Zhang Chen used Water Escape Technique to leave, heading straight toward Huangli Temple along the way. He kept feeling that Huangli Temple wasn’t that simple, and wanted to see if he could scavenge a round.
After all, his Qi Cultivation Technique was currently stuck at the second tier. If he wanted to advance to the third, he still hadn’t found the follow-up Cultivation Technique.
Zhang Chen’s Water Escape Technique was very fast; in less than half a day he had crossed two hundred li and arrived in the Huangli Temple’s Earth Realm.
The river water flooded past the foot of the mountain, but it hadn’t submerged Huangli Temple.
Zhang Chen didn’t recklessly charge into Huangli Temple, but instead hid in the water, using the water vapor to sense the Qi Mechanism inside. Yet after only a moment he jumped out of the water, eyes looking toward Huangli Temple with a trace of surprise in them: "No one? How can there be no one inside Huangli Temple?"
Zhang Chen’s eyes were full of confusion. Using the water vapor to sense, there really wasn’t a single person inside Huangli Temple.
However, Zhang Chen didn’t rashly burrow out. Instead, he cautiously used Escape Technique to hide into the soil, and in the next moment appeared in the Daoist Temple above. After wandering a circle beneath the temple’s earth, he found the entire Daoist Temple deathly silent, not even half a human shadow.
"That shouldn’t be!" Zhang Chen’s figure flashed and appeared in the temple square. Looking at the empty main hall, his eyes were full of bewilderment: "Where did the cultivators of Huangli Temple go? Could it be they all went down the mountain?"
Unhurried, Zhang Chen shuttled through the palace halls. He saw all kinds of objects scattered on the ground, overturned offering tables, and all sorts of furnishings in a chaotic mess on the floor. It was clear that the people of Huangli Temple had left in a great hurry.
"Where did the cultivators of Huangli Temple go?" Zhang Chen sized up the entire palace complex from top to bottom, a streak of Golden Light flowing through his eyes. He saw that the Divine Spirit aura that usually flowed above the Daoist Temple had also already disappeared.
"Don’t know if the Pool of Faith is still there." Curious, Zhang Chen used Escape Technique to burrow underground, heading all the way to the Pool of Faith. Sure enough, he found the Pool of Faith completely empty, not a single item left, the whole secret chamber cleared out.
"They really did move everything clean." This time Zhang Chen didn’t use Secret Technique, but strolled leisurely through the palace halls, opening his Dharma Eye to constantly scan around, to see whether Yellow Heaven Dao had any treasures they couldn’t take away hidden in the temple.
After Zhang Chen passed through three palace halls, footsteps suddenly rang out, making his heart stir: "Someone?"
But the other party’s aura was only around the fourth tier, not enough to make Zhang Chen bother to hide. He was just about to find someone to ask about the changes at Huangli Temple, so he walked toward the sound of the footsteps.
"Zhang, it’s actually you." A shout came at this time, and Li Donglai appeared in front of Zhang Chen.
"Li, it’s you!" Zhang Chen also saw Li Donglai and couldn’t help being slightly stunned. Back then when Li Donglai awakened his bloodline, his Talent Superpower Steel Bones had left a deep impression on Zhang Chen.
But Li Donglai’s bloodline Superpower had actually risen to the fourth tier in just over a year, which was a bit beyond Zhang Chen’s expectations. This kid’s Creation was not small; he must have obtained a huge opportunity recently.
"Zhang, why are you here? Didn’t you leave with the followers of Yellow Heaven Dao?" Li Donglai’s eyes were full of astonishment.
"Yellow Heaven Dao’s Grand Celestial Master Gu Mingyue colluded with Prince Pingbian’s Mansion and already sold me to Prince Pingbian’s Mansion." Zhang Chen’s voice was full of sighs. "That Mr. Wuliu wants to seize my Life Chart, using the power of my Life Chart to help Zhang Xiaohua transform, and the price is my life!"
Li Donglai’s expression turned grim at these words: "Lawless! This is simply lawless! Ever since the Great Virtuous Master went into seclusion, Yellow Heaven Dao is no longer the Yellow Heaven Dao of the past. Don’t be afraid. Yellow Heaven Dao has twelve Celestial Masters, Gu Mingyue alone can’t stir up any real storm. When you go to the Main Altar in the future and take refuge with Celestial Master Wu Changming, you’ll definitely have a chance to get justice then."
Zhang Chen gave a bitter smile. Wu Changming now could barely protect himself; how would he still have the energy to look after him?
"Don’t worry. I’ve already gotten in touch with another Celestial Master. When the time comes I’ll take you to pledge yourself to him. Why should we be afraid of this Gu Mingyue? Does he really think he can cover the sky with one hand?" Li Donglai encouraged Zhang Chen.
"What did you come here for?" Zhang Chen opened his mouth to change the subject.
"I wanted to see if there were any leftover treasures here, maybe scavenge a bit." Li Donglai said.
What a coincidence, the two of them had the same idea.
"Any gains?" Zhang Chen asked.
Li Donglai shook his head. "No! Those guys moved everything squeaky clean! There used to be a big bell in Huangli Temple. I thought that bell was pretty good, but unfortunately the cultivators of Huangli Temple took it away too."
"Do you know where the cultivators of Huangli Temple went?" Zhang Chen asked.
"Yellow Heaven Dao stirred up such a huge disaster in the Northern Land, the court over there has already started to move to purge and suppress them. If it weren’t for the various lords in the imperial court dragging their feet and mediating for Yellow Heaven Dao, Yellow Heaven Dao would have already suffered a heavy blow. The major Noble Families in the court, the Officials, and Yellow Heaven Dao are all entangled in murky secret collusion, constantly passing on information to Yellow Heaven Dao. Yellow Heaven Dao has already begun going into hiding, and the court can never muster full strength when it wants to encircle and annihilate them." Li Donglai lowered his voice and said, "Especially the encirclement of Xie Xuan by the experts of Yellow Heaven Dao—the news has long since leaked out. After the court received the news, it flew into a rage. Yellow Heaven Dao is going to be in big trouble next."
Zhang Chen felt a sudden realization upon hearing this. No wonder Yellow Heaven Dao had abandoned all those Daoist Temples on the surface.
"In that case, things will be much easier for me in the future. I won’t have to worry about that Gu Mingyue’s reckoning anymore." Zhang Chen said.
"What’s there to be afraid of? Although Gu Mingyue is one of the Twelve Celestial Masters, he still can’t cover the sky with one hand. Once we enter another Celestial Master Mountain, there will naturally be someone to stand up for us." Li Donglai said.
Speaking of this, Li Donglai said, "I plan to leave the Northern Land. Brother, do you want to come along? If the two of us join forces, we’re bound to make a name for ourselves within Yellow Heaven Dao. As for those Seven Sons of Beidou and Southern Dipper Six Sons of Yellow Heaven Dao, I’m not convinced in the least. We’re not necessarily inferior to them."
Li Donglai’s voice was full of absolute confidence, while Zhang Chen, after hearing his words, understood that the other party still wanted to keep forging a reputation inside Yellow Heaven Dao, so he no longer tried to persuade him. Right now, he only wanted to extend his lifespan and head south to develop; he had no wish to have too much contact with Yellow Heaven Dao.
As for Qi Gong, he really didn’t believe that aside from Yellow Heaven Dao there were no other Qi Gong techniques in existence.
"I still have my own matters to attend to, so I’m afraid I can’t go with you, Li." Zhang Chen said this, then turned to Li Donglai and added, "Li, your strength has improved greatly. Did you perhaps encounter some opportunity?"
"When the Immortal Realm opened before, I devoured a strange longsword in the Immortal Realm. As a result, my Talent Power increased, and I’ve already mastered the power to control steel. Now, even if I face a Yang God powerhouse, I won’t cower!" Li Donglai said proudly.
"You can contend against a Yang God True Man? That can’t be, right?" Zhang Chen looked Li Donglai up and down. The other party’s bloodline talent was only Fourth Tier—on what basis could he fight a Yang God True Man?
"To tell you the truth, I’ve already mastered the Steel Power. Not only can I control all the steel under heaven, I can even transform into Steel Bones. Even my five viscera and six bowels and blood vessels have turned into a Steel Body. Those Yang God True Men merely command Celestial Thunder and Earth Fire. As long as I’m not trapped by them and thrown into a desperate situation, they can’t do anything to me." Li Donglai’s voice was full of pride. He extended his palm, and his entire arm transformed completely into Steel Bones—naturally unafraid of thunder strikes and fire burns.
"This isn’t ordinary steel." Zhang Chen looked at the other party’s steel arm, a curious expression appearing on his face.
Li Donglai said smugly, "Fourth Tier steel!"
"What’s the significance of that?" Zhang Chen asked curiously.
Li Donglai scratched his head. "I can’t really say, just that it’s extremely mysterious. If those Yang God True Men don’t have any special means, they can’t subdue me. Right now I can control Fourth Tier Steel Power. So long as it’s a Divine Weapon under Fourth Tier, in front of me it’s nothing but food."
Looking at the thoroughly pleased Li Donglai, Zhang Chen felt that this kid’s Talent Superpower was not limited to this; he must have other abilities as well.
"With my methods as they are now, I’m bound to stand out in Yellow Heaven Dao. Are you really not going to follow me? If you do, I’ll cover you in the future and definitely see you rise to prominence within Yellow Heaven Dao—it won’t be in vain for us to have been brothers." Li Donglai’s voice was full of complacent ambition.
Zhang Chen patted Li Donglai’s shoulder. "There are countless strange methods in this world. Even though you have Steel Bones, you still need to be careful and cautious. Make sure you don’t overturn the cart."
There was a grave note in Zhang Chen’s words. He felt that with Li Donglai’s current temperament, he was bound to suffer a big loss sooner or later.
"Hahaha, don’t worry, I’ll definitely be careful. One day I’m going to climb to the highest position and have a proper talk about reason with all those Celestial Masters." Li Donglai said.
Zhang Chen gave Li Donglai a look, then after a brief moment of pondering, took out a piece of Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron from his sleeve. "Since you can devour Steel Power, what do you think of this Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron?"
According to Zhang Chen’s analysis through his Authority of Earth Element, this Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron was a Ninth Tier material, somewhere between metal and non-metal. Because it was born from the Earth’s Primordial Magnetism, Zhang Chen’s Authority of Earth Element could control it.
When Li Donglai saw the fist-sized Earth’s Primordial Magnetism in Zhang Chen’s hand, his eyes went wide and fixed blankly on that Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron, his breathing growing rapid. "Zhang, where did you get such a treasure?"
"I got it from a secret realm." Zhang Chen casually tossed the Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron to Li Donglai. The Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron was directly attracted and stuck onto Li Donglai’s arm.
Li Donglai turned his arm back into flesh and blood and carefully examined the Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron in his hand, his voice even trembling a little. "With this, my bloodline’s awakening will be more than ten times faster. It’s just a pity there’s too little of it. If I could have a piece of Earth’s Primordial Magnetism Iron the same size as myself, I might have a chance to directly evolve to Ninth Tier talent."
"Your evolution speed is that fast?" Zhang Chen froze for a moment.
Li Donglai said, "You don’t understand. Theoretically, as long as I can obtain ironstone of a certain tier, I can evolve to that level of cultivation. If I were allowed to get my hands on Twelfth Tier ironstone, I could skip all kinds of steps and directly level up."