Library of Heaven’s Path

“I guess I can only ask her directly…” Zhang Xuan shook his head.

On the surface, the strongest expert in the Firmament appeared to be none other than Luo Ruoxin. Yet, for some reason, he felt like they were being pushed forward by a pair of invisible hands, shoving them inside a vortex of turmoil.

“Is it possible for you to impart the Severing of Three Necrophorus to me?” Zhang Xuan asked.

Regardless of whether he could free himself from the restraints of the heavens, this technique would still grant him three additional lives, thus providing him with far greater means to protect himself.

Furthermore, he could also sever his Benevolent Necrophorus, Malevolent Necrophorus, and Ego Necrophorus. That would make it easier for him to cultivate in the future.

“In order to deceive the heavens, it was important that we did not retain memories of it in our head. Otherwise, the heavens would still be able to peer through it. We learned and cultivated the technique in the spatial turbulence while we were leaving the Master Teacher Continent, and after we were done with it, we erased it from our memories. Not even our teacher retained it in his mind, so I’m afraid that we don’t have it with us,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan said with an awkward smile.

Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan shook his head and sighed deeply. He suddenly thought of something and asked, “This technique was created by Kong shi, right? But doesn’t that mean that he knew that there would be others who would compete with him over the fragments of the heavens?”

This was something that really intrigued him.

Even as he left the Master Teacher Continent, he had still known almost nothing about the fragments of the heavens and the War of the Heavens. He had still been very reliant on the Library of Heaven’s Path.

Everything should only come together after they reached the Firmament, where the War of the Heavens was truly held. So, was it not extremely bizarre that Kong shi had already started preparing for it while he was still on the Master Teacher Continent?

Or could this mean that the Heavens’ Order granted him the power to foresee the future?

“As wise and talented as our teacher is, he isn’t omniscient. He only came to know all of this because of someone else’s guidance,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan said.

Zhang Xuan nodded silently.

Kong shi’s accomplishments on the Master Teacher Continent were simply too spectacular, such that it was hard to believe that someone could actually achieve so much on his own.

It was indeed too good to be true.

All humans would have to acquire their knowledge from something or someone.

Even someone as talented as Kong shi required someone else’s guidance for his cultivation.

It was just like how, despite having the Library of Heaven’s Path, he still needed Kong shi’s guidance from time to time to point the way for him.

“That technique was imparted to us by our grandteacher,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan added.

“Grandteacher?” Zhang Xuan was perplexed. He had not heard of Kong shi having a teacher before.

“A long time ago on the Master Teacher Continent, we respectfully addressed those who imparted knowledge to another as ‘shi’,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan said. “It was only after the appearance of our grandteacher that we began to address teachers as ‘laoshi’!”

“…” Zhang Xuan was utterly confused.

Why was he unable to understand what Ancient Sage Zi Yuan was saying?

“It’s similar to how people address you as Zhang shi, how you address our teacher as Kong shi, and how others address me as Yan shi… We usually use one’s surname with the character ‘shi’ in order to respectfully address a teacher. The term ‘laoshi’ is how our teacher initially addressed his teacher, and the rest of us eventually came to use the term as well. The term eventually came to be what it is now,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan explained.

Zhang Xuan was stunned for a long while before it suddenly struck him. With a doubtful look on his face, he asked, “Do you mean to say that your grandteacher’s surname is ‘Lao’? It’s for that reason that Kong shi addressed him as ‘Lao shi’, and it eventually came to be the ‘laoshi’ that we know?”

“Indeed!” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan nodded.

“There’s actually someone who goes by the surname of ‘Lao[1]’?” Zhang Xuan was speechless for a while. Then, with an intrigued look on his face, he asked, “If your grandteacher was able to impart such a formidable technique to Kong shi, he should be quite a formidable individual, right? But why have I never heard of him before?”

He was well-versed in the history of the Master Teacher Continent, and he even had Vicious, a relic of the ancient era, with him. Yet, they had never heard of this formidable expert who went by the surname of ‘Lao’!

“According to what our teacher said, our grandteacher was only on the Master Teacher Continent for a very short period of time before leaving on a green ox. Our teacher doesn’t know where he went after that, and neither do we…”

“I see…”

It seemed like he could only ask Kong shi about it after he came back to life.

Sighing deeply, Zhang Xuan looked at the crowd in front of him and asked, “By the way, do you happen to have any pinnacle God Essence Pills or other medicinal herbs that I can use to raise my cultivation?”

His soul cultivation had already reached Conferred God King realm pinnacle, and his physical body and zhenqi cultivation were lagging behind.

He had already figured out a plan for his physical body. With the revival of the Deathless Monarch, he would be able to use the Deathless Lava Reservoir in order to temper his physical body.

As for his zhenqi cultivation, he had already comprehended a God Monarch realm cultivation technique. The only things he was lacking were pills and medicinal herbs to refine his zhenqi.

As long as he had sufficient spiritual energy, he would be able to raise his zhenqi cultivation to God King realm pinnacle or even push for a breakthrough to God Monarch!

However, the problem was that pinnacle God Essence Pills were incredibly rare. Even an apothecary as skilled as Fu Jiangchen did not have many of them in his possession. So, he was thinking that Kong shi might have accumulated a stockpile over the years that he could use.

“Our teacher forged several pinnacle God Essence Pills back then. We have eaten quite a few of them over the years to raise our cultivation, so I think there should be around a few hundred of them left at the moment. Let me go get them for you,” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan said with a smile before walking out of the room.

“A few hundred of them?” Zhang Xuan’s lips twitched.

As expected of Kong shi. He sure was wealthy.

Not long later, Ancient Sage Zi Yuan returned with a sack, and he threw it over to Zhang Xuan casually. “They should all be in there.”

Zhang Xuan opened the sack, and there were indeed many God Essence Pills in there. All in all, there seemed to be a few hundred of them in there.

“Do you all… really store your God Essence Pills like that?” Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows twitched a little.

Nearly all cultivators in the Firmament stored their God Essence Pills in jade containers or jade bottles in order to protect them, yet Ancient Sage Zi Yuan and the others actually just tossed them into a gunny sack as if they were trash.

Zhang Xuan could not help but wonder if the pills inside were authentic.

So, he took one out and swallowed it whole.

Gugugugu!

A burst of spiritual energy immediately gushed into his meridians.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan popped a second one into his mouth, then a third one…

“Is that… how you eat pills?” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan’s mouth opened agape.

They did have quite a lot of pills in their inventory, but they were pinnacle God Essence Pills! Even as a Conferred God King, he would have to take quite a while to assimilate its energy, but the other party simply threw them into his mouth as if he was eating candy.

No wonder you are always short on pills!

As he watched the young man, speechless, the latter’s cultivation began to rise swiftly.

God King realm intermediate stage!

God King realm advanced stage!

…

In a few moments, his cultivation reached God King realm pinnacle before slowly coming to a halt.

“What a pity. Pinnacle God Essence Pills aren’t useful for me anymore,” Zhang Xuan remarked lamentably.

Pinnacle God Essence Pills were usually effective even for most Conferred God Kings, but due to the unique nature of the Pathos of Heaven, the requirement on the purity of spiritual energy that he absorbed was extremely high.

The purity of the pinnacle God Essence Pills only sufficed for him to reach God King realm pinnacle. Beyond this point, no matter how many of them he ate, he would not be able to push his cultivation any higher.

“It’s fortunate that they are no longer effective for you, or else you might really have depleted our entire inventory!” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan remarked helplessly.

Lowering his head, Zhang Xuan noted that the pills in the gunny sack had already dropped by half. Chuckling awkwardly, he scratched his head and said, “Hahaha, the pills that Kong shi forged are simply too delicious. They even come in different fruity flavors—pineapple, apple, grape… I got a little addicted and ended up eating more than I needed to!”

“…” Ancient Sage Zi Yuan.

[1] Lao means old.