Chapter 1498: Confront the First Elder!
It appeared that the First Elder was extremely confident in her defensive measures, so she did not station too many sentries in the vicinity of the Chanting Serenity Hall—or perhaps, she was afraid that planting sentries in the area would give it away. As such, there were only a couple of normal disciples patrolling the area.
With his exceptionally large Spiritual Perception, Zhang Xuan was able to detect the presence of the few sentries stationed in the area and avoid them in advance.
Without taking too long, they arrived at Elder Bai's residence very soon.
"Is teacher's physical body in here?"
Entering the residence, Zhao Ya scanned her surroundings curiously. Following which, she heard one of the doors creak open, and a middle-aged man with yellowish skin walked out.
"Grandteacher!" Astonished, Zhao Ya quickly bowed deeply to pay her respects.
The other party was none other than her teacher's teacher, Yang Xuan!
"Un!" 'Yang shi' nodded.
"Grandteacher, why... are you here? Where's teacher?" Zhao Ya asked in bewilderment.
She had clearly seen her teacher's Primordial Spirit entering the room, but why would it be her grandteacher walking out instead?
"After receiving your message, your teacher came to request for my help," 'Yang shi' explained with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry, your teacher is in a folded space that I have created, so he'll be fine. He's still a little too weak at the moment, so he won't be able to deal with the current situation."
"Thank you, grandteacher!" Seeing that her even her grandteacher had chosen to make a move, Zhao Ya heaved a sigh of relief.
What she was the most afraid of was something happening to her teacher while he was trying to save her. With her grandteacher's strength, they should be safe now.
After becoming the young court chief of the Glacier Plain Court, she had swiftly learned about the true identity of her grandteacher. He was one of the three grand elders of the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters, as well as one of the strongest experts on the Master Teacher Continent. Even the First Elder would have to bow down to him if she was there.
"Zhang Xuan has already told me about your situation. Follow me, I want to take a look at the Heaven Sealing Lock on you," Yang shi said with a wave of his hand.
"Yes!" Zhao Ya hurriedly nodded before entering a room.
The two of them sat down, and 'Yang shi' placed a finger on Zhao Ya's wrist.
As time passed, the frown on her forehead grew deeper and deeper.
Naturally, this 'Yang shi' was none other than Zhang Xuan. The reason he had chosen to conceal his true identity from Zhao Ya was out of fear that she would panic after learning the truth.
Given Zhao Ya's current standing, she likely knew of the true identity of her 'grandteacher' already. If she learned that her teacher was actually her grandteacher as well, her state of mind could be rattled. This could become an unstable variable that would potentially expose him when he made use of Yang shi's identity as a chip against the Glacier Plain Court later on.
Even if he wanted to tell the truth to Zhao Ya, it should only be done after they had escaped from the Glacier Plain Court. Otherwise, the slightest mistake on their part could lead to their descent into the abyss.
After all, the man whom he was attempting to impersonate was one of the strongest experts in the world, Yang Xuan! He could not afford to make a single mistake!
In order to use the Library of Heaven's Path through touch, he would have to knock Zhao Ya out first. However, from the looks of it, even if he did so, he would likely get the same results as before. If he truly wanted to find the flaws of the Heaven Sealing Lock and resolve it, he would have to slice apart the Zhao Ya's flesh and touch the lock directly!
Zhang Xuan retracted his hand and asked, "How did the Heaven Sealing Lock get into your body?"
Zhao Ya pondered for a moment before speaking. "The Heaven Sealing Lock is slightly different from the one created by the Blacksmith Guild. It's forged out of the threads produced by the Icy Silkworm. After the elders subdued me, the First Elder had the Icy Silkworm bite my finger and dive into my body. Before I knew it, I was already in my current condition."
After suppressing her, the elders had sealed her powers entirely, rendering her completely helpless. Thus, she could only helplessly watch as the Icy Silkworm crawled its way into her body.
"Icy Silkworm?" A deep frown appeared on Zhang Xuan's glabella. He contemplated for a moment, but he was still unable to fully make sense of the situation, so he said, "Let's try this then. I'll send a surge of zhenqi through your body, and if I am able to locate the Icy Silkworm, I'll try to eliminate it."
He had never heard of the Icy Silkworm in his life before, so he could not say for sure what would work. In any case, he had to give it a try.
"Alright!" Knowing that her grandteacher would not hurt her, Zhao Ya extended her wrist out once more.
With a flick of his finger, Zhang Xuan sent a surge of zhenqi into her meridians.
"Hmm?" Feeling the meridian that had entered her body, Zhao Ya could not help but raise her eyebrows in astonishment.
The quality of the zhenqi that had just entered her body was extremely familiar to her. It was almost identical to that her teacher's, the only differences being that it was even purer, more soothing, and stronger.
Well, Teacher did come from grandteacher's lineage, so it shouldn't be surprising that the nature of their zhenqi is similar to one another... Zhao Ya rationalized with a nod of her head.
Those of the same lineage would likely possess similar constitutions, and if they practiced the same cultivation techniques, the nature of their zhenqi would also be similar.
Soon, after driving his zhenqi through Zhao Ya's body once, Zhang Xuan's face turned even more grim.
The Heaven Sealing Lock created by the Icy Silkworm had turned all of Zhao Ya's meridians and even her dantian into ice! If she attempted to drive her zhenqi, she would be putting herself at risk of shattering her meridians, and the injuries that she would sustain as a result of that could very well claim her life!
Even though he had only sent in a small surge of zhenqi in, and he had made sure to move extremely carefully, he still nearly caused her meridians to rupture. If he attempted to remove the Heaven Sealing Lock forcefully, chances were that Zhao Ya would lose her life before the problem could be resolved.
What a vicious tool... Zhang Xuan could not help but curse the First Elder with all of the expletives that he could think of in his mind.
Who would have thought that the person in charge of a major power would actually use such ruthless means on her fellow people? This was unforgivable!
Suppressing his raging fury, Zhang Xuan asked, "Has the First Elder ever said how the Heaven Sealing Lock can be resolved?"
With his current means, there was nothing he could do to resolve the Heaven Sealing Lock. Even with the Heaven's Path zhenqi, there was nothing he could do.
If the Icy Silkworm had still been alive, he could have tried to poison it to death. However, based on what he had found, it had already fused into her meridians and was shrouded with thick ice. If he attempted to break the ice to get to it, that could potentially cause Zhao Ya's already fragile meridians to collapse entirely.
In other words, he was completely helpless.
"I don't think so. All she said was that she would help me resolve the problem once I took the final step to awaken my Pure Yin Body," Zhao Ya said with a shake of her head.
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Xuan was still unable find a feasible solution. Shaking his head, he said, "It seems like we'll have to ask her in person then!"
The longer the Heaven Sealing Lock remained in Zhao Ya's body, the greater the damage it would cause to her body. They would have to get rid of it as soon as possible.
From the current looks of it, the only one who wielded the ability to resolve Zhao Ya's condition was the First Elder. So, the most direct and effective solution would be to question her and have her reveal the cure to her condition.
Just that...
After what had happened to Zhao Ya's mother, the First Elder must have hardened her heart to take such extreme means. It would not be easy to get her to reveal the cure.
There's no way she will reveal it if I ask her and Zhang Xuan; if things go badly, we might even come to blows. However, it will be different if I confront her as Yang Xuan! Zhang Xuan thought with narrowed eyes.
He was currently assuming the identity of Yang Xuan from the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters. Even if the other party was the First Elder of the Glacier Plain Court, she would still have to show some respect!
"Zhao Ya, you should wait in my folded space for the time being. I'll be heading over to meet the First Elder of your Glacier Plain Court!" Zhang Xuan stood up with a fling of his sleeves.
Since he was there to save Zhao Ya, naturally, he would have to resolve her affliction too before taking her away. Since he could not think of any other solution, he could only take a gamble.
If he pulled it off, he might just be able to fool the First Elder and obtain the solution to Zhao Ya's problem.
But if he was discovered... Well, he had no qualms with reducing the Glacier Plain Court to ruins!