

"You've entered the heart of a lonely elderly person, and you have a bright future ahead of you. Congratulations!" Rong Tianding congratulated him.

At this moment, Li Shaojun was somewhat like a salesman selling health products to the elderly. After going through various difficulties, the other party finally managed to pry open the Empress Dowager's suspicious and sensitive heart.

With so many tricks up his sleeve, as long as Li Shaojun pays attention to his words and actions, he will face almost no obstacles in passing the tests of the new emperor and the empress dowager.

"If you give back some of your family's heirlooms to His Majesty and the Empress Dowager in the future, your position will be secure," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"I even took the last two treasures from our ancestors!" Li Shaojun muttered.

"Who would believe you?" Zhang Xuezhou scoffed, then added, "Although the Empress Dowager suffered a calamity, she was still a genuine top-tier cultivator, especially skilled in many aspects of Daoist School. You haven't even mastered Divine Ability yet, so you can discuss those Daoist School scriptures you don't understand with her. You'll benefit from it while passing the time!"

"I'm genuinely afraid this kind of exchange will backfire, after all, my cultivation is limited and I can't withstand being probed too deeply," Li Shaojun said hesitantly.

"Tch, your cultivation is limited, but your ancestors' cultivation was far from limited!"

Zhang Xuezhou spat at Li Shaojun.

He simply couldn't believe that Li Shaojun would sit idly in Palace of Peace and Happiness for five days.

If it were just a short visit, Li Shaojun would exchange pleasantries and return. However, if it involved several consecutive days, Li Shaojun would inevitably be subjected to various covert tests.

In this situation, Daoist School some obscure and difficult-to-understand Daoist scriptures became Li Shaojun's powerful tool.

As long as he can keep the Empress Dowager talking until she's exhausted, Li Shaojun can leave the palace normally.

"You can talk to the Empress Dowager about that Daoist scripture, especially the part about 'The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao...'"

"Shut up! How did you know this? I don't think I've told you that before."

"You've said it more than ten times, I've memorized it all!"

"That's impossible! I would never reveal the supreme Daoist School to you!"

"Then shall I recite it once?"

"I'm thinking of killing Laozi to silence him!"

Li Shaojun tried to reach out and pinch Zhang Xuezhou, but Zhang Xuezhou pushed him down onto the bed, leaving him sitting there in a daze.

This feeling of having his secrets exposed was awful. Li Shaojun thought back and forth, and could only think that the group's encounter with the illusion at the Mohists's Mechanical City led to this terrible outcome. There was no other possibility.

"You should discuss this more with the Empress Dowager," Zhang Xuezhou said. "This is simply the most shoddy scripture I've ever seen. Why do you Daoist School write such profound texts for no reason?"

"You don't understand, do you?" Li Shaojun's face brightened slightly as he asked.

I still don't understand!

"It's good that you didn't understand!"

"If you don't explain it to me clearly, I'll go around reading it aloud, and sooner or later someone will understand it and tell me!"

I'll strangle you!

"You dare to hit me!"

Li Shaojun pretended to cry for a long time at Palace of Peace and Happiness, but he really cried after returning to the Zhang residence.

He discussed many things with Zhang Xuezhou and others, and it was fine to share what could be discussed. However, Li Shaojun did not expect that he would also share things that he could not discuss, which even broke the taboo he had been following.

"That's right, I was swept across that rocky island with a mirror, and the ancestor who taught me the Daoist scriptures was killed. I'm no longer suffering any backlash!"

After a struggle, Li Shaojun was punched twice more on the head before he finally calmed down.

Li Shaojun's punch was a real punch, and Zhang Xuezhou's counter-punch was also a proper response.

Looking at the two, Rong Tianding felt that Zhang Xuezhou and Li Shaojun really did not have the demeanor of great cultivators. Even with their current level of cultivation, they were no different from farmers haphazardly throwing punches while fighting for irrigation water.

This was a private matter between Zhang Xuezhou and Li Shaojun; neither of them used a knife, and Rong Tianding did not take sides.

Only after Li Shaojun lost and lay there groaning did Rong Tianding ask him what was wrong.

"That Sunzi deserves a beating. He doesn't believe I'll spread the word everywhere. Cousin, listen carefully, I'm going to tell him the whole story, 'The Way that can be spoken of...'"

"Don't read it!"

Zhang Xuezhou began to recite, Li Shaojun gestured wildly several times, while constantly looking at various parts of his body.

After Zhang Xuezhou finished reciting it once, he exhaled a deep breath.

"What's wrong? You can't stand this anymore? Do you want me to read it again?" Zhang Xuezhou said.

"You can hear me now. You have no idea how strange this thing came to be when Laozi was flipping through an old book. It possessed me, and..."

"Whose Laozi are you talking to!"

"You don't know what the old Daoist priest was like back then..."

Before Li Shaojun could even exchange a few words with Zhang Xuezhou, Zhang Xuezhou exposed him and beat him again. Only then did he honestly admit that he was a seasoned Daoist priest befitting his status.

The things he experienced weren't particularly bizarre.

Paintings have their demons, and books have theirs. Perhaps the remnant souls of some great cultivators influenced Li Shaojun, granting Li Shaojun a strange encounter and leading Li Shaojun to insist over the years that he is a true successor of Daoist School. In reality, he had no real connection to Daoist School in the past.

"Don't you guys find this kind of thing amazing?" Li Shaojun asked.

"What's so amazing about that?" Rong Tianding pouted and said, "We've seen painted demons before. They look like immortals from the front, but from the side, their bodies are flat, just like paper cutouts!"

"Painting Demon? Have you ever seen anything like that?!" Li Shaojun asked in surprise. "Show me!"

"It's gone," Zhang Xuezhou waved his hand and said, "Last time we delivered Wei Shao'er, the painting demon went inside Wei Shao'er's belly and then disappeared, leaving only a scroll behind!"

"That's a bit outrageous. Explain it to me and broaden my horizons!"

"That's a complicated matter to explain!"

Li Shaojun's exchange at Palace of Peace and Happiness was extremely successful. Before Zhang Xuezhou could even ask for help, the Empress Dowager was already preparing to investigate the gourd case from years ago.

This happened quite coincidentally, but it would be difficult to get Li Shaojun involved in the gourd case.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't directly ask Li Shaojun for help with Yi Shuo, to avoid the other party making demands back and forth. Instead, he talked to Li Shaojun in circles, preparing to clarify the situation before choosing an opportunity to speak.

However, their discussion quickly veered off course, and even Zhang Xuezhou's efforts to control the situation couldn't prevent it from going wrong.

"If the woman we saw at the Marquis of Pingyang was indeed Wei Shao'er, and the toddler was Wei Shao'er child, then the painting demon was likely possessed by that child, which is why Gongsun Gui suffered such a calamity!"

After hearing what he had heard, Li Shaojun also put forward his own judgment with great interest, which was quite different from his previous belief that the child had a valuable weapon for self-defense.

"But we were aided by Confucian School secret arts back then; the painting demon doesn't have that ability!"

Zhang Xuezhou hesitated slightly, after all, Wei Shao'er had encountered many problems when she gave birth to Huo Qubing.

Even now, Wei Shao'er's childbirth is not over, and the pain of childbirth has not subsided.

Zhang Xuezhou even felt that the painting demon was still inside Wei Shao'er's belly.

Li Shaojun's judgment led him to shift his suspicions for the first time.