Chapter 862: Yu Shenqing's Regret

Boom!

As soon as Yu Shenqing left, the room, no longer reinforced by true qi, immediately collapsed, with debris and stones flying everywhere.

Many young talents rushed out of the room, looking at the rubble on the ground and the Emperor walking away while shouting "misunderstanding," they exchanged bewildered glances.

"What... is wrong with His Majesty?"

Swallowing his saliva, Liu Quan, the young master of the Liu family, stood dumbfounded.

Just moments ago, he had righteous indignation to drive them away, showing no mercy and thoroughly offending them, but the next moment he rushed over and said it was a misunderstanding...

Can it go any faster?

“How would I know?”

Shen Jun was even more bewildered.

Just now, seeing the emperor angry, he had tried to help, but now the emperor suddenly changed his tune, and he immediately became a laughingstock, unable to leave or stay.

“Then... should we still teach this fellow a lesson?”

Liu Quan couldn't help asking.

The emperor said it was a misunderstanding; should they continue the lesson or not?

"We must teach him a lesson, but find some unfamiliar faces, and don't let anyone know who did it!" Shen Jun's eyes flickered.

If His Majesty had maintained his previous attitude, what use would it be even if this fellow could win Princess Fei'er's favor?

The imperial family always valued face; if His Majesty disagreed, she could talk until the sky fell and it wouldn't matter!

Now that he had rushed out directly, his attitude had clearly changed, and the pressure on him had immediately increased!

In that case, he would first beat him until he dared not think wildly; otherwise, he simply couldn't swallow this anger.

...

As the two discussed the details of teaching Zhang Xuan a lesson, Yu Shenqing had already chased out of the imperial palace, only to see Yu Fei'er and Luo Qiqi standing not far away, with no trace of Zhang Xuan.

Where is Master Zhang?

He hurried forward and couldn't help asking.

Although he was the Emperor of the Hongyuan Empire, the other was the Dean of the Master Teacher Academy, whose status was even more revered than his.

If he truly offended him, he wouldn't even need to make a move; just by declaring that the Master Teacher Academy would no longer protect the Hongyuan Empire, the Yu family's dynasty would be annexed by other covetous empires within half a month!

The reason the Yu family could stand firm was not because they were powerful themselves, but... because the Master Teacher Academy was here, and no one dared to defy the world and seek trouble!

Therefore, to put it bluntly, even though he was the emperor, with an unrivaled status in the Hongyuan Empire, compared to the Dean of the Master Teacher Academy, he was still far inferior.

Not to mention anything else, among the officials in the court above the Void Step realm, at least ninety-nine out of a hundred had received favors from the Master Teacher Academy. Once a change occurred, they would surely obey the other party, not him!

This was reality!

I had thought that the other party was just a minor master without power or influence, and even if he happened to gain the appreciation of a few deans, it wouldn't amount to much, after all, my status is not inferior to the Ten Elders... I never dreamed that he would actually be the new dean!

And recognized by the Ten Elders, personally appointed by Master Mu!

For this reason, disregarding his status, he rushed out.

"Teacher said he has important matters to attend to and left first..."

Luo Qiqi said.

"Left?"

Yu Shenqing was stunned.

"Father, Master Zhang is my lifesaver. How exactly did he offend you, that you would have Master Baiyin attack him?"

Yu Fei'er couldn't hold back any longer, disregarding all monarch-subject etiquette and father-daughter hierarchy, and asked.

The clash of magical sounds—others might not understand, but she was skilled in the soul and knew something: Master Baiyin had struck first, and Master Zhang retaliated in anger.

There was clearly her father's shadow in it; otherwise, even if Master Baiyin had ten times the courage, he would never dare to touch her guest!

"I..."

Yu Shenqing was speechless. After a moment, he had to tell the truth: "Just before the banquet began, the Soul Refining Hall was breached at an unprecedented speed, the spiritual energy inside was absorbed, and the ancestor's statue was destroyed. I suspect it was Master Zhang's doing..."

"Impossible! Since arriving at the palace, Teacher has been with me the whole time. How could he go to the Soul Refining Hall you mentioned and cause destruction!"

Luo Qiqi shook her head.

Since arriving at the palace, the two had been inseparable. How could Teacher have left without her knowledge?

"I suspect the one who destroyed the Soul Refining Hall was Wu Hun. Wasn't Master Zhang in a daze, not moving at all?" Yu Shenqing continued.

"He was in a daze because he knew today was my birthday and was preparing a gift for me—he specially created a soul refining technique for me..."

Hearing her father's words, Yu Fei'er couldn't help but speak, her eyes reddening.

She hadn't mentioned her birthday; Master Zhang only found out upon arriving here, and then he expended his heart's blood to create a technique. And yet... he was misunderstood like this!

Even attacked...

Would he be heartbroken?

"Creating a technique?" Yu Shenqing was stunned.

"Yes, I'll write down the technique he created right now. See for yourself—with a technique of this level, would he still have time to cause trouble in the Soul Refining Hall!"

Yu Fei'er gritted her teeth, took out paper and brush, and in a flurry of strokes, soon wrote down the technique Master Zhang had imparted to her.

Taking it casually, Yu Shenqing had read less than half a page before his whole body stiffened, and intense shame flushed his face red.

This soul refining technique was too powerful—even stronger than their family's heirloom Thousand Hammer Soul Condensation Technique!

For such a technique, even a master of Master Mu's level would need months to create it. For him to create it on the spot must have cost him immense effort...

And yet I suspected him of causing trouble!

Truly, a dog bites Lü Dongbin—you can't tell a good person from a bad one.

"This set of techniques perfectly matches our Yu family's constitution..."

After flipping through it quickly, Yu Shenqing felt so ashamed he wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground.

This soul-refining technique was created entirely based on their Yu family's constitution; outsiders couldn't cultivate it, so there was no need to suspect it was left by a predecessor.

With such profound techniques, it was foreseeable that if they practiced them, the entire Yu family's strength would increase by at least thirty percent!

In other words, just this one technique was worth far more than merely destroying the Soul Refining Hall—even if half the palace collapsed, or the entire palace fell, and all the stone tablets were destroyed, its value would still far exceed that!

The other party was concentrating on creating techniques, so naturally he would be in a daze... yet he had suspected him, deliberately tested him, and even driven him away...

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had gone too far.

"Luo Fu, didn't Master Zhang's residence collapse? Immediately summon the finest craftsmen in the nation to repair it, and before dawn, build a mansion more magnificent than the imperial palace!"

Turning his head, Yu Shenqing gave the order.

"Yes!" The old eunuch hurried away.

Such a large mansion, with construction and formations, would certainly cost a lot, but so what?

As long as he could apologize and re-establish good relations, it was all worth it!

...

Zhang Xuan didn't know that besides the Master Teacher Academy, the Hongyuan royal family was also going to build him a mansion. By now, he had arrived at Leiyuan Peak.

The towering peak, covered in white snow, seemed very cold and desolate.

He entered the wooden hut where the Purple Sun Beast had previously stayed and sat down cross-legged.

There was still some time before midnight, and Hu Yaoyao and the others hadn't arrived yet, so he could take the opportunity to pass the secret technique of the Void Step realm to his clone and have him raise his strength as well.

"Original body!"

The clone appeared before him.

"What exactly happened with the disguise as Master Yang earlier? How did even the Master Teacher Hall collapse?"

Zhang Xuan asked directly.

Although he had a guess in mind, the power at that time was truly too great, and there were still some things he couldn't figure out.

"It was the effect created by the Fiend using the Sage Confucius's personal writing!"

The clone sent a thought over.

Zhang Xuan immediately understood.

It was not much different from what he had guessed. The Fiend, using the Sage Confucius's personal writing, had indeed made the aura pure, devoid of killing intent, and even more powerful.

At that time, it was by borrowing the other's power that the clone had been so imposing, suppressing Master Mu and the ten elders until they couldn't speak.

With a thought, he took out the Heavenly Dao Scroll containing the Fiend and the Sage Confucius's personal writing.

"Didn't I perform well? I told you, as long as you let me eat this, I could definitely help you pull off something big..."

As soon as it saw him, the Fiend's eyes lit up, and it spoke fawningly.

"Let you eat it, you think too much..."

Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan opened the Sage Confucius's personal writing. Just as he was about to say "you're overthinking it," he suddenly froze and exclaimed, "What's going on?"

He saw that the characters carved on the bamboo slips had disappeared by several hundred, leaving the surface smooth and blank, as if they had been forcibly shaved off with a knife.

There had been characters before; he had personally flipped through it and used the teacher characters to train his mind. How... after just a few days, had they disappeared?

"If I didn't devour these characters, how could I have produced such a powerful aura, enough to crush formations and level houses?"

The Fiend said.

"Devour... you devoured these characters?"

Zhang Xuan's vision went dark.

He had known the clone was unreliable, but he never expected it to be so unreliable when teamed up with the Fiend!

This was the Sage Confucius's personal writing, which contained a set of techniques... Now that you've eaten it, leaving it incomplete, how can I comprehend anything from it!

"Yes!" The Fiend nodded.

Hearing its admission, Zhang Xuan felt like crying but had no tears.

The Sage Confucius's writing—any master teacher who obtained it would preserve it carefully and pass it down to future generations. But he had let it be eaten... If he ever had the chance to meet Sage Confucius, he would surely be filled with shame!

What a mess!

However, since things had already come to this, blaming those two was useless.

After all, at that time, if Master Yang hadn't appeared, failing to explain clearly would have caused even more trouble.

No longer dwelling on it, he carefully examined the scroll. About a third of the characters were missing. In other words, if he wanted to recreate the effect of Yang Xuan's appearance, this scroll could still be used twice!

"Forget it..."

He shook his head.

Although the Sage Confucius's technique was excellent, he had the Heavenly Dao secret manuals; having it or not didn't matter much.

Putting the scroll and the Fiend back into the storage ring, he sent the Void Step realm technique to his clone with a thought.

With a cultivable technique, the clone didn't hesitate and began to cultivate using the Earth Vein Spiritual Liquid.

Taking advantage of the free time, Zhang Xuan also observed his own strength.

His soul power had reached the peak of the Void Step realm, giving him a full 20 million ding of strength. Adding his true qi of 17 million ding and his physical strength of 8 million ding, he now had a total of 45 million ding of strength, not inferior to some who had just stepped into the Half-Saint realm!

At the early Void Step realm, comparable to the early Half-Saint realm—spanning two major levels—even a true War Master would find it hard to match!

After studying for who knows how long, he found that his soul was too strong and his body was lagging behind again, so he stopped cultivating.

This time he didn't stay long. Hearing the sound of spirit beasts flying outside, he knew Hu Yaoyao and the others had arrived. With a thought, he put the clone into the Thousand Ant Beehive, placed the Purple Sun Beast behind the thatched hut, and stood up to go out.