At this moment, fleeing would not be a wise choice; such an action would be tantamount to a confession without a fight. How could Zhang Chen do something so foolish?
Moreover, even if escape was considered, one must first assess whether there was any chance to deceive them. If deception failed, it would not be too late to unleash thunderous means to slay the opponents and then break out of encirclement.
"Travel Permit!" The Official waved to Zhang Chen and his party.
Zhang Chen took out the travel permit and said to several officials: "Greetings to the officials, this is the travel permit for my family."
The Official froze after hearing Zhang Chen’s dialect: "A Northern accent?"
Then he lowered his head to examine Zhang Chen’s travel permit, quickly confirming it matched the transmitted information exactly, overjoyed: "It seems today I have earned my merit. Men, arrest them! They are rebels who have defected from the Northern Land. The magistrate has issued orders that their travel permits match the information passed down perfectly!"
"Boy! You’ve been exposed! How dare you defy the laws of the Great Victory Court and leave your place of service on your own. You’re doomed! I advise you to surrender quietly, or our swords might accidentally sever your heads, and no one would blame us from above."
At the Official’s command, the other officials drew their weapons and surrounded Zhang Chen’s group. But before they could act, the ground suddenly collapsed, and all officials fell into the earth. The ground then closed, fixing their waists in the soil.
"Divine being! You are a divine being!"
The Officials, buried waist-deep, looked at Zhang Chen’s party in shock, shouting in terror.
To mortals, a divine being means the unimaginable, the unoffendable.
Hearing the opponent’s words, Zhang Chen tilted his head towards the ashen-faced soldiers: "Are you specifically here to capture me?"
The leading Official pleaded: "Spare us, Lord; we are merely following orders."
Zhang Chen ignored the Official and parked the carriage, walking towards a nearby table where several documents were pinned, surprisingly detailing Zhang Chen’s forged travel permit information.
"Strange, how did the court know our details? Our family came from turmoil, hiding our identities without exposure, traveling south without anyone examining our travel permit; how suddenly were we exposed?" Zhang Chen looked puzzled, turning to the constables for an explanation.
The leading constable, pale-faced with fear, said: "Lord, I heard someone relayed information a few days ago, and that’s why the magistrate had to give orders."
"Who transmitted the information?" Zhang Chen’s gaze emitted a coldness.
The governmental officer, a face of despair, replied: "I’m only responsible for executing orders; how would I know the intricacies?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen folded the documents and placed them in his sleeve, leading the carriage away without harming the officials.
Are the officials guilty?
Of course, they are not guilty!
They received a court-issued decree, and we are criminals in their eyes, searching for us is their duty.
Capturing criminals is justified; what is guilty is the court and the person issuing the decree.
"You are kind-hearted; I thought you would take their lives." Chengyu remarked, surprised at the distant scenery.
"A wrong has a source, debts have an owner; they are merely innocent constables." Zhang Chen replied.
Now that he has attained enlightenment, naturally, he would not recklessly kill.
Previously, at Tiger Soul Pass, it was a matter of necessity; had he not killed, he couldn’t pass the Heroic Pass.
"Trouble approaches; our travel permits have leaked; perhaps countless officials will blockade ahead. The Great Victory Court might even be alerted!" Zhang Chen thought it was troublesome.
"What should we do?" Chengyu asked with worry in his eyes.
"What to do? Get more travel permits." Zhang Chen turned, looking afar: "Now, I most want to know who leaked our travel permit secrets; without clarifying this, getting more permits will be useless."
Zhang Chen recalled the journey’s encounters, confirming the only flaw left was with the boy handling the permits; if he transmitted them, there would be trouble.
But upon reflection, Zhang Chen found it unlikely; he had no enmity with the boy; he had no reason to ruin his own reputation, right?
The family stopped within a dense forest, opting to hide and cook. Zhang Chen instructed Zhang Fei to watch the carriage, then vanished instantly.
When he reappeared, he had returned to Guangji Prefecture.
By now, dusk had fallen; Zhang Chen stood outside Guangji Prefecture, taking out the Heaven and Earth Treasure Mirror, revealing the boy’s image, then locking onto his location, he used the Earth Escape Technique to disappear.
Within the Prefecture City of Guangji
In a rundown courtyard, a young boy was struggling to chop firewood. After finishing chopping a pile, he wiped the sweat off his body and entered the house, where he saw an elderly blind woman sitting in the dark. The young boy cooked porridge, blew it to cool, and fed it to the woman. The mother and son talked and laughed softly, creating a harmonious atmosphere.
After attending to the woman, the young boy helped her to the bed, walked back to his own room, and was taken aback when he pushed open the door, nearly dropping the oil lamp from his hand.
"It’s you? The guest from that day?" The young boy, using the flame of the oil lamp, recognized Zhang Chen’s face and was surprised.
"It’s me!" Zhang Chen said with a smile, "Surprised to see me?"
"Of course, I’m surprised! Didn’t you leave with the big ship back then? Why are you at my home?" The young boy looked at Zhang Chen with a wary expression.
"I’ve been wanted by the government, and the government has accurately obtained my travel permit information." Zhang Chen scrutinized the young boy with his eyes.
"So you suspect that I leaked your information?" The young boy furrowed his brow.
"If, while handling the travel permit, you colluded with the government, there’s suspicion too." Zhang Chen said.
Upon hearing this, the young boy shook his head, not losing his composure, but replied cautiously, "It’s definitely not me. If I did such self-destructive things, I would have starved long ago."
"Do you have any evidence?" Zhang Chen asked.
The young boy’s face was bitter: "I don’t have any!"
Zhang Chen gradually stepped forward to stand in front of the young boy, whose body, as if hit by a body-stabilizing technique, stayed fixed and immobile.
Zhang Chen glanced at the young boy and walked past him toward the adjacent room.
The young boy’s face turned abruptly: "What are you going to do?"
At this moment, the young boy regained control over his body and pursued Zhang Chen, but he wasn’t fast enough. Zhang Chen already reached the woman’s side, who lay quietly on the bed, put to sleep by Zhang Chen’s power.
Standing by the woman’s bed, Zhang Chen was cautiously halted by the young boy, whose voice was filled with tears: "I’m begging you, don’t harm my mother! This matter really has nothing to do with me."
"I’ll count to three, if you confess everything, it will end here. After three numbers, if you still don’t tell the truth, don’t blame me for being ruthless."
"One!" Zhang Chen began counting, lifting his left hand.
"No, I truly don’t know! I’m begging you!" The young boy immediately fell to the ground.
"Two!"
Zhang Chen pressed his palm down a bit, his voice remained cold as frost.
"I beg you, I’m willing to use my life to extinguish your anger. But I truly don’t know who leaked your travel permit information!" The young boy’s eyes reddened, veins bulging on his forehead, with tears and snot flowing down instantly.
"Three!"
Zhang Chen turned his head coldly to glance at the young boy, whose face was filled with despair: "I don’t know! I truly don’t know! I’m begging you!"
Without hesitation, Zhang Chen struck his palm towards the woman’s head. The young boy’s face was desolate as he looked up to the sky and yelled in agony: "I don’t know anything, what do you want me to say? What do you want me to say? Mom!!! I’m going to fight you!!!"
The young boy stood up and suddenly rushed toward Zhang Chen, but at that moment, Zhang Chen’s body disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing but shadows.
"Mom!!!" The young boy roared powerlessly at the air.
"Xuan’er, why are you shouting at night instead of sleeping?" Suddenly, the woman on the bed opened her eyes and curiously said, "Eh, I can see? I can really see?"
Outside the house
Zhang Chen frowned: "It’s not this young boy, so where exactly is the problem? Could it be that during the days I was unconscious, mistakes were made by my mother or younger sister?"
Zhang Chen pondered, and that seemed to be the only possibility. As for the Prince Pingbian’s Mansion issuing a warrant? Absolutely impossible, the mansion was already in chaos. Prince Pingbian had no idea of his family’s whereabouts, and even thought they had perished in the disaster, so why would he bother doing so?
"So, I must return and carefully evaluate my mother’s and others’ actions over the past few days." Zhang Chen vanished in the blink of an eye. As for curing the young boy’s mother’s eye condition, Zhang Chen merely granted her a trace of innate spiritual qi and used blood control to manipulate her blood, clearing her meridians, a minor technique.
Although the trace of innate qi couldn’t grant her immortality, it possessed various extraordinary abilities, possibly even allowing the old lady to directly obtain bloodline power, reversing her fate remains unknown.
If she could absorb the innate qi before it dissipated, she would certainly master bloodline power.
The key is whether the innate power dissipates quickly or whether she absorbs it quickly.
"I’m quite the philanthropist, aren’t I?" Zhang Chen murmured inwardly, having frightened them yet cured the eye disease and even extended her life, possibly granting her bloodline superpowers. Didn’t that make him quite the philanthropist?