Library of Heaven’s Path

There were three conditions required to unsealing the Sanctum Head Token.

Firstly, his master teacher rank had to reach 8-star. Secondly, he had to cultivate his Eye of Insight up to the fourth realm, Demon Vanquisher. Thirdly, his cultivation had to reach Saint 8-dan!

He was still some way off from accomplishing the latter two, but with his master teacher rank reaching 8-star, he had already managed to activate a portion of the authority and strength harnessed within the Sanctum Head Token.

Knowing that this was not a good time for him to check on the changes in the Sanctum Head Token, he swiftly stowed both the token and the 8-star master teacher emblem into his storage ring before slowly descending down from the top of the Tower of Master Teachers.

“Zhang shi, congratulations on clearing the Tower of Master Teachers trial and breaking its record!” Zhan shi stepped forward and clasped his fist.

Even at this point, he still could not help but feel as if he was in a dream.

To clear all nine floors within twenty minutes, winning the acknowledgement of nine top geniuses of their Sanctum of Sages… that was a feat that even the little princess of the Luo Clan was incapable of!

“If I may ask, am I qualified to enter the Inner Sanctum now?” Zhang Xuan asked with a polite smile.

“Of course! If you wish to head there now, I can bring you over,” Zhan shi said with a nod. “To tell you the truth, there isn’t much of a difference between the Inner Sanctum and the rest of the Sanctum of Sages, perhaps except for the concentration in spiritual energy.”

“I understand, but I would still like to head there. I’ll be troubling you to lead the way then, Sanctum Head Zhan!” Zhang Xuan clasped his fist.

At the other party’s insistence, Zhan shi nodded with a hint of approval in his eyes. The young man had just challenged a major trial, but he still insisted on heading to the Inner Sanctum instead of resting. Perhaps it was the difference in attitude that made the difference between him and the rest of the students!

With such a thought in mind, he turned around and led the way forward, and Zhang Xuan quickly followed him.

“Zhang shi…” Seeing that Zhang Xuan was leaving, Luo Xuanqing hurried forward, wanting to talk to the young man about the matter concerning his younger sister. But at the last moment, he stopped himself.

Facing Zhang Xuan’s perplexed gaze, he waved his hand and said, “It’s fine. You should take a look around the Inner Sanctum first. I’ll look for you later at night.”

Considering that he was going to entrust the young man with a mission to kill the person whom his younger sister loved, he would have to ensure utmost secrecy for this matter. There were many experts present on the scene—some of them were adept in soul arts even—so it would be best for him to find the young man later on and speak to him in a more private environment.

After all, this was not a particularly honorable matter to speak of in public.

“Alright.” Zhang Xuan swiftly assessed Luo Xuanqing carefully and noted that the other party’s cultivation was already fully reinforced. He nodded with a bright smile before following Zhan shi to the Inner Sanctum.

The Inner Sanctum of the Sanctum of Sages was not located in any of the Five Halls but within a lake far away from the major infrastructure.

Zhan shi took out an insignia and waved it over the lake, and the seal cast over the lake swiftly came undone. Following which, a massive gate surfaced from the depths of the water, and particularly overwhelming spatial energy rippled forth from it.

“What formidable control of space!” Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up in astonishment.

He had already comprehended the 3-dan Heavenly Art of Dimension Unravel, which granted him a deep insight into the essence of space. But to his shock, even with the Eye of Insight, he was actually unable to see through the gate before him! This could only mean that the person who had set up the door had achieved a level of spatial manipulation comparable to 4-dan Heavenly Art of Dimension Unravel or perhaps even 5-dan!

Folded spaces created by experts of that caliber were extremely steady, such that putting aside perceiving it, even if he really found their folded spaces, he would be unable to open them without using ‘keys’ such as the insignia that Zhan shi had used.

“This is the insignia required to open the doorway to the Inner Sanctum. All students of the Inner Sanctum have one, and it serves as a representation of their identity,” Zhan shi said as he passed the insignia over to Zhang Xuan.

Taking the insignia, Zhang Xuan lightly stroked its surface to feel its material before taking a closer look at it. There was a dense congregation of inscriptions on its surface, and surprisingly, these inscriptions bore a striking resemblance to the seal in the Subterranean Gallery that was used to cut off the otherworldly battlefields from the Master Teacher Continent.

They were marks of a Spatial Formation.

Dripping a droplet of blood on it to claim ownership of the insignia, Zhang Xuan placed it in his storage ring.

“Alright, let’s enter,” Zhan shi said as he led the way in, and Zhang Xuan quickly followed suit.

The moment Zhang Xuan stepped through the door, he felt as if he had been transported through space. Before he knew it, he was already standing within a building.

The very first thing that he noticed about his surroundings was that the concentration of spiritual energy was nearly twofold of that in the Sanctum of Sages. It was so concentrated that it felt as if it would form liquid spirit essence with just a simple grasp of his hand.

What was incomparably valuable in the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy turned out to be commonplace here.

“It’s indeed a blessed land for cultivation!” Zhang Xuan remarked.

The higher the concentration of spiritual energy, the faster one would be able to cultivate. With how dense the concentration of spiritual energy was, even if one did not actively cultivate, the spiritual energy would still dive into one’s body through one’s acupoints of its own accord, pushing one’s cultivation up gradually.

If Zhang Xuan had been there right from the start, even without using a single spirit stone, he would still be able to reach his current level of strength within a single year… or perhaps even higher!

It was truly no wonder there were so many outstanding young experts in the Sage Clans. With decent talent and the best resources at their command, they would have to be a true sluggard to not achieve anything at all.

Noting Zhang Xuan’s astonishment, Zhan shi explained with a smile, “The most valuable resource in the Inner Sanctum isn’t the higher concentration of spiritual energy but the cultural atmosphere. Just by being here will grant one greater clarity of thoughts and a sharper spirit, thus enhancing one’s rate of cultivation and learning!”

Zhang Xuan pondered for a moment after hearing those words before nodding.

The Inner Sanctum had been set up by Ancient Sage Bo Shang personally many years ago, and he had infused Kong shi’s will into this very space. This will had been further enhanced by the countless geniuses who had studied and cultivated there over the past several dozen millenniums, thus creating a unique atmosphere in the area that made one subconsciously desire to learn, cultivate, and reach greater heights.

After allowing Zhang Xuan some time to soak in the area’s atmosphere, Zhan shi said, “Let’s go and pay our respects to Sage Kui’s sculpture first!”

“Sage Kui’s sculpture?” Zhang Xuan asked with a hint of confusion.

“Even though the folded space was set up by Ancient Sage Bo Shang, it’s mainly due to Sage Kui that it’s survived up till now, grooming many generations of experts!” Zhan shi explained.

“As you know, folded spaces are inherently unstable, and this is especially so for spaces such as this that harness such concentrated spiritual energy. In order to prevent any mishap from happening, some kind of order must be actively sustained in here, and if not Sage Kui’s efforts over the many years, the Inner Sanctum would have long collapsed!”

Zhang Xuan nodded in response to those words.

In a sense, folded spaces could be compared to balloons. If they were not maintained carefully, putting aside growing larger, they would even slowly deflate as time went by.

The only reason the Myriad Anthive Nest, for example, had been able to remain so stable so far was due to the Myriad Anthive Queen sustaining it. Otherwise, it likely would have collapsed long ago.

The same went for the Mountain Gate.

It was due to the dissipation of Sage Kui’s will that resulted in its swift collapse afterward.

Considering how spiritual energy was even more aplenty within this folded space, it went without saying that it would be even more prone to instability. There was no way such a space could be sustained for several dozen millenniums without a powerful will guarding it.

Soon, the both of them arrived before a massive sculpture.

The sculpture was dressed in a long robe, and there was a particularly gentlemanly and refined look on his face. He shared the exact same appearance as the Sage Kui that Zhang Xuan had seen back at the Mountain Gate, and the aura that he exuded was incredibly powerful.

Even though the will within the sculpture was incapable of materialization, unlike the Sage Kui in the Mountain Gate, the sculpture seemed to harness some kind of spiritual power. With just a look, a cultivator would feel their thoughts suddenly becoming lucid.

“As expected of the First Sanctum Head of the Sanctum of Sages…”

To be able to instill a slight hint of deference within him just through a mere sculpture, there was no doubt that the strength that Sage Kui wielded back when he was still alive far exceeded that of the deputy sanctum head standing before him.

Zhang Xuan took a step forward and bowed deeply to pay his respect.

Putting aside how powerful Sage Kui was, just on the grounds that he had cultivated many generations of experts, allowing mankind to enjoy several dozen millenniums of relative peace and prosperity without fearing the invasion of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, he was indeed worthy of respect.

Not to mention, he had received the other party’s heritage, the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld.

However, it was a pity that despite the books that he had read over the past few days, he had not been able to find any that were related to optic arts. Otherwise, he surely would have perfected the Divine Eyes of the Ninth Netherworld and cultivated it well.

“Master, I sense my upper body!”

While Zhang Xuan was deep in thought, Vicious’ voice suddenly sounded in his head.

“Where?”

Part of the reason he wanted to enter the Inner Sanctum was to find Luo Ruoxin, but the other part was to help Vicious regain his strength. Hearing that his upper body had been found, Zhang Xuan’s eyes could not help but light up in agitation.

“It’s inside this sculpture,” Vicious replied.