Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
It was not convenient to allow Feng Xun to see the current sight before him. Otherwise, how could Zhang Xuan explain how he was able to disguise himself as an Otherworldly Demon and have the Stoneleaf King and Jadeleaf King fight against one another? Not to mention, even if he could come up with an explanation, it was another matter whether Feng Xun would trust him or not. After all, anything concerning the Otherworldly Demons required caution.
Thus, the most effective method to use at this point was to just knock the other party out.
It was simple, efficient, and effective. There was no point going to so much trouble when there was such an ideal solution. Besides, the bricks from the collapsed buildings all around him only seemed to be further tempting him into it.
Zhang Xuan subconsciously lowered his gaze to shoot a glance at Feng Xun, and he saw the latter lying on the ground with his face still twitching uncontrollably. It was as if he was unable to believe that a Thousand Men Commander of the Combat Master Hall like him would end up being knocked out three times consecutively. Furthermore, it seemed to be getting more and more humiliating each time.
Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan turned his attention back to the duo fighting in the sky, and his eyebrows shot up.
After the Jadeleaf King drew out his Primordial Spirit, the Stoneleaf King immediately fell into a disadvantage. Despite the superior defense that the Stoneleaf King possessed, it took mere moments for the Jadeleaf King to inflict injuries all over his body and even sever his arm, causing the Lightning Elemental Orb to fall to the ground. Fresh blood trickled profusely down his body, and his face turned pale.
It seemed like the Jadeleaf King had realized that the key to the Stoneleaf King power lay in the Lightning Elemental Orb. Without the augmentation from the lightning formation, there was no way the Stoneleaf King could stand against him.
"Let's die together then!" Suffering grievous wounds, the Stoneleaf King knew that he couldn't stand against the Jadeleaf King in his current state. Thus, with a furious roar, he also utilized his secret art and drew his Primordial Spirit out.
The Stoneleaf King didn't possess a cultivation as high as the Jadeleaf King. Even after drawing his Primordial Spirit out, the Jadeleaf King could still live by finding a suitable body to house himself in, but the same option wasn't open to the Stoneleaf King. Thus, this could be considered a suicidal attack by him.
Hong long long!
The two powerful Primordial Spirits began clashing with one another, and the intensity of the battle was hiking up as time passed. Zhang Xuan surveyed his surroundings, only to note that the surroundings had really been completely sealed. Thus, he could only shake his head helplessly.
Given the current circumstances, there was no way he would be able to escape. Even if he chose to hide in the Myriad Anthive Nest, he wouldn't be able to hide the nest itself. With just a scan from their Spiritual Perception, he would be found in an instant. By then, he would be completely cornered, putting him in an even worse position.
Zhang Xuan frowned. If the Stoneleaf King wins, I can just poison him to death. However, if the Jadeleaf King wins, I will be in deep trouble.
A battle at such a level was something he couldn't hope to intervene in with his current strength. If he forcefully got involved, he would be killed before he could even do anything.
If the Stoneleaf King won, he would still hold the initiative. However, if the Jadeleaf King won, considering what he had done to the other party previously, there was no way the other party would let him off.
Taking another look at the battle, he saw that the Stoneleaf King's Primordial Spirit was being overwhelmed by the Jadeleaf King, forced to retreat again and again. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the Stoneleaf King lost.
I really miscalculated… Zhang Xuan's mouth twitched.
As expected of the third strongest expert of the Ten Great Kings. Even with the Stoneleaf King in control of the lightning formation, it seemed like the one who would emerge victorious in the end was still the Jadeleaf King.
What should I do? Seeing that the Stoneleaf King was on the verge of succumbing to the Jadeleaf King, Zhang Xuan paced around worriedly. However, in that moment, he suddenly caught sight of a certain figure not too far away.
After drawing his Primordial Spirit out, the Jadeleaf King had left his body lying completely unguarded by the side.
He likes to draw out his Primordial Spirit, doesn't he? Hehehe… With a sinister chuckle, Zhang Xuan walked over to the Jadeleaf King's body.
Zhang Xuan had to admit that the fellow's Broken Jade Technique was indeed rather powerful. It had granted his body exceptional durability and sturdiness. While it was not on par with the Stoneleaf King's, it was plenty fearsome.
Drawing the Glacier Rain Sword, Zhang Xuan hacked down forcefully on the Jadeleaf King's body, but to his astonishment, he was unable to breach the other party's defense.
It seemed like the Jadeleaf King hadn't left his body completely unprotected after all. He seemed to have used some kind of powerful secret art to reinforce his body's defense before drawing his Primordial Spirit out.
Next, Zhang Xuan tried to place his finger on the Jadeleaf King's acupoints to infuse his zhenqi in, but a short moment later, he shook his head.
The Jadeleaf King's body was wholesome like jade. With Zhang Xuan's current strength, he was unable to force his zhenqi into the other party's body to poison him.
After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist, and a pile of lava appeared before him.
Previously, when he was passing through the lava, he had taken the opportunity to secretly store some of it in his storage ring, thinking that he could utilize the heat to smith better weapons. It was good that he had done so, because it happened that he had a good use for it at this very moment.
With another flick of his wrist, he threw the lava right at the fellow before him.
Tzzzzzzzzz!
As soon as the lava came into contact with the other party's body, the sizzling sound of corrosion immediately echoed loudly in the air. The body, which even the Glacier Rain Sword was unable to cut through, began melting.
Not bad… Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction.
Honestly speaking, even when stored within the storage ring, the lava would still cool down very soon. Thus, it was good that he could find a use for it now.
As powerful as the body of the Jadeleaf King was, it still paled in comparison to the lava at a hundred meters deep in the lava pool.
"You…"
On the other hand, the Jadeleaf King seemed to have noticed something from above, and glancing downward at his body, he nearly spurted blood and died on the spot.
As he had yet to fully reach Leaving Aperture realm, it was highly damaging for him to force his Primordial Spirit out of his body. However… as long as his physical body remained unharmed, he could still return to it. He would have faced a sharp decline in his cultivation from doing so, but at the very least, he would still have been able to live. Yet, who could have known that someone would attempt to burn his body?
That was equivalent to having one's home burned down by an arsonist! His Primordial Spirit no longer had a place to return to anymore!
"You scoundrel!" the Jadeleaf King spat in anger.
In his moment of daze, the Stoneleaf King managed to get a few attacks in, which nearly caused his Primordial Spirit to dissipate.
"I will deal with you first before killing that fellow." As angry as the Jadeleaf King was, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get even with the Violetleaf King without dealing with the Stoneleaf King first. Thus, with a furious roar, he charged forward and launched a frenzied wave of attacks on the Stoneleaf King.
Boom boom boom boom!
Deafening explosions reverberated across the horizon, and the spiritual energy within a radius of several dozen kilometers was disrupted by the intense battle. Not too long later, the Stoneleaf King's Primordial Spirit finally dissipated under the relentless assault of the Jadeleaf King.
The dissipation of one's Primordial Spirit was equivalent to the complete destruction of one's soul. In such a state, not even a deity could save one.
The reason the Stoneleaf King was ranked fourth among the Five Upper Kings was due to the immense strength his physical body possessed. However, having focused too much of his efforts on developing his physical body, his Primordial Spirit had ended up being slightly weaker than his peers. As such, the only plausible conclusion in a clash with the Jadeleaf King was his defeat.
Of course, considering the situation back then, the Stoneleaf King had no choice but to pit his Primordial Spirit against the Jadeleaf King's too. His limbs had been severed, and his physical body had sustained grievous injuries. If he hadn't drawn his soul out using his secret art, he would have died as well.
The only difference was how long it took.
"It's your turn…"
After slaying the Stoneleaf King, the Jadeleaf King immediately turned to the culprit who had reduced his physical body into a puddle of goo. With a furious roar, he charged forward.
"Kill me, and I will kill this Celestial Master Teacher!" Zhang Xuan quickly held Feng Xun up and placed the latter before him. "Think about it. As long as he remains alive, you can hand him over to our tribe. With the contribution you earn from that, finding a new body for you to possess and regaining your strength will be a walk in the park."
At this moment, this was the only leverage he had over the Jadeleaf King, as well as the only card he could play.
The Jadeleaf King was tempted to skin the fellow before him alive, but there was sense in the other party's words. If the Celestial Master Teacher were to die, the battle that he had fought would have been for naught. After all he had been through, this was an outcome he couldn't accept.
"Do you think that I will trust you?" Forcing himself to remain calm, the Jadeleaf King glared at the Violetleaf King with wintry eyes.
If not for the other party, he wouldn't have ended up fighting with the Stoneleaf King, landing himself in such a pitiful state. He had decided that from this point on, he wouldn't believe a single word that the other party said… including even punctuation!
Holding Feng Xun's neck tightly, Zhang Xuan gazed at the Jadeleaf King nonchalantly. "It doesn't matter whether you trust me or not. However, there is one fact that you have to acknowledge. If this human dies, you won't be able to obtain anything."
"You're right. If he dies, I won't be able to obtain anything. However, without a body, I won't be able to live for long either. Since the eventual outcome is death anyway, don't you think that I will be better off finding another companion to accompany me on the journey to hell?" the Jadeleaf King spat coldly.
If he had reached Saint 5-dan Leaving Aperture realm, his Primordial Spirit might still have been able to survive outside of his body. However… he had used his secret art to escape from the confines of his body, and that had dealt heavy damage to his Primordial Spirit. If he couldn't find a body to house his Primordial Spirit soon, it wouldn't be long before he breathed his last.
This was similar to how an infant that was born after forty weeks of pregnancy was the healthiest. If one were to attempt to conduct a caesarean delivery prematurely, it could potentially be damaging to both the mother and the child.
Such was the same for the Primordial Spirit as well.
At Half-Leaving Aperture realm, a cultivator would have already opened their Yuanshen acupoint, the pathway for the Primordial Soul to escape from the confines of the body. They still couldn't draw it out, not because it was impossible to do so, but because their Primordial Spirit wasn't strong enough for it yet.
Such was the case for the Jadeleaf King. His Primordial Spirit was still too weak to sustain itself, so he needed to find a body to nourish it. At the current rate, his Primordial Spirit would slowly wear thin and eventually dissipate.
In a sense, this was similar to the woes faced by soul oracles, the only difference being that the time soul oracles had was significantly shorter.
"Without a body? Isn't the Stoneleaf King's body lying right over there? You can possess it!" Zhang Xuan said with a smile.
"You…" the Jadeleaf King's eyes were glacier cold. "There is a fundamental difference in the cultivation techniques we practice, so if I possess his body, I will be in constant anguish and suffering."
"This…" Zhang Xuan rubbed his lower jaw with a frown. "I see. That makes things a little troublesome."
Despite his lack of understanding of Primordial Spirits, through his extensive knowledge of souls from the heritage of the soul oracles, he knew that the other party was speaking the truth.
It was true that the Jadeleaf King would be able to survive by possessing the Stoneleaf King's body, but due to the fundamental differences in their cultivation techniques and constitutions, not only would he suffer a steep fall in his fighting prowess, he would be in constant misery as well.
"Right!" Zhang Xuan didn't hesitate for long before slapping his head in realization, seemingly having thought of something. "Why didn't I think of it earlier? I happen to have specially crafted a puppet not too long ago, and since it is attributeless, there is no way it can clash with your cultivation technique. Why don't you enter it to recuperate for the time being? Once we bring the Celestial Master Teacher back to our tribe and receive the reward, you will surely be able to make the breakthrough to Leaving Aperture realm, and by then… it won't matter whether you have a body or not!"
"Puppet?" The Jadeleaf King frowned.
"That's right!" Zhang Xuan nodded. He flicked his wrist, and a huge Otherworldly Demon puppet appeared before his eyes.
It was one of the puppets that he had taken out of the underground cavern where Wu Yangzi had been imprisoned. After resolving the flaws in its structure, it wielded prowess comparable to a Saint 3-dan cultivator.
"This is forged out of the body of an ordinary tribesman, so it is attributeless. It does complement with my Primordial Spirit fairly well." The Jadeleaf King took a look at the puppet and hesitated.
The puppet had been forged using the living body of an Otherworldly Demon, and it was driven by a reserve of spiritual energy at its core. While it was weak, its strength lay in that it was attributeless, so it was a better fit with his Primordial Spirit compared to the Stoneleaf King's body.
Naturally, this also meant that he could display greater fighting prowess within the body of the puppet as well.
"To tell you the truth, you have nothing to earn from killing me. In the first place, the one who tried to kill you wasn't me but the Stoneleaf King. Besides, given the limited strength I wield, there's no way that I will be able to harm you!" Zhang Xuan shook his head.
"It took me a great amount of effort to forge this puppet, and I was intending to use it to craft a clone. However, since you require it, I will give it to you to serve as a temporary body. Once we return to the tribe with the Celestial Master Teacher, everything can be resolved easily."
Saying so, Zhang Xuan patted his puppet fondly, seemingly a little reluctant to part with his treasure.