Chapter 1063: Qiu Wu the Ancient Sage

A few minutes earlier.

“I, Wu Rufeng, never thought I’d be surrounded and killed by a group of Spirit race members who are only at Saint 3-dan...”

Sitting on the ground, Elder Wu's face was ashen. He turned to look at the others not far away, his eyes, once full of confidence, now filled with sorrow.

Just moments ago, after Elder Zhang went to find a solution and the demonic sound had barely faded, they encountered this group of Spirit race members.

Tortured by the demonic sound, everyone's vitality was greatly depleted, their zhenqi almost exhausted, and they didn't even have the strength to walk. They hadn't had time to recover, let alone fight.

Fighting and retreating, they reached this point. He himself had used his utmost strength to kill two of them, but was severely wounded by a Saint 4-dan Spirit race member.

Although he had come to this ancient ruin with a determination to die, he was truly unwilling to be killed now without even seeing a trace of Zhang Yinqiu and the others! What was most frustrating was that as a dignified 7-star high-tier Master Teacher of the Master Teacher Pavilion, dying at the hands of the Spirit race was simply too humiliating...

“If we can’t resist, we’ll self-destruct! I don’t want to die by their hands and have my body defiled!”

Watching the increasingly ferocious attacks from the Spirit race members, President Han gritted his teeth.

As humans, if they were killed by the Spirit race and their bodies used, they wouldn't even rest in peace after death.

Rather than suffer such humiliation, it would be better to self-destruct in a moment, perhaps even taking some of them down with them. That would be a worthwhile death.

“Alright!” Gritting their teeth, everyone nodded simultaneously.

Although there were Master Teachers, Combat Masters, and Formation Masters among them... they were all human.

“Farewell, Master Teacher Pavilion, farewell, humanity, farewell to our unfulfilled mission...”

With a sigh of emotion, just as everyone was about to give up resistance and choose self-destruction, they saw a figure rushing straight towards them.

“Elder Zhang?”

Recognizing the figure's face, everyone clenched their fists, their faces flushed with excitement.

They had thought death was certain, but unexpectedly, Dean Zhang had arrived at the last moment.

Looking up, they saw Zhang Xuan, without any special moves, forcefully charge in. With a single impact, he smashed a Spirit race member into a pulp. The Golden Origin Cauldron nearby was even more formidable, expanding to over ten meters in size, plummeting from the sky and instantly crushing six or seven of them to death.

Having advanced to a Mid-tier Saint artifact, the Golden Origin Cauldron's combat power was already comparable to a Saint 4-dan pinnacle expert. Those surrounding them were merely Saint 3-dan. Once the cauldron exerted its power, they couldn't escape and were all flattened into a bloody mess in a short time.

“Don’t be so quick to kill them all...”

Having just smashed one Spirit race expert to death, Zhang Xuan was about to speak up to stop them when he realized that all the attacking Spirit race members were dead. His words caught in his throat, unable to be uttered.

He had originally intended to capture one alive for interrogation, but who knew this guy was too fast? After he killed just one, the other had already finished off all the rest.

It was too late to stop it.

“Never mind...” Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan approached the group. “How are you all doing?”

With his eyesight, he could tell that everyone's injuries were severe, and treating them would likely require considerable effort.

“Thank you for saving our lives...”

With a grateful glance, everyone took out healing pills from their rings and swallowed them.

Although they wanted to say more, their injuries were simply too severe.

Knowing they all had their own healing methods, Zhang Xuan didn't interfere. Instead, he stood there, watching them, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter the more he observed.

Before long, Elder Wu was the first to recover somewhat, slowly opening his eyes.

When their strength was greatly diminished, they were besieged by the Spirit race. Even if they wanted to counterattack, they didn't have much power, which led to such a passive situation.

If they were at their peak, even if two Saint 4-dan experts from the enemy side came, they would be able to handle them calmly.

“What exactly happened?” Zhang Xuan looked over.

“It's like this: shortly after Elder Zhang left, we were ambushed...” Elder Wu recounted the situation in detail.

Understanding what had happened and realizing that the Spirit race members who attacked them weren't as formidable as he'd imagined, Zhang Xuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't help but ask, “Where is Elder Luo? Why isn't she with you?”

He had noticed immediately upon arriving that Luo Ruoxi wasn't among the group, which was why he was so worried.

“After the demonic sound disappeared, Elder Luo seemed to have discovered something. She said she was going to check it out and then left... We don't know exactly where she went!”

Elder Wu replied.

As for Luo Ruoxi, the moment the demonic sound vanished, she simply gave an instruction and turned to leave. Less than two minutes after she left, the Spirit race members arrived to besiege them. If she... had been here, everyone wouldn't have suffered so terribly.

“You don't know?” Zhang Xuan frowned.

Everyone else encountered the Spirit race, so she wouldn't have, too, would she? With so many people almost wiped out, how could one person possibly withstand them?

“You just mentioned there was a Saint 4-dan Spirit race member attacking you. Where did that guy go now?”

Elder Wu had just said there was a powerful Spirit race member attacking them, which led to such a rout. If his guess was correct, it should be the so-called Stoneleaf King. Why wasn't he here now?

Could he have discovered Luo Ruoxi and gone to hunt her down?

“After that guy entered here, he gave an instruction and then went straight ahead, saying he needed to find some treasure and couldn't waste time... He told these guys to kill us and then catch up to him...”

President Han explained.

After adjusting his breathing, he had recovered considerably. Although his injuries were still severe, he was no longer at risk of never waking up, as he had been before.

“Looking for treasure? Good, as long as it's not about finding Luo Ruoxi...”

He sighed in relief and instructed, “Golden Origin Cauldron, you stay here and protect everyone. I'll go find Elder Luo first.”

He didn't care what the so-called Stoneleaf King was up to; in his heart, Luo Ruoxi was the most important.

After leaving the group, he used the power of his Soul Severing Puppet to exit the Thunder Zone again and quickly searched his way back. Before long, he indeed discovered her tracks.

The girl was standing in front of a broken stone tablet, her elegant brows furrowed, deep in thought.

“Are you alright...?” He hurried to her side.

Seeing him arrive, Luo Ruoxi smiled. “I'm fine. What's wrong? What happened?”

“Something happened to Elder Wu and the others...” Zhang Xuan recounted the recent events in detail.

“Attacked by the Spirit race? How detestable! It seems these fellows must have followed us in...”

Luo Ruoxi scoffed.

The broken seal outside meant the entrance was no longer obstructed, so this group of Spirit race members must have stealthily followed them inside.

Zhang Xuan nodded.

“Did you break this stone tablet?” Luo Ruoxi pointed forward.

“This...” Zhang Xuan felt a bit awkward.

Although he hadn't personally destroyed it, he was directly responsible, so saying he broke it wasn't wrong.

“This stone tablet is quite strange. Did you notice that it's made of the same material as the inscribed stone wall of the Conferred Saint Platform... And this formation space is also extremely similar to the one where Master Teacher Kong left his books...”

As if she had discovered something, Luo Ruoxi said.

“This...”

Zhang Xuan was startled. Now that she mentioned it, they did bear some resemblance.

Similar stone material could be explained by the Conferred Saint Platform being not far from here, and the stone being long-lasting, hence its selection... But similar spatial arrangements were harder to explain.

“Could it be... this ancient ruin is truly related to Master Teacher Kong?”

His heart stirred.

Earlier, everyone had speculated whether these two places, being so close, were related. But because it involved Master Teacher Kong, they had stopped discussing it and kept silent.

“No... I activated this stone tablet, and an old man emerged from it...”

Remembering something, Zhang Xuan said.

The old man from before was clearly the creator of the ruin. Neither his appearance nor his demeanor had anything to do with Master Teacher Kong!

“What was that old man's name?”

Hearing that he had activated the stone tablet, Luo Ruoxi quickly looked at him.

“Name? He didn't say... He just wanted to impart a movement technique to me, called... Limitless Wanderer!”

Zhang Xuan explained.

He hadn't had time to ask the other party's name before he disappeared.

“Limitless Wanderer? Could it be...”

Luo Ruoxi's eyes lit up as if she had realized something.

“You've heard of this movement technique?” Seeing her expression, Zhang Xuan asked.

“If it truly is Limitless Wanderer, the person you met should be Ancient Sage Qiu Wu!” Luo Ruoxi nodded.

“Ancient Sage Qiu Wu?” Zhang Xuan frowned. “I think I've heard that name... The seal in the underground cavern beneath Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy was left by him!”

Before, when he entered the underground cavern and touched the seal, he learned its origin: it was left by a powerful expert named Qiu Wu.

Could it be... the old man he had just tried to take as a student was the remnant soul left behind by this esteemed senior?

Zhang Xuan shivered, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

When he touched the seal, he realized how terrifying this expert was; he could casually set up a seal that even 9-star Master Teachers couldn't break... And he had actually tried to take the other party as his student...

Wasn't he being too bold?!

Thankfully, the other party hadn't gotten angry. Otherwise, even as a remnant soul, killing him would have been a matter of seconds.

“Indeed, this Ancient Sage had an extremely profound understanding of space. Many of the node seals in the Outer Realm Battlefield were set up by him!”

Nodding, Luo Ruoxi's beautiful eyes shone. “Most importantly, although Ancient Sage Qiu Wu wasn't a disciple of Master Teacher Kong, he was one of his followers. His cultivation was unfathomably deep; wherever Master Teacher Kong went, he followed. They were nominally master and servant, but in reality, they were like brothers. Even the seventy-two direct disciples of Master Teacher Kong had to respectfully address him as Uncle-Master Qiu Wu!”

“Uncle-Master Qiu Wu?”

“Yes. Qiu Wu followed Master Teacher Kong his entire life. Back then, to stop the Spirit race, he transformed himself into a seal, halting their invasion... Among the ancestors revered by the Master Teacher Pavilion throughout history, his contribution definitely ranks among the top five!”

Speaking of Ancient Sage Qiu Wu, admiration and reverence appeared in Luo Ruoxi's eyes. “Because of this, many younger generations in the Master Teacher Pavilion hold him in great respect. Not to mention others, Hall Master Gou of the Qinyuan Conferred Empire's Master Teacher Pavilion is one of his fervent admirers... Elder Zhang, what's wrong with you?”

As she was speaking, Luo Ruoxi noticed Zhang Xuan to her side. He had, at some point, slumped to the ground, his expression twisted and contorted as if he had been struck, looking as if he was about to cry.