Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
The offensive prowess of the simultaneous assault from fifteen 9-star master teachers was simply too frightening. Putting aside the three poison masters, even if Yang shi was around, he would also have succumbed swiftly!
“Heed your commands?” Shen Jue and the others were surprised to hear such words from Zhang Xuan.
Even they were helpless against so many 9-star master teachers, so what could a mere Saint 8-dan cultivator possibly do?
“That’s right!” Zhang Xuan replied as he met the gazes of the three of them one by one.
“This…” Seeing that the young man was not joking around, the three poison masters traded gazes as deep frowns appeared on their foreheads.
The opponents that they were facing were 9-star master teachers. Every single one of them was unimaginably powerful! If they followed the young man’s commands on this matter, they could very well be wiped out!
Lin Jianghai sent a telepathic message to Shen Jue and He Guangyu. “Guys, let’s just listen to him. Our hall master instructed us to hold him in higher regard than her!”
Shen Jue and He Guangyu hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.
From their interactions with the hall master, they also knew how highly the hall master viewed her teacher. If something happened to him today, she would surely have them killed in a moment of fury.
The current situation was already bad enough as it was. Since they did not have any better ideas in mind, it could be worth gambling on the young man; he might just hold the key to leading them out of this crisis.
Forcefully holding the barrier up to fend off the barrage of attacks, Lin Jianghai quickly asked Zhang Xuan, “Zhang shi, what do you want us to do?”
Zhang Xuan’s voice echoed by the ears of the crowd. “Dissipate the energy barrier. Shen Jue, drive your Golden Yang Poison Art, take twenty steps forward, and flick your left hand. I know that there’s the venomous essence of Dustbreaking Twilight in your fingernails, so flick them out.
“Lin Jianghai, take twenty-seven steps to your right and prepare to release your Crimson Consonance. There’s no need to aim it any specific person—just scatter it lightly into the surroundings and you’ll see its worth.
“He Guangyu, nicknamed the Thousand Hands Poison, I know that you bring a huge variety of lethal poison on you, or more specifically, fifty-four poisons. Remain where you are and scatter eight of them toward the sky. After which, shoot seventeen of them right ahead of you. Then, remain on standby and await my next orders. You can decide then whether it’s worthwhile to continue following my orders or not!”
“Y-you… know of my Dustbreaking Twilight?” Shen Jue’s body clearly stiffened upon hearing Zhang Xuan’s words.
He was certain that this was the first time that he had met Zhang shi, but even if that was not the case, the Dustbreaking Twilight was a lethal poison that he had concocted not too long ago, not to mention that he had just decided on a name for it on his way there… Not even the hall master would be aware of it, yet the young man was able to name it and point out that it was hidden in his left fingernail.
Shen Jue was not the only one who was shocked. With a look of disbelief on his face, He Guangyu exclaimed in shock, “You know that I have fifty-four different poisons on me?”
As those poisons were his trump card, not even the closest people to him knew the number of poisons that he carried with him. On top of that, he reserved two of them for only the direst of situations, vowing to keep them hidden unless the situation truly called for them. Despite that, the young man had still been able to accurately point out how many poisons he had with him.
And that was not all. Each poison had an optimal way of planting them, depending on their properties and forms. There were exactly eight poisons in his possession that were discreet enough to be scattered upward without anyone noticing, and similarly, there were exactly seventeen of them that could be fired as swift projectiles, making them suited for direct offense.
In other words, there was no doubt that the young man really knew what poisons he had in his possession!
Was the young man actually a mind reader?
Seeing that the three poison masters were still dawdling around after hearing his commands, Zhang Xuan growled in displeasure, “If you still treasure your lives, hurry up and get to it!”
“Yes!”
Knowing that this was not a good time to allow their thoughts to wander, the trio swiftly acted according to Zhang Xuan’s instructions.
While they could not fathom what the purpose of making those moves was, the fact that the young man was completely aware of their trump cards was more than enough to say that he was not messing around and had a plan in mind.
Shen Jue swiftly drove his Golden Yang Poison Art before he decisively abandoned the energy barrier and dashed forward. He took exactly twenty steps forward, just as commanded.
Si la!
Barely after he stopped his footsteps, he felt a powerful force sweeping way. The attacks of two master teachers were already right before him.
He flicked his left finger lightly and shot out the Dustbreaking Twilight venomous essence that he had hidden beneath his fingernail.
Tzzzzzzzzz!
As soon as the venomous essence came into contact with the master teachers’ attacks, their zhenqi immediately began corroding.
“This is bad; it’s lethal poison!” Narrowing their eyes in shock, the two master teachers immediately retreated in a fluster.
At this moment, Lin Jianghai had already taken twenty-seven steps right at this point and scattered the Crimson Consonance powder outward, and the two master teachers happened to step right into its area of scatter. As soon as they came into contact with the Crimson Consonance, their zhenqi immediately began bubbling as if it was boiling.
Pu! Pu!
The two master teachers immediately spurted blood out. In no state to attack anymore, they quickly retreated out of the area of battle and sat on the floor to suppress the poison running through their veins.
The fifteen master teachers were moving as a whole in a formation, so with the abrupt disappearance of two members, the formation swiftly collapsed. He Guangyu’s lethal poison dispersed into the surroundings, forcing the master teachers to back off a hundred meters away.
It was almost as if a vacuum had been created in an instant. All of a sudden, the master teachers who had been ferociously attacking a moment ago dared not approach.
“This…” Seeing how the crisis that they had been facing was resolved with just a few simple movements, the three poison masters traded incredulous glances with one another.
They were confident of their strength, but the enemy had the Tianyun Divine Water to suppress them, which placed them in a highly disadvantageous position. If the fight had dragged on, it was only a matter of time before they sustained heavy injuries.
However, by following Zhang shi’s commands, not only did they manage to avoid direct confrontation with the Divine Water, they also managed to incapacitate two master teachers and successfully drive back the others. This was a result that they could brag about for many years and pass down to their descendants. At the same time, it would also serve as a testimony of the might of the Poison Hall!
“Zhang shi…” Unable to hold back their agitation, the three turned intrigued gazes to Zhang Xuan.
They had simply followed the young man’s orders, but even at that moment, they were unable to comprehend how it had produced the effect that it did.
Knowing that the three poison masters were curious about what had just happened, Zhang Xuan explained the earlier happenings to them. “Earlier, there were fifteen 9-star master teachers attacking us simultaneously, and three of them only managed to clear the 9-star examination in the recent decade. As such, their state of mind and fighting prowess were clearly a notch lower as compared to the rest of the group.
“Of the remaining twelve, seven of them have sustained some traumas in their long years of battle against the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, and they haven’t fully recovered even now. Four of them were serving as the lynchpins of the formation, so they could not move too quickly or else they would have risked the formation collapsing.
“Shen Jue’s advancement of twenty steps forward happened to be where the three newly promoted 9-star master teachers were stationed. By sending them into a fluster, an opening was created in the formation for He Guangyu to drive away the seven injured master teachers and force the lynchpins to swiftly retreat. With that, there was no way for their formation not to collapse!
“Of course, as master teachers, it would be foolish to underestimate their flexibility in adapting to their situation and their fighting prowess. The key to the earlier maneuver actually lay in Lin Jianghai’s twenty-seven steps to the right. That area happened to be the point of convergence for their zhenqi in the formation. In other words, your maneuver effectively poisoned all of them with the Crimson Consonance!
“While they might appear to be completely fine on the surface, the truth is that they are currently busy suppressing their poison. Of course, given that the poison was distributed among all fifteen of them, its effectiveness has been reduced considerably. Nevertheless, it still managed to scare them off for the time being. At the very least, they will not dare attack recklessly any time soon!
“Well, given the lack of time, I couldn’t come up with a wholesome plan. That’s all I could come up quickly!” Zhang Xuan shook his head and sighed.
“Is that still not considered a wholesome plan to you?”
“To think that you can calculate all of that in the spur of a moment…”
“Timing, formation, analysis of the opponent… You were actually able to achieve an impeccable evaluation on all of those with just a swift look…”
Shen Jue and the others trembled as if they had seen a ghost.
