Chapter 1 The Escapee

"Giddy up! Giddy up!"

Under the cover of night, Su Er urged his steed onward, heading straight for Serpent King Mountain.

The horse galloped, stirring up dust on the road.

Soon, Serpent King Mountain came into view.

Serpent King Mountain was located over a hundred *li* south of Nanliang County. Backed by the continuous Huayan Mountains, it was strategically located with roads leading to three other states and seven prefectures. Thus, there were many who claimed the mountain as their own, and Serpent King Mountain was only one of them.

"Whoa!"

Su Er reined in his horse, dismounted, and quickly entered Serpent King Mountain.

Backed by the continuous mountain range, Serpent King Mountain was easy to defend and difficult to attack. There was only one path up the mountain, and several checkpoints were heavily guarded.

Su Er made his way through, entering the stronghold as dawn broke.

Smoke was already rising from the large stronghold, and many burly men were practicing their martial arts.

"Brother Su Er, you're back so soon? I guess the mission is already completed?"

A thin, middle-aged man with a long saber slung across his shoulder blocked Su Er's path, a strange smile on his face.

"Wang Ming."

Su Er tore off his mask and gave him a cold look:

"I need to see the Chief. Want to hear about it first?"

"Uh."

Wang Ming's expression changed.

Su Er pushed him aside and strode towards the backyard.

In the backyard, a tall and sturdy middle-aged man sat cross-legged on a stone slab. Wisps of qi flowed between his nose and mouth, and the faint sound of wind and thunder could be heard from within his body.

Hearing the footsteps, he slowly opened his mouth:

"Su Er, your footsteps are chaotic and disordered, your breathing is rapid, and your heart is beating fast... did that old bastard get away?"

Before Su Er even entered the courtyard, he heard a low voice in his ear. His body trembled, and he knelt on the ground as if he had no bones:

"Chief, spare me!"

"Tell me, what happened?"

Shen Ziping said calmly.

Su Er's body trembled. Not daring to hide anything, he recounted everything that had happened the night before, even imitating the old Taoist's tone of voice.

"Seed of True Qi?"

Su Er kept his head lowered, looking at the black boots that suddenly appeared in front of him. He trembled as he said, "Yes, yes, that old bastard even said that if you want to kill him, you should go yourself."

"You actually believed that, you idiot!!"

Shen Ziping kicked Su Er, sending him flying into the air and crashing heavily to the ground, coughing up blood.

But he didn't dare complain. He gritted his teeth and crawled back over.

Shen Ziping kicked him again, sending him rolling like a gourd. He was furious:

"Did you leave your brain in the pants of those little sluts in Drunken Moon Pavilion? Seed of True Qi? Of the seventy-two bandits in the Huayan Mountains, only three have condensed a Seed of True Qi. You believed such a stupid thing?

That old bastard is probably really at his end, otherwise, would you have been able to come back?"

"Pfft!"

Su Er spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling extremely wronged:

"Chief, I'm also a victim. That old bastard even swindled me out of twenty taels of silver and a jade pendant..."

It wasn't that he hadn't suspected that he had been deceived, but the old Taoist was too calm, and he had immediately guessed his intentions and knew who had sent him.

This threw him into a panic, and he didn't have the courage to attack.

"It's rare to be so stupid."

Shen Ziping's anger hadn't subsided, and he wanted to kill this idiot on the spot.

"Chief, I'll go kill him right now!"

Su Er's face twitched, feeling extremely aggrieved.

I'm stupid, but you know he's at his end, so why don't you go yourself?

Aren't you worried that the old bastard isn't injured?

"Go my ass!"

Shen Ziping kicked Su Er more than ten meters away, sending him headfirst into the pond outside the courtyard:

"With this time, who knows where that old bastard has run off to. You're still chasing? Chase my ass!"

Shen Ziping knew very well.

Although the old Taoist lived in seclusion, he hadn't lived for ninety years in vain. A day had already passed with this back and forth, it would be strange if they could find him.

After a long while, Shen Ziping raised his head and glanced at Su Er, who was still soaking in the pond. He became even more infuriated:

"Are you taking a bath? Get over here!"

"Chief, have mercy!"

Su Er climbed up like a drowned rat, his body trembling.

"Take a few people to Nanliang County and keep an eye out. If you find that old bastard, report to me immediately."

Shen Ziping seemed to have calmed down and didn't attack again:

"If you mess this up again, you don't need to come back."

Su Er ran out, gnashing his teeth:

"Old bastard..."

........

As the sky began to brighten, the old and two young ones descended the mountain.

Along the way, An Qisheng learned what it meant to struggle with every step.

Dragging his aging body, every step he took made his bones tremble, as if they were hollow inside.

"Master, let's rest for a while."

After walking for a while and approaching the main road, the two children were worried.

"Alright."

An Qisheng nodded and, with the help of the two children, sat down on a large rock beside the road.

He looked around.

It was said to be a main road, but the surface was uneven, and dust covered everything. Not to mention comparing it to the roads of his previous life, even the roads built by the villagers themselves were ten times better than this.

The two children sat down next to An Qisheng.

After a day of hard work, the two little ones were also very tired and hungry.

"Hungry, aren't you?"

An Qisheng took out the cornbread.

"Master, we're not hungry."

The two children shook their heads, refusing to take it.

"You have to eat something. If you collapse from exhaustion, there will be no one to take care of me."

An Qisheng stroked Jiang Tingting's little head, broke the cornbread into three pieces, and handed one piece to each of the two children:

"Eat."

The two children felt that it made sense. After hesitating for a moment, they took it and devoured the cornbread.

One cornbread wasn't enough for one person, let alone divided into three pieces. Other than stimulating the stomach and making them feel even hungrier, it didn't do much else.

After the three of them ate the cornbread, they felt even hungrier.

Their stomachs rumbled incessantly.

In both his past and present lives, he had experienced poverty and misery, but this was the first time An Qisheng had been this hungry.

He didn't find it novel, but rather felt a little heavy-hearted.

How much would Jiang Tingting and Zhang Hao Hao have to endure to become so accustomed to this?

"Master, a caravan is coming."

After resting for a while, Zhang Hao Hao, who had been constantly looking around, exclaimed and jumped up, pointing into the distance.

"Where, where?"

Jiang Tingting looked around.

"Yes, a caravan is coming."

An Qisheng nodded. He had decided to stop because he heard the sound of carriages.

Nanliang County wasn't too far or too close from here. Without a ride, he was afraid he would lose his old life if he walked there.

If there were no carriages, that would be one thing, but hearing one coming, he naturally wanted to hitch a ride.

Before long, a caravan slowly passed by.

It was a small caravan, with five carriages carrying goods, and two carriages with curtains drawn, seemingly carrying female relatives. Some strong men led horses, guarding the surroundings.

Seeing the old and two young ones by the side of the road, the men glanced at them warily. Seeing that they were old, young, and small, they turned their eyes away.

"Everyone, this old Taoist has difficulty walking, can you give me a ride?"

An Qisheng stopped the two children who wanted to run over, stood up himself, and cupped his hands in the distance.

It was one thing when he couldn't move, but now that he could, there was no reason to keep ordering the two children around.

"Reporting to the Taoist priest!"

Hearing An Qisheng's shout, a strong guard with a saber cupped his hands:

"There are female relatives in the caravan, which is inconvenient. Please forgive us, Taoist priest."

"Uncle, my master is not feeling well, please do us a favor."

Zhang Hao Hao pitifully cupped his hands.

"Yes, yes, uncle, please have pity on us."

Jiang Tingting was also pitiful.

Having only eaten half a cornbread in a day and a night, she felt that she couldn't even lift her legs.

"This..."

The guard hesitated for a moment, ran to the middle carriage, and said something in a low voice.

An Qisheng watched carefully as the curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a delicately dressed little girl looked at them:

"What danger can an old man and two little kids pose? Let them ride on the cargo carriage in the back. Just give them a ride."

"Yes."

The guard nodded and beckoned the three of them over.

Jiang Tingting cheered and, together with Zhang Hao Hao, helped An Qisheng up and slowly walked over to the cargo carriage.

The official road was uneven, the carriage was unstable, and there were many goods, making the ride very uncomfortable.

However, An Qisheng breathed a sigh of relief, stretched his old arms and legs, and found a comfortable position to lie down.

The two little ones were also very tired, one on each side, leaning against him, their eyelids constantly drooping.

"Sleep."

An Qisheng looked at the two little ones with pity.

With their master's permission, the two little ones wiggled their bodies, closed their eyes, and fell asleep before long.

"Dao Yi Diagram..."

An Qisheng's eyes were half-closed as he murmured in his heart.

In a blink of an eye, he had once again arrived at the dark depths of his soul, where only the Dao Yi Diagram radiated light.

When he saw the Dao Yi Diagram, he had wanted to study it in depth, but before he could, the bandits had come over.

Now that he had some free time, he naturally wanted to study it carefully.

He carefully examined the outline of the Dao Yi Diagram and realized that it had indeed been torn. However, the edges of the fragment were very irregular, and it didn't seem to be just scraps.

"The Dao Yi Diagram has three abilities, of which I have mastered Dreamwalking and Insight. My mastery of Dreamwalking is high and has been recognized, Insight is only slightly involved, and only Omniscience, this ability, I still can't grasp the clues..."

An Qisheng was summarizing his own situation.

The various abilities of the Dao Yi Diagram, Dreamwalking, Insight into oneself, and Omniscience, consume Daoli when activated through the Dao Yi Diagram.

Of course, he could also use them himself, but the consumption would be greater, and the effect would be far less than that of the Dao Yi Diagram.

If he wanted to Dreamwalk and obtain a person's memory or technique, he would have to try again and again, slowly mastering and memorizing it. If activated through the Dao Yi Diagram, it would only take an instant.

"Does the Dao Yi Diagram have any other abilities?"

An Qisheng's heart stirred, and he asked.

[The Dao is divided into fifty, this is Dao One, and there are still forty-nine remaining. Each fragment has at least one and at most three different abilities.]

The Dao Yi Diagram flashed with light, and a lot of information flowed into An Qisheng's mind.

"Forty-nine diagrams..."

An Qisheng pondered for a long time before saying:

"I want to know the information about Tong Zhengyang."

[Consume 10 Daoli to search for the general information of Tong Zhengyang?]

"Ten points?"

An Qisheng confirmed:

"Yes."

Buzz~

With a flash of light, words flowed on the scroll:

[Tong Zhengyang (97)]

[Life Trajectory One: Born in the Jiufu Realm, Daqing Kingdom, Yanhua Prefecture, Jiannan Prefecture. He learned martial arts from others when he was young. His aptitude was mediocre, but he later encountered a fortuitous event. His martial arts advanced by leaps and bounds, and his personality became distorted. He seduced his sister-in-law, abused and killed his brother and father, and fled to other countries after being wanted...]

[Later, he obtained an opportunity to drift into a world without demons or spirits. He slaughtered countless creatures in the Xuanxing countries to become a Celestial...]

"Trajectory One? In other words, there is also a Trajectory Two?"

An Qisheng's heart shook.

First, he was shocked that Tong Zhengyang could become a Celestial, and second, he was shocked that he also had a Trajectory Two.

He knew that, according to the Dao Yi Diagram, the so-called trajectory was fate.

Under what circumstances could a person have two different fate trajectories?