Library of Heaven’s Path

“Hold it right there!”

Seeing that the Dongxu Gourd was about to leap over, Zhang Xuan hurriedly placed a hand up and yelled for it to stop.

He had become traumatized by the many times that the Dongxu Gourd had snatched his stuff.

As soon as he acquired anything good, the Dongxu Gourd would immediately sniff it like a hellhound, dash out, and devour it in the blink of an eye. He could overlook everything that had happened before, but this was the pill that he had spent a hefty two hundred Sword Pavilion Coins on!

If I let you eat my pills, how will I advance my cultivation?

“Give it to me. I want it!” the Dongxu Gourd exclaimed as it shook its bottom. “Didn’t I tell you that this gourd is just a temporary form? I am a legendary beast who once ruled over the lands! As long as I recover my strength, I can grant you power far beyond your imagination. No one will dare cross you anymore. So, giving it to me will be far better than raising that pathetic cultivation of yours.”

“Scram!” Zhang Xuan’s veins throbbed upon hearing those words.

Without any hesitation, he kicked the Dongxu Gourd away and ate the pill in his hand without any hesitation.

You want to steal my stuff again? Dream on!

Gugugu!

The pill swiftly melted in his mouth, supplying a powerful surge of energy. His cultivation that had come to halt began to charge forth once more.

Dimension Shatterer realm advanced stage!

Dimension Shatterer realm pinnacle!

Dimension Shatterer realm completion!

Dimension Shatterer realm consummation!

It took two Standard Immortal Pills before his cultivation reached Ancient Sage 4-dan consummation, a step away from reaching Pseudo Immortal.

Feeling the rich energy coursing through his body, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.

He knew that his current strength was nothing compared to the real experts of the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion, but at the very least, he should be unmatched among the inner disciples.

Of the three Standard Immortal Pills remaining, Zhang Xuan gave two of them to his clone to allow it to achieve a breakthrough, and he gave the final one to Vicious. The two of them successfully advanced their cultivation to Dimension Shatterer realm consummation.

No matter what, they were still his trump cards in times of danger, so it was important to raise their cultivation.

“Where’s mine?” the Dongxu Gourd cried out resentfully upon seeing that it had received none of the five pills.

“All you do is eat and eat. Is there anything you can do other than that? Too bad for you, I don’t have any more pills!” Zhang Xuan shrugged nonchalantly.

“But you drank my bathwater!”

“What can you do other than that? Have you ever done anything meaningful? Even in times of danger, you don’t come out to lend a helping hand. Why should I give any pills to you?”

“But you drank my bathwater!”

“Don’t think that I don’t know you’ve been stealing my Heaven’s Path zhenqi! Hiding in my dantian and stealing my energy, you are no different from a parasite! How in the world can you be so brazen and act so self-entitled? You should be glad that I haven’t driven you away yet!”

“But you drank my bathwater!”

Zhang Xuan was rendered speechless. “Can you please stop talking about your bathwater?”

“The water I have bathed in can cure injuries. You even sold it to other people and profited off it!” the Dongxu Gourd protested indignantly.

Zhang Xuan felt his head panging in pain. “Fine, let’s assume that what you’ve said is true, that you are really a legendary beast who has ruled over the lands. I can buy you the pill you want right now, but you’ll have to acknowledge me as your master and follow my orders from now on. In the future, I can even help you acquire better medicine so that you can recover as quickly as possible!”

“You want me to acknowledge you as my master?” the Dongxu Gourd asked as it shook its bottom.

“Indeed. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. As long as you become my tamed beast, I’ll allow you to absorb my zhenqi freely, and I’ll earn enough money so that you can get the pills you need to recover!” Zhang Xuan said.

He had no idea what tier the Dongxu Gourd was or what it even was at all, but the fact that its gourd soup was able to recover injuries more remarkably than the Heaven’s Path zhenqi could meant that it was anything but ordinary.

Even if its claims that it was a legendary beast that had ruled over the lands was an exaggeration, it was unlikely to be Otherwise, he would not have been so helpless against it.

In any case, his priority for the time being should be to take the Dongxu Gourd in as his tamed beast. Otherwise, the Dongxu Gourd could very well run amok after it recovered.

“I am a legendary beast who once ruled over the lands! Instead of groveling and worshipping me, you want to tame me? Just how insolent can…” the Dongxu Gourd harrumphed coldly.

But before it could finish its words, Zhang Xuan suddenly flicked his wrist, and a Standard Immortal Pill appeared on his palm.

“Humph, I am a legendary beast who once ruled over the lands! Do you think that I’ll submit to you over a mere pill?” The Dongxu Gourd was salivating, but it was trying its darn hardest to hold itself back.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist, and yet another Standard Immortal Pill appeared on his palm.

He had spent his remaining four hundred Sword Pavilion Coins on those two pills.

“Humph, two pills aren’t enough. You will need at least… at least… at least twenty of them! No, there should at least be a hundred!” The Dongxu Gourd turned its head away haughtily.

“A hundred? Alright then. You can go and play with the dirt over there. I’ll be taking a rest now.” Zhang Xuan shrugged nonchalantly as he placed the pills back into his storage ring.

Knowing that the Dongxu Gourd possessed peculiar spatial abilities, he made sure to seal it with his zhenqi.

A Standard Immortal Pill cost two hundred Sword Pavilion Coins, so a hundred of them would be cost a hulking twenty thousand coins! Even if he tired himself out in the dueling ring, he would not be able to earn that much money!

Since that was the case, why bother in the first place?

“Wait, are you giving up just like that? I mean, why not negotiate a little more? I am not an unfeeling legendary beast after all…”

Shocked that Zhang Xuan would give up like that, the Dongxu Gourd immediately turned its head back and cried out. The determination in its voice had vanished, and in its place was a fawning tone. “Why don’t we do this instead? You can give those two remaining pills to me, and I’ll consider whether I should take you in as my master or not.”

While this young man’s cultivation was not that high, the zhenqi in his body felt extremely warm and comfortable. Furthermore, it could feel a force that transcended nature harnessed within his body. So, it actually was not all that against this young man becoming its master.

Just that, what kind of legendary beast would it be if it acknowledged the young man as its master just because the latter told it to?

It might just be a gourd for the time being, but it still wanted its pride!

“Here!”

Seeing that the Dongxu Gourd had finally loosened its mouth, Zhang Xuan took the two Standard Immortal Pills back out and flicked it over.

Hu!

The Dongxu Gourd swallowed the two Standard Immortal Pills simultaneously, and a slight burp sounded from its insides. With a slightly unsatisfied look on its face, it said, “While this pill is not too bad, its tier is still a little too low. I need something with more oomph!”

Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up.

He had eaten two pills too, and his cultivation had risen from Dimension Shatterer realm advanced stage to Dimension Shatterer realm consummation. On the other hand, the Dongxu Gourd ate two pills, but it did not seem to have undergone any changes at all. Just how powerful was it at its peak?

Would it really require a hundred Standard Immortal Pills or something more potent than that for it to return to its ‘true form’?

In any case, the fact that he’s able to remain unchanged after swallowing two Standard Immortal Pills mean that his tier must be much higher than what I imagined. I’ll just tame it first before anything happens, Zhang Xuan thought.

He knew that the Dongxu Gourd was very different from the beasts that he had tamed previously. His renowned Beast Pummeling Taming Method would not work on it.

After a moment of hesitation, he allowed the Dongxu Gourd to return to his dantian whereas he immersed his consciousness back in the Ethereal Token to enter the Ethereal Hall.

Within less than four hours, he had squandered away all the wealth. It was no wonder they said that unaffiliated cultivators would not be able to get too far!

All in all, he only had thirty-two Sword Pavilion Coins left, which was not enough to buy a fifth of a Standard Immortal Pill.

When can I finally be free from poverty? Zhang Xuan thought as he made his way toward the dueling ring yet again.

At the highest peak of the mountain where the inner disciples resided, a residence was located right at the edge of the cliff.

In its courtyard, a white-robed young man named Liu Lujie was seated on the floor with his eyes tightly shut.

The rich spiritual energy from the surroundings slowly gathered around his body and formed a huge vortex around him. He opened the acupoints all over his body and ravenously devoured this congregation of spiritual energy.

Some time later, he opened his mouth wide.

Wu!

A surge of sword qi shot out and sliced through a boulder located not too far away.

If one took a closer look, this surge of sword qi contained exactly the same amount of energy as the spiritual energy that he had just absorbed.

Instead of refining the spiritual energy into zhenqi, he had converted it into sword qi and shot it out.

After doing all of that, he slowly opened his eyes.

By the entrance of the courtyard, he glanced at the blue-robed young man who had been waiting there for quite some time.

The blue-robed young man walked in and asked, “Are you still unwilling to make a breakthrough? How long do you plan on suppressing your cultivation for?”

“I still wish to continue refining my Sword Intent. As for a breakthrough, that’s not something that is on my mind at the moment,” Liu Lujie replied.

“You have been refining your Sword Intent for three years now,” the blue-robed young man remarked.

“Three years is still not long enough. I heard that the Ten Li Sword God in our sect refined his Sword Intent for a whole ten years before pushing for a breakthrough to Pseudo Immortal. It’s with such accumulation that he was able to cause such a huge uproar! Even though my talent pales in comparison to his, I still believe that my patience will bring me somewhere further,” Liu Lujie replied.

“Speaking of which, it sure is unusual for you to visit me. Do you want to have a spar?”

“Nay, it’s not as if I stand a chance against you,” the blue-robed young man replied with a wave his hand. Following which, a gleam twinkled in his eyes as he said, “Zhu Yanzhi and Wei Suifeng came to see me earlier, and they told me something that I found really interesting. Would you like to hear about it?”

“Those two have always wasted their time on useless nonsense instead of cultivating; I doubt there’s nothing they can say that will be truly meaningful,” Liu Lujie said. “I still need to cultivate, so I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Hey hey hey, don’t be in such a rush to chase me out. At least let me finish my words, alright?” As if knowing that Liu Lujie would react in such a manner, the blue-robed young man waved his hand calmly and continued with a smile. “They said that a particularly powerful sword practitioner has recently appeared in the Ethereal Hall of the inner disciples. Despite the two of them going at that sword practitioner one after another, they were unable to force the other party to reveal his ace!”

“Oh? The two of them were actually outclassed to such an extent?” Liu Lujie was slightly taken aback by the news. “While Liu Yanzhi and Wei Suifeng often waste their time on meaningless pursuits, it has been quite some years since they arrived in the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion.

“Their cultivation is at Dimension Shatterer realm consummation, and their comprehension of swordsmanship can at least be considered above average. Yet, they actually weren’t able to force their opponent to reveal his ace before falling in defeat? That… shouldn’t be possible!”

“They brought a video with them, and it was indeed as they said. Would you like to see?” the blue-robed young man asked.

“Fine, I’ll allow the two of them to come in!” Liu Lujie nodded.

“Alright!” The blue-robed young man turned to the doorway and shouted, “Did you hear that, come in!”

Shortly after, a young man and a young lady walked in. They were the two opponents whom Zhang Xuan had faced at the Ethereal Hall, Zhu Yanzhi and Onset of Twilight.

Of course, Onset of Twilight was just a nickname; her real name was Wei Suifeng.

“Paying respects to Senior Liu and Senior Wang!”

As soon as they walked in, the two of them immediately bowed deeply.

Those two who had been speaking earlier were none other than rank one Liu Lujie and rank three Wang Jiandong!

“You said that a remarkable sword practitioner has appeared in the Ethereal Hall?” Liu Lujie looked at the two of them coldly.

“That’s right, Senior Liu!” Zhu Yanzhi nodded. He quickly took out a Record Crystal and passed it over. “This is the recording of our battle with him. Please take a look!”

Liu Lujie took a glance at Wang Jiandong before tapping his finger lightly on the Record Crystal to infuse a surge of zhenqi in.

Weng!

The Record Crystal immediately began playing.

After watching for a brief moment, Liu Lujie’s eyes shot up in astonishment. “He was able to see through the flaws in your ultimate techniques and overcome them with the simplest of moves?”