Fleeing After Nightfall

The route from the Xieluosi River Holy Land back to the Han Dynasty was very circuitous.

Having guided Li Guang once, Zhang Xuezhou's previous route with Li Guang was no longer valid after the Hunyuan Wuji Formation was changed.

If he wanted to return to the Han Dynasty, he had to travel by carriage through the Yedie River Holy Land, and then follow the route of the merchant caravan that Wu Chao used to take to Yanmen Pass to Realm Entry.

This is a perfectly standard route.

Of course, if he was stubborn enough, once he left the vast, sprawling region of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, he could surely enter the Han Dynasty by heading south.

But setting aside the dangers of the desolate, uninhabited areas along the way, it's quite normal that there are few roads in such remote and impoverished places.

Without the ability to fly, most areas would be virtually impassable.

"His Majesty's sermon shouldn't be so quick. I'll return next week. I should be able to reach Yanmen Pass in seven days on Yanmen Pass. Once I get there, I'll find Zhang Qian, rest Yanmen Pass for seven days, and then ride on to Chang'an City..."

Zhang Xuezhou had his own agenda.

As evening approached, Zhang Xuezhou prepared to stay overnight at Lingyu's bird's nest when Zou Bugui, who had emerged from the lake, waved and called him over.

"His Majesty is preparing to give a sermon tomorrow. Listen carefully, and perhaps His Majesty will have some new ideas that you can refer to. Maybe this will solve the problem of not being able to cultivate in the future," Zou Bugui.

"The Dharma talk will be held tomorrow?"

Zhang Xuezhou heard nothing else but the first sentence.

He had just tricked the Goat Strength Demon King Yangli into submission, and now the Venerable One is about to sabotage him.

"Do you have horses? I want to ride a horse!"

Zhang Xuezhou's rambling words were difficult for Zou Bugui to understand.

But Zou Bugui still pointed in the direction.

"Those stable masters keep quite a few demon horses under their control. You can just go and take one to play with; no demon will stop you," Zou Bugui.

"I'll go play for a bit first!"

Zhang Xuezhou didn't plan to return to Lingyu's nest; instead, he strode towards where the stable boys were.

Before long, Zhang Xuezhou was riding his horse under the setting sun.

Watching Zhang Xuezhou's figure gradually disappear, Zou Bugui shook his head.

He waited for a long time, but Zhang Xuezhou didn't come back.

"Could it have run away?"

At first, Zou Bugui didn't realize what was happening, but as someone who had run away from home, he belatedly learned what Zhang Xuezhou had done after waiting for a long time.

"Why did he run away so suddenly? Did he hear some bad news? But he ran because I told him to; I only said 'Your Excellency'..."

"Alchemist Zhou, Alchemist, where is your adopted son?"

Zou Bugui pondered for a while, and only raised his head when the Goat Strength Demon King called out to him from afar.

"What? Is Tiger Strength Demon King critically ill?" Zou Bugui.

"No, not at all," the Goat Strength Demon King shrank back, then said with a look of shame, "I wanted to learn Zhang Xiushi's method, but I couldn't figure it out after thinking about it for a long time, so I was hoping he could give me some pointers!"

"What method?" Zou Bugui surprise.

"It's that healing technique," Goat Strength Demon King. "Once I learn it, I can heal my third brother too. Maybe my technique will be even more suitable for our Demon Race's constitution to recover from injuries."

"How could he have taught you such a powerful technique? You...!"

Zou Bugui pointed at the Goat Strength Demon King, and when he saw the slight smugness on the goat's face, and thought about Zhang Xuezhou's escape, Zou Bugui had roughly guessed the truth.

"Why does this guy always cause trouble wherever he goes!"

Zou Bugui found it hard to criticize Zhang Xuezhou's behavior, wondering what benefits Zhang Xuezhou had received from the Goat Strength Demon King this time.

But clearly, Zhang Xuezhou's scheme is about to be exposed.

Considering that His Excellency will give a lecture tomorrow, Zhang Xuezhou fled today, this situation is not hard to guess.

It's highly likely that Zhang Xuezhou taught the Yangpo Transformation Technique to the Goat Strength Demon King as the Supreme Purity True Technique.

Perhaps it was because the Yang Soul Transformation Technique was considered advanced, or perhaps the Technique Method was enough to fool the Goat Strength Demon King, or perhaps the Supreme Purity True Technique could not be taught, or perhaps there were other reasons.

In short, Zhang Xuezhou did this despicable thing and then ran away.

Zou Bugui was also glad that Zhang Xuezhou had been in the Sacred Land for several days, and that he had already taught everything he needed to, and had also entrusted the Yin-Yang School's inheritance jade to Zhang Xuezhou.

Zou Bugui, there was nothing more he needed to entrust to Zhang Xuezhou.

However, whenever Zou Bugui thought about Zhang Xuezhou's spiritual practice, he found it difficult to completely relax.

He had thought that after entrusting the Yin-Yang School's legacy, he should be free of distractions and be able to remain calm even in the face of death, but Zhang Xuezhou's situation made it difficult for him to feel at ease.

"I need to live a few more years!"

After thinking Zou Bugui realized he needed to live a few more years.

No matter what, he refines longevity pills every day, so it wouldn't be a problem for him to take some to prolong his life.

The idea of refining a longevity pill ten times its original size has clearly opened up new avenues for Zou Bugui. With the Venerable One providing almost all the raw materials, he might be able to try to improve the Yin-Yang School's longevity pill.

Reduce drug resistance, improve the quality of elixirs, and try to live as long as possible.

If he could outlive the Venerable One, he might be able to regain his freedom.

Under normal circumstances, His Majesty would naturally live much longer than him, but His Majesty has some bad habits now.

For example, someone might consume excessive amounts of elixirs for health purposes, or the Venerable One might be researching Technique Method.

If anything goes wrong in any of these matters, His Majesty may have to bear the consequences.

"Error?"

As the thought crossed his mind, Zou Bugui also recalled Zhang Xuezhou's words, "Long-range shots can strike him, ambushes can kill him, giving him a poison pill can control him, and trapping him in a formation can kill him."

When it came to overthrowing superiors, Zhang Xuezhou employed a wide variety of methods.

At that time, Zhang Xuezhou was still in the True Spirit Realm, yet he dared to harbor thoughts of fighting against Jin Chang was in the Sole Self Realm.

However, Zou Bugui is already a great cultivator in the Divine Ability Realm. If he were to harbor any thoughts of overthrowing his superiors, the target he would obviously not be someone of the same level.

He sat by the lake, seemingly waiting for Zhang Xuezhou's return, but in reality, he had been thinking about this matter for a long time.

As night deepened, even the Goat Strength Demon King could no longer wait, and Zou Bugui finally begged the five Dragon Kings to open the gate to the secret realm.

A path emerged across the lake, and splashes of water caught Zou Bugui.

The figure of the Zou Bugui flashed across the water's surface before being swallowed up by the black lake waters of night.

"This little guy is so arrogant, not at all like the easy-going Little Zhang!"

After waiting with Zou Bugui for a long time, the Goat Strength Demon King still hadn't seen Zhang Xuezhou.

Only after Zou Bugui without saying goodbye did the Goat Strength Demon King Yangli mutter a complaint under his breath.

But his thoughts came quickly and went just as fast.

Instead of Zou Bugui, he could take advantage of his clearer mind at night to study the technique more and see if he could understand it better.

"He's casting the spell with his fingers, but I feel like this spell doesn't actually use fingers. Is it really impossible to bridge the gap between us demons and humans in practicing Technique Method?"

The Goat Strength Demon King never doubted that the technique Zhang Xuezhou had used was flawed.

He attributed everything to himself.