Chapter 1044: The Ancient Sage Qiuwu

Time went back a few minutes.

“I never thought I, Wu Rufeng, would be surrounded and killed by a group of alien clansmen at only the Saint Domain third level…”

Sitting on the ground, Master Wu’s face was pale. He turned to look at the others not far away, his once confident eyes now filled with sorrow.

Not long ago, Master Zhang had gone to find a solution, and the demonic sound had just disappeared when they encountered this group of alien clansmen.

Under the torment of the demonic sound, everyone’s vitality was greatly damaged, their true qi depleted by seven or eight parts, leaving them without even the strength to walk. Before they could recover, let alone fight.

Fighting while retreating, they arrived here. Only he, using his maximum strength, had killed two, but was severely injured by an alien clansman at the Saint Domain fourth level.

Although he had come to the ruins with the determination to die, to be killed without even seeing a trace of Zhang Yinqiu and the others was truly unwilling! Most importantly, as a seven-star upper-rank master of the Master Hall, dying at the hands of alien clansmen was too humiliating…

“If we really can’t resist, then self-destruct! I don’t want to die at their hands and have my body defiled!”

Watching the increasingly fierce attacks of the alien clansmen, President Han gritted his teeth.

As humans, once killed by alien clansmen, their bodies would be used by them; even in death, they would not rest in peace.

Rather than suffer humiliation, it would be better to self-destruct in a moment, perhaps taking the enemy with them, dying a worthy death.

“Alright!” Gritting their teeth, everyone nodded simultaneously.

Although those present included masters, war masters, and formation masters… they were all human.

“Farewell, Master Hall. Farewell, humanity. Farewell, we have not completed our mission…”

With a sigh, as everyone was about to give up resistance and choose self-destruction, they saw a figure charging straight over.

“Master Zhang?”

Recognizing his face, everyone clenched their fists, their faces flushed with excitement.

Thinking they were doomed, they didn’t expect Dean Zhang to arrive at the last moment.

Looking up, they saw Zhang Xuan charging in without any technique, simply ramming into an alien clansman and crushing him into a meat patty. Not far away, the Jinyuan Cauldron was even fiercer, growing to over ten meters in size, falling from the sky and smashing six or seven to death on the spot.

The Jinyuan Cauldron, having advanced to a mid-grade saint artifact, now had combat power comparable to the peak of Saint Domain fourth level. The ones surrounding them were only at Saint Domain third level; once it exerted force, they couldn’t escape, and soon all were crushed into meat paste.

“Don’t kill them all yet…”

After crushing one alien clan strongman, Zhang Xuan was about to stop them, but found that all the attackers were dead. He stopped mid-sentence, unable to continue.

He had intended to capture one alive for interrogation, but this guy was too fast; he had only killed one, and the other had already killed the rest.

There was no time to stop it.

“Forget it…” Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan came to the others: “How are you all?”

With his eyesight, he could see that everyone’s injuries were severe; treating them would require great effort.

“Thank you for saving our lives…”

Looking at him with gratitude, everyone took healing pills from their rings and swallowed them.

Although they wanted to say more, their injuries were too severe.

Knowing they all had their own healing methods, Zhang Xuan didn’t interfere. Instead, he stood there, looking at them, his brow furrowing more and more.

Before long, Master Wu recovered somewhat and slowly opened his eyes.

When their strength was greatly diminished, they were surrounded by alien clansmen; even if they wanted to fight back, they didn’t have much power, leading to such a passive situation.

If they were at their peak, even if two of those Saint Domain fourth level strongmen came, they could handle them calmly.

“What exactly happened?” Zhang Xuan looked over.

“It was like this: shortly after you left, Master Zhang, we were attacked…” Master Wu recounted the situation in detail.

Understanding the course of events and knowing that the alien clansmen who attacked them were not as terrifying as imagined, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help asking: “Where is Master Luo? Why isn’t she with you?”

He had noticed as soon as he arrived that Luo Ruoxin was not among the crowd, which made him very worried.

“When the demonic sound disappeared, Master Luo seemed to have discovered something. She said she wanted to go check and left… We don’t know where she went exactly!”

Master Wu said.

As soon as the demonic sound disappeared, this Luo Ruoxin gave a brief instruction and turned to leave. Less than two minutes later, the alien clansmen attacked. If… she had been there, they wouldn’t have suffered so badly.

“Don’t know?” Zhang Xuan frowned.

The others encountered alien clansmen; could she have encountered them too? With so many nearly wiped out, how could she alone withstand them?

“You mentioned earlier that a Saint Domain fourth level alien clansman attacked you. Where did that guy go now?”

Master Wu had said that a powerful alien clansman attacked them, leading to their rout. If he guessed correctly, that should be the so-called Shiye King. Why wasn’t he here now?

Could he have discovered Luo Ruoxin and gone after her?

“That guy, after entering here, gave orders and went straight ahead. He said he was looking for some treasure and couldn’t afford to delay… He told these guys to kill us and then come over…”

President Han said.

After regulating his breathing, he had recovered somewhat. Although his injuries were still severe, he was no longer on the verge of falling asleep at any moment.

“Looking for treasure? As long as he didn’t discover Luo Ruoxin, it’s fine…”

Relieved, he instructed: “Jinyuan Cauldron, you protect everyone here. I’ll go find Master Luo first…”

Regardless of what that so-called Shiye King was going to do, in his heart, Luo Ruoxin was the most important.

Leaving the others, using the power of the witch soul, he left the Thunder Zone again and quickly searched back. Before long, he indeed found traces of her.

The girl was standing in front of a broken stone tablet, her delicate brows furrowed, lost in thought.

“Are you alright…” He hurried over.

Seeing him arrive, Luo Ruoxin smiled: “I’m fine. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Master Wu and the others were in trouble…” Zhang Xuan recounted what had just happened in detail.

“Attacked by alien clansmen? Damn! It seems these guys must have followed us in…”

Luo Ruoxin snorted.

The seal outside was broken, leaving the entrance unobstructed. This group of alien clansmen must have slipped in behind them.

Zhang Xuan nodded.

“Did you break this stone tablet?” Luo Ruoxin pointed ahead.

“This…” Zhang Xuan was a bit embarrassed.

Although he didn’t destroy it personally, he was directly related; it wouldn’t be wrong to say he broke it.

“This stone tablet is a bit strange. Have you noticed that it’s made of the same material as the carved stone wall of the Saint Sealing Platform… And this formation space is also very similar to the one where Master Kong left his book…”

As if discovering something, Luo Ruoxin said.

“This…”

Zhang Xuan was startled. When she put it that way, there were indeed some similarities.

The stones being similar could be because the Saint Sealing Platform was not far from here, and this type of stone had existed for a long time, so it was chosen… But the space being similar was hard to explain.

“Could it be… that this ruin is really related to Master Kong?”

His heart stirred.

Previously, they had speculated whether these two places, being so close, were connected. In the end, because it involved Master Kong, they kept silent and stopped discussing it.

“No… This stone tablet was activated by me, and an old man came out of it…”

Remembering something, Zhang Xuan said.

That old man was clearly the creator of the ruins. Neither his appearance nor his speech and behavior had anything to do with Master Kong!

“What was that old man’s name?”

Hearing that he had activated the stone tablet, Luo Ruoxin quickly looked over.

“Name? He didn’t say… He just wanted to teach me a movement technique called… Traveler Without Bounds!”

Zhang Xuan explained.

He hadn’t had time to ask the other’s name before he disappeared.

“Traveler Without Bounds? Could it be…”

Her eyes brightened, as if Luo Ruoxin had thought of something.

“Have you heard of this movement technique?” Seeing her expression, Zhang Xuan asked.

“If it really is Traveler Without Bounds, then the person you met should be the Ancient Sage Qiuwu!” Luo Ruoxin nodded.

“Ancient Sage Qiuwu?” Zhang Xuan frowned: “I think I’ve heard that name… The seal of the underground cavern beneath Hongyuan Master Academy was left by him!”

Earlier, when he entered the underground cavern and touched the seal, he learned its origin: it was left by a strongman named Qiuwu.

Could it be… that the old man who wanted to take him as a student was the remnant soul of this predecessor?

Shivering, Zhang Xuan broke out in a cold sweat.

When he touched the seal, he knew how terrifying this strongman was. He casually set a seal that even a nine-star master couldn’t break… And he had wanted to take him as a disciple…

Wasn’t that too bold!

Fortunately, the other didn’t get angry; otherwise, even as a remnant soul, killing him would be a matter of minutes.

“Yes, this ancient sage had an extremely strong understanding of space. Many node seals in the extraterrestrial battlefields were set by him!”

Nodding, Luo Ruoxin’s beautiful eyes shone: “Most importantly, although this Ancient Sage Qiuwu was not Master Kong’s disciple, he was one of his followers. His cultivation was unfathomable. Wherever Master Kong went, he went. The two were nominally master and servant, but in reality, they were like brothers. Even Master Kong’s true disciples, the Seventy-Two Worthies, respectfully called him Uncle Qiuwu!”

“Uncle Qiuwu?”

“Yes, Qiuwu followed Master Kong all his life. In those days, to stop the alien clansmen, he transformed himself into a seal to block the attack… Among the ancestors revered by the Master Hall throughout the ages, his contribution ranks in the top five!”

Speaking of this Qiuwu, Luo Ruoxin’s eyes showed praise and admiration: “Because of this, many later generations of the Master Hall respect him greatly. Not to mention others, the hall master of the Qingyuan Imperial Master Hall, Gou, is one of his ardent admirers… Master Zhang, what’s wrong with you?”

While she was speaking with emotion, Luo Ruoxin saw Zhang Xuan on one side, who had somehow collapsed to the ground, his face twisted as if he had been slapped, on the verge of tears.