If it weren’t for the Qi Cultivation mantra and resolving the issues with Xiaodouding, he probably would have fled long ago.
"I’ve decided, I’ll upgrade the Water Stabilizing Rune first. If something unexpected really happens during the Godslayer, I might still have a chance to salvage it," Zhang Chen silently resolved in his heart.
Just then, the morning lesson bell rang. Zhang Chen hurriedly put away the wooden bucket, grabbed the mop, and disappeared into the night.
When Zhang Chen returned to the courtyard, Xiaodouding had already gotten up and was pacing worriedly back and forth in Zhang Chen’s room.
Hearing Zhang Chen open the door, Xiaodouding used the firelight to see Zhang Chen clearly and complained, "Zhang Chen, why are you coming back just now?"
"Did something important!" Zhang Chen lowered his voice, grabbed his tools, and started to wash up. "From now on, I’ll be coming back this late every night, so you don’t have to worry about me."
Upon hearing this, Chengyu furrowed his eyebrows slightly and said with concern, "Zhang Chen, our Daoist Temple isn’t that simple. Although I don’t know what you’re trying to do, I must tell you to be very careful and not stir up trouble, or else something big will happen."
It was evident that Xiaodouding was very worried about Zhang Chen.
Hearing this, Zhang Chen patted Xiaodouding’s head. "Don’t worry, I have the skills to escape, and no one can catch me. I won’t act until I’m fully confident."
Although Xiaodouding was still skeptical, she didn’t say much more because she knew she couldn’t persuade Zhang Chen.
After the two of them finished washing up, they went to the morning lesson together. After it was over, Zhang Chen went back to his room and fell asleep, because although he was cultivating immortality and practicing Qi, he still needed sleep.
The days seemed to have quieted down, everything calm and undisturbed.
But Zhang Chen knew in his heart that this was the last calm before the storm, and soon a downpour would engulf the entire Huangli Temple: the Battle of Godslayer.
But just as Zhang Chen closed his eyes, the next moment, he found himself once again inexplicably entering the Dream Realm.
This time, Zhang Chen wasn’t flustered. Who else but his rebellious big niece could have the ability to pull him into a dream?
Yet this dream was very unique. Zhang Chen’s form appeared directly in a void, where he saw his big niece with disheveled hair, dressed like a female ghost, hanging with a long tongue and glaring at him with a ghastly face.
"Trying to scare me? Well, it does look kind of creepy." Zhang Chen looked at the Princess’s appearance and approved of her outfit.
But before Zhang Chen could finish speaking, the Princess’ hair had already wrapped around him again, tying him up and then proceeded to punch and kick him.
Can’t beat her!
Zhang Chen really couldn’t fight back, only able to defend himself with no counterattack power at all. Zhang Chen, facing his rebellious big niece, had no ability to resist and could only cover his head to avoid her blows.
"I say, stop hitting me. Doesn’t it count that I’m trying to find a way to retrieve your physical body? You have to give me some time, no?" Zhang Chen’s voice was full of grievance.
What could he do?
He was helpless too!
But the Princess didn’t listen to him, continuing to unleash a rain of blows.
Meanwhile, Xiaodouding, after finishing practicing, went to play in Zhang Chen’s room and was stunned by what she saw: Zhang Chen’s face was inexplicably bruised, as if he had been beaten, and his face quickly swelled like a pig’s head.
Xiaodouding blinked in confusion, looking at the scene before her, her mind full of questions: "Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going?"
"Could this be a technique for cultivating immortality and practicing Qi? Or is he cultivating some Divine Techniques? Such a cruel method." Xiaodouding secretly marveled, quietly withdrawing from the room so as not to disturb Zhang Chen.
If Zhang Chen knew about Xiaodouding’s reaction, he would surely pinch her cheeks and pull her face into a ghostly expression.
If this girl had woken him up from the dream, would he still need to keep getting beaten?
It took five hours for Zhang Chen to be released from the beatings in the Dream Realm, and then he sat up on the bed, disoriented, the next instant wincing from the pain, quickly directing his Qi Blood to heal his wounds.
Once the injuries on his face were healed, Zhang Chen stood up from the bed, clenching his teeth and saying, "My big niece is such a troublemaker, every time she meets her uncle, she plays this kind of joke."
But he knew in his heart that he must quickly resolve the issue of the Princess’ physical body, or else he’d keep getting beaten up every day, and he really couldn’t take it.
It truly hurt, a pain that reached the soul, a pain that penetrated to the bone.
Zhang Chen felt utterly frustrated, being entangled by his big niece, but what could he do? After all, she was his big niece, his own niece, and he could only spoil her.
Zhang Chen left the courtyard, not seeing Xiaodouding, and wanted to experiment with the Penetration Transformation. Seeing no one around, he quietly walked to the corner of the wall, transforming into a stream of water that spread all over the ground, then penetrated into the sand and gravel, coursing through the gaps and delving ten meters underground, then rolled afar, and before long, he emerged in a mountain outside Huangli Temple. He saw the ground exude water which then coalesced into a mass; with a twist, it turned back into Zhang Chen’s form.
"The penetration speed is slow, about the pace of regular walking. If encountering rocky cliffs, the speed is halved. Especially in dense forests, those tree roots are obstacles and cages, greatly delaying my speed." Zhang Chen stood in the mountain, feeling the mysteries of the Penetration Technique, a hint of happiness in his eyes.
Despite its slow speed, Zhang Chen still thought: This skill is quite good.
At least now when coming in and out of Huangli Temple, it would be much more concealed and much harder to detect.
After testing out the Penetration Technique, Zhang Chen felt he had grasped it well and transformed back into water to return to the temple. However, while infiltrating the temple, he seemed to lose his way underground, as there was a wall suffused with Golden Light blocking his path.
"What is this?" Zhang Chen cautiously examined the Golden Light flowing through the soil, noting that the light was Divine Power of Incense, making him vigilant.
"This should be thirty meters underground. Is there such a place beneath Huangli Temple?" Zhang Chen in his water form circled the incense-refined wall, a look of curiosity in his eyes.
After circling once, he discovered it seemed to be an underground chamber, quite large, about the size of a building.
"To carve out a chamber like this in the deep mountains and refine it with Divine Power of Incense, there are secrets in Huangli Temple," Zhang Chen thought to himself. He had a mind to sneak in and spy but knew that in his current Divine Water Transformation state, he couldn’t display any Divine Techniques, so he could only circle around the wall.
"This won’t be difficult for me. Now my Water Control Technique reaches up to 500 meters..." Zhang Chen thought, transforming back into water, and returned to the temple, standing in his own courtyard quietly sensing the direction of the underground water flow.
But as Zhang Chen attempted to sense the chamber using the underground water, he was taken aback. In his water sensing, he didn’t detect any trace of an underground chamber; the area he sensed was completely normal, with no anomalies.
"How odd~"
The water Zhang Chen controlled circled around the coordinates of the chamber, but it was just an empty space, like normal soil. He pondered for a moment, refraining from acting hastily. For now, gathering Points was the most important task; everything else was easy to handle.
Who knew what was in the chamber?
A cultivation mantra?
Gold, silver, and jewels?
Or maybe some old monster in secluded cultivation?
Thinking about a cultivation mantra, Zhang Chen’s heart couldn’t help but warm. If there really was a cultivation mantra, it might be worth the risk to try.
The most crucial thing was that an opportunity seemed to be coming soon. When the Yellow Heaven Dao performed the Divine Enthronement, if the court truly decided to be a Godslayer, chaos would surely erupt at Huangli Temple, and that would be his chance.