A Matter of Importance

The yellow horses pulling the carts had great stamina, but compared to military horses, their stamina was still inferior.

The two are simply incomparable in terms of speed.

Despite starting about fifteen minutes ahead, Zhang Xuezhou could already sense the approaching pursuers getting closer and closer.

He hadn't even been out of Fuping County for an hour, and at this point he hadn't even left the Northern Border region.

"Bitter!"

My mount is unreliable, and my stamina Demon Power are almost depleted.

For the first time, Zhang Xuezhou felt that his advantage in escaping was still insufficient.

"If possible, we should also learn a flying Technique Method suitable for the Yin-Yang School. Even if we run out of Demon Power Law Power. Even if we only fly three meters high, it's better than running around in circles to escape right now!"

He sullenly patted the horse's rump, then quickly pondered his own various abilities.

Zhang Xuezhou has to admit that while he seems to have many skills, he is actually quite limited in his repertoire.

Even the Emperor and Empress found it difficult to teach him; the Yin Yang Great Compassion Nine Heavens Incantation that Zhang Xuezhou practiced clearly brought too many limitations.

However, if Zhang Xuezhou were to switch to other cultivation techniques, the situation he would face would not be much different, such as the Beast Taming Sect, or various sword sects and saber sects.

Unless he entered the Confucian School school, he would have had no way of learning various kinds of Technique Method.

But then again, if Zhang Xuezhou really fell into the trap of Confucian School, he wouldn't have the time or ability to master a vast array of techniques, let alone the possibility of refining elixirs to sustain himself.

No one is omnipotent. Even the great Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu, who had studied many Technique Method, repeatedly lost face. Technique Method are difficult to cope with constantly changing situations.

Zhang Xuezhou eventually felt relieved, but then kept thinking about the help his abilities might bring.

Zhang Xuezhou was delighted when the yellow horse galloped to the vicinity of a large river where the ice and snow were just beginning to melt.

He had nearly drowned once before, but it's not like he'll be back in the real world any day or two.

He leaped off the yellow horse, not even bothering to take off Zhang Xuezhou shoes, and plunged into the icy river.

The water-avoidance technique grants Zhang Xuezhou the ability to breathe underwater for short periods without needing to surface for air frequently.

Should we pursue them or not?

After Zhang Xuezhou traveled downstream for several hundred meters, two riders arrived late from the riverbank.

The two men on the military horse looked at each other, their heads bowed as they grazed by the river.

The pursued person undoubtedly jumped into the river, but with the river vast and boundless, how could they possibly see the other person's figure at that moment?

Sending them into the water to search would inevitably lead to suffering; the real question is whether they would even find the other person.

Without the hoofprints in the snow to guide their way, and without Ning Cheng's spell to pinpoint their location, their pursuit here was tantamount to losing their target.

"We still have to chase him. If a Technique Method like him can withstand icy water, there's no way we can't!"

That makes sense!

"One of us will search upstream, and the other will investigate downstream!"

"If he swims upstream, the distance he can swim will certainly not be very far!"

"We weren't far from him when we were chasing him; he had gone at most a kilometer downstream!"

After a brief exchange, the two dismounted.

Once they removed their armor, the two temporarily separated to search.

The icy river water soaked their bodies as the two looked at each other from a distance, and their inner Qi and Blood surged forth.

"This is freezing cold!"

"We didn't say we were going to kill that kid, why is he running for his life like this?"

"Of course! We can't even withstand this icy river water. If a spellcaster like him jumped in, he'd freeze into an ice sculpture!"

"Chasing after someone is such a pain!"

"Who told that brat to write insults against the prefect? He scribbled so much nonsense in such large characters that the whole city knows about it!"

"Never mind, he didn't name names, and my dad's name isn't Li X!"

After a brief exchange, the two reluctantly swam in the river, searching for Zhang Xuezhou.

The floating ice kept hitting their bodies, causing their skin to turn red and then reveal their cold, pale flesh.

The continuous rise of steam from the river surface made the two men's expressions solemn, and their muscles trembled uncontrollably.

Traveling in this kind of weather, with the snow just beginning to melt, requires courage, let alone for them, who had been riding horses for a long time in the cold wind. Searching in this icy river at this time would only make matters worse, pushing their bodies to the limit.

After nearly fifteen minutes of fruitless searching, the two couldn't help but climb back to the riverbank, shivering in the cold wind.

"I can't take it anymore!"

"I can't take it anymore!"

"That kid must be even worse, right?"

"The situation is very likely stalled somewhere along the river!"

I want to make a fire to... keep warm!

"I want to too!"

When the martial arts practitioners' prized bodies could no longer hold up, the two found themselves in an extremely awkward situation, ultimately forced to huddle together with a military horse for warmth.

The weather in the Northern Border in early spring, January, is unbearable.

The pursuers were right; even martial artists couldn't withstand it, and neither could Zhang Xuezhou.

He swam two miles along the river before leaping out of the icy water.

The icy water that had seeped onto his clothes was quickly shaken off. Zhang Xuezhou murmured, "The Golden Crow Great Emperor is my good friend," and then held the Golden Crow Feather to warm himself.

The Water-Avoiding Technique is not the Cold-Avoiding Technique; he avoided the water, but not the bone-chilling cold.

If it weren't for the fact that the Heavenly Robe's properties, which made it impervious to heat and cold, had some effect in the glacier, Zhang Xuezhou's body would have been frozen stiff long ago.

He shivered as he warmed himself and wrung out the water from his shoes and socks.

The shoes became stiff and hard as soon as the cold wind blew against them.

Zhang Xuezhou had no choice but to put on the new shoes that Rong Li had given him.

He put on his shoes and stomped around several times, feeling that this escape was pure torture.

However, with this river as an obstacle, the pursuers would have to take a longer time to either detour or forcibly cross the river.

Zhang Xuezhou did some calculations and estimated the extent of his recovery.

He couldn't fly high in the sky at the moment, but he could glide for dozens of meters using a small amount of Demon Power, which allowed him to overcome some obstacles and then return to Hibiscus City at a relatively fast speed.

"My cousin should be heading to Fuping County to buy horses these next couple of days. I'll grab his horse and run; there's a good chance I'll escape the Northern Border region!"

He pondered for a moment, then considered the two riders pursuing them, and thought that Zhufu Yan had done a very good job.

Having eliminated Ning Cheng's tracking through magic, and with the two riders behind him no longer following, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the matter was probably over. Once he left the Northern Border and wandered around sometime, or until Dong Zhongshu could use magic to remove the Technique Method mark, the hidden dangers would be completely eliminated.

He gazed at two small, motionless black dots in the distance, then swayed and disappeared into the low hills near the riverbank.

"What?"

"He actually knows how to get in and out of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains?"

"Are they really people from the Xiong State?"

"Damn it, he's jumping around in this river, he's probably drowned!"

"Everyone, there's no need to worry. I can still sense the Technique Method imprints moving over there!"

"Hey, I've confessed, shouldn't you let me go now? The yellow horse he promised to give me is here, and I want to collect it!"

They eventually met on the riverbank.

When Ning Cheng and the others rushed over with Zhufu Yan, they saw the two men in charge of the chase still shivering and trying to keep warm with their horses.

But the information given by Zhufu Yan was too important, so no matter how trembling I was, I had to continue the investigation.

"Are you sure this information is accurate?"

"Let me go, and I promise it's genuine!"

Zhufu Yan cried out, struggling unwillingly against his bound body.

Looking at the yellow horses on the riverbank, he couldn't help but feel excited as he thought about how exhilarating it was to ride one of them.

"Ning the Registrar, mark him with a Technique Method before releasing him. If he lies and doesn't hold back, then slash him with a knife!"

Cheng Bushi heavy troops to defend the area, while the Northern Frontier Legion launched repeated attacks. However, what blocked the Northern Frontier Legion's path was not the Xiong State, but countless mountains.

Lacking familiarity with the terrain, the Northern Frontier Legion repeatedly lost their way and were eventually forced to retreat.

Having a guide familiar with the terrain would obviously be of immeasurable benefit.

The four men stared at each other, realizing that the previous punitive pursuit had turned into a pursuit to the ends of the earth.

Regardless of whether Zhang Xuezhou is in the Northern Border or elsewhere, they must find him.