Under the discerning gaze of the Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan could see a thin gray line floating amidst his massive soul. It resembled a parasite, leaving him with an ominous feeling within.
“This is… the Innate Fetal Poison?” Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.
Even back when he was still in Tianxuan Kingdom, he had already noticed the Innate Fetal Poison in him. However, as he began to cultivate the Heaven’s Path Divine Art, the poison was suppressed by the Heaven’s Path zhenqi, thus crippling it for the time being. As time passed, he began to pay less and less heed to it.
Based on his previous investigation, he should be able to resolve the problem by becoming a 9-star master teacher before the age of thirty. Who could have known that… the Innate Fetal Poison would actually slip into his soul?
He could suppress the Innate Fetal Poison in his physical body through his Heaven’s Path zhenqi, but how was he supposed to deal with it in his soul?
Zhang Xuan’s face turned livid.
A soul was the foundation of a human’s consciousness. Its destruction would spell irreversible death for one.
Zhang Xuan was still previously harboring the thought of focusing on the cultivation of his soul such that even if he was unable to resolve his Innate Fetal Poison, he could at least still live on as a soul.
But from the looks of it, this idea was impossible now.
Unknowingly, the treacherous poison had managed to seep into his soul.
As his soul was too weak before, he wasn’t able to perceive it. However, as his soul broke the ten meters bottleneck and grew even stronger and more sensitive, he finally noticed that something was amiss.
“Or perhaps… has the Innate Fetal Poison been in my soul from the very start?”
The Innate Fetal Poison was planted in him back when he was nothing more than a fetus in his mother’s womb. Given how vulnerable he was then, it shouldn’t have been too difficult for it to spread from his body to his soul, or vice-versa.
However, considering how it had been some time since he’d become a soul oracle, it didn’t seem quite possible for him to have never noticed the Innate Fetal Poison in his soul all along. It was as if that congregation of Innate Fetal Poison had been invisible to him all along!
Or could it be that it was simply too weak for him to perceive then? If that was the case, could it mean that the Innate Fetal Poison was leeching off his soul, growing along with it?
‘What should I do? Will the Innate Fetal Poison be triggered sooner if I continue cultivating my soul?’ Zhang Xuan thought grimly.
Without the Heaven’s Path zhenqi, it would be difficult for him to suppress the Innate Fetal Poison. If the poison in his soul were to trigger, he would be helpless before it.
What the heck was this!
The other protagonists that transcend to another world were either top-notch geniuses or given overpowered artifacts that allowed them to dominate the world. It was one thing for him to have been born with average talent, but he was even given such a ‘gift’ from the world. What crime did he commit in his previous life to deserve this?
While the Soul of Heaven’s Path was indeed powerful, it shared one common trait with the other souls—it was incapable of harnessing zhenqi, and this included the Heaven’s Path zhenqi as well. Without the Heaven’s Path zhenqi to suppress the Innate Fetal Poison, it would be able to do as it pleased in his soul.
In other words, his life and death hinged on the whim of that monstrosity!
“Unless… I can find something to suppress it!”
If his Heaven’s Path zhenqi couldn’t help him suppress the Innate Fetal Poison in his soul, he would just have to find something else that could!
Otherwise, if that monstrosity were to get into a bad mood and wreak havoc, he might just die a premature death.
It wouldn’t do to simply bank his fate on luck.
“Soul oracle is the occupation that specializes in the topic of souls. I have received Mo Hunsheng’s heritage, but there isn’t any method for me to suppress the Innate Fetal Poison in there. Furthermore, the heritage of soul oracles has been wiped out by the Master Teacher Pavilion, so it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to find a solution from there…” Zhang Xuan contemplated.
If he wanted to find something to suppress the Innate Fetal Poison in his soul, he would have to first find something compatible with his soul. To do so, he would first have to deepen his understanding regarding souls.
However, with the heritage of the number one occupation specializing in the study of souls extinct, he could only try to find another substitute for it.
“Of the ten schools in the Master Teacher Academy, the supporting occupations that can influence one’s soul are painter, demonic tunist, and terpsichore. Painting can calm hearts and build conception, but it possesses no offensive capability whatsoever. On the other hand, demonic tunist and terpsichore can beguile hearts and destroy souls. Thus, I should focus on the latter two instead.”
The other supporting occupations such as beast tamer, blacksmith, celestial designer, and physicians had little regarding the study of souls.
At this point, the only two occupations which could possibly help Zhang Xuan were demonic tunist and terpsichore.
Those two occupations specialized in the beguilement of souls, so they should have a sizeable collection regarding the study of souls.
“Un, I will pay those two schools a visit when dawn comes!”
Time waited for no one. Every day he waited meant an additional day where he could be killed by the Innate Fetal Poison.
However, it was already nearing midnight, so it was unlikely that their facilities would still be open. Thus, it would better for him to head there after daybreak.
Even though there was an event in the academy tomorrow, in which the teachers of the academy would accept students under their tutelage, it didn’t make a difference to him whether he went there or not.
After all, if he intended to seek a teacher, he would have already accepted Zhao Bingxu’s offer to become his junior. It would be pointless for him to reject that offer and seek a normal teacher instead.
Even if a student was left without a teacher at the end of the event, it wasn’t the end of the world for him. For one, he could still attend public lessons.
Besides, Zhang Xuan’s main goal for coming to the Master Teacher Academy was to access the collection of books in here. In view of that, it didn’t matter whether he had the guidance of a teacher or not.
“I don’t think I can sleep tonight. I guess I shall take a look at how Wang Ying and the others are doing!”
With the issue regarding the Innate Fetal Poison weighing down his mind, it was unlikely that he would be able to rest. Since that was the case, he might as well take a look at how his students and butler were doing and provide them some guidance on their cultivation.
Otherwise, they might find themselves lagging too far behind Yuan Tao, Zhao Ya, and Lu Chong.
Thus, Zhang Xuan stood up and walked out of his room.
Turbid clouds shrouded the night sky, and not a single star or the moon was to be seen.
Even on such a dark night, it would be too conspicuous for him to travel using the Red Dust Heaven Ascending Steps, especially since there were sentries keeping a lookout for the aerial space in the academy given the presence of Saint realm experts in the city. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to summon the Great Violetwing Beast.
There were quite a few students in the academy who bore the beast tamer occupation, so aerial spirit beasts were allowed to travel to and fro unrestricted grounds in the academy.
Leaping onto the back of the aerial spirit beast, Zhang Xuan flew out of the academy.
Before heading to Leiyuan Peak, Sun Qiang had already found a residence, and he had informed Zhang Xuan of the address as well. After a couple minutes of flight, a small residence soon came into sight.
This residence was only a few hundred meters square large, significantly smaller than the previous one they’d stayed in.
Nevertheless, in Hongyuan City where every inch of ground was worth a fortune, it must have taken a huge deal of effort to find a residence of this size.
Just as Zhang Xuan was about to leap down from the Great Violetwing Beast’s back, he suddenly frowned.
“Eye of Insight!”
With a sharp gaze, he surveyed his surroundings.
Soon, he saw a few shadows hidden inconspicuously in the shadows around the residence, seemingly up to no good.
“They are all Ethereal Treading realm experts!”
While they had done a good job concealing their trail, they were still unable to fool the Eye of Insight.
Zhang Xuan could feel immense power lying dormant in their bodies, as if a crouching mighty dragon. Astonishingly, they were all Transcendent Mortal 8-dan experts!
Why would such experts be lurking around his residence?
Could it be that they meant Sun Qiang and the others harm?
“We have just arrived here, and Sun Qiang and the others have nothing much of fortune on them either. How did they catch the eye of such experts?”
While Ethereal Treading realm cultivators weren’t the top tier power in Hongyuan City, they were definitely considered experts here.
For so many experts to surround a small residence, what could they be up to?
Surely Sun Qiang and the others didn’t have any possession on them that could attract their attention?
“Forget it, this is a good opportunity to try out my new strength!” A glint flashed across Zhang Xuan’s eyes.
At Leiyuan Peak, he had managed to advance his cultivation to Cosmos Bridge realm pinnacle, resulting in his zhenqi strength rising to 8,000,000 ding. In the Chamber of Earth Flame, he had managed to achieve Second Incandescence in the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body, thus enhancing his overall physical strength to 8,000,000 ding as well. Factoring in the 3,200,000 ding of strength from his soul cultivation, the overall might he could harness added up to almost 20,000,000 ding.
This granted him the strength to fight with Ethereal Treading realm advanced stage experts on equal grounds!
Since those fellows seemed to be up to no good, there shouldn’t be any trouble using them as punching bags.
Hu!
With a leap, Zhang Xuan descended from the back of the Great Violetwing Beast.
Since the Great Violetwing Beast was maintaining a high altitude in the sky, the several men hidden in the shadows didn’t seem to notice Zhang Xuan.
Zhang Xuan drove his zhenqi and activated the Red Dust Heaven Ascending Step. As if a light feather, he slowly drifted down amidst the cloak of the night sky.
“I should start from the weakest!”
There was a total of four men hidden in the area, and the weakest of them was at Ethereal Treading realm primary stage. Silently, as if an apparition, Zhang Xuan’s figure floated stealthily toward the masked man hidden behind an ancient tree.
By cloaking his vitals with his Heaven’s Path zhenqi, he was able to erase his presence such that not even a Chrysalis realm expert would be able to notice him.
He silently gathered his strength on his palm and pressed it against the masked man.
The masked man behind the ancient tree felt an abrupt jolt on his back before immense might began gushing through his body, sealing every single one of his meridians.
Putong!
The next moment, he was already lying on the ground, unconscious.
“Oh? This isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be!” Zhang Xuan muttered.
It was just a day ago that he was still completely powerless before an Ethereal Treading realm expert, but at this moment, he could already incapacitate them without much effort.
After knocking the first one out, he turned his gaze toward his second target and slowly made his way over.
The target this time around was an Ethereal Treading realm intermediate stage expert. He was slightly warier, and Zhang Xuan was discovered before he could make his way to him. Just as he was able to exclaim to warn his other comrades, he suddenly felt an extremely heavy pressure pushing on his soul, rendering him incapable of speech.
It was an assault on his soul!
While he was an Ethereal Treading realm expert, he was far weaker than Zhang Xuan when it came to the prowess of their souls. As a result, he was paralyzed for half a second.
It was a short moment, but a moment was all it took to overwhelm an opponent in a battle.
Hu!
Executing the same palm strike, the second target was also knocked unconscious. Even at the point when his consciousness faded, he wasn’t able to see the face of his assailant.
“It was easier for these two because they are weaker, but it probably won’t so as smoothly for the remaining two…”
After knocking out two of the four targets, Zhang Xuan exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.
In terms of absolute strength, the two he had knocked out were weaker than him. However, the remaining two were at Ethereal Treading realm advanced stage and pinnacle respectively, and this meant that both their cultivation and absolute strength were higher than his.
As such, it wouldn’t be easy for him to assault them and knock them out as easily as the other two.
“It’ll be troublesome if they band together upon noticing my presence. I should clear one of them as fast as I can first!”
While it would be difficult to strike out the remaining targets with a single strike, he should be able to overwhelm his opponent swiftly using the element of surprise as long as he attacked decisively. Thus, he pushed his foot powerfully against the ground.
Hu!
With movements as swift as lightning, he rushed straight for the Ethereal treading realm advanced stage masked man.
Heaven’s Path Movement Art!
Zhang Xuan’s movements were so fast that one could only barely see a shadow flitting across the darkness.
“What?”
The huge gale raked up by the Heaven’s Path Movement Art alarmed the remaining two targets. The Ethereal Treading realm advanced stage masked man whom Zhang Xuan was aiming for narrowed his eyes, and cold sweat suddenly began trickling down his back.
However, it was already too late for him to do anything. Just as he was about to flee, a fist was already heading straight for his solar plexus.
Peng!
This punch harnessed the great momentum of the Heaven’s Path Movement Art and the immense strength of the Heaven’s Path Fist Art, creating an overwhelming might that couldn’t be opposed.
Pu!
Before the masked man could react, he was already struck squarely by the fist. Fresh blood spewed from his mouth as he flew a dozen meters away, striking head first into a massive boulder before passing out.
This chapter is for the one which I missed yesterday. @.@
