Force majeure

"Godfather..."

Please, please stop calling me godfather!

Inside the Mystic Dharma Palace, the Emperor and Empress left, and the Golden Crow Great Emperor followed them out.

The Emperor did not kill the Golden Toad Dharma King, but he also did not let the Golden Toad Dharma King leave.

Inside the Wonderful Dharma Palace, the Golden Toad Dharma King paced back and forth, feeling as if he was about to scratch off all the tufts of white hair on his head.

He looked at Zhang Xuezhou, who still acknowledged their relationship, and waved his hand repeatedly, signaling Zhang Xuezhou not to use that title anymore.

"Don't shout it out in private either," the Golden Toad Dharma King admonished helplessly. "Don't you know who you're dealing with right now!"

"Is my teacher that scary to you?" Zhang Xuezhou asked doubtfully. "What exactly is his identity?"

"The former ruler of the Celestial Empire, an emperor almost on par with the Human Emperor, governed all beings outside the dynasty—humans, gods, demons, and ghosts," said the Golden Toad Dharma King. "Your Excellency was previously under his jurisdiction, as was the Dao Lord!"

"Could a dynasty tolerate such a person?" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise.

"That's a good question," the Golden Toad Dharma King said bitterly. "The dynasty wouldn't allow it, but the Emperor still appeared. What do you think is the reason for that?"

"..."

"His personal strength and the power he controls are enough to divide the world equally, so someone like him could appear in a dynasty!"

The former ruler of the Heavenly Court has fallen, but he remains a sword hanging over the heads of many powerful cultivators who operate outside the rules of the court.

Even powerful forces dare not clash with the Kunlun Heavenly Court, let alone the Golden Toad Dharma King.

This was not something he, at the eighth rank, could possibly touch.

The Golden Toad Dharma King is very anxious right now.

Faced with such a being, he truly had no control over his own life and death, and thus inevitably felt uneasy.

"That's amazing?" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise.

He had always thought that the great cultivators in this secret place were mentally unstable, each of them giving themselves titles, much like the madmen in mental hospitals who proclaimed themselves emperors.

But Zhang Xuezhou didn't expect that many of the titles were real.

Even if the imperial sword of the previous dynasty cannot be used to execute officials of the current dynasty, the titles of the Heavenly Emperor and others are not self-proclaimed but officially recognized. As long as the Heavenly Court has not been destroyed, there is no problem with its continuation.

"Do you know about the Immortal Court?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"The Immortal Court was established later. They overthrew the era of the Human Emperor and the Heavenly Emperor, and were recognized as the legitimate dynasty by the newly established regime," said the Golden Toad Dharma King. "That is also a very legitimate force."

"I've never heard of this before!" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise. "I had no idea that there was a Immortal Court within the Han Dynasty!"

"The dynasty they championed also collapsed after hundreds of years," the Golden Toad Dharma King sighed. "After that, it fell into endless conflicts and never managed to form a unified dynasty until the Qin Dynasty, when everything changed."

What has changed?

After unifying the world, Emperor Qin abolished the Heavenly Court and the Immortal Court, recognizing only the Human Dynasty he founded.

"But the Emperor Qin Dynasty is gone too!"

"Yes, his dynasty was destroyed, but his rules have continued," the Golden Toad Dharma King said, spreading his hands. "That's why you've never heard of the Immortal Court within the Han Dynasty's territory, since the Han Dynasty doesn't recognize the Immortal Court."

Although it was only a few words, Zhang Xuezhou quickly brushed up on his common knowledge with the Golden Toad Dharma King, and thoroughly understood the relationships between the Human Dynasty, the Heavenly Court, the Immortal Court, the Xieluosi River Holy Land, the Yedie River Holy Land, the Nine Spirits Holy Land, and other regions.

Thinking back to how the Emperor jokingly asked Zhang Xuezhou to go to the Immortal Court, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the Emperor was really joking.

Given this background, how is it any different from him rashly challenging the power of a dynasty?

Zhang Xuezhou was surprised that the Emperor's ancient power had a significant background, but he also knew that he needed to keep a certain distance from this Heavenly Court.

"I won't call you godfather, and don't you dare try to call me some kind of Kunlun Holy Son, or we'll both kill each other!"

The Emperor's acceptance of him as a student was due to "force majeure," and Zhang Xuezhou did not want the Emperor to give him another title due to "force majeure."

For Zhang Xuezhou, titles are unimportant; only the benefits he can obtain are real.

He doesn't care about empty fame, and he doesn't want to be on the front lines just because of it.

"But if you become the Emperor's student, aren't you a holy son?" the Golden Toad Dharma King asked doubtfully.

"I don't know anything about the Heavenly Court right now, and I don't want to be a Holy Son. If you keep hesitating with the teacher, I'll call you Godfather a hundred times," Zhang Xuezhou warned.

"Commit a sin!"

The Golden Toad Dharma King sighed, feeling that he had truly committed sins in his life to have an adopted son like Zhang Xuezhou.

His chances of survival are now 50/50. If Zhang Xuezhou were to yell at him, his chances of dying would definitely increase significantly.

It's highly improbable that a Kunlun Holy Son would call a toad demon his father; this practically elevates his status to that of an emperor.

If it were His Excellency, or Daoist Master and others, the Golden Toad Dharma King felt that they could barely qualify, but he certainly couldn't.

The two talked for a while and finally agreed that Zhang Xuezhou would not shout indiscriminately, and the Golden Toad Dharma King would not flatter him.

"But you need to go to Chang'an City Emperor Jing as soon as possible," the Golden Toad Dharma King instructed.

"I will definitely go," Zhang Xuezhou said. "I'm not the kind of person who takes on a task without doing the work."

"We must hurry," the Golden Toad Dharma King urged again.

"Knew!"

"Ideally within three days!"

"So fast? You're going to kill me if I don't work within three days?"

After hearing the Golden Toad Dharma King's instructions, Zhang Xuezhou felt terrible, thinking that the time limit set by the Venerable One was too soon.

"The Left Envoy of the Feiyu Sect is waiting outside Kunlun. He'll only wait for me for three days," said the Golden Toad Dharma King. "He came under orders from His Majesty, but he doesn't think I'll succeed in getting you out of the Kunlun Sacred Land. If I can't accomplish this, they'll just have to consider you dead!"

"What do you mean I'm dead? That's not how you treat someone like that!"

Zhang Xuezhou had previously maintained a calm and unhurried pace, with a very stable mindset.

When the Golden Toad Dharma King began to explain the relevant details, he also became unsettled.

The Golden Toad Dharma King was not the only one who came to the Kunlun Sacred Land; the Crane Demon Feiyu Left Envoy was also involved.

This mission dispatched the most agile and the most flying demons from the Sacred Land, which shows the importance His Majesty attaches to the only human spy from the Xieluosi River Holy Land, and also indirectly indicates that His Majesty is indeed experiencing a high level of anxiety at the moment.

For over a year, His Majesty commanded the Xiong State to attack the Han Dynasty. If Emperor Jing, who was capable of killing Grand Commandant Zhou, were to suddenly rise up and eliminate His Majesty, he could directly quell the war and become the true controller of the situation. This is not an impossible possibility.

If the Golden Toad Dharma King's mission to 'save' Zhang Xuezhou fails, Feiyu will obviously return to the Xieluosi River Holy Land to report immediately. Even if Feiyu does not return to the Sacred Land to report in time, the same result will still occur.

The Golden Toad Dharma King found it difficult to predict the Venerable One's reaction.

They could either abandon Zhang Xuezhou in the Kunlun Sacred Land to fend for himself, or use the Great Wilderness Creation Scripture to completely kill Zhang Xuezhou; both outcomes are possible.

The Golden Toad Dharma King didn't want to speculate on which possibility was more likely, and Zhang Xuezhou wouldn't risk his life on such a possibility.

At this moment, Zhang Xuezhou would be best off working diligently in accordance with his previous promise to his superior.

As long as Zhang Xuezhou does his best and the Emperor is unaware that he has become the Zhang Xuezhou's disciple, the Venerable One will certainly not make things difficult for a minor cultivator like Zhang Xuezhou.