Active and Passive

Zhang Xuezhou was caught in a predicament: receiving a gift one minute and being stabbed the next.

This kind of "give a sweet treat and then slap him in the face" situation has been happening frequently lately, which made Zhang Xuezhou feel uneasy.

This is a common premonition among fortune tellers, yet it actually happened in his life.

In fact, he is currently facing a very difficult situation.

Reasoning with demons is undoubtedly a very difficult thing.

Trying to change a demon's preconceived notions is harder than trying to pull a stubborn ox to plow a field.

"Alright then, tell me who sent you to kill me, and I'll go back with you and then talk to them," Zhang Xuezhou pondered. "If he's a Venerable from the Yedie River Holy Land, and I've also met with the Dao Lord, he should be able to testify for me!"

"Your boasting is getting bigger and bigger. One minute you're calling yourself Daojun, the next you're calling yourself Venerable, and then you're calling yourself my elder brother. I've never heard of anyone like you in our Northern Kuru Continent who can get involved with all three Sacred Land!"

Zhang Xuezhou said that everyone was a master of the Sacred Land.

But the Nine Winds Demon King had never heard of anyone in the Northern Kuru Continent who was so popular that so many Sacred Land lords were familiar with him and gave him face.

Although he enjoys extorting benefits, he is not a demon king who would risk his own life.

If such a role truly existed, the Nine Winds Demon King believed that no matter how high the price offered, he should not be allowed to take on such a hot potato.

"Don't even think about making me reveal who provided the treasure to hire me to kill you," said the Nine Winds Demon King. "I, Nine Winds, have some morals; I wouldn't betray my employer!"

"You... is it because he asked you to kill my precious treasure?"

It was clear that the Nine Winds Demon King couldn't solve the problem with just words, Zhang Xuezhou pondered for a few seconds before continuing to ask questions.

"Inquiring about this shouldn't violate your morals," Zhang Xuezhou asked sincerely. "The fact that he could produce such a treasure for you means he has no connection to it. Even if I knew about the treasure, I couldn't guess its owner!"

"What you said makes a good point!"

After thinking for a moment, the Nine Winds Demon King decided that it wouldn't hurt to reveal some of this information.

"To put it simply," said the Nine Wind Demon King, "His Majesty possesses a priceless treasure, a treasure that can not only prolong life but also heal severe injuries. He gave me a small piece of that treasure!"

"Are you perhaps referring to Scrophularia ningpoensis?"

"You know about Scrophularia ningpoensis? Looks like you really do have some connection!"

The Nine Wind Demon King's expression turned slightly awkward, but he felt a greater sense of approval for Zhang Xuezhou's relationship with him.

Zhang Xuezhou's expression was one of astonishment.

He thought he could make a rough judgment and know who in the Sacred Land wanted Hongku dead, but he didn't expect that the mastermind behind the Nine Wind Demon King didn't give him any room to investigate at all.

Tracing this back to its source inevitably leads to the Xieluosi River Holy Land.

Ordinary people have no right to communicate with His Majesty, so naturally they can't ask him questions, let alone investigate.

"Of course I know about Xuan Shen. The Feiyu Demon King gave me a slice of Xuan Shen twelve days ago, and then refined a pill for me to take, which saved my life. These things are not difficult to verify. Just go to the Xieluosi River and ask around," Zhang Xuezhou said. "Moreover, I have seen the Xuan Shen that Your Majesty planted on Supreme Peak, and I also know Lu Baibai who takes care of Xuan Shen!"

There are some rumors circulating in the Sacred Land, and everyone knows more or less about them.

There are some things that even the Nine Winds Demon King doesn't know.

He had previously allowed Zhang Xuezhou to make excuses and chose not to believe anything, since Zhang Xuezhou's testimony was not considered reliable.

But upon comparing them again, the Nine Winds Demon King realized that the other party's relationship was terrifyingly strong.

Before he even received the Scrophularia, the other party said they had already consumed it.

"Does that Scrophularia really have the effect of saving lives?" asked the Nine Winds Demon King.

"If you think you can rely on eating a single piece of Scrophularia ningpoensis... are you still recovering from the damage to your vital energy caused by the Buddhist monk Shi Gong, and trying to prolong your life with Scrophularia ningpoensis?"

You even know about this?

The Nine Winds Demon King was horrified.

If the other party took Nine Spirits Lion's hair, he would simply consider it as something he found, or perhaps he used some kind of Curse to make Nine Spirits Lion remove its hair.

The other party's claim of recognizing Daojun is boasting, and the same goes for recognizing Zunshang.

When the source of the Xuan Shen was revealed, and other demon kings were involved, the Nine Winds Demon King already sensed something was wrong.

When the origins and symptoms of his illness were described, the Nine Winds Demon King felt as if he almost stomped his feet and jumped up.

"Who exactly are you?" the Nine Wind Demon King whispered. "That person said you were a fortune teller. Do you really know how to calculate everything?"

"I only know a little bit about the basics!"

Zhang Xuezhou originally intended to use this opportunity to bring up the topic of treatment in order to maintain peace with the Nine Winds Demon King, but he found that the Nine Winds Demon King seemed to value the fortune teller more, even with a look of fear and anticipation.

This meant that he was not a weakling when facing the Nine Winds Demon King, but rather that he gradually began to have the possibility of being an equal.

The darkness concealed his facial expressions, but the demonic light flickered in the eyes of the Nine Winds Demon King, clearly indicating a complex inner conflict.

"You want to ask me how to heal your injuries?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"You..."

The Nine Wind Demon King was both fearful and delighted. He feared that the fortune teller truly possessed the ability to communicate with heaven and earth, and that killing him would inevitably lead to various troubles.

The Nine Wind Demon King's joy was also related to this; compared to his own efforts to seek medicine everywhere, the fortune teller before him might be able to point him in the right direction.

He carried two swords, struggling between professional ethics and the search for a more precise way to survive.

"You want answers from me, but you don't want to ruin your reputation?"

Zhang Xuezhou's question again made the Nine Winds Demon King subconsciously nod, no longer as decisive as before.

"Killing me is an important matter, but you need to understand one thing," Zhang Xuezhou corrected the other party, "He ordered you to kill Hongku, while I am just a substitute who was captured by Hongku!"

"Are you asking me to let you go?" the Nine Winds Demon King asked.

"No," Zhang Xuezhou shook his head repeatedly, "I'm just making it clear to you that killing me means you haven't properly completed the task entrusted to you, and not killing me doesn't mean you've broken your promise. After all, your task was to kill Hongku, not me!"

"You're really not Hongku?"

"If you had just a little more patience, you should be able to wait for the true Hongku to return to the Yedie River Holy Land, while my destination is the Han Dynasty!"

Zhang Xuezhou pointed to the direction he was running in to escape.

"But the person who entrusted me with this task said that Hongku rides the black and white twin horses of the Venerable White Bone..."

"Since he knows I'm riding the Venerable White Bone's black and white twin horses, he must also know I possess the Venerable Black Mountain's six Yang-stabilizing stones!"

"He didn't say that!"

"You can take these six Dingyang Stones to handle the mission," Zhang Xuezhou said sincerely. "You can say I escaped or that I was beaten to ashes, it doesn't matter. You don't even need to explain my life or death when you hand these over!"

"This goes against my ethical standards!"

"I was just a misjudged target. He's seeking revenge on Venerable Hongku, what does it have to do with me? Whether you kill me or not is irrelevant," Zhang Xuezhou said. "I've let you complete your mission and even pointed you in the right direction for healing. That's better than your injuries worsening and you dying from illness!"

Will I die from this illness?

The Nine Winds Demon King's eyes shifted back and forth.

When Zhang Xuezhou reached into his pouch, six fist-sized Dingyang Stones were taken out and tossed to him. He instinctively caught these array stones.

Compared to life and death, his morality was indeed not that important.

Moreover, Zhang Xuezhou repeatedly stated that he was not Hongku. If the other party's identity was indeed questionable, then his mission itself was problematic.

"I only changed my clothes, not my whole person. Look at my body!"

When Zhang Xuezhou undressed, what appeared to the Nine Winds Demon King was not an old body, but the delicate body of a young man, which ultimately led him to choose to believe him.

If Zhang Xuezhou were to activate his Law Power, it could easily lead him to misjudge that he was about to cast an evil curse, and the risk of conflict could ignite at any moment.

After exchanging more than ten sentences, he began to hesitate, at which point the other party chose to honestly reveal themselves as witnesses.

The body before them clearly could not be Hongku.

Although the other person has gray hair and an aged face, their physical age doesn't lie.

The Nine Winds Demon King reached out and touched him, and Zhang Xuezhou did not choose to resist.

This allowed both sides to begin to calm down.

"The target of the mission was wrong. Not killing the target does not violate my morality!" the Nine Wind Demon King murmured.

"Killing the wrong person violates your professional ethics," Zhang Xuezhou said.

You're right!

The mindset of the Demon Race is difficult to change.

None of what Zhang Xuezhou said compares to this last sentence, "Wrongfully executed."

If the Nine Winds Demon King believed that he was not Hongku, the matter could be resolved correctly.

In the mind of the Nine Wind Demon King, Zhang Xuezhou might know how to cure his illness, which even made him abandon his identity as the one actively pursuing him and gradually become the one passively seeking guidance.