Library of Heaven’s Path

“Dancing?”

Astonished, the other two elders quickly took a closer look, and indeed, the movements of the golem had a unique rhythm to it, as if it was doing some kind of exercise.

They quickly turned their sights to the young man and saw that he had stood up at some point in time as well. His hands were placed behind his back, and he seemed to be muttering something beneath his breath.

“Chest expansion exercise. One two three four, five six seven eight; two two three four, five six seven eight; three two three four, five six seven eight; four two three four, five six seven eight. Hip twisting exercise. One two three four… Side stretch exercise… Toe touch exercise…”

The three elders looked at one another as they felt their mouths dry up.

It took a long while before one of them managed to find his voice. “Rather than dancing, it seems like the golem is… doing warm-ups?”

“That does seem to be the case.”

The other two elders nodded stiffly. They could not help but wonder if their eyes were playing tricks on them.

It was simply too difficult to enchant the guardian golems, such that even those who succeeded would only be able to get it to move a few steps. Yet, after enchanting the golem, the young man actually made it do warm-ups instead of moving forward?

Are you messing with us?

Not only were the three elders frenzied by what they saw, even Zhang Feng was so dumbfounded that he forgot to return his Primordial Spirit back to his body. Instead, his Primordial Spirit trembled so intensely that it seemed like it would succumb to shock very soon and dissipate.

He had nearly died from exhaustion just by having his golem move seven steps, but that fellow was actually making the golem do warm-ups.

Aren’t you way too arrogant?

Seeing the frenzied crowd clutching their hair in the air, Zhang Xuan shook his head in disapproval. Just one look, and I know all of you lack basic understanding about exercising. These golems have been stationary for far too long. If they get up without doing a short warm-up, they could be easily injured!

Did your physical education teachers not teach you to first warm-up your body first before exercising? That’s elementary knowledge, you know!

Even little children know that they have to warm-up prior to exercising, and yet, these elders and geniuses actually still made the golem proceed without warming up. Honestly, where did their common sense go?

As he criticized the crowd internally, Zhang Xuan continued instructing the golem. “Alright, warm-up is over. Now, two sets of high knees. Go!”

Peng peng peng peng peng!

The golem raised its knees up to chest height one at a time, causing endless tremors to ripple through the ground as a result of its movement. It felt as if it would soon create a massive basin in the area.

Seeing that the golem’s form was perfect, Zhang Xuan nodded in approval before issuing another instruction.

“Good! Two sets of frog leaps, go!”

Peng peng peng peng peng!

This time, the tremors on the ground was even worse. Under the relentless shaking, those buildings that had barely managed to survive the previous calamity eventually caved in and collapsed to the ground, raising a dust storm.

Even the library, which had been completely intact a moment ago, also collapsed under the intense shaking of the ground.

“Alright, warm-up is over. We shall start running around the Spirit Awakener Hall. You are only allowed to stop when I tell you to, got it?” Zhang Xuan said in an imposing voice reminiscent of a strict instructor.

Puhe! Puhe! Puhe!

The golem nodded excitedly as it began running. Every step it took felt as if a new comet had just crashed down onto the world, causing the earth to cave in and mountains to shake. More and more buildings fell victim to this bizarre sports meet.

“…”

The minds of the three elders and Zhang Feng had completely turned blank from shock. They could hardly process what was going on at all.

Ever since the founding of this Spirit Awakener Hall, even the most talented of spirit awakeners had only been able to allow the golem to move a few steps. Yet, not only did this fellow make it complete an entire set of warm-up exercises, he even made it sprint laps around the Spirit Awakener Hall.

“Is this considered my victory?”

While the crowd was still at a loss as to what to make of the situation, the young man’s calm voice suddenly rang out.

“O-of course!” Swallowing their saliva, the three elders nodded with uncanny harmony, almost a little like little chicks pecking on rice.

The golem had already completed quite a few laps, and the buildings of the Spirit Awakener Hall had already collapsed to the point where there was nothing left to collapse. If this still could not be considered his victory, what else could?

“So, am I the new Inceptive Sage of the Spirit Awakener Hall now?” Zhang Xuan asked.

“Yes, of course!”

The elders nodded once more.

“Good. I hope that you don’t have any qualms about me settling my own private grudges then,” Zhang Xuan said.

Then, he turned his gaze away from the three elders over toward Zhang Feng and said, “Since you have a foul mouth, let’s start with hundred slaps for your mouth. Make sure to use your full strength for that.”

Hearing the order from Zhang Xuan, Zhang Feng was appalled. He quickly turned his sights over to the Netherworld Azure Dragon Beast, and to his relief, the latter was not moving at all. Just when he was about to retort, he suddenly heard a series of ‘pah pah pah’ noises.

Lowering his head, he saw that his physical body had stood up at some point in time, and his hands were striking his face forcefully one after another at a certain tempo.

In just a few moments, there was already a long stream of blood flowing down his chin, and a couple of his teeth had been knocked out as well.

“You…” Zhang Feng widened his eyes in shock, and he bellowed with a hint of fear in his voice, “What kind of sorcery did you use on me? Why is my body obeying your orders?”

Considering that his Primordial Spirit was still up in the sky, his body should have been completely unconscious, reminiscent of a corpse. Why would his hands suddenly start slapping his face?

“Well, I had some free time after enchanting the golem, so I enchanted your body while I was at it,” Zhang Xuan said leisurely before turning his gaze back toward Zhang Feng’s body to instruct, “Yes, that’s good. That posture is perfect. Don’t stop, harder, harder!”

Pah pah pah pah!

The slaps grew even sharper.

“You enchanted my body?” Zhang Feng’s Primordial Spirit jolted upon hearing those words, and he nearly lost his sanity in that instant.

He was not even dead yet, and that fellow actually successfully enchanted his body… Just how did he manage to do it?

“My body…” Unable to watch on any longer, Zhang Feng rushed back toward his body and began wrestling control over his body from the spirit Zhang Xuan had enchanted into it.

However, the spirit that Zhang Xuan had enchanted was simply too powerful. While he was still in the midst of fighting for control over his body, the spirit finished the hundred slaps, and after that was done, it maneuvered his body to lie on the floor, allowing the sprinting guardian golem to step on it every now and then.

An hour later…

Zhang Feng had finally wrestled back control over his body, but for some reason, cactuses and flowers had started sprouting on his head. At the same time, his body was also in a tattered state after all of the horrors it had been through—most of the bones in his ribcage were shattered, and his face was swollen to twice of its previous size. Even his own brother would have to stare intently at his face before finding any traces of the previous him at all!

“Alright, I am done settling my grudge. Farewell!” After teaching Zhang Feng a lesson, Zhang Xuan placed the Netherworld Azure Dragon Beast back into the Myriad Anthive Nest with a wave of his hand before leaping into the sky, heading off in the direction in which Luo Xuanqing had left.

Most likely, Luo Xuanqing must have headed back to his clan in order to check on Luo Ruoxin. However, with how long he had been gone for, Zhang Xuan could not help but worry that something might have happened to Luo Ruoxin.

“Zhang shi…” Upon seeing that Zhang Xuan was going to leave, the three elders hurriedly rushed forward to stop him.

While young man before them was busy settling his grudge with Zhang Feng, they had managed to gather some information on his background.

It had only been six hours or so since he had cleared the 8-star spirit awakener examination, and he already wielded the ability to make the guardian golem run laps around the Spirit Awakener Hall. His talent in spirit enchantment had really reached a level far beyond their imagination. It was not easy for them to stumble by such a talented spirit awakener, so how could they allow him to leave so easily?

Seeing that the crowd was blocking his path, Zhang Xuan frowned in displeasure. “What? Are you all planning on exacting vengeance for Zhang Feng?”

“Of course not, of course not! It is Zhang Feng’s own fault for having such a foul mouth. He deserves to be punished for that,” an elder hurriedly said with a smile.

Spirit awakeners were not as particular about rules and conventions as master teachers. While Zhang Feng was a formidable genius as well, he was lacking compared to the young man standing before them. Naturally, they knew full well whom they should side with.

“Then?” Hearing that they did not stop him for Zhang Feng, Zhang Xuan frowned in confusion.

“It’s like this. In three months, there will be a selection in the Spirit Awakener Guild headquarters for the selection of our next hall master. Our Sanctum of Sages initially intended to dispatch Zhang Feng, but since you possess such astounding mastery in enchantment, we would like to send you there instead,” one of the elders said.

“Selection for the next hall master?” Zhang Xuan frowned.

“That’s right.”

The three elders hurriedly nodded in unison.

The Spirit Awakener Hall in the Sanctum of Sages could be considered a branch of the Spirit Awakener Guild as well. If the person they dispatched became the next hall master, they would stand to benefit greatly as well.

Not only would there be a massive boost to their reputations, they would stand to earn handsome rewards.

It was for this reason that they had been determined to protect Zhang Feng regardless of the cost.

However, after witnessing Zhang Xuan’s unbelievable mastery in spirit enchantment, they swiftly redirected their high expectations from Zhang Feng to him.

“Three months? I’ll give it some thought,” Zhang Xuan replied, neither accepting nor rejecting the offer.

It was the tenth month at the moment, and three months from now would be the first month. There was still some time before the agreed marriage date between Luo Ruoxin and the young prodigy of the Zhang Clan. If he could pay a visit to the Spirit Awakener Guild headquarters, he would be able to meet Wang Ying.

He hadn’t heard anything from that lass ever since she left with the envoy from the Spirit Awakener Guild headquarters, so he had no idea how she was doing at the moment.

Hopefully, the Spirit Awakener Guild was treating her well. Otherwise, he did not mind enchanting everything there was in the headquarters and tearing everything down.

“Do give the matter serious consideration; this is a very good opportunity for you. Speaking of which, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Han Fu, and this is my Communication Jade Token. I’ll check up with you some time later to hear your decision,” one of the elders said as he passed a jade token over.

Zhang Xuan took it and threw it into his storage ring before hurrying away.

Luo Xuanqing had left roughly an hour ago, and his trail had mostly vanished. On top of that, he had intentionally concealed his trail, making it difficult to track him down.

Even when using his Eye of Insight, his trail was extremely faint, abruptly vanishing at some points. It took Zhang Xuan some fumbling around before he was able to find where the trail reappeared.

The Sanctum of Sages covered an area far greater than the Qingyuan Conferred Empire. Even with the considerable rise in his cultivation over the past few months, it still took him quite a white before he was finally out of its perimeters.

Ten minutes later, he arrived before a mountain range.

It was a true sight of devastation before him. As if someone had torched the area with flames, black patches of charred land and billowing white smoke could be seen here and there.

A battle broke out here not too long ago, Zhang Xuan thought grimly as he scanned the wreckage around him.

Judging from the various marks, it should not have been more than fifteen minutes since the battle ended. Considering how Luo Xuanqing had been heading in this direction, could the damage have been left behind by him?

But Luo Xuanqing had left in order to find Ruoxin and his own clan, so who could he have been fighting against?

Eye of Insight!

Zhang Xuan examined the marks carefully, and a moment later, a grim look appeared on his face.

These marks are indeed from Luo Xuanqing!

Through analyzing the various marks around in detail, he could tell that some of the marks had been caused by Luo Xuanqing’s abilities. The opponent he had crossed blows with seemed to be rather powerful as well, a Saint 8-dan expert at the very least.

It can’t be that something has happened to Ruoxin, right?

Such a thought surfaced in Zhang Xuan’s mind, and it immediately sent him into a state of anxiety.

Just as he was about to quickly follow the trail ahead, he suddenly noticed a huge ominous cloud looming over a valley not too far away. Countless streaks of lightning crackled frighteningly, ready to unleash their devastating might on the world.

Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes in alarm.

That’s… a lightning tribulation!

Having just cleared one himself not too long ago, he was extremely familiar with it.

Turning his gaze to the storm clouds, Zhang Xuan swiftly saw a familiar figure.

Is that… Luo Xuanqing? But he hasn’t finished reinforcing his cultivation yet! Could it be that he has encountered something that left him with no choice but to call forth his Dimension Sundering Ordeal prematurely? In any case, this doesn’t seem good.

The other party was currently standing at the very center of the storm, and countless streaks of lightning raged around him, threatening to reduce him to ashes.

Luo Xuanqing was going to face his Dimension Sundering Ordeal!