What a Coincidence

The Jinghe Water Palace is more than forty li away from Chang'an City.

This distance is not far for those skilled in flying and leaping.

Zhang Xuezhou entered Chang'an City very smoothly, just before the city gates closed.

At this moment, crowds thronged through Chang'an City, all chasing the last rays of evening light.

"Sir, would you like your fortune told?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Zhang Xuezhou turned his head to look.

"Hey Dong, you're way too slow! I've been squatting here in fear for two or three days already!"

Just like many others in Zhang Household Village who sit on small stools by the street offering fortune telling, Li Shaojun, whose appearance had changed, also moved a stool and sat at the entrance of Laoshu Hutong.

His face reading was secondary; his real concern was preventing himself from being killed by Divine Lord Zhenyuan, and he needed to wait for Zhang Xuezhou.

Little did he know that he would wait for two or three days, and Li Shaojun felt as if each day was an eternity.

"Based on the time you were awake and the time it took you to get to my place, you couldn't have been this slow," Li Shaojun said in a low voice. "Did you sneak in after I left?"

"Cut!"

Zhang Xuezhou replied dismissively.

"You've been digging for over ten days and still can't pry it open, you expect me to finish it in two or three days?" Zhang Xuezhou retorted, "Are you admitting you're useless, or are you saying I'm too amazing?"

"Who knows if you'll just get lucky and stumble upon this by chance?" Li Shaojun said sullenly.

Why can't you have any luck?!

"My luck doesn't even look at me!"

After a few rounds of back-and-forth, Li Shaojun realized that Zhang Xuezhou hadn't gone inside either.

He was also curious about what Zhang Xuezhou had encountered on the way, otherwise Zhang Xuezhou would never have been delayed for so long.

This delay, whether out of necessity or because it was more important than their plans, forced Zhang Xuezhou to stay.

This prompted Li Shaojun to observe for quite some time.

"You changed your clothes, and they smell of medicine. Did you get hold of some kind of potent drug?" Li Shaojun asked.

Do you think I'd be willing to soak my clothes in such potent medicine?

Zhang Xuezhou sniffed the clothes and felt that Zou Bugui's clothes were not only a bit old-fashioned, but also had a smell that could not be washed off because he had been refining pills, making medicines and fumigating herbs in the Venerable's underground palace for many years.

Ordinary people might not notice, but someone like Li Shaojun, who was involved in alchemy and medicine making, could undoubtedly smell the scent.

"That's strange. Did you steal some dead body soaked in medicinal liquid and strip it of its clothes? Or did you rob some Sacred Land of alchemy and medicine making and steal their clothes as well?"

Zhang Xuezhou did not respond, and Li Shaojun felt that it was difficult to find a reliable answer by making random guesses.

With Zhang Xuezhou leading the way, he no longer needed to be terrified.

Walking with Zhang Xuezhou through the old tree alley, Li Shaojun couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He felt that he should have stayed close to Zhang Xuezhou and maybe even gotten some advantage.

"Your cousin is really something! I asked to see the materials for refining the Eight-Step Ascension Pill, but he wouldn't let me see them at all, he wouldn't even let me go into the cellar!"

Li Shaojun couldn't recount Zhang Xuezhou's itinerary for the past few days, and couldn't help but mention Rong Tianding again.

"Those materials were all kept under his bed, not in the cellar," Zhang Xuezhou waved his hand and said, "These things were taken from the armory by Zhuang Qingdi under a pretext. Using them without solving his problem will definitely cause trouble later!"

"I was just taking a look!"

Li Shaojun replied sullenly.

Zhuang Qingdi is no naive or innocent girl; she is involved in many of the transactions.

If Zhuang Qingdi is not given a clear response and the treasure is misused, it will inevitably implicate Zhang Xuezhou.

If Zhang Xuezhou is having a hard time, Li Shaojun will certainly not be having a good time either.

Li Shaojun had previously planned to examine the materials first, then seek an opportunity to refine the pills, and to flee in advance if anything serious happened. However, after being warned by Zhang Xuezhou, he had to suppress his many thoughts.

"When are you going to make an appointment with that Zhenyuan?" Li Shaojun asked in a low voice.

"He's at Anle Palace," Zhang Xuezhou said. "I can't go there; I can only wait for him to come to me!"

"Then what should I do?" Li Shaojun asked.

"What are you afraid of?" Zhang Xuezhou retorted. "He placed a Technique Method mark on me. As long as I'm lying at home normally, he won't suddenly come over while I'm unconscious. And if I greet him while I'm awake, you won't be affected... The Daoist priest is here!"

Zhang Xuezhou walked along the alley of Laoshu Hutong. He was advising Li Shaojun to calm down when he saw a young-faced, black-haired Daoist priest standing with his hands clasped in front of the Rong Household, looking at him from afar.

This prompted Zhang Xuezhou to quickly wave hello and then pull back Li Shaojun, whose legs were weak and who wanted to run away.

"Don't kill me!"

Li Shaojun called out.

He felt his legs were a little weak, and he was being dragged forward by Zhang Xuezhou.

"Brother Rong said you went on a long trip these past few days; you went quite far!"

Divine Lord Zhenyuan pointed to the north, indicating that Zhang Xuezhou had run beyond a distance of three thousand li.

He pinched his fingers together, and couldn't help but look at Zhang Xuezhou's body with surprise.

"Which fellow cultivator is so capable that they actually erased my mark?"

Divine Lord Zhenyuan's encounter with Zhang Xuezhou was not because he knew Zhang Xuezhou was returning home at that time, but simply because they happened to meet after leaving the Rong Household.

Without any Technique Method markings, Divine Lord Zhenyuan was unaware of Zhang Xuezhou's approach to returning to Chang'an City.

This piqued the curiosity of Divine Lord Zhenyuan, who was momentarily wondering who Zhang Xuezhou had encountered and why the other party had erased his Technique Method mark.

"It's a long story," Zhang Xuezhou said with a deep sigh, pulling Li Shaojun along. "Let's go inside and discuss something!"

"Become!"

Zhang Xuezhou and Divine Lord Zhenyuan were rarely strangers; it was common for the two to chat idly in a corner.

When it was Zhang Xuezhou's turn to say he needed to go inside, Divine Lord Zhenyuan felt that the matter must be quite important.

He just didn't quite understand what Zhang Xuezhou meant by dragging someone along.

"Who is this?" Divine Lord Zhenyuan asked in a low voice.

"Let's look at the baby first, and then we'll talk about him later!"

Zhang Xuezhou waved his hand, signaling Divine Lord Zhenyuan to follow him to see the treasure.

Unless Zhang Xuezhou causes problems, Rong Tianding will not overstep his bounds and act on his own.

Rong Tianding didn't show Li Shaojun the materials for the Eight Steps to Immortality Pill, and he certainly didn't show Divine Lord Zhenyuan the many Law Treasure treasures.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that it would be convenient to talk only after Divine Lord Zhenyuan had seen the treasure.

What a coincidence!

He thought to himself.

Originally, Zhang Xuezhou planned to meet Divine Lord Zhenyuan again in ten days or so. He did not expect to run into Divine Lord Zhenyuan on his way home. He even bumped into Li Shaojun, who made a living by setting up a stall, on the way.

Everything seemed to happen by chance. Zhang Xuezhou felt that the timing was just right, neither too early nor too late. Just as Dong Zhongshu had said, he had followed the right path and stepped right at the right moment.

These things have been happening quite frequently lately, so frequently that Zhang Xuezhou felt it was abnormal.

"Could winning a military campaign have brought about some trajectory-related factors?"

Zhang Xuezhou had never felt such a dense and coincidental occurrence during his previous cultivation of techniques, as if everything was happening at a precise time.

Everything he wanted to do seemed to have been arranged perfectly by the Unseen.

"If victory in this campaign truly brings anything, then let Huang Daoxian and the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon suffer greatly!"

He recited the name several times in his mind before speaking to Divine Lord Zhenyuan with a pleasant expression about the Law Treasure cloth.

This immediately invigorated Divine Lord Zhenyuan.