"Keep his corpse properly and bring it back to the Mingshi Tang Academy!"
Since he was already dead, all grudges should be resolved.
Sighing, Wu Shi waved his hands.
Tian shi wielded immense authority in the Master Teacher Pavilion. Even though he was only a vice pavilion master, his authority was actually on par with that of the pavilion master... He thought that it was only a matter of time before he became an 8-star master teacher. Yet, who could have thought that he would end up dying here?
Just the thought of it left Zhang Xuan lamenting.
Of all the people he could offend, the last person he should offend was Zhang Xuan... It seemed like he had made the right decision.
The two elders walked up to Zhang Xuan and kept the corpse properly. After which, Wu Shi scanned the surroundings and asked, "Where's Zhang Shi?"
Due to the intense battle earlier, Zhang Xuan hadn't noticed where Zhang Xuan had gone to.
"Master entered that underground cavern..."
Jin Yuan Ding's heart skipped a beat.
"Underground cavern?"
Only then did Wu Shi and the others realize that there was a stone door at the side of the garden.
"It's because the Aura Sealing Formation has concealed its aura that we didn't notice it earlier..."
Wu Shi said as he walked up to Zhang Xuan.
The Aura Sealing Formation had been sealed by the Aura Sealing Formation, so even though they were fighting not too far away, they didn't notice anything amiss.
However, when the Aura Sealing Formation was concealed, it was impossible for them to notice it now that the stone door was open. If they still couldn't notice it, they wouldn't be worthy of being a Seven Star Master Teacher.
"Let's go in and take a look!"
Nodding, Wu shi nodded and walked in.
Zhang Jiuxiao and the others followed behind him, and shortly after, they heard a frustrated voice, "Give me a hand..."
Everyone turned around, and only then did they realize that Jin Yuan Ding was intending to enter as well. However, he was blocked by the stone door. His three thick legs were stuck outside the door, and he seemed to be filled with resentment.
That fellow could grow bigger, but it wasn't that easy for him to shrink back.
It was just like how Zhang Xuan's soul couldn't shrink back into his Origin Core no matter how hard he tried.
The crowd hurriedly smashed apart the stone door before finally rescuing the trapped cauldron.
After smashing the entrance into pieces, Jin Yuan Ding followed behind the crowd in satisfaction. Then, he flew up the stone stairs proudly.
Not too long later, they arrived at the underground chamber.
He saw the lava and the altar. He also saw Zhang Xuan sitting motionlessly on the ground.
"Zhang Shi …"
Everyone gathered around.
Wu Shi's face paled, and his eyes were filled with disbelief. "There's no breath and heartbeat. Zhang Shi is dead? How is that possible? "
He couldn't feel the other party's breathing or heartbeat at all, as if he was a statue.
He was a Celestial Master Teacher and a Celestial Saint, so how could he possibly die in such a remote place?
Just as he was at a loss for what to do, he heard Jin Yuan Ding's noisy voice.
"Die? What death? My master is cultivating some kind of special technique, all of you go play at the side! "
Back at the Qiu Wu Palace, Jin Yuan Ding had once brought Zhang Xuan into the depths of the lava, so he knew that when the latter cultivated a certain kind of cultivation technique, his physical body would be no different from a dead body after his soul left his body.
"Cultivation technique?"
"What kind of cultivation method can make people not feel anything?"
Everyone frowned in disbelief.
As master teachers, they had seen many things in their lives, but they had never heard of any cultivation technique that could make one's body resemble a corpse!
"How can there be such a cultivation technique in the world?" Zhang Jiuxiao shook his head.
As an offspring of the Zhang Clan, he had seen many bizarre occurrences in his life. However, for a person like this, whose heart had stopped beating, breathing had stopped, and whose body had stiffened... More importantly, who was unable to hear anything and was unable to regain consciousness at all...
What else could it be other than death?
Even if one's Primordial Spirit left one's body, one would still have a heartbeat and breathing.
Hearing his words, the crowd was perplexed as well.
"Believe it or not, it's up to you!" Jin Yuan Ding twisted his massive body.
If he had a face, he would have surely looked down on the crowd.
To think that a bunch of master teachers wouldn't even have the insight of a mere cauldron like him!
"I'll know once I use my zhenqi to check …"
He would know whether Zhang Xuan was dead or not with just a simple check.
After saying those words, without waiting for Jin Yuan Ding's reply, Zhang Jiuxiao stretched out his hand and grabbed Zhang Xuan.
As long as one's meridians remained supple and one's organs were still active, it meant that one was still alive.
But just as his hand landed on Zhang Xuan's body, he suddenly felt a powerful might gushing toward him, as if he had been targeted by a ferocious beast. Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Jiuxiao felt goosebumps rising all over his body.
He tried to dodge, but it was already too late. Following which, he saw a palm imbued with boundless might striking down on his dashing face.
Following which, his mouth twitched, and his entire face contorted like a gourd.
Pu! Sou!
Spurting a mouthful of blood, Zhang Jiuxiao was sent crashing heavily into the wall of the underground chamber. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper.
A huge crater had been created in the wall, and Zhang Jiuxiao couldn't help but tear up.
"I was just giving it a try … Is there a need to exert so much strength on me?"
As the victim, Zhang Jiuxiao naturally knew who had struck him. It was none other than the corpse-like Zhang Xuan.
I was just trying to see whether you were dead or not!
Was there a need to beat me up as if I was a murderer?
In an instant, Zhang Jiuxiao felt extremely tired.
In any case, ever since he met this fellow, he hadn't had a single good day.
Struggling out of the wall, Zhang Jiuxiao looked at the other party once more, only to see that the culprit who had sent him flying didn't show the slightest hint of guilt. Instead, his eyes were still closed, and he was still seated on the spot.
It was as if what had just happened had nothing to do with him at all.
"I told you that my master is practicing some kind of cultivation technique, but you just wouldn't listen …"
Seeing this sight, Jin Yuan Ding's body swayed as he spoke with a 'serves you right'.
"He's really cultivating …"
The lips of Wu Shi and the others twitched upon hearing those words.
They had seen bizarre cultivation techniques, but they had never seen such a bizarre one.
Was there really such a cultivation technique in the world?
"Since Zhang Shi is cultivating, we'll wait here for him. Elder Gu, head to the Mingshi Tang Academy and bring some men over to seal off this area. Also, report this matter to the headquarters!"
A moment later, Wu shi instructed.
"Yes!" An elder quickly backed out of the room.
…
The world spun before Zhang Xuan's eyes, and when he opened them once more, he was already in a dilapidated house.
Beneath him was an altar. Most likely, it was connected to the one in the underground chamber, and his soul had been drawn away from him.
There was a unique suction force on the altar that bound him to it, preventing him from moving at all. It would be difficult for him to escape anytime soon.
"Zhang Shi, we meet again!"
Just as Zhang Jiuxiao was about to assess his surroundings, he suddenly heard a calm voice. Raising his head, he saw a bronze-masked man standing beside him with his hands behind his back.
"It's you?"
Frowning, Zhang Xuan recognized the other party.
It was the bronze-masked man who had used the Sorrowless Old Man's eighth level painting back at the Appraiser Hall.
"That's right!" The bronze-masked man nodded before turning around. "If I'm not mistaken, you have altered the contents of the seal, right?"
"Altered?"
Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan's eyebrows shot up. With a righteous look on his face, he said, "How is that possible? Putting aside whether I have the ability to do so or not, even if I do, as a master teacher, I can't possibly alter another person's painting. That's a violation of another person's copyright.
"You can't?"
The bronze-masked man narrowed his eyes. "Only your consciousness entered the painting, and after the seal was undone, it changed into a completely different appearance. Not only was the painting style different, even the concept was different. Who else could it be other than you?"
After undoing the seal, he found it hard to believe that it was a beautiful woman bathing instead of what he had deduced.
However, when he returned to the Appraiser Hall and pondered over the matter, he realized that something was amiss.
To be able to find an eighth level painting and notice the seal within, his comprehension of painting was on par with Guild Leader Meng Chong's.
Even though the bathing beauty beneath the seal was an imitation, there was still a huge difference between it and the Sorrowless Old Man's original painting style.
In order to make the painting even, the Sorrowless Old Man had even shaved off a layer of the painting and added a seal on top of it. He was already obsessed with the cleanliness and symmetry of the painting.
Even though the painting that Zhang Xuan had created was equally clean and neat, it was placed on top of a pile of rocks. On top of that, the color of the ink was relatively new, so it was easy to tell that someone had intentionally added the seal.
On top of that, before undoing the seal, only the young man's consciousness had entered the painting, so it wasn't too difficult for him to deduce the culprit.
"You have misunderstood me. Even though the bathing beauty doesn't cover a large area, it is exceptionally detailed. It hasn't been too long since my consciousness entered the painting, so do you think that … someone could possibly create a painting of such caliber in such a short period of time?"
Zhang Xuan shook his head. Indescribable sincerity could be seen on his face.
"This …" The bronze-masked man frowned.
He was also bewildered by this.
From the moment the other party's consciousness entered the painting to the moment the seal was undone, no more than three minutes had passed. To create a painting in such a short period of time and infuse it into another painting without anyone noticing anything amiss, putting aside the bronze-masked man, even an 8-star painter would find it difficult to accomplish such a feat.
But if the other party wasn't the young man before him, who could it be?
He could guarantee that other than the day he took out the painting, he had never shown it to anyone else.
Seeing the bronze-masked man's hesitation, Zhang Xuan continued, "It's one thing for him to be unable to paint in such a short period of time. Besides, I wasn't the only one who entered the painting."
"You weren't the only one?"
"Indeed. Have you forgotten? That Zhang Jiuxiao's consciousness entered the painting as well, but he was assaulted by the spirit and ended up with a head full of durians! "Zhang Xuan explained.
"Indeed! Zhang Jiuxiao's consciousness entered the painting as well … "The bronze-masked man's face darkened.
"He's from the Zhang family. I don't think I need to elaborate on the fearsomeness of the Sage Clans. That clan loves to snatch other people's possessions. Putting aside a painting, they might even snatch a person's entire body! Since they know the method to undo the seal, they might have some kind of artifact on them, and they secretly used it to alter the contents of the painting so that you wouldn't notice it! "
Zhang Xuan.
"Sage Zhang family …" The bronze-masked man's lips twitched, and fear surfaced in his eyes.
It seemed like he had heard of the Sage Clans before, and he knew how fearsome they were.
…
Achoo!
Zhang Jiuxiao, who had just finished applying the ointment, suddenly sneezed, and a look of astonishment appeared on his face. This … Is someone thinking about me?
He had been traumatized all this while, and now that someone was thinking about him, he couldn't help but feel a little agitated!
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
