The altar had been specially crafted by a method known only to the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, and it required the Zhenqi of Slaughter to activate. More importantly, it concerned a secret of the soul oracles, so how could a master teacher possibly be able to activate it?
The Qingtian Emperor felt as if he was going insane.
Others might not have known how fearsome the altar was, but he did.
Once it was activated, it could draw even the Primordial Spirit of a Leaving Aperture realm expert into it easily!
Tzzzzzzzz!
Before the Qingtian Emperor could even give any further thought to the situation he was in, he suddenly felt the suction force growing stronger and stronger. Despite his resistance, his soul was slowly dragged by the suction force, seemingly about to be taken over to the other side at any moment.
"You are courting death!" Frightened and alarmed, the Qingtian Emperor bellowed furiously. At this point, he was fully aware that he had fallen for the young man's schemes.
He swiftly extended his soul energy toward the will floating in the air, wanting to grab and destroy it.
However, the will seemed to be completely unaffected by the suction of the altar. It leisurely made its way back into the Soulless Golden Body.
Not expecting the other party to escape from his grasp, the Qingtian Emperor's rage crescendoed. "Humph, I am the creator of the Soulless Metal Humanoid. It takes nothing more than a mere thought for me to claim your life!"
With a furious roar, the Qingtian Emperor swiftly sealed the pores of the Soulless Metal Humanoid, preventing the young man's soul from escaping it. After which, he sent the energy harnessed within the metal humanoid into chaos, putting it on the verge of explosion.
As the creator of the Soulless Metal Humanoid, he was able to have it explode at his whim.
This was the exact same method that Zhang Xuan had used to subdue the Jadeleaf King back then.
"There's no need for you to go through so much trouble," said Zhang Xuan nonchalantly. Following which, with a resounding 'puhe!', the Soulless Metal Humanoid was abruptly ripped in two down the middle.
A massive ten-meter-tall soul appeared from within the body.
It should have been impossible for any soul to escape once the pores of the Soulless Metal Humanoid were sealed. However, by abruptly enlarging his soul by undoing the Heavenly Art of Dimension Unravel, Zhang Xuan managed to tear the metal humanoid in two.
Seeing Zhang Xuan decisively tearing the Soulless Metal Humanoid in two, the Qingtian Emperor widened his eyes in astonishment. "T-this is your soul? H-how is it so big?"
As a soul oracle, he understood the significance of the size of a soul, and the one before him was actually ten meters large! Just how much soul energy could that ten-meters large soul possibly contain?
"This is impossible! No, wait a moment! You are a soul oracle?" Realization suddenly struck the Qingtian Emperor as his mouth widened in shock.
Only a soul oracle could possibly possess such an enormous soul, but wasn't the other party a master teacher? How could a master teacher possibly be a soul oracle?
The Qingtian Emperor felt as if his mind was going to blow from the insanity unfolding before his eyes.
It had been countless years since the heritage of the soul oracles had disappeared from the face of the world. He had needed to pay a heavy price before he managed to lay his hands on a couple of soul arts, but who would have thought a master teacher as talented as the other party would actually be a full-fledged soul oracle? This was truly a shocker!
"Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything much." Watching as the Qingtian Emperor went into a frenzy from the situation, Zhang Xuan consoled him insincerely as he slowly made his way over to the other party's immobile body. With a thought, his soul swiftly shrunk back to the size of a human before diving into the glabella of the immobile body.
"W-what are you trying to do?"
This sight immediately sent the Qingtian Emperor into a panic.
That was his body! If the other party were to possess his body, his soul would have nowhere else to go!
"What am I doing? Like I told you, I am not doing anything much. Didn't you teach me how to utilize a Soulless Metal Humanoid earlier? I'm just trying to see if it will work on your body since the Soulless Metal Humanoid you gave me earlier has exploded."
As Zhang Xuan spoke, his soul successfully entered the Qingtian Emperor's body. A moment later, the eyes of the immobile body opened, and it began stretching its neck lazily.
"Hmm, not bad. Feels much better than the Soulless Metal Humanoid!" The 'Qingtian Emperor' smiled in delight before casually waving his hand at the soul on the altar.
Boom!
Killing intent burst into the surroundings as immense might poured forth like the relentless rapid tides of a river.
Feeling the strength harnessed within the body, Zhang Xuan could not help but remark, "How powerful!"
Even though he had roughly twenty Otherworldly Demon puppets in his storage ring, they came nowhere close to competing with the one he was currently possessing. To make an analogy, if the strength of the Otherworldly Demon puppets was only a little pond, the body he was currently possessing would be an endless sea!
"You" The Qingtian Emperor felt as if he would explode from rage.
He was an Emperor of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, but not only did he fall for the ploys of a mere human, more importantly, the latter even used his own body to attack his soul!
Be it his body or his soul, he could not afford to have either of them injured!
"Damn it!" Knowing that he would die if he did not protect himself, the Qingtian Emperor swiftly gathered his soul energy together and formed a devastating force that clashed with Zhang Xuan's slap.
Boom!
The collision ended with the physical body that Zhang Xuan controlled consecutively retreating eight steps.
He's a True Leaving Aperture realm expert! Zhang Xuan's face darkened.
He had thought that the Qingtian Emperor would be at Quasi Leaving Aperture realm as well, the same as Hall Master Xing and Pavilion Master Gou, but who knew that he would be a True Leaving Aperture realm expert, one who had undergone the lightning ordeal!
The souls of soul oracles were of the yin attribute, making it more difficult for them to clear the lightning ordeal compared to ordinary Primordial Spirits. The fact that the Qingtian Emperor had been able to succeed went to show that he possessed exceptional talent in cultivation.
"Come out of my body!" Ignoring Zhang Xuan's shock, the Qingtian Emperor's soul rushed forward and launched another wave of attacks. In an instant, Zhang Xuan felt the air freezing around him, making it difficult for him to move.
This was a method similar to what he had faced from Pavilion Master Gou during the pavilion crashing a few days earlier, but its might was several times stronger.
If Pavilion Master Gou had been able to draw forth such strength as well, he would have admitted defeat on the spot, thus resulting in the failure of his pavilion crashing.
After his body was bound in place, Zhang Xuan quickly felt a powerful suction force tugging at his soul, attempting to forcefully pull his soul out from the body.
"Calm down, calm down. I'll come out, alright?" Knowing that the Qingtian Emperor would not rest until his soul was out of the other party's body, Zhang Xuan shook his head. He quickly raised his fist and struck his own chest forcefully.
Peng!
Zhang Xuan was knocked back from the sheer impact of that strike, and a mouthful of crimson blood spewed from his mouth. That single strike had nearly killed the body on the spot.
"You!" the Qingtian Emperor roared furiously.
Can you get any more shameless than that?
That's my body!
Peng!
Flustered, the Qingtian Emperor watched helplessly as the other party sank another palm into his body.
Pu!
More fresh blood spurted into the air.
"Stop it, stop it!" Tightly bound by the altar, the Qingtian Emperor's soul was unable to break free and protect his body at all. Completely powerless, he could only shout again and again.
At this rate, his body might really be utterly destroyed from the young man's self-harming. Even if he survived the ordeal, his cultivation would surely suffer a sharp decline!
"You stop first, and then I'll stop." Ignoring the Qingtian Emperor's bellows, Zhang Xuan continued striking his body relentlessly.
"Fine, fine, I'll stop!" With a look dyed with hatred, the Qingtian Emperor gritted his teeth as he reluctantly retracted his hand.
He had no choice but to stop, or else the young man might just destroy his body for good. If so, it would be meaningless even if he managed to force the other party out of his body.
Boom!
However, right after he retracted his control over the surrounding space, freeing the young man to move as he pleased, the Qingtian Emperor suddenly saw a palm enlarging swiftly before him.
It seemed like the other party had no intention of stopping even when he did
"You @#%" the Qingtian Emperor cursed frenziedly.
When had he, the Emperor of the Qingtian Lineage, ever suffered such grievances?
There was no way out of this situation at all! The other party would kill his body if he made a move, but if he did not make a move, the other party would continue attacking his soul. He was doomed no matter what he did!
"Stop! I'm telling you to stop!" the Qingtian Emperor howled furiously as he gathered his soul energy once more to fend off the young man's offense.
However, before the palm strike could reach him, the young man abruptly changed the trajectory of the palm strike to hit himself instead.
Pu pu pu!
The strike was far more vicious this time around. Fresh blood spurted wildly all over the place, a sign that the organs of the body might have sustained irreparable damage.
Panicked, the Qingtian Emperor quickly withdrew his strength to appease the young man, only to see the other party sending yet another palm strike toward him.
""
Unable to retaliate, the Qingtian Emperor felt his soul gradually growing weaker and weaker.
To think that he, a Leaving Aperture realm expert and one of the very few soul oracles existing in the world, would be cornered by a Saint 2-dan brat to this extent! He really felt his sanity being challenged!
How can there be such a shameless person in the world?
Aren't you a master teacher?
Shouldn't master teachers be righteous and honest?
How could you possess my body and hold it hostage as you attack my soul?
This is unfair! Really, really unfair! How am I supposed to fight against that?
I can't let this continue! At this rate, either my soul will dissipate, or my body will be crippled! the Qingtian Emperor thought grimly.
Admittedly, the young man's underhanded measures were truly effective. By holding his body hostage, there was no way he would dare make a move against the young man, thus allowing the young man to freely attack his soul.
The Qingtian Emperor racked his mind for a solution to get him out of the quandary he was in, but nothing came to mind. Eventually, as his soul gradually sustained more and more damage, he lost the strength to withstand the suction force from the altar, and 'hu!', he disappeared into the altar.
Watching as the other party was absorbed into the other side of the altar, Zhang Xuan's eyes suddenly widened in alarm. Sh*t!
He suddenly realized that he had made a mistake.
He had used the suction force of the altar to limit the Qingtian Emperor's movements, but he had neglected the fact that his physical body was still lying on the other side. If the Qingtian Emperor made a move against his body in the meantime, he would be in deep trouble.
I must quickly make my way over as well!
Knowing that there was no time to lose, Zhang Xuan quickly drew his soul out of the Qingtian Emperor's body and stowed the body into a storage ring.
He had come over in his soul form, so he did not have his storage ring with him. As such, he used the Qingtian Emperor's one instead.
Without wasting any time, he quickly hid the storage ring at a secret location before swiftly traveling through the altar as well.
Hula!
With a brilliant flash of light, Zhang Xuan vanished as well.
Hu!
The Qingtian Emperor's soul appeared in the underground chamber.
"What's that?"
"Is that a soul oracle?"
As the Qingtian Emperor's soul harnessed overwhelming yin energy, it was swiftly noticed by Wu shi and the others as soon as it traveled over, and they swiftly rose to their feet in alarm.
Why are there so many master teachers here?
Out of worry, Wu shi had called for around thirty master teachers from the Master Teacher Pavilion to guard Zhang Xuan while he was cultivating and explore the underground chamber for clues, but who knew that the Qingtian Emperor would suddenly appear at this moment?
If they capture me, I will be doomed! Goosebumps rose all over the Qingtian Emperor's body.
In his injured state, there was no way he could match so many master teacher simultaneously. Even as a Leaving Aperture realm expert, he could very well lose his life.
Just as the Qingtian Emperor was scanning his surroundings to formulate a countermeasure, he suddenly caught sight of Zhang Xuan's unmoving body, and a sharp glint surfaced in his eyes. Wait a moment, isn't that his body? Hahaha, wonderful! Since you possessed my body, I shall take yours as well!
'Sou!', he swiftly flitted his way over.
Since you were the one who started it, don't blame me for this!
Let's see who will have the last laugh!