Chapter 997: Sneaking In (2)
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
The three halls were around seventy meters tall each, and they towered above the other buildings in the area, making them particularly conspicuous.
"Poison Experimentation Hall, Sparring Hall, and Compendium Hall... The first two are areas where poisons are frequently utilized, so no matter how they are cleaned, there are bound to be traces left behind... As for the Compendium Hall, considering that it is a location where books are stored, the usage of poisons should be restricted there…"
The Poison Experimentation Hall was a ground for poison masters to practice the concoction of poison. It was inevitable that there would be lingering traces of poison even if one were to attempt to neutralize it with the corresponding antidotes. The same applied for the Sparring Hall as well. As poison masters clashed with one another, it was inevitable that poison would be spilled in the surroundings, leaving behind many unerasable scars on the building. Using this as a gauge, it shouldn"t be too difficult to determine which was the Compendium Pavilion.
With such thoughts in mind, Zhang Xuan began to examine the Three Great Halls carefully.
Under the sharp glint of his Eye of Insight, the interiors of the three halls appeared clearly before his eyes. Indeed, two of the halls felt incredibly turbid, as if they were plagued with poison.
"That should be the Compendium Hall then!"
Zhang Xuan"s eyes lit up. Without any hesitation, he immediately began heading to the cleanest hall of the three.
The building was even taller than the other two, and the old scent of books seemed to linger around the building. There was a particularly powerful formation set up around it, making it difficult for anyone to enter without the possession of an artifact to bypa.s.s it.
Upon seeing the formation, Zhang Xuan chuckled softly.
His current proficiency of formations was already on par with 7-star formation masters, and he possessed the Eye of Insight on top of that, Finding a flaw in the formation around the Compendium Hall to slip through it was an extremely easy task for him.
With sharp eyes, Zhang Xuan examined the formation, and a moment later, he found a small gap in the formation. He swiftly slipped through it.
While a soul was formless and intangible, making it impossible to perceive it with one"s eyes or touch, it could disrupt the flow of spiritual energy in the air, thus betraying its presence. The interior of the formation happened to be rich in spiritual energy, which meant that Zhang Xuan would still have to proceed carefully within the formation.
Advancing forward through exploiting the flaws of the formation, it didn"t take long for Zhang Xuan to arrive right before the entrance of the Compendium Hall.
There were two Saint 1-dan poison masters keeping guard. Zhang Xuan quickly calculated an ideal route to take before sneaking past the both of them discreetly and slipping into the Compendium Hall through the gaps in the door.
The first floor of the Compendium Hall was filled with many bookshelves with innumerable books shelved on top of them. Taking a swift glance, they were all regarding poison.
"Deciphering the Way of Poison", "Qing Yuanzi"s 36 Art of Poison", "Neutralizing Poison Walkthrough", "Fundamental Theories to Poison Cultivation"... All kinds of books relating to poison could be seen placed all around the area, creating an amazing collection.
These were the blood and sweat of innumerable poison masters ever since the establishment of this Poison Hall branch ten thousand years ago. They were intermixed with both the correct and wrong interpretation of poison. To others, they would dare not read all of them recklessly for fear that they might end up confusing themselves. However, such a problem didn"t exist for Zhang Xuan.
Sweeping his gaze across the room, Zhang Xuan swiftly found himself a comfortable position.
Alright, time to begin!
With such a thought in mind, Zhang Xuan began sweeping through rows of books with his sharp eyes.
Hualala!
Book after book was collected into the Library of Heaven"s Path. Through compiling them together, a flawless Heaven"s Path Poison Art was gradually being formed.
Two hours later, all of the books on the first level had been swiped clean.
"This is the 1-star Heaven"s Path Poison Art…" Zhang Xuan took a glance at the compiled book in the Library of Heaven"s Path before withdrawing his consciousness out and headed towards the second floor.
The layout of the Compendium Hall was similar to the libraries in the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy. Each floor corresponded to a star each, and if one"s rank hadn"t reached the required level, one would be forbidden from accessing the floor.
While Zhang Xuan had already compiled the 1-star and 2-star Heaven"s Path Poison Art back at the Red Lotus Mountain Ridge Poison Hall, the collection of books here was clearly much greater and more varied. Since he was already at the Poison Hall, it would be best to collect all of them. He wasn"t in a rush for time anyway.
Besides, there was no saying that the method to saving Wei Ruyan would be contained in these seemingly unimportant books. As such, he dared not to get careless.
Soon, he finished taking in everything in the second floor.
After which, he moved on to the third floor.
...
While Zhang Xuan"s soul slipped into the Compendium Library to browse through its books, a huge ruckus had broken out in the residence where his physical body was seated.
Staring at the tree where Senior Duan hung, many poison masters trembled in fear.
They had thought that the newly-arrived guest would end up being silently oppressed, but who could have thought that he was actually a rampaging dragon that devastated any who dared to provoke it!
With just a single move, he had knocked out the strongest Senior Duan Ren amongst them!
"Hurry up and report this to Vice Hall Master Ming…" Someone amongst the crowd shouted.
"Alright!" A poison master replied before heading anxiously in a certain direction.
Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen was a 7-star poison master, as well as Senior Duan Ren"s teacher. The reason why Senior Duan Ren was able to get away with acting so arrogantly in the Poison Hall was due to his backing. For Senior Duan Ren to be pummeled by a newly-arrived fellow... without a doubt, Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen would surely fly into a terrible rage.
Rus.h.i.+ng over, it didn"t take long for the poison master to arrive at Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen"s residence. He tried to enter it, but someone blocked him at the entrance.
"Vice Hall Master Ming is currently in a conference with the other elders. If you have something important to report, tell me and I will relay it to him instead." the guard spoke nonchalantly.
"Vice Hall Master Ming is in a conference?" Frowning, the poison master hesitated for a moment before he eventually made up his mind and reported, "Someone has pummeled and knocked out Senior Duan Ren!"
"Someone has pummeled and knocked out Senior Duan Ren?" the guard was taken aback by the abrupt news.
"Yes! The a.s.sailant goes by the name of Sun Qiang, and he is a guest whom Elder Xu has brought in." The poison master revealed everything he knew, not daring to hide anything.
"Alright, I got it. I will report it to Vice Hall Master Ming right now." The guard knew that Senior Duan Ren was a disciple which Hall Master Ming Zhen valued greatly and had high expectations of. In fact, the latter had been considering the matter of promoting Senior Duan Ren to become an elder of the Poison Hall as well, and it was likely that the motion would be proposed in the near future.
Not daring to hesitate in the least, the guard hurriedly rushed in.
A moment later, he returned and beckoned the poison master in, "Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen invites you in."
Nodding, the poison master headed in.
Not too long later, he arrived at the main hall. Upon seeing the impressive line up within, he couldn"t help but cower in fear.
Within the room wasn"t just Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen but the other two vice hall masters too, as well as all of the 6-star pinnacle elders of the Poison Hall, with the exception of Elder Xu and Elder Xue.
"What happened?" Upon seeing the poison master enter the room, Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen turned his authoritative gaze upon him and asked.
Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen was a white-bearded old man who looked like he was in his sixties. His black robe, paired with his sharp and chilling face, granted him a powerful presence which induced others to cower before him.
"The matter is like this…" The poison master swiftly explained everything that he had seen earlier.
"You are saying that the guest whom Xu You brought in has willfully injured Duan Ren?" Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen"s eyes narrowed in suppressed fury.
"Yes…" The poison master nodded fearfully.
"Very well! I have no idea where that lad came from, but how dare he cause trouble in the Poison Hall!" With a chilling glint in his eyes, Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen laughed coldly. "Bring me over. I want to meet the audacious man who dared to make a move against my student!"
"Yes!" Not daring to hesitate, the poison master hurriedly led the way.
"Vice Hall Master MIng, since we are free at the moment, why don"t we accompany you there as well?"
"Indeed. Normally, guests at our Poison Hall would be so nervous as to dare not utter a single word at all, yet, this fellow actually dared to make a move on our men. I sure would like to meet the amazing figure he is."
The remaining two vice hall masters stood up simultaneously as well.
"We are also interested to meet the person whom Xu You has brought back from his trip!"
"How can I miss a matter as interesting as this?"
...
The remaining twenty elders smiled with an interested gleam in their eyes.
After spending so many years on this island, rarely were there any matter that could interest the poison masters. Thus, upon hearing that an arrogant guest had visited their Poison Hall, they were eager to catch the drama that would unfold very soon.
"Fine by me." Seeing that the two vice hall masters and the other elders wanted to tag along as well, Vice Hall Master Ming waved his hand casually before following the poison master, heading for Zhang Xuan"s residence.
It didn"t take him long to arrive at his destination. There, he saw his student and a few subordinates being hung pitifully atop a tree. Seemingly having suffered a heavy blow, his student had quite a few bones shattered, and his injuries were extremely severe.
"d.a.m.n it!" With a livid face, Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen clenched his fists tightly together.
The other party clearly knew that Duan Ren was his student, and yet, the other party still chose to deal Duan Ren such a vicious strike. This was a huge insult towards him as well.
"Open the doors!" Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen beckoned for one of the elders to take care of Duan Ren before heading over to the residence door and harrumphed coldly.
"V-vice Hall Master Ming... P-poison Master Sun said that…"
Upon seeing the sudden arrival of so many vice hall masters and elders, Li Yuan and the others were scared speechless. With quivering lips, Li Yuan tried to explain the matter to them.
"Do my words mean nothing to you?" Vice Hall Master Ming"s eyebrows shot up as he bellowed furiously.
"No! Of course not…" Knowing that it would be unwise to challenge the authority of a vice hall master, Li Yuan could only obediently open the doors for him.
He was intending to head in to inform Poison Master Sun Qiang of the matter in advance, but from the looks of it now, it seemed like he wouldn"t get an opportunity to do so.
"Hmph!"
With a cold gaze, Vice Hall Master Min stepped into the residence, and the two vice hall masters and the other elders hurriedly followed him.
They were interested to meet the person who dared to beat Duan Ren into the pitiful state he was in.
After entering the residence, they soon saw a figure seated in the area which boasted the highest concentration of spiritual energy in the residence. His eyes were tightly shut, seemingly in the midst of his cultivation.
"You are Sun Qiang?" Seeing how the other party was still in the mood to cultivate despite their arrival, Vice Hall Master Ming"s turned so dark that it seemed like ink would seep out from it.
After saying those words, he waited for a while, but the fellow in front him still refused to open his eyes, as if they were non-existent.
"Audacious! Do you know who I am?" Not expecting that a vice hall master like him would be snubbed so blatantly, Vice Hall Master Ming Zhen felt so furious that he could explode.
No matter, he was an esteemed 7-star poison master. It was one thing for the other party to not rise to his feets to welcome him, but to be unwilling to even open his eyes, the other party was inconceivably arrogant!
With so many people entering his residence and all the shouting that had gone on, he didn"t believe that the other party would be oblivious to his presence!
If this was the level of awareness he had, he would have long died in this world. There was no way he could have survived this long!
Hu!
Despite bellowing furiously, there was still no response from the other party. It was as if the person in front of him couldn"t hear him at all.
"You…" Raging with fury, Vice Hall Master Ming"s face flushed crimson.
He had seen plenty of arrogant individuals in his life, but he had never one who dared to put on airs like that. Three vice hall masters and twenty elders, that was a line up that consisted of nearly the entire top echelon of the Poison Hall! Yet, despite calling repeatedly, the other party continued to sit nonchalantly on the floor, not bothering to respond at all...
"Audacious! Do you think that you can do as you please just because you have Xu You"s backing? Very well, I would like to see how Xu You can help you out of this situation today!"
Unable to tolerate this blatant disrespect any longer, Vice School Head Ming roared furiously as his zhenqi burst forth from him, ready to make a move.
"Hahaha, Vice Hall Master Ming. How can you dirty your own hands teaching a person of this caliber a lesson? Allow me."
At this moment, a chuckle sounded in the room, and an elder stepped forward.