Chapter 1213: A Single Eye

"Who?"

Zhang Xuan felt the hairs on his body suddenly stand on end. A voice was speaking in his mind, yet he had received no prior warning… Who exactly was it? He hurriedly looked towards the source of the voice, seeing what appeared to be a dark tunnel stretching into the unknown distance, its end nowhere in sight.

"Come in!"

Seeing that he had discovered the tunnel, the chilling voice sounded again. Immediately, Zhang Xuan felt his body sway, and his consciousness was already standing before the tunnel. He had actually been pulled here by the other party.

"Who exactly are you?"

His expression grim, Zhang Xuan gazed into the depths of the tunnel. There, a colossal eye appeared before him, opening and closing as if illuminating one's soul and stirring numerous distracting thoughts.

A cold laugh rang out. "No wonder my subordinate was reduced to such a miserable state… So, it's a Heavenly Acknowledged Master Teacher! After all these years, has a Heavenly Acknowledged Master Teacher reappeared?"

Zhang Xuan's eyes narrowed, his heart tightening. His identity was unknown even to powerful cultivators like Luo Chengxin, a Saint 7-dan expert. Yet, this entity saw through him at a glance—it was too formidable!

The eye flashed and scoffed, "If I couldn't even discern that, what right would I have had to contend with Master Confucius for so many years?"

Zhang Xuan's brows furrowed, and his eyes narrowed further. "Contended with Master Confucius for many years? You are… the Ancient Sage?"

The Ancient Sage sealed within his Library of Heaven's Path had previously told him that the secret art of soul apprehension was unique to it. His guess was correct: a part of the Ancient Sage was in the Jibei Marsh… He hadn't expected it to appear here, and as a giant eye!

"You've heard of me?" The eye chuckled softly, its voice continuing, "That's right, I trapped Master Confucius in Chencai and almost killed him… Even if the Master Teacher Pavilion wanted to preserve the dignity of the Teacher of Ten Thousand Generations, they would surely have recorded it!"

"Trapped Master Confucius?" Zhang Xuan was stunned. The Ancient Sage within the Library of Heaven's Path had lost some memories due to damage to its body, especially regarding Master Confucius. This entity clearly knew more. Master Confucius had always been an invincible presence in Zhang Xuan's mind, revered by everyone across the Master Teacher Continent… and yet he had been trapped in Chencai by the Ancient Sage and almost died… This was something he had never heard of.

The eye glowed, and the Ancient Sage's voice was filled with excitement: "It seems you don't know, but it matters not… If I can devour a Heavenly Acknowledged Master Teacher, my power will surely recover significantly. At that time… I'll be able to break free from that place, like a fish leaping in the vast sea or a bird soaring high in the sky…"

"It seems I'll just have to ask you to die for me!" The Ancient Sage's voice, brimming with excitement, followed a gleam in its eye. Immediately after, Zhang Xuan felt a powerful suction emanating from the black hole before him, as if it intended to swallow his soul.

His face turned grim. "This is bad… The Ancient Sage is personally employing the Soul Apprehension Art…" Previously, Emperor Qingtian, with the aid of the altar, had almost been insurmountable. How could he resist when the Ancient Sage itself was directly casting the spell? Feeling that he could be pulled into the black tunnel at any moment, Zhang Xuan's scalp tingled. As expected of the Ancient Sage, who had once fought Master Confucius—even if its current strength was less than one percent of its peak, it was not something he could contend with at his current level! The disparity was simply too great!

Although he didn't know what the black tunnel before him was, if he fell into it, he would be as good as dead. Zhang Xuan clenched his teeth, holding on with all his might. At the same time, his consciousness secretly communicated with the Ancient Sage within the Library of Heaven's Path.

The Ancient Sage's mental fluctuation replied, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be my head and eyes…"

"What should I do?" Zhang Xuan asked urgently.

The Ancient Sage mused for a moment, "While this soul apprehension method is powerful, it's difficult to execute over vast distances, just like Emperor Qingtian had to rely on the altar… If I were at my peak, I could apprehend and kill a master from tens or hundreds of thousands of kilometers away… But right now… it must be relying on some kind of connection. As long as you sever that connection, you'll be safe!" When its power was strongest, it could kill a Saint 2-dan expert from tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, given proper preparation and a drop of the target's blood. However… it had been shattered into pieces, with remnants scattered everywhere. Even if it had recovered better than this entity, achieving that feat now was impossible. The only possibility was that it, like the previous Emperor Qingtian, was using something like an altar!

Hearing its words, Zhang Xuan paused, then a flash of insight struck him: "A connection? That's right! It's Emperor Qingtian's soul…" Emperor Qingtian's soul had entered his body; this entity must be trying to apprehend him by leveraging that soul's power.

Knowing the reason, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. He continued to resist the black tunnel's suction while extending his spiritual sense to search carefully within his body. "Found it…" It didn't take long before he indeed found a soul hidden to one side of his Sea of Consciousness. Heaven's Path Celestial Qi, when uncontrolled, could circulate throughout the body but rarely entered the Sea of Consciousness. It seemed this fellow had hidden there and escaped the previous cleansing.

With a thought, the Heaven's Path Celestial Qi immediately surged over.

"Ah…" Emperor Qingtian let out a miserable shriek. Zhang Xuan then felt the black tunnel before him rapidly retreat, and the giant eye also flickered twice, appearing on the verge of vanishing.

"I didn't expect to be discovered, but it doesn't matter; you will surely die by my hand…" With a muffled roar, the eye vanished with a whoosh. Zhang Xuan then realized that he was still standing motionless inside the underground palace, his forehead slick with cold sweat. In that instant, it was as if he had fallen into a peculiar illusion and was nearly devoured by the other party.

Although safe, he couldn't help but feel lingering fear. It was terrifying! If he hadn't reacted just now, his consciousness would probably have been apprehended by the other party. If he had been captured by that entity, he probably wouldn't have been as easy to fool as Emperor Qingtian.

The voice of the Ancient Sage from the Library of Heaven's Path came through. "Master, in that situation, I dared not intervene. If I had acted, I would have exposed myself… The other party would very likely have used even more desperate methods, which would only have been more disadvantageous for you!"

Zhang Xuan nodded. The other party was right. If the Ancient Sage on his side had acted, the opposing entity would surely have sensed it. The Ancient Sage here wanted to devour the other, and the other certainly wanted to devour this one… So, doing that would only make the other party more frenzied. If he had truly done so, it would have prematurely revealed the Ancient Sage's existence to the other party, making future actions inconvenient. At least now, the enemy was in the open, while the Ancient Sage on his side was concealed… allowing them to maintain a significant advantage.

Not dwelling on those thoughts, Zhang Xuan asked, "To what extent has its strength recovered? Are you a match for it?"

The Ancient Sage hesitated before replying, "I couldn't discern its exact strength, but… it should have reached at least the Ethereal Spirit realm! My current strength is not a match for it, but… if I devour Emperor Qingtian, I should be able to reach the Ethereal Spirit realm!"

"Devour?" Zhang Xuan was momentarily stunned, then nodded. The Otherworldly Demons possessed secret arts that allowed them to advance by devouring humans or master teachers. Although Emperor Qingtian was an Otherworldly Demon, he had cultivated the Witchcraft Soul Art and even reached the Ethereal Spirit realm. Devouring him would undoubtedly be of great help in improving one's strength.

The Ancient Sage responded, "Yes!"

"Once I'm done interrogating him, he'll be yours to deal with…" Zhang Xuan paused, then said. Trapped by the Heaven's Path Celestial Qi and further weakened by the previous erosion, Emperor Qingtian's current strength was greatly diminished and insignificant. Zhang Xuan still had some questions, so it wouldn't be too late to hand him over after getting answers.

While it sounded complex, only dozens of breaths had passed from the appearance of the black tunnel until now. Looking up, Zhang Xuan saw Master Wu and the others looking at him with worried expressions.

"I'm fine, Master Wu… Come with me! Oh, and move this altar to the Master Teacher Pavilion. When the headquarters' people arrive, hand it over to them as evidence!" Zhang Xuan instructed.

"Alright!" Master Wu gave an instruction, then followed Zhang Xuan out of the underground palace.

Activating his Eye of Discernment, Zhang Xuan scanned his surroundings. Before long, he pinpointed a direction and flew straight ahead. Chen Zhe's residence was already located on the outskirts of Qingyuan City. The two flew rapidly, and it wasn't long before they reached deep within the mountain forest. After searching for a while, they spotted a wooden house appear before their eyes.

Confirming its identity, Zhang Xuan was somewhat startled. "This is it… I can't believe the two are tens of kilometers apart!" He had thought the two altars wouldn't be far apart, but they were actually dozens of kilometers away… To easily apprehend his soul from such a distance, the Ancient Sage's technique was truly terrifying.

Entering the wooden house, he found the ring he had hidden earlier.

"This…" Seeing an identical altar inside the room, Master Wu was somewhat incredulous.

Zhang Xuan held the ring in his palm. With a gentle turn of his Heaven's Path Celestial Qi, he erased the soul imprint within it. With a mental command, a corpse appeared before them.

"This is… Vice Hall Master Tian Qing? Didn't he self-destruct?" Master Wu was startled. Tian Qing had self-destructed right in front of him, and his body had even been taken back to the Master Teacher Pavilion. How could there be another one here? And it looked completely intact, with an even stronger aura?

Zhang Xuan gently swiped his hand over the corpse. *Swish!* The disguise was removed. The corpse immediately grew larger, standing over two meters tall. Although its facial features hadn't changed, the aura it exuded carried a terrifying killing intent.

Master Wu's eyes immediately narrowed. "An Otherworldly Demon?"

Zhang Xuan nodded. "Yes, that's right. Not only is he an Otherworldly Demon, but he's also… Emperor Qingtian!"

Master Wu was filled with astonishment. "The Emperor of the Qingtian lineage?" How could Vice Hall Master Tian Qing possibly be an emperor of the Qingtian lineage? If he were, how could they have spent centuries together without recognizing him?

Knowing that the other party would find it hard to believe, Zhang Xuan recounted in detail everything he had learned earlier.

Master Wu trembled uncontrollably. A dignified emperor of the Qingtian lineage of Otherworldly Demons had changed his identity to become a Vice Hall Master, overseeing a region, and they hadn't discovered him. The enormity of their negligence was indescribable. If this was true… how many other Master Teachers in the entire Master Teacher Pavilion were also like this?