Chapter 1012: Hu Yunsheng's Panic

These matters are complicated to explain, but once the identity of the other party is known, it is easy to deduce.

Just as he was conversing with Purple Leaf King, he saw the White Poison Master's primordial spirit return to his body. He stepped forward to the trapped Earth Leaf King, pointed a finger, and a special poison entered the other's body. With a cold expression, he muttered, "Who sent you?"

"Not good!"

Seeing this man directly interrogating, Zhang Xuan's expression changed. He rushed over and was about to strike when he saw the Earth Leaf King, trapped in the middle, his face suddenly turning red, sneering.

"Haha... you've fallen for the trap!"

After speaking, his head tilted, blood spurted from his mouth and nose, and he stopped breathing.

Like Gold Leaf King and Green Leaf King, this man carried a deadly poison in his mouth. When the mission failed, to prevent leaks, he would commit suicide directly.

Knowing the other's identity, Zhang Xuan and Purple Leaf King had been deducing how this man had come here. Unexpectedly, Bai Yan used poison, and by the time they wanted to act, it was already too late.

The things these men used, once ingested, killed instantly. Even with medical skills comparable to a Seven-Star Physician, there was no way to save him.

"Fallen for the trap?"

The White Poison Master and the others were not concerned about this man's death. They wanted the map. Since he died here, the map must be here too.

Approaching, he took the storage ring, searched it, and his expression turned very ugly.

"What's wrong?" Seeing his expression, Sea Poison Master looked over.

"It's not in here..." White Poison Master said.

"Not in there?"

Sea Poison Master was confused.

He had killed Ruo Hall Master, snatched the map from his hands, and before he could escape, the two had joined forces to capture him... How could the map not be in his possession?

"If I'm not mistaken, we've fallen for a diversionary tactic!" Clenching his teeth, White Poison Master was full of regret.

Sea Poison Master and the others were not stupid. Hearing this, they immediately understood.

It seemed someone else had taken the map. This man deliberately revealed a flaw to attract everyone's attention, creating an opportunity for his accomplice to escape.

More than ten minutes had passed since the incident. If it was as they suspected, the culprit had likely already fled the Poison Hall's territory. Once they entered the sea, leaving no trace, it would be difficult to track them.

"It's... Heaven Leaf King!"

Everyone could figure it out, and Zhang Xuan naturally deduced it too. Just as his expression turned grim, he heard Purple Leaf King's trembling voice.

"Heaven Leaf King?"

"He is the strongest and most cunning of the Ten Kings of Qingtian. His cultivation has long reached the early stage of Saint Domain Fifth Layer, Soul Departure! To escape silently under the noses of two Saint Domain Fifth Layer experts, only he has such strength..."

Purple Leaf King explained.

"Early Soul Departure?" Zhang Xuan's face darkened.

If it was as the other said, it was indeed very likely!

A strong expert of this realm could hide his physical body outside the island, send his primordial spirit over quietly, obtain the map, and then flee quickly at a speed that even a primordial spirit-level flying sacred beast could not match.

No wonder even he had been fooled, and his Eye of Insight had not seen through the deception. He had not expected that among the Ten Kings of Qingtian, there was such a formidable expert.

It seemed he would have to be more careful in the future.

"Who are the Ten Kings, and what are their strengths?"

After a moment's hesitation, Zhang Xuan couldn't help asking.

Although half of the Ten Kings had been indirectly or directly killed or subdued by him, he did not know exactly who the ten were or how strong they were. Just thinking about it was frustrating.

Of course, if the Qingtian Emperor knew about his frustration, he would probably spit blood on the spot.

Of his most capable ten subordinates, four had been toyed to death, one had been subdued, and yet this man knew nothing about them—blank as a blank sheet of paper...

If he could do this without knowing, once he knew, wouldn't he wipe out their entire lineage?

"Gold, Green, Water, and Earth are dead. Besides me, there remain the five kings: Heaven, Jade, Wind, Stone, and Fire. Among them, Heaven Leaf King is the strongest, the head of the Ten Kings. Jade Leaf King is next, though not yet at Soul Departure, he is at half-step Soul Departure! The lower ones, Wind Leaf King, Stone Leaf King, Fire Leaf King... each is powerful, stronger than us. Therefore, they are also called the Upper Five Kings, while we are the Lower Five Kings..."

Without hesitation, Purple Leaf King detailed the situation of the Ten Kings.

Zhang Xuan nodded.

These five kings were already hard to deal with, and unexpectedly there were the Upper Five Kings... Judging by the other's attitude, they were determined to obtain the items in the ruins. Now that the map had been taken, it seemed that when the ruins opened again, humanity would face great trouble.

"We'll deal with it as it comes."

This turn of events was beyond his expectation. Not to mention that Heaven Leaf King had fled so long ago that it was hard to track, even if they could find him, with White Poison Master and Sea Poison Master having just broken through, they would surely be no match!

As for himself, even less so.

With Purple Leaf King and the puppet, he might still have a chance against a Saint Domain Fourth Layer expert, but against a Fifth Layer... he would run as far as he could.

Soul Departure, using the primordial spirit to fight—he had just seen it. The power was unimaginably formidable, flying through the sky and burrowing into the earth, with boundless strength... Without reaching that cultivation level, one couldn't even touch the hem of their clothes!

They were not on the same level at all.

A master teacher could fight above their level, but Soul Departure was a threshold. One was physical body and true qi, the other was primordial spirit—like the gap between humans and gods, almost impossible to cross.

Take himself, for example. Before reaching Saint Domain, he could defeat a Saint Domain Second Layer, Divine Awareness expert, which was equivalent to fighting two major levels above.

This ability was nothing special below Saint Domain Fifth Layer. Once at that level, even if one reached the peak of Primordial Spirit, whether they could defeat an early Soul Departure expert was still uncertain.

Moreover, a Primordial Spirit expert could flee immediately if they couldn't win. Without reaching that cultivation level, one simply couldn't catch up! Not to mention other things, take the technique of burrowing into the ground—without reaching Primordial Spirit, except for special bloodlines like Earth Leaf King, no one could do it.

Burrowing into the ground and diving into water—the primordial spirit could do it without breathing, unimpeded, but with a physical body, it was impossible.

"The alien race has taken the map and killed Ruo Hall Master. This matter must be reported to headquarters immediately. Sun Poison Master, we two will take our leave now..."

While the two were conversing, White Poison Master and the others looked over with dejected expressions.

Clearly, they knew they could no longer find the other party. Continuing the pursuit would be a waste of time. Instead of struggling, it was better to send the ancestor back to headquarters.

"Alright."

Zhang Xuan responded.

The Hongyuan Poison Hall could not be without a leader. Everyone unanimously recommended Elder Xu as the new Hall Master.

After giving Elder Xu the Earth-Tibetan Flower and instructing him in poison refining, helping him break through to become a Seven-Star Poison Master, Zhang Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Having accomplished his purpose here, there was no need to stay longer. He took his leave with White Poison Master and the others.

White Poison Master's flying sacred beast was extremely fast. In less than a day, they returned to Jingyuan City.

After dismounting the sacred beast, he gave further instructions. Only after the two poison masters promised again to protect Wei Ruyan with all their might did Zhang Xuan feel at ease.

Students would all leave their teachers. Even he was no exception.

No matter how fierce an eagle, if it is never allowed to soar alone and is always sheltered under the wings, it will never mature.

The same goes for students.

Because of this, although reluctant, he still let his students leave one by one.

First Zhao Ya and Lu Chong, then Yuan Tao, and now Wei Ruyan...

Judging by Zheng Yang's appearance, he would probably go to the War Master Hall. Of the seven disciples, almost five had left.

Lost in thought, he unconsciously walked into Moyunxuan again.

By asking Hu Yunsheng, the pavilion master, he learned that the Master Teacher Hall and the Hongyuan imperial family had sent people yesterday to seal the city lord's mansion.

It turned out that the alien race had controlled the city lord's only son, causing him to follow their orders.

As a human, working for the alien race, regardless of the reason, was unforgivable. He had been escorted to the capital, and Yu Shenqing would personally judge him.

Hearing this news, Zhang Xuan sighed.

No matter what one does, one must not take the wrong step. One wrong step leads to another, and it will only bring greater trouble later.

After helping Hu Yunsheng resolve the Heavenly Dao true qi in his body, Zhang Xuan took his leave. He released the Purple Sun Beast, stepped on it, and flew straight toward the Master Teacher Academy.

"Purple Sun Beast... a Saint Domain level Purple Sun Beast?"

Watching him break through the air and leave, Hu Yunsheng stood frozen, almost dumbfounded.

"Pavilion Master, what's wrong?" Never having seen the pavilion master so flustered, Zhu Xiao asked in confusion.

The Purple Sun Beast, though not common, was not rare in the entire Hongyuan Empire. There was no need to be so surprised.

"Purple Sun Beasts are not rare, but... a Purple Sun Beast of this level, there is only one in the entire Hongyuan Empire..."

Seeing his confusion, Hu Yunsheng smiled bitterly.

"Only one?" Zhu Xiao was stunned. "Could it be... that the pavilion master has already guessed the true identity of this Senior Sun?"

"If I'm not mistaken, his appearance is a disguise, and his real name is... Zhang Xuan!"

Hu Yunsheng nodded.

"Zhang Xuan?" Zhu Xiao's body stiffened, his face turning pale. "Are you talking about... the new dean of the Master Teacher Academy, Dean Zhang Xuan?"

As a hub of information, Moyunxuan knew many things about Zhang Xuan. Even Zhu Xiao had read about this dean's legendary life and had always regarded him as an idol and a lifelong goal.

"It's him..." Hu Yunsheng nodded. "I only just remembered that Dean Zhang's steward is named Sun Qiang. Moreover, the Master Teacher Hall and the imperial family dealt with the city lord so quickly, according to inside information, it was on Dean Zhang's orders... Putting these together, if I still can't guess his identity, I'd be a fool!"

"This..."

Zhu Xiao finally understood, but he never imagined that Dean Zhang had personally come to Jingyuan City and even visited their Moyunxuan.

"By the way, Pavilion Master... I remember you were thinking of killing him and taking his wealth..."

Suddenly recalling something, he quickly looked up and saw his pavilion master, face pale, veins bulging on his forehead: "If you dare leak this, believe me, I'll crush you right now..."

Even now, Hu Yunsheng was filled with fear.

Robbery, robbing the dean of the Master Teacher Academy... wasn't that asking for death? Fortunately, the man was a master teacher and reasonable; otherwise, he would probably be a corpse by now.