Library of Heaven’s Path

Grabbing onto the face of the cliff tightly, Zhang Xuan slowly climbed his way down the abyss.

There was an unnerving pressure that came from the depths of the abyss that seemed to threaten to swallow him whole, so he did not dare lower his guard.

Proceeding downward, the pendant lying in front of his chest grew hotter and hotter, to the point that he felt like it would meld into him. It was also becoming extremely arduous for him to drive his Heaven’s Path zhenqi.

It felt like this abyss was the very antithesis of his cultivation technique.

“Pathos of Heaven!”

Finally, it came to a point where Zhang Xuan was forced to circulate the even purer Pathos of Heaven zhenqi, and the pressure vanished. Heaving a sigh of relief, he continued downward.

Tzzz!

After advancing a little further, he suddenly felt surges of gray energy flowing discreetly into his body.

“So, this is where it came from…”

Having expected such a situation in advance, Zhang Xuan was able to keep his cool. He quickly channeled his Heaven’s Path zhenqi toward the gray energy, and the collision of the two produced a brilliant green light within his body.

The glowing Zhang Xuan amid the pitch-black abyss made him seem as though he was a deity descending upon a land of doom.

As he went deeper, the surges of gray energy grew more numerous, and the rate at which he had to expend his Heaven’s Path zhenqi increased at a terrifying rate. The surrounding space also began showing hints of instability, wavering a little here and there.

“It might get dangerous if I continue like this…” Zhang Xuan’s hands and feet finally came to a halt.

He was capable of flight, so he did not have to worry about falling into the abyss.

What he was really concerned about was the instability in space. If he ventured deeper in, he could become mired within spatial turbulence and vortices.

With his current cultivation, it would be hard for him to withstand such powerful forces of nature.

“I’ll stop here for a moment and refine all of my zhenqi to the Pathos of Heaven zhenqi first…”

After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Xuan took out the God King Sword and gouged out a small cavern in the cliff face before sitting down in it.

He had spent a few hours getting down to this point, so he was reluctant to leave without having uncovered anything at all. Since the gray surges of energy were able to neutralize his Heaven’s Path zhenqi, it would be good for him to use them to refine his zhenqi, such that only the Pathos of Heaven zhenqi was left.

He began drawing the gray surges of energy into his body and channeled his Heaven’s Path zhenqi against them. It took roughly two hours for him to expend all his Heaven’s Path zhenqi, leaving behind only the Pathos of Heaven’s zhenqi.

“I don’t even have a hundredth of the amount of zhenqi I used to have now…”

Previously, when the two types of zhenqi were still fused together, they formed a massive ocean within his dantian, supplying him with an almost never-ending source of energy. However, with the neutralization of all his Heaven’s Path zhenqi, the amount of energy left within the ocean was not even a hundredth of before.

He had no idea whether it was a good thing for him to have refined all his zhenqi so quickly.

In any case, with the absence of his Heaven’s Path zhenqi, the pressure from the gray surges of energy also vanished, so it seemed like it was doing him some good at the moment.

He walked over to the entrance of the cavern and glanced downward contemplatively. It was a while before he made up his mind and continued to climb downward.

Soon, he arrived before a spatial vortex.

This was a region where space flowed as easily as fluid, making it impossible for even God Kings to pass through such a region normally. Zhang Xuan took out a high-tier Celestial God artifact and stretched it toward the spatial vortex.

Weng!

The sword immediately began bending along with the flow of space, as if it had fallen into a distorting mirror.

Alarmed, Zhang Xuan quickly took out the sword from the vortex. Examining the sword’s condition, he realized that the bent areas could not be fixed anymore, and the spirit within the sword had been destroyed as well.

“Stability of space is one of the fundamental requirements for life to exist. Even if it was possible for a lifeform to adapt to such an environment, it would also be distorted to become completely different from what is was before…”

Zhang Xuan knew that he would likely end up like this sword if he got caught in the spatial vortex. Heaving a deep sigh of helplessness, he was just about to start climbing when he noticed something bobbing up and down within the spatial vortex, forming ripples all around.

Perplexed, Zhang Xuan activated his Eye of Insight to take a closer look.

Within the spatial vortex, there were a few intriguing plants rooted on the cliff face. They would move alongside the flow of the spatial vortex.

“It’s actually possible for life to thrive in such an environment?” Zhang Xuan was shocked.

The spatial vortex was filled with many different currents that flowed in different directions, such that any lifeform that fell into it would be pulled in innumerable directions, causing their form to distort.

Even with his current cultivation, Zhang Xuan had no confidence in defending against the forces of the spatial vortex. Yet, those plants were able to survive under such circumstances. Why was that so?

“Could it be that…the plants over there is the Grass of God King? Is that it?”

Previously, when he heard about the existence of such a herb from his student, he had thought that it was impossible. However, he was starting to see the plausibility of it now.

One of the distinctive traits of a God King was his comprehension over spatial laws, and the fact that this grass was able to survive amid a spatial vortex showed that it had adapted to distortions in the spatial laws.

If one could forge this grass into a pill and swallow them, it would indeed boost one’s chances to become a God King.

“The only problem is that how can I obtain them?” Zhang Xuan frowned.

Those plants were not too deep within the spatial vortex, but the problem was that he could not even afford to get in contact with it. How was he supposed to retrieve those plants?

If he could not obtain them, it would be futile no matter how valuable those plants were!

“Little Chick, I have something I need you to help me do!” Zhang Xuan began communicating with the little yellow chick in his dantian.

The latter had already reached the God King realm, and it possessed an undying body. It might be able to get those plants for him.

“I was sleeping!” Little Chick exclaimed grudgingly before coming out of Zhang Xuan’s dantian. It looked at the sight beneath it, and its beady eyes narrowed in confusion. “This place… I seem to have been here before…”

“You have been here before?” Zhang Xuan frowned. “Did you remember something?”

All this while, Little Chick had been saying that it was a legendary beast that ruled over the lands, but it had never been able to figure out what it was exactly. Even after it made a breakthrough to God King, it had still been unable to recall anything related to its heritage.

Could this spatial vortex be the key to triggering its memories?

“Not really. I just find this sight particularly familiar…” Little Chick cocked its head to the side as it racked its head to form associations. In the end, it threw its tiny wings into the air in frustration and cried, “Nothing is coming to me at all! Forget it, I shan’t think about it anymore. I’ll surely recall everything once I regain my cultivation. Oh right, so why did you call me out here?”

If there was nothing up, its master usually would not disturb it.

“I suspect that the plant within the spatial vortex is Grass of God Kings, a herb that can help one to make a breakthrough to the God King realm. I can’t retrieve it with my current level of cultivation, so I’m wondering if it’s possible for you to do it.”

“The plants over there?” Little Chick pondered for a moment before nodding a little. “It seems possible for that to be the case. The plant is indeed a little bizarre…”

“Un. Are you able to get it?” Zhang Xuan asked. “I just need you to harvest it, not to eat it.”

Little Chick was known to be extremely greedy when it came to food. If it rushed over and gobbled up all the plants… well, he could not possibly put his hand into Little Chick’s mouth and dig those plants out, right?

He would rather remain a Celestial God for life than do something as disgusting as that…

Little Chick looked at Zhang Xuan and replied, “Of course, I am already a God King realm expert, you know! That thing is no longer useful to me… Don’t worry, I won’t eat it… I’ll just try one blade of grass to see how it tastes. If it isn’t nice, I won’t eat it anymore… Why are you looking at me like that? There is more than one blade of grass down there, right?”

Zhang Xuan looked at Little Chick speechlessly before eventually nodding helplessly. “Alright, go and do whatever you need. However, this spatial vortex seems a little odd. If you encounter any danger, make sure to retreat at once.”

That Grass of God King was nothing in comparison to Little Chick. If obtaining the Grass of God King would place the latter in danger, he did not want them at all.