“Alright, I’ll listen to you what you have to say. However, I’ll make things clear first. We of the Beast Tribe want at least two slots. If you can’t satisfy our demand, you can be assured that we’ll lay waste to everything here!” the beast known as the White Overlord sneered coldly.
The original body of the beast was a white fox that spanned a length of ten meters. Even without exerting any strength, its very presence seemed to send shudders through space.
If it really went berserk, it was likely that it could bring massive devastation upon at least half of the crowd in the square.
“To ask for two slots right from the start, don’t you think you are being a little too greedy?” a middle-aged man floating above the Master Teacher Pavilion faction sneered back.
“So what?” The White Overlord turned to look at the middle-aged man, and a malicious air burst forth from it, jolting onlookers’ souls.
From the looks of it, it seemed like it was exceptionally skilled in soul offense.
“Try it then! Let’s see if the sword in my hand agrees with that! If I recall correctly, a predecessor of our Zhang Clan, Zhang Yu, single-handedly subdued nine of your Ancient Sages with his sword twenty millennia ago!” the middle-aged man scoffed. “Let’s see if I can achieve what he did today!”
“Zhang Clan? So, he’s the Ancient Sage of our Zhang Clan.” Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up.
Even though the Ancient Sage of the Zhang Clan had helped him previously while they were outside the Hall of Great Accomplishment, he had not met the other party in person. He knew that the other party was a very forthright person, but who would have thought that he would actually be able to stand on equal ground with the strongest Ancient Sage of the Beast Tribe!
Taking a closer look at the middle-aged man, he saw that the other party was dressed in a green robe, and he had eyebrows shaped like crescent blades. Other than a sword hanging by his waist, there were no ornaments to him. Yet, despite his seemingly ordinary appearance, he wielded strength that no one would dare to snub.
“He’s the last Ancient Sage of the Zhang Clan, Zhang Hongtian! A man of great talent, he achieved a breakthrough to Ancient Sage at a very young age. At the same time, he has a carefree and righteous personality. He abhors evil to an extreme extent, such that he will never hesitate to stand up in the face of injustice. He was still very young when the Aeon of Ancient Sage first began fading from the world, and he should have been able to spend his youth happily and without much worry. However, he still made the choice to hibernate so that he would be able to protect mankind for as long as he could…” Yang shi sent a telepathic message to Zhang Xuan, explaining the background of the Ancient Sage of the Zhang Clan.
Rumor had it that the Ancient Sage had only been in his early five hundreds when he achieved a breakthrough to Ancient Sage. That was the age when most cultivators in the upper echelon started to settle down and make their own families, enjoying the prime of their lives. Yet, he unhesitatingly chose to bid farewell to his loved ones in order to go into hibernation.
There was no way such a decision could have been easy for him to make. Without a doubt, he was someone worthy of respect.
“You…” Not expecting Zhang Hongtian to snub it entirely, the White Overlord turned its massive fox head and harrumphed. “I admit that your Peerless Sword is formidable, but it won’t be easy for you to kill me… And as long as you fail to kill me, you can be certain that I’ll hunt down every single member of your Zhang Clan. I sure do want to see how many of your descendants you will be able to protect!”
“Hahaha! Sure, be my guest! If I recall correctly, there are quite a few communities of White Foxes around, and you have a fair number of descendants as well. Touch a single offspring of my Zhang Clan, and I’ll slay ten of your foxes. Kill ten offspring of my Zhang Clan, and I’ll massacre your entire race!” Zhang Hongtian scoffed with his back straightened.
“You lunatic! You dare…” the White Overlord roared with its teeth gritted tightly together.
“Try me then! I, Zhang Hongtian, have never feared doing anything ever since I started cultivating! Try asking that lot!” Zhang Hongtian spat calmly as he tilted his head toward the Otherworldly Demon Ancient Sages.
“Humph!” The Otherworldly Demon Ancient Sage who had spoken earlier harrumphed coldly in displeasure.
“That’s probably Old Geezer Yu…” Zhang Xuan was able to vaguely recognize the other party from that harrumph.
He had already found the other party’s voice familiar with they were dealing with Ancient Sage Yan Qing, but it was only upon hearing Zhang Hongtian’s words that he finally put the two together. It was the Otherworldly Demon Ancient Sage that he had encountered in front of the Hall of Great Accomplishment!
“There’s indeed nothing that you dare not do. I seem to recall that a large bunch of the White Overlord’s descendants were tamed by an offspring of your Zhang Clan a while ago, back at the Apricot Pavilion?” Old Geezer Yu said with a cold sneer.
“Tame? What did you just say?” The White Overlord was visibly stunned for a moment before it growled menacingly.
Clearly, it was still unaware of this matter.
“If you don’t believe me, you can take a look yourself. Are the offspring that you dispatched to the Apricot Pavilion still with you? Are you still able to communicate with them?” Old Geezer Yu replied calmly as he glanced at Zhang Xuan with a sinister smile.
The last time that human lad schemed against him, he had suffered a deep laceration. Since he had an opportunity to return the favor, it went without saying that he had no intention of allowing it to go to waste.
The White Overlord glared at Old Geezer Yu before turning around to relay commands to one of the Ancient Sage beasts behind it. A moment later, the Ancient Sage beast whispered something to the White Overlord’s ear, and the latter’s face immediately darkened as it turned its gaze in Zhang Xuan’s direction.
Its eyes glowed like an inferno that would burn down anything in sight.
“How did I end up getting implicated here?” Zhang Xuan was rendered speechless.
He was an insignificant Aureate Body realm cultivator among the cluster of Ancient Sages, so why in the world did they pull him into this conflict?
Noticing the malicious intentions in the White Overlord’s eyes, Zhang Hongtian suddenly recalled what had happened outside the Hall of Great Accomplishment, and he could not help but turn around and ask, “Did you tame its descendants?”
The beasts that Zhang Xuan had tamed outside the Hall of Great Accomplishment had not been all that strong, and they were not the White Overlord’s descendants. However, those who had entered the Apricot Pavilion were very different.
Anyone who had investigated the Temple of Confucius in advance would understand the importance of the Apricot Pavilion. Those who had been selected to enter it were the top-notch talents from each power. Could it be that his descendant was able to tame even proud geniuses like that?
“Those are its descendants? I didn’t know… Earlier, when I went into the Apricot Pavilion, I saw a bunch of beasts getting pummeled by the apricot trees. Seeing that they were on the verge of death, I quickly dived in to save them. Out of gratitude to me, they ended up submitting to me… However, I don’t recall there being any white foxes among the group!” Zhang Xuan said.
The truth behind the submission of the beasts was due to his Beast Pummeling Taming Method, but of course, it was not a convenient moment to mention something as controversial as that.
“They submitted to you out of gratitude?” Unable to hold himself back any longer, Zhang Hongtian burst into laughter. “Hahaha! You did great!”
As an Ancient Sage, he could tell that Zhang Xuan was lying with just a single glance. The reason that he burst into laughter was because he suddenly recalled how haughty the White Overlord had been a moment ago, only to find out that its descendants had submitted to his the next instant.
This was such a timely face slap that words could not begin to describe how exhilarating it was to him!
Amid his laughter, Zhang Hongtian said, “White Overlord, since your descendants have already submitted to my descendants, why don’t I give you a chance to submit to me as well? As long as you become my tamed beast, I’m more than willing to give you two slots!”
“You’re courting death!” Hearing those words of ridicule, the White Overlord was unable to hold himself back anymore.
With a furious roar, he leaped forward to tear Zhang Hongtian apart.
A pitch-black claw imprint sliced across space, tearing dimension rifts open.
It was apparent that the White Overlord was extremely strong, even among the Ancient Sages.
“I could be courting death, but there’s no way in hell will I ever die by your wretched hands…” Paying no heed to the rage of the White Overlord, Zhang Hongtian chuckled softly as he drew his sword and drove it forward.
Wuuuuu!
The whistling sword clashed together with the White Overlord’s claws.
Boom boom boom!
A huge, spherical dimension rift was produced as a result of the collision. The White Overlord was forced to take a step back, but it immediately prepared itself to charge forth once more to launch a follow up attack.
However, at that moment, Ancient Sage Yan Qing suddenly stepped forward and stood in between the two of them. With a wave of his hand, he produced a barrier reminiscent of a cloth that prevented the two from getting close to one another.
“Enough. The urgent matter at hand is entering the Prime Hall, not fighting with one another. If you really wish to settle the scores between the two of you, I won’t stop you once this matter is over. However, for the time being, I’ll have to ask you to take a step back,” Ancient Sage Yan Qing remarked calmly.
