Chapter 1187: Arrest

In a tavern box near the edge of Qingyuan City, several people sat inside, their eyes occasionally glancing toward a mansion not far away.

"Master Zhang, this is Chen Zhe's residence..."

Master Wu transmitted his voice quietly.

As soon as it got dark, they arrived here, arranged in advance by the Master Hall, without attracting anyone's attention.

"Mm!"

His spiritual sense spread, and the mansion not far away was fully within his sight.

Other people's spiritual sense, even Master Wu's, could only extend about 400 meters, while Zhang Xuan's directly reached 2500 meters. As long as there was any sign of movement around, he could know in advance, so there was no need to hide inside Chen Zhe's home.

"This mansion is quite luxurious and sturdy!"

After scanning around, Zhang Xuan sighed with emotion.

This Chen Zhe, in his eyes, was not famous and did not show off, but in reality, he was a solid six-star peak master teacher and even a direct disciple of the vice hall master... Throughout the entire imperial capital, he was considered of relatively high status.

Therefore, his mansion was densely arranged with various formations, some even reaching seven-star level. Although the decoration was far inferior to the Loyal Prince's Mansion, it was still much more powerful than ordinary families.

Five steps to a tower, ten steps to a pavilion; corridors winding like belts, eaves rising like beaks pecking.

Somehow, Master Wu had used some method, and the entire mansion did not cause a big stir because of Chen Zhe's death; instead, it was very calm.

"Master Zhang, do we need to prepare anything in advance?"

Master Wu pondered for a moment and said, "As far as I know, this Tian Qing also seems to have a mid-grade saint artifact. Its level may not be as high as the Jinyuan Cauldron, but it complements his strength and unleashes extremely strong combat power!"

"No need to prepare in advance. If we prepare too much and the other party discovers it and escapes, we won't have time to deal with him!"

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

The best way to prepare in advance would be to set up various formations in the opponent's mansion and ambush more master teachers. But if the commotion is too big and the fish doesn't take the bait, it would be troublesome.

"Then..." Master Wu was a bit worried.

"Don't worry. Even if his strength is very strong, as long as he hasn't surpassed Hall Master Gou, we can protect ourselves. When the time comes, if the commotion gets big, we can notify the War Master Hall to send people..."

Zhang Xuan said.

He had fought this Tian Qing before and knew he was not his match. Even if the other party had some powerful magical treasure, they could protect themselves without any problem. If necessary, they could have Hall Master Xing bring people over. If the elite of the War Master Hall were fully deployed, even if the opponent was a true Out-of-Body realm expert, they would find it hard to avoid falling here.

"That's true!"

Nodding, Master Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

Knowing that a major battle might occur, everyone observed while cultivating, each adjusting their state to the peak.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, the moon had begun to set, when Zhang Xuan suddenly stood up: "He's here!"

Master Wu and the others were startled.

In their eyes and spiritual sense, there was nothing, not a single figure. What had arrived?

"He's already entered the mansion..." Seeing their confusion, Zhang Xuan shook his head: "He came from underground!"

"Underground?"

Everyone looked over in disbelief.

Underground, spiritual sense could hardly penetrate. Could he still detect that?

"The other party is very cautious. He sneaked in from the neighboring mansion, using some secret technique to burrow underground. Although his movements were very subtle... I spotted his figure in advance. Now let's go catch the turtle in the jar!"

Zhang Xuan smiled lightly.

He had seen this technique of burrowing underground once before, at the Poison Hall in Jingyuan City. It was the signature move of Tuye King, one of the ten kings of Qingtian.

Because he had seen it, when his spiritual sense spread, he also quietly observed the underground situation and happened to catch this scene.

"Good!"

Everyone rose and flew out the window, heading straight for the mansion ahead. Arriving at the central courtyard, Zhang Xuan signaled everyone to stand quietly around, while he himself went to a spot, flicked his fingers, and inserted several formation flags into the ground.

Hum!

Stomping his foot on the ground, he raised his eyebrows: "Come out!"

Bang!

The ground immediately shook, and a figure was forcibly pulled out from underground by him, crashing heavily to the ground.

This person was dressed in black, hidden in the darkness, unclear to see. However, everyone had the strength of the Primordial Spirit realm and sharp eyesight, immediately recognizing his appearance.

"Tian Qing, it really is you..."

Master Wu's face darkened: "Come with me!"

Saying this, he reached out with a big hand, and a powerful force immediately crushed down, as if to tear the person apart.

Whoosh!

As if not expecting someone to be ambushing here, Tian Qing's pupils contracted. He blocked the attack with his arms, shook his body, and rushed forward rapidly.

"Escape? Can you escape?"

With a light laugh, Zhang Jiuxiao pointed his finger, and a sword light whistled down from the sky.

It was his mid-grade saint artifact longsword.

After listening to Zhang Xuan's lecture, this sword, although not yet breaking through to half-step Out-of-Body, had become even more powerful. Coupled with Zhang Jiuxiao's cultivation, the sword aura was magnificent, crossing tens of meters in the blink of an eye, arriving in front of Tian Qing.

His face darkening, Tian Qing did not hesitate. His palm rolled, and a longsword also met it.

Ding ding ding!

The sword lights clashed dozens of times in the air, and Zhang Jiuxiao retreated repeatedly.

Even though his strength was formidable, the opponent was a whole major level higher. With weapons of the same level, he was still slightly inferior in power.

Blocking Master Wu and repelling Zhang Jiuxiao happened in a flash. Tian Qing leaped up, but just as he jumped half a meter high, he felt several fierce forces tearing at him from all directions.

It was the several elders from the Master Hall who had come.

These people were also at the peak of the Primordial Spirit realm. Knowing that the opponent was powerful, they did not hold back at all. They all took out their weapons, and sword auras from all directions formed a wall, spanning across the sky.

If this man continued to jump up, he would surely be split in two.

His face ugly, knowing there was no way above, Tian Qing swung his longsword, using the force to descend rapidly. As soon as he stabilized his stance, Master Wu and Zhang Jiuxiao's attacks swept in again.

As soon as they arrived, Zhang Xuan had made arrangements: Master Wu and Zhang Jiuxiao, with the strongest attack power, would be the main attackers, while the remaining four would provide cover on the side, forming an inescapable net to prevent this guy from escaping.

Seeing that Tian Qing was no match for the group, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. The texture in his eyes emerged as he looked around.

Since the other party had taken the risk to come here, there must be a secret here that he considered more important than his life.

This was the back garden of Chen Zhe's mansion, where few people came. Coupled with the sealing of the surroundings at the start of the battle, even fewer knew about it.

After looking around, he suddenly frowned.

He walked a few steps to several large trees in the courtyard.

They were Saint-level Liuxiang trees, which could bear Liuxiang fruits.

Although this thing was a Saint-level medicinal herb, it had no effect on improving cultivation. Its only use was that consuming one could keep the fragrance in the body for a year... It was something only noblewomen and girls liked to use.

Unexpectedly, Chen Zhe's back garden had planted seven whole trees in one go. Before even approaching, a rich fragrance rushed into the nostrils, making one somewhat intoxicated.

Admittedly, the fragrance of Liuxiang fruit was indeed pleasant. If placed on a woman, it could indeed enchant people to the point of ecstasy, unable to extricate themselves.

However, Zhang Xuan was not specifically looking at this saint medicine. Instead, he measured a circle under his feet.

"Seven-star Locking Breath Formation... Using Saint-level medicinal herbs to replace formation flags, sealing the breath for concealment. This method is indeed not bad!"

Zhang Xuan nodded to himself.

As a seven-star peak formation master, to others, these were just a few trees, but he could easily see that it was a special formation.

Similar to the Locking Breath Formation he had set up before, it could seal breath. Although simple, it leveraged the power of the Saint-level Liuxiang trees, reaching the seven-star peak level. Combined with the cover of other surrounding formations, without careful observation, even he had not noticed it.

It was only when he used the Eye of Insight and detected spiritual energy fluctuations here that he deduced it.

"A six-star master teacher has set up a seven-star peak Locking Breath Grand Formation at home... Let me see what is hidden underneath!"

He took two more steps and stomped his foot again.

Crash!

The ground was immediately lifted, revealing a stone door.

Gently pressing his palm, he erased the runes inscribed on it, and Zhang Xuan stepped inside.

Behind the stone door was a series of stairs descending downward, carved from some unknown material, extremely pitch black, making it hard to see even under the light of a night pearl.

Activating the Eye of Insight, it became much clearer.

"It's Star Glow Stone..."

Zhang Xuan frowned.

After reading all the books from the Appraiser Guild and the Master Teacher Hall, he had learned quite a bit about some peculiar ores on the continent.

Star Glow Stone, a particularly strange stone, could absorb light, making an area pitch black, invisible to the eyes.

Of course, if there was a special method, it could also make it emit the absorbed light, illuminating the surroundings like stars.

Hence its name.

The one before him was so dark that one could not see their hand in front of their face, clearly refined with a special technique, only able to absorb, not activate.

However, for Zhang Xuan, it had little effect. He walked slowly downward.

After walking about seventy or eighty meters, he reached hard ground. Looking up, he couldn't help but be stunned.

It was a spacious underground palace.

In the middle was a huge hole leading to the earth's core, with countless lava trapped by a grand formation, releasing enormous energy.

"This formation... probably reaches the eight-star level!"

The formation before him was built with special materials, its level no less than those in Qiuwu Palace, likely already at the eight-star level.

A six-star master teacher's back garden hid not only a seven-star peak breath-concealing formation but also an eight-star formation in the underground palace below...

It would be strange not to find it odd.

"This is providing power for something..."

This formation gathered the power of the earth's core lava to drive something.

Looking up along the direction where the formation's energy converged, Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted: "This is, this is..."