Library of Heaven’s Path

You wish to enter the Ethereal Hall?” Bai Ruanqing did not think that her Senior Uncle would be so anxious regarding this matter. She pondered for a moment before nodding. “Alright then!”

In any case, they had three days to finish their mission, so there should not be any trouble.

Besides, they were out there to explore the region. Given their wealth, it was inconsequential whether they accomplished the mission or not.

Bai Ruanqing quickly took out a map and scanned it carefully before directing her aerial beast accordingly. Roughly thirty minutes later, they arrived before a towering building.

It was the Wuhai branch of the Ethereal Hall.

“The local currency in Wuhai City is similar to the Ethereal Coin used back in Xuanjiang City, just that its value is greater. As the value of the local currency has been pegged to our sect’s Sword Pavilion Coin in a 1:1 ratio, it’s possible to purchase resources here using Sword Pavilion Coins,” Bai Ruanqing explained with a smile.

Hearing that, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.

He was still worrying that he would have to find some way to earn some money in order to purchase an Ethereal Token, but it seemed like his worries were unfounded.

He had plenty of Sword Pavilion Coins with him, so purchasing an Ethereal Token should not be too much of a problem for him.

The two of them quickly headed over to the front receptionist.

“The price of the Ethereal Token differs according to its tier. It’s twenty Ethereal Coins for Ancient Sage 4-dan, two hundred Ethereal Coins for the Lesser Pseudo Immortal realm, and two thousand Ethereal Coins for the True Immortal realm,” the receptionist explained.

The prices were slightly cheaper than that of the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion.

“We’ll buy two Lesser Pseudo Immortal realm Ethereal Tokens,” Zhang Xuan said as he transferred four hundred Sword Pavilion Coins over through his Ethereal Card.

Receiving the money, the receptionist quickly passed two jade tokens over and said, “Do you two need a room, too? There are silent chambers over there. They cost an Ethereal Coin every two hours!”

Zhang Xuan requested a single room. After making payment, he quickly headed over into the room with Bai Ruanqing. Already familiar with how the Ethereal Token worked, it did not take long before they entered the Ethereal Hall.

The layout of the Ethereal Hall was similar to the branch in reality, which left one feeling slightly taken aback. Shaking off that bizarre feeling, Zhang Xuan proceeded to the front receptionist and revealed the token that he had obtained from Kong shi.

“Can you show me what I can purchase with this?”

The receptionist took the token, and a moment later, her eyes widened in shock. “Esteemed guest, this way please. I’m afraid that the value of your token is too great, so I have to invite my superior over to serve you personally!”

Zhang Xuan and Bai Ruanqing were swiftly led to a spacious room, and a moment later, an elder rushed in with an anxious look on his face.

“I am an elder of Wuhai City’s Ethereal Hall. I have seen your token, and it’s definitely an insignia bestowed personally by our hall master. It entitles you to the right to purchase any cultivation resources required for you to advance your cultivation without incurring any cost!” The elder bowed deeply as he presented the token back to Zhang Xuan.

This token could be said to be a physical representation of their hall master himself, so they had to show the utmost respect to the person who carried it. As such, the elder dared not display the slightest discourtesy to the person before him despite his young age.

“Un!” Seeing that the token was indeed real, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. With a smile, he said, “Since that’s the case, I would like you to bring me a hundred Superior Immortal Pills!”

After reaching the Heavenly Pseudo Immortal realm, he realized that Standard Immortal Pills were no longer effective in advancing his cultivation anymore. If he wanted to further his cultivation, he would need to acquire Superior Immortal Pills at the very least.

At the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion, each Superior Immortal Pill was valued at a whopping 20,000 Sword Pavilion Coins. Despite the huge wealth that he had accrued thus far, it would dry out swiftly if he spent his money on it!

“A hundred Superior Immortal Pills?” The eyebrows of the elder shot up. “Superior Immortal Pills are invaluable cultivation resources that are sought after by even High Immortals. I fear that our Wuhai City Ethereal Hall doesn’t have the means to bring out so many of them!”

“How many of them do you have then?” Zhang Xuan asked.

“I’d say…roughly twenty of them!” The elder paused for a moment before continuing. “If you aren’t in any hurry, we should be able to gather the required amount within three days!”

“Alright then. Bring me the twenty first and begin preparing the rest,” Zhang Xuan instructed.

He knew that using this token would not be exactly ‘free’. Even though he shared the same origin as Kong shi, he was not so naive as to think that the latter would express such generosity to him without expecting anything in return.

Most likely, he would have to repay this favor somehow in the future.

However, what was more important for him at the moment was to advance his cultivation. After speaking to Han Jianqiu, he knew that he was in a precarious position, so he had to strengthen himself and secure his position in the Forsaken Continent as soon as possible.

“Yes, I understand!” the elder replied before quickly left the area.

Some time later, he returned with a storage ring in hand. He passed the storage ring over to Zhang Xuan, and with a deep bow, he asked once more, “Esteemed guest, may I know if there’s anything else you require?”

“I would like to browse through the True Immortal realm cultivation technique manuals… May I know if this token will allow me to purchase them?” Zhang Xuan asked.

“This token can only be used to purchase consumables that would aid in the advancement of your cultivation. I fear that it’s impossible for you to purchase books with it…”

At this point, the elder suddenly thought of something, so he quickly added, “Furthermore, the consumables you have purchased cannot be resold. If you are found to have broken this rule, the privileges of your token will be permanently revoked!”

Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan shook his head bitterly.

When he heard the elder using the term ‘cultivation resources’, he had already had a hunch that he would not be allowed to purchase cultivation technique manuals with the token. Nevertheless, he could not help but feel a little disappointed when hearing it directly.

Other than cultivation technique manuals, there was nothing that Zhang Xuan really needed anymore, so he could only back out of the Ethereal Hall. Using the Teleportation Token on the Ethereal Token, he withdrew the Superior Immortal Pills.

The Superior Immortal Pills were indeed overflowing with concentrated spiritual energy. One could feel tremendous energy pulsating from them, giving one a feeling of incredible richness. In comparison, Standard Immortal Pills did seem to pale far in comparison.

“Here!” Zhang Xuan casually tossed a Superior Immortal Pill over to Bai Ruanqing.

“Thank you, Senior Uncle!” Bai Ruanqing’s face reddened in agitation.

She had only seen Superior Immortal Pills in her grandfather’s place, but due to their immense value, she had never used one before.

Looking at it with a leaping heart, she opened her mouth and swallowed it whole.

Gugugu!

The pill melted in her body, releasing an incredible surge of spiritual energy. Her eyes narrowed in astonishment as her body trembled uncontrollably from the sheer energy. Sweat was raining down from her body.

Noticing the anomalies in her condition, Zhang Xuan asked with a frown, “What’s wrong?”

“Senior Uncle, the spiritual energy in the Superior Immortal Pill is simply too concentrated… I can’t handle it!” Bai Ruanqing cried out with a pale face.

Even the spiritual energy within a single Standard Immortal Pill would take her quite a while to assimilate, let alone that from a Superior Immortal Pill.

It was similar to attempting to stuff an entire car into the mouth of a baby. It would be a wonder if the latter did not explode!

At this moment, she finally understood why her grandfather had never allowed her to use a Superior Immortal Pill before. It was not because he could not bear the price but because it would be a huge waste of resources given her Lesser True Immortal realm cultivation, and if things went wrong, her life would be at risk!

“Ahhh!” a cry of agony sounded from Bai Ruanqing’s lips.

Due to the overwhelming energy gathered within her body, some traces of it were leaking out from her acupoints. Her face reddened as her body inflated like a balloon, seemingly ready to explode to any moment.

Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment. He has not expected to encounter such a situation.

He had only given the Superior Immortal Pill to Bai Ruanqing in order to repay her for doing him this favor, and he had not thought that such a situation would occur.

If Bai Ruanqing really exploded from eating the Superior Immortal Pill that he had given to her, how was he supposed to explain this to Elder Bai Ye in the future?

“Hurry up, execute a battle technique!” Zhang Xuan roared in command.

Knowing how critical the situation was, Bai Ruanqing immediately gritted her teeth and forced herself to display a sword art.

With a quick glance, Zhang Xuan’s consciousness immediately dived into the Library of Heaven’s Path to view the book that was compiled on her. A frown swiftly formed on his forehead.

It seems like the only way out of this is for her to swiftly cultivate the rampaging spiritual energy and convert it into zhenqi, Zhang Xuan thought. This way, she will be able to place it under her control and deposit it safely into her dantian.

Given Bai Ruanqing’s current condition, it was too hard to release the energy from her body. The buildup was too great for Zhang Xuan to guarantee that he would be able to facilitate the flow of energy out of her body safely. The safest way was for her to assimilate the spiritual energy into her body.

However, the current issue was that she was limited by her own cultivation technique.

Ordinary cultivation techniques were like a straw. No matter how much one tried to suck water out of an ocean using a straw, it would not make much of a difference.

So, what was most important was finding a sufficiently powerful cultivation technique for Bai Ruanqing so that she could swiftly place the rampaging spiritual energy under her control.

It seems like I’ll have to take her in as my student! Zhang Xuan sighed helplessly.

It was fine to him that Bai Ruanqing had learned a couple of sword arts from him without acknowledging him as her master. It simply was not of much concern to him. However, the same could not be said about the Heaven’s Path Divine Art. It was one of his greatest secrets, and he would not allow the slightest bit of negligence concerning it.

As such, he had already made up his mind to only impart the simplified versions of the Heaven’s Path Divine Art to his direct disciples.

While Bai Ruanqing was reckless at times, he could tell that she was still a kind person at heart. She would not waver on her own principles, and once she had found a goal, she would work tenaciously toward it.

As such, he was not too reluctant to take her in as his direct disciple.

The True Immortal realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art has seven flaws at the moment. While it’s hard for me to cultivate something like that, it is at least much better than what she was cultivating previously, Zhang Xuan thought.

While the True Immortal realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art still was not perfect, it was at least a complete cultivation technique. In terms of quality, it was on par with the simplified Heaven’s Path Divine Art that he had imparted to his other direct disciples thus far.

Of course, it was not that he did not want to impart the perfected Heaven’s Path Divine Arts to his direct disciples, but he was the only one who could cultivate them in the entire world.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan quickly sent a telepathic message to Bai Ruanqing. “I can resolve your current crisis, but you have to acknowledge me as your teacher before I can impart the cultivation technique of my lineage to you!”

“Student Bai Ruanqing pays respect to Teacher!” Bai Ruanqing immediately kneeled onto the floor and cried out.

She had long wanted to acknowledge Zhang Xuan as her teacher, but the latter had never expressed anything regarding that matter, so she had been unable to find an opportunity to broach the subject.

As such, when this opportunity presented itself before her, she delightfully grasped it without any hesitation.

“Good. This is my cultivation technique. Practice it well!”

After accepting Bai Ruanqing’s bow, Zhang Xuan swiftly modified the Heaven’s Path Divine Art to suit her constitution before imparting it into her mind. At the same time, he whipped out innumerable silver needles and infused them with Heaven’s Path zhenqi before inserting them all over her body.

Gugugugu!

The rampaging spiritual energy swiftly calmed down under the Heaven’s Path zhenqi’s guidance, thus alleviating the excruciating pain from the energy inflation that Bai Ruanqing was suffering from.

“This cultivation technique…”

Bai Ruanqing swiftly browsed through the cultivation technique that she had just been imparted, and she could not help but narrow her eyes in amazement.

This cultivation technique was fundamentally similar to what she had been practicing at the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion all along, but it was much more profound and powerful.

If the spiritual energy that she could absorb after driving her old cultivation technique was nothing more than a small trickling stream, with this new cultivation technique, she could foresee her capacity expanding to that of a raging river.

Knowing that this cultivation technique would be able to save her life, she quickly closed her eyes and began practicing it.

Her cultivation immediately began soaring.

Lesser True Immortal!

Greater True Immortal!

Earthly True Immortal!

Six hours had passed, and her cultivation progressed without the slightest resistance until it finally reached Heavenly True Immortal!