The Golden Toad Yao, Jin Wanliang

Fortune and misfortune had always depended on each other.

Helping Zou Bugui would most likely bring disaster, but Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong had no choice but to take the risk.

They truly needed greater strength.

For so many people from Zhang Household Village to have vanished without a trace, they had to be facing someone who had achieved Realm Entry, perhaps even a Realm Entry cultivator who had practiced for a long time.

If they had not even crossed the threshold of cultivation, investigating the matter and rescuing their people would be exceedingly difficult, and they would most likely lose their lives.

But it was something they had to do.

Those people were all of his own clan and kin. Zhang Zhong could not be so cold-blooded as to ignore them.

His heart could be hard, but he was never cold toward his own people.

On the rugged mountain path, Zhang Zhong now had a person on his back.

The group of four hurried along, but Lady Yourong did not forget to cover their tracks behind them, doing her best to throw the Golden Toad Dharma King off their trail.

A few small tricks might not do much on their own, but enough of them would most likely delay their pursuer.

"Only by steadily accumulating can all things fall into place, like water filling a channel once it forms!"

Lady Yourong also did her best to teach her son, who had now become one of those who had achieved Realm Entry.

"Our strength was never great to begin with. If we don't even put in the work day after day, let alone water filling a finished channel, even a glimpse of the possibility of water flowing into it would be a wild hope," Zhang Zhong said in a muffled voice. "Moving forward step by step won't necessarily get you to the top, but it's still better than accumulating nothing."

Perhaps the couple had been moved by something, for they did their best to teach Zhang Xuezhou.

"That's right. Learning is a process of accumulating day after day, month after month. There isn't the slightest shortcut!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded, strongly agreeing with his parents' words and actions.

Much of what they said and did was a reflection of his own reality.

The results of his recent daily efforts had been excellent. After challenging the monthly rankings again, Zhang Xuezhou had climbed to 153rd place at Yucai Middle School.

This was tied to the increasingly long hours he spent studying. The longer he studied diligently, the deeper his accumulated knowledge grew, and the faster he rose in the rankings.

At this rate, he could very likely advance dozens of places in a dozen or so days, only slowing down once he reached the true dividing line of an outstanding student.

If not for his symptoms of schizophrenia, Zhang Xuezhou was certain he would be one of the outstanding students.

Over the years, aside from his daily studies, he had never stopped working through his winter and summer vacations.

Knowing where he was weak, if he did not make good use of his time to compensate, he would not have the slightest chance of catching up.

Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong were teaching him about one thing, but Zhang Xuezhou associated it with something else, feeling that he himself was a person who constantly accumulated.

When the day came that the channel was formed and the water flowed, he would be able to get a scholarship and seek medical treatment.

The Essential Instruction for Recuperation that Ren Anran had provided sounded commonplace, but for some reason, Zhang Xuezhou felt there was something profound about cultivating it.

He did not know whether his illness had caused his mind to misunderstand, or whether the Essential Instruction for Recuperation Ren Anran had taught him truly had extraordinary effects.

He needed to discuss this question further with Ren Anran.

"Who's there?"

As Zhang Xuezhou's thoughts wandered, he heard the Wind-Breaking Saber in Zhang Zhong's hand leave its sheath. Zhang Zhong let out a sharp shout, and a chill suddenly crept into the rugged mountain forest path.

"When the counting rods sound, ten thousand taels of gold abound. Jin Wanliang greets you, fellow Daoists!"

As Zhang Zhong swept his gaze behind them, a Daoist in golden robes emerged from behind a large tree.

He held golden counting rods and bowed in greeting, looking exceptionally refined.

But the golden-robed Daoist's appearance made everyone's hearts tighten.

There was no other reason for it: although the golden-robed Daoist behaved like a human, his face was not entirely human in form.

Zhang Xuezhou looked over and saw the golden-robed Daoist's cheeks bulging and constantly rising and falling like thin membranes.

Mottled golden markings covered his face, as though he were wearing some kind of mask, lending his ferocious appearance an eerie touch.

When the Daoist opened his mouth, a long, slender scarlet tongue, a full twenty centimeters long, unconsciously swept across the edge of his lips.

For some reason, Zhang Xuezhou remembered how the second elder, Zhang Houtu, had once mentioned that there was a kind of hanged ghost with a long tongue in this world, to frighten them into obedience.

"There really are hanged ghosts in this world!"

Zhang Xuezhou muttered under his breath and stepped back, hiding behind Zou Bugui.

"He's not a hanged ghost..."

"How dare you slander an innocent man? I'm a Yao, not a ghost, you blind fool! What I, Grandpa Jin, hate most in this life is someone with no eye for things..."

Zou Bugui forced his eyes open and took a look, then spoke in a low voice.

But before he could finish his quiet explanation, Jin Wanliang looked as though he had suffered a tremendous insult. His sharp gaze swept over Zhang Xuezhou, and he unleashed a torrent of abuse at him.

This Yao was utterly unlike the Yao in Zhang Xuezhou's impression, whose Yao Qi ran rampant and who slaughtered without number, and Zhang Xuezhou could not help relaxing.

But then he heard the sound of Zhang Zhong drawing his saber with extreme speed.

Clink!

An exceptionally crisp sound of contact rang out. Zhang Zhong's saber hand trembled slightly, and he took a strained step backward.

"His tongue strikes with the same force as an arrow from a bow. Keep your distance, and don't let him get close!"

Holding the Wind-Breaking Saber, Zhang Zhong felt his heart tighten.

If Jin Wanliang had not been dozens of meters away from them, his eyes would never have caught the attack.

Only by keeping enough distance to defend himself could he barely block this great Yao.

As Zhang Zhong spoke, Lady Yourong raised her hand and drew her bow. A feathered arrow had already left the string.

"Wah!"

On the mountain path, the golden-robed Daoist leaped as the arrow reached him in the blink of an eye, then vanished from sight.

"Don't bother looking for him. Go, quickly! He shrank his body to dodge the arrow. We have to hurry back to the Daoist temple while he's changing into his Yao form!"

Before Zhang Zhong and the others could work out what had happened, Zou Bugui had already given a quick explanation and urged them onward.

"Yao are afraid of bows and arrows too?"

As Zhang Xuezhou took to his heels, he could not help asking Zou Bugui some questions about it.

"I'd be afraid if you took a knife to my throat too. Do you think great cultivators are afraid of nothing? Lord Chao of the Sole Self Realm was once cut in half at the waist by an assassin in a busy marketplace. What's so strange about a fifth-grade great Yao being afraid of bows and arrows?"

Zou Bugui's gaze swept over Zhang Xuezhou.

Perhaps the extraordinary Techniques displayed by those who had achieved Realm Entry had given Zhang Xuezhou the mistaken impression that they stood on a higher plane and could utterly crush ordinary people.

But those who had achieved Realm Entry were also divided into civil and martial cultivators.

Civil cultivators excelled in profound Techniques and possessed all manner of strange and wondrous abilities. The higher their realm, the more extraordinary abilities they possessed. Martial cultivators, meanwhile, strengthened their Qi and Blood and possessed tremendous power that could erupt over short distances.

Each specialized in a particular art. Great civil cultivators did not fear the onslaught of minor Technique Methods, and great martial cultivators did not fear low-level saber and sword techniques. But when the two faced each other's specialties, the results were entirely different.

Great civil cultivators feared surprise attacks with blades, while great martial cultivators could also have their balance in battle disrupted by certain minor Technique Methods.

Each had its own path and corresponding weaknesses. No one could achieve absolute invincibility.

How to build on one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses, how to maintain one's advantages, how to avoid falling into a disadvantageous position, how to uncover an opponent's weaknesses, how to defeat the opponent, how to hold power over a region and coordinate its forces...

Cultivation was not simply a matter of continuously breaking through to higher realms. One also needed to improve and perfect oneself, as well as possess a pair of perceptive eyes, in order to win in a fight.

Every realm was different, but the outcome of a battle was not determined by cultivation realm alone.

This was also the main reason Zou Bugui was willing to place his bet on Zhang Zhong and the others and have them assist him.

And now, the one pursuing him was not the crazed Golden Toad Dharma King, but the latter's disciple, Jin Wanliang. Zou Bugui's heart settled, and he felt he would most likely get to keep his life.