“Pick another condition!”
Seeing that the other party was actually interested in them, Luo Qiqi frowned and waved her hands in disapproval.
If not for the other party being the young master of the Beast Hall, she would surely have slapped that thought out of him by now.
They were both 5-star master teachers, not to mention Yu Fei-er was the princess of Hongyuan Empire, so how dare a mere 4-star beast tamer try to take advantage of them?
But regardless, the two of them didn’t know much about beast taming, and the other party seemed to be the vindictive type who would get back at them if they were to offend him. Thus, Luo Qiqi chose to hold herself back.
“Pick another condition?”
Not expecting the two ladies to reject even a meal, Qin Zhong frowned.
He took pride in his looks and identity, and very few had ever rejected his invitation before. They were the ones who had requested something of him, and yet, not only did they reject his invitation, they even had such displeased looks on their faces. What did they mean by this?
They were thinking too highly of themselves!
Qin Zhong harrumphed coldly.
“It’s just a casual meal, surely there’s no need for you to turn me down like this, right? If you were to continue acting so coldly and distant, I fear that it’ll be difficult for you to get a good aerial spirit beast when you arrive at the Beast Hall…”
Luo Qiqi narrowed her eyes.
“What do you mean by that? Are you trying to threaten us? Do you know the consequences of threatening a master teacher?”
“Threaten? How could I possibly dare to threaten a master teacher! I’m just giving you a word of advice out of goodwill on my part. Besides, you are the ones who asked to hitch a ride. Is this the kind of attitude one should put on when asking for a favor?”
Qin Zhong chuckled playfully as he gazed at the duo. “I have already stated my price, it’s your choice to accept it or not. In any case, I am in no hurry. As long as I am here, I doubt anyone in the entire Beast Hall will be willing to offer you a ride!”
Seeing the other party acting so despicably, how could a person with an explosive temper like Yu Fei-er possibly hold herself back? Sneering coldly, she stepped forward so as to teach that shameless man a lesson and pummel into him the fact that there were some people in the world he should never offend. But at that moment, the sound of dirt being overturned sounded from the huge depression below.
Gugugugugu!
Dirt was hurled continuously into the air, as if a gigantic bubble was trying to break out from the earth.
“Could it be…”
Yu Fei-er and Luo Qiqi’s bodies immediately stiffened. At this moment, they couldn’t be bothered with that arrogant fellow anymore. Their eyes stared intently at the depression, willing for the person they were hoping for to appear.
Could he really be alive?
Was he going to create another miracle as he always did and climb out from the ground alive?
The duo’s eyes turned crimson at that thought. They had spent five entire days here, and in this duration, the spark of hope they once held onto slowly withered into despair… And right when they were about to let go of the final sliver of hope, such an incident occurred.
Gulong!
Just as their hearts were hanging with anxiety, the dirt on the surface of the ground finally broke open, and a massive head emerged.
“Puppet!”
The bodies of the two ladies became tense, and their faces immediately flushed ghastly pale.
They’d thought that it would be Zhang shi, but who knew that it would be this puppet instead!
Hu!
The puppet climbed out from the hole and stood up. Then, it scanned the surroundings warily, as though waiting for someone.
Seeing that there wasn’t the slightest injury on this puppet, Luo Qiqi and Yu Fei-er felt as if a knife had torn through their hearts.
Zhang shi had sacrificed his own life so that the puppets would remain buried for all eternity to come, but it seemed like his sacrifice had ended in futility.
On the other hand, Qin Zhong, who was waiting for the two beauties before him to submit, saw that the duo had ignored him and turned their attention to the depression instead. Frowning, he turned his gaze over as well, and his eyebrows shot up.
What the heck was that fellow? Why would he suddenly appear from the ground?
Even though Qin Zhong was a 4-star beast tamer, the matter regarding the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe was one of the greatest secrets of the continent, so he didn’t know too much about them. Not to mention, the Otherworldly Demon puppets did resemble humans in some respects, albeit being slightly larger.
A normal Otherworldly Demon was only two meters tall. The only reason the Otherworldly Demon which Zhang Xuan met in Myriad Kingdom City reached three meters and was less ‘humanly’ was because it was a hybrid between the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe and a spirit beast.
Even though it was rare to meet someone two meters tall, it wasn’t something to make a fuss over.
‘Isn’t he just a little taller than average? He looks rather weak. Do these two ladies prefer this type of man?’
Seeing how the two beautiful ladies before him had ignored him and were getting ‘excited’ before that tall man, Qin Zhong’s face reddened, and a glint flashed across his eyes.
‘That fellow is just a little taller than average! Let me show you that height is nothing at all!’
With such thoughts in mind, Qin Zhong stepped forward, and with a proud gaze, he said, “I am Qin Zhong, a 4-star beast tamer from the Beast Hall. My friend over there, may I know how to address you? Is it convenient for you to come up to have a chat?”
“Hmm?”
Just as Luo Qiqi and Yu Fei-er were overwhelmed by grief and shock, they suddenly heard those words and froze.
Was there something wrong with this fellow’s head?
Chat with an Otherworldly Demon? How could Qin Zhong be sure that he knew how to speak human language?
Seeing the dumbfounded expression on the duo, Qin Zhong thought that he was on the right track, and his eyes lit up. Turning his gaze back to the tall fellow below, he realized that the latter wasn’t even looking at him. Furious, he howled, “What? Are you looking down on me? Fine, I’m interested to see what you are capable of anyway!”
After saying this, the Greenleaf Winged Dragon Beast roared and flew into the sky.
Qin Zhong leaped onto the back of his tamed beast, and the duo swooped downward to the tall fellow below.
‘You chose that tall fellow over me? Fine, I’ll beat him up right now and let you know how bad your eyes are!’
Halfway through the arc, Qin Zhong leaped off from the spirit beast. His robe fluttered along with the tug of the wind as he charged toward that tall fellow.
He had used his strongest movement technique in this leap. At this moment, he looked like he was gliding through the air, creating a dashing scene. Through this movement technique, he had incited the excited screams of innumerable beautiful ladies.
Halfway through his movement, he raised his gaze to peek at the two beautiful ladies, hoping to see eyes gleaming with excitement and admiration. But who knew that those two ladies would actually shake their heads in pity and close their eyes?
‘Closing your eyes?
‘Is my performance insufficient to awe you?’
Just as Qin Zhong was perplexed by the bizarre situation, he had already arrived before the puppet. Before he could do anything, he suddenly saw a huge fist rapidly expanding before his eyes.
Peng!
A powerful force struck his body, and he suddenly felt a stifling sensation in his chest. Blood spurted profusely from his mouth, and his figure rapidly retreated through the air.
‘Strength that exceeds Transcendent Mortal 8-dan…’
Qin Zhong’s vision turned dark, and he nearly went insane.
The strength of the Otherworldly Demon puppets was derived from their physical bodies, making it nearly impossible for Qin Zhong to accurately gauge the other party’s true strength and capability. Nevertheless, taking pride in his ability, he’d thought that it would be a piece of cake for him to take down the other party.
Never had he expected for the other party to be so powerful. It felt like he was standing against the raging storms of a boundless ocean. Even his father, the hall master of the Beast Hall, a Transcendent Mortal 8-dan pinnacle expert, didn’t wield such prowess!
But if that was the case, wouldn’t that mean that the other party’s strength had already exceeded Transcendent Mortal 8-dan?
How could that be?
He had met all of the Transcendent Mortal 8-dan experts of Huanyu Empire, but he didn’t recall one of them being of such tall stature…
Only after spurting several large mouthfuls of blood did he finally feel the stifling sensation in his chest alleviate slightly. His back crashed heavily against the edge of the depression, and the bones throughout his entire body rattled.
Just a single fist and he was already severely injured. If not for the several life preservation artifacts that he had activated in the midst of his trajectory, he just might have died from that single fist.
But even so, the injuries he had sustained would take at least a month or two to heal.
Struggling to open his eyes, Qin Zhong was just about to summon his Winged Dragon Beast to take him away when he saw yet another tall fellow climbing out from the hole, and the both of them stood respectfully beside the hole.
‘Are they… trying to welcome someone?’
Seeing the attitude of the two tall fellows, Qin Zhong was taken aback.
However, the bizarreness didn’t stop here. After which, more tall fellows emerged from the hole, and they stood on the both sides of the hole. With their heads lowered, it seemed like they were waiting patiently for the arrival of some important person.
Finally, after the appearance of the eighteenth tall man, a sedan chair slowly emerged from the hole.
Seated on top of the sedan chair was a young man, and upon seeing the sunlight outside, he stretched his back lazily. It seemed like he had been deprived of sunlight for many days and was delighted to see it once more.
To be carried by four Transcendent Mortal 8-dan experts while another eighteen stood at attention to welcome him… Who in the world was this fellow?
And why did he appear from the ground?
Qin Zhong widened his eyes in bewilderment. For an instant, he forgot about the overwhelming pain he was suffering.
At that moment, an excited call suddenly came from above, and two figures immediately leaped into the depression.
“Zhang shi…”
Luo Qiqi and Yu Fei-er had thought that they would never meet this young man ever again. Who could have thought that he would actually appear before them in such a fashion?
Unable to hold back their agitation, they rushed forward without any hesitation.
The depression was around forty meters deep, but this height was nothing to a Cosmos Bridge realm expert.
“Little Qi and Princess Fei-er, what are you two doing here?”
Naturally, the man seated on the sedan was Zhang Xuan.
After five days of effort, the puppets had finally unearthed a passageway for him to leave the underground chamber.
In any case, since their leader was in his hands, these fellows had no choice but to obey his words. Thus, he had them prepare a sedan chair to carry him up.
Zhang Xuan thought that after so many days, the two ladies would have already left. As such, he was surprised to see them here.
“You are fine…”
After confirming that the other party was indeed Zhang shi, Luo Qiqi and Yu Fei-er were finally able to release the huge burden that had been weighing down on their hearts over the past few days. But after recovering from their agitation, many doubts started to emerge in their minds.
Wasn’t he chased by the puppets when they left?
Why would the puppets be carrying him out now?
More importantly, with the collapse of the underground chamber, the supply of oxygen inside was cut off entirely. How did he manage to survive for so long?
“I’m fine. It’s a long story.”
Zhang Xuan waved his hands. “I thought that I would surely die back then, but I happened to activate an artifact that my teacher left for me then. Through the effects of the artifact, not only did I survive the collapse, these puppets were also put under my control. Honestly speaking, I was truly lucky to have survived this!”
There was no way he could talk about the heart. Otherwise, he would have to explain how he managed to seal the heart in his Book of Heaven’s Path too.
Thus, he chose to push everything onto that imaginary teacher of his.
In any case, the duo had seen his teacher’s astounding performance back at the Cleansing Lake too, so it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to believe this either.
“Yang shi?”
Luo Qiqi and Yu Fei-er glanced at one another before heaving a sigh of relief simultaneously.
The image of Yang shi descending for the sky and resolving the huge catastrophe with the single throw of a shoe was still inscribed deeply in their minds. Not even Mo shi would have been capable of doing the same. It wasn’t entirely inconceivable for that legendary figure to tame all of the puppets given his means.
“It’s enough that you are fine…”
Since a high ranked master teacher was involved in this matter, they knew that it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to pry into this matter. Thus, they decided to put this topic away.
“Un.”
Seeing the duo putting aside the matter, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. At that moment, he suddenly noticed Qin Zhong, whose face was swollen red from the punch earlier, and he frowned in confusion.
“Who is this fellow?”
