Dugu Qiu sensed that something was wrong. By rights he should have already shaken those people off, so why were they still biting at his heels and refusing to let go?
Zhang Chen pointed at the unconscious Chengyu. "Yellow Heaven Dao did something to this girl. They must be using that to track us."
Dugu Qiu turned his head and looked at Chengyu for a moment, seeming to notice the clue, then said, "So that’s how it is. Yellow Heaven Dao actually anchored this girl’s Life Soul and can follow her trail through it."
"Godfather, can you break Yellow Heaven Dao’s Divine Technique?" Zhang Chen asked.
Dugu Qiu shook his head. "Unless we destroy the tracking treasure they’re using, there’s no way to crack this method. For this girl to be personally chased by a Yellow Heaven Dao Yang God Great Zhenren, and for them to even invite a Great Demon King to act, her identity is anything but simple."
Faced with Dugu Qiu’s probing, Zhang Chen said in a deep voice, "I don’t care what methods Yellow Heaven Dao has, what schemes they’ve laid on this girl, what arrangements they’ve made on her. She will always be my little sister. Even if I die and my Dao is erased, I will never hand her over to Yellow Heaven Dao."
Hearing this, Dugu Qiu not only didn’t object, he instead patted Zhang Chen’s shoulder with gratification. "You’re a good one. I didn’t misjudge you! You don’t need to worry. I may not have the ability to break this method, but I do have a plan to hoodwink Heaven and cross the sea."
After speaking, Dugu Qiu plucked a strand of Xu Erniu’s hair, then casually grabbed a handful of straw and wove it into a straw man. He stuffed the strand of hair into the straw man’s body, and then, using some unknown method, a current of Xu Erniu’s aura actually began flowing over the straw man’s body, while at the same time there was not the slightest trace of aura left around Xu Erniu herself.
"I’ll use this straw man to hoodwink Heaven and draw those people away. You take her and find a good place to hide, then quietly slip out of the Northern Land," Dugu Qiu said. "As long as she doesn’t run head-on into Yellow Heaven Dao’s people in the future, as long as they don’t look directly at Xu Erniu face-to-face, this method can deceive them indefinitely. Unless the Great Virtuous Master of Yellow Heaven personally takes action and breaks the Technique I used to conceal her aura, those few stinking fish from Yellow Heaven Dao won’t be able to see through my method."
At this point Dugu Qiu said to Zhang Chen, "I’ll wait for you in Shangjing. You must remember to come!"
With that, Dugu Qiu turned into a streak of flowing light and disappeared between Heaven and Earth.
Watching Dugu Qiu’s disappearing back, Zhang Chen stood where he was in silence for a long time. A nameless feeling rose in his heart toward this old eunuch. That feeling was very complicated, sending all sorts of mixed emotions surging through him.
"Let’s leave the Northern Land first," Zhang Chen said quietly, looking at Mrs. Zhang’s panic-stricken face. "Please don’t be afraid. It’s all over now. As long as I’m here, nothing will happen to you."
"It’s not my own life I’m worried about. I’m just a peasant woman from the mountains. I’ve already lived two years of a rich family’s life and enjoyed countless wealth and honor. Even if I were to die right now, I wouldn’t be afraid. I’m only worried about you brothers. You’re still young; you can’t afford any mishaps," Mrs. Zhang said.
Hearing this, Zhang Chen just smiled. After consoling Mrs. Zhang, he used the Beast Taming Technique to summon two donkeys and packed the three little ones on their backs to return to the cave.
As for why he was going back to the cave, it was because there were still countless books inside, as well as that huge Earth’s Primordial Magnetism iron.
Of course, the most important reason was that the most dangerous place was the safest place. He planned to lie low here for a while; once Yellow Heaven Dao gave up searching for them, it wouldn’t be too late to set out again.
Right now the experts of Yellow Heaven Dao had all been drawn away by the old eunuch, and Gu Mingyue had personally investigated this place. Yellow Heaven Dao’s people wouldn’t come here again.
At present the Demon Race in the Northern Land was sorting out the flood and sealing off the passes of the Northern Land, trying to pen up and confine the common folk. They were conducting a massive manhunt for the Human Race. If Zhang Chen went out now, he would be far too conspicuous.
The key issue was that Zhang Chen couldn’t easily take that huge piece of Earth’s Primordial Magnetism iron with him. The thing was simply too eye-catching, attracting metal objects everywhere it went; a slight carelessness could bring about big trouble.
Zhang Chen intended to use this time to finish reading the books wrapped up inside the Earth’s Primordial Magnetism iron and commit all their contents to memory, which was better than hauling them along on a long journey.
"Why are we back here again? If that group comes back to search, won’t we be trapped?" Mrs. Zhang followed behind Zhang Chen, her heart in her throat, her eyes full of unease.
"Don’t worry. With me here, even if that lot comes back, I’ll cover things up. We still need to hide here for a while. Once the situation outside calms down a bit, we’ll look for a chance to leave the Northern Land," Zhang Chen said with solemn conviction.
Mrs. Zhang had no choice. Although she was scared out of her wits, all she could do was follow Zhang Chen. In such chaotic times, what choices did a woman like her have?
But Zhang Chen was not the reckless type. He disguised the stone cave again, then excavated a five-room-and-one-hall layout beneath it, with a latrine, bedrooms, and a place for fire. As for ventilation, that was no problem for Zhang Chen. With a casual movement of his mind, he opened up thousands upon thousands of tiny holes like wormholes, enough to keep the underground chamber well ventilated.
As for the underground darkness and chill, Zhang Chen had already taken that into account and simply dragged that dead tree down and lit a bonfire in the underground chamber.
As for daily food, that wasn’t hard at all. This mountain was full of Demon Beasts; he could grab one at random and it’d be enough to eat for seven or eight days. As for water, with a thought Zhang Chen could divert spring water into the underground space he’d opened up, more than enough for the whole family to drink.
After Zhang Chen collected enough firewood, he moved the whole family, young and old, into the basement, then manipulated the Authority of Earth Element to smooth out all the passageways, restoring them to sheer cliff faces. The whole family lived underground like a bunch of fat rats.
Mrs. Zhang’s daily job was to take care of the three little ones and wait for them to wake up, while Zhang Chen went alone into his own room and summoned the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror. He wanted to fix the old eunuch’s location and see if the old eunuch was still together with the Tree of Life Coffin. Right now he was desperately short on lifespan and badly needed the Tree of Life Coffin to extend his life.
As his Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror opened, the image on the mirror flickered, and Dugu Qiu appeared inside a palace hall. Purple Qi Mechanism coiled around that palace; the image in Zhang Chen’s Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror flashed, and then the purple Qi Mechanism fluctuated and actually cut off the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror’s surveillance.
"That’s Human Dao fortune! With Dragon Qi this dense, even the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror can’t spy on it. In all the world, a Dragon Qi this rich can only belong to the central land of the Human Race." A thought flashed across Zhang Chen’s heart.
"Dugu Qiu must have returned to the Imperial Palace. Could it be the Tree of Life Coffin has already been transported away by him?" Zhang Chen was a bit disappointed. Having lost the Tree of Life Coffin, he could only pin his hopes of prolonging his life on his own Authority of Wood Element.
"I just hope the Authority of Wood Element is strong enough, otherwise I’m in big trouble. After all, Spiritual Objects that can extend lifespan are exceedingly rare in this world." Zhang Chen muttered, then put away the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror and took the Ascension Pool out of the Ba Snake Space.
The Ascension Pool now was a magnificent sight; emerald light flowed through it, and the Heaven-Reaching Jianmu sapling continuously swallowed the Qi Mechanism from the void, transforming it into streams of Innate Primordial Qi for the Ascension Pool to absorb—only, the amount of Innate Primordial Qi was far too small.
"I wonder if I use ten years of time to hasten this Jianmu sapling, will it accumulate ten years’ worth of Innate Qi? If that works, I’ll have really struck it rich." Zhang Chen felt a bit of small anticipation in his heart.
Zhang Chen glanced at the Ascension Pool, then at the Heaven-Reaching Jianmu sapling. The next moment he pointed at the Jianmu sapling, and a strange power flowed out from his body and landed on that sapling.
Time flew by; ten years passed in the blink of an eye. Yet the Jianmu sapling was still the same as before, as if nothing had changed.
As for the ten years’ worth of Innate Primordial Qi Zhang Chen had been hoping to accumulate, that was even more impossible. After all, the Power of Time increases time, not external things like Dao Practice and cultivation.
If things went the way Zhang Chen imagined, and he cast Time Divine Techniques on a person, wouldn’t that just directly help them gain ten years of cultivation? Ten years of bitter training成果 added on? At that point, instead of beating someone into a pile of bones, he’d basically be a dumbass funding his opponent.
The effect of time only works on itself; all those attached things are pure wishful thinking.
Zhang Chen withdrew his finger, his eyes fixed on the Heaven-Reaching Jianmu sapling. Seeing that the sapling hadn’t changed at all, he couldn’t help starting to doubt life itself: "Was that really the Power of Time I just activated?"
Looking at the unchanged Jianmu sapling, he started doubting his own Power of Time!
"Holy shit, kid, since when did you master a taboo power like time?" Just as Zhang Chen was staring holes into the Jianmu sapling, the Great Freedom Celestial Demon leaped out of his body, staring at Zhang Chen with a face full of horror, his eyes brimming with disbelief.
That was the Law of Time—that was taboo power!
What had he just seen? Zhang Chen had actually stirred the Power of Time?
He’d been following this kid the whole time—when did he ever master the Power of Time?
The Great Freedom Celestial Demon sized Zhang Chen up from head to toe, his eyes filled with uncertainty and shock: "Damn, you’re gonna scare a guy to death! Even those old monsters who’ve lived for countless years, those top-tier beings standing at the peak of Heaven and Earth, they can’t mess with the power of time, right?"
"You saw it?" Zhang Chen turned his head and glanced at the Great Freedom Celestial Demon.
"I’m not blind! When did you master the Power of Time? Who the hell are you, to even grasp the Power of Time?" The Great Freedom Celestial Demon stared fixedly at Zhang Chen, his eyes filled with indescribable horror.
It was downright hair-raising—this was the Power of Time!
This kid’s identity was definitely anything but ordinary! He had to be some unknown existence beyond his imagination, reincarnated after death. Otherwise, how could an ordinary living being have this kind of ability?
He was growing more and more suspicious of Zhang Chen’s identity. This kid’s background was absolutely a huge problem. Even that old arch-enemy of his back then wasn’t qualified to touch the Power of Time.