Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 151 Your Excellency Doesn't Look Like a Human

Zhang Chengdao never expected that his cheap disciple, who could easily defeat a Grandmaster-level martial artist, would almost kill him in his attempt to take revenge.

The rule that the protagonist's revenge always ends in an accident is truly speechless.

Of course, Zhang Chengdao was able to arrive in time not because he secretly followed his two apprentices—parents should learn to let go, he wasn't a nanny, why should he follow his apprentices in a shameful way?

But just as he was about to start a game of Bubble Bobble and Snake, he glanced at the cards of his two apprentices in the character panel and was shocked to find that both Chang Ping'an and Ye Shuyun had the same status followed by two big words: Poisoned.

It's only been one day, right?

Fearing for the safety of his few protégés, Zhang Chengdao flew wildly towards Zhou Guo, making the 1,500-mile straight-line distance feel like a 100-meter sprint—of course, much faster than a 100-meter sprint.

In short, Zhang Chengdao, who had never learned any escape techniques, managed to use the art of flying by the wind as a means of escape.

Escape techniques are fundamentally different from other methods of traveling. For example, in the Five Elements Escape Techniques, all the metal, wood, water, fire, and earth escape techniques can achieve "instant teleportation".

Taking the Earth Escape Technique as an example, once cast, one can enter the earth and escape, traveling hundreds of miles away in the blink of an eye.

However, all escape techniques share a common characteristic: they leave the user weak for a long time afterward. Therefore, unless they are desperate and have no other choice but to use escape techniques to escape, cultivators generally do not use the Five Elements Escape Techniques.

More advanced escape techniques are incredibly diverse. Cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage often favor flying escape techniques, transforming into a streak of light and soaring through the air, covering thousands of miles in an instant. There are also some advanced escape techniques with lower barriers to entry, such as Earth Movement Technique, a high-level earth escape technique. Its advantage is that it doesn't leave the user weakened after use, but its disadvantage is that it's not "teleportation" but rather movement through the earth, allowing the user to still be tracked. This is the kind of escape technique that Tu Xingsun, a character in the famous Ming Dynasty novel *Investiture of the Gods*, was most skilled at.

The most advanced escape technique is probably the legendary somersault cloud of the Monkey King, which can travel 108,000 li in a single somersault. Although "108,000 li" is a figurative number, it is still beyond the reach of ordinary people.

I just don't know if the Monkey King really exists...

As they flew, Zhang Chengdao's thoughts even began to wander.

But when he saw that in addition to "poisoned," there was now a "minor injury" status on Chang Ping'an's character card, he was immediately jolted and increased his flight speed again.

Even if a cultivator at the Golden Core stage doesn't know any escape techniques, they should not be underestimated if they can fly using only their spiritual power.

In just a quarter of an hour, Zhang Chengdao arrived at Jingzhao Prefecture and saw from the sky that a strange gray mist suddenly rose from a temple in the city.

The gray mist's power was similar to spiritual energy, but it didn't seem to be pure spiritual energy. It was as if various forces were mixed together with spiritual energy, giving people a very uncomfortable feeling—turbid and oppressive.

Zhang Chengdao instinctively felt that there was something strange about this gray fog, and that it might be related to his two apprentices, so he lowered the altitude slightly.

Unexpectedly, just as they landed above the temple, they heard that hoarse voice—

"You...can't leave..."

And then came the shout of his own simple-minded, cheap apprentice: "Get out of the way—"

Zhang Chengdao was startled. Without thinking twice, he haphazardly placed the bamboo fence from his backpack on the ground to frame the two vaguely familiar figures he saw before shouting with relief:
"You evil beast! Stop being so arrogant!"

After shouting, barely managing to suppress the urge to shout "Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon" again, Zhang Chengdao quickly waved his sleeve, using his spiritual power to disperse the gray mist, finally able to see the scene in the temple clearly. The courtyard reeked of blood, with "corpses" dressed as palace maids and eunuchs lying haphazardly, their limbs writhing. His two disciples, like two little quails, were confined in a bamboo fence, and upon seeing him, they visibly breathed a sigh of relief, calling out "Master!"

The only "person" standing in the courtyard was a monk wearing a robe embroidered with gold thread and a five-Buddha crown inlaid with pearls!
This must be the monk Mingjing!

"I think you... don't seem like a human being!"

Zhang Chengdao narrowed his eyes, carefully discerning the background of Monk Mingjing.

As cultivators increase their cultivation level, they will all have the ability to "observe qi". When they observe "living people", they will see the "vital energy" that only "living people" have. This "vital energy" is difficult to describe, but it is significantly different from the "death qi" on "dead people".

The monk Mingjing before us clearly only had "death energy" left on his body, without a trace of "life energy"!
Even that "deathly aura" was quite strange, not at all like the "deathly aura" emanating from the "corpse" of Monk Mingjing. Instead, it seemed to be a force controlling it from the outside, making Monk Mingjing's "corpse" not resemble a corpse at all, but more like...

Corpse puppet?

Zhang Chengdao frowned.

Before Zhang Chengdao organized the book, there was a book in the academy that specifically explained "puppets".

According to the book, there are many kinds of "puppets", such as corpse puppets and human puppets. Among them, human puppets are puppets made while retaining the breath of a living person, while corpse puppets are puppets made from the corpse after being killed.

The latter is much simpler and more direct than the former. All you need is a corpse, and then you can control it with sufficiently powerful spiritual energy. It's like driving a car. At first, you'll be flustered and unable to control the corpse puppet's limbs, but after driving for a while, you'll naturally become proficient.

Monk Mingjing was taken aback to have attracted the attention of "Immortal White Stone," but he refused to back down. He snorted and replied, "Hmph, likewise. Aren't you human too?"

How am I not human?!

Zhang Chengdao's brows furrowed even more.

Who says immortals aren't human?!
However, this was not the time for empty talk. Zhang Chengdao's biggest question was—

Isn't this supposed to be a martial arts and cultivation world?!

How could a corpse puppet appear?!
Just as Zhang Chengdao was questioning his existence and even doubting his identity as the only transmigrator, he heard the monk Mingjing say in a hoarse, sinister voice, "Since you're here, you're not leaving!"

As they were speaking, the sound of armor rubbing together suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

Then, Zhang Chengdao saw a bright yellow palanquin embroidered with a golden dragon appear outside the courtyard.

The palanquin was surrounded by bright yellow silk, which completely concealed the figures inside. On the left and right sides of the palanquin, several rows of well-armored soldiers, who looked like the Zhou emperor's personal guard, ran in with a very orderly pace, surrounding the entire courtyard in layers.

Then, an aged voice came from the palanquin—

“Everyone in the academy, except the Imperial Preceptor, shall be killed without mercy.”

(End of this chapter)