This matter was complicated to explain, but it wasn't too hard to deduce the other party's identity.
While Zhang Xuan was communicating with the Violetleaf King, he suddenly saw Poisoner White's Primordial Spirit returning to his body. He walked up to the trapped Earthleaf King and injected a unique poison into the other party's body. With a cold look on his face, he bellowed, "Who sent you here?"
"This is bad!"
Seeing that the other party was going to interrogate him directly, Zhang Xuan's face warped in horror. He hurriedly rushed forward, but just as he was about to make a move, the trapped Earthleaf King's face suddenly reddened, and he sneered coldly.
"Hahaha … You have fallen for my trap!"
After saying those words, his head tilted to the side, and blood spurted from his mouth and nose.
Just like the Goldenleaf King and Greenleaf King, this fellow carried lethal poison in his mouth. In order to prevent his secrets from being leaked, he would commit suicide if he failed his mission.
Knowing the other party's identity, Zhang Xuan and the Violetleaf King tried to figure out how the other party could have gotten here. However, they didn't expect Bai Yan to use poison. By the time they wanted to make a move, it was already too late.
The poison used by these fellows was lethal. Even with Zhang Xuan's skills as a Seven Star Physician, it was impossible for him to save the other party.
"Fell for his trap?"
Poisoner White and the others weren't too concerned about the other party's death. What they wanted was the map. Since the other party had died here, the map should be with him as well.
Walking up to the other party, Zhang Xuan took off the storage ring and searched through it. Soon, his complexion turned extremely awful.
Seeing the other party's expression, Poison Master Hai asked, "What's wrong?"
"There's nothing in there …" Poisoner White replied.
"There's nothing in there?"
Poison Master Hai was perplexed.
He had killed Hall Master Ruo and snatched the map from him, but before he could escape, he was captured by the two of them … How could the map not be with him?
Poison Master Bai clenched his jaws tightly in regret. "If my guess is right, we have fallen for his ploy!"
Poison Master Hai and the others were no fools. They immediately understood what was going on.
It seemed like the one who had snatched the map was someone else. That fellow had intentionally exposed himself so as to draw everyone's attention to him, thus creating an opportunity for his companion to escape.
It had been more than ten minutes since the incident had happened. If the other party's guess was right, he should have already escaped the vicinity of the Poison Temple. Once he entered the sea, he would be able to leave no trace at all.
"It's... the Skyleaf King!"
Since the crowd was able to figure it out, Zhang Xuan was naturally able to deduce it as well. Just as his complexion turned awful, the Violetleaf King's quivering voice suddenly sounded.
"Skyleaf King?"
"He's the strongest and most cunning of the Qingtian Ten Great Kings! His cultivation had already reached Saint 5-dan Leaving Aperture realm primary stage! To be able to escape under the noses of two Saint 5-dan experts, only he possesses the capability to do so … "
The Violetleaf King explained.
"Leaving Aperture realm primary stage?" Zhang Xuan's face turned livid.
If what the other party said was true, it was indeed highly possible!
An expert of this level could hide his physical body outside the island and sneak in with his Yuan Spirit. After obtaining the map, he could quickly escape. His speed was so fast that even a Yuan Spirit Realm flying saint beast would not be able to catch up to him.
It was no wonder even he had been fooled. His Eye of Insight hadn't been able to see through the other party's flaws. Who could have thought that there would be such a formidable expert among the Ten Great Kings of the Qingtian Lineage?
It seemed that he had to be more careful in the future.
"Who are the Ten Great Kings? How strong are they?"
After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but ask.
Even though he had directly or indirectly killed half of the Ten Great Kings and subdued them, he wasn't too sure who they were and how strong they were. Just thinking about it left him feeling stifled.
Of course, if the Qingtian Emperor were to learn of this matter, he would surely spurt blood on the spot.
Of the ten most capable subordinates of the Qingtian Emperor, he had killed four of them and subdued one of them. Yet... he knew nothing about them at all.
Even if they didn't know, wouldn't their entire lineage be wiped out once they found out?
"The Goldleaf, Greenleaf, Water, and Earth Kings are already dead. Other than me, there are still the Skyleaf, Jadeleaf, Windleaf, Stoneleaf, and Fiery Kings remaining. Of them, the Skyleaf King is the strongest of us, and he's also the head of the Ten Great Kings. After him is the Jadeleleaf King. Even though he hasn't reached Leaving Aperture realm yet, he's already a Half-Leaving Aperture realm cultivator. After him is the Windleaf King, Stoneleleaf King, and Fiery Leaf King... All of them are far more powerful than us. As such, they are known as the Upper Five Kings while we are the Lower Five Kings … "
Without any hesitation, the Violetleaf King explained the situation of the Ten Great Kings to Zhang Xuan.
Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.
The Upper Five Kings were already difficult to deal with, but to think that there would be another Upper Five Kings as well... From the looks of it, the Upper Five Kings were determined to obtain the artifact in the ancient domain. Furthermore, they had even snatched the map away. Most likely, mankind would be in deep trouble when the ancient domain opened once more.
"Let's just deal with whatever comes our way!"
He hadn't expected such a turn of events. Putting aside the fact that the Skyleaf King had been on the run for so long, even if he could find him, given the strength that Poisoner White and Poison Master Hai had just achieved a breakthrough, they wouldn't be a match for him!
Needless to say, Zhang Xuan was even more so.
It was still possible for him to deal with a Saint 4-dan expert with the help of the Violetleaf King and his puppets, but a Saint 5-dan expert...
He had just witnessed the strength of a Leaving Aperture realm cultivator using his Primordial Spirit to battle. He could see with his own eyes that the Skyleaf King wielded inconceivable strength, allowing him to soar through the sky and burrow into the ground... Without a sufficient cultivation, he wouldn't even be able to touch the other party's sleeves!
They weren't even on the same level.
Master teachers were capable of fighting those of higher cultivation realms than them, but the Leaving Aperture realm was a huge hurdle. One was the zhenqi of one's physical body, while the other was the Primordial Spirit realm. This was a gap comparable to that between a mortal and a deity, an insurmountable gap.
Taking the current Zhang Xuan for example, despite not having reached Saint realm yet, he was able to defeat a Saint 2-dan Spiritual Perception realm expert. That was equivalent to fighting a Saint 2-dan Spiritual Perception realm expert two cultivation realms higher than him.
Such strength was nothing much for those beneath Saint 5-dan, but once one reached that level, even if one had reached Primordial Spirit realm pinnacle, it was hard to say whether one would be able to defeat a Leaving Aperture realm primary stage cultivator.
Not to mention, a Primordial Spirit realm cultivator could easily flee if he couldn't defeat the other party. Without sufficient cultivation, it would be impossible for him to catch up to the other party! Putting everything aside, just the Earth Tunneling technique alone was something that no one other than the Earthleaf King, who possessed a unique bloodline, would be able to pull off.
While Primordial Spirits were able to submerge through the Earth Tunneling without breathing, it was impossible for them to do so with a physical body.
"The Otherworldly Demons have stolen the map and killed Hall Master Ruo. We have to report this matter to the headquarters right away. Poison Master Sun, the two of us will be taking our leave first …"
While the two of them were speaking, Poisoner White and the others also turned their gazes over with despondent expressions.
Clearly, they also knew that it was impossible to find the other party, and it would be a waste of time if they were to continue pursuing the other party. Instead of wasting their time, they might as well send their founder back to the headquarters first.
"Alright!"
Zhang Xuan nodded.
Since the head of the Hongyuan Poison Temple had been killed, they couldn't afford to be without a leader. Thus, they unanimously voted for Elder Xu to be the new hall master.
After gifting the Sepulture Flower to Elder Xu and guiding him on his poison forging, helping him achieve a breakthrough to become a Seven Star poison master, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.
Since he had accomplished his objective here, there was no need for him to remain here any longer. Thus, he bade farewell to Poisoner White and the others and left.
The aerial saint beast that Poisoner White was riding on was extremely fast, and it took less than a day for them to return to Jingyuan City.
After alighting from the saint beast, Zhang Xuan instructed the two poison masters once more, and only after they promised to protect Wei Ruyan to the best of their abilities did he finally feel relieved.
Students were bound to leave their teachers, and Zhang Xuan was no exception.
No matter how ferocious an eagle was, if it was not allowed to soar alone in the skies and be sheltered under its wings, it would never be able to grow.
This was the same for his students as well.
It was for this reason that even though he was reluctant to part with them, he still had his students leave one by one.
First, it was Zhao Ya, Lu Chong, Yuan Tao, and now, it was Wei Ruyan's turn …
From the looks of it, Zheng Yang was likely to head to the Combat Master Hall as well. Of his seven students, five had already left.
Sighing deeply, Zhang Xuan walked into Inkcloud Quarter once more.
Through asking Pavilion Master Hu Yunsheng, he learned that the Mingshi Tang and Hongyuan royal families had sent men to seal the City Lord Manor yesterday.
It turned out that the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe had taken control of the only son of the city lord, and that was the reason why he obeyed their orders.
As a human, it was unforgivable for him to serve the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. Thus, he was currently being escorted to the capital, and Yu Shenqing was going to judge him personally.
Hearing this news, Zhang Xuan sighed deeply.
No matter what he did, he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. If he made a single mistake, he would only bring more trouble to himself in the future.
After resolving the Heaven's Path zhenqi in Hu Yunsheng's body, Zhang Xuan bade farewell and released the Byzantium Helios Beast. With a push of his feet, he flew in the direction of the Master Teacher Academy.
"Byzantium Helios Beast … A Saint realm Byzantium Helios Beast?"
Watching as Zhang Xuan left, Hu Yunsheng froze on the spot, and he nearly fell into a daze.
"Pavilion master, what's wrong?" Having never seen the pavilion master lose his composure before, Zhu Xiao asked doubtfully, "Pavilion master, what's wrong?"
Even though saint beasts like the Byzantium Helios Beast were rare, there were still quite a few of them in the entire Hongyuan Empire. There was no need for him to be so shocked.
"There are indeed quite a few Byzantium Helios Beasts, but … there's only one Byzantium Helios Beast in the entire Hongyuan Empire …"
Noticing the doubt in Zhu Xiao's eyes, Hu Yunsheng smiled bitterly.
"Only one?" Zhu Xiao was taken aback. "Could it be that … pavilion master has already guessed Elder Sun's true identity?"
"If I'm not mistaken, this appearance of his is a disguise, and his real name is … Zhang Xuan!"
Hu Yunsheng nodded.
"Zhang Xuan?" Zhu Xiao's body stiffened, and his face paled. "Are you referring to … the new principal of the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy, President Zhang Zhang Xuan?"
As the hub of information, Inkcloud Quarter was well informed of many matters regarding Zhang Xuan. Even Zhu Xiao had seen the legendary life of the principal, and he had always viewed him as an idol, a goal that he would strive to achieve in his life.
"That's him …" Hu Yunsheng nodded. "I only just recalled that President Zhang's butler is Sun Qiang. Furthermore, according to the insider news, the reason why the Mingshi Tang Empire and the royal family were able to get rid of the city lord so quickly was due to President Zhang's orders … Putting all of this together, I would have to be a fool if I still couldn't figure out his identity!"
"This …"
Zhu Xiao finally came to a realization. However, he hadn't dared to imagine that President Zhang would actually come to Jingyuan City personally, and even visit their Inkcloud Quarter at that.
"Right, pavilion master … I seem to recall that you tried to rob him of his wealth …"
Recalling this matter, Hu Yunsheng hurriedly raised his head, only to see that the face of his pavilion master had turned completely pale, and veins were popping out on his forehead. "If you dare to reveal this matter, I'll crush you to death right now!"
Hu Yunsheng couldn't help but shudder in fear.
To actually rob the principal of the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy … Wasn't that no different from courting death? It was fortunate that the other party was a reasonable person, or else he would have been reduced to a corpse by now …
(Changing the map and starting at Firesource City, I'm stuck. My head is spinning due to the lag. My apologies, please give me two monthly tickets!)
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