Hula!
Amid intense wobbling, Zhang Xuan crashed down onto the floor and spurted a mouthful of blood.
Just like the previous time around, he felt his entire body aching as if it had been ripped apart many times over. Multiple lacerations could be seen all over his body.
In truth, with his current strength, it should have been impossible for him to construct a Teleportation Formation. However, knowing that the matter with Zhao Ya could not be delayed, he could only take a gamble and face Zhan shi and the other elders' attack face on, hoping to successfully redirect the force into the formation to activate it.
Fortunately, things did work out as planned.
The combined might of the elders of the Sanctum of Sages formed a surge of energy that even the Saint 9-dan pinnacle Inferno Qilin was unable to withstand. With such immense power being infused into the formation, the formation immediately received sufficient energy to be activated.
It was with this that Zhang Xuan managed to flee from that dire situation.
But while the activation of the Teleportation Formation was a success, he also sustained unprecedentedly severe injuries in the midst of carrying out his plan.
Putting aside the severe vertigo caused by the long-distance teleportation, just the redirection of the elders' attack was more than sufficient to make his innards churn around, inflicting grievous internal injuries on him.
Furthermore, while he did redirect the attack away from him, lingering shockwaves from it still managed to slip into his body, gnawing at him from within. Even with the Heaven's Path zhenqi, it would be hard for him to recover quickly.
Peng!
Zhang Xuan tried to struggle to his feet when he heard another dull thud beside him. Turning his head over, he saw that Chen Leyao had fallen beside him. Her injuries were astonishingly more severe than his.
Her body was covered with cuts, and her breathing was very weak. It seemed as if she might stop breathing at any moment.
No matter what, she was only at the Leaving Aperture realm. While the Teleportation Formation that Zhang Xuan had created was far more stable than that of other Teleportation Formation, it still was not something that she was able to endure.
In view of this, Zhang Xuan had tried his best to cover her with a thick layer of his zhenqi so as to protect her during the teleportation, but it seemed like he had still underestimated the strain of the teleportation.
He quickly looked at Chen Leyao's condition, and after confirming that her injuries were treatable and would not leave behind any permanent issues, he heaved a sigh of relief.
What a relief
He slowly stood up, but as soon as he began moving, his injuries relapsed, causing him to spurt two mouthfuls of blood.
This was probably the worst injury that he had sustained ever since he started cultivating.
He struggled his way up to Chen Leyao, and with a few flicks of his fingers, he sent several surges of zhenqi into her meridians, mending her wounds.
Watching as her complexion gradually improved and her wounds closed up, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief before quickly treating himself.
He spent ten minutes driving his zhenqi three circulations around his body before the excruciating strain that he felt in his body finally alleviated considerably.
While he had not fully recovered yet, he could already move around without much problem.
I should stop taking such risks in the future, or else I really might lose my life like that one day, Zhang Xuan thought.
Just thinking of what he had gone through was enough to leave his heart beating in trepidation. Everything turned out well in the end, but had he made the slightest mistake, he could have lost it all then.
It was reassuring to see that Lady Luck was still shining down on him.
He turned his gaze to look at Chen Leyao once more and saw that the latter was still unconscious. Nevertheless, her breathing had steadied considerably, and those glaring wounds from before had already vanished.
With a flick of his wrist, he took out a pack of silver needles, and after infusing his zhenqi into them, he inserted them all over her body.
Having read all of the 8-star physician manuals in the Sanctum of Sages, even without using the Library of Heaven's Path, he possessed abilities on par with a 9-star physician. Chen Leyao had only fainted due to the trauma from the jolt in the spatial disturbance. With her injuries out of the way, it was not too difficult to rouse her consciousness.
As expected, the moment that the silver needles were inserted, Chen Leyao's eyebrows fluttered for a moment before she slowly opened her eyes.
She was dazed for a moment before she slowly sat up and gazed at her surroundings with a wondrous look on her face, muttering, "I'm still alive"
The severe pressure that had pressed down on her during the teleportation had left her feeling as if death was swiftly encroaching on her, and she had never thought that she would survive the ordeal.
Hearing Chen Leyao's response, Zhang Xuan chuckled softly. "I'm around. How could I possibly allow you to depart to the other world under my watch?"
Then, his tone turned slightly more serious before continuing. "Alright, I need you to help me see where we currently are and how far we are from the Glacier Plain Court!"
"Un." Chen Leyao nodded as she got to her feet. With a leap, she headed into the sky and scanned her surroundings. A look of disbelief crept onto her face as she exclaimed, "This is the suburbs of the City of Glacier? We managed to get here so quickly?"
The first experience at teleportation would often leave one with a feeling of spatial and temporal disorientation. Even Zhang Xuan was no exception to this rule, let alone her.
"City of Glacier?" Hearing that this foreign term, Zhang Xuan frowned. "How far is that from the Glacier Plain Court headquarters?"
He had strictly followed the directions given by Chen Leyao during the construction of the Teleportation Formation. Could something have gone wrong?
Noticing the frown between Zhang Xuan's brows, Chen Leyao quickly clarified, "The Glacier Plain Court headquarters is right within the City of Glacier. There's a Sect Formation that prevents any outsiders from teleporting right into the city, so the coordinates that I gave you were the suburbs instead. I really didn't think that you would be able to teleport here so accurately!"
As one of the top powers on the Master Teacher Continent, there was no way it would allow unidentified personnel to teleport straight into their sect. If they had really attempted that, they might have lost their lives before they could even get to the young court chief.
However, Teleportation Formations were known to be highly unstable. Often, the destination tended to diverge from the location set by quite a bit, especially for long-distance Teleportation Formations. Yet, in the first try, the young man was actually able to calibrate the Teleportation Formation to the exact spot that she had given!
That was something that even 9-star pinnacle formation masters would find it hard to achieve!
In fact, 9-star formation masters would usually leave a portal artifact at the destination of their Teleportation Formation in advance so that they would be able to lock onto the destination with greater certainty.
To be able to achieve such precision with nothing but coordinates and mental calculation that young man's capability was truly inconceivable!
Did he really know nothing about Teleportation Formations before this and spent just a couple of minutes learning it?
Hearing that they were in the vicinity of the Glacier Plain Court headquarters, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. "Alright! Since we're here, let's quickly enter the city. We need to find a way to figure out what's happened to Zhao Ya!"
"Un."
Just by how the young man was willing to turn against the entire Sanctum of Sages to save his student, his determination to rescue his student was clear to see. Without wasting any time, Chen Leyao immediately flew over to a city wall not too far away.
Due to the City of Glacier being occupied by the powerful Glacier Plain Court, despite its eternal frost, it was still one of the largest cities in the Master Teacher Continent. There were towering walls surrounding the massive city, and perhaps because the night setting in, the city gates were tightly shut, turning away all visitors.
However, with her token as one of the inner disciples of the Glacier Plain Court, Chen Leyao was still able to gain entry with ease.
Snowflakes drifted quietly into the city, adding on to the knee-high piles of snow shoved to the sides of the street. Despite the piercing cold, the streets were still vibrant and lively. Huge crowds milled about the area, and from time to time, there would be a carriage passing by.
Chen Leyao glanced at Zhang Xuan and asked, "Zhang shi, shall we head straight into the Glacier Plain Court?"
Zhang Xuan shook his head in response.
"Why not?" Chen Leyao asked in incomprehension.
Was the reason they had gone through so much trouble rushing there not to get to the young court chief as quickly as possible? Why was the other party suddenly backing out after reaching their destination?
"The important matter at hand is not to enter the Glacier Plain Court but to find out what has happened so as to make preparations in advance. Otherwise, if we slip in carelessly and something goes wrong, not only will we be unable to save her, we might even lose our lives," Zhang Xuan said with a deep frown on his forehead.
"What could go wrong in the Glacier Plain Court? Or could it be Zhang shi, do you mean to say that"
Chen Leyao was stunned for a moment as realization fell on her like a bucket of ice-cold water.
" something bad has happened within the Glacier Plain Court?"