"You are seeking death!" the final masked man howled.
He didn't expect to be assaulted here, and his face turned livid. Clenching his jaw, he drove his zhenqi, and the powerful aura of an Ethereal Treading realm pinnacle expert gushed from his body.
Hu!
The masked man raised his hands, and his zhenqi suddenly flooded the area. In an instant, the air around Zhang Xuan grew viscous. There was an immense resistance against every single movement he made, resulting in a huge dip in his movement speed.
His strength didn't pale too far in comparison to the other party, but due to the difference in their cultivation, and thus the comprehension of nature, his ability in utilizing zhenqi was far beneath the other party's. In a battle, this would pose as a significant disadvantage.
In other words, while he could stand toe-to-toe with an Ethereal Treading realm expert in a direct clash of strength, he was still severely handicapped in a proper battle.
"Break!"
But even so, Zhang Xuan wouldn't allow himself to be defeated without any resistance. Gathering his strength, he abruptly kicked forward.
Huala!
Under the immense force nearing 20,000,000 ding, the zhenqi spatial lockdown shattered like a broken mirror.
Hu!
Activating the Heaven's Path Movement Art once more, Zhang Xuan charged right up to the masked man.
Hua la!
A fist as tough as adamantium shot forth for the masked man.
"Humph!" After the first clash, the masked man could already see that his opponent's cultivation was only at Cosmos Bridge realm pinnacle. While the other party might have raised his strength significantly through some unknown means, it was still a far way from reaching up to him, an Ethereal Treading realm pinnacle expert!
There was no way he could lose to a Cosmos Bridge realm opponent!
Gathering his zhenqi in his arms, he struck back with a palm strike.
Hua la!
His hand carried great might that seemed to be more than capable of collapsing mountains.
Spirit high-tier battle technique, Mountain Collapsing Palm!
In a moment of daze, it felt as if the heaven and earth had dimmed in the face of this palm. Even if his opponent was another Ethereal Treading realm pinnacle expert, he was confident he could overpower the other party easily!
This was the strongest battle technique he had up his sleeves. The bizarre means of the fellow before him had sent warning bells ringing in his head, so he decided to use his strongest technique right from the get go.
He thought that he would be able to send that fellow flying in an instant with this strike, incapacitating him. But who knew that before his palm could even reach, he would hear the other party's excited voice.
"A head-on confrontation? Great!"
Following which, the young man before him agilely dodged to his left.
"This…" Upon seeing this maneuver, the masked man's soul nearly fled his body from fright.
The other party's hand was headed right for where the mingmen of his Mountain Collapsing Palm was located!
Every technique had its own flaws, this was something inevitable. However, as long as one were to move with sufficient speed, one could prevent one's opponent from exploiting one's weaknesses. As such, in a battle among experts, it was rare to see the striking of mingmen.
However, it was as if that fellow had known the flaws of his Mountain Collapsing Palm from the very start, moving right into his blind spot to strike his mingmen as soon as he began executing the technique.
Putting aside how he knew the mingmen of his technique, to be able to recognize it and react instantaneously, how deep of an understanding of the Mountain Collapsing Palm must he possess?
However, at this crucial moment, he had no time to process his shock at all. His rapidly twitching eyes saw the young man's finger leisurely reaching for the weakness in his technique, but due to the immense momentum from his offense, he couldn't move away at all.
Pu!
It was just a light jab, but his body was immediately sent flying into his distance. His zhenqi was sent into disarray, and fresh blood spurted from his mouth like a fountain. Eventually, he struck a tree and fell to the ground.
That jab had precisely struck the center of his flow of zhenqi, sending the zhenqi in his body into a devastating rampage instantaneously, tearing apart his meridians and acupoints. Even if he were to recover from his injury, his cultivation was pretty much crippled at this point.
Sensing the changes in his body, tears flowed down the masked man's face.
He had practiced the Mountain Collapsing Palm to a very high level, making it difficult for his opponent to notice the flaws in his technique. How in the world did that fellow find it and even strike it precisely without the slightest deviation?
If only he'd known that such a situation would occur, he would have never used the Mountain Collapsing Palm against that young fellow…
After knocking out all four of them, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief and instructed, "Alright, bring those fellows to me!"
Roar!
Hearing the orders, the Great Violetwing Beast immediately got into action.
"Young Master, you're here!"
"Teacher!"
Sun Qiang, Zheng Yang, Wang Ying, and the others rushed out upon hearing the ruckus outside, and they immediately saw Zhang Xuan's silhouette beneath the night sky.
The group walked into the residence, and after taking a seat, Zhang Xuan asked with a frown, "Right, did you offend anyone in the capital or cause any trouble somewhere?"
"Offend anyone? Cause trouble? We didn't!" Sun Qiang replied.
"If you didn't do anything, why would four Ethereal Treading realm experts be lurking around the residence?" Zhang Xuan questioned sternly.
"Four Ethereal Treading realm experts?" Upon hearing those words, Sun Qiang immediately leaped in shock.
At that moment, "putong!", a stack of bodies was suddenly tossed at the doorway of the main hall by the Great Violetwing Beast.
"Take a look yourself!" Zhang Xuan pointed to the doorway.
Sun Qiang walked to the doorway and examined the faces of those masked men before shaking his head in confusion. "I don't recognize any of these men…"
"If you don't know them, why would they be loitering around our residence?"
However, what Zhang Xuan faced was only the bewildered gazes of his students and butler. Thus, he sighed deeply and waved his hands. "Bring them in!"
Roar!
The four men were lifted and dumped into the main hall.
As they had been fighting in the dark previously, Zhang Xuan didn't have an opportunity to examine the profile of his opponents. Under the illumination from the Night Illumination Pearls in the room, he saw four middle-aged men, seemingly in their forties. They had a dark skin-tone and a large physique.
"Who are you? Why are you lurking around this residence?" Zhang Xuan turned to the Ethereal Treading realm pinnacle cultivator, the only one conscious of the four, and harrumphed.
"We were just passing by this area; we didn't mean to alarm you," the other party replied.
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"Passing by?" Seeing how the other party was still trying to deny the matter, a sharp glint flashed across Zhang Xuan's eyes as he waved his hands and instructed, "Kill them and toss their bodies outside the city!"
He was already in a bad mood, and that fellow still dared to play games with him.
Courting death!
Zhang Xuan wasn't fond of bloodshed, but he didn't mind staining his hands with the blood of those who dared to threaten the lives of his students and butler.
Roar!
Hearing the command, the Great Violetwing Beast immediately nodded in excitement. With a deafening roar, its talon swiped right for the four men.
If it were to land on them, their heads would surely explode on the spot.
"D-d-don't kill me! I'll speak! I'll speak!" The lack of hesitation from the young man before him in ordering for their deaths sent a cold chill down the man's spine. "I was only obeying orders from my master, I beg of you to spare my life…"
The man knew that he would never get an opportunity to speak again if he didn't speak now, so he immediately gave in.
"Orders? Whose?" Zhang Xuan asked.
"The Spirit Emporium…" the man replied.
"Spirit Emporium?" Zhang Xuan frowned.
He had never heard of that place before, so why would the other party go after him?
"You are from the Spirit Emporium?" Sun Qiang froze for an instant before clasping his fist toward Zhang Xuan. "Young Master, the Spirit Emporium is a shop in Hongyuan City which deals with artifacts… Just today, I visited its storefront!"
"You visited the Spirit Emporium?" Zhang Xuan asked questioningly.
"Yes. After all, we are a little short on money at the moment… Thus, I thought of selling the treasures you have gathered from Huanyu Empire to tide us through this period, and after asking around, I eventually found the Spirit Emporium," Sun Qiang explained.
Back in Huanyu Empire's Mystical Treasure Hall, he had acquired quite a few artifacts, but he hadn't found an opportunity to sell them so far. However, with their finances running low, Sun Qiang had no choice but to sell those artifacts.
Who would have thought that he would end up drawing eyes to their group?
"I see." After asking a few more questions, Zhang Xuan soon got a clear grasp of the situation.
Even though the Spirit Emporium appeared to be a proper business on the surface, it was in fact a black market headed by a dangerous organization. Through their official business, they were able to find potential targets which their members could rob from to earn easy bucks.
Sun Qiang, Zheng Yang, and the others possessed weak cultivation, but they carried immense wealth with them. How could the Spirit Emporium possibly let such an easy target go?
Thus, the Spirit Emporium dispatched these four men for them. The main role of these four men was to scout their targets to ensure that there were no experts in their midst. If the targets were within their capability, they would then conduct an attack and plunder their wealth.
"How dare they try to rob my students and butler? They must be tired of living!" Zhang Xuan's face darkened.
They should already be thanking the gods that he hadn't brought destruction upon their organization yet, but to think that they would be so brazen as to lay their eyes on his students and butler instead!
Zhang Xuan turned to Sun Qiang and asked, "Where is the Spirit Emporium?"
"It isn't too far from here. It should be a ten-minute journey on foot!" Sun Qiang replied.
"Alright then. Make preparations, we'll pay them a visit at dawn!" Zhang Xuan commanded with narrowed eyes.
If he hadn't come back on a whim, what would be awaiting him might very well be a river of blood and lifeless corpses.
Zheng Yang and the others had accompanied him throughout his journey, and he had already regarded them as his kin. Those who dare to inflict harm on his kin must be prepared to face his devastating fury!
If he couldn't even protect his students and butler, what was the use of him pursuing even greater power?
"Yes!"
Hearing the veiled fury behind the young master's words, Sun Qiang nodded.
Having accompanied the young master from Tianxuan Kingdom to here, he had gotten a clear grasp of the latter's personality.
The young master was an easy-going person who was usually fine with anything. However, if anyone dared to threaten the safety of those around him, he would transform into a demon, destroying every single enemy in his way.
Back then, when Lu Chong was mortally wounded by Ding Chong, Zhang Xuan charged singlehandedly into Xuanyuan Kingdom to destroy its royal family, exacting vengeance for his student.
Since the Spirit Emporium had dared to lay its hands on them, the same fate would likely befall them.
Sun Qiang pointed to the four men in the center of the main hall and asked, "What do we do with these men?"
Zhang Xuan harrumphed.
"Cripple their cultivation and tie them up. We'll send them back as gifts at daylight!"
"Yes!" Sun Qiang nodded before carrying the four men down with the Great Violetwing Beast.
With their departure, only Zhang Xuan, Zheng Yang, and his other students were left in the room.
Zhang Xuan had them execute a battle technique each and offered them some pointers on their techniques. Following which, he imparted them a simplified version of the Cosmos Bridge realm Heaven's Path Divine Art before dismissing them so that they could spend the night slowly deciphering its essence.
After which, he returned back to his room.
Hu la!
With a flick of his wrist, a massive ape appeared before him.
Byzantium Helios Beast!
He had stuffed this fellow into the Myriad Anthive Nest earlier this afternoon, and since there was some time now, he decided to take it out.
"You… What do you want to do?"
The Byzantium Helios Beast had severe wounds inflicted all over its body, and its body was tightly bound, sealing his movements. Upon seeing the face of the 'Otherworldly Demonic Tribe's royalty', it immediately gritted its teeth and roared in hostility, "Kill me if you want to, but don't even dream of making me betray my master!"
…
At the same moment, in a magnificent courtyard within the Master Teacher Academy, an elder abruptly stood up.
"Mu shi, what's wrong?" a calm voice asked by the side.
If the head of the Apothecary School was here, he would surely recognize the owner of the voice was the 'junior' whom Mu shi recommended here—Luo Ruoxin.
"Lady Ruoxin… I think I sense the aura of Byzantium Helios Beast!" Mu shi replied.
Strangely, his attitude was extremely respectful, unlike how one would usually treat a junior.
Most likely, Luo Ruoxin might really be a lady from one of the Sage Clans, just as everyone had guessed.