Stepping against the ground, Pavilion Master Kang charged forward as though a leopard. He shook his arms, and zhenqi gushed frenziedly from his body, causing his speed to hasten once again.
Spirit intermediate-tier battle technique–Proud Eagle Soaring the Skies!
This was a movement technique, and even if it wasn’t the strongest one in the Myriad Kingdom City, it wasn’t too far off from that. Executing it, Pavilion Master Kang’s speed surged. Even an expert of Alliance Head Zhao’s caliber would find it hard to keep up.
Worried over the safety of his student, he even went to the extent of executing his ultimate move. “Zhang shi, I’ll be going on ahead to take a look… Hmm? Where’s he? The heck!”
Continuing on forward, Pavilion Master Kang turned his head to speak to Zhang shi. However, halfway through his words, his body stiffened, and he nearly fell to the ground.
There was no one behind him at all. Instead, there was a figure, who was now only the size of a black dot, flitting swiftly in front of him, about to disappear at any moment.
Who else could it be… other than Zhang shi?
He had used his strongest technique to move as fast as possible, and they thought that it would be impossible for the Transcendent Mortal 2-dan primary stage Zhang shi to catch up. Who could’ve known that… before he could finish his words, the other party had already disappeared!
The other party’s speed was more than twofold faster than his!
One had to know that he was a Transcendent Mortal 4-dan pinnacle expert, and on top of that, he had executed his strongest movement technique… And yet, he still nearly failed to even catch the other party’s silhouette.
Even though he had seen the sight for himself, he couldn’t help but think that maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Was that still a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan cultivator?
Even a 5-dan wouldn’t possess such speed…
‘Wait a moment, he isn’t 2-dan primary stage but… advanced stage?’
Pavilion Master Kang frowned.
Rushing at full speed, Zhang shi’s true cultivation was fully revealed… That wasn’t the level of a Transcendent Mortal 2-dan primary stage but an… advanced stage.
How was that possible?
He had seen the other party making a breakthrough to Origin Energy realm right before him clearly-it couldn’t possibly be faked… And yet, in just half a month, the other party actually advanced two small realms to reach 2-dan advanced stage?
No matter what, that was Transcendent Mortal 2-dan… To progress from primary stage to advanced stage in such a short period of time, not to mention, his cultivation had been reinforced and he seemed to be on the verge of making a breakthrough at any time…
How did he do it?
Wasn’t that way too formidable?
Besides, even if the other party was at Origin Energy realm advanced stage, the other party was two huge cultivation realms weaker than a Clarifying Turbidity realm pinnacle expert like him. How could the other party be even faster than him given such? Not to mention, despite traveling at such speed, the other party’s ability to make abrupt turns and leaps was absurd. At the very least, he knew that his Spirit intermediate-tier movement technique Proud Eagle Soaring the Skies was incapable of such a feat.
‘Could it be that… he had cultivated a Spirit high-tier movement technique… or even a Spirit pinnacle battle technique?’
Pavilion Master Kang was shocked by his own thoughts.
Only the more powerful empires had the qualification to access such techniques. Even though he was the head of Myriad Kingdom Alliance Master Teacher Pavilion, he was still unqualified to learn or even to access them.
Yet, Zhang shi, who had come from an Unranked Kingdom… actually had learned a battle technique of such level. His background must have been incredible…
‘Su Fan and Ling Yuheng probably didn’t tell me the complete truth… Zhang shi’s background isn’t simple at all! I’ll have to ask them about it when I return!’ Pavilion Master Kang thought.
Strength wasn’t something that came from nowhere. Given how formidable Zhang shi was, his teacher and background must be anything but ordinary!
Given how Su shi and Ling shi vouched for him with all their might, they must know something about him.
“Zhang shi… Wait for me!”
Suppressing his shock, Pavilion Master Kang raised his gaze once more, only to see that Zhang shi’s figure had disappeared altogether. Thus, he quickly chased the other party’s back.
The Glacier Plain Court wasn’t too big. The place where the savage aura was released was only several hundred meters away from them. After making a few turns, Zhang Xuan arrived at a vast hall.
Court Chief Wu, Ruohuan gongzi, Zhao Ya, as well as several red-robed and white-robed female disciples were present in the room. Every single one of them was shaking in fear before the immense might Court Chief Wu was releasing.
Before the group was an immense lake of around twenty meters wide. The lake was divided into two portions. It seemed like innumerable spirit stones had been embedded to it, creating a lake of pure spiritual energy.
“Could this be the… Yin-Yang Lake?”
Even though Zhang Xuan had heard of the name of Yin-Yang Lake, this was his first time seeing it.
“Something’s wrong… I’ve heard that the water of the Yin-Yang Lake is divided by their attribute; one end should be searing hot while the other end should be icy cold. Even though the lake in front is filled with spiritual energy, it doesn’t seem to carry such attributes…”
Zhang Xuan frowned.
The Yin-Yang Lake was famous across the world due to the yin and yang energy flowing within it. One end was bone-piercing cold while the other end was unendurable heat. The both of them met at the center, forming a mystical sight.
Cultivating within the lake, one’s zhenqi would be tempered by the power of hot and cold, yin and yang, thus making one’s zhenqi even more dense. This would increase the speed of one’s cultivation as well.
Even though the lake before him was divided into two, all Zhang Xuan could sense from it was the flow of spiritual energy. There was no heat or coldness from it… Could this not be the Yin-Yang Lake?”
During that period of time, Pavilion Master Kang also arrived on the scene. Upon seeing that his student wasn’t injured, he turned to Court Chief Wu and asked with a doubtful expression, “Court Chief Wu, what happened?”
What in the world could have happened to send Court Chief Wu, a Transcendent Mortal 5-dan, into such rage?
“Something has cropped up with the Yin-Yang Lake…” Court Chief Wu said. Then, turning to the female disciples by the side, she bellowed, “Repeat what you said just now!”
“Yes!”
A female disciple stepped forward and said with a trembling voice, “Just as always, we came over here to clear up the… seed water, but we realized that… the power of yin and yang within the seed water had disappeared completely, just like… the Yin-Yang Lake…”
“The seed water is buried deep within the ground, and the power of yin and yang within it originates from the earth vein and Ice Plain. How could it possibly disappear all of the sudden?” Court Chief Wu couldn’t believe this matter.
“Reporting to court chief… this is a sample that we brought up from below. Look…”
The female disciple flicked her wrist and a pail appeared in her hands. It was a pail of clear water. Spiritual energy was dancing vigorously in it but… the water didn’t carry the slightest chill or heat at all.
“The yin and yang attribute has really disappeared from the seed water? What’s going on?”
Court Chief Wu’s eyes reddened.
The Yin-Yang Lake was the very basis of the Glacier Plain Court. If it was ruined, this branch would be as good as destroyed.
While she was lashing out furiously, Zhang Xuan’s mouth was twitching vigorously.
Initially, he wasn’t too sure what the ‘seed water’ the other party spoke of referred to, but after seeing the water in the pail the female disciple brought over, he immediately shuddered.
Wasn’t that what he absorbed just a moment ago?
Could it be related to the Yin-Yang Lake?
“Court Chief Wu, can you tell me what the seed water is? If there is any trouble, you could tell me about it. Perhaps we might find a solution to the problem by discussing it…”
Seeing the state of the court chief, Pavilion Master Kang suddenly got a bad premonition.
“This concerns the deepest secret of the Glacier Plain Court, so I didn’t want to reveal it to you. However, given the current situation, it seems like I can’t hide it any longer!”
Court Chief Wu hesitated for a moment before nodding her head.
Even though the group before her were all outsiders, they were also master teachers. This was a huge crisis and she had no choice but to pin her hopes on them.
“This is the Yin-Yang Lake!”
Court Chief Wu gestured to the giant lake before them. “Are you all curious why there is no collision between searing heat and frigid coldness in the lake, as is said in the rumors?”
Everyone nodded their heads.
This was especially so for Pavilion Master Kang. He had noticed all of this as soon as he arrived, and this had left him perplexed.
“The spiritual energy from the Yin-Yang Lake originates from spirit stones, I believe you all should be able to tell as much. However, the yin and yang energy within originates from the seed water!
“The seed water is created by the Glacier Plain Court by fusing the searing heat of the earth vein and the frigid coldness of the Ice Plain through a unique method. It is usually buried deep in the mountain vein, and only when it is required will we take a pail of water from it and pour it in this lake…” Court Chief Wu explained.
Even though it was just a brief introduction, it concerned the deepest secret and most fundamental secret behind the existence of the Glacier Plain Court.
The supposed Yin-Yang Lake wasn’t naturally-formed but man-made. Its very foundation was the seed water. Only by pouring a pail of seed water in the Yin-Yang Lake would yin and yang energy be granted to the water, turning it into a blessed land for cultivators.
It was just like a bottle of syrup and the cordial made of it. The most important part of it wasn’t the cordial but the bottle of syrup!
And at this moment… the yin and yang attribute of the seed water… had actually disappeared altogether!
Without the seed water, the Yin-Yang Lake would be reduced to nothing more than a lake concentrated in spiritual energy. Even though it was still useful to one’s cultivation, its effectiveness was significantly lower than before…
“This…”
Pavilion Master Kang’s mouth twitched.
He thought that it might be a simple problem, but from the looks of it, it was something way beyond his ability.
The seed water was the most fundamental secret of the Glacier Plain Court. How could he possibly know how to fix something like that?
Even Court Chief Wu, who had spent her entire life alongside it, was unable to solve it. What kind of solution could he possibly offer?
Honestly speaking, he felt that his luck was truly bad. He’d gone through so much effort to get the slots in hope that the cultivation of their participants of the Master Teacher Tournament could increase significantly through this. Never in his dreams did he expect to stumble by such a problem…
“Right, Zhang shi…”
Shaking his head, Pavilion Master Kang was just about to tell the other party that he was helpless before this issue when he remembered the miracle-making Zhang Xuan. Thus, he turned his gaze to the latter, but the sight he saw made him frown.
At this moment, Zhang shi had a bizarre look on his face. He looked as though he had done something wrong, and his face was red in guilt.
“Zhang shi, what’s wrong?”
It was bizarre for the active Zhang Xuan to behave in such a manner instead of offering a solution. Court Chief Wu, also sensing that something was amiss, turned her gaze to the latter.
Everyone else also followed suit, and soon, all eyes were gathered on him.
“I…”
Hearing the question, Zhang Xuan’s face reddened further. Scratching his head, he said, “That… Court Chief Wu, previously, at the Room of Ice and Fire, didn’t I tell you that… I cultivated for a while?”
Court Chief Wu and Pavilion Master Kang was surprised to hear Zhang Xuan raise up this issue all of the sudden, but they still nodded their heads.
The other party did indeed say such words. It was due to this matter that he failed to pass the trial.
Scratching his head in embarrassment, Zhang Xuan continued, “Cough cough… while I was cultivating, I accidentally exerted too much force and… sapped the yin and yang energy in your seed water dry…”
Tomorrow is the eve of Chinese New Year, the day where an entire family, regardless of where they are, gather together to share a feast of reunion.
Hope you all get to spend this precious day with your family as well!
