Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
The one who was speaking was the Golden Origin Cauldron!
Zhang Xuan had learned spirit enchantment previously at the Spirit Awakener Guild, and in the three days he spent in the Combat Master Hall, he found some spare time to wake the Golden Origin Cauldron up from its coma.
It might have been a difficult feat for any other spirit awakener, but as one who had cultivated the Heaven’s Path Spirit Enchantment Art, as long as he were to be a bit more meticulous, it actually wasn’t something too difficult to achieve.
Prior to heading to entering the Qiu Wu Palace, the Golden Origin Cauldron had already been at Primordial Spirit realm pinnacle. While the onslaught of the lightning had caused its spirit to go dormant, it had also tempered it, allowing it to achieve a breakthrough swiftly after it awoke from its coma, achieving the same level of strength as Wu shi, Half-Leaving Aperture realm.
As long as Zhang Xuan could find fitting materials to reforge it, it was only a matter of time before it achieved a breakthrough to Leaving Aperture realm.
Given the Golden Origin Cauldron rise in power, as well as the advantage it wielded as a Saint intermediate-tier artifact, Vice Pavilion Master Tian was already smashed into the ground before he could even process what was going on. Truly, a pitiful state he was in.
“He’s right below you… I only asked you to stop him, not to kill him…” Seeing how unreliable the Golden Origin Cauldron was, smashing Vice Pavilion Master Tian into the ground as soon as it appeared, Zhang Xuan slapped his forehead, speechless.
Can’t you at least take a look before making a move?
Look at what you have done. Now that a vice head of the Master Teacher Pavilion had been smacked into the ground, how should this matter be resolved?
“He’s below me?” Taken aback, the Golden Origin Cauldron slowly shifted sideward before seeing a huge ‘大’ character on the ground with a figure embedded in it.
“Ah… Master, I didn’t do it on purpose…” the Golden Origin Cauldron said apologetically.
“You’re courting death!”
Hong long!
Before the Golden Origin Cauldron could finish his words, Vice Pavilion Master Tian abruptly flew out from the depression of the ground, and powerful aura burst from his acupoints, rippling into the surroundings.
At this point, he felt so furious that he could explode on the spot.
For the person who commanded the entire Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion to be crushed beneath the bottom of a mere Saint-tier artifact, he felt so humiliated that he could just blow up.
“Zhang Xuan, it is insubordination for you to order your Saint-tier artifact to assault a 7-star master teacher. This is a blatant disregard for the dignity of the Way of Teacher, a complete lack of respect for your elders. A person like you isn’t worthy of being a master teacher!” Roaring furiously, Vice Pavilion Master Tian thrust his palm towards Zhang Xuan.
It must be said that the might wielded by Vice Pavilion Master Tian was indeed fearsome.
Even King Zhongqing was nowhere on par with him. That single palm strike caused the surrounding air current to suddenly billow furiously, and it felt as if the entire hall would collapse under the pressure at any time soon.
“Your opponent is me!” Seeing that the other party was attempting to attack its owner, the Golden Origin Cauldron roared in anger.
It wasn’t easy for it to regain consciousness, and it had been wanting to find an opportunity to perform before its master. Yet, that fellow actually snubbed him and went straight for its owner. This was unforgivable!
Hu la!
The massive cauldron flung itself forcefully towards Vice Pavilion Master Tian.
Peng!
The incredible momentum of the charging cauldron succeeded in neutralizing Vice Pavilion Master’s palm strike in an instant. However, at the same time, the impact of the collision also caused the Golden Origin Cauldron to skid back for several dozen meters before coming to a halt.
The both of them were actually equally matched!
As expected of a vice head of the Master Teacher Pavilion, he is indeed formidable! Zhang Xuan thought.
If he had to face Vice Pavilion Master Tian in a straightforward battle, there was a very good chance that it would end in his defeat.
While he was already invincible against all the Primordial Spirit realm cultivators, he was still a little lacking from being able to deal with Half-Leaving Aperture realm experts.
Knowing that it would take a long time before there was a conclusion for the battle between Vice Pavilion Master Qing and the Golden Origin Cauldron, Zhang Xuan decisively turned his attention away from them and turned his sights back to King Zhongqing, “It’s your turn!”
“You… Vice Pavilion Master Qing is here! If you were to make a move against me here, there’s no way he will let you off. You’re courting death!” King Zhongqing roared furiously.
All along, he had thought that the figure he was going to deal with was just an insignificant figure from an insignificant land. As long as he were to pull his weight, the other party would surely be swiftly cave in, Who could have thought that the other party was not only strong, he was even brazen enough to make a move against the Vice Pavilion Master Qing…
Formalities were extremely important to master teachers—after all, only one who conducted himself properly could be qualified to lecture others—and assaulting a higher ranked master teacher was a severe breach of the formalities.
If the Master Teacher Pavilion were to judge the other party for this matter, being stripped of his master teacher license could be said to be the least of his concerns. More than that, he could very well be executed on the spot to make an example for others to see!
And yet, to do so for a mere subordinate… Was that fellow insane?
“Whether I am courting death or not, it’s none of your business. However, for hurting my butler, you have to pay the price.” Zhang Xuan uttered coldly as he flicked his wrist.
Huala!
The Golden Soul Lock suddenly leaped up and pierced King Zhongqing.
Puhe!
It stabbed right into his chest.
The Golden Soul Lock had the ability to seal cultivation. As soon as it entered King Zhongqing’s body, the latter’s aura immediately began wilting. The excruciating pain of a foreign object piercing into his body left him spasming frenziedly, and for that moment, he thought that he would go insane from the pain.
“He’s powerless now, go and exact your vengeance.” Zhang Xuan waved his hand leisurely.
In his heart, Sun Qiang was as important as his direct disciples. The other party’s act of kidnapping Sun Qiang and deploying heavy torture on him had truly touched his bottom line, and it was already an act of mercy that he didn’t kill the other party on the spot.
“Yes!” Sun Qiang walked up to King Zhongqing, and gazing down on the latter, he sneered, “You had fun kidnapping me, didn’t you? You should have a taste of your own medicine…”
He flicked his wrist, whipped out a dagger, and swiped it right into King Zhongqing’s body.
Even though King Zhongqing was a Primordial Spirit realm expert, he hadn’t cultivated his body to a nigh indestructible level like Zhang Xuan, and his cultivation was also sealed by the Golden Soul Lock as well. As such, the dagger sunk right into King Zhongqin’s body, and blood began flowing out from his body.
“You!!!”
The immense pain caused King Zhongqing to howl in agony. However, before he could finish his words, he saw Sun Qiang whipping out a jar of salt from somewhere and spreading it generously on his wound.
“Bear with it, I’ll help you apply some medicine now…”
“…” King Zhongqing.
After applying a fair amount of salt on the wound, Sun Qiang picked up his dagger once more, brandished it to create another wound, and proceeded on to apply salt on it as well.
Zhang Xuan, having watched the happenings up to this point, couldn’t help but avert his gaze… It was simply too cruel!
However, he could tell that the Sun Qiang had been put through far more brutal torture than this while healing him up previously. In a sense, Sun Qiang’s rage and means weren’t unjustified.
On the other side, Vice Pavilion Master Tian and the Golden Origin Cauldron were still battling with one another, and both sides were equally matched. Thus, Zhang Xuan turned his sights to Ming Zhen instead.
The ex-vice head of the Poison Hall had attempted to escape as soon as he realized that the situation had gone awry, but the activated formation around the hall not only prevented those outside from entering, it also prevented those within from leaving.
Seeing that Zhang Xuan was staring at him intently, Ming Zhen backed away in horror.
“Come over!” Zhang Xuan roared.
With a flick of his wrist, Ming Zhen suddenly felt a powerful force pulling him right in front of Zhang Xuan before binding him tightly, preventing him from moving.
Zhang Xuan set up an isolation barrier with a wave of his hand to prevent Luo Qiqi and the others from hearing anything before asking coldly, “What happened to the Poison Hall? Where is Elder Xu You and the others?”
“Y-you, how do you know about Xu You?” Ming Zhen was astonished to hear that name coming out of Zhang Xuan’s mouth.
Back then, when Zhang Xuan headed to the Poison Hall, he had disguised him and assumed the identity of ‘Sun Qiang’. As such, Ming Zhen was unable to recognize the young man standing before him.
“Wait, it can’t be that… you are Sun Qiang?”
Ming Zhen was no fool either. It took only a moment for him to understand what was going on, and his eyes narrowed in horror.
“Not bad, I hope that you can remain this intelligent when you answer my questions.” Zhang Xuan’s lips curled up as he patted Ming Zhen’s shoulders, sending a surge of zhenqi into the other party’s body.
“AHHHHH!!!”
The zhenqi within Ming Zhen’s body warped into lethal poison, leaving cold sweat pouring down his convulsing body.
Not even Poison Master Hai and the others were able to endure the agony of the Heaven’s Path zhenqi, let alone him.
“You are… a master teacher… It’s already a grievous crime… for you to disregard Vice Pavilion Master Tian’s authority… If you were to kill me… the Master Teacher Pavilion will conduct a thorough investigation of you…” Clenching his fists to bear the unbearable pain, Ming Zhen said.
Knowing that the man before him had a close relationship with Elder Xu You, he swiftly realized that the young man could possibly hold a grudge against him due to his actions which resulted in the annihilation of the Poison Hall. As such, he hurriedly said those words in hopes that he could convince the other party to stop.
“It seems like you aren’t as intelligent as I thought. I only want to hear things I want to hear. Since you know that I’m the successor of the Poison Hall’s founder, you should also know that I have the means to end your life discreetly without having anyone trace it back to me.” Zhang Xuan replied impassively.
It might have been difficult for any other master teachers to kill an individual without having the Master Teacher Pavilion trace the case back to them, but Zhang Xuan was a poison master. He had many ways of killing a person without leaving behind any clues to him.
“I…” Hearing those bone-chilling words, Ming Zhen realized that the other party would really do so without any hesitation. Thus, he gritted his teeth and said, “Back then, after I fled from the Poison Hall, I headed straight here.”
“You headed towards Qingyuan City? You are acquainted with King Zhongqing beforehand?” Zhang Xuan asked.
After fleeing from the Poison Hall, in order to ensure that no one would pursue him, he would surely head in a direction where he deemed that he would be safe. The fact that he chose to head here meant that it was likely that he had already known King Zhongqing beforehand, and he was certain that the latter could provide him cover.
“That’s right, we have some business dealings with one another. I sold him quite a handful of lethal poison, and in exchange, he gave me many valuable cultivation resources…” Ming Zhen confessed.
Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan’s face turned grim.
It seemed like Yu Fei-er’s news was accurate. However, instead of being a poison master himself, King Zhongqing just had dealings with the Poison Hall.
Nevertheless, there were still some doubts about the matter.
“You said that he purchased lethal poison from you, but is he able to use it?” Zhang Xuan frowned.
Putting aside the concoction of poison, the usage of poison was also an incredibly profound art as well. Even if those who weren’t poison masters were to obtain lethal poison, they would only be able to use it crudely, making it highly possible that they would be discovered.
This was the case with You Xu back then as well. Despite receiving lethal poison from the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, his ability to utilize poison was lacking, which prevented him from using it too often.
“I don’t know about that… However, he has an exceptionally high demand for high-grade poisons. Most of the grade-7 poisons which I have applied by the headquarters ended up being sold to him.” Ming Zhen dared not to hide anything from Zhang Xuan.
“I see.” Zhang Xuan replied as he shot a doubtful gaze towards King Zhongqing.
That fellow was an honored King of Qingyuan Empire, and there didn’t seem to be any incidents where the other party used the poison he had purchased to commit atrocities. As such, despite being a master teacher, he wasn’t in a good position to interfere too much in this matter either.
Otherwise, it could very well cause some strife between Qingyuan Empire and the Master Teacher Pavilion.
Since King Zhongqing was the one to provoke him through Sun Qiang first, Zhang Xuan’s actions could still be justified as self-defense. However, if he wanted to have King Zhongqing indicted for the purchase of poison, he would have to go through the royal court.
“What happened to Xu You and the others?” Zhang Xuan turned his attention back to Ming Zhen and asked.
“I spent my whole life toiling for the Poison Hall, only to be sentenced to a death penalty in the end. Indignant, I sought King Zhongqing, hoping to use his hand to return me justice. Yet, wanting to make use of this incident to win himself some merit, KIng Zhongqing ignored my opposition and captured everyone from the Poison Hall. Those who retaliated against him back then have all been killed…”
At this point, bitterness surfaced on Ming Zhen’s face. “As much as I hate Xu You and the others for putting me in such a plight, I still view myself as a member of the Poison Hall. It’s honestly not my wish to see this happen.”
Ming Zhen shook his head. What was done was done, nothing he said would change anything at this point in time.
“However, I can tell you that Elder Xu You isn’t dead yet!”
