Chapter 1190: The Bronze Mask's Demand

"No! If a sage clan made a move, they would do it openly and directly crush me. There's no need to act in secret..."

After the initial shock, the bronze mask frowned, coming to his senses.

The Zhang family of sages, known as the foremost clan on the Master Continent, was filled with countless experts. If they truly knew the secret of this painting, they would have come long ago and killed him with a single slap. There was no need for concealment.

Although the Master Teacher Academy presided over most matters with rules, in the face of true power, rules could be crushed.

The Zhang family possessed such overwhelming power.

"All I saw was a beauty emerging from a bath..."

Seeing the other's disbelief, Zhang Xuan shook his head. "If you don't believe me, you can ask around. I, Zhang Xuan, have always had a good reputation..."

"Enough! I brought you here to restore this painting!"

Knowing that continuing this argument would be endless and waste time, the bronze mask snorted coldly.

Although the original painting had been altered, as long as the calligrapher was skilled enough, it could still be restored.

After all, the ink was from different eras; with sufficient skill, it shouldn't be difficult.

The man before him had easily broken the seal, achieving what he and President Meng Chong could not. In the art of calligraphy and painting, he had reached the highest level in the Qingyuan Empire, comparable to the late Wu Bei. If he undertook the task, the chances of success were high.

Zhang Xuan continued shaking his head. "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't..."

"Can't?"

The bronze mask sneered, his gaze murderous. "You still don't understand your situation! Right now, the soul I've captured is your spirit... meaning your physical body is already dead. You are now a dead man!"

The bronze mask said.

"Dead?" Zhang Xuan showed a terrified expression. "I'm dead?"

Looking down at his ethereal body, his vision went black, and he fainted from shock.

"..." Watching the man's antics, the bronze mask clutched his hair, nearly insane.

He had used a secret technique to extract the other's soul; anyone with a brain would know that!

When he mentioned it, the man deliberately feigned surprise and even pretended to faint... Brother, you're a soul; can you even faint?

With the soul trapped, unable to escape or dissipate, and the physical body dead... under normal circumstances, shouldn't he be terrified, dare not speak much, and obediently follow orders?

What was with this attitude?

"Stop pretending. On this altar, you can't even faint, let alone die..."

Furious enough to want to slap the man to death, the bronze mask gritted his teeth.

"Can't faint?" Zhang Xuan sat back up regretfully. "Then forget it. I'll hold off on fainting for now. But as you said, I really can't do it!"

The painting concealed a phantom of Master Teacher Kong, covered by the beauty emerging from a bath. It was destined never to be revealed, and restoration was impossible.

Seeing that the man had indeed been faking and showed no shame, the bronze mask was about to explode with rage but held back. His eyes narrowed, his tone cold and sinister. "Don't think that just because you're a soul, I have no way to teach you a lesson! Since I could drag you here from another place, naturally I know secret techniques that can make you wish for death but unable to die!"

"Since I'm already dead, just kill me!" Zhang Xuan raised an eyebrow lazily.

"You..." The bronze mask's chest heaved, his breath ragged from anger or frustration. "Since you're so ungrateful, I'll use soul-searching. After that, you'll be annihilated, completely dead!"

Swish!

Without waiting for Zhang Xuan's reply, he grabbed the air with his palm, and a force pressed down.

"It's... the technique of a soul witch!"

Seeing his movement, Zhang Xuan's eyes flickered.

He had willingly let himself be captured to see who this man was and what he wanted. Now the man was directly using a soul witch's technique...

Zzzz!

Though shocked, Zhang Xuan did not resist the incoming force but let it enter his mind.

Because as soon as the man acted, he recognized it—not soul-searching, but a soul-probing technique.

Soul-searching was violent; once performed, it could indeed extract information from the brain, but it also damaged the soul, leading to annihilation or even death. Soul-probing was different; it could uncover the deepest secrets without harming the target.

It seemed the man still hoped he would restore the painting and dared not kill him outright.

"Let's see what you know!"

With a cold shout, the bronze mask's consciousness roamed through Zhang Xuan's mind, quickly learning some things.

"He really doesn't know the secret under the seal..."

The more he saw, the tighter his frown.

Through the probing, he could see that the man truly knew nothing about the content under the seal. That is, the beauty emerging from a bath had nothing to do with him!

Moreover, the probing showed that the man was straightforward, had a good reputation, and was an upright, talented master teacher.

"I must have guessed wrong..."

After seeing this, the bronze mask withdrew his consciousness.

He had thought this man altered the painting, but now it seemed not. However, since he had captured him, he had to make him restore the original content, or all these years of effort would be wasted.

"He's indeed a soul witch, and closely connected to Tian Qing and others..."

While the other's consciousness entered his sea of consciousness, Zhang Xuan was also secretly probing him.

But this consciousness was too small and contained little information; otherwise, he would have learned the man's purpose and intentions clearly.

His understanding of soul witchcraft far surpassed the other's. Creating a false impression to deceive him was easy.

Through investigation, he found that Zhongqing Wang and Tian Qing were likely closely related to him. That was why Tian Qing could risk luring Master Wu and others while he hid here to capture his soul.

"I originally wanted to use soul-searching, but that would kill you for sure, leaving nothing. Now I'll give you two choices!"

Knowing the man was truly ignorant, the bronze mask snorted. "First, help me restore the painting. If you succeed, I won't kill you; I'll even let you live again, stronger than before!"

"Second, soul-searching, and you'll vanish from the world. To be honest, though you know much about calligraphy and painting, there are countless calligraphers of your level across the continent. If you refuse, I'll eventually find someone to restore the content!"

"Live again?" Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

"Correct!" The bronze mask flipped his wrist, revealing a physical body. "This is a soulless golden man. If you agree to the first condition, I can let your soul reside in it. That way, you'll have a body and can live like a normal person!"

"Soulless golden man..."

The other's soulless golden man was far superior to any Zhang Xuan had seen before. It was likely made from the body of a peak Primordial Spirit realm expert, crafted with exquisite technique, identical to a real person, showing no flaws.

In fact, if his soul entered it, he would truly seem alive, and even a seven-star master teacher would find it hard to detect.

"As a master teacher, even if you don't know much about soul witchcraft, you must have heard of soulless golden men! Not only can they boost your strength, but they can also change your identity, making you a person of high status!"

Seeing his shock, the bronze mask sneered.

"A person of high status? Could it be... Tian Qing and Zhongqing Wang are soulless golden men?"

Recalling something, Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted.

Tian Qing could become the vice president of the Master Teacher Academy; his background must have been clean, his past experiences innocent. Could his betrayal of humanity be because he was turned into a soulless golden man and implanted with another soul?

And Zhongqing Wang...

If so, it was truly terrifying.

A soulless golden man becoming a vice president without detection... and most importantly, these two only exposed themselves when trying to kill him. How many more remained hidden?

Extracting souls with secret techniques and replacing them with another soul inside the body...

No wonder the Master Teacher Academy had ruthlessly eradicated soul witches in the past. This single ability was too terrifying!

Because, if widely used, you could never know if the person beside you was a friend or an enemy.

"Zhongqing Wang is not a soulless golden man. These things aren't easy to refine!"

The bronze mask shook his head.

"No?"

"He's just a toy loyal to me!" The bronze mask snorted.

"Then... what about Tian Qing?"

Zhang Xuan continued looking at him.

"Tian Qing?"

The bronze mask sneered, not answering, but instead looking at him. "Do you want to see what's under my mask?"

"Yes!" Zhang Xuan nodded. "If I can know who you are, I might believe your words and agree to your conditions! Otherwise, since I'm already dead, there's no reason to help my killer!"

He had always been curious about the bronze mask, but the man had never used martial arts in his presence. The soul-probing technique just now was a soul witch's specialty, not martial arts.

Thus, no book had formed in his mind, and he didn't know who it was.

If he could remove the mask, that would be best.

"I cover my face only to avoid being seen by others. You can't escape now; your life is in my hands. Showing you is no big deal..."

With a cold laugh, the bronze mask slowly removed the mask from his face.

The other's soul was under his control, life and death at his whim. He wasn't afraid of any resistance, so showing his true face meant nothing.

As the mask came off, Zhang Xuan quickly looked. The moment he saw, his pupils contracted in disbelief.

"How, how is it you?"