Tǔ hángshēn chī píliè xiàngréng bāo kǎo: "Quán yī nǚlady, wù shì nǚlady nǐ de huéén xìngshēi rén shēng jí shēi ma?"
Gāo Lán yīng bù yuàn duō tán wǎng shì, qiáng yìng dì huí dá dào: "Wú míng zhī mò, xī rì zhǐ shì wǒ bǔ suàn shí hào fèi le duō duō de xīnlì, bǎolì yě wèi liàn chéng, cái zhāo bài, ruò yǒu suǒ yǐ zhǔnbèi, nà jiànrén bìděng bèi wǒ zhǎn yú dāoxuē xià!"
"Shēn Gōngjiǎo" granted the two quite a few demon sect techniques. Originally, Tǔ Xíngsūn's art of earth walking could only be used by himself, covering a thousand miles a day. Now, he can travel underground with Gāo Lán yīng, and his speed has reached fifteen hundred miles a day.
Gāo Lán yīn also acquired some demon sect techniques. Her previous divination art was quite abnormal, and now it has reached the point where she can track enemies based on cause and effect.
They identify the direction, quickly traverse underground, and intend to kill that "insignificant" small flunky first, and then go deal with the big business delegated by the demon king.
Kunlun Mountain, Yu Xu Palace.
After Gao Chengzi rang the golden bell, the Jianxian cultivators from the Zhangmen Sect arrived, but this time not all of the fellow disciples came together.
Cí háng closed himself off, and he was very clearly finding the path forward when he exorcised over a million ghosts before. It's very normal for him to seclude himself after returning to the mountain.
Another seclusion is not normal, even Huanglong Zhenren is also secluding himself!
Huanglong Zhenren didn't come this time, making the explicable disciple of the Zhangmen Sect somewhat uncomfortable, who usually saw Huanglong's shadow in every "collective activity".
The disciples of the Zhangmen Sect are relatively reasonable. Everyone has periods of seclusion. If someone closes their eyes for ten thousand years, then just once, well, they didn't come, so what?
Jùliúyáng arrived a quarter of an hour late.
The ones who arrived at the Yu Xu Palace were Gao Chengzi, Chi Jingzi, Wenshu, Puxian, Qingxu Daode Zhengjun, Lingbao Daofashi and Taiyi Zhenren.
With the fall of the original twelve Golden Immortals of the Zhangmen Sect and their expulsion from the school, there are now only ten Golden Immortals left.
Gao Chengzi used his fingers to calculate, and only after Jùliúyáng arrived did he explain the reason for summoning all the fellow disciples.
After much deliberation, all the deities expressed surprise at Shēn Gōngjiǎo's escape. Gao Chengzi still adhered to his original idea: Exorcism and protection of righteousness is a necessity. This task is a hundred times more important than the establishment of the God list, so Shēn Gōngjiǎo must definitely have some clues. This person must be captured, but even after capture, it should still be jointly supervised by both the Zhangmen and Jiájì Sects.
Jùliúsūn said, "Elder brother, on my way here, I encountered a strange matter."
Gao Chengzi asked, "What happened?"
Jùliúsūn said in an uncertain tone, "I heard Huáng Xíngsūn's call."
The immortals didn't ask who Tǔ Xíngsūn was; instead, each one closed their eyes and pondered, trying to break through the fog of calamity with the divine aura of the Yu Xu Palace, seeking answers amidst myriad mysteries.
Jùliúsūn continued, "I detoured and returned to that swamp from the other side. I waited for a quarter of an hour, but I didn't see any trace of him."
Wenshu, who was familiar with him, asked: "Elder brother suspects it's the art of earth walking?"
Jùliúsūn nodded heavily.
Gao Chengzi pondered for a moment and thought of letting Jùliúsūn investigate this matter specifically, but he remembered that the previous Guīlíng Shèngmǔ was also investigating when she got herself investigated, so he drew a lesson: "This matter definitely has some oddness to it. Let Jùliúsūn and Wenshu go investigate it together."
"Yes, elder brother."
"The other disciples, let's pair up and go track down Shen Gongbao."
The immortals left the Yu Xu Palace, each on their own errands.
No one mentioned waiting for the Southern Immortal to return and figure out what to do. The Southern Immortal usually doesn't move much, who knows where he has gone? Let's not wait for him; we should handle things on our own.
Zhōu Guó.
Zhǔntí finally stopped reminiscing about the past glory days. Looking at Wéi Hù, the Western Heaven sect saint said, "This is General Wei, right? I seldom tread on the mortal realm. I've heard that on Zhou's roads, people don't pick up what they've dropped and doors don't close at night. Would you be willing to introduce a few things to me, General Wei?"
Wéi Hù dared not ask why and quickly bowed his head: "Please, Holy One."
He led Zhuntí and Dàshìzhì Jīng into the city. The Southern Immortal felt embarrassed to death, but he couldn't leave. Following? It would make him look like a mere attendant of the Zhangmen Sect.
He could only force a smile and follow.
Not to mention Zhuntí and Dàshìzhì, even Wéihù is a genuine immortal. There are plenty of methods to avoid being seen by mortals.
They did not disturb anyone and walked into Xīqí City without a sound.
Zhuntí had not been to the mortal realm for a few years and just wanted to have a casual look. However, as he looked around, he found something wrong and asked Wéihù: "Why is this Zhou market so barren? Is it due to the lax officials of Zhou?"
The large market only had a few vendors selling needles and thread, which was very good as there were no loafers or beggars in Zhou. However, it was still a considerable distance from the prosperous scene that Zhuntí remembered of "not picking up what one has dropped on the road" and "not closing doors at night."
At this level, it's even "Reviving Zhou and Destroying Shang"? Master Yuan Shi is really good at telling jokes.
Wéihù really knows the details, and he recounted them smoothly: "Reporting to the Saint, it's because the Han Kingdom in the south constantly sells goods to Zhou. Swords, clothing, leather boots, herbs, grain... basically all such goods are purchased from the south. The things from the south are both cheap and useful, and they even handle transportation. Our countrymen only need to be responsible for fighting, so some merchants and various blacksmith shops that make weapons and leather shops have gradually disappeared over the past two years."
He didn't have the concept of goods dumping, so he could only tell the story in a very verbose manner: "Zhou is too poor. With cheap and useful goods available, it's natural to choose the south."
The Southern Immortal frowned and pondered. Using cheap and inexpensive goods to maintain the operation of the country, then concentrating manpower for fighting – this approach seemed to have no problem?
Zhuntí also doesn't have the concept of "destroying local industries through dumping of cheap goods, eliminating war potential," but the saint can simply make the connection from cause to effect and deduce the answer.
He can see many internal details. Zhou is not without wise people, Jiang Ziyá knows the drawbacks of such actions, but he cannot stop everyone.
The Chancellor's Mansion spent one thousand taels of gold to manufacture weapons, and the officials in charge purchased goods of good quality and low price from the south, and even handled the transportation. As a result, it only cost eight hundred taels of gold, and they could pocket two hundred taels themselves.
Who would refuse such a good deal?
This chain has already formed, and Zhou's officials, some of the descendants of the Ji family, and even Mar Ma, the wife of Jiang Ziyá, all have stakes in it. What should we do?
Master Yuan Shi governs heaven and earth. Can he control the officials of Zhou, or can he control the citizens of Zhou who need cheap goods?
This is an unsolvable problem.
Zhuntí just casually took a look around Xīqí City and waved his hand: "If there's something urgent, you can go back to Kunlun Mountain first, Southern Immortal Disciple."
The Southern Immortal had already heard the Golden Bell sound from the Yu Xu Palace, knowing that a big event had occurred, and he was very worried.
Now that Zhuntí has let go, the Southern Immortal feels as if he has been pardoned. If it weren't for the dignity of the Zhangmen Sect, he would have wanted to run away with a deer on his back.
