“Master?”
“Humble subordinate?”
The Blackback Tortoise and Zhang Xuan glanced at one another, completely taken aback by the abrupt twist.
The sharks had been dying to tear them apart a moment ago, so why would one suddenly turn into his subordinate?
The ones who were shocked by the situation were not just limited to those two. The other aquatic creatures swarming the area were stunned as well.
Their kings had always hated humans with a passion, such that there was no doubt that they would have incited a genocide if they could. Just a moment ago, they had even been discussing a scheme to teach the Six Sects a lesson. Why would one of the kings suddenly change its mind?
Not to mention, its body was bent perpendicular as if it was a set square, and it even called the human that stole their god blood its master.
“Big Brother, why are you acknowledging this measly being as your master?”
The other two sharks could hardly believe what they were hearing.
“Shut your mouth!” the ‘Big Brother’ shark roared angrily. “Get over here right now and pay your respects to Master!”
Those two sharks had no idea what their Big Brother was up to, but they dared not disobey its command. With a shake of their tails, they swam all the way up to Zhang Xuan. They shot a hesitant glance at their Big Brother once more, and after seeing the look on the latter’s face, they trembled fearfully and hurriedly bowed down. “Your humble subordinates pay its respects, Master!”
“This…” Zhang Xuan had no idea what to make of the current situation. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “Acknowledge me as your master.”
Regardless of whether they were putting on an act or not, they would no longer be able to do anything once they were bound by Soul Contracts.
“Yes!”
To Zhang Xuan’s surprise, the ‘Big Brother’ shark offered its blood essence without any hesitation. As for the other two, they were indecisive for a moment, but after a piercing glare from the ‘Big Brother’ shark, they quickly offered their blood essence.
Zhang Xuan accepted their blood essences and completed the Soul Contract. As telepathic connections were formed among them, he realized that the sharks really were not plotting anything at all. They were earnestly acknowledging him as their master.
“This…”
It was just a moment ago that they had been trying to tear one another apart when all of a sudden, they had become his tamed beasts. This peculiar situation left Zhang Xuan feeling deeply confused.
Could it be that… he was actually very charismatic, such that they could not help but submit to him after witnessing his splendor?
But he had not intentionally released any imposing aura or the like!
The ‘Big Brother’ shark noticed Zhang Xuan’s bewilderment and explained, “It’s all due to the bestowment of the god blood that we were able to achieve a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm. Master, you carry a token of the god with you, so it’s our duty to serve you!”
“A token of the god?”
Zhang Xuan subconsciously lowered his gaze to look at the crimson pendant hung around his neck. He would usually place it within his clothes, but due to the intense heat from reacting to the god blood, he had hung it outside his clothes instead.
“That’s right,” the shark replied respectfully.
Zhang Xuan widened his eyes in realization.
He had guessed previously that the god blood was related to Luo Ruoxin, and this verified his guesses.
It was through consuming the fresh blood that Luo Ruoxin had spilled into the ocean that these tortoises had managed to achieve a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm. As such, they held natural deference toward anything related to her.
Regardless of how that happened, it was a huge relief that he was finally out of danger. He quickly drank a bottle of chicken soup to heal his injuries before turning to the ‘Big Brother’ shark. “Dismiss the others. There are a few questions that I would like to ask you.”
The sharks quickly passed down the orders.
The High Immortal realm aquatic creatures could sense that their previously agreed upon plans would go awry if they scattered right now, and they felt incredibly indignant about it. However, they did not dare go against the Semi-Divinity realm sharks, so they could only leave the area with reddened eyes.
After all the aquatic creatures evacuated the area, Zhang Xuan turned to the three of them and nodded wisely. “Since you have submitted to me, I should bestow names upon you so that I can better address each of you. You will be Shark One, you will be Shark Two, and you will be Shark Three.”
The three shark brothers were befuddled.
Paying no heed to the constipated looks on the trio’s faces, Zhang Xuan continued grimly. “I want you to recount to me in detail how the head of Starchaser Palace conducted a ritual to the heavens to summon a god, how the god descended to the world, and where the god eventually went.”
“It all happened two months ago.” Shark One began to recount what happened that day. “The head of Starchaser Palace suddenly appeared in the Vacant Sea. Back then, we didn’t know it was her. We were only furious to see a human trespassing into our territory, so we assaulted her. Due to the disparity in strength, we were all defeated.”
Considering how they were all only at the Heavenly High Immortal realm back then, it was inevitable that they were not a match for Palace Master Du Qingyuan.
“Following which, she used our fresh blood as a tribute for her ritual to tear apart the heavens and summon a god. Her first attempt failed, so she pushed herself to her limits and tried a second time. She probably expended all her energy in the midst of doing so as her appearance swiftly withered to that of an old granny, and it looked as if she would pass away from her frailty. All of us thought that it would be the end like that, but who could have known that… a god would really appear at that moment?”
As Shark One spoke about the god, its body trembled uncontrollably. It was hard to tell whether its reaction was out of fear or agitation.
“I can’t really say for sure, but it seems like even the second ritual was only a partial success. Perhaps it was due to the lacking strength of the head of Starchaser Palace, or the dimension barrier was simply too resilient, but the god was still unable to pass through it and descend upon our world. So, the god forced her way through the dimension barrier, and she succeeded in the end. However, she ended up paying a heavy price for it. Her forceful actions resulted in a severe backlash from the heavens of the Forsaken Continent, causing her to lose a fair bit of blood.
“As tributes for the ritual, the three of us were in the vicinity when the god breached the dimension barrier and came over. When we saw the blood from the god dripping in the ocean, we thought that this might be a golden opportunity for us. Thus, we drank a droplet of blood each, and before we knew it, we fell into a deep sleep. So, we don’t really know what happened after that…”
“You don’t know what happened afterward? Earlier, didn’t you say that the god left afterward?” Zhang Xuan frowned.
“I was the one who saw that…” Shark Three spoke up. “I was more timid than the other two, so I hesitated quite a bit before swallowing the god blood. I vaguely saw the god placing her hand on the body of the head of Starchaser Palace, and the latter slowly reverted to her youthful form. They exchanged a few words, and shortly after, there seemed to be another ritual elsewhere summoning the god. Another dimension rift appeared, and the god left the Forsaken Continent through it.”
“There was another ritual elsewhere?” Zhang Xuan fell into deep thought.
If that was the case, it was very like that other ritual was conducted by Sovereign Chen Yong to summon Luo Ruoxin to the Master Teacher Continent.
Thinking back, it could be due to the backlash from consecutively breaching two dimension barriers that Luo Ruoxin’s strength had been severely limited when she first descended to the Master Teacher Continent. As a result, she had been forced to impersonate a 6-star master teacher until she finally regained her strength.
Of course, this was just speculation. As for the exact circumstances, he could only verify it with the head of Starchaser Palace in person.
Zhang Xuan took out Luo Ruoxin’s portrait in order to verify with the three sharks if they were the same person, but just as had happened with the Blackback Tortoise, even though the three sharks could vaguely remember what had happened, they were unable to recall the physical characteristics of the god other than her gender.
“Then, how did you know that this is a token of the god from back then?” Zhang Xuan asked with a frown.
“The god used that pendant to force her way through the dimension barrier back then. It was as bright as the sun—all of us witnessed it clearly—so there’s no way we wouldn’t recognize it,” Shark One replied.
They might have forgotten the physical characteristics of the god, but they could never forget the splendor of her might.
Given that the ritual was incomplete, it should have been impossible for the god to descend upon the Forsaken Continent. It was by using the might of the pendant to rip open the dimension barrier that she managed to pass through eventually.
It was for this reason that they felt deep fear toward the prowess of the pendant and dared not make a move.
Even a droplet of blood from the god was enough for them to make a breakthrough. Considering how this young man had a token of the god in his possession, it was likely that he had deep ties with the god.
If they wished to reach anywhere higher than Semi-Divinity realm in the future, this young man would be their greatest bet.
Pride and backbone?
All of that meant nothing in the face of the superior might commanded by the gods.
Does this pendant have the ability to tear open the dimension barrier? Zhang Xuan wondered as he held the crimson pendant tightly in his grasp.
It still felt warm. He tried infusing his zhenqi into it, but nothing happened.
He tried using the Godblood Rock, Eye of Insight, and his own zhenqi on the crimson pendant, but there was simply no response. If not for the wonders it had displayed from time to time, he would have really wondered if it was just an ordinary pendant.
It might be because my cultivation is still lacking… Zhang Xuan shook his head as he thought about the time his cultivation went berserk.
Given that Luo Ruoxin had entrusted this artifact to him, there was bound to be something extremely important about it. The fact that it was able to suppress the inner demons that threatened to collapse even the Library of Heaven’s Path spoke a lot about it.
“Since the three of you have submitted to me, you will be following me from this day onward. There are many things that I’ll require your help with, and you can rest assured that you’ll be handsomely rewarded for your service,” Zhang Xuan said as he tucked the crimson pendant safely back inside his clothes.
With the loyalty of these three sharks, he would be under the protection of four Semi-Divinity realm beasts. Adding in the Semi-Divinity artifact in his possession as well, even the Hall of Gods would have to think twice before making a move on him!
Zhang Xuan took out a bottle of chicken soup and passed it over to the injured shark for it to recuperate from its injuries.
After that was done, he continued asking them a few questions regarding the god blood.
He learned that of the entire Vacant Sea, the only ones who had successfully made a breakthrough were the three sharks and the Blackback Tortoise because they had been the closest when that incident occurred. Shark One had acted quickly back then to store an additional droplet of god blood, but that had eventually ended up as chick fodder.
As for the rest, they had diffused all over the Vacant Sea. While the diffused god blood did strengthen the aquatic creatures and plants living in the region, it was not sufficient for them to make a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm.
Zhang Xuan had intended to study the remaining god blood to double confirm the issue, but since there was none left, he could only drop the idea.
Another option was for him to force Little Chick to spit it out… but that did not seem viable.
Following that, Zhang Xuan procured quite a bit of blood from the three sharks and fed them to the Serpentine Dragon, Nine-headed Fiery Phoenix, and the rest, but they were still unable to make a breakthrough.
It seemed like it was not that easy to achieve a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm. It would take a lot more than the blood essences of other Semi-Divinity realm experts in order to take that final step forward.
After that was done, Zhang Xuan moved Shark Two, Shark Three, and Blackback Tortoise into the tamed beast sack before riding Shark One back to Starchaser Island.
…
While Zhang Xuan was exploring the Vacant Sea, the group from the Myriad Beasts Hall, which was still on the way to Starchaser Island, received a message from the Sevenstar Pavilion.
“Elder Qin Yuan, what’s wrong?” Elder Liao asked.
With his eyes still fixated on the Communication Jade Token in his hand, Elder Qin Yuan replied, “I received a message saying that the Sevenstar Pavilion has just chosen a new pavilion master…”
Elder Liao was surprised by the abrupt news, and he asked, “Who is it?”
“It’s a young man named Liu Yang. His cultivation is at the Lesser High Immortal realm, but he managed to master all the battle techniques of the Sevenstar Pavilion within a very short period of time. His talent in the field of martial arts is said to be unrivaled, and his cultivation is exceptional!” Elder Qin Yuan said.
Who would have thought that shortly after they found a highly talented hall master, the Sevenstar Pavilion would find a worthy successor as well!
As the saying went, ‘heroes rise in times of trouble’. Perhaps this was a premonition that a huge crisis was awaiting them in the near future.
“Liu Yang… I don’t think I have heard of that name before,” Elder Liao muttered contemplatively.
The same news had reached the ears of the group from the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion rushing toward Starchaser Island as well.
The group consisted of only Han Jianqiu, First Elder He Tian, and a few others.
One thing of note was that the adolescent youth, Wu Chen, who had traveled all the way to Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion in search of Zhang Xuan, was part of the group as well.
“Not too long after we established Zhang Xuan as our new sect leader, the Myriad Beasts Hall and the Sevenstar Pavilion rushed to do the same as well…” Han Jianqiu shook his head after receiving the news.
“Rushed to do the same as well? What do you mean by that?” First Elder He Tian asked doubtfully.
“A few days ago, the Myriad Beasts Hall nominated a middle-aged man named Zheng Yang as their new hall master. Just a moment ago, I received a message from the Sevenstar Pavilion saying that Kui Xiao has stepped down, and he has passed his position on to a young man named Liu Yang!” Han Jianqiu said.
“Zhang Xuan, Zheng Yang, Liu Yang…” Hearing those three familiar names, a bad premonition gripped Wu Chen as his lips began twitching uncontrollably. With a look of disbelief on his face, he murmured, “It can’t be that… they are all the same person?”
