The very next day, the Southern Barbarian camp’s gates were indeed sealed tight, flying the flag of refusal.

The Tang forces charged a few times, but the barbarians rained down arrows and stones, holding fast. As the Southern Barbarian territory was mountainous, easy to defend and hard to attack, Wu Ji, seeing that a direct assault was impossible, had no choice but to beat the retreat gong and return to urgently question Feng Zikang.

“It’s fine. I scouted last night; Wuduyai is just waiting for reinforcements. If I go eliminate his support first, cutting off his hope, what else does he have to defend against!”

Feng Zikang, brimming with confidence, persuaded Wu Ji to maintain a steady siege around Wuduyai without rushing the attack. He then slipped out of the army camp, secretly circled behind the Southern Barbarian camp, and lay in ambush within the mountains.

There was no movement for the first two days. On the morning of the third day, a fierce black light streaked in from the south, carrying an imposing, sharp aura. Feng Zikang mentally noted the main player had arrived. From his storage pouch, he retrieved a Spirit-Witch Gu and gently pinched it, activating the divine power of the Concealment Spell.

As the fierce light approached, Feng Zikang saw clearly: it was a gigantic man, nearly fourteen feet tall, with a face like the bottom of a cooking pot, riding a black tiger with fierce eyes and a white blaze across its forehead. A large banner was fixed behind his shoulder, emblazoned with the likeness of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, snapping in the wind.

“This must be the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner!”

Feng Zikang nodded slightly, picked up a stone from the ground, and hurled it in the direction the black tiger was advancing.

His throwing strength was immense; though it was a common pebble, it sounded like a thunderclap, kicking up dust and startling the black tiger so badly its fur bristled, causing it to halt abruptly.

The giant dark-skinned man set his face, his eyes bulging and his protruding teeth making him look fearsome. He roared angrily, “Who dares block my path?”

Feng Zikang hopped out with a lighthearted smile, cupped his hands, and said, “Esteemed friend, please halt! I noticed you are in quite a hurry, and I feared trouble lay ahead, so I came specifically to offer a warning.”

This dark giant was Dashan, Wuduyai’s senior apprentice-brother, sent on his master’s orders to assist Wuduyai in breaking the Tang army. He had rushed every step of the way to reach the battlefield. Hearing Feng Zikang’s strange words, though his anger was already burning, he couldn’t help but take a closer look at the youth.

That one look changed everything; cold sweat immediately beaded on Dashan’s forehead, frightening the very soul out of him!

Having stayed near his Master for a long time, Dashan possessed more insight than his junior brother. This boy, barely fifteen or sixteen, already manifested auspicious signs behind his head, possessed palpable Daoist energy on his face, and his bones and muscles were unlike those of a mortal—he clearly showed signs of having established a Daoist Foundation!

He hurriedly jumped off the tiger’s back and bowed deeply.

“Senior! So it is a Senior who has arrived. I was discourteous!”

Feng Zikang smiled faintly. He was employing the Concealment Spell unique to the Spirit-Witch Bone, disguising his cultivation as that of the Foundation Establishment stage. This was the first time he had used this trick, and it had indeed achieved a marvelous effect, completely fooling the barbarian. Seeing his terrified expression, it was clear he had believed it.

“Where does Senior come from?”

“I come from Penglai Island, traveling the world…”

“Penglai? That is where immortals dwell!” Dashan’s expression instantly shifted to one of yearning. Good heavens, Penglai! His Master often spoke of that immortal island overseas with profound admiration. To think he had met someone from Penglai today made his heart burn even hotter.

“Heh heh,” Feng Zikang chuckled dryly. “Though I am no immortal, my Master is one…”

“Naturally!” A youth of fourteen or fifteen who could establish a Daoist Foundation—what else could he be but the disciple of an immortal? Dashan was utterly convinced and bowed low in reverence.

“There’s no need for such worship just yet,” Feng Zikang helped him up, staring intently at his forehead for a long moment, clicking his tongue in amazement and shaking his head repeatedly. “Ah dear, this is not good at all…”

Dashan was so frightened his limbs went weak. If a disciple of an immortal stared at one’s face and then declared something was ‘not good’—how could that forebode anything positive? He asked fearfully, “Senior, may I ask… ask what is not good about me?”

Feng Zikang kept shaking his head, feigning the motion of counting on his fingers, and said solemnly, “Your name is Dashan, yes? You are a disciple of the Great Sorcerer of the Southern Barbarians, holding the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner, capable of summoning the Heavenly King’s immense power, able to move mountains and overturn seas?”

He did not know the Great Sorcerer’s specific name, but since Wuduyai and that Shijie Sorcerer referred to him as the Great Sorcerer, he surmised this description wouldn't be wrong. Dashan was greatly shocked. The immortal’s disciple was indeed formidable, to know his name and origin instantly! He hurriedly nodded in assent.

“You come to this place of strife to help your junior brother, Wuduyai, the Chief of Mangu Cave, resist the Tang army?”

“Precisely!”

This was a private instruction from his Master, known only to him. To think this young Senior knew it clearly as well—he admired the foresight of the immortal’s disciple even more, nodding his head like a chick pecking grain.

“Alas…” Feng Zikang sighed deeply. “Originally, serving by your Master’s side, you enjoyed peace and ease. Why must you involve yourself in this calamity of mortal conflict? Your entry into this tribulation is no small matter; not only will you be ground into dust, but your entire clan will suffer calamity, and even your Master and junior brother will be implicated, facing eternal damnation!”

Fearing that merely threatening death was insufficient for this giant, Feng Zikang swept his own clan and lineage into the doom, terrifying Dashan to the point of losing his soul. He repeatedly banged his head against the ground with such force that the stones shattered.

“I beg Senior to save me! Save my Master!”

Dashan never imagined that a Senior at the Foundation Establishment stage would deceive him. Hearing Feng Zikang speak such terrifying doom, his heart ached profoundly. He had been an orphan since childhood, taken in by his Master, and their bond was the deepest. Hearing that his disaster would implicate his Master made him even more fearful. He disregarded his own life, thinking only of saving his Master.

“It is difficult!”

Feng Zikang repeatedly waved his hands, sighing, “If you had immediately retreated and returned to your Master’s side, you might have barely escaped this tribulation. However, I see a lingering aura of misfortune about your face. Even if you escape this time, you cannot escape the next; sooner or later, your Master will be involved. Then there will truly be no way out!”

Dashan refused to believe this. He crawled over and clung to Feng Zikang’s knee, kowtowing desperately, tears streaming down his face, pleading, “Senior! Immortal Venerable! My lowly life is nothing and death holds no fear, but my Master’s kindness to me is as great as the mountains. I truly cannot bear for my calamity to involve him. I beg Senior to show me a path; I, Dashan, will shatter my body to repay your immense kindness!”

Feng Zikang gazed at him for a long time, then sighed, “Very well! I see your sincerity and deep filial piety. I shall show you a path—it pains me to reveal heavenly secrets, costing me two hundred years of life, but seeing your filial devotion, I must comply!”

Dashan was deeply grateful, and at the same time, ashamed that he had forced the Senior to lose lifespan. He said through tears, “I beg Senior to instruct me!”

Feng Zikang appraised him again from head to toe, then nodded. “To escape this calamity, there are two things you must firmly remember. First, you must return immediately to your Master’s side and must not speak a single word for seven days and seven nights; can you manage this?”

Dashan covered his mouth with a hand as large as a cattail fan and repeatedly nodded.

“The second thing: this Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Banner on your person is an object of great misfortune. You must give it to me!”