Chapter 2058: Complete Self-Destruction

This spear was precisely the offensive pseudo-god-level treasure controlled by the middle-aged man from the temple. On the way here, it had also been refined but never used, hidden along his escape route to deliver a fatal blow.

If it had been before, success would have been nearly impossible. But now, with the opponent severely injured and eroded by the aura of decay, his strength was less than one percent of its peak. Even though the attack was a sneak strike, and despite dodging the head, the spear pierced through the shoulder and chest, inflicting injuries that would prevent him from leaving.

Plop!

Unable to control his body's power, he fell from the air into the water, splashing up a large spray.

Wuwuwu!

Once in the water, the four divine beasts immediately had the home advantage. The sea surface churned and rolled incessantly. After a few breaths, the dying old man appeared before them.

If Zhang Xuan's various methods had already taken nine-tenths of his life, the siege of the four divine beasts consumed about nine-tenths of the remaining one-tenth.

In this state, if not for the strong will honed over long years, he would have long fallen into a coma, completely losing consciousness.

"Who is the master you speak of? Why do you want to kill me?"

Seeing the four divine beasts bring him over, Zhang Xuan's voice carried a hint of hypnosis and seduction.

Witch Soul Masters were best at interrogation, able to learn everything they wanted. These methods were usually just not used.

"I finally understand why my master insisted on capturing you... You truly have skill!"

Unaffected by any hypnosis, the old man sneered: "The victor is king, the loser a bandit. Since I've lost, I can only die. Trying to extract information from me? Dream on..."

"Damn it, retreat!"

Before the other could finish, Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted. Ignoring everything else, he rushed into the seawater. The four divine beasts also sensed the danger and, without a word, dived into the sea simultaneously.

Boom!

Just as they entered the water, a huge explosion reached their ears. Immediately after, they felt an immense pressure and a scorching heat wave descending from above, as if trying to evaporate the entire sea!

A massive mushroom cloud rose from above. The seawater thrown up by the explosion scattered for hundreds of kilometers, like a torrential downpour.

Pfft pfft pfft!

Zhang Xuan and the four divine beasts simultaneously spat blood in the sea, taking a long time to stabilize themselves.

From the moment they reacted to the transmission of force, less than three breaths had passed. In that short time, they had reached the seabed tens of thousands of meters deep and traveled no less than several dozen li. Even so, they barely survived and were almost blown to death on the spot!

From this, it could be imagined that if they had truly been at the center of the explosion, they would most likely have been utterly destroyed, their souls scattered!

"Self-destructed?"

Returning to the surface, looking at the huge crater in the sea caused by the explosion, even the Xuanbei Turtle, despite its invincible defense, trembled incessantly.

They had long heard that the cultivators of the temple were all madmen, but they never expected... such madness!

Without a word, he directly self-destructed... If not for the master's quick reaction, leading them to escape into the ocean, they would have been blown to death on the spot!

Too terrifying.

"What a pity..."

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

"Master, are you lamenting that he, having cultivated his strength with such difficulty, wasted it by self-destructing, not cherishing his life?" asked the Great Shark, looking over.

"I'm just lamenting that after spending such a huge price, I didn't gain any benefit. It's a bit sad..." Zhang Xuan said.

"..." The four divine beasts.

To kill this guy, they had paid a heavy price: a pseudo-god corpse, the aura of decay, and even the iron chain was severely injured... They had hoped at least to exchange for a more powerful golden puppet, but in the end, not even a hair remained!

Complete self-destruction, soul scattered. That is to say, this battle, with such great losses, yielded nothing. Thinking about it was somewhat depressing.

However, since it was a life-and-death battle, there were gains and losses. At least he wasn't injured, while the opponent died, which could already be considered a profit.

With a grab of his hand, the iron chain flew before him. He pointed a finger, and several bottles of bathwater appeared, enveloping it.

Zizizizi!

Before long, the iron chain's injuries fully recovered, no longer showing any weakness.

Having this fellow take the risk, he had naturally calculated this point in advance; otherwise, wasting a pseudo-god defensive treasure would be something he couldn't bear.

"Let's go back!"

Knowing that the temple had suffered such a loss, they probably wouldn't send anyone for a while. Continuing to stay here wouldn't attract any strong opponents. Just as Zhang Xuan was about to withdraw the Xuanbei Turtle and other beasts into the pet pouch, a voice sounded.

"Master, you were looking for me just now? What's the matter?"

Immediately after, a little yellow chick appeared wobbling before him, its thin body swaying unsteadily, as if just waking from a hangover.

Zhang Xuan's scalp tingled, and he barely restrained the urge to rush over and give it a beating.

When he needed it earlier, it was sleeping soundly, as if dead. Yet now, after the enemy self-destructed, it woke up and asked what was the matter... If not for his good temper and the possibility that he might not be able to defeat it, he would have struck out long ago.

"Your strength... why hasn't it increased?"

The Great Shark's puzzled voice sounded.

Zhang Xuan was startled and quickly looked over, also sensing something amiss.

He had thought that after swallowing the divine blood, the little yellow chick's cultivation would skyrocket, breaking through to the peak of Immortal Monarch and achieving pseudo-god, just like the Xuanbei Turtle and the Great Shark. But he never dreamed... it was exactly the same as before, not only was there no change in cultivation, but its size was also identical!

It was as if...

The previous divine blood had no effect on it at all!

How could this be?

Even if that blood wasn't a full drop, it was still genuine divine blood. How could it have no effect whatsoever?

"I don't know either. After drinking that drop of blood, I felt like I was drunk, and slept for a while... It seems that aside from making me drowsy, it had no effect!"

Looking left and right, the little yellow chicken wiggled its slightly bald tail and said.

In fact, it was also quite frustrated, beginning to doubt its chicken life.

It had also thought that swallowing divine blood would advance its cultivation and successfully break through to demigod, but now it seemed completely useless!

If so, how was it supposed to improve?

"Alright..."

After questioning in detail and even examining it thoroughly, Zhang Xuan found that the little yellow chicken was indeed no different from before swallowing the divine blood. He helplessly waved his hand, packed the four divine beasts along with it into the beast pet bag, and flew back toward Zhuxing Island.

Between cultivation and designing the ambush to kill the temple stronghold, nearly a day had passed, and the succession ceremony for the Lord of Zhuxing Palace was about to begin.

Previously, whether succeeding as the head of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect or the Seven Stars Tower, he had used false names, so others thought they were two different people. Now, the same Zhang Xuan had become the master of both the Lingyun Sword Pavilion and the Zhuxing Palace...

He really didn't know how much of a stir this would cause!

Probably, by now, the other sects on Zhuxing Island that had already heard the news were in an uproar!

As Zhang Xuan guessed, Zhuxing Island was indeed in an uproar.

"Why should our Zhuxing Palace appoint an outsider as its lord? And where is the palace lord? Why isn't she the one announcing the news?"

"It seems the grand elder made the decision with other elders. The palace lord is nowhere to be found and is not in the sect."

"If she's not in the sect and they appoint a new lord, isn't that rebellion?"

"How could it be rebellion? They say the palace lord left instructions before leaving, letting this Lord Zhang Xuan succeed her position..."

...

Inside Zhuxing Palace, such discussions were everywhere.

As natives of the Abandoned Continent, they had always been at odds with other sects. Under normal circumstances, their lord should be appointed from among their own people. Letting the lord of Lingyun Sword Pavilion take over... had never happened in the thousands of years since Zhuxing Palace was founded!

It violated the rules and ancestral teachings!

"All of you, shut up! The reason we appointed Lord Zhang Xuan as our palace lord is that Palace Lord Du, while offering sacrifices to the gods, received the gods' will and approval. What, do you think you are stronger than the gods?"

Hearing these discussions, an elder snorted.

"Received the gods' will?"

Those who had been full of doubts were now trembling with fear and dared not speak further.

As members of Zhuxing Palace, they had always held reverence for the gods. Since the elder said so, there must be a reason, and they dared not question it too much.

While the people of Zhuxing Palace were easy to explain, the other sects were all bewildered.

In a spacious room, Han Jianqiu sat there, also completely confused.

"What exactly did the sect leader do to make... Zhuxing Palace willingly appoint him as their lord?"

He knew the sect leader had always wanted to come to the Zhuxing Sea, but he never expected that after only a few days here, he would push Du Qingyuan out of her position and become the lord himself...

Could it be that he rushed over to become the lord?

If so, why did he claim to be a rogue cultivator?

"In any case, we and Zhuxing Palace will definitely need to communicate well and share weal and woe from now on!"

He shook his head.

Since the two major sects shared the same lord, as sect elders, they naturally dared not say much, nor could they, and had to abide by the rules.

Whoosh!

"Han Jianqiu, what is going on?"

Just as he was sighing, the air in the room flickered, and a figure rushed in—Elder Qin Yuan of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect!

"If you don't explain clearly today, our Seven Stars Tower will not let this go!"

Sect Leader Kui Xiao also flew in right behind him.

As the news spread, these two former sect leaders, who had already arrived at Zhuxing Palace, could no longer hold back and came together to find Han Jianqiu, wanting to understand what had happened.

Since when did Lingyun Sword Pavilion and Zhuxing Palace share the same lord!

Originally, the six major sects were independent, with neither alliances nor conflicts, getting along quite well. Now, one lord managing two major sects meant a sudden doubling of power...

Naturally, the other sects became tense.

"This... I don't know either!"

Han Jianqiu smiled bitterly.

"You don't know?"

Elder Qin Yuan, always hot-tempered, darkened his face at these words and couldn't help waving his hand: "By doing this, you've put us in a passive position. Believe it or not, our Ten Thousand Beasts Sect and Seven Stars Tower might also form an alliance!"

"Exactly. If our two sects ally, with our new Sect Leader Liu Yang and their Sect Leader Zheng Yang... even if you share a Lord Zhang Xuan who has comprehended the Sword Intent of the Gods, you'll still be at a disadvantage!"

Elder Kui Xiao said.