Library of Heaven’s Path

Jiyaya!

Slowly, the crack between the two massive doors opened wider and wider. With a thought, Zhang Xuan’s consciousness slipped right into the library.

He was extremely curious to see how the Library of Heaven’s Path had changed after an entire month of downtime for the upgrade.

What was before his eyes were countless shelves and books that filled the entire area, extending all the way into the horizon—the same sight as always.

When he first went into the Library of Heaven’s Path, most of these books were illusory in nature, similar to placeholders so as to prevent the shelves from appearing empty. However, at that moment, the shelves had been filled with countless real books that could probably fill a massive lake if thrown together.

In the year that he had spent traveling across the Master Teacher Continent, the number of books that he had read was probably far greater than what anyone else had read in their lifetime. In terms of scope and depth of knowledge, there was probably no one who could compete with him anymore.

This was especially so after he had been through the mountain of books. He had not spent too long there, but the books that he had read encompassed the various changes from the primordial era till now, thus enhancing his state of mind and wisdom.

“Hmm? There’s an additional flight of stairs over here…” Walking around the Library of Heaven’s Path, Zhang Xuan noticed a certain change that sent his eyebrows shooting upward.

Even though the Library of Heaven’s Path had a terribly high ceiling, it had appeared to be a single-story building to him so far. Who would have thought that a flight of stairs would suddenly appear in the middle of the library? Could it be that there was something valuable above?

Zhang Xuan swiftly made his way to the staircase and began walking upward, but barely after taking a step, he staggered and nearly fell flat to the ground.

“The heck? This staircase is a fake?” Zhang Xuan’s complexion did not look too good.

The staircase before him was actually an illusion as well, just like the books that he had seen at the very start! Putting aside climbing to the next story, he could not even touch it!

To make a new staircase but not allow him to go up at all, what the heck was the Library of Heaven’s Path up to?

“Do I have to come across the real staircase in real life in order for this staircase to become tangible?” Zhang Xuan wondered.

Back when he first obtained the Library of Heaven’s Path, the books that were in there had been intangible, unable to be grabbed or read. It was only after reading innumerable books that he had managed to fill the shelves with tangible books. Could it be the same for the staircase?

Just that… he could understand the idea of reading books to fill the shelves, but how in the world was he going to find the relevant staircases to make it tangible?

“Forget it!” Unable to make sense of the situation, Zhang Xuan shook his head before moving ahead.

A moment later, he stopped again.

Other than the staircase, he noticed some changes in the internal structure of the Library of Heaven’s Path. Unknowingly, in the depths of the library, a new silent chamber had appeared.

From the exterior, the chamber seemed to resemble the shape of a massive book.

“Reading Chamber?” Zhang Xuan read the words on the plaque hanging by the entrance of the chamber.

It was indeed true that most libraries had areas reserved for visitors to read their books quietly, but the Library of Heaven’s Path never had such a thing before. Was this a new function that had come with the recent upgrade?

Would he be able to read books faster within the Reading Chamber or something?

Harboring such doubts in mind, Zhang Xuan pushed open the door and entered the premises.

Unlike the staircase, the door was tangible enough for him to open it easily with a push. As soon as he stepped in, he noticed something that made his face warp in astonishment.

“The flow of time in here is actually different from that outside?”

With his comprehension of the Time Quintessence, he could easily sense the difference in the flow of time within the Reading Chamber.

“The difference in the flow of time should be around one to ten!” Zhang Xuan analyzed.

A flow of time of one to ten meant that even if he cultivated within the Reading Chamber for ten days, only a day would have passed in the external world!

“However, since only my consciousness is able to get into the Library of Heaven’s Path, I’ll only be able to sharpen my battle techniques here. It won’t benefit my cultivation!”

After relishing in the discovery for a moment, the downsides to the effects of the Reading Chambers slowly became apparent to him as well.

It was similar to the Blood Reservoir of the Zhang Clan in the sense that only his consciousness was able to access the Reading Chamber. As such, he could only temper his will, enhance his knowledge, and refine his battle techniques there. As for advancing his cultivation and such, as his body was unable to access this area, he would not be able to enjoy the benefits of the difference in the flow of time.

But again, it would not make much of a difference to him. In the first place, the Heaven’s Path Divine Art did not take him too long to cultivate, so it was not too significant whether he was able to cultivate ten times faster or not.

Given the long lifespan of cultivators, whether one took six minutes to raise one’s cultivation by a single stage or an hour to do so, it really did not matter.

At the very least, that was how Zhang Xuan consoled himself to assuage his disappointment at that revelation.

Shaking his head, Zhang Xuan was just thinking about how useless this ability was when he suddenly felt a surge of zhenqi flowing through his real body in accordance to his thoughts.

Wait a moment… Even though I’m unable to bring my body into this space, if I can still drive the zhenqi in my body from here, I should still be able to enjoy the benefits from a tenfold increase in my cultivation rate! Zhang Xuan thought in agitation.

It turned out that the Reading Chamber was not as useless as he had thought!

All in all, he had spent an entire month in order to recover from the damage that he had sustained from ending his life at the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters. If the Reading Chamber had been open to him from the very start, there was a very good chance that he could have fully recovered within three days!

In fact, if he was able to use this ability in battle as well, even if his arm was severed, he should be able to regrow his arm swiftly within a second or two through the effects of the Reading Chamber.

“This isn’t just an increase in my rate of cultivation… With this, I’ll be able to fight more fearlessly in battle!”

Even someone who valued efficiency as much as Zhang Xuan could hardly complain about the speed of his breakthroughs through cultivating the Heaven’s Path Divine Art. However, the same could not be said about injuries. While the Heaven’s Path zhenqi was able to heal most basic injuries, it was ineffective against internal traumas that shook his foundation. Such injuries tended to take many days to heal even for him.

For example, he had spent an entire month before he could make a full recovery this time. If someone had made use of this opportunity to assassinate him, there was no guarantee that he would have been able to protect himself.

But the very existence of this room significantly alleviated the threat.

The next time that he suffered any severe injuries, he would be able to swiftly recover and launch a counterattack!

Not only so, it seems like my thoughts are much clearer while cultivating in here. Somehow, the atmosphere is rather similar to that of the Temple of Confucius, Zhang Xuan thought with a satisfied smile.

Even though he had only been in there for a short while, he could already feel a vast amount of academic aura surging into his mind, allowing him to sort out his thoughts faster than before. He felt more refreshed than ever.

Closing his eyes, he focused his attention on reinforcing his Intuitive Impulse realm cultivation. Soon enough, he felt himself hitting a bottleneck, signifying that he was not too far away from pushing for a breakthrough to the Sempiternal realm.

It was no wonder that the Library of Heaven’s Path had taken so much longer to upgrade this time around. The new functions that it had come with were indeed splendid.

He had no doubt that the new capabilities of the Library of Heaven’s Path would serve him well in his future journey.

Pushing the door of the Reading Chamber open and leaving the premises, Zhang Xuan was just about to return to his body when a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind, causing him to freeze on the spot.

“Wait a moment… Isn’t the Reading Chamber shaped like a book? Is it possible that… it’s the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn?”

The Great Codex of Spring and Autumn had indeed been tamed by Luo Ruoxin; this was something he had seen with his own eyes. However, shortly after Luo Ruoxin left, he had fallen into a coma, and the Library of Heaven’s Path had begun upgrading.

It was common knowledge among the upper echelons of the Master Teacher Continent that the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn possessed the ability to sway temporal laws. Considering that the Library of Heaven’s Path had suddenly been bestowed with such an ability, his thoughts could not help but wander in such a direction.

Thus, he quickly turned his gaze over to take a closer look at the newly-created Reading Chamber.

He had not noticed it before, but now that he was paying attention to the specifics, it did bear a resemblance to the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn that he had seen from afar back then.

Furthermore, the similarities did not just stop at the appearance but the aura that it emanated as well. However, the aura of the Reading Chamber felt significantly weaker than the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn that he had seen before, which was also why he did not make the connection right away.

Of course, he had not gotten into close proximity with the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn before, so he could not say for sure.

Could it be that… Ruoxin placed the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn into the Library of Heaven’s Path, which triggered its upgrade? Zhang Xuan thought incredulously.

It was only at the very last moment that he had found out that Luo Ruoxin knew about the existence of the Library of Heaven’s Path, and the realization filled him with bewilderment. Was it possible that she had intentionally placed the Great Codex of Spring and Autumn into the Library of Heaven’s Path and allowed the two of them to fuse together in order to form that room?

Such a thing seemed too unbelievable to be true.

But if it was true by any chance… just what in the world was her real identity?

To know about the existence of the Library of Heaven’s Path and even be capable enough to trigger an upgrade in it… just what kind of secrets was she concealing from him?

Zhang Xuan stared blankly ahead with a dazed look in his eyes.