No matter what, she was a famed genius of the Master Teacher Continent. Furthermore, she was blessed with great beauty, so she had no lack of suitors in the Sanctum of Sages…Yet, the other party actually showed such a disdainful look when Elder Fangyun proposed a political marriage with her… What did the other party mean by this?
"You don"t need to think too deeply into it; my words mean exactly how they sounded. You are too ugly. I don"t like it."
After saying those words, Zhang Xuan paid no heed to the exploding Jiang Feifei and turned his gaze toward Elder Fangyun once more. "I already have someone whom I fancy, so I"m afraid I"ll have to turn down your offer of marriage. If you are still willing to have me as your clan head despite that, I won"t turn down your offer anymore. I"ll try my best to lead the Jiang Clan to greatness without straying down the wrong path!"
Otherworldly Demons had started appearing on the Master Teacher Continent—that was a sign that a war was just around the corner. He already had the Zhang Clan and the Luo Clan on his side. If he could rope in the Jiang Clan as well, that would be for the best.
It would also be a good opportunity to find out what was with the scholarly young man.
After all, with the betrayal of the Seer Guild, the Jiang Clan, and the Master Teacher Pavilion… he felt that there was something deeper than what he was seeing.
Perhaps, it might even be a huge misunderstanding.
On the other hand, hearing that Zhang Xuan was unwilling to marry into the Jiang Clan, the elders fell silent.
They had never had an outsider as their clan head before.
"That won"t do. We"re a clan, not a sect! Our clan members will never accept an outsider as our clan head!"
"But he"s tamed the Clan Head Token, read through all of the books in our repository, and even comprehended the Soul Quintessence. If we allow him to leave just like that, it could bring us greater danger in the future!"
"The fact that he has comprehended the Soul Quintessence means that he has forged an inseverable relations.h.i.+p with our Jiang Clan. He might be unwilling to marry into the Jiang Clan for the time being, but as long as he stays in our Jiang Clan long enough, we should be able to convince him into doing so… Feifei might not be too pretty, and her temper is abhorrent, but I believe that they can cultivate their feelings for one another over time…"
"Furthermore, those from the Hundred Schools of Philosophers have also come to the Master Teacher Continent. Based on the news we have just received from them, the Otherworldly Demons have been making some movement in the Subterranean Gallery. The manpower of the Master Teacher Pavilion and the Combat Master Hall is already stretched thin… If an upheaval occurs, our Jiang Clan will surely have to stand in the frontlines! We"ll surely require a strong leader to lead us at a time like this!"
"Furthermore, he possesses a deep understanding of soul cultivation. Even some casual pointers from him could bring us great benefits…"
…
The elders discussed vehemently among themselves.
There were some who were for it; there were some who were against it.
After a long, fruitless discussion, Jiang Fangyun suddenly turned his head over and asked, "If I may ask, if you aren"t from the Jiang Clan, who are you?"
The others also halted their discussion and directed curious gazes over as well.
Even Jiang Feifei had forgotten about how others were insulting her looks and personality in this moment.
"To be honest, I am actually…" Knowing that the Jiang Clan bore him no ill will, he knew that it was meaningless to maintain his disguise any longer. Thus, he reverted to his original appearance and said, "… Zhang Xuan!"
"Zhang Xuan? You are the young prodigy of the Zhang Clan?"
"The head of the Zhang Clan?"
The crowd looked at one another in utter shock.
The head of the Zhang Clan had actually snuck into their Jiang Clan, browsed through all of their books, comprehended the Soul Quintessence, and even tamed their Clan Head Token…
They had thought that even if the fake clan head was not really from the Jiang Clan, he would likely be some honorary elder who had resided in the Jiang Clan for a very long time. How else could he know so much about the Jiang Clan?
Not even in their wildest dreams did they expect the other party to be a twenty-year-old young man!
More importantly… the other party had never been to the Jiang Clan before!
In other words, it was his first encounter with the heritage of the Jiang Clan, and he had already grasped the Soul Quintessence…
"Y-you…"
At the same time, Jiang Feifei"s face turned as pale as a sheet of paper, and her eyes nearly popped out.
She suddenly recalled how she had insulted the other party to his face… Did she just make a formidable foe for the Jiang Clan?
But thinking again, the other party was even more overboard. He had actually said that she was ugly!
She had initially been thinking of finding an opportunity to pummel the other party and exact vengeance, but from the looks of it, she would never have the chance to do so…
That fellow was simply too powerful!
Even more than a dozen 9-star master teachers from the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters, along with the Pavilion Master Ren, were not able to faze him at all. If she challenged him, it was likely that she would be blasted off in a single strike!
"You are Zhang Xuan… That explains why you were able to utilize the Time Quintessence!"
Jiang Fangyou also found it hard to believe that the thief who had snuck into the Jiang Clan"s treasure vault would actually be the famed Zhang Xuan. As if struck by lightning, he had a flabbergasted look on his face.
He had thought that it would be some formidable expert, but who could have thought that it was a young lad whose age was even smaller than that of his own daughter!
"No, something is wrong here. Other than the Time Quintessence, I recall that you had tapped into the power of the spatial sealing as well…" Recalling the fight that he had with the young man, Jiang Fangyou suddenly narrowed his eyes in astonishment. "It can"t be that you have comprehended the Spatial Quintessence of Sealing too, can it?"
"Indeed. I have comprehended the Spatial Quintessence of Sealing too!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
The situation had been too perilous for him earlier, and he had been left with no choice but to use everything at his disposal. It was too late for him to cover up the matter anymore, so he might as well admit it frankly.
"If you have comprehended the Spatial Quintessence of Sealing, then… the Luo Clan"s Luo Tianya…"
Jiang Fangyou thought about how the young man was able to impersonate him, to the point that even the elders and his own daughter were befuddled as to who the real one was… Putting it together with the timing of Luo Tianya"s appearance, Jiang Fangyou suddenly widened his eyes in utter horror.
"Luo Tianya is indeed one of my personas, too!" Zhang Xuan replied with a nod.
"This… No wonder!" Jiang Fangyou"s mouth remained agape for a long while before it morphed into a bitter smile.
He had been wondering just how coincidental it was for such a formidable genius to appear in the Luo Clan shortly after they suffered a crus.h.i.+ng humiliation. In the end, it turned out to be Zhang Xuan in disguise…
Jiang Feifei was also dumbstruck by what she had just heard.
The young man before her was actually the clan head of two of the Three Premier Clans…
Was such a thing even possible?
Putting herself against him, she realized that she could not compete with him in anything at all.
The Time Quintessence, the Spatial Quintessence, and the Soul Quintessence… He had actually accomplished something that no one had ever done in the past tens of thousands of years…
When did Quintessences become so worthless that even a twenty-year-old young man could learn them?
In the Three Premier Clans, other than the founders, there were barely any descendants who had managed to grasp the Quintessences… Honestly, when put against the monster standing before her, it suddenly felt like the so-called geniuses that had been held in high regard in the Three Premier Clans were actually no different from tras.h.!.+
"Everyone!" Recovering from his shock, Jiang Fangyou did a sweeping gaze across the crowd and said, "I only have one thing to say. I"ll leave it up to you to decide what to do after hearing my piece!"
"Clan head, please feel free to speak your mind!" Jiang Fangyun and the others quickly replied.
"The Seal of Souls in the treasure vault has vanished," Jiang Fangyou said. "If I"m not mistaken, it was taken away and tamed by him!"
"I did take the Seal of Souls, but I have not tamed it yet!" Zhang Xuan said with a reddened face.
It was one thing for him to empty their treasure vault, but having it pointed out explicitly like that still made him feel rather embarra.s.sed.
From the looks of it, it seemed like he had no choice but to return those treasures to them…
"He took away the Seal of Souls?"
Hearing Jiang Fangyou"s words, the elders widened their eyes in astonishment. Following which, Jiang Fangyou took a step forward and kneeled down, "Jiang Clan"s Jiang Fangyou pays respect to the guild leader!"
"The descendants of the Jiang Clan pay respect to the guild leader!"
The other elders also quickly kneeled down as well.
"Guild leader?" Zhang Xuan frowned in confusion.
Was he not supposed to be their clan head?
Why were they addressing him as their guild leader now?
Noticing the confused look on Zhang Xuan"s face, Jiang Fangyou sent a telepathic message over. "Since you have browsed through the cultivation techniques of our Jiang Clan, you should know that most of our soul manuals stem from the soul oracles" heritage!"
"Un!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
This was something that he had been wondering about ever since going through the Jiang Clan Repository.
Had the heritage of the soul oracles not been destroyed by the Master Teacher Pavilion? Why did the Jiang Clan still have books containing the heritage of the soul oracles? Furthermore, why were they allowed to exist so openly on the Master Teacher Continent despite the nature of their heritage?
"The Seal of Souls is the insignia of authority that was pa.s.sed down within the Soul Oracle Guild back then. The person who wields the Seal of Souls is the chosen leader of the Soul Oracle Guild, as well the master that our Jiang Clan serves!" Jiang Fangyou explained.