Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Others might not have been aware of the sentiments that Zhang Xuan had for his students, but having followed him since Tianxuan Kingdom, Sun Qiang could not have understood any clearer.
For Lu Chong, he single-handedly faced an entire Conferred Kingdom. For Zhao Ya and Wang Ying, he was willing to threaten the powers that had taken them away. For Wei Ruyan, he was willing to put himself in danger.
It could be said that for his students, there was nothing that he would not do!
If something really happened to Liu Yang, he could already foresee Zhang Xuan charging straight into the Qingyuan royal palace and wreaking havoc, not resting until he turned the entire place upside down!
“What should I do?” Sun Qiang frowned in anxiety.
Although it was said that Zhang Xuan was in seclusion, Sun Qiang knew that he had gone somewhere very far away, and it would be difficult for him to return any time soon.
If Sun Qiang allowed anything to happen to Liu Yang during this period, there was no way Zhang Xuan would ever forgive him!
After asking for the details of the matter, Sun Qiang clasped his fist and bade farewell. “Chu gongzi, thank you for your notice. I am deeply grateful to you for your tip. I’ll report this matter to our Young Master this instant!”
After which, he turned around and left.
Not too long later, he arrived at Division Head Zhou’s residence.
“… That is the entire matter.” Sun Qiang swiftly filled Division Head Zhou on the happenings before requesting, “Division Head Zhou, I hope that you can dispatch some men to follow me to the royal palace to save Young Master Liu Yang!”
“You want to march to the royal palace to save Liu gongzi?” Division Head Zhou frowned. “This is no light matter. This is a matter that concerns the relationship among the Combat Master Hall, Master Teacher Pavilion, and the regional monarchy. While I can dispatch some combat masters to demand for Liu gongzi’s release, such an action could easily escalate the conflict! It’ll be safer if we report this matter to the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters and have them mediate for us!”
“Report it to the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters?” A deep frown emerged between Sun Qiang’s brows.
At this point, they did not even know what condition Liu Yang was in. A single day delayed meant an additional day of danger for the latter! If they were to settle this matter through bureaucracy, who could guarantee that Liu Yang would still be alive by the time any concrete action was taken?
At this point, Sun Qiang could not help but recall the torture he had been put through by King Zhongqing, and an involuntary shudder ran through his body.
“Combat masters are effectively the soldiers of the Master Teacher Pavilion, so there’s a strict regimentation that we have to follow. In order to mobilize our men, we will need a decree from the hall master himself! I apologize, but there is really nothing I can do about this matter. However, there should be no cause for worry. No matter what, Liu gongzi is Zhang shi’s student, so Chu Tianxing should not go too far,” Division Head Zhou consoled.
It was not that he did not want to help Sun Qiang, but the potential consequences that could arise from dispatching combat masters to confront the regional monarchy were simply too great. A division head like him was not qualified to bear the responsibility of the outcome.
If Hall Master Xing had been around, he might have been qualified to make such a call. However, as luck would have it, Hall Master Xing was not around either. If matters were to go awry, putting aside his position as a division head, he might even be stripped of his identity as a combat master!
The Combat Master Hall wielded immense power, so it was of paramount importance that the utmost caution was taken in its mobilization.
Otherwise, the Combat Master Hall would only be viewed as a threat by the regional power, and this would cause the leadership of the Master Teacher Pavilion to be questioned.
Seeing that Division Head Zhou was reluctant to make a move, Sun Qiang’s face turned livid. “Since you aren’t willing to save Young Master Liu Yang, I’ll think of a way myself!”
Leaving those words behind, Sun Qiang flung his sleeves furiously and left.
After leaving Division Head Zhou’s residence, he headed straight to the accommodation that the Combat Master Hall had prepared for the poison masters.
“Benefactor!” Upon seeing Sun Qiang, Elder Xu and the others from the Poison Hall hurriedly greeted him with grateful smiles on their faces.
If not for the middle-aged man before them, they could have been tortured to death in King Zhongqing’s hands. They also would not have been able to become upstanding combat masters, able to walk in the light without being shunned by others either.
The other party had not only given them a second life, he had also changed their fate as well.
“Un. Actually, I have a matter that I require your help with.” Without any hesitation, Sun Qiang dove straight to the topic at hand.
With his current strength, there was no way he could barge into the royal palace single-handedly and save Liu Yang. Thus, he had to gather all the power he could tap into.
For some inconceivable reason, these poison masters were extremely respectful to him, even going to the extent of pledging their loyalty to him again and again. As such, they were the first group that he thought of seeking help from.
“Benefactor, feel free to speak! As long as it’s within our means, we’ll have it accomplished regardless of the cost!” the poison masters replied resoundingly without the slightest hint of hesitation in their voices.
After cultivating the poison art that their founder had left for them, their cultivation had really improved by leaps and bounds. This was especially so for Elder Xu, who had recently made a breakthrough to Saint 3-dan.
The improvement in his cultivation was one thing, but more importantly, his comprehension and grasp over poison had also reached greater heights.
As long as he had a sufficiently potent poison in hand, he would be able to kill even a Primordial Spirit realm expert easily!
“There’s no need to agree to my request so quickly. You can make your decision after listening to their story.” Sun Qiang was slightly surprised by the poison masters’ unhesitating response to his request, but knowing the dangers in this mission, he did not want to force them into it.
“It’s like this. Young Master Liu Yang has been captured by the emperor of Qingyuan Empire, so I would like to seek your help in saving him!” Sun Qiang swiftly went through everything that he had heard from Chu Xiang.
“You want us to break into the Qingyuan royal palace to save Liu gongzi?”
“That dog of an emperor! I knew that he is a snake just by seeing how adamantly he protected King Zhongqing!”
“To dare make a move against Liu gongzi, that bastard is clearly disrespecting our great benefactor! Tell us, how do you want us to do it?”
“Shall we have the entire Qingyuan royal palace poisoned to death? I think they at least deserve this much for their insolence!”
Sun Qiang’s words induced an impassioned uproar amid the crowd from the Poison Hall.
There was not a single word of refusal from them.
Any matter concerning to their benefactor was more important than their own lives. Besides, they were not master teachers either, so rules and the sort meant very little to them.
“Good!” Seeing the poison masters agreeing heartily to his request, Sun Qiang could not help but feel deeply touched inside.
Ever since his first meeting with these poison masters, they had already treated him with the utmost respect. And now, they were even willing to brave such grave danger just to complete the task he had asked of them.
This was probably what they call personal charisma!
They were not even that respectful to someone as formidable as the Young Master, but they regarded him as if he was their savior. It seemed like his splendor and valiance had not gone unnoticed in the eyes of the world after all!
“Let’s quickly discuss a strategy before making our move!” Seeing the authority that he wielded amid the poison masters, Sun Qiang puffed his chest up and waved his hand grandly.
Even though they had many poison masters on their side, one must not forget that they were going up against the royal family of a Conferred Empire!
It would be a gross mistake if they thought that they could achieve victory just by charging over recklessly. If they did so, they could very well be subdued before they even got to Liu Yang.
Thus, there was a need to strategize in advance.
“Back then, when King Zhongqing purged our Poison Hall, he did it in the middle of the night, when everyone was resting…” Elder Xu narrowed his eyes menacingly.
Even though he had already decided to submit to the Combat Master Hall, that did not mean that he could forgive the Qingyuan Empire royal family for destroying his home and purging his kin and friends. While King Zhongqing was the one who had supervised the operation, there was no way that Chu Tianxing, as the emperor of Qingyuan Empire, would have been oblivious to it. In order to mobilize the troops required to destroy their Poison Hall, King Zhongqing had definitely received Chu Tianxing’s approval.
As such, the poison masters were also filled with hostility against Chu Tianxing as well.
In consideration of the effort their benefactor had put into giving them a fresh start, they had been planning to put their grudges aside and live their lives in peace. However, seeing how even the bastard emperor dared to make a move against their benefactor, they could not hold themselves back anymore.
A poison master stepped forward and said, “Back then, King Zhongqing gave us a lot of medicinal herbs to concoct the Scattering Breeze Powder. Making a rough calculation, we have enough to concoct ten whole tons of it!
“We refused to comply by King Zhongqing’s orders to concoct the Scattering Breeze Powder back then, but we still kept his medicinal herbs in our storage rings. In the past few days, we have been studying the new poison cultivation technique diligently, and we tried our hand at concocting the Scattering Breeze Powder as well. The results were not too bad—we have managed to concoct a fair bit of it, and it all reached Supreme grade! If you intend to break Liu gongzi out of the royal palace, I think that we can use it.”
“Scattering Breeze Powder? Supreme grade?” Sun Qiang was confused.
He knew nothing about poison at all, so naturally, that name did not ring a bell with him.
However, as their ‘benefactor’, how could he possibly appear ignorant before the poison masters?
Thus, he asked with a frown. “How much of it do you have?”
The security of a Conferred Empire royal palace was bound to be extremely tight. In order for their operation to be successful, they would need to have a massive amount of poison on hand.
“Benefactor, you don’t have to worry about the quantity. We have almost 500 jin 1 ready,” the poison master replied with a chuckle.
After learning the poison cultivation technique their founder had left for them, they had been wanting to find a way to put their newfound understanding of poison to the test. However, due to the lack of other medicinal herbs available, they could only concoct the Scattering Breeze Powder. As a result, they had ended up concocting a large quantity of it.
“500 jin?” Sun Qiang’s lips twitched in astonishment.
Even if he did not have much of an understanding of poison, he could still roughly fathom the significance of 500 jin of poison. On average, just a few grams of poison was sufficient to kill a large group of experts, so 500 jin of it… He shuddered just imagining the sheer devastation it could bring.
“The Scattering Breeze Powder is colorless and odorless, and it drifts along with the wind. As long as we scatter it throughout the royal palace in the middle of the night, we should be able to knock out the guards and successfully rescue Liu gongzi!” Elder Xu said.
“Good, it’s settled then! We’ll move later tonight.” Sun Qiang had never been one to fear anything. Since everything was ready, there was no reason to hesitate anymore.
After refining various details of their plans and confirming once more that there were no major issues, they swiftly returned to their rooms to condition themselves for the imminent operation.
Very soon, it was the Zi hour 2 .
Under Sun Qiang’s lead, the poison masters left the Combat Master Hall quietly.
As the poison masters had already been taken into the Combat Master Hall, and they were moving under the lead of Zhang Xuan’s butler, the sentries of the Combat Master Hall did not think much of their departure.
Flitting through the night, they soon arrived at the side of the royal palace where the wind was blowing from.
The group did encounter a few patrolling guards and sentries of the royal palace along the way, but they were all swiftly knocked out by the poison masters before they could manage to do anything.
Elder Xu took a swift look around the area before confirming the ideal location. “Alright, let’s release the poison here. The wind isn’t strong tonight, but as long as we release the poison from a high enough altitude, we should be able to cover the entire royal palace.”
Their goal was to deal with the Qingyuan royal family, and they had no intention of harming innocent civilians in the midst of their operation. Thus, they had to choose the location where they would release the poison from carefully as well.
“Un.”
The other poison masters also nodded in agreement as they swiftly took their positions in the air.
Hu la!
They scattered poison powder from their hands, and it dispersed into the night sky.
The Supreme Scattering Breeze Powder drifted along with the night wind as it slowly descended upon the oblivious royal palace.
While the royal palace was guarded by many formations, those were only activated in the face of an enemy assault. Not even the royal family of a Conferred Empire could afford to keep their defensive formations constantly activated.
Not to mention, the Scattering Breeze Powder could also seep through one’s pores, making it nigh impossible to guard against.
It was precisely due to the nature of this poison that the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe managed to catch the Master Teacher Pavilion and Combat Master Hall by surprise back then and lay claim to innumerable lives.
A poison that could incapacitate even the wary Combat Master Hall, how could the sleeping royal palace possibly be able to withstand it?
As the poison powder scattered further and further, the group gradually saw the guards of the royal palace losing consciousness and collapsing to the ground one after another.
The Scattering Breeze Powder only robbed a cultivator of their fighting prowess temporarily, it would not cause any significant damage to them. While the Supreme Scattering Breeze Powder boasted a greater potency, it would only increase its effective duration by several hours.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, Elder Xu roughly scanned the area with his Spiritual Perception before nodding. “They have all passed out. It’s time to strike. Let’s go get that dog of an emperor now!”
“That’s right. Let’s capture and castrate that dog of an emperor first!” Sun Qiang uttered viciously as he gazed coldly upon the royal palace.
