Library of Heaven’s Path

Even though Zhang Xuan carried some prejudice against the Zhang Clan, he did not intend to make things difficult for every single one of them indiscriminately. As long as the other party’s personality was not too bad, he would not go overboard.

As for Zhang Chun… as a shameless toad lusting for the flesh of a swan, he definitely had to be punished!

After making up his mind, Zhang Xuan turned a confused look toward Luo Xuanqing. “You mentioned Inceptive Sage earlier. What does that mean?”

“There are many occupations in the Sanctum of Sages, and as long as a student achieves proficiency superior to all other students and becomes the indubitable number one in a specific occupation, they will receive the esteemed title of ‘Inceptive Sage’. This title isn’t merely honorary; more importantly, it is a symbol of power and standing. As long as one is able to become an Inceptive Sage, they will be considered as the representative of all students in that specific occupation, as well as their senior!” Luo Xuanqing explained.

“Zhang Feng successfully enchanted the guardian golem in the Spirit Awakener Hall and made it move seven whole steps, thus breaking the record for the last three thousand years. Due to that, he became the Inceptive Sage of the Spirit Awakener Hall.”

“Guardian golem?” Zhang Xuan frowned.

Enchanting a guardian golem should not have been too difficult a task. After all, he was someone who had even successfully enchanted a whole guild before!

“You’ll know how difficult it is once you see it with your own eyes!” Seeing how Zhang Xuan thought little of that matter, Luo Xuanqing shook his head with a bitter smile.

Naturally, the guardian golem was no ordinary statue, or else Zhang Feng would not have been the only one to have successfully enchanted it in the past three thousand years.

The Spirit Awakener Hall was also located in the Hall of Erudition, so it did not take them too long to arrive at their destination.

When Zhang Xuan saw the guardian golem standing at the entrance of the guild, he immediately understood why Luo Xuanqing would say such words.

Standing at more than a dozen zhang tall and six to seven zhang wide, it towered like a massive building before the Spirit Awakener Hall. On top of that, it was made of some kind of bizarre black stone that wielded the ability to absorb one’s will, making it difficult to light up the spark of enchantment within it.

“This… There would indeed be some difficulty in enchanting it,” Zhang Xuan remarked grimly.

Even he would require a lengthy period of time and deplete himself greatly in order to enchant this golem.

The biggest issue was not the golem’s size but the material it was made of. The material was not particularly suited for harnessing a spirit, causing any spirit enchanted into it to dissipate swiftly.

In a sense, attempting to enchant it was like pouring a pail of water into a basket. The faster one poured the water, the quicker the water just seemed to flow away, making it seem like an impossible feat to achieve.

As long as the rate one enchanted the golem was beneath the rate at which the spirit infused into the golem was dissipating, it would be impossible to succeed. For Zhang Feng to not only succeed but even get it to move seven steps, he was indeed a formidable figure.

With such thoughts in mind, Zhang Xuan stepped forward, placed his hand on the golem, and sent his consciousness into it.

In an instant, he felt as if he had been plunged into a domain of complete darkness, devoid of any hint of light. He could not see the slightest trace of the outstretched hand he had placed before him, and to make things worse, he found that he could not extend his Spiritual Perception outward either.

With a light tap of his finger, he conjured a brilliant spark that illuminated the surroundings. However, before the light could even diffuse around, a powerful suction force suddenly devoured the light.

This reminded him deeply of the Starluster Stone. Under the suppression of the surrounding suction force, the spark could only coil around his fingertip, unable to illuminate any further than that.

Hu!

Zhang Xuan brought his consciousness back into his body and opened his eyes once more.

Enchanting the golem would indeed be a huge challenge to him, even greater than the challenge of enchanting the entire Spirit Awakener Hall. Even with his current strength, it would not be too easy for him to succeed.

“How is it?” Luo Xuanqing asked.

Zhang Xuan hesitated for a moment before replying. “Can you bring me to where the 8-star spirit awakener books are located? I have some doubts concerning spirit enchantment, and I’ll need to browse through some books in order to resolve them.”

He had only accessed 7-star spirit awakener books before, so his understanding of spirit enchantment was still a little lacking at the moment.

As long as he could gather sufficient books to compile the 8-star Heaven’s Path Spirit Enchantment Art, he would be able to easily clear whatever test there was to become an Inceptive Sage.

“You want to browse through 8-star spirit awakener books?” Luo Xuanqing nodded. “You’ll have to clear the 8-star spirit awakener examination first for that. The examination hall is right ahead. I still have some matters to attend to, so I’ll be leaving for now…”

“Alright.” Zhang Xuan nodded in response before heading into the Spirit Awakener Hall.

Similar to the place where he had taken the formation master examination previously, there was hardly anyone in sight in the relatively big Spirit Awakener Hall, making the area appear exceptionally empty and cold in contrast.

Zhang Xuan quickly made his way over to the front receptionist and passed his emblem over.

“Zhang shi, this way please!”

The receptionist was a young lady who appeared to be in her early twenties. After learning of Zhang Xuan’s identity, her attitude became exceptionally friendly, and she quickly led him over to the library.

“All 7-star spirit awakener books are within. There are quite a lot of books here, so if you need help finding any, feel free to approach me, and I’ll find it for you!” the female receptionist said.

“It’s fine, I think I can manage by myself. Thank you,” Zhang Xuan replied with a smile before walking into the library.

The number of high-tier spirit awakener books in the Qingyuan Empire Spirit Awakener Hall was rather lacking, so it would be best for him to browse through more 7-star spirit awakener books prior to taking the 8-star spirit awakener examination just to be safe.

The library here did not disappoint. As soon as he stepped in, a massive collection of books immediately unfolded before him, causing his eyes to light up in excitement.

Without any hesitation, he dived straight into collecting them into the Library of Heaven’s Path.

Flaws!

Hualala!

Books were swiftly replicated in his Library of Heaven’s Path at a swift speed.

Zhang Xuan swiftly noticed that something was different.  Hmm? Why does it seem like the speed at which I am collecting the books has improved?

It was true that he could collect the books just by looking at them directly with his eyes, but there was still a slight lag between his sight and the materialization of the books in the Library of Heaven’s Path. Usually, while he was already done sweeping across the third shelf, the Library of Heaven’s Path would still be materializing the second.

But this time around, it felt as if the Library of Heaven’s Path was running right behind his back. Just as his eyes reached the third shelf, the Library of Heaven’s Path reached the third shelf.

There hasn’t been anything peculiar with the Library of Heaven’s Path recently though, and I haven’t fallen into a coma either. Zhang Xuan began racking his brain to make sense of the peculiar situation he was facing.

The only time the Library of Heaven’s Path had undergone a metamorphosis was when he met Luo Ruoxin once more in the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy. That metamorphosis had allowed him to collect books with not just his touch but with just a look from his eyes.

However, that metamorphosis knocked him out for three whole days. This time, nothing of the sort had happened, but the book collecting rate had grown much faster than before. What was going on?

A thought flashed across Zhang Xuan’s mind, and he widened his eyes in disbelief. Could it be…

It was a little hard for him to believe, but that was the only reason he could come up with no matter how he racked his mind.

And that was… destroying the Shrine of Seers!

In the view of the heavens, destroying a Seer Guild branch was probably equivalent to successfully raiding a den of criminals, ridding the world of a poisonous tumor. Could the changes in his Library of Heaven’s Path be related to that?

Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up. Could it be that there is a reward for me bringing ruination upon the seers, something like a bounty?

As powerful as the Library of Heaven’s Path already was, he would not hesitate to grab an opportunity to evolve it further. After all, it was the strongest trump card that he had in his possession as well as the foundation of his growth. Without a doubt, its metamorphosis would grant him great benefits one way or another.

I guess I should go out and destroy a few more Seer Guilds when I have some free time on my hands… Zhang Xuan nodded affirmatively.

Of course, all of this was just his conjecture at the moment, so it would require further verification in order to determine whether his hypothesis was true or not.

In any case, with the enhanced speed at which he could collect books into the Library of Heaven’s Path, he managed to collect all of the books in the library and assimilate them into his mind within four hours—in the past, it would have taken him six hours.

Once he was done, he returned to the main hall to find the female receptionist.

“I wish to take the 8-star spirit awakener examination. May I know what the processes for that are?” Zhang Xuan inquired.

In order to read the books of 8-star spirit awakeners, he would have to clear the 8-star spirit awakener examination first.

“You wish to take the 8-star spirit awakener examination?” A slight hint of astonishment could be seen in the female receptionist’s eyes for a brief moment before she nodded. “The spirit awakener examination it actually rather simple, unlike those for apothecaries and blacksmiths. All you have to do is successfully enchant a grade-8 puppet before an elder of our Spirit Awakener Hall branch, and you’ll be considered to have cleared the examination.”

“I’ll be troubling you to bring me over to the examination hall then.” Zhang Xuan nodded.

After which, under the lead of the young lady, Zhang Xuan arrived at a relatively spacious hall.

The elder invigilating his examination was an old man who appeared to be in his sixties. The eight brilliant stars on the emblem pinned in front of his robe indicated that he was an 8-star spirit awakener.

The internal structure of the puppet was extremely simple, somewhat similar to the ones he had seen at the Qingyuan Empire Spirit Awakener Guild. Its purpose was to gauge one’s mastery of spirit enchantment, so there was no need for excessive complexity. Stepping forward, Zhang Xuan placed his palm on the puppet.

A sliver of his consciousness slipped from his Primordial Spirit into the puppet, and it did not take him long to light up the latter’s consciousness.

In truth, the puppet had only barely met the basic requirements to be considered a grade-8 puppet. Anyone who had met the minimum requirement to become an 8-star spirit awakener would be able to clear it with ease.

“Here is your 8-star emblem!” Not expecting the young man to clear the examination in a single try, the elder was visibly surprised.

He quickly helped the young man apply for an emblem and passed it over.

Seeing that he had managed to clear the examination without any unfortunate accidents occurring, Zhang Xuan secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Taking his new 8-star spirit awakener emblem, he headed for the section containing the 8-star spirit awakener books in the library and continued his studying session.

Six hours later, he finally walked out of the library.

It was exhausting going through so many books at once, but he did manage to master the 8-star Heaven’s Path Spirit Enchantment Art, thus raising his mastery of the art up to the level of 8-star pinnacle.

“Zhang shi, how is it going?”

Barely after taking a step out of the library, Zhang Xuan encountered Luo Xuanqing.

“Un, I think I should have…” Zhang Xuan nodded as he replied, but halfway through his words, he suddenly stopped. He stared at the sight before him with utter shock, and it took a while before he managed to find his voice once more. “W-what is going on?”

The majestic building that he had been in just six hours ago had collapsed, and white smoke was rising here and there.

“Oh… I was intending to get Elder Zhao of the Spirit Awakener Hall to help me reinforce my Primordial Spirit, but that fellow was simply too incompetent. He ended up ejecting my Primordial Spirit out of my body, and in a moment of carelessness… Well, it just became like that…” Luo Xuanqing scratched his head in embarrassment.

“You were able to cause such a mess just by fortifying your Primordial Spirit?” Zhang Xuan was stunned.

Previously, when Luo Xuanqing said that he had some business at the Spirit Awakener Hall, he had already guessed that the other party was intending to find someone to help him reinforce his Primordial Spirit in preparation to facing the Dimension Sundering Ordeal. He thought that a matter as simple as this should not have been too much of a problem, but such a mishap still ended up happening.

Honestly, can you stop causing destruction wherever you go? You are a huge embarrassment, you know!

“Someone must have cut corners while building this Spirit Awakener Hall, or else how could it possibly be so fragile…” Luo Xuanqing harrumphed unabashedly.

Before Luo Xuanqing could finish his words, a furious bellow suddenly sounded. “Luo Xuanqing, can you be any more shameful than that?”

Following which, a group of men rushed out angrily.

The one leading the group was a young man in his late thirties. Taking a closer look, the young man’s facial features bore some resemblance to Zhang Chun’s.

“Zhang Feng, what do you mean by that?”

“You have barged into our Spirit Awakener Hall a total of two times, and each time around, you somehow manage to leave it in complete shambles. From today onward, our Spirit Awakener Hall no longer welcomes you. If you dare to take even the slightest step into here, don’t blame us for getting nasty with you!” Zhang Feng roared with gritted teeth.

“Humph, how is it my concern that your Spirit Awakener Hall’s building is so fragile? If you have the time to be roaring at me, why don’t you spend it finding better bricklayers instead?” Luo Xuanqing snapped coldly.

“You still have the cheek to be saying those words… If you hadn’t lost control of your own Primordial Spirit, would such a thing have happened? You really are a piece of work, you know?”

With a grand wave of his hand, Zhang Feng stepped forward and loudly declared, “With my authority as the Inceptive Sage of the Spirit Awakener Hall, I hereby pass an ‘Inceptive Sage Decree’. As long as Luo Xuanqing steps into the perimeter of our Spirit Awakener Hall, all spirit awakeners are allowed to attack him without any qualms over injuring him or even killing him!”