"Audacious!"Upon hearing those words, the 9-star master teachers in the sky immediately bellowed furiously.
The Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters was the top power on the Master Teacher Continent, and it had always been known as the embodiment of impartiality and justice. Yet, the young man spoke as if they were acting in collusion with the Glacier Plain Court. In an instant, all of the 9-star master teachers flew into rage.
"You said that I"m audacious? So be it! You are already determined to pin all of those crimes on me anyway, so what difference would one more make?" Zhang Xuan shook his head as he spoke with a voice filled with desolation.
It was no wonder Yang s.h.i.+ was so disappointed in the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters and refused to return there. Their actions were truly hard to accept.
It should not have been too difficult for the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters to find out that Zhao Ya was actually his direct disciple, and that should cast some doubts on the Glacier Plain Court"s claims that he had kidnapped Zhao Ya. Yet, without bothering to clarify the matter, they had simply chosen to go along with the Glacier Plain Court simply for their own convenience. This was truly an embarra.s.sment to all master teachers!
"Since you know your guilt, you should just surrender straight!" You Ruoxin harrumphed coldly. "Where is our young court chief? Where have you hidden her?"
"Your young court chief is in here!" Zhang Xuan harrumphed as he gestured to the coc.o.o.n in front of him.
"What did you say?" You Ruoxin"s heart skipped a beat.
The coc.o.o.n made of zhenqi threads did have the shape of a human, but from the killing intent emanating from within, it was apparent that an Otherworldly Demon lay within. Yet, the other party had actually said that their young court chief was inside. Could it be that the other party had used some secret art to turn their young court chief into an Otherworldly Demon?
But was there really such a technique in the world? Was one"s race not decided at birth?
"Don"t listen to his nonsense. He"s just stalling for time, waiting for an opportune moment to escape. Let"s just attack him all at once and apprehend him first! We can slowly interrogate him once we"ve sealed his cultivation!" Zhang Wuheng bellowed loudly.
"Indeed, we should apprehend him first before deciding on anything else! That fellow has simply too many tricks up his sleeves. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that he"ll try to pull something!" Elder Qu yelled in consent amid the crowd.
While the young man"s prowess was nothing much to fear, he had powerful tamed beasts and possessed the ability to manipulate the lightning tribulation. After all that they had been through, they knew better than to underestimate the young man. If the young man brought out some unbelievable trump card and successfully escaped right before their eyes, the lot of them would really become the laughing stock of the entire continent!
After saying those words, Elder Qu turned around and clasped his fist. "Pavilion Master Ren…"
"Just seal his cultivation. Don"t go too heavy on him!" Ren Qingyuan gave his word of approval.
Since the Master Teacher Pavilion had already gone to the extent of issuing an arrest warrant, naturally, they could not just this matter go without doing anything. As for interrogation and the like, that could come after they grasped control of the situation.
"Yes!"
Huala!
Elder Qu turned to Zhang Wuheng and said, "First Elder, you have heard it. Make your move!"
"Alright!" A cold smile crept onto Zhang Wuheng"s face as he waved his hand grandly.
Hula!
The eight experts of the Zhang Clan immediately encircled Zhang Xuan. They gathered their strength together in order to form an energy barrier around the young man, slowly tightening it as they walked closer and closer to him.
Knowing that the meridian reconstruction process would be forcefully halted if he was captured by them, Zhang Xuan"s face turned livid.
He flicked his wrist and released the Inferno Qilin as he bellowed, "Inferno Qilin, stop them!"
He was bound to the spot at the moment, so he could only rely on his tamed beast.
It was fortunate that he had used medicinal herbs and his Heaven"s Path zhenqi to heal the Inferno Qilin"s injuries over the past two days. Otherwise, he would have been completely helpless at this moment.
Hong long!
As soon as the Inferno Qilin appeared, it let loose a resounding roar before swiping its claw ferociously at the surroundings.
Si la!
Perhaps it was because it had seen through the flaws of their collaboration, or maybe its might was simply that great, but the Inferno Qilin successfully tore apart the energy barrier created by the eight Zhang Clan experts instantaneously, forcefully pus.h.i.+ng them back.
While they were all at Saint 9-dan, the Inferno Qilin still wielded an advantage due to its superior strength and physique. With its strength, unless the opponent was a Great Sage, ordinary Saint 9-dan cultivators would not stand a chance against it at all.
"You ungrateful scoundrel! The Zhang Clan fed you for three years, yet you chose to conspire with others to deal with us. You are courting death!" Knowing that Zhang Xuan would bring out the Inferno Qilin to protect him, the First Elder took a step forward and thrust his palm forward.
Hula!
He tossed an artifact reminiscent of a fishnet outward, and it swiftly grew larger and larger in midair.
Roar!
Upon seeing the fishnet, a hint of fear surfaced in the eyes of the Inferno Qilin. It immediately retreated, attempting to flee. However, the artifact in the air seemed to have sealed s.p.a.ce in a manner such that no matter how the Inferno Qilin tried to retreat, it was still unable to escape from the fishnet.
"To think that the First Elder would actually bring the Dragonsnare along with him!"
"That"s the artifact that our clan head used to capture the Inferno Qilin back then, right?"
"If I recall correctly, it"s a Saint pinnacle artifact, right? Paired by the First Elder"s strength, there"s no way the Inferno Qilin will be able to get away no matter how powerful it is…"
Upon seeing the fishnet-like object falling toward the Inferno Qilin, the experts of the Zhang Clan heaved a sigh of relief.
The Dragonsnare was an artifact that could even trap Saint beasts that possessed the Dragon Bloodline. While the Inferno Qilin was powerful, its strength was still lacking in comparison to beasts that possessed the Dragon Bloodline.
Huala!
While the crowd was still discussing the matter, the Dragonsnare fell right on the Inferno Qilin, trapping it in place. The latter struggled desperately in the hope of fleeing, but it was unable to free itself from the Dragonsnare.
"Come over!" Zhang Wuheng waved his hand, and the Dragonsnare began contracting in size as it flew over to his palm.
On the other hand, the Inferno Qilin appeared to have been sealed in another parallel dimension. It roared in fury, but there was nothing that it could do at all.
"Hmm?" Not expecting Zhang Wuheng to have such a powerful artifact in his possession, Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.
With his current strength, without making use of the power from lightning tribulations, he was completely helpless against experts of Zhang Wuheng"s caliber.
"Now that his greatest trump card has been nullified, there"s no need to fear him anymore. Continue!" Zhang Wuheng commanded as he threw the trapped Inferno Qilin into his folded s.p.a.ce.
Hula!
The eight experts swiftly got to their positions and gathered their strength together to form an energy barrier around Zhang Xuan once more, limiting his area of movement.
"Surrender right now, and you can be spared from some pain!" one of the experts of the Zhang Clan sneered coldly as he thrust his finger toward Zhang Xuan"s glabella.
In face of that attack, Zhang Xuan"s body stiffened.
If he was struck by that finger strike, his cultivation would swiftly dissipate, rendering him completely helpless. At the same time, the meridian reconstruction process would be interrupted as well.
However, he was in no state to avoid the attack either. While he could still mult.i.task to some extent, he could not afford to channel his energy elsewhere or even move away, or else it would disrupt the meridian reconstruction process, and that would likely result in adverse consequences for Zhao Ya.
From the looks of it, he had no choice but to release his clone and Vicious together to fend off those Zhang Clan experts for the time being.
It was a small matter for him to be apprehended, but if the meridian reconstruction process was disrupted, Zhao Ya could very well lose her life! That was not an outcome that he could accept.
However, releasing Vicious would really be the final straw. Once he brought it out in public, there would be no way that he could explain it to the Master Teacher Pavilion without revealing his Celestial Master Teacher ident.i.ty anymore.
Also, he was a little apprehensive about bringing his clone out. After all, it was a G.o.d-tier artifact, and it could serve as a powerful trump card in times of emergency.
Forget it, there"s no choice anymore. At this point, there"s no backing down anymore…
Seeing that the finger strike of the Zhang Clan expert was about to reach him and that there was not any time to be wasted, Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth and flicked his wrist, intending to let Vicious out.
However, in this crucial moment, a voice rumbled furiously from afar.
"Who dares touch my teacher?"
Boom!
The next moment, the energy barrier created by the eight experts abruptly dissipated. Following which, the Zhang Clan expert that was making a move on Zhang Xuan suddenly started convulsing, causing him to crash right into the ground. Blood spurted wildly from both his mouth and nose.
"What?"
The other Zhang Clan experts also did not expect to meet with such a turn of events, and they hurriedly turned their heads over to see the culprit who had made a move on them. However, before they could see the other party"s face, they suddenly started convulsing and plummeted to the ground as well.
"Poison Hall"s Right Guardian Shen Jue, Toxic Hand Eminence He Guangyu, and Myriad Poison Eminence Lin Jianghai have come under orders to offer Zhang s.h.i.+ our aid! We implore Zhang s.h.i.+ to pardon us for arriving late!"
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Three silhouettes suddenly appeared right before Zhang Xuan, and they swiftly kneeled down on a single knee.