Chapter 670: Attracting Spiritual Beasts

“Let’s head back to the imperial capital first!” Jumping down from the tree, Zhang Xuan pinpointed his direction and strode forward.

The other party’s trial had nothing to do with him. The most important thing now was to rendezvous with Master Hong and the others to go to Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy, rather than waste time here.

*Rustle!* After only a few steps, he heard a series of footsteps again. He quickly swayed his body, hiding himself in a tree once more. He then saw several massive spirit beasts sniffing the ground before striding off in the direction Luo Qiqi and the others had disappeared.

“They’ve found them...” His brows furrowed.

Although these spirit beasts were only at Mortal Transcension 5-dan, and Luo Qiqi and the others (excluding Ye Qian) were all 6-dan experts, it would still be very difficult to defeat so many of them combined.

“I should go help!” He turned his body and closely followed the spirit beasts, giving chase.

Regardless, he knew Princess Feier and the others, and Luo Qiqi was even his pill student. He couldn’t stand idly by when they were in danger.

*Roar! Roar!* “Damn it, they’re here again! Ye Qian, you go...” As he advanced, he heard a commotion ahead, followed by whistling energy and intense power fluctuations.

“They’ve already started fighting!” Knowing there was no time to delay, Zhang Xuan quickly rushed forward. He hadn’t gone far when he heard a sudden rush of wind from above. Looking up, he saw a massive Dragon Hawk Beast swooping down to claw at him.

It was the same one that had participated in the previous ambush.

Earlier, he had been hiding in dense foliage, concealing his aura, making it difficult for the beast to find him. Now, moving rapidly with his *zhengqi* circulating, he was immediately discovered by the large creature.

As enemies met, their eyes burned with intense hatred. The Dragon Hawk Beast’s steel-like claws, before even reaching him, whistled fiercely, as if capable of piercing through metal and stone.

“If I get entangled with it, leaving will be difficult...” Knowing that once he got caught up with this beast, the other spirit beasts would surely catch up, making escape arduous, Zhang Xuan immediately raised an eyebrow and bit his lip.

“Hum!” The Dragon Hawk Beast possessed dragon bloodline, so the strange “beast tongue” he had learned should be effective. Without a dragon bloodline, the effect would be much weaker. This was why he had to flee to save the white-robed woman earlier; among all those spirit beasts, only this one contained dragon bloodline. If the “beast tongue” failed and he expended too much *zhengqi*, he wouldn’t be able to escape.

Indeed, as soon as he finished shouting, the Dragon Hawk Beast, flying in mid-air, shuddered all over in fright. It abandoned its attack and plunged straight down.

*Thud!* The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground. The massive spirit beast, over ten meters long, crashed heavily onto the ground, raising dust and twitching uncontrollably.

After dealing with this massive creature, just as he was about to leave, he heard another roar. The Bear-Scaled Tiger, which he had seen before, clawed the ground, leaped into the air, and sent sharp energy slashing towards him.

The commotion from his interaction with the Dragon Hawk had been too great, attracting the attention of many spirit beasts. This one was the fastest and had already rushed over to help.

“Troublesome!” Seeing the beast acting as if it had met its father’s murderer, not giving him a chance to hide, and knowing that dodging would be useless, Zhang Xuan shook his head.

Since you want to fight, then let’s fight!

His cultivation had just improved significantly, and he hadn’t tested it yet. He could use this opportunity to practice.

His palm, like a blade, chopped straight down.

*Whoosh!* The palm wind, like a sword ray, extended straight forward, traversing dozens of meters to reach the Bear-Scaled Tiger.

He didn’t use soul energy for this move. Even so, with his physical body and *zhengqi* condensed, his power exceeded six million *ding*, which this large creature couldn’t withstand. With a dull thud, the energy from its claw attack disintegrated, and its body slumped, pinned firmly to the ground.

“Roar?” The Bear-Scaled Tiger’s eyes widened, as if it had seen a ghost.

Three days ago, it had just fought this human. While the human’s swordsmanship was exquisite and difficult to counter, his strength was clearly weak. How... in just a few days, could a casual palm strike flatten it, leaving it unable to resist?

This was... too exaggerated!

If he had been this powerful before, he wouldn’t have been chased all over the place by them, afraid to show his face...

“Don’t follow me! Otherwise, I’ll kill you!” With a single roar, the Dragon Hawk Beast crashed to the ground. With one palm strike, the Bear-Scaled Tiger no longer dared to resist. Zhang Xuan snorted, flicked his sleeve, and was about to continue flying towards Luo Qiqi and the others when he heard roars again. The Azure Lion spirit beast and a host of other spirit beasts had already turned back from ahead and surrounded him.

These creatures had arrived so quickly; it seemed the Dragon Hawk Beast had sent a message as soon as it discovered him.

“Since you’re looking for trouble, don’t blame me!” He originally didn’t want to bother with a group of spirit beasts. But since these creatures had come looking for him, he no longer had to hold back. With a light step on a large tree, he shot straight forward.

Heaven’s Path Movement Art! As his physical body and strength increased, the Heaven’s Path Movement Art became even more fluid and faster to execute. He seemed to tear through the air, appearing before the Azure Lion spirit beast and ramming directly into it.

Aren’t you skilled in defense? Then I’ll use brute force to break your defense!

In their head-on collision, before the Azure Lion spirit beast could even react, its massive body flew backward, falling dozens of meters away, dazed and disoriented from the impact.

After knocking this huge creature flying, Zhang Xuan twisted his body and charged towards a wolf-shaped spirit beast.

With an aerial strike, his fist wind made the air crackle. The spirit beast took the full blow, its legs immediately went weak, and it followed in the footsteps of the previous spirit beasts.

While the fight here was in full swing, Luo Qiqi and the others were all staring blankly.

Just now, numerous spirit beasts had caught up with them again, ready to launch a strong assault. In a fit of anger, Yu Feier had told Ye Qian to go block them.

Ye Qian, with only Harmonization realm strength, had thought he wouldn’t escape this time without getting severely injured or even dying. To his surprise, before he even had a chance to act, the previously fierce spirit beasts retreated like a tide.

“Could it be that they know my identity as the Crown Prince... and are afraid to act?” Ye Qian scratched his head.

No way! He hadn’t revealed it yet. Besides, what do spirit beasts care if you’re a crown prince or not? If they truly wanted to attack, they’d even kill an emperor!

“Someone’s helping us by attracting the spirit beasts’ attention! Look, there’s a battle going on over there!” Princess Yu Feier, with a frown, was the first to react.

After retreating, the spirit beasts that had been attacking them all rushed in one direction. Combined with the intense energy fluctuations and continuous roars from that area, it was clear someone was fighting.

“Ye Qian, those aren’t your people, are they?” Xing Yuan frowned.

Their current trial was meant to be absolutely confidential, unknown to anyone. Therefore, they had been specifically instructed not to let anyone follow them. To ensure safety, they hadn’t even ridden flying spirit beasts, choosing instead to enter the mountains on foot...

Now, just as they encountered danger, someone had drawn the spirit beasts away. It would be hard to believe it wasn’t someone from his side.

“No, I didn’t have anyone follow us...” Ye Qian quickly waved his hand.

He was also aware of the trial’s nature; how could he knowingly violate the rules?

“Wouldn’t we know if we just went to take a look?” Luo Qiqi waved her hand.

“Hmm!” Xing Yuan nodded. “This trial cannot afford any mistakes. If we’ve truly been followed, it will be troublesome...”

The group said no more and quietly sped towards the direction of the battle.

They arrived shortly, took a look, and all were stunned.

“It’s... Master Zhang!” “Why is Teacher here?” “Wasn’t that guy taken away? How did he end up here?”

Seeing their old acquaintance, their expressions varied.

Luo Qiqi was naturally delighted, while Princess Yu Feier was definitely grinding her teeth.

She had lost their previous bet and was most afraid of seeing him and being asked for her winnings.

“I know!” Luo Qiqi suddenly spoke. “Teacher must have seen us being attacked and deliberately lured these spirit beasts away...”

“You’re overthinking it,” Yu Feier snorted. “Could he be that kind-hearted?”

“If not, then why are all these spirit beasts attacking him and abandoning us?” Luo Qiqi argued. “Looking at how those creatures attacked anyone they saw earlier, if Master Zhang hadn’t deliberately lured them, they wouldn’t have acted this way!”

“This...” Everyone was stunned.

What she said made a lot of sense.

Just moments ago, these spirit beasts seemed eager to devour them all. They had braced themselves for another fierce battle, yet in the blink of an eye, the beasts were attacking Master Zhang instead, abandoning them. It was hard to believe Master Zhang hadn’t used some method to attract them.

“Regardless of whether he lured them or not, look at their fight...” Wu Zhen interrupted their conjectures, pointing forward with a slight tremble.

Hearing this, everyone quickly looked. Upon seeing it, their eyes widened, and their mouths went dry.

“Wasn’t he only at the peak of Turbid Clarity realm a few days ago?” Xing Yuan swallowed.

Three days ago, when he entered the Cleansing Pool, he was still at the peak of Turbid Clarity realm. How did he become a Harmonization realm pinnacle expert in the blink of an eye?

They had seen rapid progress before... but never this fast!

The most crucial thing was... despite being at the peak of Harmonization realm, a level lower than theirs, he was fighting so many spirit beasts as if an adult was playing with children...

His combat prowess was simply too ferocious!

Princess Yu Feier’s eyes widened even further, her pretty face twitched, and her fists clenched.

She had thought this shameless fellow would only defeat her through underhanded methods. She never expected his true strength to be so formidable!

If he had used such powerful strength against her that night, she might have been knocked senseless in a single move, completely disoriented and instantly unconscious.

Could he have... deliberately held back?

“It must have been intentional!”

The thought of him constantly aiming kicks at her backside made her furious.

If it wasn’t intentional, it couldn’t be such a coincidence that he kicked there every single time...

He could have easily crushed her, yet he deliberately kicked her backside. What a pervert, utterly shameless!

“Senior Brother, Senior Sister,” Ye Qian couldn’t help but say, “Master Zhang is so powerful, and he’s practically part of the academy now. Can he come with us for the trial? With him around, I think it’ll be much safer and easier!”

“Let Teacher come?” Luo Qiqi’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! If he comes, our chances of success will greatly increase!”

“Hmm, that’s actually true, I agree!” Xing Yuan considered it for a moment and nodded.

“No, he can’t go!” Yu Feier’s eyes widened, and she waved her hands repeatedly.