Chapter 248: Eunuch Zhang's Dead End

"Don't run…… you can't escape……" Tianming said leisurely, his flying speed extremely fast, mountain peaks and river valleys swept past beneath his body in a hurry.

In autumn, looking from a high place, the ground is all yellowish-green; because of this year's special circumstances, there are no farmers tilling the fields, and no travelers on the roads. The common people live anxiously, just to survive, even though they know their lives are not in their own hands.

The common people have nothing but prayer; this is their only recourse.

The one Tianming is chasing is naturally Eunuch Zhang.

Eunuch Zhang stood on an inconspicuous peak among the mountains, hands clasped behind his back, facing the direction from which Tianming would come.

Tianming had not yet entered Eunuch Zhang's field of vision, nor sensed his true qi, but Eunuch Zhang knew he would certainly come from that direction.

As expected, Tianming arrived.

When Tianming landed, the peak shuddered; if not for Eunuch Zhang holding it steady, the mountain would surely have been trampled flat.

"Really, we just saw each other a few days ago, and now I see you again—truly a headache!" Tianming rubbed his own head, feigning helplessness as he spoke to Eunuch Zhang; the Heaven's Mandate Blade on his back gleamed, emanating a murderous aura.

Eunuch Zhang glared at Tianming, saying nothing.

Tianming laughed and said, "Hehe, oh, right, we are gods, we don't get headaches. Moreover, for us it would be better to say we saw each other yesterday, after all you held out in a great battle for three days and three nights, which is practically just a day's effort, right?"

"You really are noisy……"

"Can't help it; when I get excited, I talk a lot……"

In the fine seams between Eunuch Zhang's scales, a dark green liquid could be seen flowing; if one smelled closely, there was also a strong fishy odor…… This is the fate of those who fall into the Heretical Path, completely severed from mortals—not only bodily structure altered, but even the internal tissues and blood transformed.

"Look at you now—neither human nor ghost…… Is it worth it?" Tianming asked Eunuch Zhang.

"There's nothing worth or not worth; having chosen this path, there is no regret." Eunuch Zhang gritted his teeth and said resentfully. From his complex expression, no one knows whether he is regretting it.

"Hahaha! Regret! See that?" Tianming pointed a hand, pointing toward the west of the capital, the Western Desert; there the sky was a dull gray, dark and deep, its edge invisible, a power that only experts of their level could perceive, one that captivates the heart and soul—"See that? Those are my companions! That is the Heavenly Dao!"

Tianming waved his hand and shouted, "All of you must submit! You have no choice!" He paused, then pointed at Eunuch Zhang and said, "Especially you! Zhang Huayu! Don't think you can scheme or plot; I tell you, it's impossible! No one can scheme against our Heavenly Dao!"

"So you let me seize the Heirloom Jade Seal, and all this is within your calculations? It is your Heavenly Dao scheming against others."

"Hahaha! Just a little trick……" Tianming laughed loudly, "You forgot? That day, Tianzai sneaked into the Sutra Pavilion and released the Nightmare, intending to kill Chen Yi He in his dream; but Chen Yi He's life was tough, the Nightmare failed. Yet Tianzai brought back a crucial piece of news: the Heirloom Jade Seal is in Zhou Ke's hands. This is what Zhou Ke personally told the Imperial Ancestor, and what Tianzai heard with his own ears. We must admit you are clever; you guessed right, the Heirloom Jade Seal is indeed in Zhou Ke's hands."

"So you're using a counter-scheme, letting me try?" Eunuch Zhang retorted, his facial expression showing little change; merely, now that he has entered the Heretical Path, the aged feeling on his body has vanished.

However, because his injuries are too severe, his condition still looks off.

"Putting it precisely, it's like this." Tianzai said, "One, we want to see if you are loyal; two, we want to see what strength you actually have; three, we want to see the strength of that group in the capital. The first point has been proven: you are very loyal, you indeed went to seize it to protect yourself, but you didn't expect they had already set a trap for you, waiting for you to jump in."

"So let me be this sorry…… I never expected Shangguan Yunyi's strength to reach such a degree……" Eunuch Zhang sighed, standing on a cliff, feeling the wind blowing from afar, the green blood flowing from his body gradually solidified; he had already controlled his injury.

"We didn't expect that……" Tianzai also said, "Hehe, unexpected. Shangguan Yunyi exceeded our expectations, and you likewise exceeded our expectations…… This makes us all the more glad to let you two slaughter each other."

"You are the Heavenly Dao, are you still afraid of us mere mortals?"

Tianzai slowly drew the Heaven's Mandate Blade from his back and threw it onto the ground, the blade sinking more than halfway into the earth, "We are the Heavenly Dao, we are gods, but we also have life and death, our strength also has limits. Perhaps we have dwelled in the Heavenly Dao for too long, so that in the mortal world there are people who are about to, or have even surpassed, the Heavenly Dao, yet we have not noticed."

Tianzai suddenly became excited, slapped his hands hard, and shouted, "Even someone has entered the Heretical Path!"

"Things have come to this; I must admit I miscalculated." Eunuch Zhang lowered his head, speaking somewhat dejectedly, "If I hadn't chosen you but chosen them, perhaps I could still get away with it now."

"Once you enter the Heretical Path, it's for life; you can't hide it. One day, your body and soul will be completely occupied by the Heretical Path, and then you will no longer be yourself, you know?" Tianzai asked Eunuch Zhang.

Who would have thought Eunuch Zhang suddenly lifted his head, glared at Tianzai, and said, "Hahaha! My body and soul will be occupied by the Heretical Path? How could I possibly not defeat it, occupy it instead? Why should I be a wedding dress? Let me tell you, from the day I entered the Heretical Path, I told myself, I am me, I am Zhang Huayu! Even if my body is destroyed, my soul remains myself! I must become stronger! Become stronger!"

"Hehe, indeed worthy of Zhang Huayu, who began martial training at forty and ascended to the Seventh Heaven at seventy! You have grit! You trained thirty years to achieve what others take three hundred, even three thousand years to attain, yet it's still not enough; you even want to make the Heretical Path's power your own!" Tianzai clapped vigorously, such a person as Eunuch Zhang—how could one not admire him? "You just picked the wrong side."