Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Hearing Zhang Xuan’s question, Pavilion Master Gou spurted a mouthful of blood. He felt so stifled that he could have gone insane on the spot.
With this, his dream of retiring peacefully had been utterly shattered. He was probably the very first pavilion master in history to have the wills of all the predecessors dissipate under his leadership!
After a long moment of silence, Pavilion Master Gou finally suppressed the indignation in his heart and bowed deeply. “Zhang shi, since you have successfully crashed the pavilion, you can raise any request. As long as it isn’t at odds with our fundamental values as master teachers, our Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Empire will surely heed your orders!”
To be honest, Pavilion Master Gou really felt that he was unlucky. There had only been three successful pavilion crashes in the long history of the Master Teacher Pavilion, and never had he dreamed that he would be the fourth.
“Vice Pavilion Master Tian has colluded with King Zhongqing to frame me, and on top of that, he has intentionally leaked the secrets of the Master Teacher Pavilion to the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, causing the death of countless master teachers. His sins are unpardonable, so I want the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion to apprehend him and have this matter thoroughly investigated this instant!” Zhang Xuan ordered authoritatively.
“Yes!” Pavilion Master Gou nodded. Turning around, he was just about to speak when he noticed something and frowned. “Where is Vice Pavilion Master Tian?”
Vice Pavilion Master Tian had been standing next to him just a moment ago, so how did the latter vanish all of a sudden?
A master teacher quickly rushed forward. “Reporting to Pavilion Master Gou, Vice Pavilion Master Tian has left temporarily to deal with some urgent matters.”
“Shit!” Pavilion Master Gou’s eyes narrowed in dread. “Comb through Qingyuan City and find him right now!”
Huala!
The ten thousand master teachers swiftly dispersed throughout Qingyuan City. Not too long later, they returned with livid expressions on their faces. “Pavilion Master Gou, it appears that Vice Pavilion Master Tian is no longer in the capital. We aren’t able to find any trace of him…”
Hearing those words, Pavilion Master Gou’s face turned completely pale.
He had been so shocked by Zhang Xuan’s pavilion crashing that he had not paid much notice to the fellow beside him. He had not expected the latter to escape while his attention was elsewhere!
It seemed like the Vice Pavilion Master Tian knew that Zhang Xuan would have him apprehended as soon as the latter succeeded in crashing the pavilion, so he dared not stay any longer.
“The very purpose of my pavilion crashing was out of indignation of being framed by Vice Pavilion Master Tian; you should know that very well. You should have known that he would escape as soon as I succeed in my pavilion crashing, and yet, you did not make any preparations in advance. Tell me, how in the world did a fool like you manage to become the pavilion master?” Zhang Xuan’s face turned incomparably ugly as well.
The conflict between him and the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion originated from Vice Pavilion Master Tian. Regardless of whether Zhang Xuan succeeded in the pavilion crashing or not, it was almost certain that the headquarters would investigate this matter, and the latter would be punished for his actions.
Despite this, Pavilion Master Gou did not dispatch any men to keep a close eye on Vice Pavilion Master Tian, even allowing the latter to come and go as he pleased. As such, Vice Pavilion Tian would have to have been an imbecile to not make use of the opportunity to escape!
If a 7-star master teacher were to determinedly conceal all traces of himself and go into hiding, it would be nigh impossible to find him.
“I…” Pavilion Master Gou’s face turned completely red.
He had intended to make such an order, but he had not expected Zhang Xuan to successfully crash the pavilion, and to succeed so swiftly at that!
Clenching his fists tightly, Pavilion Master Gou turned to the crowd and declared imposingly, “In my name as the head of the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, I hereby issue an arrest warrant for Tian Qing! Alive or dead, capture him and bring him to me!”
“Yes!”
The master teachers swiftly scattered.
An arrest warrant from the Master Teacher Pavilion could be said to be the most powerful warrant throughout the entire Master Teacher Continent. Once released, all the empires and kingdoms within the Qingyuan Conferred Empire would receive the message, and any cultivator who encountered the wanted individual would be handsomely rewarded for notifying the regional Master Teacher Pavilion.
It could be said that with this arrest warrant, unless the wanted were to forever conceal their strength and lie low, it would only be a matter of time before they were found.
After making arrangements for Vice Pavilion Master Tian’s capture, Pavilion Master Gou took out his emblem and declared, “I, Gou Tianze, have let down the Master Teacher Pavilion. Thus, I shall officially resign from my position in the Master Teacher Pavilion and await the headquarters’ verdict. Until a new pavilion master is nominated, the affairs of the Master Teacher Pavilion will be handled by Wu shi!”
Along with that declaration, the energy he had a moment ago seemed to suddenly vanish without a trace. In an instant, he looked as if he had aged several centuries.
He had been the head of the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion for five hundred years, and he had not erred within that period. He really did not expect that he would end up retiring in such a manner.
On the other hand, knowing that there was no point in saying anything further, Zhang Xuan shook his head and sighed. Even with all the measures taken to arrest Vice Pavilion Master Tian, it would not be easy to find him once more. Thus, choosing to put the matter aside for the moment, he turned to Wu shi and said, “Wu shi, here are my 7-star supporting occupation emblems. I meet the prerequisites, so I would like to apply for my promotion to 7-star master teacher!”
After saying those words, he passed the 7-star supporting occupation emblems over.
After taking a look, Wu shi nodded and said, “Principal Zhang, give me a moment. I’ll report your situation to the headquarters, so it might take a while.”
“There’s no need to hurry. Meanwhile, is it fine if I take a look around the Master Teacher Pavilion’s library?” Zhang Xuan replied.
Even though he had cleared the Empire Building examination, there were still some necessary administrative procedures that had to be completed before he could be awarded with the 7-star emblem. With Wu shi dealing with those for him, they would not pose much of a problem. Rather than waiting there for the processing to be done, his time would be better spent browsing through books.
While he was already qualified to become a 7-star master teacher, he had not browsed through the 7-star master teacher books yet. This would be a good opportunity to do so.
“Here is my identity token. With this, you should be able to freely access any book within the Master Teacher Pavilion,” Wu shi replied.
Considering how Zhang Xuan had managed to crash the entire Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, defeating all the master teachers within it, there was no doubt that he was already on par with a 7-star master teacher. Thus, it could not be considered a breach of rules to allow the other party to access the 7-star books using his token while the other party’s promotion application was being processed.
“Un.” After accepting the token, Zhang Xuan had a master teacher swiftly lead him to the library.
The Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion’s library did not just contain books concerning the master teacher occupation; there was also a sizeable collection on each of the other occupations as well, such as painter, appraiser, and the like.
Master teachers prided themselves on being knowledgeable, so it was only natural that they would house a huge array of books in their library. It took almost an entire day before Zhang Xuan managed to collect all the books into the Library of Heaven’s Path.
He started by browsing through the master teacher books before moving on to the spirit awakener, demonic tunist, apothecary, physician, painter, beast tamer, terpsichore, formation master, appraiser, celestial designer, and the others.
Naturally, the collection of books on the other occupations within the library of the Master Teacher Pavilion could not be compared to the collections in the libraries of the occupations’ guilds, but to Zhang Xuan, it did not matter how profound or deep each book was. As long as the quantity was enough, the quality did not matter at all.
It was not until three days later that Zhang Xuan successfully assimilated the knowledge of these books with their corresponding 7-star Heaven’s Path manuals.
As soon as Zhang Xuan walked out from the library, Wu shi stepped forward and passed an object to him. “Principal Zhang, here is your 7-star master teacher emblem.”
Taking a look at it, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.
After all the trouble he had gone through, he was finally a 7-star master teacher.
It was only a year ago that he had been a teacher who was on the verge of being fired, and he had not even heard of the master teacher occupation at that point. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he was already a 7-star master teacher, one of the top figures of the Master Teacher Continent.
Time really flies!
“Principal Zhang, there’s still no trace of Tian Qing anywhere. However, I have already reported this matter to the headquarters, and the headquarters have decided to dispatch an envoy to track him down as well. If nothing goes wrong, the envoy should be arriving in half a month’s time,” Wu shi informed Zhang Xuan.
“I see.” Zhang Xuan nodded.
Tian Qing would have surely escaped as warily as he could so as to prevent anyone from tracking him down, so unless a unique artifact was used, it would be nigh impossible to find him.
“What about King Zhongqing? Have you captured him yet?”
“He’s currently imprisoned within the cell of the Master Teacher Pavilion. However, he still refuses to speak.” Wu shi shook his head.
“It’s fine, just keep him imprisoned for the time being. How is the matter of awarding Chen Zhe with accolades coming along?” Zhang Xuan asked.
Zhang Xuan had advised Wu shi to offer the highest compliments to Chen Zhe instead of punishing the latter so as to lure their enemies into action. But before Wu shi could do so, Zhang Xuan had ended up crashing the pavilion. Three days had passed since then, so Wu shi should have gotten it done by now.
“Just as you instructed, I conducted a ceremony to award accolades to Chen Zhe earlier this morning, complimenting him for the great contribution he has made to mankind. I also made sure to make his accomplishments as detailed as possible.” Wu shi quickly nodded.
Hearing that Wu shi had done it, Zhang Xuan smiled in satisfaction. “That’s good. Alright, gather a few of the stronger master teachers and follow me. It’s about time for us to apprehend Tian Qing!”
“Apprehend Tian Qing? How?” Wu shi was stunned.
“Simple. We’ll lie in ambush at Chen Zhe’s residence. If nothing goes wrong, the residence should find itself welcoming an uninvited guest tonight,” Zhang Xuan replied.
“Chen Zhe’s residence? Does Principal Zhang mean to say that Chen Zhe wields some secret concerning Tian Qing?” Wu shi pondered for a moment before swiftly comprehending the situation.
Chen Zhe was Tian Qing’s student, which made the latter suspicious too. On top of that, Chen Zhe’s abrupt death in his cell in the midst of the investigation was extremely curious as well. At this point, Wu shi was nearly certain that the both of them had been conspiring with one another!
“I’m not too sure either. This is an idea that came to my mind over the past two days. If Chen Zhe did not hold any critical information, there should have been no reason for the other side to go to the trouble of silencing him. While your act of awarding him accolades publicly will reek of a trap, my gut feeling tells me that the other side will not dare take the risk,” Zhang Xuan analyzed.
“I understand the rationale behind your plan, but… given that Tian Qing is already in a precarious position himself, is there a need for him to stake his life just to guard a secret?” Wu shi asked with a frown.
If Tian Qing was indicted with the current crimes he was accused of, there was a very good chance that he would be executed by the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters. Since he was already a goner either way, it should not matter whether the list of crimes to his name increased or not. Thus, even if Chen Zhe possessed any secrets, it did not seem likely that Tian Qing would risk exposing himself just to retrieve the ‘secret’.
“That depends on how important the secret is,” Zhang Xuan said.
“The reason Chen Zhe was exposed was because he had duped Zhang Yinqiu and the others of the news concerning the ancient domain and leaked it to the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. So… if the secret that he holds concerns some confidential intelligence of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, Tian Qing might just take the risk.”
“This…” Wu shi’s body stiffened upon hearing those words. “Principal Zhang, could you have discovered something regarding that?”
Zhang Xuan shook his head. “It’s still speculation at the current moment.”
Over the past two days, on top of going through the books that he had collected, he had been pondering over his encounters over the past seven days in Qingyuan City as well.
After some thought, he could not help but feel that something was amiss.
It was a little difficult to believe that Tian Qing was unaware of his student’s affiliation with the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe.
Furthermore, as the vice head of the Master Teacher Pavilion, it was honestly suspicious how Tian Qing took no action after learning from Wu shi that his student had leaked vital intelligence to the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. Considering how severe the matter was, shouldn’t Tian Qing have been in a rush to explain himself so as to absolve himself of blame? Or perhaps… did he know that he did not have to do so?
“Alright, I’ll gather my men right now!” Wu shi could tell that Zhang Xuan seemed to have noticed something crucial, so he quickly left the room.
A few moments later, he returned with five master teachers beside him.
Four of them were elders of the Master Teacher Pavilion, and the last one was a familiar face—Zhang Jiuxiao!
As powerless as Zhang Jiuxiao appeared to be compared to Zhang Xuan, defeated without even managing to land a blow on the latter, his true strength was still formidable. If he were to use all the means at his disposal, especially his two Saint intermediate-tier swords and four Saint low-tier sabers, there was a good chance that he would be able to overwhelm even Wu shi.
“For the time being, just sit around and rest. We’ll set off at night time,” Zhang Xuan instructed.
“Yes!” the crowd replied.
After witnessing the pavilion crashing, they were all filled with admiration for the young man before them. At this moment, Zhang Xuan’s prestige within the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion could be said to have exceeded even that of Wu shi!
