At this moment, he saw that his clone’s soul had also left his body, and it was currently absorbing the spiritual energy in the lake frenziedly.
With all the absorption he had done, his soul had doubled in size, reaching around twenty meters tall and nearly filling the entire cavern.
Most of the remaining spirit essence had been absorbed by that fellow before him.
Even though his clone’s soul cultivation was still at Perfect Harmonization realm, the sheer size and power surrounding the soul felt reminiscent of a deity, as if it wielded boundless power in its hands.
After breaking the twenty-meter bottleneck, the soul seemed to have undergone some kind of mysterious metamorphosis yet again. It became considerably more resilient, and the strength it wielded seemed to have grown far more fearsome as well.
Against such a huge soul, even Lu Chong’s soul, which he had seen in the latter’s consciousness back then, paled in comparison.
Zhang Xuan had barely used a hundredth of the spirit essence to raise his zhenqi cultivation and soul cultivation to Perfect Harmonization realm pinnacle, but that fellow actually sapped the entire lake dry… Just the thought of it left him so frenzied that he could tear his hair out.
Even though it was indeed true that he had no way of taking away the remaining Earth Vein Spirit Essence, he still couldn’t help but feel his heart bleed upon seeing that huge lake being reduced to nothing.
Hu!
Hearing Zhang Xuan’s roar, his clone’s soul immediately slipped back into his body, and an incredible aura burst from its body, leaving Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows twitching uncontrollably.
Zhang Xuan wasn’t a match for it before, and he was even less so now.
Despite coming from the same origin, his clone’s soul had been nourished by the Nine Skies Lotus Embryo, granting it strength far greater than the main body.
For the main body to be inferior to the clone… How humiliating!
Nevertheless, considering that they shared the same consciousness, they could be considered as one entity. His clone’s growth was also good news for him.
“You should return to the storage ring for now!”
Knowing that it was impossible to make his clone spit out the spirit essence that it had absorbed, Zhang Xuan could only sigh helplessly and have his clone return to the storage ring.
He, on the other hand, leaped out of the lake and began assessing himself internally.
Having reached Perfect Harmonization realm pinnacle, the current strength that he could draw from his zhenqi cultivation was 14,000,000 ding, which was comparable to an Ethereal Treading realm primary stage expert.
Additionally, the maximum power he could draw from his soul cultivation had also reached 11,000,000 ding. Adding in the 8,000,000 ding from his physical body, his overall maximum strength currently stood at 33,000,000 ding, which was nearly on par with a Transcendent Mortal 9-dan Chrysalis realm pinnacle expert.
(Chrysalis realm pinnacle—34,000,000 ding)
With this kind of strength, he could definitely be ranked amongst the top of the student populace. Nonetheless, it was still far from matching up to the saint beasts camping outside.
I should leave now!
With his work done, Zhang Xuan immediately drew out his soul and placed his physical body in the storage ring. Holding it himself, he carefully sneaked out of the cavern.
“Wait a moment, why does it feel like the spiritual energy concentration inside has fallen?”
“Let’s take a look!”
But before he could reach the cavern entrance, he suddenly heard the bellows of the saint beasts outside.
In that split moment, Zhang Xuan swiftly hid the storage ring behind a boulder before lying motionlessly with his soul pressed against the wall.
Hu!
Right after he did that, two saint beasts abruptly appeared at the entrance of the cavern and rushed in at a speed so fast that it nearly stirred up a hurricane.
It was due to the Earth Vein Spirit Essence that the cavern was unbelievably rich in spiritual energy. However, along with its depletion, the concentration of spiritual energy in the area began falling at a perceptible rate. No matter how slow the saint beasts were, it was impossible for them to not notice it.
Now is my chance, I should quickly leave!
Knowing that the saint beasts would comb through every nook and cranny once they noticed that the lake of spirit essence had been completely depleted, Zhang Xuan dared not waste a single moment. He quickly picked up his storage ring and darted out of the cavern.
“AHHHHHH!!! SOMEONE STOLE THE SPIRIT ESSENCE!”
“Damn it, who was the one who did it!”
Right after Zhang Xuan left the cavern, he heard a deafening roar from within. Not daring to waste even a split second, he immediately dived into the waterfall.
In the next instant, a pressure so great that it felt as if even the earth would be reduced to dust burst out from the cavern, enveloping the area.
“Someone has sneaked into our Cloudmist Ridge. All beasts, listen to my command. Comb through the entire mountain and eliminate any suspicious people you see!”
Hong long!
Countless spirit beasts and saint beasts roared resoundingly in response, shaking the entire mountain.
Looks like I won’t be able to escape for the time being…
With all of the spirit beasts and saint beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge combing the area to search for him, it would be difficult for Zhang Xuan to escape even in his state as a soul. Thus, he decided to advance under the concealment of the river for the time being.
However, a short moment later, a dozen spirit beasts suddenly dived in to search the river.
It was truly fortunate that Zhang Xuan was currently in his soul state. With his storage ring hidden amidst the gravel of the seabed, there was nothing that could betray his presence to those spirit beasts. As such, after scouring the seabed for a moment, they were still unable to find anything at all, so they could only back out.
After swimming for an unknown period of time, Zhang Xuan finally reached the end of the river. By the time his soul finally left the river, the sky was already dark.
Zhang Xuan scanned his surroundings, and there were still quite a number of spirit beasts around. However, it would be nigh impossible for any beast beneath Saint realm to notice his presence.
Even so, Zhang Xuan still decided to proceed carefully. Sometimes, the sensitivity of a spirit beast to its surroundings far surpassed what humans could even imagine. It would truly be unfortunate if he were to be caught and encircled at this point.
Thus, he slowly proceeded down the mountain, stopping from time to time whenever he felt that a spirit beast’s attention was focused nearby. As a result, it was already dawn by the time he reached the foot of the mountain.
Finally, when he was a safe distance away from the Cloudmist Ridge, he found a discreet location and took out his physical body. After returning his soul to his physical body, he summoned the Great Violetwing Beast and swiftly returned to the academy.
He might have failed to save Wei Changfeng, but he was determined to save his daughter!
So far, it had been an entire day since he had left the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy.
…
While Zhang Xuan was preoccupied with his business at the Cloudmist Ridge, a huge commotion had broken out in the Master Teacher Academy.
Sun Qiang had rushed to Zhang Xuan’s Elite Sector residence in order to report the matter of someone being interested in learning battle techniques from Zheng Yang and the others to him, but of course, the latter was nowhere to be found.
At the same time, Zheng Yang and the others had also entered the headquarters of the True Helios Faction, following behind Xue Zhenyang.
In a vast courtyard…
“Gather everyone!” Xue Zhenyang issued a command as soon as he returned.
Not long later, everyone in the True Helios Faction was standing before him.
As expected of one of the top few factions in the academy. The entire True Helios Faction consisted of more than two thousand people, and its members spanned from Grade-1 to Grade-4.
Seeing that all of the members were gathered there, Xue Zhenyang’s gaze scanned through the crowd before he began speaking. “The reason I have gathered you all here today is to announce to you all that I have found an expert to impart the essence of battle techniques to the faction members!”
“An expert?”
“Hasn’t the faction leader been the one who has been giving us lessons on battle techniques? Did he manage to find someone more formidable than he is?”
Everyone looked at one another doubtfully.
All along, other than the teachers they were under, the one who had been guiding them in their battle techniques had been Xue Zhenyang.
Xue Zhenyang was one of the greatest talents in the Martial Arts School, so they had benefited greatly from his teachings as well. In truth, this was also the very reason most of them had chosen to join the True Helios Faction.
Yet, he had gathered all of them to tell them that there was another expert who would be guiding them on their battle techniques… Was he for real?
“Allow me to introduce you to my new spearmanship teacher, Zheng Yang. The lecture today will be conducted by him. He possesses transcendental skills in spear arts, so I believe that you will benefit greatly from his lecture!” Xue Zhenyang introduced with a wave of his hand.
“Zheng Yang?”
“Spearmanship teacher?”
“But this fellow seems to be only sixteen or seventeen years old!”
“A lad as young as him is going to explain spearmanship to us?”
Seeing a young man walk up to the podium, the crowd was completely dumbfounded.
They were the cream of the crop amongst master teachers, the geniuses of the geniuses. Yet, to have a teenage child lecture them… Wasn’t this taking them too lightly?
“Today, what I will be talking to you about is the fundamentals of spearmanship…”
Standing before such a huge crowd, Zheng Yang couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. However, as he began speaking about spearmanship, the confidence and pride in his heart dispelled the doubts in his mind, and his words gradually grew smoother and more fluent.
“It’s possible to interpret spearmanship in such a manner?”
“Formidable! Just by listening to his lecture, I feel like my understanding of spearmanship has been brought up several notches!”
“The concepts that he’s teaching are profound, but he is able to bring them across directly through simple words. On top of that, the concepts that he’s explained are applicable not only to the spear but other weapons as well!”
“His lecture has deepened my understanding of swordsmanship as well…”
…
The crowd initially had their reservations about having a teenage child lecture them, and they were prepared to see the other party make a fool out of himself. However, just by listening for a moment, they were completely awed.
As young as the person before them might be, the concepts that he spoke of were a direct interpretation of the crux of spearmanship. It was very likely that even the elders in the academy might not have as deep an understanding of spearmanship as he did.
It was no wonder the faction leader went all out to invite him there and gathered all of them together to listen to his lecture. He was indeed more than qualified for this.
…
“What did you say? Xue Zhenyang invited a spearmanship expert from the streets to conduct a lecture for his members?”
In the Ashen Moon Faction, Long Cangyue stared at the reporting student with eyes filled with disbelief.
“Yes! The person he invited has an extremely deep understanding of spearmanship. Two hours into the lecture, almost half of the spear practitioners of the True Helios Faction had already achieved a breakthrough!” the reporting student replied.
“Almost half of them made a breakthrough?” Long Cangyue was shocked.
Making an advancement in one’s mastery of a weapon was far more difficult than making an advancement in one’s cultivation. The latter could be achieved through diligence and good resources, but the former was highly dependent on one’s aptitude. It was easy to learn theories, but comprehending the core of the concept was another different matter.
Yet, to make half of the spear practitioners achieve a breakthrough in just two hours…
Just how did that fellow do it?
Where in the world did Xue Zhenyang find such a monstrous figure?
“If this matter is true, the True Helios Faction will only grow stronger and stronger… I will have to look for Dong Xin to discuss this matter!”
Realizing the significance of this matter, Long Cangyue immediately made his way to Dong Xin’s residence anxiously.
…
“Preposterous!”
In the school head’s office, the head of the Martial Arts School, Xu Changqing, flung his sleeves furiously after hearing a teacher’s report.
Xue Zhenyang was his direct disciple. He could condone him causing trouble from time to time, but to invite a teenage child over to the Martial Arts School to lecture their students… Wasn’t that making a mockery out of their school?
If word were to spread, how could their Martial Arts School hold its head high before the other schools?
“I’ll go and take a look!”
Harrumphing coldly, Xu Changqing left his room and walked swiftly to the True Helios Faction’s headquarters.
Before long, he had arrived before the courtyard.
There are so many people here? Xu Changqing’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment at the sight before him.
The courtyard, from the podium to the very entrance, was completely packed with people. There was literally a sea of people before him!
Even though the True Helios Faction was a student organization, Xu Changqing still knew a thing or two about it. Based on what he knew, the True Helios Faction should only have had two thousand people or so.
But the crowd before him… no matter how he looked at it, there should at least be five thousand people here!
Five thousand people had gathered there to listen to the lecture of a teenage child?
Ridiculous! This was utterly ridiculous!
Just as Xu Changqing was about to step into the courtyard, a plump man holding a basket in his hand abruptly stepped over and blocked his way. “It will cost you two hundred middle-tier spirit stones to enter.”
“I have to pay to enter?” Hearing those words, Xu Changqing’s face turned livid.
It was already bad enough that Xue Zhenyang found a person of doubtful background to conduct a lecture in the Martial Arts School, but to think that he would have to pay two hundred middle-tier spirit stones to enter… This was even costlier than the lecture of normal 6-star master teachers!
Furthermore, the more students there were in a lecture, the cheaper it should have been.
There were nearly five thousand people in there, and yet they were still charging two hundred spirit stones per person… Didn’t that mean that they would earn a million middle-tier spirit stones in just a single lecture?
Please, not even a 7-star master teacher charged others in such a manner!
“Why? You can’t afford it? Why even bother coming here when you can’t even afford it? No wonder you still can’t graduate despite being so old!”
Seeing that the old man before him was trying to barge in without paying, the plump man harrumphed in disdain. “So, you’re broke!”
