Chapter 1709: Guarding the Exit

“Our boss… has acknowledged him as its master?”

Utter silence loomed in the area.

The Celestialfire Phoenix, Terra Qilin, and Acheron Blacktortoise were all stunned silly. They remained rooted to the spot, and their minds seemed to have stalled.

They knew just how obstinate the Heavenwood Greenserpent could be… But with just a single consonant from the other party, it actually sprawled right to the ground with no regards for its dignity at all. To make matters worse, there was a look of desire in its eyes.

What in the name of heavens had just happened?

At the same time, Wu Changping was on the verge of insanity as well.

In order to tame the Goldspirit Cloudtiger, he had made many preparations. He had promised many treasures to convince the other seven members of the group to assist him in his mission. On top of that, he had even expended a Great Sage artifact for this purpose… but in the end, he had failed to acquire anything and even been captured.

On the other hand, this fellow had managed to tame the Goldspirit Cloudtiger within a few short minutes. With another word, he made the Heavenwood Greenserpent grovel on the ground, not daring to appear disrespectful at all.

This was ridiculous!

“Seal the contract!” Zhang Xuan instructed.

Toward beasts who possessed the Dragon Bloodline, there was no weapon stronger than the Eight Notes of Heavenly Dragon.

No matter how high-tiered the Heavenwood Greenserpent was, it was unable to break free from the restraints of its bloodline. It was precisely due to his awareness of this that Zhang Xuan intentionally made a wager with it. As expected, the others had swiftly been baited by his promise.

It was not that they were fools, but it was simply unthinkable for a mere human to be able to speak the language of the Pureblooded Dragons!

No one would expect an Aureate Body realm cultivator like him to have so many tricks up his sleeve, such that even Sempiternal realm experts like them would end up being caught off guard time and time again.

Even though the Heavenwood Greenserpent was a little reluctant to relinquish its freedom, under the pressure of the Eight Notes of Heavenly Dragon, it had no choice but to offer its blood essence.

After sealing the contract, Zhang Xuan turned to the three remaining beasts and said, “It’s your turn. Since I was able to make the Heavenwood Greenserpent submit with a single word, it’s my victory. Of course, it’s just an ordinary wager. No vows were made, and there’s nothing to bind you to your words. If you don’t intend to follow the wager…”

“Ridiculous! The blood of the Ancient Divine Beasts runs through our veins. How can we possibly renege on our promise?”

“A loss is a loss. Since our boss has chosen to submit to you, I have no problem acknowledging you as my master…”

“I just hope that you won’t force us into doing anything that violates our principles…”

…

The Terra Qilin, Celestialfire Phoenix, and Acheron Blacktortoise were not too happy about the situation, but they were too proud to renege on their promise. They nodded and offered their blood essence to Zhang Xuan.

In any case, since the other party had been able to make their boss submit, it was not too embarrassing for them to acknowledge the other party as their master. It was at least something that they could live with.

“That saves me a lot of trouble…” Seeing that the other three beasts had decided to abide by their promise, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.

The main reason Zhang Xuan had made the wager was to make those three divine beasts submit to him as well. Of course, with the Heavenwood Greenserpent and Goldspirit Cloudtiger on his side, he would have been able to eventually beat them into submission. Nevertheless, this would spare him a great deal of trouble.

“Since you have chosen to submit to me, as your master, I should at least reciprocate your loyalty!”

After taming all five divine beasts, Zhang Xuan looked at every one of them before speaking again.

“Goldspirit Cloudtiger, as a metal attribute beast, you possess superior offensive capability, but your defense is considerably lacking. More importantly, despite the immense strength you wield, you lack precision in control. That left you with a lot of openings that I could exploit. I’ll point out a couple of your major flaws now, and as long as you make corrections accordingly, you should be able to raise your fighting prowess significantly!”

He went on to elaborate on several flaws that the Goldspirit Cloudtiger suffered from, as well the ways to correct them.

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When he fought with the latter earlier, the Library of Heaven’s Path had already uncovered the flaws that it was suffering from. Combining that with his knowledge as a beast tamer, it was extremely easy for him to find the solutions to those flaws.

Cultivating in accordance to Zhang Xuan’s impartation, the Goldspirit Cloudtiger did enjoy a significant rise in its fighting prowess. A brilliant gleam surfaced in its eyes as it kneeled onto the floor once more, this time out of earnest respect for Zhang Xuan.

If it had only submitted due to the threats and benefits that Zhang Xuan had promised, this time around, it was out of earnest respect for him.

Following which, he offered some pointers to the cultivation of the remaining divine beasts as well, inducing a significant leap in their fighting prowess. Excited over their newfound strength, they hurriedly bowed in gratitude to Zhang Xuan.

Having reached Sempiternal realm consummation, they had thought that it would be difficult for them to advance their fighting prowess unless there was a major evolution in their bloodline. They had never thought that there was still room for them to improve further.

If they continued cultivating in accordance to Zhang Xuan’s words, they might even be able to push for a breakthrough to Ancient Sage in the future!

To them, this was much more attractive than being the Monarchs of this forest and ruling over a bunch of beasts.

“Master, what do we do about these fellows?” The Heavenwood Greenserpent pointed to Wu Changping and the others.

“Their actions lacked consideration, and they were disrespectful to the Goldspirit Cloudtiger. Nevertheless, their actions don’t warrant the death sentence. Make them compensate for their actions and set them free!” Zhang Xuan said with a wave of his hand.

To be honest, he was kind of glad that the group of eight was in front of him. If he had charged right into the lair, he would have been the one who was encircled by the five divine beasts. Perhaps, he might not have even gotten a chance to fight one on one, and things might not have ended as smoothly as they did.

However, it was a fact that the group of eight bore malicious intentions toward him, and they had made a move on the Goldspirit Cloudtiger. Considering how the latter was now his tamed beast, he could not let the group of eight go without making them pay a hefty price.

“Yes, master!”

Seeing that his master was not the type of honest to a fault human, the divine beasts heaved a sigh of relief.

It seemed like they would not be taken advantage of by others serving him.

Under the menace of the five divine beasts, Wu Changping and the others had no choice but to submit. They obediently handed over the treasures that they had amassed over this period of time along with grade-9 pills, artifacts, and the like before they were finally set free.

“Take them! I’ll leave it to you to decide how you want to split these items among yourselves. Also, I want to make it clear that your loyalty will not go unrewarded. If you perform well, I have no qualms granting you my Great Sage artifacts!” Zhang Xuan said.

The artifacts that Wu Changping and the others had handed over could not even catch his eye, so he left it to the five divine beasts to deal with them internally. At the same time, he also dropped them expectations for the future.

Managing one’s tamed beast was actually not much different from managing one’s subordinates. On top of the carrot and the stick, what was more important was to give them positive expectations for the foreseeable future.

Resolving the flaws in their cultivation and promises of invaluable treasures… With the offer of such alluring benefits, the five divine beasts would be more inclined to submit to him both physically and mentally.

As expected, after hearing his words, looks of agitation appeared on the five divine beasts. From the looks of it, it seemed like Zhang Xuan had won their loyalty for the time being.

After Wu Changping and the others left, Zhang Xuan finally posed the doubt lingering in his heart. “Shouldn’t you all be scattered around the area? Why are you gathered inside the Goldspirit Cloudtiger’s lair?”

Based on what he had heard from the Crimsonfrons White Tiger, the Five Monarchs each had their own territory in the forest and rarely interacted with one another. Why would they gather together in a lair?

“As soon as we noticed that the dimension has been opened and humans have made their way in, we immediately gathered together here. Firstly, we intended to come up with a countermeasure to curb the threat of the humans. Secondly, we also wanted to guard the exit and prevent anyone from passing through it!” the Heavenwood Greenserpent explained.

“Exit?” Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up upon hearing that word. “Could it be that… the exit to the Temple of Confucius lies within the cavern?”

Given that the five divine beasts had come out of the cavern… could it be that the supposed ‘exit’ was located in there?

“That’s right!” The Heavenwood Greenserpent nodded. “Back then, Kong shi brought us here and delegated the responsibility of guarding the exit and preventing anyone from finding it to us. I suppose that’s the trial he has entrusted to us!”

Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan frowned in confusion. “You said that Kong shi captured you? In other words, you have met Kong shi?”

It had been tens of thousands of years since Kong shi had vanished from the Master Teacher Continent.

While those of the Beast Tribe tended to enjoy greater longevity than human cultivators, none of them were able to live that long. Otherwise, just by accumulating a bunch of old monsters across many generations, they would be able to claim the Master Teacher Continent and take on a dominant position in the world!

It was impossible for the five divine beasts to have lived for tens of thousands of years, so what could they mean by saying that Kong shi had captured them?