Chapter 1207: Tian Qing Died

Right before his eyes, a massive altar floated silently in the air, under the impact of the formation's power. Unactivated, it appeared somewhat dim, as if stretching into the depths of night, spanning across history.

“This altar… it’s very similar to the one I got from King Hongye. Could it be… an Otherworldly Demon altar?”

His expression darkened.

This altar was almost identical to the one he had acquired from King Hongye, only much larger in size. It was clearly something belonging to the Otherworldly Demons.

Using his Eye of Insight, he saw countless characters carved on the altar. These characters were extremely bizarre, neither human script nor beast tribal writing.

However, with just a glance, Zhang Xuan recognized them.

“It’s… the script left behind by Ancient Sage Qiu Wu!”

He had seen this script before; it was identical to the characters left by Ancient Sage Qiu Wu, and when written extensively, it could generate spatial power.

“It’s probably a massive teleportation formation… capable of bringing Otherworldly Demons here!”

He had previously suspected that Chen Zhe might have betrayed humanity and defected to the Otherworldly Demons, and now it seemed certain.

The altar was powered by the eight-star formation below it. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was highly probable that it could teleport Otherworldly Demons here. The large-scale invasion by the Otherworldly Demons twenty years ago might even be connected to this!

Otherwise, with the sealing of the subterranean world, how could so many Otherworldly Demons have come down at once?

“It seems Tian Qing has also betrayed humanity…”

Knowing Chen Zhe had defected to the Otherworldly Demons, Tian Qing’s involvement became obvious.

Chen Zhe was merely an unremarkable master teacher in the Master Teacher Pavilion; it would have been impossible for him to orchestrate such a grand scheme and conceal it from his teacher!

The only possibility was that… the other party was also involved!

In other words, Vice Hall Master Tian Qing, the most powerful seven-star pinnacle master teacher in the Master Teacher Pavilion at the time, had in fact long ago defected to the Otherworldly Demons and was a spy!

“I kept wondering why, after just arriving in Qingyuan City, having done nothing, keeping a low profile, being honest and law-abiding… they immediately came looking for trouble with me. So that’s how it is…”

Understanding all this, and combining it with his previous conjectures, Zhang Xuan suddenly saw the light.

He had arrived in Qingyuan Imperial City less than a week ago and had always maintained a low profile, unlike his notorious antics at the Master Teacher Academy where he constantly caused trouble. Yet, despite this, the other party still wanted to target him…

He hadn’t understood it before, but now it seemed they wanted revenge for King Tianye and the others.

All ten of the Qing Tian Kings had fallen by his hand alone; it would be false to say they didn't want revenge.

“The Qing Tian lineage, Tian Qing, King Zhongqing… Heh, I should have thought of it earlier!”

He shook his head.

The Qing Tian lineage had been thoroughly decimated by him; nine of the ten kings had died, and one was subdued… practically annihilated.

Under such circumstances, hearing Tian Qing’s name should have immediately triggered a connection.

However, the other party’s identity was special; he had only thought their actions seemed unfair and never imagined a connection to the Qing Tian lineage.

“Tian Qing… Qing Tian, King Zhongqing… Loyalty to the Qing Tian lineage?”

Moreover, both of them had distinguished themselves in that great war against the Otherworldly Demons, earning countless merits…

“Never mind. No matter who they are, I’ll destroy this altar first. Once it’s destroyed, even if they want to teleport, they won’t be able to…”

Knowing the immense implications of these discoveries, and despite having figured out most of it, Zhang Xuan knew he still needed conclusive evidence to confirm. He stopped pondering, flipped his wrist, and the Ice Rain Sword reappeared in his palm.

True Qi surged wildly within him, and sword qi flickered erratically.

After three days of studying in the Combat Master Hall, his Heaven’s Path Sword Art had advanced further. If the Ice Rain Sword reached the mid-tier Saint artifact level, he could easily defeat Hall Master Gou even without using a formation.

“Break!”

As his longsword hung in the air, Zhang Xuan was about to cleave the altar before him, intending to sever its connection to the Otherworldly Demons, when he felt a strange force suddenly strike, causing his head to spin.

Immediately after, he felt a tremendous tearing force, pulling at his soul as if trying to rip it apart.

“This is…”

His body swayed, his attack unable to proceed, and Zhang Xuan involuntarily stumbled twice.

He had experienced this sensation of his soul being pulled before.

Zang Xu had used it on him once.

However, that previous force was minor, and his powerful soul was unaffected. But this current pulling force was incredibly potent; if he couldn’t withstand it, he could very likely be instantly absorbed.

“They’re using this formation…”

After swaying twice, the Heaven’s Path True Qi circulated within him, and he stabilized immediately. His eyes fell back on the altar before him, and he instantly understood.

The other party must have leveraged this formation to amplify its power; otherwise, given his soul’s current state, even a force ten times stronger than Zang Xu’s wouldn’t have been able to shake him.

“Such a pure soul attack… this person must be the one who killed Chen Zhe…”

Since the other party could use the altar to affect his own soul, eliminating Chen Zhe must have been quite simple for them.

It seemed his guess was correct; Chen Zhe had indeed been killed by this person.

“I was luring them… but they were also luring me. No wonder it was so easy!”

Knowing someone else was hidden nearby, using the altar to devour his soul and trying to kill him, Zhang Xuan’s eyes narrowed.

While his emotional intelligence might be somewhat low, he was extremely intelligent in other aspects; in fact, as his Heart of Tranquil Water index increased, his wisdom bordered on the supernatural.

His intention in having Master Wu publicly commend Chen Zhe was to lure Tian Qing out. Tian Qing did appear, but then he himself was subjected to a soul attack… It seemed the other party wasn’t foolish either; they knew it was a trap but still came. Their goal wasn’t to destroy the altar, but rather… to draw him in, and then… seize the opportunity to hunt him!

He had thought they were the prey, but unexpectedly, he had become the hunted.

“Could this be related to the Ruthless Man?”

With a thought, he quickly contacted the fellow in his storage ring.

“Master, this is my secret technique. However, the one casting it is not me. Even if it’s just a part of my body, if they use this altar to cast it, you won’t be able to resist!”

The Ruthless Man’s voice resounded.

Zhang Xuan nodded.

Although his Heaven’s Path Celestial Master Faction Soul was powerful, its level was unfortunately too low. If the opponent was indeed the Ruthless Man, absorbing his Celestial Master Faction Soul would be effortless.

“Not a part of you… then who could it be?”

As he pondered, his mind spun again. The previous force struck once more, even more fiercely than before.

It seemed the other party, seeing their first attempt fail, had launched a second.

“I’ll go and see…”

Since the other party wanted to absorb his soul, he might as well play along and go investigate.

After discussing it with the Ruthless Man and learning some secrets about this method, Zhang Xuan approached the altar. He took out a brush and drew some things on it before ceasing to suppress his soul.

His Celestial Master Faction Soul flew out from between his brows.

“My soul body is too large; if I just go like this, they’ll surely be prepared beforehand… I’ll shrink it a bit!”

His soul body was a full ten meters tall; if it were absorbed at that size, it would expose his true strength. Zhang Xuan chuckled softly, pointed a finger, and activated the spatial power described in the Heaven’s Path of Derivatives.

In the blink of an eye, the ten-meter-tall soul body compressed to the size of his physical body.

Although he had only cultivated the first level of the Heaven’s Path of Derivatives, he was still capable of sealing his soul power.

No longer resisting, Zhang Xuan’s soul body was instantly pulled by the force emanating from the altar, flying towards it.

The altar flashed with light, and his soul body vanished from its original spot.

Zhang Xuan entered the underground palace and saw the altar. Vice Hall Master Tian Qing, besieged by the crowd, was also struggling to hold on.

Covered in blood, his clothes were tattered.

Besieged by six masters no weaker than himself, it was difficult for him to escape, even with his formidable combat power.

“Tian Qing, surrender! Otherwise, we are authorized to kill you on the spot!”

Master Wu snorted coldly.

Hall Master Gou had previously announced that Vice Hall Master Tian Qing could be killed on sight.

If this fellow remained stubborn, the group wouldn’t mind returning with his corpse.

“Kill me? Then… we’ll all die together!”

Knowing he could no longer escape, Tian Qing’s face twisted into a ferocious snarl. With a roar, the power within his body rapidly surged.

“Damn it, he’s going to self-destruct! Quickly, seal off the surroundings!”

Master Wu’s pupils contracted, and he bellowed.

The self-destruction of a Half-Step Ethereal Realm expert was immensely powerful. If he were allowed to detonate, an area spanning a thousand meters would instantly turn into a hellscape.

Chen Zhe deserved to die, but his family and the countless ordinary citizens in the vicinity were innocent. As master teachers, they could not allow them to be harmed.

“Yes!”

Everyone’s expressions hardened. They released their True Qi to protect the surroundings.

Doing so would certainly lead to severe injury, or even death, yet none of them hesitated for a moment.

“No need for such trouble! Your Lord Ding has arrived!”

Just as they were bracing themselves with a suicidal resolve, everyone heard a shout, and a massive cauldron descended from the sky.

With a *thud*, it sat directly onto Vice Hall Master Tian Qing, who was about to self-destruct, pinning him to the ground.

Fearing danger, Zhang Xuan had already released the Golden Origin Cauldron beforehand, leaving it outside.

Seeing that the others couldn’t hold on, the fellow rushed over.

Whoosh!

After pinning Tian Qing underground, the Golden Origin Cauldron’s massive body spun abruptly. Its lid opened, and it swallowed Tian Qing in a single gulp.

Immediately after swallowing him, a violent rumble echoed inside the cauldron. Then, the lid opened, and a puff of white smoke emerged, as if it had let out a satisfied burp.

Thump!

A tattered corpse was spat out.

“The taste is terrible, truly awful…”

The Golden Origin Cauldron shook for a bit, seemingly wanting to vomit, but realizing it had no stomach or intestines, it reluctantly gave up.

As a mid-tier Saint artifact, even though the opponent’s self-destruction was powerful, it still couldn’t shatter it.

Everyone’s eyebrows twitched.

Master Wu had faced life and death alongside the Golden Origin Cauldron and knew its power, but he hadn’t expected it to become even more formidable after this awakening.

Swallowing a self-destructing individual without issue… It seemed that with time, this fellow reaching the true Ethereal Realm was only a matter of time.

“He’s dead…”

Zhang Jiuxiao approached the corpse, glanced at it, and said.

“Dead?”

Master Wu took two steps forward.

After examining it, Master Wu found it somewhat unbelievable.

Tian Qing had fled so quickly; logically, he shouldn’t have been willing to die. How could he have died so easily?