Chapter 1195: The World-Transmitting Heavenly Talisman

"I called you here alone. You should understand that this matter must never be leaked, otherwise... everyone will be terrified, and the consequences will be immense!"

Knowing that the other party had realized the gravity of the situation, Zhang Xuan instructed, "But the traitor among humanity must be found, or disaster will strike! So you must investigate in secret, and strive to uproot the foundation left by Qingtian Emperor root and branch, to prevent trouble before it happens!"

"Yes!" Master Wu nodded.

Master Zhang was right; this matter involved the foundation of the Master Teacher Hall and could not be taken lightly.

Otherwise, the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Hall would be destroyed in an instant.

"I'll leave this corpse to you. Dispose of it as you see fit. When the headquarters people return, use it as evidence and report the details thoroughly." Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

Although Qingtian Emperor's corpse had formidable combat power, it was meaningless to him; it was better to use his own body, which was more flexible.

Most importantly, it involved the identity of a vice hall master. Leaving it to the other party would save a lot of trouble.

"Thank you..."

Master Wu clasped his fists, stored the corpse in his ring, and looked at the young man again, full of gratitude.

To be honest, if not for the person before him, he would never have believed that Vice Hall Master Tian Qing, who had made great contributions in the battle against the alien race, was actually the emperor of the Qingtian lineage!

"You go back first. After all this commotion, I need to rest too."

Zhang Xuan said no more.

Master Wu turned and left.

Once he was gone, Zhang Xuan stored the altar in his ring and took out Qingtian Emperor's storage ring.

That fellow was the emperor of the Qingtian lineage; he must have many treasures.

His spirit extended into it.

Whoosh!

A painting appeared in his palm—the eight-level painting he had been asked to appraise earlier.

Putting it away, Zhang Xuan continued to look.

After a moment, he took out several jade boxes with a delighted expression.

Opening them gently, he immediately felt a pure surge of spiritual energy rushing into his mind, refreshing his spirit.

High-grade essence spirit stones!

"Six jade boxes, five stones each—thirty high-grade essence spirit stones in total!"

Zhang Xuan was thrilled.

He had only obtained eighteen spirit stones from the Qingyuan Emperor, but this Qingtian Emperor had produced thirty at once!

One could say he was even wealthier than the Qingtian imperial family.

"With these thirty stones, I should be able to break through to the Fetal Infant realm easily!"

Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.

The purpose of taking the Seven-Star Master examination was to earn more high-grade essence spirit stones. Now that the stones were in hand, it was time to improve his strength.

No matter what, strength was paramount.

Only with such strength could he qualify for a spot in the Holy Son Hall, have the chance to advance quickly, and soon have the qualifications to negotiate with the Zhang family!

Time waited for no one.

He didn't want to watch his beloved marry into some Sage Zhang family!

Marry some so-called genius who had been putting on airs since childhood and had never shown up!

Having found the spirit stones, Zhang Xuan stopped looking further. With a flicker, he entered the Thousand Ant Beehive.

It was quiet here, with no disturbances, saving a lot of trouble.

Sitting cross-legged, Zhang Xuan grabbed in the air, and the thirty high-grade essence spirit stones appeared before him, emitting dense spiritual energy.

"Let's begin..."

With a thought, his soul once again approached the primordial fetus. This time, without the previous obstruction, it plunged straight in.

At the same time, the spiritual energy from the high-grade essence spirit stones surged into his meridians, rushing toward the primordial fetus.

The Fetal Infant realm involved the convergence of soul and primordial fetus, the fetus breaking into an infant. The techniques were already prepared; only the spirit stones were lacking. Now that the stones were in hand, he rapidly circulated his energy, and the dense spiritual energy rushed toward the primordial fetus.

Rumble!

With a violent roar, the spiritual energy from the high-grade essence spirit stones formed a vortex above his head. Under the intense impact, the primordial fetus suddenly cracked open, and then a hand slowly extended out.

"Break for me!"

Knowing this was the critical moment, Zhang Xuan did not pause. His brows rose, and he continued to drive the spiritual energy.

Rip!

The primordial fetus burst open. As the hand emerged, an infant slowly crawled out.

"This is... a Fetal Infant?"

Seeing his own Fetal Infant, Zhang Xuan's mouth twitched.

Other people's Fetal Infants were all like babies, more or less the same. His was also in the shape of an infant, but its height was... ten meters!

A ten-meter-tall infant... this was too terrifying!

"This... how much energy will it need?"

His brows jumped, and a bad premonition arose in Zhang Xuan's heart.

With such a large Fetal Infant, the demand for energy would naturally be huge... Others could cultivate through the entire Fetal Infant realm, even the Nascent Soul realm, with just one high-grade essence spirit stone. How many would he need?

He quickly absorbed the spiritual energy from the high-grade essence spirit stones to improve his strength.

After an unknown amount of time, the last spirit stone shattered. Zhang Xuan slowly opened his eyes, full of helplessness.

"Only at the mid-stage of Fetal Infant..."

He shook his head.

He had thought that obtaining thirty spirit stones would allow him to charge to the peak, but he never dreamed... they were all consumed just to reach the mid-stage of Fetal Infant.

"It seems... to reach the peak, I need at least fifty more..."

Rubbing his forehead, Zhang Xuan felt his heart was tired.

Finding a single high-grade essence spirit stone required great effort. Finding fifty more just to reach the peak of Fetal Infant... where could he find so many?

Even turning Qingyuan City upside down wouldn't yield that many!

"Although the consumption of spirit stones is enormous, the increase in combat power is also terrifying!"

Even though thirty high-grade essence spirit stones were consumed so quickly, he had to admit that the improvement in strength was very satisfying.

Previously, when fighting Hall Master Gou, he was no match and could only win by relying on techniques like formations. But now, even against Qingtian Emperor, who had reached the true Out-of-Body realm, he could fight!

In other words, having reached the mid-stage of Fetal Infant, his strength was comparable to the early stage of Out-of-Body!

With such strength, he was probably at the very peak in all of Qingyuan City!

When he first arrived in Qingyuan City, he was just a rookie at the peak of Saint Domain Layer 1, at most able to fight those at Saint Domain Layer 3, and had to avoid those at Layer 4. Now, even Hall Master Xing was no match... Time flies, years pass...

Thinking about it made one sigh.

"It's been eight whole days since I came to Qingyuan City..."

He sighed.

From the time he arrived in Qingyuan City until now, a full eight days had passed.

In eight days, he had only advanced less than two major levels, and that was with the Heavenly Path Technique... Thinking of this, Zhang Xuan felt utterly ashamed and embarrassed...

"Let's see what that fellow has to say..."

Pushing aside his depressed mood, he pointed forward, and a soul appeared before him.

At this moment, Qingtian Emperor, worn down by the Heavenly Path true energy, had at most half his strength left, looking sickly and on the verge of death.

But as soon as he saw Zhang Xuan, he immediately showed intense hatred.

"I want you dead..."

He roared and was about to charge, but before he could get close, he saw a finger pressing down.

Thud!

He was pinned to the ground, unable to move no matter how he struggled.

"You, you... how are you so strong?"

His pupils contracted, Qingtian Emperor full of disbelief.

An hour ago, this guy was far from a match and could be easily dealt with. How had he become so strong in the blink of an eye?

A single finger, and he couldn't resist... What strength was that?

"As an alien, how did you come here? How did you get to know the Cruel One and become a soul shaman? Also, how many of your people are in the Master Teacher Hall... Tell me in detail, and I'll give you a quick death. Otherwise, you should know how terrifying I can be..."

Too lazy to waste words, Zhang Xuan raised his eyelids and said calmly.

He had kept the other alive, not letting the Cruel One devour him, precisely to learn these things.

"Dream on if you think you can get information out of me... I, the emperor of the Qingtian lineage, am no coward who fears death..."

Qingtian Emperor raised his head and gritted his teeth, but before he could finish, he saw a foot smash down, crushing his head into the ground.

Then he heard a voice muttering to itself: "Cruel One, you only need the soul for nourishment. A dead Qingtian Emperor doesn't matter, right?"

"That's good, then I won't hold back..."

As the words ended, he saw the other's hand grab in the air, and a ball of true energy that burned the soul appeared in his palm, pressing down on him.

"You... ah..."

A tearing pain burned through his body, and Qingtian Emperor screamed like thunder.

Just as he was about to grit his teeth and endure, preferring death to surrender, he saw the other snap his fingers and pull a thin thread from his soul body.

"Soul search..."

His pupils shrank, and Qingtian Emperor's face changed.

As a soul shaman, he naturally knew that this move was a soul search. Not only was the process painful, but more importantly, once completed, even if he didn't completely dissipate, he would become an idiot.

"I'll talk..."

Qingtian Emperor quickly shouted.

"Sorry, it's too late..."

Too lazy to waste words, Zhang Xuan pressed his finger and pulled out the thin thread.

If the other had been willing to talk earlier, he wouldn't have bothered to act. Since he had already started, he didn't want to listen... It was better to use the soul search, which was faster and more comprehensive.

Sizzle!

He extracted the memories from the other's soul and examined them carefully.

An hour later.

Letting out a breath, Zhang Xuan rubbed his forehead.

After the soul search, he now knew the entire sequence of events.

This emperor of the Qingtian lineage, over two thousand years ago, had performed a ritual and inadvertently contacted the consciousness of the Cruel One.

The Cruel One used a secret technique, leveraging the power of sacrifice, to teleport him here and taught him the cultivation method of a soul shaman.

Knowing that humans were no longer the pushovers they once were and could be bullied at will, and in order to truly control power, he did not act rashly. He carefully laid plans, allowing himself to possess an infant and be reborn.

This secret technique was extremely complex and caused severe injuries.

It could only be used once every ten years. After more than a hundred and twenty attempts... only Tian Qing succeeded.

Through the other's memories, he finally learned the purpose of such painstaking planning.

"It's Confucius's 'World-Transmitting Heavenly Talisman'!"

Zhang Xuan's expression turned grave.