“Humph!”
The Jadeleaf King harrumphed coldly as he swiftly analyzed the situation he was in.
His physical body had been destroyed, and if he were to attempt to kill the Violetleaf King, the Celestial Master Teacher would surely die as well… and once that happened, there would be no hope for him.
Just like what the other party had said, as long as he took the Celestial Master Teacher back to the tribe, he would be entitled to all kinds of rewards—the strengthening of his Primordial Spirit, the heightening of his cultivation, or even obtaining a powerful body would be available options for him.
I should just agree to his demands first. The most important thing for me at the moment is to remain alive. In any case, the journey back to the tribe will be a long one, so there will be plenty of opportunities for me to kill him while his guard is down.
Gradually, a plan surfaced in the Jadeleaf King’s mind.
During the long journey back to the tribe, it was inevitable that the Violetleaf King would lower his guard from time to time. As soon as that happened, he would be able to strike and eliminate that despicable scoundrel before him.
That way, he would be able to exact vengeance without compromising the safety of the Celestial Master Teacher before him.
This would not be an ideal moment for him to make his move. The Violetleaf King was clearly guarded, and if he were to make a reckless move, he would be the one to lose out in the end.
In his Primordial Spirit form, he was indeed powerful. However, he could not maintain this state for too long.
“Allow me to take a look at your puppet.” After a moment of contemplation, the Jadeleaf King flew over to the puppet and began examining it closely with his Spiritual Perception.
To his surprise, the puppet was extremely well-made. While the materials used for it were low quality, the craftsmanship did well to maximize its strength within its constraints. The puppet might have been a little weak, but once complemented with his Primordial Spirit, it would still be able to display considerable fighting prowess.
It would not match up to his prior strength, but it would be more than sufficient to deal with a mere Violetleaf King.
After making such calculations, he examined every aspect of the puppet carefully, and after confirming that there were no traps hidden within it, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Hu!
With a swift movement, his Primordial Spirit dived into the puppet.
A moment later, he opened the puppet’s eyes and began moving his new limbs. He turned his gaze toward the Violetleaf King and said, “Alright, you should be able to release the Celestial Master Teacher now, right?”
“Of course!” Chuckling softly, Zhang Xuan tossed Feng Xun casually to the ground.
Due to the heavy impact Feng Xun had suffered from the brick, he still had not woken up.
The Jadeleaf King was stunned. He released the human just like that?
He had expected the other party to continue holding the Celestial Master Teacher hostage so as to ensure his own safety. To obediently release the Celestial Master Teacher at his command… was the other party really not afraid that he would claim his life?
“Fool! You are asking for death!”
Regardless, this was a good opportunity to strike. The eyes of the Jadeleaf King lit up as he swiftly pulled the unconscious Celestial Master Teacher behind him to protect the latter. At the same time, he charged forward to launch a devastating attack on the Violetleaf King.
After how the Violetleaf King had made a fool out of him, how could he, the proud Jadeleaf King, possibly allow the other party to continue existing in the world?
“Jeez. I have already offered you a chance to continue living, but you just don’t know how to treasure it.” Seeing the Jadeleaf King charging ferociously toward him, the Violetleaf King shook his head calmly and sighed. Instead of making any attempts to dodge or counterattack, he lifted his hand casually and snapped, “Down!”
Kacha!
The charging Jadeleaf King abruptly felt a surge of intense pain assaulting him, causing his body to stiffen on the spot.
Putong!
The momentum from his previous action dragged him onto the ground.
The Jadeleaf King narrowed his eyes in disbelief. “You… You laced the puppet with poison?”
In just a mere instant, he understood why the other party dared cast aside the only leverage over him without any hesitation. It turned out that the puppet had been poisoned! Furthermore, for a Primordial Spirit as powerful as his to succumb to it, it was apparent that it was an exceptionally potent poison.
“You are quite smart. If you pledge loyalty to me and obey every single one of my commands without any hesitation, I can spare you!” Zhang Xuan said calmly.
He had already foreseen this from the moment he took his puppet out. Previously, when he was tapping the puppet fondly, he had discreetly infused his Heaven’s Path zhenqi into it.
His Heaven’s Path zhenqi had no particular attribute, so even if the Jadeleaf King noticed it, he probably only thought that it was the innate power that the puppet harnessed, so he didn’t pay it any heed.
In other words, from the moment that the Jadeleaf King sent his Primordial Spirit into the puppet, he was already doomed.
“You want me to pledge loyalty to you? Dream on!” the Jadeleaf King roared furiously as his Primordial Spirit charged toward the acupoint that he had entered the puppet from.
Since he was able to enter the puppet, naturally, he should be able to leave as well.
“You might have been able to enter the puppet easily, but it won’t be that easy for you to leave it!” Zhang Xuan said with a wry smile.
The Jadeleaf King’s heart turned cold upon hearing those words. He realized that every single acupoint on the puppet had been sealed by a unique zhenqi. Even with the overwhelming strength that he commanded, he found that he was unable to break out.
All of his escape routes were sealed; he was trapped.
Despite all of the precautions that he had taken, he had still ended up falling for the Violetleaf King’s ploy. Stifled, the Jadeleaf King nearly spewed a mouthful of blood, but there was no blood within the puppet for him to spew. The more he thought about the matter, the more despaired and frightened he felt.
Even though the fellow standing before him was weaker than him, he found himself feeling deeply terrified of the other party. Preying on the weaknesses in his mind, the other party had managed to turn him against the Stoneleaf King and nearly had him killed. Even after he emerged victorious in the fight, it turned out that the other party had already prepared a subsequent measure to deal with him—a puppet laced with lethal poison.
Had the Violetleaf King been such a formidable figure all along? Or could it be that…
Suddenly, a possibility surfaced in the Jadeleaf King’s mind. “You aren’t the Violetleaf King!”
“Not bad at all, you do have some wits. At the very least, you came to the truth right before the end.” Zhang Xuan chuckled as he began morphing his body back amid cracking sounds.
Geji! Geji!
A moment later, he reverted back to his original appearance.
The Jadeleaf King narrowed his eyes in shock. “You are a human? Wait, could it be… you are the real Celestial Master Teacher?”
Celestial Master Teacher, an existence that even the heavens had acknowledged. How could a person who had been acknowledged by the heavens possibly be so useless as to be captured that easily and be knocked out time and time again? Not to mention, recalling how the Violetleaf King had, for some peculiar reason, insisted on standing beside the other human a moment ago… the truth could not have been clearer to him at this moment.
“I’ll give you some time to think about it. Become my servant, and you will be able to avoid death,” Zhang Xuan said impassively, choosing not to respond to the Jadeleaf King’s doubts.
The implications that came with his identity as a Celestial Master Teacher were simply too great. Even the notion of revealing it to the Master Teacher Pavilion left him feeling deeply apprehensive, so how could he be willing to speak of it to an Otherworldly Demon?
“You want me to become your servant? Dream on! But… to have lost to a Celestial Master Teacher like you, I admit my defeat!” the Jadeleaf King sneered coldly before shaking his head despondently.
Following that, a golden fluid suddenly flowed from the puppet’s eyes before the puppet fell heavily to the ground.
“You…”
Zhang Xuan quickly rushed up to the puppet, only to realize that the Primordial Spirit within had already dissipated.
Trapped within the puppet, the Jadeleaf King was unable to escape nor explode his Primordial Spirit. At the same time, he was also unwilling to bow to a human. Thus, he had chosen to end his life!
“Decisive and very loyal to the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe as well,” Zhang Xuan remarked.
Choosing to end his life knowing that he had been cornered, it seemed that despite being greedy and vicious, the Jadeleaf King was deeply loyal to his kind.
Just that… it sure is a huge waste of my puppet! Looking at the lifeless puppet lying on the ground, Zhang Xuan felt his heart ache.
The Jadeleaf King’s Primordial Spirit was simply too strong. While he had been unable to explode his Primordial Spirit, the energy that was released with his suicide still resulted in the destruction of the puppet’s internal structure, resulting in it being effectively crippled. After all the trouble he had gone through to raise it to Saint 3-dan…
However, these two Kings do have quite a few treasures with them. Putting everything else aside, just the saber and spear they have in their possession are at Saint low-tier. Well, they are only at low-tier, but that’s not too bad either…
Given Zhang Xuan’s proficiency in smithing, it seemed like it would be… impossible for him to fix the puppet. Fortunately, the wealth that the two Kings possessed was more than enough to make up for the loss of his puppet.
On top of the Saint low-tier sword and spear, the Jadeleaf King had the bizarre altar and innumerable tributes. Those might just prove useful at some point in time.
I should just take everything first. Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan grabbed the storage rings of the duo before heading toward the Lightning Elemental Orb on the ground.
The orb was initially in the Stoneleaf King’s possession, but after the Jadeleaf King mercilessly severed his arm, the orb ended up falling to the ground. At the current moment, it was emitting a dim light.
Stopping before the orb, Zhang Xuan squatted down and reached out to grab it.
Bzzzzzztttt!
Before his hand could even come into contact with the orb, a searing pain assault his palm. Countless mini streaks of lightning burst toward him, attempting to burn him to cinders.
Upon seeing the sight, Zhang Xuan’s mouth twitched. He hurriedly leaped aside to avoid the attack.
The Lightning Elemental Orb was indeed powerful, but with his current strength, even getting close to it was difficult, let alone taming it.
Zhang Xuan rubbed his glabella in distress. But it would be extremely wasteful of me to leave an artifact as powerful as this lying here.
It was one thing if he had not seen it, but now that he had seen it and it was within reach, would he not be letting himself down if he did not claim it for himself?
Perhaps I could try that…
After a moment of thought, his eyes suddenly lit up. Placing the body of the Stoneleaf King before him, he slowly advanced toward the Lightning Elemental Orb.
Bzzzzt!
Sensing the approach of a lifeform, the Lightning Elemental Orb immediately sent innumerable streaks of lightning toward the invader who was trespassing on its territory. However, it was all perfectly warded off by the Stoneleaf King’s body.
In a few moments, Zhang Xuan was already standing right before orb, and with a swift movement, his hand reached out and touched it.
Kacha!
Right after Zhang Xuan muttered ‘flaws’ in his mind, he was abruptly sent flying by a powerful surge of electricity. His body stiffened, and smoke drifted from his hair, which was standing on end. At the same time, his clothes were also ripped into tatters from the surge of electricity, creating quite an unkempt look.
This… Isn’t the Lightning Elemental Orb a little too powerful?
It took a long while before Zhang Xuan could recover from his daze.
It was fortunate that his soul had been tempered by the lightning previously and his body had achieved the level equivalent to a Saint low-tier artifact. Otherwise, that burst of lightning could have easily left him bedridden for several days.
Alright. Let me see if there’s any way I can tame it with my current strength, Zhang Xuan thought as he turned his consciousness toward the Library of Heaven’s Path.
In the momentary touch back then, he had managed to achieve his goal and compile a corresponding book regarding the Lightning Elemental Orb.
And as expected, with just a thought, a book began flying over from one of the shelves, and it landed right in Zhang Xuan’s hands.
He flipped it open casually.
“Lightning Elemental Orb, an artifact produced in regions where the Power of Lightning accumulates. It can be used as the cornerstone of lightning attribute formations, as well as a tool to control them…”
The content within the book flowed into Zhang Xuan’s head swiftly, and within just an instant, he had already found out what the flaws of the Lightning Elemental Orb were.
So that’s the case… I should be able to tame it even with my current strength. However, it will still be difficult for me to drive it unless I reach Primordial Spirit realm.
After understanding the situation concerning the Lightning Elemental Orb, Zhang Xuan shook his head bitterly.
Just as he had guessed, the field of lightning was indeed a grade-8 formation. As such, it could only be controlled via one’s Primordial Spirit. Even if he could successfully tame the Lightning Elemental Orb, it would still be impossible for him to use it to gain control over the lightning formation.
Forget it, I should tame the Lightning Elemental Orb first and think about everything else later…
Casting the dilemmas in his mind aside, Zhang Xuan turned his gaze toward the Lightning Elemental Orb once more.
He might have been unable to use it at that moment, but there would surely be a day when he would be able to wield it. A grade-8 Slaughter Formation… that was a treasure that countless cultivators would love to lay their hands on!
Millman: Publishing this slightly early because I missed the deadline for the timer
