“Fifty thousand high-tier spirit stones? Five hundred grade-6 Spirit Gathering Formations? Impossible, you must be dreaming! Come up with something else!” School Head Mo’s face darkened.
You are clearly trying to take advantage of us!
Fifty thousand high-tier spirit stones? Even if you overturn the entire Master Teacher Academy, you won’t be able to find that much money!
Besides, it is not like our Master Teacher Academy is afraid of you. It is only in consideration of the death and suffering that a full-blown war will bring that we are negotiating with you. If it really comes down to it, we can definitely overthrow your Cloudmist Ridge if we mobilize all of our strength.
“Come up with something else? I’m afraid that those are the only things I want. Accept it or not, the decision is in your hands. But of course, if you turn down the offer, the war will immediately resume. I haven’t mobilized our aerial spirit beasts yet. Once we do, do you think that your students who are still incapable of flight will be able to stop them? Once they reach Hongyuan City, the death toll won’t be just a dozen people or so. I sure would like to see how you will account to your headquarters and the populace once that happens!” the Golden Beartiger Beast sneered coldly.
Master teachers were tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the peace and security of the region. If aerial spirit beasts were to really overrun Hongyuan City and massacre the populace, the credibility of the Master Teacher Academy would surely be destroyed.
At the same time, the trust in the Master Teacher Pavilion’s capability would also waver.
“Are you threatening me?” School Head Mo asked with a cold glint in his eyes.
For the Master Teacher Academy to be threatened by a bunch of saint beasts, what a joke!
The dignity of master teachers could not be sullied.
Those weren’t just empty words. If anyone were to dare do so, the Master Teacher Pavilion wouldn’t hesitate to wipe them off the face of the world.
Back then, the soul oracles had been a very powerful faction themselves, but they had still disappeared in the annals of history.
The poison masters were also known for their fearsome capability to defeat opponents stronger than them, but they still dared not build their Poison Hall openly.
No matter what, School Head Mo couldn’t let this threat pass. But just as he was about to lash out at them, he suddenly heard Principal Zhang’s voice in his mind. “Find a way to uncover the location of their aerial spirit beasts and send me over to take a look!”
School Head Mo was stunned.
Why would Principal Zhang ask this? Furthermore, why would he want to take a look at the aerial spirit beasts?
But since the other party had requested it, he must have had his reasons for doing so. Thus, with a deep frown on his face, School Head Mo turned to the Golden Beartiger Beast and sneered, “So what if there are aerial spirit beasts in the Cloudmist Ridge? We have hundreds of cultivators capable of flight in our Master Teacher Academy, what makes you think that we won’t be able to stop your forces? Even if you wish to threaten us, at least find something that can scare us!”
“Hah, hundreds of cultivators capable of flight? Let me tell you this, our Cloudmist Ridge has three thousand aerial spirit beasts, and each of them is capable of flying at incredible speeds. There might be many Saint realm experts in the Master Teacher Academy, but there is no way they will be able to stop every single one of them. As long as several hundred of them bypass your defenses, they will be able to bring forth devastating destruction. Besides, we can choose to launch an attack on the nearby small towns instead. I don’t believe that you have enough Saint realm experts to clear off each and every one of them quickly!” the Golden Beartiger Beast sneered coldly, his tone dripping with threat.
“Three thousand?” School Head Mo burst into laughter. “Do you take me for a fool? Are you including those Transcendent Mortal 1-dan and 2-dan aerial spirit beasts in your calculation as well?”
Aerial spirit beasts were capable of causing massive destruction as ordinary cultivators were incapable of flying to hunt them down.
However, the strength of the aerial spirit beasts mattered as well. If they were only at Transcendent Mortal 1-dan or 2-dan, what harm could they cause in Hongyuan Empire, which was filled with Transcendent Mortal cultivators?
The Master Teacher Academy could easily destroy them all just by dispatching a few students here and there.
“Transcendent Mortal 1-dan 2-dan? School Head Mo, it seems like you are lacking intelligence on the prowess of our Cloudmist Ridge. Even the weakest of our three thousand strong aerial spirit beast troop is at Transcendent Mortal 7-dan! Do you still think that your Master Teacher Academy has the ability to stop them in their tracks?” the Golden Beartiger Beast scoffed.
“Transcendent Mortal 7-dan? You sure know how to brag!” School Head Mo shook his head with a look of disbelief.
“You don’t believe me?” The Golden Beartiger Beast frowned.
“How can you expect me to believe such blatant lies? Since you are clearly insincere in the negotiations, I think there is no need for us to talk any further!”
At this point, School Head Mo hesitated for an instant before adding, “If you want me to believe your words, there is one way. You can send a saint beast to escort this student of mine to take a look. If you really do have that many powerful aerial spirit beasts, I will immediately send a message to the other school heads and even Emperor Yu Shenqing to ask for permission to negotiate in their stead.”
The Golden Beartiger Beast raised his massive paw and harrumphed. “You obstinate old fogey… Fine! Black Spirit Panthers, take the student of School Head Mo to take a look at our army of aerial spirit beasts!”
Even though he had spoken with great bravado, the truth was that he was also fearful about the might of the Master Teacher Academy as well.
As an organization that had groomed many generations of master teachers, it was surely filled with many experts. If it was just the students, he was confident that they would be able to wipe them out easily. However, if the opponent included the teachers and elders as well, even with the geographical advantage they possessed, it would still be a matter of time before they were overrun.
Furthermore, the Master Teacher Academy still had the headquarters behind it. Even if they were to win the battle against the Master Teacher Academy by some incredible stroke of luck, what they would face next would be an impossible enemy.
In light of this, they couldn’t give up on the negotiations easily either.
“Roar!”
The two Half-Saint realm Black Spirit Panthers answered with a call before heading toward them.
“School Head Mo, try to stall them for as long as you can, and don’t engage them in a battle if possible. Take care of yourself…” Sending a telepathic message to School Head Mo, Zhang Xuan turned around and followed the Black Spirit Panthers out of the cavern.
“Noted!”
Even though School Head Mo was unsure what Zhang Xuan was up to, he still had some trust in Zhang Xuan’s capability. He turned to the Golden Beartiger Beast and said, “If the situation is as you have said, I will report the matter as it is to the Master Teacher Academy before making a decision. I can’t give you an affirmative answer right now, but if you really do have such a powerful army of aerial spirit beasts, it is not entirely impossible for us to give in to your terms…”
“Oh? I will be looking forward to your reply then!” the Golden Beartiger Beast replied with a smirk.
At the same time, a hint of relief flashed through the eyes of the other saint beasts in the area as well.
If they could avoid battle, that would be for the best.
As powerful as they were, they knew that it was utter foolishness to go head-to-head with the Master Teacher Pavilion.
For that moment, the cavern fell silent. Seeing that he had managed to stall for some time, School Head Mo secretly heaved a sigh of relief. At the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder what Zhang Xuan hoped to achieve by paying the army of aerial spirit beasts a visit.
It would be difficult to deal with such a force even if all of the teachers of the Master Teacher Academy were to be mobilized. What could Zhang Xuan do alone?
…
Following behind the two Black Spirit Panthers, Zhang Xuan walked out of the cavern and saw dozens of Half-Saint and Nascent Saint beasts patrolling the area, glaring at him viciously whenever they passed him by.
“Esteemed beasts, my cultivation is still very low… I am afraid that these saint beasts will do me harm if they remain in this area… Can you ask them to back down for the moment?” Zhang Xuan said as he cowered back fearfully.
“Roar!”
Seeing a Chrysalis realm master teacher acting so timidly, the lips of the two Black Spirit Panthers curled up into a disdainful smile.
“It was my teacher who insisted on bringing me over and sending me to check on the aerial spirit beasts. If I had a choice, I would have definitely stayed away as far as I could… I beseech you, just do me this one favor. As long as they can stay away, I am willing to give these two spirit stones to you…” At this point, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and threw out two high-tier spirit stones as he scanned his surroundings unwarily.
Grabbing a high-tier spirit stone each, the eyes of the two Black Spirit Panthers immediately lit up.
As Half-Saint beasts, the resources they could access were extremely limited. As such, a high-tier spirit stone was a highly valuable item to them.
“Roar!”
Gripping the high-tier spirit stones, the two massive Black Spirit Panthers abruptly roared loudly, seemingly issuing an order.
In an instant, the Half-Saint and Nascent Saint beasts in the area hurriedly backed off, and it didn’t take long for them to disappear from sight.
While the Black Spirit Panthers weren’t the strongest of them all, they were the personal attendants of the various kings of the Cloudmist Ridge, so none of them dared to disobey their commands.
“Roar!” After the beasts in the surroundings left, the two Black Spirit Panthers glanced at Zhang Xuan with a look of superiority in their eyes. What they wanted to express was simple—How did someone so timid become a master teacher?
“Hehe!” Facing their ridicule, Zhang Xuan chuckled lightly as he flicked his wrist.
Hu!
An identical figure abruptly appeared beside Zhang Xuan’s side, and with a step each, they disappeared from the spot and appeared right before the two Black Spirit Panthers in the blink of an eye and simultaneously threw a punch forward!
Peng! Peng!
Everything had happened so fast that the two Black Spirit Panthers had no opportunity to respond before they were sent flying. Crashing into the ground, their bodies convulsed, rendering them unable to move.
“You have two choices before you. Submit, or die!”
The two Zhang Xuans walked up to the two Black Spirit Panthers and stepped on their heads as they glanced down at them coldly.
“Roar…”
They hadn’t expected that they, as Half-Saint experts, would be defeated by a Chrysalis realm cultivator all of a sudden, and they were completely stunned.
It didn’t take too long for them to make a decision. A few breaths later, a droplet of fresh blood flew out from glabellas of each of the Black Spirit Panthers and flew toward Zhang Xuan.
Black Spirit Panthers… tamed!
“Good. Call those Half-Saint and Nascent Saint beasts over here one by one. Tell them that the Golden Beartiger Beast is summoning them over!” Zhang Xuan instructed the tamed Black Spirit Panthers.
“Roar!”
Not daring to disobey Zhang Xuan, the two Black Spirit Panthers hurriedly nodded before rushing away.
After they left, Zhang Xuan summoned the Byzantium Helios Beast and the Golden Origin Cauldron.
“Byzantium Lad and Ding Ding, I will need you to help me beat those saint beasts into submission later on.”
“Yes, Master!” the Byzantium Helios Beast nodded.
“Hehe, this is exactly the kind of thing I like. Master, can I reduce those who refuse to submit to cinders?” the Golden Origin Cauldron said with an excited undertone in its voice.
As the Guardian Saint Artifact of the Master Teacher Academy, it was usually stowed away in the depths of the academy until a major crisis occurred. As such, it rarely had an opportunity to fight.
“You may.” Zhang Xuan nodded, acceding to the Golden Origin Cauldron’s request.
The reason he had chosen to infiltrate the Cloudmist Ridge was to have everyone here submit to him. As for those who refused… the only fate awaiting them was death!
Roar!
Soon, a Nascent Saint beast was escorted there by the Black Spirit Panther. Two minutes later, it was kneeling before Zhang Xuan, submitted.
A few minutes later, three more Half-Saint beasts submitted.
Ten minutes later, all of the Half-Saint and Nascent Saint beasts patrolling the area were under Zhang Xuan’s control.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan issued several instructions. “Alright. Just like before, scatter yourselves in the surroundings, don’t let anyone else notice any anomaly. Black Spirit Panthers, bring me to the aerial spirit beasts!”
These Half-Saint and Nascent Saint beasts were easier to tame than he had thought. There were only two who had refused to listen to his words, and they had been reduced to cinders on the spot by the Golden Origin Cauldron.
Such an action had a deterrent effect on the other beasts. Knowing that the young man before them wouldn’t hesitate to kill them should they choose otherwise, the others hurriedly submitted as well.
The Black Spirit Panthers obediently led the way forward. “Master, the aerial spirit beasts are gathered in the valley over there…”
Zhang Xuan stowed his clone, the Byzantium Helios Beast, and the Golden Origin Cauldron into his Myriad Anthive Nest before leaping onto one of the Black Spirit Panthers and setting forth.
