"This is bad!"
In contrast to Ren Qingyuan's excitement, Shen Jue's face turned livid upon seeing the arrival of the elder.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Jianghai and the others turned doubtful gazes toward him.
"Luo Qingchen is the First Elder of the Luo Clan, and he possesses exceptional aptitude toward the manipulation of space. The poison that Zhang shi instructed us to plant around the area might be able to fend off most cultivators, but I fear that he will be able to overcome it easily!" Shen Jue explained.
"What? What do we do then?"
Grave expressions surfaced on Lin Jianghai and He Guangyu's faces.
In this world, every single existence had its own nemesis. No matter how formidable a poison was, there would definitely be a way to deal with it. While they knew that the poison zhenqi that Zhang shi had left around the area would not stop the 9-star master teachers for too long, they did not expect them to overcome the problem so swiftly!
They had been banking on it lasting till their hall master came back, and everything would have been resolved swiftly. Who could have thought that the First Elder of the Luo Clan would arrive at this moment?
" that's how it is. Elder Qingchen, I beseech you to lend us your strength!" Ren Qingyuan swiftly explained the matter to Luo Qingchen before clasping his fist to make a formal request.
"That isn't a problem at all!" Luo Qingchen chuckled softly as he reached out and grasped at the space before him.
Si la!
The next moment, Zhang Xuan felt as if the space around him had been isolated. The zhenqi and lethal poison that they had planted around the area previously seemed to have been severed by some mysterious power and stored in another dimension, causing him to lose control over them.
"Thank you" Seeing how easily Luo Qingchen resolved the problem they had been plagued with, Ren Qingyuan delightfully relayed his gratitude.
With sufficient time, they could have achieved the same as well. However, if they wanted to achieve the same level of precision and accuracy as Luo Qingchen in carrying out the feat, not harming the surroundings in the least, that would have been truly difficult.
"Let me do it!" After all of the surrounding poison had been spatially isolated, Zhang Wuheng chuckled as he raised his hand and dashed forward.
When he started saying those words, he was still in the sky, quite some distance away from Zhang Xuan and the others. However, by the time he spat out his last word, he was already standing right before Shen Jue and the others. The instant that he thrust his palm down, it felt almost as if the heavens had been overthrown, completely eradicating the concepts of time and space.
There was almost no time lapse in between Luo Qingchen's separation of space and Zhang Wuheng's move, making it nigh impossible for Zhang Xuan and the others to respond to the situation.
"Block him!" Shen Jue bellowed as he flicked poison gas off from his fingertip to engage Zhang Wuheng.
"Humph!" Without bothering to dodge, Zhang Wuheng simply heightened the might of his palm strike.
Kacha!
The poisonous gas was immediately forced back by the overwhelming might of the palm strike, seeping through Shen Jue's pores.
Pu!
Shen Jue spat a spurt of blood as black patches appeared all over his face. He quickly took out an antidote and consumed it before feeling a little better. However, by the time all of it was done, it was already too late for him to dodge Zhang Wuheng's palm strike. His chest caved in under the latter's attack, and his entire body was knocked into the ground.
Seeing how Right Guardian Shen Jue, the most powerful man of the group, was swiftly incapacitated under the collaboration of the duo, Ren Qingyuan could not help but nod. "It's no wonder the Zhang Clan and the Luo Clan want to ally with one another. The combination of temporal and spatial powers is indeed fearsome."
Individually, the Zhang Clan and the Luo Clan paled far in comparison to the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters, but if the two of them allied with one another, even the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters would have to think twice before challenging them.
"I think there's no need to trouble Elder Wuheng any further than this." Ren Qingyuan turned to the 9-star master teachers behind him and ordered, "All of you, take those two down as well!"
"Yes!" Elder Qu, Elder Bai, and the other elders quickly flew forth.
Previously, it had been due to Zhang Xuan's arrangements and the sudden onslaught of many unseen lethal poisons that their encirclement had failed tragically. However, with their eye of discernment, they were able to swiftly analyze the mistakes that they had made and the properties of the poisons that they had just faced, thus putting them in a much better position this time around.
Peng peng peng!
In the blink of an eye, Lin Jianghai and He Guangyu were already exchanging blows with Elder Qu and the others.
The difference in the fighting prowess of both sides is simply too big Zhang Xuan thought anxiously.
His means could only induce fear in the 9-star master teachers temporarily, making them dare not attack them. However, it was unfortunate that it had been foiled by the First Elder of the Luo Clan.
Even though those three poison masters were among the top echelon of the Poison Hall, ultimately, it was nigh impossible for them to challenge the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters, which had dominated the Master Teacher Continent for many years.
Not to mention the fact that they could only stand their ground in order to protect him, or else they might still have been able to try other maneuvers.
Pu! Pu!
In less than ten blows, Lin Jianghai and He Guangyu had already sustained considerable damage. Just like Shen Jue, they were forced to the ground by a compelling force, completely sealing off their movements.
"Don't kill them yet. If the head of the Poison Hall really dares to make a move on our master teachers, we'll use them as chips to negotiate with her!" Ren Qingyuan said with a wave of his hand.
While the newly inaugurated head of the Poison Hall might be young, the terrifying reputation of the Innate Poison Body had been passed down from generation to generation. With her unparalleled mastery of poison, if she really made a move on the Master Teacher Pavilions in the vicinity, there was no way that they would be able to stop her.
Besides, it was too late for them to rush over to save them. More likely than not, they would be blindly chasing after her tail, thus putting them in an even more disadvantageous position. Rather than that, it would be better for them to capture her subordinates so that they would have something over her.
"Alright!" Elder Qu nodded as he quickly walked over to Shen Jue's side to place him under control first.
All of a sudden, he felt a dangerous aura assaulting him, and he hurriedly backed away in fright. But before he could get too far away, his face suddenly turned black, and he found himself losing control over the zhenqi within his body.
Putong!
He was unable to sustain his flight any longer and collapsed to the ground.
"What happened?" Alarmed by the sudden twist, Ren Qingyuan, Zhang Wuheng, and the others immediately tensed up as they assessed their surroundings carefully.
A quiet but imposing voice echoed in the air. "I shan't trouble Master Teacher Pavilion to take care of my poison masters!"
Following which, a young lady dressed in red robe slowly descended from the sky.
She was not too old, probably only around seventeen to eighteen, and she had a skinny and not-too-tall stature. However, there was a pink aura rippling around her, covering a radius of ten meters or so. Be it plants or zhenqi, anything that came within its range would be swiftly corroded into nothing.
Ren Qingyuan attempted to extend his Spiritual Perception toward the young lady in order to assess her closely, but before his Spiritual Perception could come close to reaching her, it was abruptly severed. In fact, the lethal poison around her even traversed through his Spiritual Perception toward him and would have afflicted his Primordial Spirit if not for his decisive severing of the connection.
"What formidable poison" Ren Qingyuan's eyebrows shot up in astonishment.
To be able to become the deputy pavilion master of the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters, his strength could be considered to be the cream of the crop among the elders. He still could not compare up to the distinguished grand elders who had been around for a long time, but without a doubt, his strength was ranked amid the top of the Master Teacher Continent.
Yet, despite his strength, he was not even able to peer into the young lady's strength. This was too fearsome!
"Are you the newly-appointed hall master?" Ren Qingyuan asked.
To be honest, he was really caught off guard by how powerful the new head of the Poison Hall was. He was not certain if he could defeat her even if he used his full strength.
On the other hand, the red-robed young lady continued descending silently from the sky, paying no heed to Ren Qingyuan's question at all.
Seeing how disrespectful the other party was, one of the 9-star master teachers furiously howled, "You lass! Are you deaf or mute? Can't you hear our deputy pavilion master is talking to you?"
Hearing those words, the young lady shot a cold glance over to the 9-star master teacher before flicking her hand lightly, as if swatting a fly.
"Ahhh"
The next instant, the complexion of the 9-star master teacher turned pitch black, and he clasped his neck tightly as if he could not breathe at all. Following which, he fell from the sky to the ground as well, just like what had happened to Elder Qu earlier.
Ren Qingyuan quickly rushed over to the 9-star master teacher and fed him an antidote, and only then did the latter's condition improve slightly. However, terrified by the previous experience, the 9-star master teacher no longer spouted any nonsense anymore.
To be able to poison him with just a casual swat of her hand just what kind of ability was that?
He was not the only one in such a state. The other 9-star master teachers also tensed up as they gazed at the young lady in front of them warily with ugly complexions.
For an individual to induce such fear in sixteen 9-star master teachers and the leaders of three major powers no one would dare believe such a thing to be possible!
This was the Innate Poison Body, one of the strongest unique constitutions in the world, an existence deeply feared by even Kong shi back then!
Hu!
Before everyone's fearful gazes, the red-robed young lady landed on the ground, and she swiftly kneeled with both of her knees.
"Teacher, please pardon Wei Ruyan for arriving late!"