“It’s also possible that he’s just browsing through the contents with his Spiritual Perception and not memorizing anything at all…” Nangong Yuanfeng remarked a short moment later.
Browsing through the content and memorizing them were two entirely different concepts.
The former only required one to scan through the book with one’s Spiritual Perception; there was no need to attempt to understand or absorb the contents at all. On the other hand, the latter required one to commit everything that one had seen to memory. Naturally, the level of difficulty for both feats was vastly different.
If it was just browsing through several hundred thousand books at once, he was able to do it as well.
“Let’s keep watching. We’ll know very soon whether he’s faking it or not!” Tantai Zhenqing replied.
Right after he finished those words, the hundreds of thousands of books in the air were flipped over to the very last page before falling heavily back onto the bookshelves.
“Eighth Elder, I’ll have to trouble you to take back all of the books!” Zhang Xuan instructed before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, seemingly trying to assimilate the knowledge that he had just taken in.
“Yes!” the Eighth Elder replied as he stowed the shelves back into his storage ring before rushing off.
Roughly ten breaths later, Zhang Xuan finally opened his eyes and said, “Jiuxiao, you have practiced a simplified version of the Zhang Clan’s cultivation technique previously. In the interest of time, I’ll just correct a few simple flaws. The main issue lies in your battle technique and comprehension of temporal laws. I have compiled two manuals based on the books that I have just read, and I’ll impart them to you right now!”
After saying those words, he flicked his finger and directed a sliver of his will into Zhang Jiuxiao’s consciousness.
“This…” Taking in the knowledge that his teacher had imparted to him, Zhang Jiuxiao’s body suddenly froze on the spot.
Temporal laws were known to be even more abstract and profound than spatial laws, thus making them extremely difficult to grasp and comprehend. There were many cultivators who had spent their entire lives trying to fathom them, only to fail miserably.
It was for this reason that even Zhang Clan offspring were only able to tap into the prowess of time through their bloodline ability or the Zhang Clan swordsmanship.
Zhang Jiuxiao had thought that even if he really possessed decent aptitude toward temporal arts, it would still take him quite some time before he could really grasp them. However, the manual that his teacher had just imparted to him was structured in a really comprehensible manner, gradually establishing one’s fundamental interpretation of temporal laws before delving in deep. With this, the difficulty in grasping and comprehending temporal laws was lowered tremendously.
At the rate that he was improving at, he was confident that he would be able to achieve a decent mastery of temporal laws within less than half a month.
Unfortunately, that was still too long.
With such a thought in mind, Zhang Jiuxiao raised his head and said, “Teacher, I don’t think that there’s enough time for me to master those two manuals…”
It was not that he did not want to bring honor to the Zhang Clan, but even with the two manuals that his teacher had imparted to him, he would still require some time before he was able to truly wield temporal arts in battle.
This was not a matter that could really be rushed.
One hour was simply too little time!
“Calm down, there’s no need to panic. Ignite this droplet of blood in your body!” Seemingly expecting such a situation, Zhang Xuan flicked his finger lightly, and a droplet of blood essence seeped into Zhang Jiuxiao’s glabella.
This was a droplet of the most concentrated blood essence of the Zhang Clan.
Weng!
As soon as the droplet seeped into Zhang Jiuxiao’s body, it was immediately ignited. Following which, the latter was placed in a unique state of mind.
“This is… Time Acceleration?” Tantai Zhenqing narrowed his eyes.
As the droplet of blood seeped into Zhang Jiuxiao’s body, he could clearly sense the other party’s consciousness entering some kind of temporal whirlpool. The flow of time within this whirlpool was accelerated from the external world.
In other words, an hour in the external world could very well mean a day or even more to Zhang Jiuxiao’s consciousness.
One of the elders of the Zhang Clan saw through what Zhang Xuan had done, and he remarked in awe, “Accelerating the time of one’s consciousness—this is rather similar to our Blood Reservoir.”
The Zhang Clan’s Blood Reservoir allowed the offspring of the Zhang Clan to accelerate the time of their consciousness, thus enhancing the speed at which they cultivated. It played a crucial role in ensuring that the geniuses of the Zhang Clan remained ahead of their rivals.
“The Blood Reservoir only accelerates time by roughly ten times whereas the ability used by the clan head accelerates time more than a hundredfold…” another elder of the Zhang Clan added as he gulped.
“He used the most concentrated blood essence of our Zhang Clan to set up a Time Acceleration Temporal Formation within Zhang Jiuxiao’s head. By limiting the time acceleration effect to just the consciousness, he was able to lower the cost to the bare minimum!” Sword Saint Xing remarked with a nod.
Others might not have been able to see through what Zhang Xuan was doing, but as an ex-head of the Zhang Clan, as well as one of its top experts, he was able to easily see through his son’s motives.
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Under normal circumstances, the activation of one’s bloodline was extremely demanding on one’s blood essence. There were often cases where offspring of Sage Clans completely depleted their blood essence barely after executing one or two battle techniques.
Zhang Xuan used a unique secret art to alter only the flow of time for Zhang Jiuxiao’s consciousness. Through this, not only was the consumption of blood essence extremely low, the acceleration of time could also be enhanced manyfold.
“Even if he’s able to accelerate time by more than a hundredfold, that would only amount to a couple of days at most. Will Zhang Jiuxiao really be able to gain the strength to defeat Tantai Jiankui within just a few days?” the elder who had spoken earlier asked uncertainly.
While the means of their clan head were indeed astounding, Zhang Jiuxiao’s starting point was simply too low. Even with the clan head’s time acceleration, would a couple of days really be enough for him to defeat Tantai Jiankui?
Most of the elders of the Zhang Clan had devoted several centuries of their lives to studying temporal arts, but they had barely been able to make any progress in it.
Paying no heed to the skepticism among the crowd, Zhang Xuan returned to his seat and closed his eyes. He seemed to be assimilating the knowledge that he had just taken in from the several hundred thousand books.
The reason he had used his Spiritual Perception to flip through the books was simply to put up a cover before the Hundred Schools of Philosophers and the Zhang Clan. In truth, with just a scan of his eyes, he had already collected all of the books, memorized their content, and successfully formed the Heaven’s Path Temporal Art.
The manuals that he had imparted to Zhang Jiuxiao were the simplified version of it, and right now, what he was planning to do was cultivate the complete version.
The predecessors of the Zhang Clan did have a deep understanding of time… Zhang Xuan thought in awe as he went through the Heaven’s Path Temporal Art in his mind.
He really had to say that many of the predecessors of the Zhang Clan had achieved great things in the field of time. It was no wonder the Zhang Clan had been able to rise to the position of the number one Sage Clan on the continent, becoming an existence that none could surpass in the past tens of thousands of years.
Through their hard work, they had managed to decipher much of the secrets of time.
…
Some time later…
Boom!
Zhang Xuan suddenly felt as if he had grasped upon something tangible, and everything suddenly cleared up before him. A thought emerged in his mind, and it was slowly growing stronger and stronger.
At the same time, a phenomenon similar to what had happened in the Luo Clan’s ancestral hall was happening in the Zhang Clan’s ancestral hall. Unfortunately, all of the members of the Zhang Clan were too preoccupied with the duel against the Hundred Schools of Philosophers, so none of them noticed the phenomenon.
Hu!
When Zhang Xuan finally opened his eyes, there was a brilliant light shining from his eyes.
I have finally comprehended the Time Quintessence… It seems like the Zhang Clan’s Time Quintessence is centered around the idea of time acceleration for oneself.
After fully comprehending the Zhang Clan’s Time Quintessence, Zhang Xuan finally came to understand the crux of the Zhang Clan’s heritage.
Basically, the Zhang Clan’s Time Quintessence allowed one to accelerate one’s time, thus allowing one to move at a speed faster than anyone could react.
It was incapable of emulating the effects of the Master Teacher Pavilion’s Hall of Spring and Autumn, where a year inside was equivalent to a month outside.
Nevertheless, there was no denying that it was a formidable ability.
At the very least, it had brought his fighting prowess up to a whole new level.
Previously, a droplet of the Zhang Clan blood essence would be depleted after activating time acceleration twice. However, with my deepened understanding of temporal laws, I am now able to store it within my body and use it at will without wasting any of its energy! A droplet of blood will now be able to last me dozens of uses easily! Zhang Xuan thought in delight.
Of the three droplets of Zhang Clan blood essence that Sword Saint Xing had given him, he had spent a droplet dealing with the Dragonbone Divine Spear and another droplet to accelerate Zhang Jiuxiao’s time. As such, he only had one droplet left.
That being so, with his enhanced understanding of the Time Quintessence of Acceleration, he would be able to use it with far greater efficiency than before.
Thinking back, he had really been too wasteful with the first droplet that he had used against the Dragonbone Divine Spear.
It could be said that ninety-nine percent of its energy had been wasted without achieving anything!
However, with his enhanced control over temporal laws, he would now be able to effectively utilize every sliver of energy within the blood droplet. As such, even though he only had a single droplet left at the moment, it would suffice to last him through dozens of uses!