Chapter 1194: One Eye

"Who?"

Zhang Xuan felt every hair on his body stand on end.

Someone speaking in his mind without him knowing in advance... who could it be?

He hurriedly looked toward where the voice came from, and it seemed like he saw a pitch-black passage stretching endlessly, with no end in sight.

"Come in!"

Seeing that he had discovered the passage, the cold voice sounded again. Immediately after, Zhang Xuan felt his body shake, and his consciousness appeared before the passage.

He had been pulled here by the other party.

"Who exactly are you?"

His expression grim, Zhang Xuan looked deep into the passage and saw a huge eye appear before him, opening and closing, as if illuminating one's soul, stirring up distracting thoughts.

"No wonder you could make my subordinate suffer so badly... So you're a Heaven's Acknowledgement Master Teacher! After all these years, a Heaven's Acknowledgement Master Teacher has appeared again..."

A cold laugh rang out.

"You can tell I'm a Heaven's Acknowledgement Master Teacher?"

Zhang Xuan's eyes narrowed, his heart tightening.

His identity was something even a Saint Domain realm 7 expert like Luo Chengxin couldn't see through, yet the other party saw through it at a glance—this was too formidable!

"If I couldn't even see that, what right would I have to contend with Kong Shi for so many years?"

The eye flickered and snorted.

"Contend with Kong Shi for so many years? You are... the Cruel One?"

Frowning, Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.

Earlier, the Cruel One sealed in his Book of Heaven's Path had told him that the secret technique for capturing souls was unique to him. If his guess was correct, part of the Cruel One was in the Jibei Swamp... He hadn't expected it to appear here!

And it was a huge eye!

"You've heard of me?" The eye chuckled lightly, its voice continuing: "That makes sense. I trapped Kong Shi in Chencai and nearly killed him... Even if the Master Teacher Pavilion wanted to uphold the dignity of the Teacher of Ten Thousand Ages, they would surely have recorded it!"

"Trapped Kong Shi?"

Zhang Xuan was stunned.

The Cruel One in the Book of Heaven's Path had lost part of his body and suffered memory damage, so he didn't remember much about Kong Shi. This one clearly knew more.

In Zhang Xuan's heart, Kong Shi had always been invincible, revered by everyone across the Master Teacher Continent... yet he had been trapped by the Cruel One in Chencai and nearly died...

This was something he had never heard of.

"It seems you don't know. But it doesn't matter... Swallowing a Heaven's Acknowledgement Master Teacher will surely restore a lot of my strength. Then I can break free from that place and soar freely, like a fish leaping into the sea or a bird flying in the sky..."

The eye gleamed, the Cruel One's voice full of excitement: "It seems I'll have to wrong you—die!"

Whoosh!

Immediately, Zhang Xuan felt a tremendous suction force from the black hole before him, as if it wanted to devour his soul.

"Damn... This is the Cruel One personally performing the capture technique..."

His face turned ugly.

Earlier, with the help of an altar, Qingtian Emperor had barely resisted it. Now that the Cruel One was performing it personally, how could he withstand it?

Feeling that he could be pulled into the black passage at any moment, Zhang Xuan's scalp tingled.

As expected of the Cruel One who had once fought Kong Shi—even if his current strength was less than one percent of its peak, it was still not something someone of Zhang Xuan's level could contend with!

The gap was too vast!

"If this continues, I'll be swallowed sooner or later..."

Though he didn't know what the black passage was, falling into it would likely be fatal or close to it. Zhang Xuan clenched his teeth and held on stubbornly, while secretly communicating with the Cruel One in the Book of Heaven's Path.

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be my head and eye..."

The Cruel One's spiritual波动 came through.

"What should I do?" Zhang Xuan asked urgently.

"This soul capture method is powerful, but over such a distance, it's still difficult. For example, Qingtian Emperor used an altar... When my strength was at its peak, I could capture and kill a master from tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. But now... it's probably using some kind of connection. If you cut that connection, you'll be safe!"

After a moment's thought, the Cruel One said.

At his strongest, from tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, killing a Saint Domain realm 2 expert, if properly prepared and with the target's blood, could be done in a single thought. But... having been shattered into pieces scattered everywhere, even if he had recovered better than this one, doing this was impossible.

The only possibility was that, like Qingtian Emperor earlier, he was using something like an altar!

"Connection? Right!"

Hearing this, Zhang Xuan was startled, then a flash of insight came: "It's Qingtian Emperor's soul..."

Qingtian Emperor's shaman soul had entered his body. This guy was probably using the power of that soul to try to capture him.

"It seems this guy hasn't been completely worn away. Let's see where you are..."

Knowing the cause, Zhang Xuan relaxed. He resisted the suction of the black passage while spreading his consciousness to search carefully within his body.

"Found it..."

Before long, he indeed discovered a shaman soul hidden in a corner of his sea of consciousness.

When uncontrolled, the Heaven's Path zhenqi could roam the entire body but had difficulty entering the sea of consciousness. It seemed this guy had hidden there to escape disaster.

"Hmph!"

With a thought, Zhang Xuan immediately summoned the Heaven's Path zhenqi.

"Ah..."

Qingtian Emperor let out a miserable cry. Zhang Xuan then felt the black passage before him rapidly recede, and the huge eye shook twice, about to disappear.

"I didn't expect you to discover it. But it doesn't matter—you will surely die by my hand..."

With a muffled roar, the eye vanished with a "whoosh."

Only then did Zhang Xuan realize that he was still standing motionless in the underground palace, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

The moment just now had felt like falling into a special illusion, nearly being devoured by the other party.

"Formidable!"

Though he was safe, he couldn't help but feel lingering fear.

It was too terrifying!

If he hadn't reacted in time, his consciousness would have been taken away.

If captured by that guy, it wouldn't be as easy to fool him as it was with Qingtian Emperor.

"Master, in that situation just now, I dared not make a move. Once I acted, it would have exposed myself... The other party might have used even more extreme methods, which would only have been more disadvantageous for you!"

The Cruel One's voice came from the Book of Heaven's Path.

"Mm."

Zhang Xuan nodded.

What the other said was correct.

If the Cruel One on his side made a move, the other would surely sense it.

The Cruel One here wanted to devour the other, and the other wanted to devour this one... So doing that would only make the other more frantic.

If he did that, it would only let the other know of the Cruel One's existence early, making future moves inconvenient.

At least now, the enemy was in the open, while the Cruel One on his side was in the shadows... giving them a great advantage.

"What level is his strength? Can you defeat him?"

No longer dwelling on this, Zhang Xuan asked.

"I couldn't discern his exact strength, but... he should be at least at the Out of Body realm! With my current strength, I'm no match for him. However... if I devour Qingtian Emperor, I should be able to reach the Out of Body realm!"

After a moment's hesitation, the Cruel One said.

"Devour?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback, then nodded.

The Yiling race had secret techniques to advance by devouring humans and master teachers. Although Qingtian Emperor was a Yiling, he had cultivated shaman soul techniques and reached the Out of Body realm. Devouring him would surely greatly aid in improving strength.

"Yes."

The Cruel One replied.

"After I finish interrogating him, he's yours to deal with..." After a pause, Zhang Xuan said.

Trapped by the Heaven's Path zhenqi and worn down just now, Qingtian Emperor's strength was now mostly depleted, making him insignificant.

There were still some doubts; after questioning him, it wouldn't be too late to hand him over.

"Zhang Shi..."

Though it sounded complicated, from the appearance of the black passage to now, only a few dozen breaths had passed. Looking up, Zhang Xuan saw Wu Shi and the others looking at him with concern.

"I'm fine. Wu Shi... come with me! Oh, and move this altar to the Master Teacher Pavilion. When the headquarters sends people, hand it over as evidence."

Zhang Xuan said.

"Alright!" Wu Shi gave some instructions and followed Zhang Xuan out of the underground palace.

Illuminated by the Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan searched around. Before long, he found the right direction and flew straight ahead.

Chen Zhe's residence was already on the outskirts of Qingyuan City. The two flew swiftly, and before long, they arrived deep in the forest. After searching for a while, they saw a wooden hut appear before them.

"This is it... I didn't expect them to be tens of kilometers apart!"

After confirming, Zhang Xuan was astonished.

He had thought the two altars were not far apart, but they were tens of kilometers away... To easily capture his soul from such a distance, the Cruel One's technique was truly terrifying.

Entering the wooden hut, they found the ring that had been hidden earlier.

"This..."

Seeing that there was also an identical altar in the room, Wu Shi couldn't believe it.

"See who this is..."

Holding the ring in his palm, Zhang Xuan lightly infused it with Heaven's Path zhenqi, erasing the soul imprint within. With a thought, a corpse appeared before them.

"This is... Vice Hall Master Tian Qing? Didn't he self-detonate?"

Wu Shi was stunned.

Tian Qing had self-detonated before his eyes, and his body had been taken back to the Master Teacher Pavilion. How could there be another one here?

And it looked completely intact, with an even stronger aura?

"This is his disguise..."

Zhang Xuan lightly traced his hand over it.

Splash!

The disguise was removed. The corpse before them immediately grew larger, standing over two meters tall. Though his appearance hadn't changed, his aura carried a terrifying killing intent.

"A Yiling?"

Wu Shi's eyes narrowed immediately.

"Mm, correct. Not only a Yiling, but also... Qingtian Emperor!"

Zhang Xuan nodded.

"The emperor of the Qingtian lineage?"

Wu Shi was full of astonishment.

How could Vice Hall Master Tian Qing be the emperor of the Qingtian lineage?

If so, how could they have spent centuries together without recognizing him?

"It's like this..."

Knowing that the other wouldn't believe it, Zhang Xuan recounted what he had learned in detail.

"This..."

Wu Shi trembled uncontrollably.

A Yiling of the Qingtian lineage had changed his identity to become a vice hall master, governing a region, and they hadn't noticed. The gravity of their crime was beyond words.

If this was true... how many other master teachers in the entire Master Teacher Pavilion were the same?