Chapter 408: This Group of Little Bastards

Following the most precise method for the second stage of the Heavenly Dao Golden Body, Zhang Xuan's body absorbed the energy from the spiritual blood as greedily as a plant starved for years.

It was unclear how much time had passed.

Boom! A roar echoed, as if something had exploded. His physical strength instantly broke through its restraints, reaching a new realm.

He exhaled a mouthful of stale air. Only then did Zhang Xuan realize that his muscles were fuller, his skin firm and smooth. His appearance had also transformed; he was now more handsome and upright, his physique conforming to the golden ratio.

The second stage of the Heavenly Dao Golden Body was successfully cultivated!

The two drops of spiritual blood he had placed in his acupoints earlier had been completely consumed and disappeared.

"Time to test my strength!" Knowing that physical strength was difficult to gauge by feel alone, he smiled faintly, swayed his body, and appeared before a nearby strength-testing stone pillar, lifting his hand.

Crack! The stone pillar swayed, almost shattering. A moment later, a line of characters slowly appeared on it.

"9999 ding? Just shy of ten thousand?"

The Supreme Realm, also known as the Ten Thousand Ding Realm, is where one's strength reaches ten thousand. 9999 ding meant that he was already close with just his physical body, having no rival below the Supreme Realm!

"What a pity, there was too little spiritual blood, only two drops," he mused. "If I had dozens of drops, perhaps I could have directly reached the pinnacle of the Supreme Realm…"

He smiled faintly.

Although he had completed the cultivation of the second stage of the Heavenly Dao Golden Body, he knew that his strength had not yet reached its limit. As long as he had enough essence blood and continued cultivating, his power would surely surge again.

Even so, he was very satisfied.

Lin Ruotian, who had been stuck at the pinnacle of the Grandmaster realm for an unknown period, had only achieved over nine thousand ding of strength after breaking through with his true qi.

For him to break through with his physical body and reach 9999 ding, the difficulty was certainly several times greater than Lin Ruotian's.

One must understand that true qi will always be depleted in combat, whereas physical strength is inexhaustible. Furthermore, physical defense can be virtually invincible. A physical strength cultivator of equivalent power could easily defeat three or four true qi cultivators.

This is assuming their martial techniques and combat awareness are similar.

"With this kind of strength, I can easily kill early-stage Supreme Realm cultivators," he thought. "I can even fight mid-stage Supreme Realm cultivators!"

His muscles rippled across his body, making him resemble a demon god.

Previously, at the pinnacle of the Grandmaster realm, he could beat Lin Ruotian, who possessed over 9000 ding of strength, like a rat scurrying across the street. Now that his strength had surged, his combat power was naturally even greater.

Early-stage Supreme Realm possesses 10,000 ding of strength; mid-stage 20,000; late-stage 30,000; and peak-stage 40,000 ding!

If his 9999 ding physical strength were combined with his 5000 ding true qi, the total would be 14,999 ding of strength. He might even be able to fight a mid-stage Supreme Realm cultivator.

After confirming his strength, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Earlier, Lin Ruotian had said he informed Crown Princess Lin Long, and she was very likely to send people over. Though he outwardly seemed unconcerned, he was still somewhat worried deep down.

With his current surge in strength, all his worries vanished.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he then remembered that Lu Chong was still in the room. He turned his head to look and saw the young man's mouth wide open, staring intently, utterly dumbfounded.

At this moment, Lu Chong was feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

After Lu Chong handed over the storage ring confiscated from the Lin clan, his teacher simply zoned out. Not long after, he suddenly jumped up as if having a fit and slammed his fist onto the strength-testing stone pillar…

And then… it displayed 9999 ding of strength!

What exactly had happened?

He took out a jade bottle, dripped the blood-red substance inside onto himself, zoned out for a bit, and then his strength surged, not only breaking through to the pinnacle of Grandmaster but almost reaching the Supreme Realm…

How was that possible?

He had always thought that by using poison to temper his body and enduring endless pain, his progress was already rapid. But seeing his teacher, he finally understood… his own achievements amounted to nothing.

Others struggled to break through to Half-Supreme, almost dying from exhaustion, yet his teacher could achieve it by zoning out for a while… and even reaching the peak… If this matter spread, all those who called themselves geniuses would probably die of shame.

This couldn't be described as mere genius anymore; it was… monstrous!

As he was sighing inwardly and suppressing his shock, he saw his usually composed teacher looking over with sparkling eyes. "Oh, by the way, do you have any more enemies?" Zhang Xuan asked. "How about… I help you take revenge on them too! If not, could you also ask Mu Xueqing and the others if they have any…"

After speaking, he started counting on his fingers. "If there were a few more clans like the Lin clan, I'd definitely get a lot of treasures and secret manuals. I'd really strike it rich…"

"…" Lu Chong was speechless.

Teacher, aren't you a reclusive master who views money as dirt?

Aren't you a super genius with inherent arrogance, one who disregards worldly possessions?

Taking revenge for others… and plundering their possessions?

The more he looked, the less he seemed like a master and more like a money-grubber.

Instantly, Lu Chong felt that his perception of his teacher needed to be re-evaluated…

It was no wonder Zhang Xuan was excited. Originally, he had only helped Lu Chong seek revenge out of indignation, to get justice for him. He never expected to acquire so many valuable items.

Putting everything else aside, if he could find a few more drops of spiritual blood and utilize the second stage of the Heavenly Dao Golden Body, he would definitely break through the restraints of his physical body and reach the Supreme Realm.

By then, even if he went to Xuanyuan Kingdom, he would fear nothing and could carve out a place for himself.

As he waited for a reply, he heard a knock on the door from outside.

"Is Teacher Liu in?"

"Go rest somewhere!" Regaining his teacher's dignified demeanor, Zhang Xuan waved his hand at Lu Chong, sat upright, and spoke calmly, "Is that Teacher Sun? Come in!"

From the voice, it was Sun Cheng, disguised by Mo Hongyi.

It seemed he had completely neutralized the toxins in his body and recovered.

Creak! The moment his words fell, a figure burst in. He glared at Zhang Xuan, full of anger and accusation. "Teacher Liu, your tea was poisoned, you must know that!"

"I only found out later; to be honest, I'm a victim too…" Zhang Xuan said, comforting him. "Someone definitely tried to poison me, and you happened to come over and accidentally drank the tea, which led to this… Don't worry, I will definitely find out who tried to harm me and get justice for you!"

"Justice? Victim? Victim my foot…" Mo Hongyi almost exploded upon hearing those words.

"You call yourself a victim? You're perfectly fine! I, the dignified number one genius of the kingdom, not only got poisoned but also fell into a cesspit…"

"The most crucial thing is, 'investigate'… how would you investigate? Your own students poisoned me; how can you give me justice?"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Xuan asked, full of confusion, seeing him grow increasingly angry.

"Nobody wants to get poisoned. To be honest, I didn't even know you would drink water in my room…"

"You… fine!" Knowing that Zhang Xuan was indeed a victim and genuinely unaware, Mo Hongyi suppressed his anger and snorted. "No need to investigate anymore! I already know who administered this poison!"

"Who?"

Zhang Xuan frowned, looking over with a solemn expression.

He had always been puzzled as to how he, in this identity, had offended no one, yet someone had poisoned him. If he knew who it was, he would never let it go!

"It was… Zheng Yang and the others who did it. I saw it with my own eyes last night!" Mo Hongyi snorted, unaware of Zhang Xuan's thoughts.

"Zheng Yang?"

He was just thinking about how to teach the other party a lesson and seize the opportunity to plunder their possessions. Upon hearing those words, Zhang Xuan stumbled, almost falling over.

His own students poisoned him?

What was going on?

His heart was filled with shock, but he quickly reacted, his face turning ashen, full of exasperation.

"These little brats…"

With a roar, Zhang Xuan abruptly stood up, his fury like surging waves.

Other people's disciples were obedient and well-behaved, but what kind of disciples had he taught? Poisoning their teacher, constantly fighting or causing trouble…

Damn it!

If I don't teach you all a good lesson, I'm not Zhang Xuan!

"Zhao Ya, what's wrong with you?" Zheng Yang asked, catching up to her on the way back to the mansion. "Mu Xueqing was so arrogant just now, why didn't you teach her a lesson? Teacher Liu is powerful, but it's not her power. What's there to be proud of?"

"Now, Master Zhang's reputation was completely overshadowed by this Teacher Liu. As a student, instead of defending your teacher, you praised your opponent? Are you serious?"

"Teach a lesson? I think you should be thinking about how to prepare for punishment!" Zhao Ya said, seeing that this guy still hadn't figured it out, sighing helplessly.

"Punishment? What punishment?"

Zheng Yang was baffled, and Yuan Tao and Liu Yang also looked over in confusion.

Although they were very intelligent and highly talented in cultivation, they were still only fifteen or sixteen years old. Many things, without a hint, they simply couldn't comprehend.

"Wang Ying, why don't you tell them?" Zhao Ya said, covering her forehead. "I need to figure out how to apologize to Teacher first…"

She had originally intended to help her teacher vent his anger and spread his reputation. The result was… his reputation indeed spread, but once her teacher revealed his identity, he would surely become a laughingstock.

What a mess!

She had tried to flatter, but ended up kicking herself.

She really didn't know if Master Zhang would be angry when he returned.

"Wang Ying, what exactly happened?" Zheng Yang quickly looked at her.

"Well…" Wang Ying's face flushed. "I suspect… Teacher Liu is Master Zhang in disguise!"

"Teacher Liu is Master Zhang?"

Zheng Yang and the others were all stunned.

"Yes, Teacher Liu just now used the Heavenly Dao Movement Art and Heavenly Dao Leg Art when teaching the Lin clan elder a lesson. I saw it clearly; there was no mistake at all!" Wang Ying explained, seeing their disbelief. "After borrowing Zhao Ya's long sword, he used the Heavenly Dao Sword Art taught by Grandmaster… And combined with his attitude towards us, that's why…"

"Teacher Liu is Master Zhang?"

"And we specifically went to poison him?"

"And we cursed him so happily…"

Yuan Tao, Zheng Yang, and Liu Yang all trembled, their faces turning pale, almost in tears.

If it was true, what had they been doing these past few days?

Their teacher had sacrificed so much for them, yet they had been thinking about killing him every day…

All three felt so depressed they wanted to vomit blood.

"I'm going to Tianwu Academy to apologize to Teacher…" His face pale, Zheng Yang said quickly after a long pause.

"I'll go too!"

"Me too!"

Yuan Tao and Liu Yang also quickly nodded.

"Alright…"

Having made their decision, the group rushed towards Tianwu Academy. Knowing there was no other option, Zhao Ya and Wang Ying helplessly followed.

Dong!

Before they even reached the academy, they heard a loud bell toll.

"It's the Master Teacher Pavilion…"

Following the direction of the bell's sound, they instinctively looked over.