2056 The Truth
It was right after he had visited Wuhai City’s Ethereal Hall to purchase some Superior Immortal Pills that he had been assaulted by them. It was the same for the second time around at Biyuan City.
He had thought that it was weird that the Hall of Gods could accurately identify him back then, and he had even tried to loiter around the area to confirm once more if the Hall of Gods was really able to see through his disguise.
Could something have happened to the Ethereal Hall?
Even an elder of the Ethereal Hall, Fu Chenzi, had ended up colluding with the Hall of Gods! This was a huge cause for concern.
Kong shi’s deeds on the Master Teacher Continent showed that he was a benevolent man who constantly had the welfare of the masses in mind. There was no way someone like that would collude with the Hall of Gods and incite chaos on the Forsaken Continent.
However, the same could not be said about those who were continuing his legacy. After all, several thousand years had already passed since the founding of the Ethereal Hall.
There was no doubt that the primary intentions for the founding of the Ethereal Hall were good, but as the organization expanded and developed through the years, for better or for worse, it was inevitable that it would begin to change.
But all of this is speculation. I’ll have to give it a try to know for sure if I’m right or not, Zhang Xuan thought as he activated the Ethereal Token and immersed his consciousness into it.
The High Immortal realm Ethereal Hall looked rather deserted compared to the other Ethereal Halls. Considering the low number of High Immortals in the world, this was only to be expected.
Zhang Xuan walked right up to the front receptionist and said, “Is it possible to purchase Water of Heavy Silver here?”
“Water of Heavy Silver?” the attendant asked with a slight frown, confused by the unfamiliar name. “Give me a moment, I’ll check.”
He quickly flipped open a book, and a moment later, a smile broke out on his face. “Customer, even though the Water of Heavy Silver is very rare, our Ethereal Hall happens to have some of it in stock. However, it might be a little pricy.”
“How much does it cost?” Zhang Xuan asked.
“Around 5,000,000 Ethereal Coins,” the attendant replied.
That was way beyond pricy!
“I don’t have that many Ethereal Tokens with me at the moment, but is it possible for me to exchange this for a portion of Water of Heavy Silver?” Zhang Xuan took out a three jade bottles and placed them on the table.
The attendant doubtfully uncorked one of the bottles, and concentrated spiritual energy immediately gushed out from the bottle. With a look of disbelief in his eyes, the attendant uttered, “Isn’t this… the blood essence of a Semi-Divinity realm expert?”
“Is it enough?” Zhang Xuan asked.
Yes, of course. Definitely!” the attendant replied anxiously. “I’ll make the price estimation right now!”
There were only so many Semi-Divinity realm experts on the Forsaken Continent, which made their blood essence priceless treasures. Every single droplet of it harnessed tremendous energy.
Furthermore, it would be difficult for a Semi-Divinity realm expert to produce three bottles of blood essence even over several decades without hurting their foundation!
Some time later, the attendant returned and passed five jade bottles over.
“Customer, here are five bottles of Water of Heavy Silver.”
“Un.” Zhang Xuan nodded in relief.
With all the three catalysts prepared, he should have no trouble pushing for a breakthrough to Heavenly High Immortal realm anymore. The only thing to do now was to see if he would be assassinated by the warriors of the Hall of Gods.
So, he backed out of the Ethereal Hall. He quickly set up multiple layers of defensive formations that would warn him of any approaching intruders and keep them at bay. Only after that did he take out the three catalysts and a bottle of Semi-Divinity realm blood essence.
With a tap of his finger, the Semi-Divinity realm blood essence swiftly diffused into a powerful surge of spiritual energy that gathered around him like a tornado.
While Semi-Divinity realm blood essence would be an invaluable treasure to any cultivator, he had no lack of it at the moment. To be exact, he had over twenty bottles of it in his storage ring. That was more than enough for him to splurge.
He had managed to acquire that much through squeezing the bodies of Fu Chenzi and the middle-aged man from the Hall of Gods dry. Of course, he did not forget to cleanse it of the air of degeneration using Little Chick’s chicken soup.
In any case, Zhang Xuan began driving his Heaven’s Path Divine Art, and his cultivation began surging once more.
Greater High Immortal realm, Earthly High Immortal realm…
In just an hour, he had already raised his cultivation to the Heavenly High Immortal realm!
Due to the lack of Semi-Divinity realm cultivation techniques, this was the highest level he could reach at the moment.
There’s no way I will be able to compile a Semi-Divinity realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art here, so the only way I can advance is to forge my own path ahead and create my own cultivation technique! Zhang Xuan thought with a troubled look on his face.
He knew of his own problems very well.
The Heaven’s Path Divine Art was indeed flawless, but ironically, this very trait of it was also its greatest flaw.
It dawned upon him when his cultivation went berserk the previous time.
There was no true perfection in this world. Even the heavens were flawed, so how could anything possibly be perfect? It was all just a matter of perspective.
Nevertheless, it was true that cultivating the Heaven’s Path Divine Art would guarantee him superior strength. It might not be as perfect as he thought, but it was the best that he had.
But this very train of thought was poison to him. It made him dependent on the Heaven’s Path Divine Art. The idea of cultivating something flawed disgusted him so much that he would retch for days on end. Even if he created something of his own, that lingering doubt that it was riddled with flaws would eventually become his greatest inner demon.
So, this Semi-Divinity realm would surely be a huge hurdle for him to overcome. It was likely that he would have to create a Semi-Divinity realm cultivation technique with his own wisdom.
It would be tough, but it was not impossible. Since others were able to do it, there was no reason for him not to be able to do it too!
With such a thought in mind, Zhang Xuan entered the cultivation chamber inside the Library of Heaven’s Path. It was the manifestation of the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn that Luo Ruoxin had installed within his Library of Heaven’s Path before she left.
Inside this unique cultivation chamber, the flow of time was ten times faster than that of the Master Teacher Continent.
Zhang Xuan had thought that the flow of time inside the cultivation chamber would change according to the flow of time to the Forsaken Continent, but to his surprise, it remained the same as before. In other words, it was still ten times faster relative to the Master Teacher Continent, which equated to a hundred times faster than the time on the Forsaken Continent!
Even if he spent a hundred days inside of the cultivation chamber, a single day would have only passed on the Forsaken Continent.
Even a mere hour in there would equate to four days on the Forsaken Continent!
Zhang Xuan first went through the Ascendant Cloud Sword God Formula, which was the only Semi-Divinity realm cultivation technique that he knew of, before using it as a reference to further develop his Heaven’s Path Divine Art.
Just like that, he remained stationary for a very long while before he began to drive his zhenqi. But not too long later, he began coughing out blood.
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First try, failed!
Unwilling to give up just like that, Zhang Xuan tried once more… but it was still a failure.
He continued a hundred more times, but he was still unable to make any progress.
“It’s indeed not easy to make a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm…” Zhang Xuan shook his head helplessly.
It was fortunate that he had Little Chick’s chicken soup, allowing him to recover swiftly from his injuries. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before he sustained severe internal injuries under all his reckless experimentation.
Feeling drained from all the thinking and experimentation, he finally retracted his consciousness from the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn.
All in all, less than an incense’s time had passed in the real world.
Sighing deeply, Zhang Xuan severed a slight will of his consciousness and placed it inside his Library of Heaven’s Path to continue researching the development of a Semi-Divinity realm cultivation technique.
After that, he walked out of the isolated chamber.
With his cultivation reaching the Heavenly High Immortal realm, his strength was already comparable to that of an average Semi-Divinity realm cultivator. Feeling confident, he retracted the formations around him before heading out to take a look.
To be honest, he was slightly surprised to see that the Hall of Gods did not make a move while he was cultivating. Was his guess wrong?
Could it be that they were hesitant to make a move because he was currently in Starchaser Palace? The last two times he had been assaulted, he had only been attacked after he left the Ethereal Hall and stepped into a public area.
This conjecture did not seem too likely given that the Hall of Gods had attacked Chu Yin and First Elder Zhao Yue while they were at Starchaser Palace, but it was probably worth testing that out.
So, Zhang Xuan silently left Starchaser Palace without informing anyone and headed to a remote location above the Ocean of Exiled Stars.
With a flick of his finger, he dropped several water droplets into the ocean.
Even though he had many means at his disposal, he would not dare let down his guard against the Hall of Gods.
Zhang Xuan sat on the surface of the ocean for over two hours, but everything remained quiet. Nothing happened at all.
Could it really be that? Zhang Xuan thought with a deeply worried look on his face.
His initial deduction was that there was a faction of traitors in the Ethereal Hall that was giving away his location to the Hall of Gods when he entered. However, from the current looks of it, that did not seem to be the case.
This left him no choice but to turn to the other deduction he had in mind. If this deduction turned out to be true, that could really be the worst-case scenario for them at the moment.
I can only give it a try then…
He quickly changed his disguise, soul aura, and bloodline once more with the disguise amulet before entering the Ethereal Hall.
He walked up to the receptionist, passed the token that he had received from Kong shi over, and said, “I want Premier Immortal Pills. Bring me as many of them as possible.”
“T-this token! Esteemed customer, please give me a moment. I’ll prepare your Premier Immortal Pills this instant!” the receptionist said before hurriedly leaving the counter.
An hour later, she returned with two jade bottles and said, “My apologies, but we are only able to gather twenty Premier Immortal Pills at the moment.”
“It’s fine,” Zhang Xuan said with a wave of his hand.
Just twenty Premier Immortal Pills was enough to make even the richest man on the Forsaken Continent gasp. Superior Immortal Pills were worth 20,000 Ethereal Coins, and Premier Immortal Pills were a hundred times more valuable than that.
In other words, what he had just received was worth an unbelievable 40,000,000 Ethereal Coins…
Even the elusive Water of Heavy Silver was only worth 5,000,000 Ethereal Coins!
Zhang Xuan retracted his consciousness form the Ethereal Hall and withdrew his Premier Immortal Pills. He uncorked one of the jade bottles and sighed in awe at the hulking amount of spiritual energy that each pill contained.
Even with his current cultivation realm, the Premier Immortal Pills were still of great use to him.
As long as I can figure out a Semi-Divinity realm cultivation technique, I will definitely be able to make a breakthrough with these pills…
His current strength was already on par with Semi-Divinity realm cultivators, so their blood essence was no longer of much use to him. As such, he had been a little troubled over how he should push for a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm.
However, with these pills in his hand, there was no need for him to worry anymore!
Zhang Xuan stretched his back lazily before slowly rising to his feet. He took another look around him once more, but there was still nothing at all.
“Of course, there’s no way that could have been the case…” he murmured with a hint of relief beneath his breath. Nodding in reassurance, he turned around to head back to Starchaser Palace.
But right at that instant, the space around him suddenly began distorting. The brilliant sun seemed to have been plucked from the sky, plunging him into a dark world filled with stars.
Huhuhu!
An old man appeared before his eyes.
This old man appeared to be in his fifties to sixties, and he was dressed in a simple gray robe. Just by standing quietly on the spot, he seemed like a phantom that wandered beneath the darkness of the night, drawing out the deepest fears in one’s heart.
“Are you from the Hall of Gods?” Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes.
This was not good at all. The powerful old man before him was one thing, but what was more important was the fact that the old man had only appeared after he used Kong shi’s token in the Ethereal Hall.
In other words, the token that Kong shi had given him actually served as a GPS locator for the Hall of Gods!
Based on what he had heard from Han Jianqiu, it appeared that Kong shi had handed this token to him personally, so the chances of anyone tampering with it were very low. Could it be that the World’s Teacher had really colluded with the Hall of Gods?
Or could it be a misunderstanding?
Zhang Xuan sighed deeply and shook his head.
Regardless of the truth, it was good that he had sorted this matter out. At the very least, he knew who he had to be guarded against in the future.
Then, he turned to look at the old man as he drove his zhenqi furiously.