Severe Physical Depletion

"Buddha Son Shigong's legs are too slow!"

Following the direction of travel, Zhang Xuezhou leaped over the high mountains and landed amidst the wind and snow.

The current situation is somewhat similar to the section of road where he flew in the wrong direction before. The snow and cold wind in the sky are blowing quite hard, which has a significant impact on Zhang Xuezhou. The white snow covering the mountains reflects the light, making Zhang Xuezhou's vision a blur of white.

Neither Buddha Son Shigong Zhang Xuezhou noticed Buddha Son Shigong Zhang Xuezhou past.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't find any tribes in the distant mountains, but he unexpectedly discovered a herd of wild horses.

With his mastery of beast-controlling techniques, taming a loyal wild horse was a piece of cake for Zhang Xuezhou; he even chose the strongest and most powerful horse.

After controlling the horse king and summoning a henchman, Zhang Xuezhou felt that he had everything he needed for his long journey, and all that was left was to gallop freely.

Wild horses are unruly and often exceptional, far superior to domesticated horses. Zhang Xuezhou believed that the King of Horses was likely no less than a mount of the caliber of Qianlixue.

If they could travel a thousand miles a day, they would reach the Western Kunlun in three days.

Zhang Xuezhou was busy for a while and waited and waited, but as night fell, he still did not see Buddha Son Shigong come over the mountains to meet him.

"Could there be some kind of monster in this desolate, snowy wilderness?"

Zhang Xuezhou did not believe that Buddha Son Shigong's strength was insufficient to even cross a snow-capped mountain.

If he had to find a reason, he felt that the Buddha Son Shigong must have discovered some kind of demon in the snowy mountains and was making trouble there.

This made Zhang Xuezhou a little more patient. Only when he thought that Buddha Son Shigong might have his vehicle overturned in this snowy mountain did Zhang Xuezhou get up and look into the depths of the snowy mountain.

"Don't move from here, I'm going to go find someone!"

After giving Ma Wang a simple command, Zhang Xuezhou leaped into the air.

He traversed the snow-capped mountains using his golden wings for rapid flight, while the search for Buddha Son Shigong was diligently employing his cloud-riding technique, relying on low-altitude flight to search for his trail.

The wind and snow covered many traces, but the footprints of the Buddha Son Shigong remained only in the places untouched by the snow.

Zhang Xuezhou moved back and forth, gesturing the direction in which the footprints extended.

"No footprints, no blood, not even a mark!"

Following the direction devoid of clues, Zhang Xuezhou found it increasingly difficult to locate the Buddha Son Shigong. It wasn't until he found a piece of cloth that had turned to ice in the midst of a fierce snowstorm that Zhang Xuezhou gasped in shock.

"This monster actually stripped the Buddha Son Shigong of his clothes; he must have met with some misfortune!"

The Water Avoidance Instruction began to circulate actively within Zhang Xuezhou's body. He scanned his surroundings, wary of being caught off guard by a demonic attack that might freeze him, leaving him no chance to escape.

The technique of turning cloth into ice has evolved from water magic into ice magic, which is even more powerful than water magic. Zhang Xuezhou was unsure whether his half-baked Water Avoidance Instruction could withstand it. His heart was filled with anxiety as he continued to search for traces of the demon.

"There's light in the snow?"

The long, snow-covered mountains made the search difficult, and Zhang Xuezhou didn't find any trace of the monsters until night fell, when he unexpectedly saw a glimmer of light.

"This demon can even light fires!"

Zhang Xuezhou encountered mostly wild, untamed creatures; there were hardly any civilized demons. Perhaps this stemmed from the creatures' fear of fire, as even something as simple as lighting a fire for illumination was rare.

The possibility of a tribe surviving in such a snowy mountain is extremely slim, leaving only monsters as a last resort.

But even Zhang Xuezhou couldn't figure out what kind of monster would prefer this kind of living environment.

He leaped towards the direction of the firelight and saw a cave beneath the ice peak, with a dazzling firelight shining at the cave entrance.

When Zhang Xuezhou got closer, he realized that the dazzling flames were some kind of mirror reflection.

More than ten meters deep inside the cave entrance, an oil lamp slowly burns, and the entire cave is covered with smooth, mirror-like ice walls.

In the light of the oil lamp, Zhang Xuezhou saw that the Buddha Son Shigong was lying naked on a boulder, his eyes staring straight at the cave ceiling.

"Buddhist disciple?"

Zhang Xuezhou greeted him, and Buddha Son Shigong turned around with a grim expression.

"Are you alright?" Zhang Xuezhou asked. "I found two good horses at the foot of the mountain; we'll get to the Sacred Land quickly!"

"I... I..."

As if reminded, the Buddha Son Shigong seemed to remember his purpose, which made him use his hands to push himself up.

"You seem a little unwell," Zhang Xuezhou asked. "Was it because you used Divine Ability when you were collecting demon blood?"

"It's not Divine Ability, sigh~"

Buddha Son Shigong sighed deeply, his dejected expression so profound that even Zhang Xuezhou found it hard to understand.

He rubbed his eyes hard and even strained to see carefully, lest he see an illusion or hallucination. But after examining it carefully, Zhang Xuezhou felt that what he saw was real.

"Then let's go. The sooner we get to the Sacred Land, the sooner we can feel at ease," Zhang Xuezhou urged.

"I... I don't have your abilities, I might not be able to escape!"

"Can't escape?"

The Buddha Son Shigong replied to Zhang Xuezhou, which made Zhang Xuezhou's heart leap into his throat.

He hadn't expected that the Buddha Son Shigong was imprisoned here. The great demon who could imprison the Buddha Son Shigong wouldn't have much trouble dealing with him.

Zhang Xuezhou scanned the surroundings with his eyes, already preparing to slip away for his life.

But after looking around, he couldn't see any trace of demons.

"Where is that demon?" Zhang Xuezhou asked. "If it's not here, we need to escape quickly. Once we're on horseback, we'll be fine!"

"She went to find me food and hasn't come back yet," said the Buddha Son Shigong.

"Then hurry up and run!"

"But she... never mind!"

The Buddha Son Shigong stood up, disregarding his naked body. He reached out and grabbed the purple-gold gourd that had fallen to the ground, then quickly took a few steps.

You seem to have a problem walking!

Zhang Xuezhou had never seen someone walk slowly while fleeing for their life, and he suspected that Buddha Son Shigong's health was likely compromised.

"I'm just frozen stiff," Buddha Son Shigong quickly explained. "If I can take one or two Blood Essence pills, I should be able to recover!"

"Didn't you store any blood essence before?"

"I used it to Yufeng. I shouldn't have taken the blood essence at that time. Damn it, how could I make such a mistake!"

The Buddha Son Shigong cursed, which Zhang Xuezhou found hard to understand—what had happened to him that made him so regretful?

But apart from looking somewhat weak, Buddha Son Shigong didn't seem to have suffered any serious injuries.

Zhang Xuezhou helped the Buddha Son Shigong up and found that the other man's body was warm and there was nothing frozen in his body.

"You seem... you seem to have lost all your energy?"

When a strange odor reached his nostrils, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but look down at the lower body of the Buddha Son Shigong, which caused the Buddha Son Shigong to quickly cover himself with his hand.

"You ejaculated in a place like this... could it be that you..."

As Zhang Xuezhou helped the Buddha Son Shigong walk, a hard-to-believe guess came to mind.

"I was coerced," the Buddha Son Shigong explained, his face flushed. "How was I supposed to know there was a demon in heat here? I mistook her for you, and caught off guard, I was ambushed and my body was taken over. And then... and then this happened, just like you think!"

"Given your current physical condition, it's not very good for you to escape!"

Looking at the Buddha Son Shigong, whose innocence had been taken by a demon, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the man's body was so weak after his vital energy was greatly depleted that he could hardly walk. It would be difficult for him to recover quickly, and even swallowing blood essence would not help.

Zhang Xuezhou could accept that Buddha Son Shigong was killed and eaten by a demon, but he never imagined that Buddha Son Shigong would one day have his innocence taken away by a demon.

This made him feel immense pressure after helping the Buddha Son Shigong out of the cave entrance, and he felt that his exhausted body made it difficult to escape.

"My husband, are you really going to leave me like this?"

Upon hearing the faint voice, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but spring to his feet, golden feathers appearing on his arms as he leaped into the air.

Behind him, a ibex encased in ice landed on the ground, and another white gust of wind swept up, relentlessly pursuing Zhang Xuezhou.