Three years later.
In the City Lord Manor of Liyang City.
"Leopard, it's time to eat!"
Zhang Xuan walked in with a large piece of meat and shouted at the little leopard, who was napping on the ground.
The little leopard of the past had now completely grown up. He was very strong, almost like a tiger.
Moreover, his strength was astonishing. In just three years, he was already comparable to a top-notch first-rate expert.
One had to know that first-rate experts were considered overlords in the Great Zhou Empire. Those who could become first-rate experts, even if they were peerlessly talented, would need at least ten years of bitter cultivation.
On the other hand, the leopard only used three years to reach a height that others needed to spend countless time and effort to reach.
It could be said that in the entire Great Zhou Empire, apart from Zhang Xuan, no one could compare to the leopard's breakthrough speed.
For the past three years, Zhang Xuan had been keeping the leopard by his side. Not only did he not restrict its wildness, but he even specially trained it to hunt and let the leopard become his helper.
As the leopard grew up and revealed its strength, it was now quite infamous in the pugilistic world.
Although Zhang Xuan had not changed much in the past three years, the outside world had changed drastically.
Ever since Wang Bo, was captured alive, the Imperial Court seemed to have completely given up on targeting the alliance and remained indifferent.
In the beginning, the alliance was still vigilant and was worried that the Imperial Court was plotting something bigger. However, as time passed, the alliance realized that the Imperial Court could not do anything to them.
As the alliance leader, Yun Zhongtian gathered everyone to discuss the future development of the alliance.
Although the Imperial Court had given up on suppressing the alliance, they could not guarantee that the Imperial Court would not take action in the future. Therefore, the alliance could not be disbanded.
However, it was not a long-term solution to continue existing in the form of an alliance. After some discussion, everyone finally decided to establish an independant state in the area where the alliance was located. Everything here was controlled by the sect.
This was equivalent to completely opposing the Imperial Court, but it would naturally be beneficial to the alliance.
Firstly, the alliance would control everything in the area. There was no need for the locals to hand it over to the Imperial Court. Instead, they would hand it over to the alliance. The alliance would distribute resources according to the needs and contributions of the sects.
Secondly, there were almost no restrictions on the members of the major sects, giving everyone more freedom.
Not only that, but the sect masters of the major sects also had greater authority.
The alliance leader was equivalent to the emperor. Each Connate expert was similar to a king. Compared to being the sect master of their respective sects, they were completely different from before.
Just like Zhang Xuan, because of his influence and strength, he was directly conferred a noble title.
However, Zhang Xuan did not care about these empty titles. He did not even care about the position of emperor, let alone a noble.
What Zhang Xuan wanted the most was the ingredients to refine the Immortal Ascension Pill. Only by gathering the ingredients as soon as possible could he refine the Immortal Ascension Pill earlier.
With his current alchemy skills, as long as he had all the herbs, he was confident that he would not make a mistake.
However, there were too many ingredients needed to refine the Immortal Ascension Pill. Furthermore, they were especially rare. Even though the alliance was very powerful and Zhang Xuan had a high status and influence in the alliance, after three years of searching, he could only gather the supplementary ingredients.
As for the main ingredients, there were still a few left. Zhang Xuan could not find them even after searching the entire Great Zhou.
After all, he had already used all the power he could, but he still could not find it. He could only say that he was unlucky or that the main ingredients he needed were not in Great Zhou.
With Zhang Xuan's current strength, he could leave the Great Zhou Dynasty and personally search for it in other empires. There would be no danger, but Zhang Xuan did not have such plans for the time being.
Refining the Immortal Ascension Pill was what he looked forward to the most, but the current situation made it impossible for him to leave easily.
Although the Imperial Court did not make a move and seemed to have tacitly agreed to the alliance establishing an independent state in Great Zhou, the Imperial Court had never stopped scheming against the alliance. It was just that they were not as direct as before.
Although Zhang Xuan did not want to be a noble, he was already involved. If he wanted to escape unscathed, he could only give up his current identity.
Zhang Xuan did not like to be ostentatious, nor did he like trouble. His current life was quite good for him, so he would not give up everything just because he was anxious to refine the Immortal Ascension Pill.
After all, even if he gave up everything he had now, he might not be able to gather those main ingredients in a short period of time.
Moreover, after three years of experience, Zhang Xuan understood a principle. With his own power, no matter what he did, it would be much more convenient and efficient.
Just like now, even if he did not leave Great Zhou, he could use his power to send people to other empires to find out the whereabouts of the main ingredients.
Even if the people he sent out were not as strong as him, the advantage was that they had more people. The efficiency would definitely be higher than him personally searching.
"ROAR!"
When the leopard heard Zhang Xuan's call, it jumped up from the ground and pounced at Zhang Xuan's feet. Its head rubbed against Zhang Xuan's leg intimately.
Although the leopard was comparable to a first-rate expert, it was still as docile as before in front of Zhang Xuan.
After all, it had been by Zhang Xuan's side since it was born. It had long treated Zhang Xuan as its closest person.
Zhang Xuan touched the leopard's head and threw the meat out piece by piece.
The leopard jumped around the courtyard and treated the meat that Zhang Xuan threw as prey.
This was also Zhang Xuan's way of training the leopard. The meat he threw out with his internal energy was faster than ordinary beasts.
Zhang Xuan used this to train the leopard's acuity and speed. This improved the leopard quite a bit.
The leopard also liked Zhang Xuan feeding it in this way. It ate happily every time.
At this moment, a disciple walked in quickly and bowed. "Elder Zhang, the sect master is here and wants to see you."
As this disciple spoke, he carefully looked at the leopard jumping around in the courtyard, looking very afraid.
Zhang Xuan raised his eyebrows. He was a little surprised by Yun Zhongtian's personal visit.
"Feed my leopard. I'll go and see Sect Master Yun."
As Zhang Xuan spoke, he handed the remaining meat to his disciple and walked out.
"Well …"
The disciple's face turned pale in an instant, and his legs trembled. He wished he could turn around and run.
He had seen the leopard's wildness with his own eyes. Even though he knew that the leopard would not hurt him, he could not help but feel fear when he saw it.
However, this disciple did not dare to disobey Zhang Xuan's orders. He could only try his best to suppress the nervousness in his heart and carefully feed it.