Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
“I only have one student, Feng Ziyi,” Yang shi replied with a frown.
“Zhang Xuan isn’t your student?”
Everyone was taken aback, especially the First Elder and Feng Wuchen. They could not help but stare at one another with widened eyes.
They had asked about this matter previously, and from the start to the end, Zhang Xuan had claimed to be Yang Xuan’s direct disciple, inheriting the exclusive arts of his lineage. Was this all a lie?
“I have been busy over the years, so I haven’t had any time to accept any other students. You should be well aware of this yourselves. What’s wrong? Did someone claim to be my student?” Yang shi asked.
“Indeed. This Zhang Xuan person claimed to be your direct disciple, and just a moment ago, he was even wreaking havoc in the Zhang Clan!” the First Elder reported.
“Someone claimed to be my direct disciple?” Yang shi’s face immediately darkened. “Where is this Zhang Xuan person you spoke of?”
Lineages were of the utmost importance in the Master Teacher Continent. Naturally, claiming to be another’s student was an extremely disrespectful action and considered a taboo.
Furthermore, from the sound of it, that person had been throwing his name around to cause trouble, and this was something that Yang Xuan could not accept.
“He has already left via a Teleportation Formation!” the First Elder replied awkwardly.
“Teleportation Formation? What happened?” Yang shi asked with a frown.
Thus, the First Elder went through the entire story once more.
“You are saying that a young lad who has just achieved a breakthrough to the Phantasmal Space realm was able to withstand a cultivation ordeal that wielded prowess surpassing that of a Macrocosm Ascendancy Ordeal? Not only so, he was able to triumph over the geniuses of your Zhang Clan, be it in terms of swordsmanship, painting, enchantment, appraising, and so on?” Yang shi was slightly taken aback by what he had heard.
“That is indeed the case!” The First Elder nodded. “It’s understandable for him to possess astounding abilities in a field or two, but to show such high expertise in so many fields at his age… I believe that there’s a high chance that he’s an Otherworldly Demon in disguise!”
“It’s indeed possible for an Otherworldly Demon Emperor to disguise as a master teacher, but it’s irrational for an Otherworldly Demon Emperor to act so ostentatiously.” Yang shi shook his head, disagreeing with the First Elder’s point of view.
While Otherworldly Demon Emperors were able to disguise as master teachers, their disguises were not infallible. To prevent being exposed by 9-star master teachers, they would definitely try their best to lie low as much as possible. There was no way that they would drop by the Zhang Clan and cause such a huge commotion.
After all, was that not as good as exposing himself?
If that was the case, what was the point of disguising himself in the first place?
Unconvinced by Yang shi’s words, the First Elder argued, “If he isn’t an Otherworldly Demon, how could he possibly be able to utilize the means of a soul oracle? How could he possibly be able to activate an artifact of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe?”
“To pretend to be my student and wreak havoc here, and the possession of the knowledge of soul oracle arts too… that young lad seems to be quite an interesting figure. I would very much like to meet him. Do you know where his Teleportation Formation leads to?” Yang shi asked with a soft chuckle.
The First Elder shook his head. “I’m afraid that we aren’t able to tell!”
If it was an ordinary Teleportation Formation, they might still have been able to fathom a guess. However, the Teleportation Formation that Zhang Xuan had used was extremely advanced, such that even an expert of the First Elder’s caliber was not able to interpret it at all, let alone guess where the young man had teleported to.
“You aren’t able to tell?” Yang shi frowned. “Where did he he teleported from? Bring me over. I want to take a look.”
The First Elder and the others quickly led the way, and it did not take long for them to reach where Zhang Xuan had teleported away from.
Yang shi lowered his head to study the area, but the more he looked, the deeper the frown of his forehead became. A moment later, he turned to the First Elder and asked, “Did the other party have a token that resembles something like this in hand when he teleported?”
He tapped his finger lightly in front of him, and an illusory image of a token that emanated a light golden glow appeared in midair.
“Indeed, he did have this artifact with him.” The First Elder nodded. “He used it to dodge my sword qi, so I believe that it should be a Saint pinnacle artifact at the very minimum!”
The young man had used this token to block his attack earlier, so he had a particularly deep impression of it.
“Is that so…” Hearing the First Elder’s confirmation, the frown on Yang shi’s forehead seemed to have further deepened.
Realizing that there was something amiss with Yang shi’s expression, the First Elder asked, “Yang shi, do you recognize this token?”
“Recognize? If Zhang Xuan really has this token in hand, just as you have said, there’s a good chance that he might be…” At this point, Yang shi abruptly halted his words. There was a short moment of silence before he waved his hand. “Never mind, this isn’t a good time to speak about it. I’ll have to confirm it with my own eyes first!”
The implications regarding the Sanctum Head Token were simply too great, such that even he did not dare speak of it lightly, especially since he was a grand elder of the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters. Even if he claimed it to be a mere hypothesis on his part, others would likely take his words as the truth due to the lofty position that he was in, and if it turned out that he was wrong, it could possibly lead to dire consequences.
However, speaking of the token, he knew that the Sanctum Head Token was distributed by Sage Kui himself, and there was no way that Sage Kui could have made such a major slip up as to pass down the sanctum head position to an Otherworldly Demon. Even if Sage Kui existed just as a sliver of will now, he had still been a powerful expert back in his era, as well as one of the very few possessors of the Eye of Insight. It was unthinkable that Zhang Xuan would be able to fool him if he truly was an Otherworldly Demon.
While Yang shi was still deep in thought, Hu Yiwei suddenly rushed over and greeted, “Old Master, you are finally out!”
“Un.” Yang shi nodded. Through his sharp eye, he was able to tell that Hu Yiwei had something on his mind, so he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Old Master, I was in the Sanctum of Sages a while back, and I found a student named Zhang Xuan. I found the Innate Fetal Poison that I planted back then in his body…” Hu Yiwei quickly relayed what he had found.
“Innate Fetal Poison? He’s the young prodigy of the Zhang Clan?” Even Yang shi was taken aback by that revelation. He turned to look at Sword Saint Xing at the others.
At that moment, he could not help but feel a little dazed by the situation.
On top of being the sanctum head of the Sanctum of Sages, a soul oracle, and an Otherworldly Demon, that Zhang Xuan person was actually the young prodigy of the Zhang Clan too? Just what was wrong with that fellow?
Was he suffering from dissociative personality disorder?
Yang shi pondered for a moment before speaking. “Since his identity as my student has been proven false, I believe that there’s a need to look deeper into the matter to verify the authenticity of his other identities. Sword Saint Xing and Sword Saint Meng, the both of you shouldn’t get your hopes up too much for the time being. We all know the circumstances surrounding the young prodigy, and the chances of him surviving are extremely slim. Why don’t you allow me to meet him first and verify his identity before deciding on anything?”
“I’m going with you!” Sword Saint Meng said firmly. “I feel like I’ll regret it for life if I don’t at least meet him in this moment!”
This was the best lead that she had found relating to her child in the past two decades. Even though the First Elder and the others had found evidence that suggested the contrary, she was still reluctant to accept it until she verified it with her own eyes.
Understanding Sword Saint Meng’s feelings, Yang shi nodded. “That’s fine with me. I don’t think that it’s possible for Hu Yiwei to be wrongly about this—that young lad’s surname also happens to be Zhang, and he comes from the ancient lands. Everything seems to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. It will indeed be hard to accept it unless you verify it with your own eyes.”
“Yang shi, could it be that… you know where he has teleported to?” Sword Saint Xing suddenly asked at this moment.
“If the First Elder is right about the token, I think I have a good idea where he has teleported to.” Yang shi nodded. “If my guess is right, he should have returned to the Sanctum of Sages!”
“Sanctum of Sages?” Sword Saint Xing’s lips twitched upon hearing those three words.
He and his wife had rushed to the Sanctum of Sages after hearing Hu Yiwei’s news, but halfway through their journey, they had heard that Zhang Xuan was in their Zhang Clan, so they had rushed all the way back. Yet, Yang shi was now telling them that he had gone back to the Sanctum of Sages?
Just how could their luck be so bad, missing him each and every time?
“If I recall correctly, the Zhang Clan doesn’t have a Teleportation Formation leading to the Sanctum of Sages or anywhere in its vicinity. Since that’s the case, I’ll first teleport to the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters and teleport to the Sanctum of Sages from there. The journey should take one day, thus saving us much time,” Yang shi said.
The Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters had Teleportation Formations leading all over the Master Teacher Continent, not to mention that the Sanctum of Sages was its subsidiary. As such, it would be faster to take this detour instead.
Considering the severity of this matter, it would be best for them to resolve it as quickly as possible.
“Alright, Yang shi. We’ll follow you!” Sword Saint Xing nodded.
