Chapter 1189: Is Someone Thinking of Me?

"Collect his corpse and take it back to the Master Hall!"

Since he was dead, all grudges were settled.

With a sigh, Master Wu waved his hand.

This Master Tian, wielding great power, though only a vice hall master, actually held authority similar to the hall master, dominating alone... He had thought that sooner or later he could冲击 the rank of eight-star master and reach a higher realm, but never dreamed he would end up dead here.

It was truly lamentable to think about.

Offend no one, especially not Zhang Xuan... It seemed his earlier decision was correct.

Two elders came forward and collected the corpse. Master Wu then looked around: "Where is Master Zhang?"

The battle had been intense just now, and he had no time to attend to other matters, so he hadn't noticed where Zhang Xuan had gone.

"Master entered that underground hole..."

Jin Yuan Ding hopped once.

"Underground hole?"

Only then did Master Wu and the others notice that a stone door had appeared on one side of the garden.

"It was the Locking Breath Array that concealed the aura, so we didn't detect it..."

Approaching, Master Wu said.

This array sealed all auras, so even though they had been fighting nearby, they hadn't noticed anything.

However, when the array was hidden, it was invisible; now that the stone door was open, like a bottle with its cap removed, if they still couldn't detect it, they wouldn't be worthy of being seven-star masters.

"Let's go in and take a look!"

Nodding, Master Wu stepped inside.

Zhang Jiuxiao and the others followed. They hadn't gone far when they heard a frustrated voice: "Pull me out..."

Turning around, they saw that Jin Yuan Ding had also tried to enter but was stuck outside the stone door, its three thick legs wedged in the doorway, looking utterly aggrieved.

This fellow could enlarge itself, but shrinking was not so easy.

It was like Zhang Xuan's soul, which wanted to shrink and enter the primordial embryo but couldn't no matter what.

Everyone worked together to break the door, finally rescuing the stuck cauldron.

After smashing the entrance to pieces, Jin Yuan Ding followed behind the others, full of pride, flying toward the stone steps.

Before long, they reached the underground palace.

They saw the lava and the altar, and also saw Zhang Xuan sitting motionless on the ground.

"Master Zhang..."

Everyone gathered around.

Master Wu's face turned pale, his eyes full of disbelief: "No breath or heartbeat. Master Zhang is dead? How is that possible?"

The man before them showed no signs of breathing or heartbeat, like a statue.

He was a Heaven-Approved Master and a Heaven-Approved Saint. How could he die in such a small place?

Just as they were at a loss, Jin Yuan Ding's noisy voice rang out.

"Dead? Dead my foot! My master is cultivating some special technique. All of you go play somewhere else!"

Back in Qiuwu Palace, Jin Yuan Ding had taken Zhang Xuan into the lava and knew that when he cultivated a certain technique, his soul left his body, and his physical body looked exactly like a corpse, so it wasn't strange.

"A technique?"

"What technique could make a person completely unconscious?"

Everyone frowned, not believing it.

As masters, they were well-traveled and knowledgeable, but they had never heard of a technique that made the body identical to a corpse.

"How could such a technique exist in this world?" Zhang Jiuxiao also shook his head.

As a member of a noble family, he had seen many strange things, but now—no heartbeat, no breath, the body somewhat stiff... and most importantly, he couldn't hear or speak, completely unconscious...

If that wasn't death, what was it?

Even with soul projection, there would still be a heartbeat and breathing.

Hearing his words, everyone shared the same doubt.

"Believe it or not!" Jin Yuan Ding twisted its massive body.

If it had a face, it would surely be sneering at everyone.

A bunch of masters, with less insight than a cauldron like me—what a bunch of country bumpkins!

"I'll check with true energy and find out..."

Whether he was dead or not, a quick probe would reveal the truth.

Without waiting for Jin Yuan Ding to respond, Zhang Jiuxiao reached out and grabbed toward Zhang Xuan.

If the true energy entering the body found the meridians still soft and the organs still active, it would indicate life.

Just as his hand landed on Zhang Xuan, he suddenly felt a fierce force surging toward him, as if targeted by some ferocious beast. His pupils contracted, and every hair on his body stood on end.

Before he could dodge, he saw a palm, carrying boundless power, descending toward his handsome face.

Then, his mouth twisted, his entire face contorted like a gourd, and he flew backward.

Pfft! Whoosh!

Blood spurted from his mouth, his body flew backward, and he slammed heavily into the wall of the underground palace, his face as pale as paper.

The wall was smashed into a large pit, and Zhang Jiuxiao, stuck there like a sausage nailed to the wall, couldn't help but shed tears.

"I was just testing... if you were dead, no need to use such force..."

As the victim, he naturally knew who had struck that palm—none other than Zhang Xuan, who was sitting on the ground like a corpse.

Wasn't it just a test to see if you were dead?

Did you have to beat me like this, as if trying to kill me?

For a moment, Zhang Jiuxiao felt his heart was so tired.

Ever since he met this guy, he hadn't had a single good day.

Struggling to climb out of the wall, he looked back at the other party, only to see the culprit who had sent him flying showing no trace of guilt, his eyes still closed, sitting motionless in the same spot.

As if what had just happened had nothing to do with him.

"I told you, my master is cultivating some technique, but you wouldn't listen..."

Seeing this, Jin Yuan Ding shook its body, its tone full of "you deserve it."

"So it really is cultivation..."

Master Wu and the others twitched their mouths.

They had seen strange cultivation methods, but never one this strange.

Did such a technique really exist in the world?

"Since Master Zhang is cultivating, we'll wait here. Elder Gu, go to the Master Hall and bring some people to seal this place off, and report the matter truthfully to headquarters!"

After a while, Master Wu gave orders.

"Yes!" An elder withdrew.

...

With a dizzying spin, Zhang Xuan opened his eyes again and found himself in a dilapidated room.

Beneath him was still an altar, which should be connected to the one in the underground palace. His soul had been drawn here from there.

The altar had a special suction force that trapped him, making it impossible to move and difficult to escape in a short time.

"Master Zhang, we meet again!"

Just as he was about to look around, he heard a faint voice. Looking up, he saw a bronze-masked man not far away, standing sideways with his hands behind his back.

"It's you?"

Frowning, Zhang Xuan recognized him.

It was the bronze-masked man who had previously brought the eight-realm painting of Wubei the Elder to the Appraisal Pavilion to have the seal broken.

"Indeed!" The bronze mask nodded and turned around: "If I'm not mistaken, you altered the content under the seal of that painting, didn't you?"

"Altered?"

Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan raised his eyebrows, his expression righteous: "How is that possible? Not to mention whether I have the ability, even if I did, as a master, I would never casually alter someone else's painting. That would infringe on their copyright, something our kind would never do!"

"Never do?"

The bronze mask's eyes narrowed: "Only your consciousness entered that painting. After the seal was broken, it turned into a completely different image—not only the style but also the artistic conception was different. If not you, then who?"

When the seal was broken, seeing not the image he had speculated but a beautiful woman bathing, he found it hard to believe.

However, after returning and pondering carefully, he realized something was wrong.

Being able to find an eight-realm painting and discover the seal within it, his understanding of calligraphy and painting was no less than that of President Meng Chong.

The painting of a beautiful woman bathing under the seal, though imitated as best as possible, still differed greatly from Wubei the Elder's fixed-style painting method.

To keep the painting flat, Wubei the Elder would rather shave off a layer and add a seal on top... His obsession with the painting's neatness and symmetry had reached a paranoid level.

The later painting, though appearing equally neat and tidy, was superimposed on a pile of rubble, and the ink colors were relatively fresh, making it easy to see that someone had deliberately added it.

Combined with the fact that only this person's consciousness had entered before the seal was broken, it wasn't hard to deduce.

"That's a misunderstanding. The painting of the beautiful woman bathing, though small in scope, was extremely detailed. My consciousness was in the painting for only a short time. Do you think... anyone could produce a painting of that level in such a short time?"

Zhang Xuan shook his head, his face full of sincerity.

"This..." The bronze mask frowned.

This point also puzzled him greatly.

From the moment the other's consciousness entered the painting to the breaking of the seal, it was no more than three minutes. In such a short time, to produce a painting and merge it into another, making it hard to detect flaws in a short time—not even an eight-star calligrapher and painter could do it.

But if not this person, then who?

He could guarantee that this painting had not been shown to anyone else since that day.

"Since the time was too short to paint, and besides, I wasn't the only one whose consciousness entered it." Seeing his hesitation, Zhang Xuan continued.

"Not the only one?"

"Yes, have you forgotten? Zhang Jiuxiao's consciousness also entered, and he was ambushed by the spiritual nature and ended up with a head full of durians!" Zhang Xuan said.

"Indeed! Zhang Jiuxiao's consciousness also entered..." The bronze mask's face darkened.

"He is from the Zhang family. The terror of a sage clan need not be elaborated, I'm sure. That family loves to take things from others. Not just a painting, they might even take people! Since he knew the method to break the seal, perhaps he had some treasure on him that he used secretly to alter the content without you noticing!"

Zhang Xuan said.

"The Sage Zhang family..." The bronze mask's mouth twitched, fear appearing in his eyes.

It seemed he had heard of this sage clan and knew their strength and terror.

...

Ah-choo!

Zhang Jiuxiao, who had just applied medicine and felt his face a bit more comfortable, suddenly sneezed, looking bewildered. Was... someone thinking of him?

Having been constantly beaten down, suddenly being missed—it was a little exciting to think about!