Chapter 986: Waterleaf King
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
One thing he could be sure at this moment was that the other party had already uncovered his identity.
But... his disguise should have been flawless! How could someone possibly see through it?
Could it be that the other party possessed a cultivation more fearsome than him?
"Of course not! If a sip of wine can allay your fears, I am more than willing to do so." With a light smile, the disguised Otherworldly Demon swiftly concealed his loss of composure a moment ago.
Taking the gourd from Zhang Xuan’s hands, he began assessing the wine carefully with narrowed eyes.
For the other party to offer him a gourd of wine after uncovering his true identity, it was hard to believe that there was nothing wrong with the wine.
Activating his Spiritual Perception, he swiftly swept through the contents of the wine, and the result left a deep frown on his forehead.
The conclusion he received was that the gourd was filled with nothing more than ordinary wine. If there was anything peculiar about it, it was just that it was richly infused with spiritual energy.
The disguised Waterleaf King hesitated for a moment, and eventually, he still felt that it was better to be safe than sorry. Thus, he passed the gourd back to Zhang Xuan, took out a jade bottle, and said, "I’m afraid that I don’t fancy the wine you brought too much. Let’s drink mine instead."
This bottle of wine was his personal possession, so he could be confident that there was nothing wrong with it.
Lifting up the jade bottle, the disguised Otherworldly Demon was just about to uncork the cap and take a drink when Zhang Xuan suddenly stepped forward to grab the bottle, "You don’t like the wine I brought you? Let me take a look at what you have in here then."
After saying those words, Zhang Xuan uncorked the cap.
The rich aroma of alcohol burst forth from the bottle. It was indeed far better than the wine he had in the gourd earlier.
"Fine wine indeed! It is no wonder you aren’t interested in the one I have. Here!" Zhang Xuan took a swift glance at it before passing it back, not making any peculiar actions at all.
"Un." Taking everything into sight, the disguised Otherworldly Demon heaved a sigh of relief when he confirmed that the other party hadn’t done anything to the wine in the bottle. He took the bottle back from Zhang Xuan’s hand and took a sip from it.
"Alright, shall we head to a tavern together and drink our hearts away?" the disguised Otherworldly Demon said with a smile.
"Of course!" Zhang Xuan nodded.
"Lord..." Seeing that the esteemed guest which they were supposed to be escorting leaving the area to drink with someone else, the two guards standing beside the disguised Otherworldly Demon glanced at one another in confusion.
Isn’t he here to participate in the auction? Why is he leaving before the auction has even started?
"The both of you can head in first. I will return swiftly." The disguised Otherworldly Demon waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Yes!" Seeing that the other party had already made up his mind, the guards hesitated for a moment before nodding.
Even their master had to obey the commands of the man before them, so naturally, they dared not to go against the other party’s orders either.
"Let’s go!" Seeing that the other party was done, Zhang Xuan took the lead, and before long, they were out of Inkcloud Quarter.
Walking along the streets, they soon arrived at a remote alley.
Seeing that there was no one around, the Otherworldly Demon couldn’t hold himself back any longer. Rushing forward to block Zhang Xuan’s path, he asked with a cold glint in his eyes, "Who in the world are you?"
"Me? I am just an ordinary human. On the other hand... for an Otherworldly Demon like you to be walking in public disguised as a human, you sure are brazen!"
At which, Zhang Xuan’s lips curled up, "Isn’t that so, Waterleaf King?"
"Y-you... Just who are you?"
The disguised Otherworldly Demon raised his palm and closed it, and a torrent of zhenqi sealed the space in the surroundings. A powerful surge of killing intent burst into the area, and all a sudden, the entire street seemed to have turned into a living hell.
From the moment he realized that the other party had uncovered his true identity, he had already decided to kill the other party.
"Who am I?" Zhang Xuan shook his head. "You aren’t qualified to know who I am!"
"Unwilling to speak? Fine by me too. I have no interest in learning a dead man’s name either!" The Waterleaf King roared furiously as his claws swiped at Zhang Xuan with frightening swiftness.
Huala!
A burst of devastating zhenqi rose up like waves of the ocean. Under the tremendous might of the Waterleaf King, the streets creaked wildly, ready to collapse at any moment.
From the great strength that the Waterleaf King was able to harness, Zhang Xuan could tell that he was not at Saint 1-dan or 2-dan, but... 4-dan!
Primordial Spirit realm!
"You want to kill me?" Zhang Xuan stood calmly in face of the other party’s attack, not surprised at all. Instead, he chuckled softly and said, "I am afraid that you don’t have the ability to do so... Lie down!"
Just like what he did back at Inkcloud Quarter, he snapped his fingers as he said those words.
Padah!
In the next moment, the powerful Waterleaf King’s body abruptly stiffened before crashing forcefully into the ground. The immense might he had commanded a moment ago vanished like the receding tide. Lying on the floor, he coughed huge mouthfuls of blood.
"Y-you... poisoned me?" In the narrowed eyes of the Waterleaf King, his disbelief was apparent.
He had made sure to proceed warily, opting not to consume the other party’s wine even after confirming that it hadn’t been spiked. Yet, despite all of the preventive measures he had done, he still ended up being poisoned!
"Of course! How can I deal with a powerful King like you without resorting to certain means?" Zhang Xuan said with a smile.
Through his Eye of insight, he could only see that the other party was an Otherworldly Demon. He only managed to confirm the other party’s identity through his Library of Heaven’s Path.
His first gesture to hug the other party had forced the other party to drive his zhenqi to knock him away, and that had allowed him to a compile a book on the other party in the Library of Heaven’s Path.
To his astonishment, the disguised Otherworldly Demon was actually an Otherworldly Demon King like the Goldenleaf King and Greenleaf King whom he killed at the Subterranean Gallery previously... Waterleaf King!
A powerful Saint 4-dan expert!
For a powerful King like the other party to actually be hidden amongst the human populace... If he didn’t stop the other party, it could very well end in a disaster!
Even the utter destruction of Jingyuan City was possible!
Even with Zhang Xuan’s current strength, it was unlikely that he would be able to fare well against the Waterleaf King. Relying on his Otherworldly Demon puppets was a plausible option, but even if he was able to kill the other party through such a mean, it would still stir up a huge commotion which would hinder his goal of finding a poison master. To be safe, he chose to lure the other party to drinking his wine instead.
Hidden within the wine was his Heaven’s Path zhenqi. With just a single thought from him, it could be instantaneously turned into lethal poison.
The Waterleaf King was indeed smart, adamantly choosing not to drink his wine. However, even a person as wary as the other party couldn’t have imagined that he would be able to poison the wine just by touching the jade bottle.
Due to the incredible purity of the Heaven’s Path zhenqi, it was able to seep through the miniature pores in the jade bottle. In the moment that Zhang Xuan took the jade bottle, he discreetly infused a few surges of Heaven’s Path zhenqi into the wine. Furthermore, the Heaven’s Path zhenqi would only appear as ordinary spiritual energy when scanned through Spiritual Perception.
But of course, the main reason why he was able to get the Waterleaf King to put his guard down was because it was inconceivable!
Even the most formidable of poison masters would have to use poison powder, gu insects, or something of that sort in order to poison another. For one’s zhenqi to actually harness lethal poison... that was unthinkable!
"You... I will bring you down with me!" Seeing the other party admit to it, the Waterleaf King’s face turned red. With a furious roar, he smacked his palm against the ground to push his body up and charged right towards Zhang Xuan.
But before he could strike, Zhang Xuan uttered, "Down!"
Boom!
With a snap of the fingers, the Waterleaf King fell vertically from the sky and landed heavily on the ground. Cold sweat trickled from his forehead.
At this point, the Heaven’s Path zhenqi had already infiltrated all of the acupoints and organs of the Waterleaf King’s body. With just a thought, Zhang Xuan would be able to kill him instantaneously. In terms of lethality, not even grade-7 poison could compare to it. As powerful as the Waterleaf King was, he was also completely helpless before it.
"What kind of poison is this?" Realizing that something was amiss, the Waterleaf King widened his eyes in horror.
In order to ensure the success of his mission, he had made sure to consume many antidotes beforehand so as to render them ineffective against him. Typically speaking, ordinary poisons should be completely ineffective on him.
It was one thing for him to have not noticed when he was poisoned, but to be unable to feel the poison when it was already in his body... that was really a little frightening.
Could it be that he had already been poisoned by a 7-star poison master even before the start of his mission?
But wasn’t the most capable poison master in the Hongyuan Empire Poison Hall only at 6-star?
Not responding to the other party’s question, Zhang Xuan stepped forward and tapped on the other party’s body several times, sealing his cultivation.
He had already found the other party’s weaknesses through the Library of Heaven’s Path, and his Heaven’s Path zhenqi had curbed the other party’s movements. Thus, subduing the other party wasn’t particularly difficult.
After sealing the Waterleaf King’s cultivation, Zhang Xuan glanced at the other party’s mouth and abruptly closed his hand. In the next moment, a small pill flew out from the other party’s mouth, and he caught it with a wax paper.
"You..." Seeing the other party retrieving the pill from his mouth, the Waterleaf King’s face warped in astonishment.
The pill was a final resort were he to captured by an enemy so as to prevent any secrets from leaking out.
Other than the other Otherworldly Demon Kings who were carrying out similar missions as well, no one was aware of the existence of the pill... Just who was the person before him?!
It was one thing to know his name, but how could the other party be aware of such a confidential secret as well?
"You should know what to do now!" After destroying the poisonous pill in the wax paper, Zhang Xuan turned his gaze back to the Waterleaf King.
The Goldenleaf King and Greenleaf King had committed suicide through that pill after he subdued them the previous time around. Unwilling to allow history to repeat itself, he was prepared this time around.
"Speak! What is your purpose at Jingyuan City?" Zhang Xuan questioned grimly.
"You want me to betray my tribesmen? Dream on!" The Waterleaf King gritted his teeth.
"Refusing to budge? I see..." Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up. He placed his finger on the other party’s body and began sending a surge of zhenqi into the other party’s body.
Tzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
As soon as the zhenqi entered the Waterleaf King’s body, he immediately felt as if his entire body had been bitten by thousands and thousands of poisonous bugs, evoking an unbearable sharp pain throughout his body.
If the pain had just been limited to his body, it would still have been tolerable for him. However, that surge of zhenqi which the other party infused into his body seemed to exert an overwhelming pressure on his soul as well, threatening to rip his soul apart.
"You want me to submit to a lower lifeform like you? Impossible!" Clenching his jaws tightly to bear with the pain, the Waterleaf King roared furiously.
In the next moment, his body abruptly bloated up with an inflated balloon.
"What?" Upon seeing the other party’s state, Zhang Xuan’s face warped in shock.
He quickly hastened the infusion of zhenqi, intending to suppress whatever the other party was about to do. However, in the next second, the other party’s body abruptly began withering at a visible pace. Following which, a soul which bore the same form as the Waterleaf King flew out from the other party’s glabella.
"Is this a soul?"
Feeling the powerful aura emanating from the soul, Zhang Xuan was taken aback for a moment before his eyes narrowed in alarm. "No, it isn’t just a soul. It is... a Primordial Spirit!"
At Saint 4-dan Primordial Spirit realm, a cultivator would have tempered his Embryonic Soul into a Primordial Spirit. Similar to the souls of soul oracles, Primordial Spirits were able to exist independently from the body. They could easily cover great distances within a short period of time, and they wielded the power to decapitate another with just a single thought.
The Waterleaf King’s physical body and cultivation had been suppressed by his Heaven’s Path zhenqi, and in a moment of panic, he decisively abandoned his physical body and charged out in the form as his Primordial Spirit.
However, a cultivator’s Primordial Spirit would still be in an unstable form before reaching Saint 5-dan. A forceful separation from the body before then could potentially cause the body to die, and it would be difficult for the unstable Primordial Spirit to survive for extended periods of time alone as well.
"Even at the expense of my life, I will drag you down to the netherworld with me..." Roaring frenziedly, the Waterleaf King charged at Zhang Xuan savagely.
Under the current circumstances, it was unlikely that he would be getting out of here alive. Since that was the case, he could very well use a companion on his trip to the netherworld!
Despite the other party’s mysterious means, he was only a Nascent Saint with a weak soul. As long as his Primordial Spirit were to charge into the other party’s body, he would be able to tear the other party’s soul into shreds easily!
Hu!
Before Zhang Xuan could react, the Waterleaf King’s Primordial Spirit had already slipped into his glabella, causing Zhang Xuan’s body to freeze altogether.
After entering Zhang Xuan’s body, the Waterleaf King was just about to devour the other party’s soul when he abruptly saw a mountain-like silhouette before his eyes.
"Hahaha, I shall devour you whole... The heck, what is this?"
The Waterleaf King’s eyes widened in astonishment.