In a compartment of a tavern by the suburbs of Qingyuan City, a few men were gathered around a table. However, their eyes kept drifting off toward a nearby residence from time to time.
Wu shi sent a telepathic message to Zhang Xuan. “Principal Zhang, that’s where Chen Zhe lives…”
As soon as night fell, they had immediately headed over here. Through the prior, discreet arrangements of the Master Teacher Pavilion, they did not catch anyone’s attention.
“Un.”
Zhang Xuan extended his Spiritual Perception toward the residence to perceive its interior.
While the Spiritual Perception of others was only able to cover a radius of 400 meters, and that was including even the Half-Leaving Aperture realm Wu shi, Zhang Xuan’s Spiritual Perception was able to cover a radius of 2,500 meters. He would be able to perceive the slightest movement within the residence from where they sat, so there was no need for them to hide within Chen Zhe’s residence at all.
“Chen Zhe’s residence sure is extravagant and sturdy!” Zhang Xuan could not help but exclaim after taking a swift look at it.
As humble as Chen Zhe might have seemed in the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, he was still a 7-star low-tier master teacher, as well as the direct disciple of a vice pavilion master. Just by those two identities, he could definitely be considered one of the more eminent figures in Qingyuan City.
As if to reflect that, his residence was filled with all kinds of formations, and nearly all of them had reached grade 7. In terms of renovation, his residence was not on par with the affluent King Zhongqing’s manor yet, but it was still far beyond that of an ordinary clan.
A gazebo on the fifth step, a towering building on the tenth. The corridors meandered like long ribbons, and the roofs were beautifully sculpted.
It was hard to tell what Wu shi did, but the residence did not seem to have been too affected by Chen Zhe’s death. On the contrary, it was extremely tranquil and peaceful.
“Principal Zhang, do we have to make any preparations in advance?” Wu shi pondered for a brief moment before continuing. “From what I know Tian Qing seems to have a Saint intermediate-tier artifact in his possession. In terms of its individual strength, it is beyond that of the Golden Origin Cauldron, and it complements his cultivation, allowing him to display exceptional fighting prowess!”
“It’s fine.” Zhang Xuan shook his head. “Making too many preparations in advance could play against us instead. It would be bad if the other party notices that something is amiss and flees.”
Naturally, it would have been much safer if they were to fill Chen Zhe’s residence with their own formations and men. However, the commotion in doing so might instead deter Tian Qing from biting the bait.
“But…” Wu shi was still a little worried.
“There’s no need to worry. As powerful as Tian Qing may be, as long as his fighting prowess is beneath that of Pavilion Master Gou, we should not face too many problems dealing with him. Besides, as long as we can hold him for a moment, we can always call for reinforcements from the Combat Master Hall,” Zhang Xuan said.
He had fought Tian Qing in the past, and the latter was not a match for him at all. Even if the latter had a powerful Saint intermediate-tier artifact in his possession, Zhang Xuan was still confident that they would at least be able to protect themselves. On the off chance that they found themselves outmatched, as long as they could hold on for a short moment, the Combat Master Hall would be able to dispatch their elites to reinforce them.
Even if Tian Qing was a true Leaving Aperture realm expert, he was confident that they would be able to subdue him with relative ease.
Wu shi pondered for a moment before nodding. “That’s true.”
Knowing that they would be facing a great battle soon, the other master teachers focused their attention on conditioning their state so that they would be able to fight at their full strength later on.
A long time later, when the moon was just beginning to set in the west, Zhang Xuan suddenly stood up and said, “He’s here.”
Wu shi and the others widened their eyes in alarm.
They quickly activated their Spiritual Perception to take a look, only to find nothing at all.
“He’s already in the residence.” Noticing the looks of confusion on the faces of the master teachers, Zhang Xuan quickly explained, “He came from underground!”
“Underground?”
Everyone looked at Zhang Xuan with an incredulous look.
While Spiritual Perception was able to pass through obstacles, it would severely limit its range. Thus, it was difficult to perceive items that were beneath the ground. And yet… Zhang Xuan was still able to discern the intruder so easily?
“He’s advancing very warily, choosing to sneak into the opposite residence before using some kind of secret art to dive underground. His movements are subtle, but there’s no doubt that he’s there. Alright, let’s go over to apprehend him,” Zhang Xuan said.
Back in the Jingyuan City Poison Hall, he had encountered the Earthleaf King, who had the uncanny ability to dive into the ground.
In view of that, Zhang Xuan had chosen to extend his Spiritual Perception to cover the underground as well, and it was a relief that he had done so.
“Alright!”
The crowd swiftly got to their feet before flying out through the windows, heading for the residence right before them. They landed at the center of the residence, where Zhang Xuan carefully directed the master teachers into their positions. After that was done, he flicked his wrist and swiftly placed a few formation flags into the ground.
Weng!
Zhang Xuan stomped on the ground and bellowed, “Come out!”
Peng!
The ground began shaking intensely, and before long, as figure was forcefully plucked out from the ground.
The figure was dressed in black from head to toe, allowing him to blend in perfectly with the darkness of the night. However, with their exceptional eyesight as Primordial Spirit realm experts, the other master teachers could still easily make out his appearance to determine his identity.
“Tian Qing, it’s indeed you!” Wu shi’s face turned livid. “You won’t be getting away today!”
Wu shi’s hand clawed forward, and a powerful might burst forth, threatening to tear Tian Qing into shreds.
On the other hand, Tian Qing did not expect that there would be someone lying in ambush for him. His eyes narrowed in apprehension as he quickly raised his arms to defend himself from Wu shi’s offense.
Wu shi’s claws gouged deep into the flesh of his hand, but thanks to his timely reaction, Tian Qing managed to protect his vitals.
After fending off Wu shi’s attack, Tian Qing swiftly turned around and flitted away, hoping to escape from the area.
“Escape? Do you think that you will be able to escape?”
With a light chuckle, Zhang Jiuxiao raised his finger, and a powerful sword suddenly descended from the sky.
It was the Saint intermediate-tier sword that he had in his possession.
After listening to Zhang Xuan’s lecture, while the sword still had not made a breakthrough to Half-Leaving Aperture realm yet, its strength had still grown considerably. Complemented with Zhang Jiuxiao’s incredible cultivation, powerful surges of sword qi burst forth from the sword, covering a distance of several dozen meters in the blink of an eye to strike Tian Qing.
Seeing this, Tian Qing’s face darkened. Without any hesitation, he flicked his wrist and drew a sword as well to deal with Zhang Jiuxiao’s offense.
After several clashes, Zhang Jiuxiao was forced to retreat in a fluster.
As powerful as he was, Tian Qing was still an entire cultivation realm stronger than him. On top of that, their weapons were both at Saint intermediate-tier. Given so, it was inevitable that he would be in a disadvantageous position against the other party.
After pushing back Zhang Jiuxiao, Tian Qing leaped into the sky, but the next moment, he felt a ferocious might tearing through the space around him, heading right for him.
It was the offense from the other elders of the Master Teacher Pavilion.
They were all Primordial Spirit realm pinnacle experts as well, and knowing how powerful the person before them was, they dared not hold back. Whipping out their weapons, they used their strongest techniques without any hesitation. Innumerable bursts of sword qi appeared before Tian Qing, forming a massive wall in his path.
If the latter continued any further, he would surely be torn to shreds.
With an awful complexion on his face, Tian Qing knew that it would be dangerous if he pushed on any further. Flicking his wrist, he sent a powerful strike toward the wall of sword qi and made use of the momentum from the rebound to descend back to the ground. Barely after he managed to steady his figure once more, Wu shi and Zhang Jiuxiao launched their second assault on him.
Zhang Xuan had prepared a battle plan to ensure that they would be able to successfully apprehend Tian Qing. As the two most powerful experts of the group, Wu shi and Zhang Jiuxiao would be in charge of the offense whereas the remaining four were responsible for preventing Tian Qing from escaping.
Watching as Tian Qing was slowly ground down under the simultaneous assault of the master teachers, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing that he did not have to join the battle, he activated his Eye of Insight and began assessing the surroundings instead.
Since Tian Qing was willing to the risk going to Chen Zhe’s residence, it could only mean that there was a secret hidden there that Tian Qing perceived to be even more important than his own life.
Scanning the surroundings carefully, Zhang Xuan suddenly frowned.
He walked up to the trees in the middle of the courtyard.
They were Saint-tier Lingering Fragrance Trees, known for the Lingering Fragrance Fruits that they produced.
Despite being considered a Saint-tier medicinal herb, the Lingering Fragrance Tree was completely ineffective in raising one’s cultivation. It was only valued as a perfume—one who consumed it would retain its fragrance within their body for an entire year. To put it in other terms, it was a commodity that only ladies would want.
Yet, there were actually seven such trees in Chen Zhe’s courtyard. Even before coming close, Zhang Xuan could already smell the sweet, intoxicating fragrance that they emanated.
Even he had to admit that the fragrance was indeed very pleasant. If a lady carried such a scent on her, she would surely be able to charm any man.
However, what Zhang Xuan was interested in was not the trees themselves but the area a zhang1 beneath the trees.
A grade-7 Aura Sealing Formation… Using Saint-tier medicinal herbs in place of formation flags in order to conceal the presence of the formation, not bad! Zhang Xuan nodded.
In the eyes of an outsider, those might have seemed like perfectly normal trees. However, as a 7-star pinnacle formation master, Zhang Xuan could easily tell that the positions of those trees formed a unique formation.
In principle, it was similar to the Aura Sealing Formation that he had set up previously in Hongyuan Empire to conceal the Byzantium Helios Beast’s presence, but through tapping into the strength of the Saint-tier Lingering Fragrance Trees, the formation was raised to the tier of grade-7 pinnacle. On top of that, it was also intentionally concealed by the other formations, so if one did not examine it closely, it would have been difficult to notice its existence.
Even Zhang Xuan had only managed to deduce it himself by analyzing the flow of the spiritual energy in the area.
A 7-star low-tier master teacher setting up a grade-7 pinnacle Aura Sealing Formation in his residence? Let me see what kind of secret he is hiding beneath!
Zhang Xuan walked forward and stomped forcefully on the ground.
Huala!
The ground immediately parted, revealing a stone door.
Zhang Xuan placed his hand on the stone door and forcefully erased the inscriptions on it before walking in.
Beyond the stone door was a flight of stairs made from a mysterious material that descended into the deep darkness. For some reason, it was impossible to see too far ahead even with the radiance of the Night Illumination Pearls, as if something was absorbing the light.
Zhang Xuan had to activate his Eye of Insight before everything became a little clearer.
It’s Starluster Stone… Zhang Xuan frowned.
After going through the books in the Appraiser Hall and the Master Teacher Pavilion, he had gained some understanding of the rare minerals on the Master Teacher Continent.
The Starluster Stone was a peculiar mineral that had the ability to absorb light, making an area incredibly dark.
Of course, through using a unique method, one could release the light absorbed within the stone, making it incomparably bright, as if a star in the sky.
It was for this reason that the rock was named ‘Starluster’.
However, the Starluster Stone within the passageway seemed to have been altered in a certain manner that allowed it to only absorb light but not release it.
Nevertheless, this did not pose too much trouble for Zhang Xuan. Navigating his way forward with his Eye of Insight, he slowly made his way down.
After walking for around seventy to eighty meters, he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Raising his gaze, he could not help but be taken aback by what he saw.
It was a vast underground chamber.
At the very center of the chamber was a huge pool of lava that emitted frightening heat. Fortunately, it was sealed by a massive formation.
This… A grade-8 formation?
Seeing how the formation was constructed out of unique materials, its grade was surely not beneath those within the Qiu Wu Palace. Clearly, it had already reached grade-8.
It was one thing for there to be a grade-7 pinnacle Aura Sealing Formation in the courtyard of a 7-star low-tier master teacher, but to think that there would be an underground chamber with a grade-8 formation beneath his residence at that…
Something was definitely amiss.
Let me see what the formation is channeling power toward.
Through his discerning eye, Zhang Xuan could tell that the purpose of the grade-8 formation was to channel the immense energy contained within the lava to power something.
Tracing the flow of power in the formation, Zhang Xuan soon narrowed his eyes in astonishment.
“T-this…”
