Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
This artifact resembled a jade compass, yet it could have been a jade tortoiseshell. As soon as it came into contact with the narrow thread that connected everyone, the crowd felt a numbing sensation coursing through their body. The next moment, their zhenqi began gushing out through the thread uncontrollably.
“They don’t intend to kill the hostages?”
Zhang Xuan’s initial intention was to use the Soultheft Shackle to counterattack and kill the Otherworldly Demons. Contrary to his expectations, however, instead of killing the hundred human hostages that they had to tribute them to their god, the Otherworldly Demon had only sapped their zhenqi.
Since that was the case, he did not think that he needed to make a move right now. To be honest, he wanted to see what the Otherworldly Demons had to do in order to get into the Temple of Confucius.
Given that there was no danger for the time being, he acted as if he had been controlled as well and allowed his zhenqi to flow through the Soultheft Shackle as well, just like the other human hostages.
Soon, the flow of their zhenqi formed a circular loop.
Weng!
A striking light shone from the Soultheft Shackle and harmonized with the inscriptions on the ground.
Hong long!
The pillar of light above the altar immediately expanded severalfold. Augmented by the energy of the crowd, it gushed toward the heavens with far greater might than before.
Hualala!
Under the intense assault of the pillar of light, the sound of flowing water echoed from the seal above. However, it still refused to break open.
Seeing such a sight, the black-armored Otherworldly Demon narrowed his eyes. With a flick of his wrist, he took out a saber and slit his palm softly.
Fresh blood gushed out from his hand and dribbled onto the altar.
In an instant, the pillar of light grew even brighter than before.
“This descendant of the Spirit Tribe, Bei Hong, offers his blood as a tribute to the Spirit God. I humbly beseech the Spirit God to bestow upon us the strength to break the spatial seal!” The black-armored Otherworldly Demon spoke in a tribal voice reminiscent of a curse.
The light above the altar grew even more blinding. Following which, a massive door appeared before everyone’s sight.
This door emanated an astoundingly oppressive aura. It felt as if even someone of Zhang Xuan’s ability was nothing more than an ant before this aura.
He’s summoning the Spirit God? Zhang Xuan’s eyes narrowed.
The Skyleaf King had used this ability before. His cultivation had still been low back then, but he did not think that he would still be utterly helpless even against the will that lay on the other side of the door in his current state.
Hu!
The door slowly appeared, and a vague silhouette came into sight.
Along with the presence of the silhouette came a crushing pressure on his soul. Even with his Soul Depth of 29.9, he could not help but feel his state of mind falling into an unstable state.
Given how even its silhouette was powerful enough to cause such a sensation within him, if the figure turned around, it was likely that everyone’s will would collapse and die on the spot before any tribute could be offered.
Formidable… Zhang Xuan’s body stiffened as his face paled.
He had encountered an Ancient Sage in the past, but it was apparent that the Spirit God was way stronger than the Ancient Sages. In fact, it was doubtful whether Vicious would have been able to compete with her at his peak!
In fact, it felt like if the Spirit God simply walked through the door, the entire Master Teacher Continent would disintegrate under the sheer pressure that she exerted upon the world.
But why does the Spirit God’s silhouette look a little familiar to me?
While being astonished by the might wielded by the Spirit God, a sensation similar to what he had felt previously struck him.
Back when he was still in the Qiu Wu Palace, when he caught sight of the Spirit God summoned by the Skyleaf King, he had also felt this sensation of familiarity as well. If he had to describe this feeling, it would be something akin to déjà vu, as if he had seen the other party somewhere before.
At this moment, such a feeling arose in his heart as well. Not only was he unable to shake off such a feeling, it also seemed to be growing stronger by the moment.
Yet, when he attempted to grasp at the feeling, he found his memories blurring and his consciousness blanking out, preventing his thoughts from running. It was as if some compelling force was intentionally keeping him from thinking deeper into this matter.
If it was something that was beyond what Zhang Xuan could do at the moment, he would not waste his time on it. Thus, he shook off the miscellaneous thoughts in his mind and focused his attention on the silhouette above.
With the appearance of the Spirit God, the depletion of zhenqi grew even faster. In just a short instant, everyone’s face had already turned pale.
“I beseech the Spirit God to bestow upon us a passageway into the Temple of Confucius…” the black-armored Otherworldly Demon named Bei Hong uttered with a deep voice as he allowed his blood to continue flowing into the altar.
Due to the profuse loss of blood, his body had already begun trembling uncontrollably. It seemed as if he would reach his limit very soon.
Hula!
Shortly after those words were spoken, a ray of light burst through the door, and the spatial seal that the altar was unable to destroy began to slowly melt like the winter frost encountering the spring sun.
Soon enough, a passageway appeared above.
The Spirit God had answered Bei Hong’s prayers and made a move!
“Thank you, Spirit God!” Bei Hong kneeled onto the ground and bowed earnestly.
Hu!
Following which, the silhouette vanished, and the door slowly dissipated. Bei Hong struggled to his feet and turned to the Otherworldly Demons around him, saying, “This passageway will only last thirty breaths. Hurry up and make a move!”
“Commander, these humans have seen us paying tribute to the Spirit God. Should we…”
One of the Otherworldly Demons gestured to kill the human hostages.
“Sovereign Chen Yong has ordered us not to harm the master teachers for the time being. Their zhenqi has been depleted, so they won’t be able to pull off anything anyway. Let’s not cause any unnecessary complications and quickly leave the area!” Bei Hong harrumphed as he darted toward the opened spatial seal.
“Where do you think you are going?”
Seeing that Bei Hong was going to leave the area, how could Zhang Xuan allow him to do as he pleased? Without hiding his cultivation any longer, he reached out, grabbed Bei Hong, and pulled him down.
Huala!
The two of them were nearly a hundred meters apart, but Zhang Xuan’s movement was not bound by the limitations of space. His fingers wrapped themselves around Bei Hong’s ankles, and the latter’s movement swiftly slowed to a halt.
“You… hid your true cultivation?” Bei Hong widened his eyes in horror as he felt his body plummeting to the ground.
The strength that was being exerted through the hand wrapped around his ankle was actually even stronger than his! Alarmed, he quickly whipped out his saber to sever the hand on his ankle.
Hula!
Despite Bei Hong’s aggression, he did not utilize his full strength as he expected the young man to retract his hand. Contrary to his expectations, the young man’s hand continued to grip his leg firmly. A grim look appeared on his face as he drove his strength further.
Ding!
The saber struck the young man’s sword, causing sparks to fly around the place. Yet, the saber failed to leave even the slightest print on the young man’s hand!
“How is this possible?” Bei Hong narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
His saber was a Half-Great Sage artifact. Putting aside Aureate Body realm cultivators, a slash from his blade would lop off even the heads of the Sempiternal realm cultivators! But such a saber actually failed to leave any mark on the young man at all. Just how powerful was the young man?
“Kill him!”
In that instant, Bei Hong realized that he was severely overpowered. He knew that it would be impossible for him to defeat the young man with his saber, so he immediately turned his gaze to the Soultheft Shackle instead.
He had not tamed the Soultheft Shackle yet, but he was still able to command it to do his bidding. With this artifact in his possession, he would not fear the young man no matter how powerful the other party’s defense was!
He commanded the Soultheft Shackle through his mind, but even after waiting for a while, there was still no response. He hurriedly turned his gaze to the Soultheft Shackle, only to see that it was swaying leisurely in the young man’s hand.
“You… tamed my artifact?”
At that instant, Bei Hong felt as if his head was exploding apart.
In order to enter the Temple of Confucius, Sovereign Chen Yong had lent him this artifact to use. Even he had been unable to tame the Soultheft Shackle, so why would it end up submitting to the young man all of a sudden?
“Heh!”
With a cold sneer, the young man tapped on the Soultheft Shackle lightly.
Hula!
The Soultheft Shackle immediately darted upward and bound Bei Hong as if he was a rice dumpling.
Given how the young man had even successfully tamed the Soultheft Shackle, Bei Hong immediately realized that there was no way that they would stand a chance against the young man even if they put their might together. Thus, he quickly turned to his subordinates and bellowed anxiously, “Everyone, run away!”
But barely after the shout escaped from his mouth, he realized that five powerful Sempiternal realm consummation beasts had appeared on the icefield and slaughtered all of his tribesmen. There was not a single survivor.
“You… Pu!”
There was no doubt that this was the doing of the young man. Unable to take it any longer, Bei Hong spurted a mouthful of blood.
“Seal!”
Knowing that he would still be able to wangle more information from Bei Hong, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and threw the latter into the Myriad Anthive Nest. After this was done, he swiftly stowed the altar and the icy crystal on top of it into his storage ring.
Following that, he turned to the crowd and said, “The exterior around the Temple of Confucius is too dangerous. It’ll be much safer for you to remain here!”
After saying those words, he leaped up and headed right into the spatial passageway.
