I really didn't want to burn it.

The other party sighed softly, "How could I have imagined that the Grand Preceptor Li, whom I had been eagerly anticipating, would evolve into a comedian in the past few years?"

Li Ang slapped his face.

He had the illusion that he was trying to show off in front of his old classmates, but it turned out to be just childish behavior.

"Zhang Liang, you've gone astray. You come from a distinguished family, with your ancestors serving as prime ministers for five generations in the Han dynasty. How did you come to enjoy spying?"

Zhang Liang snorted coldly: "Grand Preceptor Li, please don't slander good people! You were the ones putting on your own show, oblivious to everyone else. I called you several times!"

"That person... is it Mr. Zhang Liang?"

Mashu tilted her head and secretly checked with the others.

Ritsuka tugged at her braid: "I've never seen him before either... His Majesty, is it him?"

Ying Zheng was not sure either: "I have never met Zhang Liang... but since Li Ang said it is true, then it should be correct."

"He's so different from the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty that I had in mind." Ritsuka compared the Han Xin she had seen with the real Han Xin and said with some disappointment, "He lacks heroic spirit and looks like a monk in a temple."

"They were originally here to cultivate immortality," DD muttered under his breath.

Jing Ke, however, had a good impression of Zhang Liang. "From another perspective, with such an ethereal air about him, he's definitely much more reliable than some pretentious and charlatan-like national advisor..."

Before Jing Ke could finish speaking, he was glared at by someone burning with anger!

"I'll deal with you when we get back!"

Li Ang silently moved his lips, conveying his thoughts to Jing Ke.

Then, Li Ang stepped forward.

"Zhang Liang, you should be staying at Baiyun Mountain, right? Has anything been happening lately...?"

"Grand Preceptor Li, I hope you can help me."

Li Ang tried to get closer to him, but Zhang Liang said this as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Help? What happened?"

Li Ang was startled by these words. His outstretched hand drew a semicircle in mid-air and passed directly through Zhang Liang's body.

"Hey, Zhang Liang?"

Because Zhang Liang was wearing a long robe and was not easily noticeable, Li Ang noticed that Zhang Liang's body seemed to be floating in mid-air like a ghost.

"This is not my physical body, but an illusion. The real me, as well as my two masters, Huang Shigong and Chisongzi, are imprisoned in Baiyun Mountain."

Zhang Liang's words shocked everyone.

"Are you kidding me? After finishing 'Battlefront: Absolute Demonic Frontier,' am I going to be doing 'Journey to the West' now?"

Li Ang didn't say it out loud, but just muttered it in a voice that only he could hear.

M78 Nebula 756365104

P.S.: Huang Shigong and Chisongzi were Zhang Liang's two legendary teachers.

Huang Shigong, also known as the "Old Man of Yishang," is the old man who gave Zhang Liang the book.

Chisongzi is a legendary ancient immortal who appears in works such as the Taiping Huanyu Ji, the Sou Shen Ji, and the Baopuzi.

In most of the legends about Zhang Liang's cultivation of immortality, it is said that Zhang Liang cultivated immortality with Chisongzi.

In the "Hereditary House of Liu Hou" in the Records of the Grand Historian, Zhang Liang said, "I wish to abandon worldly affairs and follow the immortal Chisongzi."

One theory suggests that Chisongzi and Huang Shigong are actually the same person, but I've separated them here because three numbers are considered auspicious. =w=

Chapter 25 If she had been a 16-year-old girl, none of this would have happened.

Zhang Liang began to tell Li Ang and the others the story of what had happened.

The story is quite simple: after losing his goal of revenge against the Qin state, Zhang Liang's life became somewhat lost.

Fortunately, with the guidance of his two teachers, Huang Shigong and Chisongzi, Zhang Liang was able to completely let go of his hatred and decided to dedicate his future to the great cause of cultivating immortality.

Coincidentally, at this time, Li Ang was carrying out a vigorous anti-superstition campaign across the country.

There are no immortals in this world, let alone immortal techniques or Taoist arts.

The so-called magic is nothing but a trick by sorcerers to deceive people.

To build a better Qin Dynasty, we need to believe in science, believe in facts, and be down-to-earth... blah blah blah.

In short, Li Ang's central idea is that instead of pursuing immortality and superstition, we should focus on building our Great Qin homeland.

Of course, Li Ang only opposed deceptive sorcery; he still permitted normal religious proselytizing.

People still need some solace in their spiritual lives. After all, even in modern society, temples and the like are still thriving places of worship, aren't they?

It's impossible to completely eradicate them; what Li Ang needs to do is manage them.

He learned from the experience of later dynasties in managing religions and demanded that all religions place themselves under the Qin Dynasty and abide by and promote the legitimacy of the Qin Dynasty.

At the same time, Li Ang imposed very strict requirements on religious figures and incorporated them into the Qin Dynasty's organizational structure.

Anyone who wants to work in the religious profession must pass a very rigorous examination.

Such behavior made Zhang Liang, who pursued freedom and believed in Lao Tzu's philosophy of non-action, very uncomfortable.

Even though Li Ang offered Zhang Liang and his two teachers special treatment—allowing them to be included in the Qin Dynasty's religious personnel without taking an exam—they still chose to refuse.

Meanwhile, these three proud and arrogant old men who cultivate immortality also clashed with Li Ang.

Since you, Grand Preceptor Li, say that immortals do not exist, then we will cultivate ourselves to enlightenment and show you.

"To put it bluntly, you guys are just unwilling to accept defeat and want to beat me in one thing, right?"

Li Ang said irritably, having seen through Zhang Liang and the others' little scheme at a glance.

"Yes, it is."

Zhang Liang initially wanted to deny it, but in the end he admitted it.

Since there is no hope of revenge against Qin, then at least we must prove that this arrogant man in front of us is wrong.

Even if one were to successfully cultivate immortality, the outcome would remain unchanged.

But Zhang Liang was holding back that anger at that time.

"As the saying goes, the Tao follows nature, and the highest good is like water. With your utilitarian approach, how could you possibly succeed in cultivating immortality? Unlike me, I've always adhered to the principle that the more I endure, the angrier I get; the more I back down, the more I feel I've lost out. I never hold grudges overnight."

Li Ang appeared to be comforting Zhang Liang, but everyone present could see the smug expression on his face.

"Indeed, my mindset was very wrong back then... Wait a minute! Didn't you always claim that immortal techniques don't exist?! And your code of conduct is also problematic, isn't it?!"

Li Ang shrugged: "It really didn't exist before, but now..."

"...So you're not going to answer the second question, is that right?"

Zhang Liang once again wondered if it was the right decision to entrust his future to such an unreliable person.

Seeing that the topic was getting further and further off track, Red A quickly steered the conversation back on track.

"Stop right there. We don't have time to listen to your grievances with this man. We just want to know what happened after that. Surely you and your friends didn't cultivate immortality to the point of having your souls leave your bodies?"

"No, we just created a golden cup. And we even regarded that evil cup as a divine artifact bestowed upon us by the heavens."

Zhang Liang touched his nose sheepishly.

He was truly ashamed that he had suffered such a huge loss despite his intelligence.

"A golden cup...is that referring to the Holy Grail?"

Mashu confirmed with Zhang Liang.

"We don't know what the cup is called, but we feel that we have finally seen the hope of becoming immortals. This cup that fell from the sky is a divine revelation given to us by the heavens."

"That's why feudal superstition is so deadly..." Li Ang complained. "Wasn't the first thing your mother taught you not to touch strange things randomly?"

"Grand Preceptor, do you know what I hate most about you?! Do you think you'll die if you don't make sarcastic remarks?!"

In the end, Zhang Liang roared at Li Ang, completely destroying his original dignified and otherworldly demeanor.

“Mr. Zhang Liang looks very angry.” Mashu wiped the cold sweat from her temples.

Ritsuka guessed, "He must have accumulated a lot of pressure."

“I can understand, really. When I was alive, every time I wanted to talk to Li Ang about cultivating immortality, he would talk to me in this tone. It made me really want to punch him.”

Ying Zheng said with empathy.

Ritsuka quickly joined in to gossip.

"I never imagined you two could become such good friends who can talk about anything. Could it be the legendary case of becoming friends after a fight?"

"No, we just found a common target for our anger. When in doubt, a good beating to the kid makes us feel better, so we don't let our anger build up until the next day."

As he spoke, Ying Zheng turned his gaze to Xiang Yu.

"Ok?"

Xiang Yu's gaze immediately changed when he looked in their direction.

“…Well, Your Majesty, it’s wrong to hit children so casually.”

After much deliberation, Mashu finally offered this suggestion.

"Now I know why this guy is so thick-skinned."

Red A, who was eavesdropping, muttered under his breath.

Li Ang suppressed a laugh and continued to ask Zhang Liang, "And then, how did you guys get into trouble?"

"With the arrival of that cup, the three of us, master and disciples, began to sense the presence of magical power. Therefore, we regarded that cup as a symbol of divine gift."

"In order to understand why God would bestow such a treasure upon us, we studied the golden cup."

According to Zhang Liang, they discovered that the Holy Grail would react whenever they poured magic into it.

As for Zhang Liang and the other two who were infused with magical power, although their magical power would be drained each time, they would recover quickly.

Moreover, each time they recover, their magical power becomes stronger than the last time.

This made Zhang Liang and his companions even more convinced that the cup was a treasure bestowed upon them by heaven, a divine artifact for cultivating immortality.

"That's pure nonsense. Your magic power is increasing simply because of the spiritual energy revival. It has nothing to do with the Holy Grail; it's because you were already destined to increase your magic power."

Li Ang said, his lips twitching.

Zhang Liang nodded in agreement: "Yes, now that I think about it, the three of us, master and disciples, really went astray back then."

What happened next?

"Then..."

With the three old otaku cultivating immortality in a repetitive cycle, using the Holy Grail to cultivate immortality, the Holy Grail quickly accumulated a large amount of magical power.

As is well known, the Holy Grail in the Type-Moon universe will cause trouble when it has magical powers.

There's only one way to cause trouble—summon heroic spirits.

Thus, without the knowledge of Zhang Liang and his two disciples, the Holy Grail summoned a Heroic Spirit.

Even worse, this time the summons is for a child.

This further convinced the superstitious old men.

A child falling from the sky—this is the ultimate protagonist's starting point in any mythology.

Zhang Liang even thought that this child would achieve greater success in cultivating immortality than he himself, and bring glory to his sect.

He had even planned that once his child became successful, he would take the child on a grand display of power and go to Li Ang to mock him.

As a strategist who planned three steps ahead for every one step he took, Zhang Liang had even prepared a sarcastic speech.

Then...then Zhang Liang and his two disciples were ambushed and killed by that child's spirit.

The Holy Grail only summons Heroic Spirits. Don't be fooled by their childlike appearance; who knows what kind of old monsters they are inside.

It's like that imperial advisor who always insisted he was only 20 years old...

Cough!

In short, the physical bodies of Zhang Liang and his two disciples were imprisoned inside Baiyun Mountain as the core of the formation, allowing them to experience the thrill of being Sun Wukong several hundred years ahead of schedule.