Library of Heaven’s Path

”You head in first!”

Zhang Xuan first issued elaborate instructions to the Myriad Ant carrying his storage ring for it to proceed into the cavern without drawing anyone’s attention first before slowly flying over himself.

”It has been some time since Ancient Ape headed out. Why isn’t he back yet?”

Before he could reach the cavern, he heard a voice from the surroundings.

Two saint beasts not too far away from the cavern were currently chatting.

The other saint beast harrumphed. ”Who knows? But in any case, I heard the enemy is a Saint realm intermediate stage human, so he should be more than enough to subdue the other party. He’s probably just toying with him at this point. After all, it has been some time since any humans came to the Cloudmist Ridge!”

They were conversing in the Ancient Beast Language, but Zhang Xuan could still understand their words without any problem.

”Indeed... At least the humans know their place. Knowing that we are around, they dare not come over at all!” the first saint beast said.

Seeing that the two saint beasts were too engrossed in their conversation to notice him, Zhang Xuan dived straight into the cavern.

If it had been any other soul oracle, even if the saint beasts were ignorant in the study of souls, they would still have noticed the yin aura it exuded. However, having cultivated the Heaven’s Path Soul Art, his soul was complete, leaving it with no distinct aura. As if a light breeze, it would be extremely difficult for any unskilled personnel to notice it.

Making use of the massive torrent of water from the waterfall, Zhang Xuan was able to conceal his movement and slip into the cavern without any issue as well.

The cavern was vast, and it was filled with slightly damp air. Zhang Xuan met up with the Myriad Ant and took the ring from it before advancing forward.

The further he advanced, the more humid the surroundings seemed to become. At the same time, the spiritual energy also grew more and more concentrated. At his current location, the spiritual energy concentration was already far above even that of Vice School Head You Xu’s residence.

It was indeed a blessed land for cultivation. One would be able to easily achieve what would have taken others several days elsewhere in a single day.

It’s no wonder the saint beasts maintain such a tight defense around the Cloudmist Ridge. There is no way anyone would be willing to give up on such a blessed land... Zhang Xuan thought.

Not only was the spiritual energy in the surroundings concentrated, it was incredibly pure as well. Its level of purity was sufficient to even satisfy Zhang Xuan’s demands easily.

Advancing forward, Zhang Xuan soon reached the end of the cavern.

There, he saw a round lake of around eight meters in diameter. Within it was an emerald fluid which carried a refreshing air to it. It felt like one would be able to progress greatly in one’s cultivation just by absorbing a small portion of it.

This is the Earth Vein Spirit Essence? It’s indeed impressive! Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.

Even though he had learnt of its mystical effects from the Ancient Ape, it was still very difficult for him to believe that such an incredible item could exist in the world until he finally laid his eyes on it himself.

While its purity was still slightly lacking compared to a high-tier spirit stone, it made up for it with its overwhelming quantity. Even a thousand high-tier spirit stones together might not match the sheer amount of spiritual energy contained within the lake.

The mountains in the Hongyuan Mountain Range are a naturally occurring Spirit Gathering Formation, and the Cloudmist Ridge stood at the very center of the formation. As a result, vast amounts of spiritual energy accumulated in the area. However, the clouds in the surroundings hinder the diffusion of the spiritual energy, and as time went by, the spiritual energy eventually condense into spirit essence… Zhang Xuan deduced as he recalled the geographical terrain in the surroundings and the various sights he had seen so far.

Nevertheless, to form a lake as big as the one before Zhang Xuan, it should have taken at least ten thousand years.

If I can take all of this away, not only will I have no problem advancing to Saint realm, there will even be spare for Zheng Yang and the others’ use as well... Zhang Xuan thought in delight.

With this treasure, they would no longer have to frustrate over the lack of spirit stones anymore!

But... how am I supposed to store an entire spirit essence lake?

While Zhang Xuan’s storage ring was indeed large enough to put in a lake as big as this, he didn’t have any container to store it!

He did have a few wine gourds on him, but those were insignificant compared to the entire lake.

What could he do?

There was nothing that felt worse than stumbling upon a mound of treasure only to realize that one only had the inventory to store an insignificant portion of it.

Even in his form as a soul, it took a fair bit of luck for him to sneak in here without drawing the attention of the saint beasts. There was no guarantee that it would be the same the next time he came here.

As a result, he had to take away as much as he could this time around. Otherwise, he would be allowing such an ideal opportunity slip through his fingers.

After a moment of contemplation, a thought popped into Zhang Xuan’s head.

Perhaps I can use beastskin!

There were quite a few sheets of beastskin in his storage ring. Perhaps, he could tie them together to make a container.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan accessed his storage ring and pulled out several large sheets of beastskin.

He skillfully manipulated his soul energy to form threads to weave them together, forming a gigantic container. Afterward, he plunged it into the lake to store as much spirit essence in it as possible.

Gugugugugu!

Soon, the beastskin container was full with over twenty tonnes of liquid in it.

Zhang Xuan swiftly stored the beastskin container into his storage ring.

There is still more than half left... Seeing that there was still a lot of spirit essence left in the lake, Zhang Xuan stroked his lower jaw.

Since he was already there, if he didn’t clean out the place, he would have a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he had missed something important.

Sigh, obsessive-compulsive disorder sure is frustrating!

Besides, the saint beasts on the Cloudmist Ridge had a hostile relations with humans, and they had slain countless humans over the years. Every droplet of the Earth Vein Spirit Essence left meant an additional droplet to nourish the enemy.

However, having used up even his beastskin, there was nothing else he could use as a container in his storage ring anymore.

It was impossible for him to store any more than that!

I wonder if there are any objects that could be used to store spirit essence around here...

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment, but after he found that he was still unable to come up with any feasible solution, he decided to take a look around the cavern to see if there was anything he could use.

Hmm? What’s this?

Drifting alongside the lake, a pile of items suddenly appeared before Zhang Xuan’s eyes, and his eyebrows shot up.

These are... human bones?

Taking a closer look, the pile was astonishingly human bones! Scanning the surroundings, there were several hundred other similar skeletal piles all around the cavern!

Aren’t humans forbidden from entering this area? How can there be human skeletons here?

Zhang Xuan was bewildered.

With the tight defenses the saint beasts and spirit beasts had organized on the Cloudmist Ridge, it should have been impossible for any humans to get in here. Thus, the presence of so many skeletons was unnatural.

Perplexed, Zhang Xuan drifted down to take an even closer look.

Most of the skeletal piles were male, and not too far from the pile, he found several weapons. These weapons weren’t too high tiered, averaging at around Spirit intermediate-tier.

Zhang Xuan picked one up using his soul energy, but upon attempting a slash, the weapon immediately snapped in two.

It seemed the weapon had suffered severe damage in the midst of an intense battle, resulting in the loss of its durability.

It appeared that an army had barged into the cavern in hopes of securing the grounds, only to eventually fall in defeat.

Hmm?

As Zhang Xuan was casually looking around, he suddenly caught sight of a storage ring.

Interested, he immediately immersed his consciousness into the ring.

There’s nothing inside. Seems like someone has already emptied it out... Zhang Xuan shook his head.

Even though spirit beasts were unable to access storage rings, saint beasts could. Considering the sheer number of saint beasts in the area, if there had been anything good in those storage rings, they would have already long emptied them out. How could they possibly leave anything behind for him?

These are... books?

Just as Zhang Xuan was going to back out of the storage ring, he suddenly caught sight of an insignificant pile of items in the very corner of the storage ring. Proceeding closer, he realized that they were all books!

Saint beasts had their own heritage, and the innate differences between a human and a beast also made it impossible for them to take up human cultivation techniques and battle techniques as well. As such, these books were completely useless to them.

Zhang Xuan’s eyes swiftly scanned through them and replicated them in the Library of Heaven’s Path.

Indeed, they really are cultivation technique and battle technique manuals! Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up in excitement.

Most human cultivators had the habit of carrying dozens of books with them in their storage rings for reference or studying purposes.

It was the same here as well. The storage ring had over a hundred books in it.

They spanned over Cosmos Bridge realm, Perfect Harmonization realm, and Ethereal Treading realm. However, due to the lacking quantity, Zhang Xuan was still unable to form a Heaven’s Path Divine Art out of them.

Perhaps there might be other storage rings in the area. If I can find more books, I just might be able to compile a complete Heaven’s Path Divine Art...

Since Zhang Xuan was in no hurry either, he scanned through the area carefully, and before long, he had unearthed more than twenty storage rings.

For several hundred corpses to only have so many rings, the rest must have been claimed by the other saints beasts.

Just like the ring Zhang Xuan had looked into before, the valuable items had also been emptied out of them, leaving behind only a couple of books.

Zhang Xuan swiftly replicated the books in his Library of Heaven’s Path.

There are over a thousand Perfect Harmonization realm cultivation technique manuals, five hundred for Ethereal Treading realm, and two hundred for Chrysalis realm...

Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.

He still didn’t have sufficient books to compile a complete Heaven’s Path Divine Art for Ethereal Treading realm and Chrysalis realm, but with over a thousand for Perfect Harmonization realm, he should be able to do so for that one.

Compile!

Before long, a Perfect Harmonization realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art appeared before his eyes. Flipping through it casually, its contents appeared in Zhang Xuan’s mind.

Since I am unable to take away the remaining Earth Vein Spirit Essence, I might as well cultivate here and save as much as I can...

Since there was nothing that could be used as a container in the surroundings, Zhang Xuan decided to take this chance to raise his cultivation realm as well.

Thriftiness is a virtue. What can be saved should be saved.

Zhang Xuan took out his physical body and returned his soul into it. After which, with a flick of his wrist, his clone also appeared before him.

Just like his main body, his clone had also only cultivated up to Cosmos Bridge realm pinnacle. Given the sheer amount of Earth Vein Spirit Essence remaining in the lake, it should be more than enough to share between him and his clone.

Thus, after informing his clone about the situation, Zhang Xuan stepped into the lake first.

Tzzzzz!

Driving the Perfect Harmonization realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art, the spirit essence around him began flowing into his body through his acupoints.

Hong long!

With a crisp echo, he successfully achieved a breakthrough from Cosmos Bridge realm pinnacle to Perfect Harmonization realm.

With the rise in his cultivation, the rate at which he could absorb spiritual energy increased as well. Due to the overwhelming speed he was absorbing the spirit essence at, a vortex formed within the lake.

Perfect Harmonization realm primary stage!

Perfect Harmonization realm intermediate stage!

Perfect Harmonization realm advanced stage!

...

In just an hour, Zhang Xuan’s cultivation had reached Perfect Harmonization realm pinnacle.

Now for my soul...

After he was done raising his zhenqi cultivation, Zhang Xuan immediately drew out his soul and continued cultivating.

His soul had already reached Perfect Harmonization realm advanced stage, so it only took him ten minutes to reach pinnacle.

With his zhenqi cultivation and soul cultivation reaching new heights, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. Feeling the immense power he wielded within, his eyes glowed in excitement.

Typically speaking, it would have taken him at least several dozen high-tier spirit stones in order to raise his soul cultivation and zhenqi cultivation to Perfect Harmonization realm pinnacle. However, to be able to do this for free, he couldn’t help but feel extremely comforted within.

Alright...

Standing up, Zhang Xuan glanced at the spirit essence to see how much of it was left when he suddenly froze.

At this very moment, he could see the floor of the spirit essence lake, which had a diameter of eight meters. In a little more than an hour, the Earth Vein Spirit Essence had been almost completely depleted.

How is this possible?

Zhang Xuan had only advanced his cultivation to Perfect Harmonization realm pinnacle, so how could he use have possibly used so much of it?

He subconsciously turned his gaze to his clone, and his eyes narrowed in shock. Unable to hold himself back, he cursed, ”Screw you, you damned wastrel!”