Library of Heaven’s Path

In the Elder Hall of the Combat Master Hall…

“Hall Master Xing has gone to find Principal Zhang?” Division Head Wei frowned.

Division Head Liao nodded. “Indeed. If I’m not mistaken, Principal Zhang should have started training our combat masters by now.”

“With Principal Zhang’s help, I am reassured. Even average master teachers in the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy have become experts on par with us, combat masters, after just a few sessions of tutelage; his capabilities are truly nothing short of being phenomenal!”

“My thoughts exactly! It might just be three short days, but with his help, the fighting prowess of our twenty candidates would surely advance by leaps and bounds. Perhaps, we might really be able to bring about a miracle this time around,” Division Head Liao remarked.

Having interacted with the Xuanxuan Faction previously, he had a clear understanding of how frighteningly effective Zhang Xuan’s teachings could be. In just a few short months, not only was the fighting prowess of the Xuanxuan Faction enhanced significantly, their comprehension of combat had also achieved a level comparable or perhaps even exceeding theirs!

“Shall we secretly take a look at how the training is going?” Division Head Wei proposed out of curiosity.

“Secretly take a look?”

“Un. To be honest, I’m interested to see how Principal Zhang intends to train that lot. If we could learn a thing or two from him, we could emulate his methods and groom generation after generation of powerful combat masters!” Division Head Wei stroked his beard with an excited gleam in his eyes.

“Your words do makes sense… Alright, let’s head over there together!” Moved by the idea as well, Division Head Liao stood up.

The training regimes that Zhang Xuan had prepared for the combat masters were not confidential, and as a division head of the Combat Master Hall, it was not a big deal for them to ‘watch over’ the training of the combat masters anyway.

Thus, the duo hurriedly made their way over to the training hall.

“Hmm? Why is the door open?”

The first thing that they noticed upon arriving in the vicinity of the training hall was that its massive doors were wide open. Typically speaking, when a training session was in place, the doors should have been tightly shut.

Glancing at one another in confusion, the duo walked into the training hall, only to find that there was not a single silhouette to be found in the vast room. It was as if the twenty candidates had vanished into thin air.

“Where are they?”

The two division heads looked at one another in bewilderment.

They had been informed earlier that the special training would be conducted in the training hall, so they had expected to see a lecture when they walked in. But this… did they change the location at the last moment or something?

The duo scanned every nook and cranny of the training hall, but none of the twenty candidates were in sight. A moment later, Division Head Wei raised his finger toward one of the isolated chambers and said, “Why don’t we ask the cleaner over there? He might know a thing or two.”

Following Division Head Wei’s finger, Division Head Liao saw a cleaner dressed in dirty clothes scrubbing a toilet bowl within the isolated chamber earnestly.

“This friend over here, did you happen to see a group of combat masters train… ing…”

Before Division Head Wei could finish his words, the cleaner scrubbing the toilet bowl suddenly turned around, and upon getting a clear look of the other party’s face, his lips suddenly began twitching

He was one of the candidates who would be representing their Combat Master Hall in the friendly spar, Shi Hao!

Through the exceptionally vast capacity and dense zhenqi that Shi Hao possessed, he had become a famous figure throughout the Combat Master Hall. For such a figure to be scrubbing toilet bowls… and not to mention, the friendly spar was only three days away. He should have been cultivating at that moment!

Upon seeing the duo, Shi Hao quickly clasped his fist respectfully. “Division Head Wei, Division Head Liao!”

“W-what are you doing here? Where are the rest? Didn’t Hall Master Xing invite Principal Zhang to lecture you all?” Unable to hold back his shock, he shot straight to the question at hand.

“This is the training regime that Zhang shi has set for me. He has ordered me to clean every single toilet bowl in the Combat Master Hall within three days,” Shi Hao replied.

“Clean all of the toilet bowls in the Combat Master Hall within three days?” The two division heads widened their eyes in shock.

All in all, there were more than ten thousand people in the Combat Master Hall, and the visitors from the Xuanxuan Faction added another ten thousand to the number. In order to house twenty thousand men simultaneously, it was a given that there were many public facilities. Even by the lower estimates, there had to be at least a thousand toilet bowls throughout the Combat master Hall!

Was it even possible to scrub so many toilet bowls within three days? Taking a step back, even if it could be done, what about the friendly spar? Did Shi Hao not need to cultivate?

“That’s right. Furthermore, he has strictly ordered that I can only use this tool in the cleaning,” Shi Hao said as he raised the item in his hand.

The sight of that item left the eyelids of the two division heads twitching wildly.

Astonishingly, what was in the other party’s hand was not a scrubbing brush or anything of that sort but a feather duster!

The softness of a feather duster made it suited for cleaning dust, but to clear off the grime and filth that was firmly attached to the toilet bowl… Could it be done?

“Pardon me, division heads, but I don’t have much time to spare. I have to finish scrubbing all of the toilet bowls within three days, or else a pitiful fate will be awaiting me. I have to get to work now!”

After saying those words, Shi Hao decisively turned away from the two and continued scrubbing the toilet bowl before him diligently.

“Ah… Alright then, we won’t trouble you any longer. That… Do you know where the other combat masters are?” Division Head Wei asked.

Without raising his head, Shi Hao replied, “Jiao Tan is busy smacking flies buzzing around the bathroom outside, and Qin Xiao is trying to catch birds. As for the rest, I’m not too sure. However, they should be within the vicinity, so you can try looking for them.”

“Smacking flies? Catching birds?”

The bodies of the two division heads swayed from side to side as the vision before them abruptly darkened.

Shouldn’t they have been listening to a lecture at this very moment?

Weren’t the combat masters supposed to be attending a crash course to raise their fighting prowess as much as possible over the next three days?

But… scrubbing toilet bowls, smacking flies, and catching birds… It was as if the world had gone bonkers!

Perplexed, the duo walked out of the training hall with confusion clearly written on their faces. They were intending to search for the fly-smacking Jiao Tan and bird-catching Qin Xiao when they saw a young man following behind a female combat master with a bright smile on his face.

“Big sister, don’t leave. Why don’t we explore the intricacies of the human body together…”

Pah!

“Hey! If you are unwilling, just say so. There’s no need to resort to violence! That big brother over there, are you interested in exploring the intricacies of the human body together?”

“Scram!”

“Roger that!”

Upon seeing this sight, Division Head Wei subconsciously turned his gaze to Division Head Liao, and just as he had expected, the latter’s lips were twitching wildly, and his face was so reddened that it seemed as if he would burst into tears at any moment.

“If I’m not mistaken, that young man over there is your student, Lu Jianling, right?”

“That’s indeed my student. He has always been a rather shy and introverted person, so why… would he be chasing after ladies and uttering such brazen words? Not to mention, why in the world is he chasing after men as well?” Division Head Liao covered his face from the utter shame as he instinctively walked away in a different direction.

He was afraid that his student would actually run up to him and invite him to explore the intricacies of the human body together. His old heart would not have been able to take that blow!

On the other hand, Division Head Wei looked at the sight a little longer and gulped down a mouthful of saliva before catching up with Division Head Liao.

The duo continued walking forward, and before long, they saw a young man standing before a tree, driving his zhenqi furiously. He seemed to be undergoing some kind of intense training.

“This should be Dong Rui from the Guardian Division. He has managed to temper his physical body to an astonishing degree, such that swords and sabers will struggle to leave a scratch on his body,” Division Head Wei remarked with a nod.

It was gladdening to see someone normal among the insanity.

Otherwise, if they were to continue seeing more madness before them, they feared that they would suffer a mental breakdown soon.

“Un.” Division Head Liao heaved a sigh of relief.

He was just about to continue speaking when Dong Rui suddenly finished conditioning himself. He began scrambling up the tree with his four limbs, and upon reaching the very top, he… let go?

Paji!

He fell head first into the ground, reminiscent of a carrot planted in the earth.

Putong!

Dong Rui had to struggle a fair bit before he was able to pluck himself out. He applied some medicine on himself before walking up to the tree once more, conditioning his body, and repeating the cycle.

Paji!

Once again, he fell head first to the ground, and this time, blood sprayed out of his head.

“…”

The two division heads felt as if they were going insane.

What were they doing instead of training?

These combat masters were geniuses who they had specially picked out to participate in the friendly spar, and the Combat Master Hall had high expectations of them. Everyone was waiting for them to bring glory back to the Combat Master Hall, and yet, all of them had suddenly gone insane at this crucial moment!

Proceeding forward, they encountered more and more bewildering sights. One was sprawled within a bathing vat, acting like a corpse. One had buried himself in the ground, not moving in the least…

It did not take long for them to find all twenty geniuses, but it was like all of them had become psychopaths, carrying out actions that no sane human would ever do again and again.

Instead of the arrival of a miracle that they had anticipated, it seemed like a cataclysm had struck their Combat Master Hall instead!

“Hall Master Xing, what is going on?”

Unable to take it any longer, the two division heads headed straight to Hall Master Xing’s residence, only to see the latter staring blankly into the sky.

Hall Master Xing turned around to look at them with a deeply helpless look. “I… have no idea either.”

It was then that the duo realized that the head of the usually dashing Hall Master Xing was completely ruffled like a bird’s nest. There were dark bags beneath his eyes, as if he had not slept for a few days straight.

“Principal Zhang is the one who made the call, and he requested that I not interfere in the training regime. I also have no idea what he’s up to either!”

At this moment, Hall Master Xing was truly on the verge of a mental breakdown.

He had thought that Zhang Xuan would put their combat masters through some special intensive training, but the moment that he saw the papers listing the training regimes, he had nearly lost his mind.

Special it was indeed… but this was way too freaking special!

Are you sure that this can still be considered training? Are you secretly plotting the downfall of our Qingyuan Empire Combat Master Hall instead?

“You don’t know either? Then… are we going to just let him fool around like that?” Division Head Wei exclaimed.

“I tried talking to him about the matter too, but he said that… if we don’t trust him, we should have just trained the candidates ourselves. I also hesitated for very long before deciding to leave it be,” Hall Master Xing replied with a bitter smile.

In his many years as the head of the Combat Master Hall, this was the first time that he had seen something as mystifying as this.

But since he had asked for Zhang Xuan’s help, it was only right for him to trust the other party.

“But…”

The two division heads wanted to protest, but they had no idea where they should start.

A long time later, Division Head Wei finally found the words to speak. “Is Principal Zhang… really training our combat masters?”

“I have no idea either… but my thought is that since it’s unlikely that three days of training by us will make any substantial difference in the results of the friendly spar. Therefore, we might as well just allow him to do as he pleases. Perhaps… who knows? There might really just be a miracle!” While Hall Master Xing said those words, his shaking head was more than enough to show his skepticism.

Their Qingyuan Empire Combat Master Hall had been in a weak position for a very long time. While they would be dispatching their greatest geniuses to participate in the friendly spar, it was still questionable whether or not they would be able to obtain even two slots.

Since that was the case, they might as well place their bets on Zhang Xuan and pray for a miracle. Considering the unthinkable feats that the latter had pulled off in the past, it was not out of the question!

“It seems like this is our only option at the moment…” Division Head Wei took a look around, but Zhang Xuan was not in sight, so he asked, “Oh right, where is Principal Zhang?”

“He just obtained his 7-star physician and appraiser emblem, and he said that he would be paying a visit to the Master Teacher Pavilion to apply for his promotion to 7-star master teacher,” Hall Master Xing replied.

“Promotion to 7-star master teacher?”

The duo was slightly taken aback by those words.

We invited you to train our combat masters, and yet, after turning all of them into lunatics, you even ran off to the Master Teacher Pavilion by yourself!

Isn’t this a little too much?

The two division heads looked up into the sky as well, and a very long time later, a deep sigh escaped from their mouths.

…

Just as Hall Master Xing had said, Zhang Xuan was currently in the Master Teacher Pavilion.

To him, training the combat masters was just a minor issue. What was more important for him was to be promoted to 7-star master teacher.

He needed that promotion in order to vie for the nomination slot to the Sanctum of Sages and find Luo Ruoxin. This was the only chance he had. Otherwise, once Luo Ruoxin was married in the third month of the next year, everything would be over.

Walking through the vast hall of the Master Teacher Pavilion, Zhang Xuan headed straight for Wu shi’s residence.

Due to him having cleared the Empire Building, he could apply for his promotion to 7-star master teacher directly without undergoing the examination. It would be troublesome to explain that matter to the others, so he decided to find Wu shi immediately and have the latter clear it for him.

Before Zhang Xuan could enter Wu shi’s residence, he heard the voice of an old man from within the room.

“Wu shi, if it wasn’t for Vice Pavilion Master Tian noticing the trap laid by the Otherworldly Demons, our Master Teacher Pavilion might not exist. Yet, you had him captured over the trivial matter of slandering a 6-star master teacher? Don’t you think that you are making a mountain out of a molehill?”