Library of Heaven’s Path

When Zhang Xuan’s finger came into contact with the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body earlier, he had already duplicated another one in the Library of Heaven’s Path. Thus, it mattered not to him whether he had the physical copy or not.

Initially, Zhang Xuan thought that given how high-tiered the physical body cultivation technique was, it must be extremely profound and powerful. Who would have known that it would be riddled with flaws…

If only he knew how trashy this cultivation technique was, he wouldn’t have wasted his time coming here. He would have just gathered the books at Huanyu Empire instead.

He was confident he could compile a far stronger physical body cultivation technique with the manuals in Huanyu Empire!

In other words, he had gone through so much trouble for nothing!

Zhang Xuan shook his head in disappointment.

However, it was too late for regrets. All he could do was to recoup his losses as much as possible. Thus, he stepped forward to the puppet and placed it in his storage ring.

Although the puppet had been incapacitated, considering how tough its defense was, it was likely to have been made out of some kind of valuable ore.

Thus, Zhang Xuan intended to take it back and examine it properly. Perhaps, he might be able to extract some precious ores from it.

Walking out of the stone chamber, Zhang Xuan and Luo Qiqi walked back through the passageway and into the stone room, where Luo Qiqi retrieved her sword. After which, they went back up the stairs, and soon, they were standing before the Dragon Severing Lock.

Zhang Xuan’s finger fell on the location written on the Dragon Severing Lock, and he pressed down lightly.

Kacha!

The creaking of a mechanism sounded, and following which, the Dragon Severing Lock shook.

”Is it done?” Luo Qiqi’s eyes lit up as she walked forward to push the lock. However, despite exerting so much force that her face was turning red, the Dragon Severing Lock showed no sign of moving at all.

Zhang Xuan frowned.

As a Transcendent Mortal 6-dan pinnacle expert, Luo Qiqi wielded strength exceeding 6,200,000 ding. It was one thing for her to be unable to open the Dragon Severing Lock when it was sealed, but given that the mechanism had been activated, why was she still unable to move it?

”Let me give it a try!”

Frowning, Zhang Xuan stepped forward and pushed with all his might.

Boom!

Harnessing the strength of his physical body, soul, and zhenqi together, a force exceeding 9,000,000 ding was exerted against the Dragon Severing Lock.

Hu!

But even so, the huge boulder still remained completely motionless, as though it was perfectly stuck to the ground.

”This…” Retracting his arms, Zhang Xuan frowned in confusion. ”It can’t be that… the mechanism has stopped working after two thousand years?”

According to the book left behind by Wu Yangzi, as long as the mechanism was activated, the Dragon Severing Lock should have been able to be knocked open. But if that was the case, why wasn’t it budging even though they had put so much strength into it?

This shouldn’t be the case!

If the mechanism was really broken, the both of them would be doomed.

Even a Saint realm cultivator would find it hard to break the Dragon Severing Lock, let alone them.

Was their only way out gone… just like that?

”It is recorded in the book that even after triggering the mechanism, the Dragon Severing Lock still can’t be opened normally. One will have to exert pure physical strength to push it open. Once the mechanism senses the presence of zhenqi, it’ll automatically deactivate…”

Taking Wu Yangzi’s book out once more, Luo Qiqi read with a grim expression.

”Pure physical strength?” Zhang Xuan was taken aback.

”Indeed. The mechanism against the Dragon Severing Lock is made out of a unique material which is exceptionally sensitive to zhenqi… Grandmaster Wu Yangzi probably did it this way so as to prevent the Otherworldly Demon from noticing and exploiting the mechanism. The killing intent that the Otherworldly Demon emanates possesses properties similar to zhenqi, so even if they were to notice the mechanism, they would still be unable to open it,” Luo Qiqi said.

”I see!”

Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.

Given Wu Yangzi’s meticulous personality, it was indeed possible for him to design such a mechanism.

Even if an Otherworldly Demon were to obtain his heritage, it would still be unable to leave this underground chamber alive, thus frustrating it to death.

”I’ll give it another try!”

With this conjecture in mind, Zhang Xuan retracted his soul and zhenqi cultivation, and using just the might of his muscles, he pushed the Dragon Severing Lock with all his might.

Geji! Geji!

The Dragon Severing Lock groaned, but Zhang Xuan was still unable to open it.

”I don’t have sufficient strength to open it.”

”I’ll help you!”

Luo Qiqi walked over, and the duo pushed the Dragon Severing Lock together. However, it still didn’t budge.

This meant that their combined strength was still insufficient.

However, the groaning sound did indicate that their line of thought was right, it was just that they were lacking sufficient strength to push open the Dragon Severing Lock.

”Even though we failed to open it, the mechanism seems to be working… the only option for us now is to quickly raise our physical strength!”

Zhang Xuan frowned.

Even though he could summon his clone, and with the combined might between him and his clone, it should be possible to open the Dragon Severing Lock. However… his clone was made of a God artifact, and he didn’t want anyone to learn of its existence yet.

Once his clone’s existence was made known, it was possible that others might doubt Yang shi’s existence, and the matter of him practicing the arts of a soul oracle would likely be exposed as well.

”Raise our physical strength? Teacher means that… we should cultivate the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body?”

Luo Qiqi was taken aback.

”Un. It is very likely that this is another test from Grandmaster Wu Yangzi—if we can’t even cultivate the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body, it is likely that we will be unable to fulfill his wish of forging a Saint weapon. And since our words are an empty promise… he would rather that we remain here to accompany him!” Zhang Xuan analyzed.

Wu Yangzi was indeed an extremely thorough person, having taken into account every single possibility.

But considering how he was the man who managed to dupe so many Otherworldly Demons into offering their heads to him, it didn’t really come as a surprise.

Otherwise, he would probably have been killed by the Otherworldly Demons.

”Cultivate right now?” Luo Qiqi’s face was plagued with dilemma. ”A physical body cultivation technique cannot be mastered within a single day. It requires many years of hard work. Are we going to be trapped here for that long?”

Just like normal zhenqi cultivation techniques, physical body cultivation techniques also required many years of diligence for one to achieve mastery.

If they had to learn the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body before they could leave… how long would that take?

What if they never succeeded in it? Would this underground chamber really be their final resting place?

Seeing Luo Qiqi frown, Zhang Xuan hesitated for a moment before he asked, ”Other than the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body, do you have any other physical body cultivation technique manuals on you?”

Not knowing why her teacher would ask such a question, Luo Qiqi was dazed for a moment before replying.

”Other physical body cultivation technique manuals? I do have quite a few, but none of them can be compared to the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body!”

Possessing a strong physical body was one of the requirements for becoming a 5-star apothecary and 5-star blacksmith. As such, she did possess quite a few physical body cultivation technique manuals on her. However, none of their grades could match the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body.

”Allow me to take a look.”

Zhang Xuan had only asked that question casually, not expecting to receive a positive answer. His eyes immediately lit up in delight.

”Alright.”

Knowing that her teacher must have an idea in mind for asking for them, Luo Qiqi flicked her wrist and placed a few piles of books on the stairs without any hesitation. There were probably around a few hundred books within the pile.

”There are so many of them…”

Not expecting the other party to be carrying so many books on her, Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up. He hurriedly brushed his fingertip across all of them.

”Actually… it was a friend who helped me collect all of these. Back then, when I was striving to become a 5-star blacksmith, my physical body was still too weak. So, a friend gave all of these to me…” Luo Qiqi said awkwardly.

Despite Princess Yu Fei-er’s difficult personality, she still had many pursuers. Given Luo Qiqi’s appearance, it was natural that she would have no lack of pursuers either.

Back then, when she failed the 5-star blacksmith examination, a senior in the Blacksmith School who was pursuing her gathered all of these physical body cultivation techniques and gave them to her.

She had been wanting to return them to the other party since then, but she hadn’t found an opportunity yet. Since her teacher needed them now, she brought all of them out.

”Good…”

After collecting all of the books into the Library of Heaven’s Path, Zhang Xuan stood up and muttered ’compile’.

Hu!

A brand-new Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body appeared in the Library of Heaven’s Path.

Zhang Xuan quickly flipped it open, and amidst its content, there were only four errors.

”Great!”

Zhang Xuan chuckled in delight.

He was still troubled over the excessive flaws in the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body manual previously, but after assimilating the content from the other physical body cultivation technique manuals from Luo Qiqi, he was able to make up for most of the flaws. Even though there were still four flaws remaining, they were negligible.

With this, he would surely be able to strengthen his physical body to the required level within two hours!

”Let’s return to the stone chamber first.”

The stone chamber was narrow, dark, and damp, which weren’t conditions suited for cultivating. Thus, the duo returned to the stone chamber, and sitting down, they began cultivating.

Understanding her teacher’s intentions, Luo Qiqi flipped open the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body.

An introduction to the technique was written on the first page.

”The Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body wasn’t created by me; I found it when I was roaming through ancient ruins. There is a total of five levels to the technique, and they are otherwise known as the Five Incandescence. Upon mastering the technique, one’s physical body will be imbued with a five-colored light, granting one immense might… However, this technique is extremely difficult to cultivate, and even I have only been able to reach the Third Incandescence.”

After taking a look, Luo Qiqi couldn’t help but feel impressed.

Honestly speaking, the person who created the cultivation technique was indeed a genius.

She had seen many geniuses and formidable master teachers in the Master Teacher Academy, and she had heard of many different physical body cultivation techniques as well. However, none of them seemed to be able to compete with this one.

But while the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body was indeed strong, it was difficult to cultivate as well.

Putting everything aside, to reach the Second Incandescence and beyond, one would require some supporting materials to temper their body with.

Even though Luo Qiqi had plenty of pills and medicinal herbs on her, none of them fulfilled the requirements.

’Forget it. I shall cultivate the First Incandescence and leave this place first…’

Putting all other miscellaneous thoughts aside, she began to browse through the content of the First Incandescence.

”To master the First Incandescence, one has to be able to gather the full might of one’s body. It will take at least two years for a genius to achieve Major Accomplishment, while those who are less talented can easily take more than ten years!”

Such a sentence was written in the very first paragraph depicting the First Incandescence.

’Two years?’

Luo Qiqi’s mouth twitched.

If she were to be trapped here for two years, the entire school would probably think that she was dead!

Furthermore, this was still assuming that she possessed an affinity for the cultivation technique. If she lacked talent in it, wouldn’t they be trapped here for ten years?

’What am I thinking all of this for? I should focus my attention on cultivating. The faster I master the technique, the earlier I’ll be able to leave this underground chamber.’

Luo Qiqi shook away other miscellaneous thoughts from her head. Clenching her jaws, she began to memorize the formula for the First Incandescence. Soon, just after she managed to memorize the content and was just about to decipher and cultivate it, Zhang shi suddenly stood up.

”Let’s go!”

”Where?”

Luo Qiqi was taken aback.

She hadn’t even started cultivating yet, where were they heading to?

”To leave! Do you not want to leave?”

Zhang Xuan shot her a perplexed expression.

”I…”

Luo Qiqi was completely confused by the situation before her. ”Of course, I want to leave… but we aren’t able to open the Dragon Severing Lock with our current combined strength! I have barely memorized the First Incandescence of the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body, and I haven’t started cultivating yet…”

Zhang Xuan shook his head. ”It’s alright, I have already mastered it!”

”Mastered it?”

Luo Qiqi was taken aback. ”What does that mean?”

At that moment, the duo was already standing right before the Dragon Severing Lock. Zhang shi raised his arm and abruptly exerted an immense force on the Dragon Severing Lock.

Weng!

A bright light emanated from his body, and with a ’jiya!’, the Dragon Severing Lock opened.

”Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body… First Incandescence? What is going on?”

Luo Qiqi’s body trembled; she felt like she was about to go insane.

I thought you didn’t read that cultivation technique manual?

What in the world was going on?