Chapter 1814: I’ll Set Up a Formation
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
“Guild leader, I hate to say this, but you’ll have to let them go. It won’t be long before the other Ancient Sages in the capital arrive in the palace. Once that happens, we’ll all go down together!” Ancient Sage Mo Ling advised anxiously.
Of the Ancient Sages siding with Sovereign Chen Ling, there were still another five of them who were not there yet. The only reason that they still were not there was because the formation around the sleeping chamber had prevented any pulsation of energy from slipping out. However, with the collapse of the formation, there was no doubt that all of the Ancient Sages were already on their way here.
Once they arrived, it would be impossible for them to escape!
As powerful as Ancient Sage Mo Ling and Vicious were, there was no way that they would be able to survive an encirclement of so many experts. Even Sovereign Chen Yong had nearly lost his life, let alone them!
Exhaling deeply, Zhang Xuan forced himself to calm down before swiftly going through the situation once more. “If I make a getaway right now, I’ll only be put in an even more disadvantageous position against Sovereign Chen Ling, especially without Vicious and the Dragonbone Divine Spear. Furthermore, given that they have learned that I have come to the capital, they will spare no effort in rooting me out. That might undo all of my earlier preparations. The only reason for Sovereign Chen Ling being so docile at the moment is that he has not recovered his strength yet. Once he has recovered, it’ll be a calamity for mankind. We don’t have any time to spare…”
There were many defensive mechanisms within the capital, such as formations on the city walls. Of course, given Zhang Xuan’s means, he would be able to circ.u.mvent them easily. If he wanted to, he could even disguise himself as one of the civilians, and it would be difficult for anyone to uncover his true ident.i.ty.
However, the issue was that he was not the only one around. Sovereign Chen Ling would surely conduct a ma.s.sive investigation operation after this matter, and that could possibly root out Sovereign Chen Yong and Ancient Sage Hao Xun. Liu Yang might even be held hostage to deal with Sovereign Chen Yong.
Understanding the intentions behind Zhang Xuan’s words, Ancient Sage Mo Ling asked, “What should we do then?”
Zhang Xuan pondered for a brief instant before replying, “Hold them back for ten breaths, and you can leave the rest to me.”
“Ten breaths?” Ancient Sage Mo Ling was taken aback. However, he eventually nodded. “Leave it to me!”
Huala!
Driving his soul energy, Ancient Sage Mo Ling pulled the surrounding spiritual energy and wrapped it around him like a vortex before charging toward the two incoming Ancient Sages. As the powers of the three collided, the surrounding s.p.a.ce shattered layer after layer.
As Ancient Sage Mo Ling fought, he shot occasional glances toward Zhang Xuan, curious to see what plans he had in mind. What he saw was the latter floating into the sky and bringing out several thousand formation flags.
They were some of the treasures that Zhang Xuan had harvested from the Temple of Confucius. Every single one of those formation flags had reached the level of grade-9 pinnacle.
Seeing Zhang Xuan’s actions, Ancient Sage Mo Ling nearly plummeted from the sky. “Is he intending to set up a formation right now? Is he certain that he will be able to make it in time? Furthermore…”
It was true that Zhang Xuan’s prowess in formations was formidable; he had witnessed it with his own eyes. However… they were not in any ordinary location.
They were in Sovereign Chen Ling’s palace!
The entire area was filled with inscriptions and formations, and all of them were hindering factors. If Zhang Xuan wanted to set up a formation there, he would have to take all of those formations into account and deduce a feasible way to fit his formations among them all.
Putting aside ten breaths, even if there were a hundred 9-star formation masters, they might not even succeed even if they had a year’s time!
The calculation that was required for this compound formation to work was simply too great—well beyond a human’s ability!
Hu hu hu!
Before Ancient Sage Mo Ling could recover from his shock, the young man in the sky waved his hand, and the formation flags shot off in all directions.
In less than three breaths, the several thousand formation flags were planted all around Sovereign Chen Ling’s sleeping chamber and disappeared from sight.
After doing all of that, Zhang Xuan turned to Ancient Sage Mo Ling and exclaimed, “I’m done. Retreat!”
“Alright!” Ancient Sage Mo Ling hurriedly flew toward Zhang Xuan.
Of course, the other two Ancient Sages fighting him would not allow him to leave as he pleased, so they quickly followed up with a barrage of attacks, attempting to tie Ancient Sage Mo Ling down.
Wuuuuu!
At that moment, a resounding bellow sounded in the air.
“Oh? Sovereign Chen Ling, who are these people? They seem to be quite formidable to be able to corner you to such an extent.”
“Hahaha! I trust that you’ll give us what you promised us for helping you. After all, a person as great as you won’t renege on your promise, right?”
Following which, several wills swiftly suffused the sleeping chamber, and an incredible pressure pushed down from above.
The five remaining Ancient Sages had arrived together!
“Cut the cr*p. I want them alive. Make sure that none of them escape here… If you can do that, I’ll do what I promised all of you. If a single one of them manages to slip away, our previous deal will be struck off!” Sovereign Chen Ling roared.
He was able to stand against Vicious’ skeletal frame for the time being with the a.s.sistance of the formation in the sleeping chamber, but his injuries were already starting to burden him. He would only continue to grow weaker.
At that rate, he might really lose his life!
Thus, he was willing to pay any price to keep Zhang Xuan and the others there. If he could not, he would really suffer a huge loss!
If he could not get back the dragon blood that he had refined with great difficulty, who knew how long it would take him to recover?
“That isn’t any trouble at all!”
The Ancient Sages lowered their heads to look at Vicious and Ancient Sage Mo Ling with smirks plastered on their faces.
Seeing this, Ancient Sage Mo Ling felt his heart turning cold. He muttered in desolation, “It’s too late. There’s no way we’ll be able to get away now…”
Against just the two Ancient Sages before him, he might still have stood a chance at escaping, but against so many Ancient Sages at once… it was certain death for him.
With a pale complexion and a faint smile, Zhang Xuan remarked, “What are you talking about? I intentionally waited for them to come here. Otherwise, we would really be unable to get away…”
To plant so many formation flags at once, even if he had the Library of Heaven’s Path and nearly unlimited zhenqi, he still could not help but feel depleted from such exertion.
“You were intentionally waiting for them?” Ancient Sage Mo Ling was taken aback.
Is this really the time to be joking around?
Our lives are at stake!
Paying no heed to the panicking Ancient Sage Mo Ling, Zhang Xuan raised his head to address the figures in the sky. “You are the Ancient Sages a.s.sisting Sovereign Chen Ling? I am Sovereign Chen Yong’s friend, and I can tell you for certain that he isn’t dead yet. Sovereign Chen Ling colluded with the humans to a.s.sa.s.sinate him, but the plan eventually failed, and Sovereign Chen Ling ended up incurring severe injuries…”
It might be a futile attempt, but it would be best if he could rally any of them over to their side.
“Don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s a master teacher, a human spy. Hurry up and kill him!” Sovereign Chen Ling bellowed furiously, cutting off Zhang Xuan’s words.
He had planned on keeping Zhang Xuan alive to interrogate him, but he no longer cared that much.
It might have appeared that those Ancient Sages were loyal to him, but their loyalty was based on a relations.h.i.+p of mutual benefit. If Sovereign Chen Yong promise them even greater benefits, there was no saying whether these Ancient Sages would turn against him.
“He’s a master teacher?”
The Ancient Sages looked at one another with livid looks on their faces. It was unthinkable to them that a master teacher would actually go to their capital and infiltrate Sovereign Chen Ling’s heavily fortified palace.
“I am a master teacher? Sovereign Chen Ling, do you even believe the words that are coming out of your mouth? Given my pure Zhenqi of Slaughter and my n.o.ble bloodline, how dare you claim that I’m a master teacher! Watch your mouth!” Zhang Xuan sneered coldly as he furiously drove his zhenqi.
In an instant, a killing intent so concentrated that it was comparable to even the Three Sovereigns’ poured out of Zhang Xuan’s body.
“This…”
“What concentrated Zhenqi of Slaughter! Is a human really capable of emulating something like this?”
“If they were able to disguise themselves in such a manner, our Spirit Tribe would have already been destroyed a long time ago.”
The other Ancient Sages frowned doubtfully.
The main identifying factor of an Otherworldly Demon was their Zhenqi of Slaughter. The more concentrated one’s Zhenqi of Slaughter was, the purer one’s bloodline was. There was no doubt that the Zhenqi of Slaughter exerted by the person before them was far more concentrated than theirs. Could such a person really be a master teacher?
Noticing the hesitation among the Ancient Sages, Sovereign Chen Ling gritted his teeth and bellowed, “Kill him, and I’ll double what I previously promised you!”
“Are you certain?” Hearing those words, the eyes of the five Ancient Sages widened in astonishment. “Since that’s the case, there’s nothing for us to hesitate over. Kill him!”
The society of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe was very different from that of the Master Teacher Continent. Rules and principles were held in high regard on the Master Teacher Continent, but among the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, rules were only social constructs that were followed when it was convenient to them.
Ultimately, all that drove them was benefits.
Whether the other party was friends with Sovereign Chen Yong or a master teacher, it made no difference to them at all.
What Sovereign Chen Ling was promising them was something that Sovereign Chen Yong would never be able to give them.
Since that was the case, why would they hesitate?
The path that they should take was clear.