A Loss of Balance

"Three!"

"Haha, I was prepared!"

In the early morning sky, the Imperial Shuttle drew a beautiful white arc, and the golden dragon's figure flashed by.

If one had never gazed intently at the sky, who would know that there were skilled fliers battling it out there?

Compared to Zhang Xuezhou's skill in controlling the Sky Shuttle, the new emperor found Tian Fen's ability to wield it utterly pathetic.

Putting everything else aside, the new emperor thought it was absolutely impossible for Tian Fen to have taken drugs and flown three thousand miles.

Zhang Xuezhou then took the Imperial Shuttle and started flying. After flying back and forth for hundreds of miles, he fought the Dragon King for three thousand miles.

Young people are willing to go all out, which is far better than those who stick to the old ways in the imperial court.

Now, the new emperor finally understands why Emperor Jing often missed some of his deceased ministers and even shed tears at times. There is no other reason than that useful ministers can bring irreplaceable benefits and are far superior to those mediocre old ministers in the court.

The new emperor was also glad that he had taken out the Imperial Shuttle to test it out, and that's when he discovered Zhang Xuezhou's absurd ability to control Law Treasure.

"If I cannot activate the Red Empyrean Sword, I need to improve my strength further so that I can roam the world without fear!"

Flying warriors skilled in manipulating Law Treasure have appeared, making it no longer a distant dream for Great Han to roam freely.

If the strength is sufficient to handle unexpected events, it will be an advantage that even the new emperor himself cannot imagine.

He was able to follow in the footsteps of Emperor Jing, step by step, and rise higher and higher.

And he would definitely spend less time than Emperor Jing.

Never before had he felt so at ease, nor had the new emperor ever felt so confident.

A single spell can change the Heaven and Earth, just like the spell used by the sorcerers of the Xiong State that caused panic in the court. The new emperor felt that the ability to fly had also brought about change.

"They can travel a hundred li in a quarter of an hour, and eight quarters of an hour; they only need three hours to travel three thousand li!"

If Zhang Xuezhou and the Jinghe Dragon King could maintain their passionate, soaring speed, the new emperor felt he hadn't miscalculated the timing.

Although it might seem foolish to stand by the Jing River and wait, the new emperor knew very well that his journey to Zhongnan Mountain would take far more than three hours.

The advantages of leaping far exceed those of riding a horse or running, and it truly allows one to arrive ahead of others even when starting later.

"Caw... Ao Li, you've been a womanizer and fathered children everywhere. You've got the nerve to get a child in my belly, but why don't you have the guts to admit it? You've left us, a widow and her child, to wander the streets and be ridiculed by others. How can you bear to do that?"

The new emperor sat on the bank of the Jing River, waiting for the outcome of the bird fight. Suddenly, he heard a noisy chorus of birds, which then turned into human speech.

As he glanced behind him, he saw a beautiful woman carrying a baby striding angrily toward him.

Within a few steps, the woman had already launched into a long, rambling tirade.

"Huh?"

Perhaps recognizing that the new emperor on the riverbank was not Ao Li, the woman frowned.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a decent woman seduced and then abandoned?" the woman snapped. "If you keep looking, I'll poke your eyes out!"

"My friend..."

"Who's your friend? Don't try to pull strings. Do you think you can seduce respectable women just because you're handsome and have striking eyes? Let me tell you, no way! I'm not going to marry just anyone, and you can't support my child and me!"

When the new emperor glanced around, he saw that what the woman was holding was not an infant, but clearly a bird's head with a large head.

His heart skipped a beat; he now understood the other person's identity.

If Zhang Xuezhou was not mistaken when he spoke with the Jinghe Dragon King, this was very likely the fellow Daoist Pilan.

"What are you doing standing here? What are you going to do to us, mother and child? Are you after us?!"

It's clear that there's something wrong with Pilan's mental state.

The new emperor initially intended to ignore her and wait for Zhang Xuezhou's return in another place, but then he saw the woman following behind him, chattering incessantly.

Like a piece of chewing gum, once it's stuck on, you can't get rid of it. He walked dozens of steps, and the other person followed for dozens of steps.

The new emperor frowned, and saw the other party leap lightly, his body already flying more than ten meters backward.

"You're so unreasonable! You actually tried to draw your sword and kill my child and me! How can there be such a person in this world?" Pilan cursed.

"I don't!"

"You are! Just by looking at your face, I can tell you like to bully the weak. And you're carrying a sword; your hand just touched the hilt. You definitely want to kill us!"

"I didn't have that intention; I was just being cautious!"

The new emperor frowned and offered a few words of explanation, only to hear Bilan shouting things like, "Aoli, you're too ruthless! You actually hired assassins to target me!"

Like a madwoman, Pilan shouted and yelled by the Jing River, acting completely erratically and even displaying aggression when she glanced at the new emperor.

"Fellow Daoist Pilan, do you know Dongfang Shuo?"

Upon seeing Pilan holding the little bird demon in his left hand and taking out a three-inch iron rod with his right hand, the new emperor couldn't help but feel a chill.

Despite his madness, his opponent's strength was not to be underestimated. Judging from the speed at which he could leap more than ten meters, Pilan was very skilled in jumping, dashing, and leaping, and combined with the iron rod with two points in his hand, he possessed extremely strong assassination capabilities.

Fighting such an opponent would be extremely dangerous.

The new emperor wasn't afraid of madmen, but he didn't want to invite unnecessary and vicious battles.

He finally understood why Ao Li said this was outrageous; anyone would have thought it was outrageous in the same situation.

The new emperor had no choice but to change his tune and seek a mediator to ease the conflict. He quickly shouted something.

"Dongfang Shuo... Dongfang Shuo said his friend built a nest in a big tree, and every single stalk in that nest was a fragrant herb. Small herbs wouldn't do, old herbs wouldn't do either; only the middle-aged, fragrant ones could be used to build the nest. I originally thought this was a lie, but after visiting the Sacred Land, I realized it was all true. How can our differences be so vast? Other people's children are born with fragrant herbs in their mouths, while my poor child doesn't even have a nest with a single fragrant herb. He can only grow up in endless poverty!"

Pilan was stunned for a moment, then her mind seemed to clear up a bit. Words poured out of her mouth like beans, and then she burst into tears again. It seemed that she had witnessed how other great demons raised their offspring and compared it with her own, which caused her mental imbalance and breakdown.

"Herbal made a nest?"

The new emperor found Zhang Xuezhou's social circle really strange, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that Zhang Xuezhou was lying, after all, he had witnessed Zhang Xuezhou fooling the Dragon King.

Clearly, this fellow Daoist Bilan had also been poisoned by Zhang Xuezhou.

However, the new emperor found it relatively easy to resolve such matters.

As the emperor of the Great Han Dynasty, the new emperor may not be able to handle major issues at present, but obtaining spices and herbs for cooking is no problem for him, even if spices and herbs are more precious than gold. It all depends on whether he needs to associate with the other party.

"If you can offer something in exchange, I can give you a cartload of herbs to build a nest!"

The thought that had been swirling in his mind for only a second was followed by the new emperor speaking.

"A cartload of herbs, in exchange?"

Bilan glanced at the new emperor, and his dazed and unbalanced state of mind returned to normal.

There's a reason why Pilan has been so down on his luck all these years. Whether they're human or demon, those who come from the Western Kunlun Holy Land all leave penniless, with no family fortune whatsoever.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have had to wander around.

The person before him could offer herbs, but Pilan really had nothing of value to offer in return.

She stood opposite the new emperor for a long time, stammering, before finally touching the feathered robe on her shoulder.

Half of her fair shoulder was exposed. Seeing that the other party was about to continue taking off her clothes, the new emperor knew what Pilan wanted to exchange for her.

What are you good at?

This prompted him to shout urgently, but he also had to guide the other party to speak, wanting to see what advantages Pilan, whom Zhang Xuezhou wanted to exchange for the dragon's saliva, actually had.