‘I guess I’ll walk to the capital!’
Jumping down from the branch, Zhang Xuan confirmed his direction before walking over.
The other party might be on a mission, but this had nothing to do with him. The most important matter for him at the moment was to liaise with Hong shi and the others and return to Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy rather than waste his time here.
Hualala!
After taking a few steps, Zhang Xuan heard some heavy footsteps. He immediately leaped up and hid in the tree. Following which, he saw a few large spirit beasts sniffing off the ground before rushing in the direction where Luo Qiqi and the others disappeared to.
‘They found them…’
Zhang Xuan frowned.
Even though these spirit beasts were only at Transcendent Mortal 5-dan—other than Ye Qian, Luo Qiqi and the others were all 6-dan experts—it would still be a difficult battle to fight against them.
‘I guess I should still offer them some help.’
Thinking so, Zhang Xuan followed behind the spirit beasts.
No matter what, he was acquainted with Princess Fei-er and the others, and Luo Qiqi was his apothecary student as well. He couldn’t just stand idly by the side knowing that they were in danger.
Roar! Roar!
“Damn it, they’re here again. Ye Qian, you’re up…”
A ruckus sounded ahead of him, and following which, a violent ripple of energy spread from the forest.
‘They’ve started fighting!’
Knowing that there was no time to lose, Zhang Xuan immediately rushed forward, only to hear a sharp gust of wind blowing above him. Raising his head, he saw a massive Dracoeagle beast swooping down to grab him.
It was the same one that had been amongst the beasts surrounding the white-robed lady back then.
As Zhang Xuan had been hiding within the lush crown of the trees while concealing his aura, he hadn’t been noticed by the spirit beasts yet. However, as soon as he drove his zhenqi and charged forward, they immediately noticed his presence.
Having met its mortal enemy, the Dracoeagle Beast’s eyes reddened in wrath. Its steel talons sliced through the air, producing a sharp screeching sound that seemed as though it would tear through even metal.
“If I get entangled with it, it’ll become hard for me to escape later on…”
Knowing that, if he were to waste time on this fellow, the other spirit beasts would soon gather around him and it would be hard for him to leave then, Zhang Xuan clenched his jaws.
“Moo!”
The Dracoeagle Beast possessed the Dragon Bloodline as well so the mysterious ‘beast language’ that he learned previously should be effective on it as well. Through practice, he had realized that its effects were less significant on those that didn’t possess the Dragon Bloodline. As this was the only spirit beast that possessed the Dragon Bloodline back then, he knew that he would be slaughtered by the other spirit beasts once he expends all of his zhenqi on the ‘beast language’—it had insane zhenqi consumption after all. Thus, the only viable course of action back then was to escape.
And as expected, after the shout, the Dracoeagle Beast suddenly froze in fear, and it began plummeting from the sky.
Putong!
The spirit beast with a wingspan of ten meters fell heavily to the ground, creating a cloud of dust in the air as it twitched uncontrollably.
Roar!
After dealing with this huge fellow, Zhang Xuan was just about to leave when he heard a roaring sound. The Armored Beartiger from before leaped up, and swinging its claws, a sharp force came falling onto him.
The commotion from before had attracted the attention of the spirit beasts. As the fastest spirit beast in the area, this fellow immediately rushed over to help.
“This will be troublesome.”
The other party had its eyes fixed on him as though he had killed the other party’s parents. Knowing that a battle wasn’t avoidable anymore, Zhang Xuan shook his head.
‘Since you want a battle, a battle you will get!
‘It just happened that my cultivation has raised by a fair bit, so I guess I’ll just try it out on you.’
Zhang Xuan thrust his palm forward with astounding might, creating a powerful shock wave that immediately covered a distance of dozens of meters to strike the Armored Beartiger.
Huala!
He hadn’t used his soul energy in this attack, but even so, with the strength of his physical body and zhenqi harnessed behind it, the might of the attack exceeded 6,000,000 ding. This was far beyond the tolerable limit for the Armored Beartiger. The force from its claws was immediately dissipated, and its body was pressed down firmly against the ground.
“Roar?”
The Armored Beartiger widened its eyes in shock, as though it had seen a ghost.
Just three days ago, it fought with this fellow, and while the other party’s swordsmanship was exquisite, he was still far lacking in strength to stand against it… How could it possibly gain the strength to overwhelm him completely with just a single palm in just a few days?
This was… a little, no, way too exaggerated!
If it had known that the other party was so formidable, it wouldn’t have dared to prowl around in search of him. Instead, it would have certainly made sure to hide well so as to stay out of the other party’s way…
“Don’t you dare pursue me anymore. Otherwise, I’ll start spilling blood!”
A roar, and the Dracoeagle Beast plummeted to the ground. A palm, and the Armored Beartiger lost its fighting will. Harrumphing coldly, Zhang Xuan flung his sleeves and turned around to assist Luo Qiqi and the others. However, at this moment, the group of spirit beasts consisting of the Grandlion Spirit Beasts and a few others who were further in front turned around and encircled Zhang Xuan.
Most probably, the Dracoeagle Beast had called for them before engaging Zhang Xuan in a fight.
“Since you came knocking on your own accord, don’t blame me if you were to get injured!”
Initially, Zhang Xuan had no plans of going after these spirit beasts. But since they had come over to challenge him, there was no reason for him to hold back at all. Leaping lightly off the tree, Zhang Xuan dashed forward.
Heaven’s Path Movement Art!
Along with the growth of his physical body and cultivation, Zhang Xuan’s control over Heaven’s Path Movement Art was getting more and more adept, and his maximum speed had increased as well. In an instant, it was as if he had torn a hole through space and leaped through it, appearing right before the Grandlion Spirit Beast in an instant and knocking it down with his body.
‘You specialize in defense?
‘Fine, I’ll use brute strength to crush the defensive ability you are so proud of!’
Peng!
As the two came into collision, the Grandlion Spirit Beast suddenly found its massive body flying backward swiftly, crashing through dozens of trees in the course of his movement, leaving him light-headed from the impact.
After sending this huge fellow flying, Zhang Xuan twisted his body and charged toward a wolf-like spirit beast.
‘Pi pa!’, the sheer might of Zhang Xuan’s fist compressed even air itself. Unable to dodge the attack, the wolf-like spirit beast could only take it forcefully. However, its defense didn’t even last for an instant before it was crushed into the ground, subdued.
…
While an intense battle was going on here, Luo Qiqi and the others were dumbfounded.
It was just a moment ago that the group of spirit beasts had caught up to them and was readying to launch an attack. Furious, Yu Fei-er pushed Ye Qian forward to take the brunt of the attack.
Given Ye Qian’s Consonant Spirit realm cultivation, even if he were to survive this ordeal, he would surely end up lying on the bed for months afterward. Who could have known that, before anything could happen, those furious spirit beasts would suddenly back down?
“Could it be that they are aware of my identity as the crown prince, so they dared not lay their hands on me?”
Ye Qian scratched his head in embarrassment.
But that was impossible!
When had the savage spirit beasts ever considered a person’s social standing before ripping him apart? Even an emperor would be no exception to this rule!
“Someone has attracted the attention of the spirit beasts in our place. Look, there’s a battle going on there!”
With a frown on her face, Yu Fei-er was the first one to figure out the situation.
All of the retreating spirit beasts had headed in the same direction, and a violent disturbance in the spiritual energy could be felt from that direction as well. Adding the frenzied roars in that direction, it was clear that a battle was ongoing.
“Ye Qian, could it be one of your men?” Xing Yuan frowned.
Their mission had to be carried out in absolute secrecy. As such, they had strictly told Ye Qian that he was not to allow anyone to follow them. In order to ensure that, they even chose to walk on foot instead of riding on an aerial spirit beast…
Given that someone had lured the spirit beasts away as soon as they had met with danger, they found it hard to believe that it wasn’t the doing of Ye Qian’s men.
“It isn’t me, I didn’t allow anyone to follow me…”
Ye Qian quickly waved his hands to explain himself.
He knew how important the mission was, so how could he make such a serious mistake?
“We’ll know once we get there…”
Luo Qiqi waved her hands.
“Un!” Xing Yuan nodded. “Nothing can be allowed to go wrong with our mission. If we really were followed, we will be in deep trouble…”
With this, the group silently advanced toward the direction where the battle was ongoing.
A moment later, they arrived at the scene, and with just a single glance, they all froze.
“It’s… Zhang shi!”
“Why would teacher be here?”
“Wasn’t this fellow taken away by his teacher? How could he appear here?”
…
Seeing that it was a familiar face, different expressions surfaced on their own faces.
The one who was delighted was naturally Luo Qiqi, whereas the one who despaired was Princess Yu Fei-er.
She had lost a wager with Zhang Xuan, so meeting him and having the bet enforced was the last thing she would want to see happening.
“I know! Teacher must have seen that we were getting attacked, so he intentionally attracted that bunch of spirit beasts over to him…” Luo Qiqi suddenly said.
“You’re overthinking the matter, when has he ever been so kind?” Yu Fei-er harrumphed.
“If that wasn’t the case, why would the aggression of these spirit beasts suddenly turn from us to him? Given how frenzied they were, it was unlikely that they would have changed target if not for Zhang laoshi intentionally drawing their attention!” Luo Qiqi said.
“This…”
Everyone was stunned.
Luo Qiqi’s words made perfect sense.
It was just a moment ago that all of the spirit beasts looked as though they would devour them whole. As such, they thought that a bitter fight awaited them. Yet, in the blink of an eye, they abandoned them and turned their hostility toward Zhang shi instead. It was a little hard to believe that Zhang shi hadn’t done anything to draw their aggression given such circumstances.
“Regardless of whether he intentionally drew their attention or not, look at their battle…” Wu Zhen interrupted the thoughts of the crowd, and pointed to the battle with a shaking finger.
Hearing those words, everyone immediately turned their gazes over; almost instantly, their pupils dilated in shock, and their mouths went dry.
“Wasn’t he still at Clarifying Turbidity realm pinnacle a few days ago?”
Xing Yuan gulped down his saliva.
Just three days ago, when they were entering the Cleansing Lake, the other party was still at Clarifying Turbidity realm pinnacle. How could he possibly be at Consonant Spirit realm pinnacle at this very instant?
They had seen geniuses who improved swiftly… but this was completely inconceivable!
More importantly… even though he had reached Consonant Spirit realm, their cultivation was still higher than him. Yet, despite fighting with so many spirit beasts that even they would feel threatened before, he was able to subdue them with ease as though an adult playing with a child…
Wasn’t his fighting prowess a little way too strong?
Princess Yu Fei-er widened her eyes in shock, and her face twitched violently.
She never thought that this shameless figure would actually possess such astounding strength!
If the other party had displayed such astounding prowess in their previous battle as well, she would probably have been defeated in a single move.
If that was the case… did he do it intentionally?
‘That must be it!’
Recalling how the other party kicked her bottom, her face flushed from rage.
If it wasn’t intentional, how could his attacks so coincidentally land on her bottom each time?
He could have subdued her easily, but he chose to kick her bottom instead. A ruffian he was indeed! Shameless!
Unaware of everyone’s thoughts, Ye Qian asked, “Senior, since Zhang shi is so formidable, and he could already be considered as a member of the academy as well, is it possible for us to bring him on the mission with us? With him, I feel that we’ll be in a much safer position.”
“Bring teacher along with us?” Luo Qiqi’s eyes gleamed in excitement. “Indeed! With him, the success rate of our mission would be boosted significantly!”
“Un, your words do make sense. I approve of this matter!” After a moment of contemplation, Xing Yuan nodded in agreement.
“No, he can’t go with us!”
Yu Fei-er’s eyes widened at that suggestion, and she quickly shot it down.
