Outside the hall in which the many master teachers had been imprisoned, the two Kings frowned as they stared at the room before them intently.
“Why is there no movement inside at all?” the Greenleaf King asked with a livid face.
They had been waiting outside for nearly an hour now, and they had expected to hear the sounds of fighting as the fake Goldenleaf King killed a few master teachers to establish his dominance over them. Yet, contrary to their expectations, there was nothing at all. It was as if the people inside had vanished altogether!
“I also think that something is amiss here. Should we take a peek inside with our Spiritual Perception?” the Goldenleaf King asked.
“That doesn’t seem like a good idea. The other party is an expert who is on par with us, so checking on him with our Spiritual Perception would be rather disrespectful. Furthermore, if what he is doing truly involves confidential information for the superiors, this might bring trouble upon us,” the Greenleaf King replied with a conflicted expression.
If not for fear of the latter’s strength, he would have already checked on the situation within with his Spiritual Perception instead of waiting helplessly outside.
“You are right.” The Goldenleaf King nodded before falling silent.
Boom!
At that moment, the ground suddenly rumbled as an immense quantity of spiritual energy from the surroundings surged toward the palace at the center of the base.
With an awful look on his face, the Greenleaf King quickly turned to the subordinate beside him and asked authoritatively, “What is going on?”
“Reporting to Your Highness, the ruckus seems to be from the Palace of Runes.” Tong Yue hurriedly took a look, and his face immediately turned ghastly white.
The Palace of Runes was the center of their base. If something were to happen to it, all of the work they had done could very well be undone.
Frowning in displeasure, the Greenleaf King spoke as the ground rumbled violently once more. “Palace of Runes? Let’s go take a look!”
Huala!
A cloud of dust rose as smoke swiftly permeated the base.
Following which, a large area of buildings began crumbling down as if a devastating avalanche had swept through the area. All of the defensive formations that had been set up on them dissipated as if ice before a scorching sun. There were even some that exploded due to their energy running amok, severely wounding the unguarded Otherworldly Demons in the area.
The formations were driven by the spiritual energy supplied by the Palace of Runes. If anything happened to the Palace of Runes, the other formations would be affected as well.
The more powerful a formation was, the greater the backlash when something happened to it. This was similar to a balloon filled with air. If the air within it were to be leaked all of a sudden, it could very well run out of control.
“My buildings…” Tong Yue nearly burst into tears on the spot.
Two months ago, the moment they had passed through the seal and entered the Subterranean Gallery, they had begun building this base. It had taken them a lot of effort and a great amount of resources in order to expand it to its current scale. Yet, for all of it to be reduced to rubble in the blink of an eye… He couldn’t help but feel light-headed, and a stifling sensation welled up in his chest, causing him to spurt a huge mouthful of blood.
On the other hand, watching the destruction unfolding before his eyes, the Greenleaf King’s body also twitched as he muttered, “The cause seems to be the depletion of spiritual energy in the Palace of Runes.”
With his eye of discernment, he could easily tell the cause of the destruction. However, the Palace of Runes was heavily guarded and reinforced with formations, so it should have been impossible for anything to happen to it in the first place.
Just as the Greenleaf King was bewildered by the situation before him, the Goldenleaf King’s face abruptly warped in shock as he exclaimed, “How could this be?”
“What happened?” The Greenleaf King and Tong Yue turned their eyes over simultaneously.
“Look at the hall in front of us!” The Goldenleaf King pointed forward with a pale face.
Frowning, the duo turned their gazes in front, only to see that the hall before their eyes had collapsed into a cloud of dust and rubble as well.
“What is wrong? This hall was built using top-grade Bluemetal Stone and has been reinforced by many formations, but considering that most of the other buildings have collapsed too… it shouldn’t come as any surprise that this building suffered the same fate,” Tong Yue remarked, confused by the Goldenleaf King’s huge response to the matter.
“Collapse your head! Where is that fellow and the master teachers? Don’t you think it’s weird how they didn’t come out when the entire hall is already in such a state?” the Goldenleaf King bellowed furiously.
“This…” It was then that the duo realized, and their faces warped in astonishment. The Greenleaf King immediately activated his Spiritual Perception to peer into the rubble, and his body stiffened at the outcome of the scan.
Within the rubble, there was not a single living being to be sensed. It was as if that tribesman had vanished together with the many master teachers!
“They are gone.” The Greenleaf King turned to look at the livid Goldenleaf King with a look of horror.
“We’ve been had by that fellow. Hurry, head to the Palace of Runes!” the Greenleaf King roared after realizing what had happened, and together with the Goldenleaf King, they quickly rushed over.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the collapsed Palace of Runes, and after a quick examination of the surroundings, their vision went dark.
With their eye of discernment, they could easily tell that this wasn’t an accident but a man-made incident.
In other words, just a moment ago, someone had sapped the Palace of Runes dry of its spiritual energy and destroyed the inscriptions on the walls and pillars, resulting in the devastating collapse.
Otherwise, the Palace of Runes couldn’t have been reduced to such a state even if an accident were to occur.
“Master teacher! That fellow must be a master teacher!” The Greenleaf King clenched his fist tightly as the truth suddenly dawned on him.
Except for a master teacher, it was impossible for an ordinary cultivator to tell that the Palace of Runes was the center of the entire base and destroy it so utterly. On top of that, the matter of the other party wanting some private time with the master teachers was extremely suspicious as well, especially given their disappearance shortly after. No matter how slow they might be, it was clear that the other party’s purpose was not to interrogate them but to save them!
The Goldenleaf King stepped forward and exclaimed in disbelief, “But how did they get away? The both of us have been keeping a close eye on the hall, and there were defensive formations set up around the area as well.”
To think that they, Kings of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, Saint realm 4-dan experts, would actually be toyed with by another! Just the thought of it left them frenzied.
“No matter how he got away, considering that he has just destroyed the Palace of Runes and that there is a huge group with him, he can’t possibly have gotten too far away. Men, comb the area! If you find any traces of him, immediately report back. By no means should you engage them recklessly!” the Greenleaf King instructed as he turned around.
With so many old, weakened master teachers with him, he didn’t believe that the other party could escape from them!
“Yes, Your Highness!” Tong Yue and the others replied before scattering all around.
“Damn it, damn it! Just who is that fellow!” After dispatching all of his subordinates, the two Kings clenched their teeth tightly together as immense rage coursed through their bodies.
At this moment, a thought suddenly flashed across the Goldenleaf King’s mind as he muttered contemplatively, “If he is a master teacher in disguise… could he possibly be the principal of the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy that they talked about earlier, Zhang Xuan?”
Back then, the stand-in principal Lu Feng had said that the fellow had claimed that he was Hongyuan’s principal, Zhang Xuan, but they had shrugged it off, thinking that this was a method used by their tribesman to win their trust.
However, thinking back, that could very well have been the truth.
“Zhang Xuan?” the Greenleaf King repeated meaningfully before nodding his head.
This name was extremely foreign to them, but how could one who was able to become the principal of a Master Teacher Academy possibly be a simple figure?
“We will know the truth after we capture and interrogate him. I swear that I will tear that fellow apart for this humiliation!” the Greenleaf King roared furiously, and his voice echoed clearly even from a very far distance away.
…
While the two Kings were completely furious, at a considerable distance from the collapsed Palace of Runes, a storage ring fell from the sky, and shortly afterward, a figure appeared.
The figure was completely motionless for a brief moment before abruptly coming to life.
Hu!
Exhaling deeply, the figure smiled in relief, revealing his shiny, white teeth. The figure was Zhang Xuan, who had just escaped from the Palace of Runes.
Not bad. The puppets have reached Saint realm 3-dan, and they have been recharged as well. Even if I meet the Saint realm 4-dan Kings later on, I won’t have to fear them.
Even though the rapid depletion of the energy through the puppets’ absorption had caused the Palace of Runes to collapse, it had helped to bolster his current fighting force significantly.
With twenty experts to hold the ground, he would be able to fend off the Saint realm 4-dan experts. Even if he was unable to defeat them, he would at least be able to buy some time to escape.
“Alright, come out!”
Flicking his wrist, Zhang Xuan brought out the master teachers from his Anthive Nest.
“Where are we? Have we escaped?”
“This is the far south of the Subterranean Gallery; I have been here once before. We should be roughly two hundred li1 away from the Otherworldly Demons’ base.”
“Two hundred li away?”
…
After confirming their location, the master teachers swiftly assessed their surroundings. Realizing that there were no Otherworldly Demons around them, they turned to the figure before them with gratitude in their eyes.
The young man wasn’t lying; he was indeed there to save them.
Noticing the gazes from the crowd, Zhang Xuan morphed from his Otherworldly Demon form back into his original appearance and switched to his master teacher robe. The six stars on the emblem pinned onto his chest gleamed brightly.
“Zhang shi, thank you for saving our lives.” An elder clasped his fist, and the others behind him quickly followed suit.
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony. We are all master teachers, so it’s only natural to help one another in times of need.” Zhang Xuan waved his hands to gesture that it was fine.
These men were willing to put their lives on the line for the justice they held in their hearts. Zhang Xuan felt that such good men shouldn’t be left in the lurch.
Interjecting in the midst of the others’ words, Zhang Xuan said, “We still aren’t in a position to rest easy yet. Having sneaked out of their base right before their eyes, the Otherworldly Demons are surely combing the area frenziedly for us at the moment. It is only a matter of time before they find us here. For the time being, you should find a place to rest and recuperate. Make sure to find somewhere secure so that you won’t be found!”
“Rest and recuperate? We can’t!” One of the master teachers frowned. “The Otherworldly Demons have already begun building their base, and there are even two Otherworldly Demon Kings who have infiltrated the Subterranean Gallery. It is clear that they are up to something! We have to stop them, or else… I can hardly imagine the consequences myself!”
The Otherworldly Demons had clearly come prepared. In such a situation, they couldn’t afford to waste time to rest and recuperate.
“Don’t worry about that. I will deal with it.” Zhang Xuan waved his hands.
The reason he was there was to investigate and resolve the peculiarities happening with the Mausoleum Tablet. So far, he had only destroyed their base; the two hundred Otherworldly Demons were still alive and kicking. So, how could he leave yet?
“You are going back alone? That won’t do; it is too dangerous!” the crowd exclaimed in horror.
“In your current states, even if you do come along, you won’t be able to offer any help. What you need to do right now is recuperate from your injuries so that you can find the strength to battle with the Otherworldly Demons once more!” He knew that the master teachers were worried about him, but he still shook his head.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the master teachers, but the forces they were going against were simply too powerful. The master teachers couldn’t possibly battle them in their current state.
If they went with him, Zhang Xuan would have to divide his attention between the Otherworldly Demons and taking care of them.
“This…” The faces of the master teachers reddened in embarrassment.
The other party was right. Yes, they were 6-star pinnacle master teachers, but against more than two hundred Otherworldly Demons and two Saint realm 4-dan Kings, they were completely powerless.
“Zhang shi, we might not be powerful enough to defeat their army, but you can’t possibly go there alone either! At the very least, we should be of some help to you. With our combined strength, even if we can’t wipe out their forces, we should still be able to deal significant damage to them!”
“Indeed! There are more than forty of us here. If each of us kill an Otherworldly Demon, that will lessen the pressure on you significantly.”
“Allow us to go with you! As long as we proceed more carefully this time around, we won’t be cornered by them as easily as before!”
The crowd was still worried.
