As the lethal poison seeped into his bloodstream, Lu Chong found himself reaching the limits of his sanity.
The intense pain that assaulted his mind was too hard for him to endure.
"Father, mother, sister, brother..."
Many figures flashed across his head, as though attempting to summon him over to the other side. A powerful force threatened to pull his soul into the eternal darkness, a place where he would never be able to return from.
"No, I can't faint now. The moment I give in, teacher's hard work would be in vain... How can I face father, mother, and the others like that?"
Clenching his fists tightly, he yelled tenaciously within.
For two years, he had played the role of a mute. It wasn't because he didn't want to speak of the matter, but... his enemy was simply too strong and influential! He didn't want to be killed before he became sufficiently strong to exact vengeance.
He was at the age where bustle posed an irresistible attraction to him. Yet, he forcefully held himself back and stayed away from social interactions, as though a reticent old man. This had caused great stress to weigh on his heart.
Yet, why did he still continue to push on?
It was because that resentment in his heart didn't allow him to rest!
His father, mother, sisters, brothers... His entire family consisting of 137 people died in agony... If not for his coincidental absence during that tragedy, he might have been reduced to a corpse as well.
He thought that his vengeance would be a hopeless cause, especially given his subpar talents... But Liu laoshi had presented a chance to him. He mustn't let go of it!
"Persevere! I have to persevere on!"
Howling furiously in his mind, the will that he had tempered over the course of the past two years intensified. His drowsiness and weakness abruptly vanished, replaced by tenacity.
"Not bad!"
Seeing how the other party was still able to hold on despite the intense pain, Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction.
His evaluation of Lu Chong turned out to be spot-on. The latter's mental fortitude was indeed impressive. If he could persevere on with the same tenacity, it was highly likely that he would be able to successfully cultivate the Poison Body. If so, his strength would be raised tremendously.
"The effects of the lethal poison will continue on for an entire night. This night will be painful, so find some way to persevere on. Don’t worry, you’ll soon realize that your suffering isn’t in vain!"
After instructing so, Zhang Xuan placed a blanket over Lu Chong and walked out of the classroom.
The cultivation for the Poison Body had already started, and there was no stopping now. Whether Lu Chong could persevere on or not would depend solely on his mental fortitude. No one could help him through this. Since Zhang Xuan was of no use here, he decisively left the room.
After leaving the room, he realized that the sun had already set.
Thus, he found a restaurant and ate some food.
"I have to impart a sword art and saber art to Zhao Ya and Mu Xueqing tomorrow respectively. I should give it a try first..."
He had promised the two ladies that he would impart them battle techniques, but the current him was incapable of utilizing either weapon. Thus, he had to quickly cultivate and master these two battle techniques so that he could impart them well.
"I should begin with swordsmanship!"
Zhang Xuan's consciousness delved in the Library of Heaven's Path and he started browsing through the sword-related battle techniques he saw in the Master Teacher Pavilion.
"Correct!"
Soon, a complete sword art secret manual was formed.
"Sword, the sovereign of the hundred weapons. Nimble and flexible, as though a snake or a phantom..."
A complete cultivation method of a sword art was detailed in the book.
Casually picking up a tree branch from the ground, Zhang Xuan drove his zhenqi according to the formula written in the book.
However, a short moment later, he stopped and frowned.
"That's not right... There are still some flaws in the sword art. It isn't complete yet..."
The battle techniques in the Master Teacher Pavilion were at a higher level than those in Tianxuan Kingdom. Even the weakest of them was at least of Mortal pinnacle, and many of them were at Phantom low-tier.
The more profound a battle technique was, the rarer and more valuable it was. There were only several dozen of sword art manuals in the entire library. With this quantity, it was impossible to even form a single perfect move after compiling all of the correct portions together, lest to say, a Heaven's Path battle technique.
"Forcefully cultivating this kind of incomplete sword art might cause one's cultivation to go berserk..."
Looking at the incomplete sword art manual, Zhang Xuan felt dismayed.
He thought that he would be able to form Heaven's Path Sword Art with just the sword art manuals in the Master Teacher Pavilion. From the looks of it, he was underestimating the matter.
It was fortunate that he didn't impart this sword art to Zhao Ya. If he did, the latter might have probably died from cultivating this technique before she could dueling with her opponent.
"Forget it, I should take a look at saber art manuals first..."
Holding back his dismay, he turned his attention to the saber art manuals.
Soon, the frustration on his face deepened.
Just like for sword art, there were too little saber art manuals here as well. It was impossible for a complete move to be formed with this meager quantity.
Other people required profound secret manuals for their battle technique, but Zhang Xuan was different. All he needed was quantity. As for quality... it was of negligible difference.
As the greatest occupation in the world, master teachers didn't think highly of ordinary battle techniques. As such, they didn't bother collecting them.
While this wasn't anything much to other master teachers, to Zhang Xuan, this was extremely bad news.
"Where in the world can I find fundamental manuals on saber art and sword art?"
After organizing his thoughts, Zhang Xuan scratched his head in frustration.
"Right! How could I forgot that I am at Tianwu Academy! There must be quite a few fundamental saber art and sword art manuals here!"
Zhang Xuan's eyes suddenly lit up.
It might be difficult to find battle technique secret manuals elsewhere, but this wasn’t an issue for Tianwu Academy. As a school for cultivators, there must be plenty of such items on the campus.
Thus, Zhang Xuan grabbed a nearby student, asked for the location of the teacher's library, and started walking over with widened strides.
Soon, he arrived in a huge vault filled with books.
After flashing his identity token, he walked into the room.
As expected of the location where the secret manuals of the academy were stored! Even though it wasn't as large as the Master Teacher Pavilion’s library, it was still of formidable scale. Cultivation technique and battle technique manuals of all kinds filled the shelves, and in just a single glance, it was clear that the number of books definitely numbered beyond a million.
There were many books on the other occupations in the Master Teacher Pavilion, but over here, the books were mostly cultivation technique and battle technique manuals; the books on the other occupations numbered in the minority.
Cultivation techniques beneath Zongshi realm were useless to Zhang Xuan. Thus, he went straight for the sword art manuals.
Soon, he found the shelves where the sword art manuals were held. There were more than several thousand books on those shelves.
He quickly collected them into the Library of Heaven's Path.
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"Compile!"
This time, the sword art that was compiled was in perfect condition, thus safe for cultivation.
Instead of testing it out immediately, Zhang Xuan went to the section on saber art and collected the respective books into the Library of Heaven's Path as well.
"Hm? Zongshi realm cultivation technique?"
Walking along the shelves, Zhang Xuan collected a few other battle technique manuals when he suddenly saw the books on a row of shelves and his eyes lit up.
To think that there would be... Zongshi realm cultivation technique manuals here!
In Hongtian Academy, Zongshi realm secret manuals were incomparably valuable. As such, they were placed in an isolated vault and only elders were qualified to browse through them. Zhang Xuan didn't expect Zongshi realm cultivation technique manuals to be accessible to all teachers in Tianwu Academy.
Casually picking up a book, Zhang Xuan browsed through it. Soon, a bitter smile spread across his face.
He thought that Tianwu Academy was truly practicing equality in education, granting both elders and ordinary teacher access to the same resources. But after flipping through a book, he realized that... it was just wishful thinking on his part...
Even though those were indeed Zongshi realm cultivation technique manuals, no doubt about that, those were the most ordinary and simplest cultivation technique. In terms of quality, they were around Mortal low-tier.
Using these cultivation techniques, even if one was incredibly talented, it would take at least a decade or so before one would be able to advance a single realm.
It seemed like the truly incredible cultivation techniques were still kept in an isolated vault. Those that were available here were the useless ones.
It was a waste to throw it away, but no one cultivated them anyway.
Even so, this was a huge treasure trove to Zhang Xuan.
Sliding his finger across those manuals, he swiftly collected them all in his mind.
"Correct!"
He had collected quite a few Zongshi realm cultivation technique manuals back when he was at Red Lotus City. Adding all of these into the mix as well, the Library of Heaven's Path immediately formed the Zongshi realm Heaven's Path Divine Art.
"I should go out first before starting to cultivate!"
Holding back his urge to cultivate on the spot, he strolled around the library and collected some other useful-looking books before leaving.
Returning back to the classroom, Zhang Xuan went over to examine Lu Chong’s condition, and upon seeing that the latter was still trying his best to withstand the poison, he nodded his head in approval. After which, he walked into the small classroom and sat down cross-legged.
Flipping open the Zongshi realm Heaven's Path Divine Art, he closed his eyes and started cultivating.
Tzzzzzzzz!
Along with the flow of his zhenqi, spiritual energy in the air began to gush into his body, flowing through his acupoints and meridians.
"Un?"
After cultivating for a moment, Zhang Xuan abruptly opened his eyes.
His cultivation didn't feel as smooth as before. In the past, achieving breakthroughs felt as easy as simply drinking a cup of water. But now, he felt starved instead. It was as if he was trying his best to gobble down whatever that was before him, but whatever that was before him was simply insufficient to satiate his appetite.
"It's spiritual energy..."
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Xuan came to a conclusion.
The first seven realms of a Fighter, Juxi, Dantian, Zhenqi, Pigu, Dingli, Pixue, Tongxuan... The cultivation of these realms didn't require much spiritual energy. For example, in Pixue realm, one only had to open up one's acupoints to raise one's strength. In Tongxuan realm, one only had to connect all of one's meridians together. In Dingli realm, one only had to temper one's physical body...
However, it was different once one reached Zongshi realm. The accumulation of spiritual energy and storage of zhenqi became the priority instead.
Every slightest increase in one's cultivation realm required a vast supply of spiritual energy.
Using an analogy, a Zongshi realm cultivator's dantian was like a pond whereas the spiritual energy in the air was like a stream flowing into the pond. If one wanted to fill the pond, naturally, the greater the flow, the better it was.
Cultivating a high-tier cultivation technique would cause this stream to expand. With Heaven's Path Divine Art, Zhang Xuan’s ‘stream’ was no different from a ridiculously wide river. Naturally, the volume of water that could flow through it at any given moment was much greater than a small stream... But of course, that was only if there was sufficient water being supplied to the river in the first place.
Without sufficient water, no matter how vast the river was, the rate at which it filled the pond wouldn't be much faster than a stream.
That was to say... while there was no problem with the Heaven's Path Divine Art, due to the lacking spiritual energy in the environment, Zhang Xuan would be unable to leverage the advantages of his cultivation technique to the maximum extent.
In other words, Zhang Xuan was no longer able to raise his cultivation by an entire realm in just two hours like he did in the past!
"Given how thin the spiritual energy in the air is, it will take at least three to five months before I reach Zongshi realm pinnacle!"
Zhang Xuan thought in dismay.
The prowess of Heaven's Path Divine Art was incredible, but it had no way of making up for the lacking spiritual energy in the air. Given the current rate of absorption, it would take at least three to five months before he reached the peak of Zongshi realm.
Of course, if others were to know of his thoughts, they would definitely raise their pitchforks and light their torches.
Reaching Zongshi realm pinnacle within three to five months is already an incredible feat, you know? To be unsatisfied with such speed...
"Forget it. I should go to the Apothecary Guild tomorrow to see if I can find any pills harnessing spiritual energy. With the help of such pills, I should be able to advance my cultivation realm faster..."
Knowing that it would be terribly inefficient to cultivate normally, Zhang Xuan chose to put the matter aside for now.
The lack of spiritual energy in the environment was a huge problem to Zhang Xuan, but this problem could be alleviated by consuming pills. The Apothecary Guild had many pills that harnessed concentrated spiritual energy within them.
Thus, Zhang Xuan turned his attention away from the Zongshi realm cultivation technique to the sword art manuals and saber art manuals in the Library of Heaven’s Path.
Four hours later.
Hu!
Casually grabbing a sword from the weapon rack in the classroom, Zhang Xuan drove his zhenqi according to the formula in his head and flicked the sword in his hand lightly.
Sss-la!
The zhenqi Zhang Xuan imbued into the sword formed a blinding radiance on the tip of the sword.
And with a light slash...!
A sword qi flew for more than a dozen meter before coming to a stop. A narrow but deep cut appeared on the hard ground.
---
Dantian refers to a place in the abdomen. Usually, this is where the core of a cultivator's energy come from, somewhat similar to how our blood has to be pumped from our heart. In Fighter 2-dan Dantian realm, what one does is to open up this dantian so that they could accumulate zhenqi.
Sword qi refers to a visible emanation of a slash from the edge of the sword.
Weapons, Battle Techniques and Cultivation Techniques follow the same power system.
Mortal, Phantom, Spirit, Saint, God. Each level can be divided into low-tier, intermediate-tier, high-tier, and pinnacle. There are exceptions, especially when it comes to the higher tiers due to the massive difference in prowess between tiers. For example, there additional tiers between ranks.
For a Battle Technique, there is the concept of mastery as well (i.e. how adept you are at using the technique). The higher the rank of the battle technique, the harder it is to gain mastery in it. Mastery is divided into Novice, Initiate, Minor Accomplishment, Major Accomplishment, and Consummation.