Chapter 1403: Hu Yiwei's Doubts

Before coming, everyone had painted a picture of this Zhang Xuan as a godlike figure, omnipotent—not only Yang Shi's student but even the thunder tribulation feared him. But seeing him in person... it was nothing like that?

Wasn't it said that he could pierce the dark clouds and make the thunder tremble?

How... in the blink of an eye, he was struck, with no ability to resist?

“It should be... he hasn't adapted yet. He'll be fine in a while...”

Recalling Zhang Shi's previous abilities, Zhang Xu comforted them and continued explaining.

Before he finished, Zhang Shi in the air was struck down, crashing into a large pit, his body convulsing.

Boom! Boom!

The lightning struck more and more, and Zhang Xuan convulsed even more vigorously.

“Maybe... we should save him...”

After a while, Elder Ge couldn't bear it any longer.

He was described as so formidable, yet the moment he appeared, he was struck so miserably—even he couldn't stand to watch.

“How do we save him?”

Master Zhan smiled bitterly.

The thunder was so powerful; if they rushed over, they would only make it stronger, and they couldn't rescue him at all!

“Then... we just watch him get struck to death?”

Elder Ge swallowed.

“I don't know either...”

Master Zhan shook his head.

Although he was the acting hall master of the Saint Child Hall, this was the first time he had seen such a massive thunder tribulation, and he had no idea how to resist it.

Everyone was at a loss. At the center of the raging lightning, Zhang Xuan's body convulsed, his eyes vacant, but in his mind he kept asking: “Have you found it yet?”

It wasn't that he didn't want to absorb the thunder tribulation, nor that he didn't want to charge into the dark clouds, but... since he had finally brewed such a massive thunder, he naturally hoped that the Cruel One could pinpoint the exact location of the upper body skeleton.

Otherwise, once he absorbed it, the thunder would flee. With his speed, even if he wanted to chase, he couldn't catch up!

Helpless, he could only passively endure the strikes.

Fortunately, his physical body and primordial spirit had been tempered by lightning to a very high level. Although the thunder in the sky was violent, it wouldn't be easy to kill him in a short time.

“Master, I clearly sensed the skeleton... but I still can't pinpoint its exact location. It seems to be hidden by some kind of folded space...”

The Cruel One couldn't help saying.

To cooperate with his search, the master was being struck like this. He was also very anxious, but the more anxious he got, the harder it was to find.

It was as if he could sense the skeleton, but it wasn't in the space where the Saint Child Hall was located.

“Folded space?”

Startled, Zhang Xuan's mind suddenly stirred: “That's possible... I've heard that the inner courtyard of the Saint Child Hall is a folded space. Could it be in the inner courtyard?”

The Saint Child Hall was only this large. Although he hadn't made a full circuit, he had looked down from the sky and hadn't seen any trace of the inner courtyard, nor had he found Luo Ruoxi. This meant... the inner courtyard wasn't within visible range, and it was very likely, like some ruins, located within a folded space.

Now that the Cruel One clearly sensed the skeleton but couldn't find it, could it be the same—also existing in such a space?

“Very likely...” the Cruel One responded.

“Alright, I'll absorb the thunder tribulation first. Once I get to the inner courtyard, I'll investigate carefully...”

Knowing that if he kept searching, he might be struck to death, he could no longer hold back. His body shook, and he shot straight up from the ground, charging into the sky full of thunder.

Earlier, when he went to the Physician Guild, he was supposed to teach and detoxify, but seeing many people on the verge of breakthrough, he couldn't help giving them individual guidance.

Although he didn't have a cultivation technique for breaking through from Saint Realm Seventh Grade to Eighth Grade, he could directly point out the problems and essence in their cultivation. With the help of the vines, getting them to break through wasn't too difficult.

That was why Elder Ge had nearly fainted earlier.

As expected, the thunder tribulation generated by over a dozen people simultaneously was indeed powerful. Entering it, he devoured it madly. Before long, the ring-shaped space in his dantian was completely replenished, and his cultivation reached the brink of breakthrough at any moment.

Soon, the thunder sea reacted and fled in terror again.

“Half-step Domain Realm...”

Although the opponent fled quickly, this absorption still allowed him to break through the bottleneck of the Out-of-Body Realm and reach the half-step Domain level.

It seemed it was time to gather a Domain Realm cultivation technique and aim for a higher realm.

After entering the thunder tribulation, he took the opportunity to change clothes and clean up the charred mess. Now that the thunder had fled, he flew down from the sky and found that a crowd had gathered, all staring in shock.

Sun Qiang was among them.

“Young master...”

Seeing he was fine and still so imposing, Sun Qiang breathed a sigh of relief, hurried over, flipped his wrist, and handed over a jade box: “This is the top-grade spirit stone Elder Ge compensated...”

“Compensation? Top-grade spirit stone?”

Zhang Xuan was stunned.

He had gone through so much hardship to get just one, and Zhang Chun still owed him five that hadn't been delivered. Yet his own steward, who hadn't even reached the Saint Realm, casually found five...

Compensation... why would an elder compensate you?

“Are you also Yang Shi's student?”

Just as he was about to ask, he heard a puzzled voice. Zhang Xuan turned and saw Hu Yiwei approaching with a frown.

“He is Feng Ziyi's steward and also Yang Shi's servant...” Seeing he didn't know, Sun Qiang smiled and introduced: “Now he follows my orders...”

“Yang Shi's servant? Follows your orders?”

Zhang Xuan's head spun.

The Yang Shi he referred to was an impostor. It was already good enough that Feng Ziyi didn't suspect him. How did Yang Shi's servant also show up and take orders from Sun Qiang?

“And you are...”

Knowing his steward was unreliable, Zhang Xuan ignored him and turned to look at the other man.

“I am Hu Yiwei, now Yang Shi's servant...”

After explaining, Hu Yiwei carefully examined the young man before him.

After a while, he couldn't help feeling puzzled: “Is Zhang Shi a member of the Zhang family?”

“No!”

Seeing he was also suspicious, Zhang Xuan smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“No?”

Hu Yiwei still seemed unconvinced: “Then... could Zhang Shi extend his hand for me to examine? I want to confirm a guess...”

“Extend hand?”

Finding the man's words a bit odd, Zhang Xuan paused, then still extended his hand.

His fingers lightly touched his wrist, seemingly conducting some kind of examination, and his frown deepened: “That's not right... Could he really not be from the Zhang family?”

“Heh, you're talking about bloodline, right? I'm really not from the Zhang family; I don't have Zhang family blood...”

Thinking he was puzzled about something, Zhang Xuan withdrew his hand. He had examined Zhang Jiuxiao before and found no similarity between them, so he knew he wasn't a descendant of the Zhang family.

“Has Zhang Shi ever been afflicted with...”

As if about to ask something, Hu Yiwei stopped mid-sentence and couldn't help shaking his head: “Forget it, I have matters to attend to. I'll take my leave!”

With that, he didn't linger. His body flickered, and he vanished from the spot.