Xie Lian’s heart began to beat wildly, and even his fingertips trembled slightly.

But he kept his composure and didn't say anything. He just raised his head slightly and whispered in Huacheng's ear: "... Sanlang, don't move. The voice outside sounds very much like my master. Don't get discovered first..."

Although it was very similar, he couldn't say for sure. Because there are people in the world with extremely similar voices, and he and the Imperial Master haven't seen each other for hundreds of years, so it's possible that he has forgotten it. There's no need to act rashly at the moment, just wait and see, maybe you can find out more secrets. Hua Cheng also lowered his head slightly, hugged his waist, and whispered: "Okay... don't move either."

The two were pressed together by the earth and rocks on all sides, their ears rubbing against each other, and their ears were slightly warm. Although it was inappropriate, Xie Lian's mind quickly flashed through a sentence: "'Dying together in the same grave' doesn't feel bad."

At this time, the voice asked again: "Where are the two of them? Where did they go?"

“The two of them?” Xie Lian instinctively thought that they were talking about himself and Hua Cheng. He was slightly startled and wanted to listen carefully to who he was talking to. But strangely, the “State Master”—let’s call him “State Master”—didn’t respond at all after he asked.

It was really strange. At this distance, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng could both hear the question from the "National Master". Logically speaking, his voice was not very loud, and he did not shout at the top of his lungs, so the other party should not be far away from him. If he answered, they would be able to hear a little bit from here. However, the fact was that they could not hear anything at all.

The "National Master" said again: "Thanks for their hard work. But don't worry about those little weeds, they won't amount to anything. We have more important things to do right now."

Xie Lian then understood that “the two of them” did not refer to him and Hua Cheng, but to the two accomplices of the “State Master”.

Things were getting weirder and weirder. The Imperial Master's tone was clearly echoed, but it sounded like he was just talking to himself, or talking to the air. This weird scene popped up in Xie Lian's mind, but he immediately shook it off, thinking that there was another possibility, that the "Imperial Master" could hear that person's voice, but others couldn't.

The suspicion in his heart grew stronger and stronger, and he held his breath and listened attentively. The "National Master" spoke, each word was more worthy of consideration, and he continued: "Are there so many people in the mountain? Anyway, you should bring them all to the copper furnace first, and then I will find a way to deal with them one by one. The sooner the better, you must arrive within two days."

Copper furnace!

Moreover, it was "within two days". It was impossible to use the teleportation in Tonglu Mountain, so how could they get there in two days? Or bring a group of people here. "Deal with it", how did they "deal with it"?

After a pause, the voice continued, "Call the two of them over as well. Let's go to the Copper Furnace together. We can't leave any of them behind to deal with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Right now, His Royal Highness has not yet fully awakened. If he wakes up... it's hard to imagine what he will do this time."

Xie Lian was stunned.

Is this talking about him?

At this moment, the mountain rumbled, and Xie Lian felt the earth and rocks around him tremble slightly. The Imperial Master outside asked, “What’s wrong?”

He also said to Hua Cheng from inside the stone wall: "What's wrong?"

Hua Cheng whispered, "Something has changed over there."

Their foreheads touched again. In front of Xie Lian’s right eye, the scene of Yinyu and Quan Yizhen’s cave appeared again. Moreover, it should be a scene from a little earlier. Yinyu finally dug Quan Yizhen out of the stone wall, dragged him down panting, and exhaled. Unexpectedly, the unconscious Quan Yizhen suddenly jumped up on the spot and took off the mask on his face!

Just now, Quan Yizhen was pretending to be unconscious!

He was probably very familiar with Yinyu's habit of walking around when he was thinking, his tone of voice, and the strength of his beatings. He probably knew who it was when Yinyu slapped him with a shovel. No one would have thought that someone like Quan Yizhen would cheat one day. Although this was just an ordinary and lame trick, it was unprecedented for Quan Yizhen. Therefore, no one was prepared. Under the mask, Yinyu's face was shocked and pale, and he was obviously stunned. Quan Yizhen was very excited. He jumped up with blood all over his head and shouted, "Senior Brother!"

The corners of Yinyu's mouth twisted, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying. Suddenly, he put his hands on his head and said, "I am not!"

After yelling loudly, he ran away, attacking the people behind him as he ran, saying, "Don't follow me! Don't follow me!"

Quan Yizhen also ran after him, completely ignoring the bombardment, and shouted in joy: "Brother! It's me!"

Yinyu couldn't help but roared, "Damn it, you're the scary one! I told you not to follow me!!!"

The sound of the hammers banged along the way, making the mountain rumble. Here, the Imperial Master asked in confusion, "What's going on over there? Why is it so noisy?"

Still no one answered him, but the Imperial Master seemed to have gotten the answer and said, "I see, kids these days are really noisy. I'm leaving first, I still have to prepare. We'll meet up again when you get to the copper furnace!"

He was actually leaving right now. Hearing this, Hua Cheng covered Xie Lian's ears again. Xie Lian closed his eyes. In a moment, his whole body shook violently. The stone wall that he had been crouching on for a long time was finally blown apart. The two of them jumped out together, landed lightly, and breathed fresh air again. However, outside was an empty cave. There was no imperial teacher, nor the mysterious second person. They had already disappeared without a trace.

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng looked at each other, but were in no hurry to chase after him. Before they could separate, a man in black rushed into the cave opposite. It was Yin Yu. He waved a geomancer's shovel and ran towards the two of them, saying, "City Lord!!! Your Highness the Crown Prince!!!"

Behind him, Quan Yizhen, whose head was already broken and bleeding, also rushed in. Huacheng waved his hand without raising his head, and Quan Yizhen immediately raised his hand to block it. However, the move Huacheng used was not something that could be blocked by fists. With a bang, a burst of red smoke exploded around Quan Yizhen. After the smoke slowly dissipated, only a round red tumbler was left, spinning around.

The tumbler opened its eyes wide, looking very innocent. It was the same trick Hua Cheng used against Lang Qianqiu last time. Yin Yu stopped running, wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, walked over, and said, "Thank you, City Lord."

Hua Cheng said: "You're not that scared, are you?"

Yin Yu was still frightened and said with a wry smile, "To be honest, when I see His Highness Qi Ying, I just want to run as far away as possible."

Xie Lian felt both amused and sympathetic when he heard this. It seemed that Yin Yu had been seriously traumatized by Quan Yizhen's "personality". The tumbler was still on the ground, swaying from side to side with its eyes wide open, and no one paid any attention to it. Xie Lian felt sorry for it and was about to pick it up when he suddenly felt the ground shaking violently and his body began to sway from side to side, almost more so than the tumbler. He quickly steadied himself and asked, "What's wrong? Did the ground shake?"

Although Xie Lian didn’t need help, Hua Cheng still supported him and said to Yin Yu, “Go out and take a look.”

Yinyu recovered extremely quickly and said, "Yes!"

He answered and picked up the geomancer's shovel. After a while, he quickly opened a hole on the stone wall. The sunlight from outside shone in. Yinyu took a look and was shocked. Xie Lian asked, "Your Highness Yinyu, is the ground shaking or is the mountain going to collapse?"

Yinyu said: "Neither! It's this mountain monster...it's running!"

It's running? Xie Lian and Hua Cheng looked at each other, rushed forward, and saw the outside of the mountain monster, and they were speechless.

It's really running!

Outside the mountain, the scenery was rapidly receding, almost turning into colorful lines. It seemed as if they were riding in a speeding carriage, or sitting on the shoulders of a running giant!

The hills, rivers, plains, and forests were all flattened by the mountain monster, and were crushed by it to make way for it. A howling wind rushed in from the outside of the cave, and the hair and clothes of the three people were flying. Yinyu said: "If we keep running like this, I'm afraid we will reach Tonglu in two days..."

Two days?

Xie Lian's mind suddenly became clear. So that's it!

No wonder, no wonder there was no answer from the "other person", no wonder the national teacher asked the other party to take them to Tonglu Mountain within two days. Because at that time, the "national teacher" was not talking to people at all, but to this mountain monster!

Hua Cheng must have understood, and said: "It just so happens that we can use the wind from it, so we don't have to walk slowly. He said that we will meet at Tonglu at that time, and we will know what he wants to do when we get there."

Xie Lian, however, looked solemn. Hua Cheng noticed this and asked, "Brother, what's wrong?"

Xie Lian asked, “What do you mean by not fully awakened yet?”

The voice just said, “Right now, His Highness has not yet fully awakened. If he wakes up... it’s hard to imagine what he will do this time.” Xie Lian frowned and said, “If that person is really my master, and the ‘Crown Prince’ he was talking about is me, then what does that sentence mean?”

Hua Cheng said: "Brother, don't think too much. First, that person may not be your master; second, the 'Crown Prince' he mentioned may not be you. Don't forget, Crown Prince Wu Yong is also the Crown Prince."

Xie Lian said, “But what if it is? I have some unfounded guesses. Can you help me listen and see if they make sense?”

Hua Cheng said: "Okay. Brother, you decide."

Xie Lian said, “Tonglu Mountain has three mountains: old age, sickness, and death, but there is no life. If the man just now was really my master, and the one he was talking to was a mountain monster, and he can communicate with mountain monsters, then the ‘two of them’ he mentioned are most likely the other two mountain monsters.”

Hua Cheng said: "I agree with this. Anything else?"

Xie Lian said, “Also, I was wondering, do these three mountain monsters have human consciousness? Or maybe they themselves are transformed from humans. Why is there no mountain of ‘life’? Because ‘life’ has not yet transformed, ‘life’ is still a person, and this person… is the Imperial Master!”

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. His heart was beating wildly as he continued, "Tonglu Mountain was once the territory of Wuyong State. There are four "birth, old age, sickness and death" in total; there are also four guardian gods for Prince Wuyong; and there are also four Xianle State Masters who have taught me since I was a child! One main one and three deputy ones. Do a country usually have four state masters? I didn't think there was anything wrong with it before, and I thought it was a convention, but later I found out that there is no such convention. Do you think this is a coincidence, or is there some connection between them?"

Hua Cheng said, "It's not surprising that it's a coincidence. Aren't there four famous scenes? The four great evils are not enough for four, so they have to force one to make up the number."

Xie Lian said, “But I don’t know why, I have a strong feeling. Birth, old age, sickness and death, the four guardian gods of Wuyong country, the four masters of Xianle… maybe they are all the same four people.”

He continued his thoughts and said, "If my four masters are really the four guardian gods of Prince Wuyong, then why did they come to be the national masters of our Xianle? Why did they come to teach me? Why did the national master tell me the story of Prince Wuyong? Why did he want me to become someone like Prince Wuyong? Is there something else about me that I don't even know about? What do you mean I haven't woken up yet? Could it be that I am actually..."

He was just thinking about it a little crazy, Hua Cheng held his shoulders and said firmly: "No! I can guarantee that you are you, not anyone else. Trust me. Don't let your imagination run wild."

Xie Lian finally woke up from his dream and said, “…You’re right. I was just overthinking.”

The Imperial Master was the person he knew best besides his parents. Although the Imperial Master often disliked him for not listening and was often concerned about his status and inconvenience in getting close to him, he was generally a good master. Suddenly, it was easy to fall into confusion when you find out that you may not understand someone you thought you knew very well.

Moreover, there was one more thing: they were too similar. So far, although the experiences of Prince Wuyong shown on the murals of the Wuyong Temple were incomplete, they had already given him a vague feeling of reincarnation that was almost terrifying.

Hua Cheng slowed down his tone and said, "But, brother, think carefully first, what is the origin of your master?"

Xie Lian thought about it carefully and said, “…I’m not sure.”

Really, he couldn't even remember where his master came from. After a moment's silence, Xie Lian said, "The Imperial Master was the Imperial Master before I was born. I only know that his name is Mei Nianqing, but needless to say, this is definitely a pseudonym. I have wondered before, why the Imperial Master is so powerful, but why didn't he ascend to heaven, but if that person just now was him, then he must have lived longer in this world than me. If he really wants to deal with us..."

Hua Cheng said nonchalantly, "It's okay. Just live longer. No matter what he is, we will fight him. Remember, I'm here for you. I'll always be by your side."

Xie Lian was slightly startled. Yin Yu’s presence was low to begin with, and he was very tactful and kept silent, so he almost forgot about him. Only then did he say, “City Lord, do we need to find someone else?”

They had come out, but Pei Ming and the others didn’t know where the mountain monster had swallowed them and digested them. Xie Lian hurriedly said, “Let’s find them together. Your Highness Yinyu, please wait.”

Yinyu said, "Your Highness, there's no need to call me Your Highness... I've long since stopped being a priest in heaven."

Xie Lian smiled and said, “Then you can just call me by my name. No need to be so polite. I’ve long ceased to be the Crown Prince.”

Yinyu glanced at Huacheng behind him and said hurriedly, "I dare not, I dare not, I dare not."

Xie Lian said, “Why shouldn’t I be afraid of that?” He took two steps and was about to pick up the Quan Yizhen tumbler when suddenly a figure dropped from the sky and fell heavily in front of him, making a crisp sound of bones breaking.