The big man grinned, just as he reached out for a victory hug, Zhang Ze dodged away.
"Hurry up and leave, people will be coming soon."
"Yes, yes, let me take you to see the Taoist." With that, the big man led the way, guiding Zhang Ze to disappear into the city.
Once he confirmed that no one was following, the big man led Zhang Ze through twists and turns to a rundown house.
The rundown house was simple yet inconspicuous, it seemed to possess a mystical quality that made anyone passing by ignore it.
The big man cut his fingertip, flicked his finger, and a droplet of blood struck the old banyan tree outside the yard.
The blood absorbed into it, without any visible reaction, the gate of the broken courtyard opened a crack.
The concealing Taoist technique briefly failed, Zhang Ze followed the big man into the small courtyard, which contained its own hidden realm.
Everyone in the courtyard were cultivators, most wearing Taoist robes, men of the big man’s heroic ilk were few.
But the most eye-catching was an old Daoist.
He looked exactly like Tang, making it hard not to suspect he was some ancestor of Tang.
However, when the old man turned his head and saw Zhang Ze and the big man, he blinked his eyes.
Seeing the signal, Zhang Ze was one hundred percent sure this was Tang.
After the failure last time, he came again, gathering momentum for a comeback.
This time, Tang did not disguise himself nor put on a masquerade.
Moreover, judging by his stature and position in the courtyard, it seemed his status was not low, the surrounding Taoists respected him greatly.
Could he have seized power? Usurped the position of Ancestral Master, plotting rebellion in his stead.
Though it sounded absurd, Zhang Ze felt Tang capable of such deeds.
Tang pulled Zhang Ze aside, unable to see through Zhang Ze’s disguise. He spoke like a normal person, "This fellow Taoist, escaped through the secret path I left behind?"
"Ah? Secret path?" Zhang Ze didn’t catch on.
"Or met our dark agent in the prisoner camp, obtained the antidote and escaped?"
Seeing Zhang Ze still bewildered, Tang explained the situation.
The first thing was, this trial was actually linked with the previous one.
Last time, Tang was apprehended at the start, sent to prison, and during his escort, he snagged a kitchen knife from the roadside and hid it.
He planned to jailbreak, attempting to redeem Taoist Tang Ji.
But just before finishing the tunnel, Li slayed a tiger over there, causing Jade Book Tower to appear, which prematurely ended the illusion realm.
In the last two illusion realms, the rebellion mission targeted was not the insurgent Taoist, but the mole who brought the Demon Race into the city.
Trial Takers entering the illusion realm this time were split into two teams. One team infiltrating from outside the city for rescue, another either infiltrating or escaping.
Finally, coordinating with Taoists’ support, they are to take down the Golden Core of the Demon Race within the city...
Tang was part of the outside group, also of four people, but like Brother Feng, through twists of fate, two were accidentally eliminated early, leaving only him and the dark-skinned big man.
This time Tang’s starting point wasn’t in prison, but still, the tunnel remained intact.
After explaining, Tang asked, "How did you get away? Where are the others?"
Zhang Ze thought about it, but didn’t reveal the incident about the bald guy and Brother Feng’s compromised rear.
"All thanks to sheer strength, I took down a squad leader and escaped on my own. One of us was gone from the start, the other two are safe in the prisoner camp."
Tang listened, nodded without further inquiry, turned around to report inside.
Yet the big man, who had been eavesdropping all along, narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Zhang Ze, staring for a while, his mind suddenly clear.
A moment later, Tang followed a young man with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, emerging from inside.
This young man was none other than the Ancestral Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain, True Man Zixuan.
Ancestral Master’s aura was drastically different from that ruffian image in his rebellion diary.
Just as he was about to speak, explosive sounds suddenly erupted from the prisoner camp at the city center...
Something exploded, and it seemed quite significant.
Zhang Ze’s vision went dark; he knew without a doubt with Brother Feng’s rear brain, this explosion was definitely related to Lily.
With plans changed, all the Taoists’ expressions shifted, even the young Ancestral Master, after all, it was his first rebellion, and he was leading, somewhat lacking in experience.
It’ll be better next time.
However, Ancestral Master lived up to his title; he quickly regained composure, "The situation has changed, a few will stay, the rest follow me."
With that, he led people out of the small courtyard.
This excitement was naturally something Zhang Ze wanted to be part of, but just as he lifted his foot, a large black hand gently looped over his shoulder.
The gentleness of this touch made both him and Li shudder with disgust.
But before he could resist.
The Junior Sister’s voice sounded in Zhang Ze’s ear.
Utilizing sound transmission.
"Senior Brother, you don’t wish your sneaky entrance here to be known to Jade Book Tower, do you..."
"If you don’t, from now on, you’ll have to do everything I say..."
"Ah?" Zhang Ze hesitated a moment, as the big man pinched his shoulder.
Faced with such a fierce Junior Sister, Zhang Ze and Li simultaneously shivered. Follow current novᴇls on NovєlFіre.net
One can only say, their Junior Sister has questionable taste in handling people...
But what left Zhang Ze in despair was, in this beta test of Jade Book Illusion Realm, Tang turned out to be the most normal one.