Library of Heaven’s Path

Hu!

The Transcendent Mortal 7-dan aerial spirit beast landed right before the straw cottage. As it withdrew its wings, the massive gale from its movements lifted a cloud of snow from the ground.

Roar!

After descending to the ground, the aerial spirit beast howled.

Had any other beast tamer been here in Zhang Xuan’s place, he would surely have been at a loss as to what was happening. However, fluent in the Ancient Beast Language, Zhang Xuan was able to comprehend the intent he was conveying through the roar.

”Lord, I have carried out your instructions and trapped those master teachers! There are at least three hundred to a thousand of them encircled at the moment, and most of them are injured!” the aerial spirit beast said.

Upon reaching the Transcendent Mortal realm, spirit beasts would acquire intelligence that was on par with humans. Even though they were still incapable of complex arts such as the setting up of formations and forging of weapons, they were already capable of analyzing the situation as a whole and carrying out orders.

Take Zhang Xuan’s tamed beast for example, the Great Violetwing Beast. To exact vengeance for the Draconic Granite Beast, it had wreaked havoc upon the Huanyu Empire Beast Hall multiple times. However, while it was doing so, it would assess the situation before striking. For example, there was a period of time when a 6-star beast tamer was brought in to deal with it, but it wisely chose to steer clear during that period of time, leaving the Beast Hall completely helpless before it.

’As expected, they are intending to deal with the master teachers on the mountain!’

Hearing the words from the aerial spirit beast, Zhang Xuan’s expression turned livid.

Considering how this spirit beast had reached Transcendent Mortal 7-dan and was capable of flight, there were nearly no master teachers on the mountain who possessed the means to rival it on the peak!

Eight out of ten of the examinees were still at the Clarifying Turbidity realm while the rest were mainly at the Consonant Spirit realm. Even though a very small handful such as Brother Yu had reached Cosmos Bridge realm primary stage, they were still far from matching up to this Transcendent Mortal 7-dan spirit beast!

Not to mention, it was ruling over countless savage spirit beasts at that!

Judging from the aerial spirit beast’s report, it seemed the master teachers Zhang Xuan had saved were only a portion of the victims in this scheme.

Considering how these two fellows had actually dared to lay their hands on the freshmen of the Master Teacher Academy, there was an extremely good chance that they had a close relationship with the Otherworldly Demons. Even if that wasn’t the case, it was clear that they were hostile toward humans.

”Well done!”

The Byzantium Helios Beast climbed to its feet, and it slowly walked out of the straw cottage.

Its movements were slow and casual, but it was brimming with power. Zhang Xuan felt as if he were staring into an abyss, leaving him incapable of determining the depths of the other party’s cultivation.

’Eye of Insight!’

Several lines rippled in Zhang Xuan’s eyes as he tried to peer into the other party’s cultivation. But to his shock, he realized that even the Eye of Insight was incapable of seeing through the other party.

’Could this mean that… the Byzantium Helios Beast has reached Transcendent Mortal 9-dan… or even beyond that?’

While Zhang Xuan’s current cultivation was only at Cosmos Bridge realm pinnacle, his fighting prowess was already on par with a Transcendent Mortal 8-dan primary stage cultivator. As such, his Eye of Insight was capable of seeing through the might of a weaker Transcendent Mortal 9-dan spirit beast.

Yet, he was unable to see through the mountain-like fellow before him. Did this mean that the other party had reached a deep mastery in Transcendent Mortal 9-dan? Or perhaps… had the other party surpassed the limits of a Transcendent Mortal already?

Beyond the 9-dans of Transcendent Mortal lay Half-Saint!

A spirit beast of this level was known as a saint beast.

If that was the case, this would explain why Zhang Xuan had never heard of the Byzantium Helios Beast. Given the Huanyu Empire Beast Hall’s tier, there was no one who was sufficiently powerful to record books regarding saint beasts.

Overwhelmed with astonishment, Zhang Xuan accidentally caused a slight disturbance in the surrounding spiritual energy. This action immediately attracted the Byzantium Helios Beast’s attention, and it turned its head over.

Startled, Zhang Xuan hurriedly retracted his gaze and focused his efforts on concealing his presence.

With Zhang Xuan’s current ability, even dealing with a Transcendent Mortal 8-dan spirit beast would pose a huge threat, needless to say a Half-Saint beast!

With the incredible pure Heaven’s Path zhenqi and his refined control over his physical body, Zhang Xuan was able to conceal his presence thoroughly. Even a Saint would find it hard to notice him.

After glancing over momentarily, the Byzantium Helios Beast didn’t seem to notice anything of interest, so it chose to turn its attention back to the aerial spirit beast.

”Has any master teachers noticed yet?” the Byzantium Helios Beast asked.

”Not yet. However, the two hundred master teachers trapped at Heaven’s Thread have been saved by someone, and…”

At this point, the aerial spirit beast suddenly stopped. Its face was marked with hesitance, and it seemed as if he could hardly believe what he was about to say as well.

”And what?”

The Byzantium Helios Beast gazed deeply at the aerial spirit beast, and in that instant, it felt as if the sky was pressing down on them.

’Saint beast!’

Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows leaped in shock.

Even though his gaze was no longer on the duo for fear of being noticed, he was familiar with this immense pressure. It was something he had felt from Elder Mo before the commencement of the entrance examination!

In other words, the other party wasn’t a Half-Saint or a Nascent Saint but a true Saint!

To think that it was a Saint who had plotted the scheme against the examinees…

Cold sweat immediately trickled down Zhang Xuan’s back!

Even if all of the examinees were to gather at this spot, they would still be no match for the other party! This was the immense might that a true Saint possessed!

”Furthermore, all of the spirit beasts assigned to Heaven’s Thread have terminated communications with me. It seems that… they have betrayed us!” the aerial spirit beast reported.

”They have terminated communications? To dare betray me, they sure are brazen…”

The Byzantium Helios Beast narrowed its eyes. ”Who are they? I’ll teach them a lesson after this matter comes to an end!”

”It’s the Bluebacked Ferocious Bear, Steelfang Panther, Southern Yellow Tiger, Metal-arm Ape… These, and the Anthive Myriad Queen as well!” the aerial spirit beast said.

After hearing that even the Myriad Anthive Queen had terminated communications as well, the Byzantium Helios Beast asked seriously, ”The Myriad Anthive Queen as well? Have you looked into the matter yet?”

The Myriad Anthive Queen was the source of its information. Even with the prowess of a Saint, the Byzantium Helios Beast was still unable to extend its radar across the entire Leiyuan Peak to keep track of the movements of the master teachers.

”I suspect that it has been killed!” the aerial spirit beast replied. ”After losing communications with the Anthive Queen, I flew to its nest and saw two master teachers snooping suspiciously around the area with a Beastscale Incense in hand…”

”Beastscale Incense? That artifact has the effect of inducing drowsiness in one. Are they intending to lay their hands on the Anthive Queen?” The Byzantium Helios Beast roared furiously, and the pressure pushing down on the mountain peak suddenly intensified, as if reflecting its rage.

”I’m afraid that seems to be the case. After knocking the two fellows out, I combed through the cavern, and while I saw marks of battle, I wasn’t able to find the Anthive Queen itself. Thus, I took their storage rings thinking that I might find traces of the Anthive Queen inside.”

Under the rage of the Byzantium Helios Beast, the aerial spirit beast hurriedly explained with a trembling body, ”As a spirit beast, I don’t possess zhenqi, so I am unable to access the storage ring to ascertain whether the Anthive Queen has been captured or killed by them.”

Following which, the aerial spirit beast raised its giant claws, and two storage rings came flying toward the Byzantium Helios Beast.

There were two conditions to opening a storage ring. First, one had to be the owner of the storage ring, or the storage ring had to be ownerless. Second, one had to possess zhenqi. For some reason, the Byzantium Helios Beast had ordered them strictly against killing any of the master teachers in this operation, so Senior Feng and Brother Yu were still alive. On top of that, he didn’t possess zhenqi, so he was unable to access the interiors of the storage ring.

”Allow me to take a look!”

While the rules above applied for most cases, with its immense might as a saint beast, the Byzantium Helios Beast could still access the storage ring through brute force. After grabbing hold of the rings, it placed its massive claws on it.

Following which, an overwhelmingly powerful soul seeped into the storage ring.

A moment later, the Byzantium Helios Beast shook its head and said, ”The Myriad Anthive Queen isn’t inside, and there is no inner core either. Most likely, it managed to escape from them. You should try looking for it once more.”

”Yes!” Hearing that its companion was fine, the aerial spirit beast heaved a sigh of relief.

While the Soul Imprints were forcefully wiped off the storage rings, two unconscious figures lying halfway up the mountain suddenly spurted blood simultaneously before waking up.

They were Brother Yu and Senior Feng, who had been knocked out by the aerial spirit beast just a moment ago.

The forceful erasure of their Soul Imprints had inflicted internal injuries on them, leaving them with splitting headaches.

”My clothes and storage ring…”

Lowering their heads, the duo suddenly froze for an instant before their bodies started trembling.

Fearing that they might have hidden some other storage rings on them, the aerial spirit beasts had taken away their clothes as well. As a result, not only were the possessions of the duo taken away, they were also stark naked at the moment.

”What the heck is this?”

They were there to hunt spirit beasts, but to think that they would end up being stripped clean by the other party instead…

They would have understood it if it had just been their storage rings, but for their clothes to have been taken away as well… What the heck was going on?

Could it be that… the spirit beasts weren’t just interested their possessions but their bodies as well?

With such a thought in mind, the duo hurriedly turned their gazes downward to look at their own bodies. Seeing that there were no signs of being taken advantage of, the duo heaved a slight sigh of relief. This was perhaps their only blessing amidst this misfortune.

It was only a while earlier that Brother Yu had declared confidently that he would compete with Zhang Xuan to see who was the superior one when such a situation occurred. How was he supposed to emerge victorious in such a state?

Putting aside competing with Zhang Xuan, he didn’t even have a single inner core, putting him at risk of failing the examination!

What the heck was this!

While the other master teachers were gathering the skin, bones, and even inner cores of the spirit beasts, they were losing their storage rings and clothes…

It was fortunate that no one had seen them in their current state. Otherwise, they would have been too ashamed to face the world.

Standing up, Brother Yu hurriedly searched for a sufficiently large tree leaf to conceal his private parts. After which, with an indignant expression on his face, he said, ”Let’s quickly hunt down a few spirit beasts to make some clothes first… We can decide what to do afterward!”

”Yes!”

Senior Feng nodded in agreement.

The urgent matter at hand was to find something to wear. It was embarrassing to run around with one’s bottom bare in public, even if there was no one around!

”It is fortunate that the Beastscale Incense is still here. With this, we can hunt even Cosmos Bridge realm spirit beasts easily…”

After wrapping a layer of tree leaves around his waist, Brother Yu looked around the area and saw a half-burnt Beastscale Incense lying in the vicinity. It seemed that the spirit beast who had attacked them hadn’t taken it away from them.

Seeing that he still had this artifact with him, he immediately heaved a sigh of relief.

As long as he still had the Beastscale Incense, there was still a chance that he could make a comeback.

After all, while Zhang shi might not be weak, defeating a Cosmos Bridge realm primary stage spirit beast would likely be his limit. On the other hand, with the Beastscale Incense, they could easily hunt down any Cosmos Bridge realm spirit beast and procure their inner cores.

”Let’s hurry!”

After covering whatever that needed to carry with leaves and vines, the duo hurriedly headed to the top of the mountain.

The higher up the mountain, the more likely it was that they would encounter stronger spirit beasts. With half of the time gone, their only hope of making a comeback was to go for quality instead of quantity.

As they flitted swiftly through the forest, the leaves on their waists swayed, revealing a sight consisting of both fairness and darkness…

…

”As long as the Myriad Anthive Queen is still alive, it will surely send its Myriad Ants to liaise with us soon. But until that happens, you’ll have to fill in for it and ensure that everything goes according to plan!”

At the pinnacle of Leiyuan Peak, the Byzantium Helios Beast gave the aerial spirit beast its orders.

The aerial spirit beast nodded its massive head and confidently replied, ”Don’t worry!”

Without the Myriad Anthive Queen to relay messages here and there, they could only depend on this aerial spirit beast to scout the area and relay messages around.

”You can leave now!”

The Byzantium Helios Beast waved its massive claws.

”Yes!” The aerial spirit beast nodded before spreading its wings and soaring into the sky. After a short moment, it had already disappeared from view.

After the departure of the aerial spirit beast, the Byzantium Helios Beast’s body tightened, and its massive body floated up slightly. It turned its head to the side to glance at a certain direction with a sharp gleam in its eyes.

”That fellow hiding over there, you can come out now!”

This wasn’t spoken in the Ancient Beast Language but in the human tongue.

”So, I have been noticed…”

The Byzantium Helios Beast was looking directly at where Zhang Xuan was hiding. Realizing that he had been spotted, Zhang Xuan’s body stiffened, and the blood running through his veins froze.

He thought that he had done a good job hiding his presence, but to think that… he was still discovered!