Library of Heaven’s Path

“It’s too simple…” Zhang Xuan shook his head and sighed.

Usually, even with the insights of many predecessors serving as a foundation, it would still take some time for him to achieve a breakthrough. However, this time around, everything had gone so smoothly that he had achieved a breakthrough within a few minutes without even realizing it. This was really at odds with his humble and low-profile personality.

He had been planning on holding it off for at least an entire hour so that the others would not be surprised—after all, it would not do for him to be too eye-catching. But who would have thought that it would be so easy, that just by swiftly browsing through the compiled book, he would somehow achieve a breakthrough?

Nothing seemed to be going his way that day.

Was it really that difficult for the world to just allow him to achieve a breakthrough a little slower so that he could maintain a low profile?

Was it really that difficult to be ordinary?

More importantly… why in the world did that ‘剑 (Sword)’ character shatter while he was practicing his swordsmanship? What if the Zhang Clan demanded compensation?

Forget it! Since it has already come to this, there’s no point keeping a low profile anymore! Zhang Xuan thought with a shake of his head. Breakthrough!

Without any hesitation, he released the overwhelming energy that had been generated from the fusion of his Speed Sword Quintessence and the other Quintessences.

Hong long!

As his aura gushed into the sky, a furious gale whipped up in the surroundings as ominous clouds began gathering above. At the same time, Zhang Xuan’s cultivation, which had remained stagnant for quite some time, began to surge forth, reminiscent of grass rising in the early spring or a butterfly breaking free of its cocoon.

“This is… the Phantasmal Space Ordeal? He’s going to make a breakthrough?”

Zhang Xu and the others could hardly believe what they were seeing.

Not only did that fellow manage to master the Zhang Clan swordsmanship, he was even going to break his Grand Dominion realm bottleneck!

“This is a disaster! We are currently at the very center of the Zhang Clan; we can’t allow his cultivation ordeal to fall here!”

Recovering from his shock, Zhang Xu suddenly realized the implications of Zhang Xuan’s breakthrough and yelled in horror.

There was no doubt that lightning tribulations were among the most frightening forces on the Master Teacher Continent. While the devastation that they brought differed according to the cultivation realm, the main headache lay in that it was nigh impossible for an external party to control the damage—any attempts to interfere in the cultivation ordeal would only cause it to grow stronger!

It was already bad enough that the fellow had induced a Macrocosm Ascendancy Ordeal in the outer perimeters of the city, but they were currently in the clan vault, where countless secret manuals and heritages were stored!

Buildings could still be rebuilt, but these secret manuals and heritages could very well disappear for good once destroyed!

If Zhang Xuan failed to deal with the lightning tribulation carefully, this could pose a heavy, irreversible blow to the entire Zhang Clan!

Kacha!

The ominous clouds above their heads continued to grow denser at a terrifying pace, and a suffocating pressure crushed down on them, stifling them.

In the face of such stupendously great power, Zhang Xu could not help but tremble in fear.

He had seen plenty of Phantasmal Space Ordeals in the past—not to mention that he had even undergone one himself—but the storm clouds gathered before him were on a completely different level from what he had seen before. The wild lightning energy that crackled within them carried power that not even the Dimension Sundering Ordeal could compare to. In fact, in terms of the intensity of the lightning energy, it was already on par with the Macrocosm Ascendancy Ordeal!

There was little doubt that the entire area would be reduced to dust if it really fell!

And the worst thing was that the lightning tribulation was still growing stronger!

Was this really just a Phantasmal Space Ordeal?

“How can it be so powerful?”

Watching the sight from the corners, the First Elder and Zhang Wuchen were stupefied by what they were seeing as well.

The power that the storm clouds harnessed was so great that it had already exceeded what they could cope with. At the same time, the formations protecting the vault were also creaking in protest under the pressure, on the verge of dissipation.

They quickly turned their gazes to the young man, but they did not see fear in the young man’s eyes. Instead, what they saw was intense excitement.

“He should be able to deal with it, right?” Zhang Wuchen asked worriedly.

“The cultivation ordeal that the Netherworld Azure Dragon Beast underwent was slightly weaker than this, but he did manage to resolve it quite easily, so I don’t think this will be too much of a problem for him,” the First Elder replied uncertainly.

While the lightning tribulation drawn by the Netherworld Azure Dragon Beast’s breakthrough had been powerful, it had still been slightly lacking compared to what was currently before them. Nevertheless, since the young man had been able to resolve the Macrocosm Ascendancy Ordeal so easily, this should not pose a problem either.

Otherwise, he would not have been so confident.

“That would be for the best.” Zhang Wuchen nodded hesitantly.

He had heard that the young man had resolved quite a few lightning ordeals to date, but he still could not help but feel a little worried. However, there was nothing that they could do, so they could only watch helplessly by the side and pray for the best.

On the other hand, Zhang Xuan was looking at the dense storm clouds above him as he scoffed in his mind. It seems like that fellow knows that it’s my lightning tribulation, so he called everyone that’s available over to join the party!

His recent absorption of the lightning tribulations seemed to have really angered the other party, such that the other party had been biding its time for this very day. Seeing that he had finally achieved a breakthrough, it immediately summoned everything that it had to put together something that was even more powerful than the Macrocosm Ascendancy Ordeal.

However, this just so happened to work in Zhang Xuan’s favor. The more lightning energy there was for him to absorb, the better it would be for him. With the sheer amount of lightning energy in the storm clouds, he should be able to push for a breakthrough straight to Phantasmal Space realm pinnacle!

There had still been a flaw in the Phantasmal Space realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art previously, but the comprehension of the Speed Sword Quintessence happened to hold the key to resolving the flaw, allowing him to cultivate it without any worries.

“Come!” Zhang Xuan roared excitedly as he pushed himself off the ground to dive right into the storm clouds.

With a wave of his hand, his clone, the gourd, and the vine appeared around him. At the same time, he also separated his Primordial Spirit from his physical body, and together, they began digging into the feast of lightning energy around them.

Geji! Geji!

Zhang Xuan’s cultivation sprinted ahead, rising furiously to Phantasmal Space realm primary stage.

Phantasmal Space realm intermediate stage!

Phantasmal Space realm advanced stage!

Phantasmal Space realm pinnacle!

In less than two minutes, he had already reached Phantasmal Space realm pinnacle, a mere step away from reaching Half-Dimension Sundering realm.

At the same time, his Primordial Spirit also grew more wholesome. Even without cultivating the Phantasmal Space realm Heaven’s Path Soul Art, the sheer amount of energy that his Primordial Spirit had absorbed had already granted it strength equal to Phantasmal Space realm pinnacle.

Furthermore, under the tempering of the lightning energy, his physical body had gained a brilliant glow, as if it was made out of the toughest metal in the world. In terms of resilience, he would definitely be on par with any Saint pinnacle artifact.

But I have barely absorbed only a fifth of the energy in the lightning tribulation…

Zhang Xuan’s cultivation surged at an unprecedented rate, but the lightning energy around him was still showing no signs of declining. He could not help but frown in apprehension.

In the past, the lightning tribulation would swiftly flee in fear after realizing that it was being rapidly absorbed, not daring to fight back at all. But now… his cultivation had already risen by an entire realm, but there were still four-fifths of the lightning tribulation left. It appeared that the lightning tribulation was going to go to the very ends with him today.

Of course, his clone, the gourd, and the vine were absorbing the surrounding lightning energy furiously as well, but their efforts did not seem to pose too much of a threat to the lightning tribulation.

If it comes down to it, I might have to find a way to push for a breakthrough to the Dimension Sundering realm!

Making a rough estimate, a breakthrough to Phantasmal Space realm pinnacle would have taken him at least a hundred pinnacle spirit stones ordinarily, but the scale of the lightning tribulation before him had far exceeded what he had seen in the past.

At the current rate that they were absorbing its energy at, they would not be able to scare the lightning tribulation away.

To make matters worse, his body and Primordial Spirit were already reaching their absorption limits. Unless he made a breakthrough, he would not be able to absorb any more lightning energy.

However, the problem was that he had not read any Dimension Sundering realm cultivation techniques yet, so he had absolutely no idea how he should cultivate and push for a breakthrough.

With this, Zhang Xuan was caught in a dilemma.

In the past, his problem had always been a lack of spirit stones to fuel his cultivation, but at this moment, the problem was that he had too much spiritual energy to absorb. To make matters worse, as this was his cultivation ordeal, he could not simply stop absorbing and take his leave.

Beneath the storm clouds, the First Elder and the others heaved a sigh of relief after watching Zhang Xuan dive into the midst of the lightning tribulation as he had done during the Netherworld Azure Dragon Beast’s Macrocosm Ascendancy Ordeal.

Since he had been able to send the lightning tribulation fleeing the previous time around with this move, he should not have too much trouble doing the same.

“That fellow’s aptitude toward swordsmanship is formidable, and it seems like his mastery in his other supporting occupations isn’t too bad either. It’s no wonder he was able to catch Yang shi’s eye and become his direct disciple. However, this bad habit of his of inducing cultivation ordeals wherever he goes really needs some changing!” The First Elder sighed with a shake of his head.

Other cultivators would slowly take their time to prepare for their cultivation ordeal before summoning it. They would go around borrowing artifacts and buying pills before searching for a fitting location where they could face their lightning tribulation quietly. Nevertheless, they would still proceed very warily, fearing that something would go wrong. On the other hand, that fellow simply achieved a breakthrough wherever and whenever he wanted to, paying completely no heed to the time, place, and occasion at all.

It was really a wonder to him how someone with that fellow’s personality had managed to live for so many years without being beaten to death!

While the First Elder’s thoughts were wandering, a rift suddenly appeared in the midst of the storm clouds above. Following which, a head popped out.

With a smile, the head asked, “First Elder, may I know where your Zhang Clan’s library is?”

“Library?” The First Elder was slightly taken aback by the abrupt question before replying with a deep frown. “Why do you want to know that? The Zhang Clan’s library is a place that only members of the Zhang Clan are allowed to enter.”

Why would that fellow ask that question in the midst of dealing with his cultivation ordeal?