Library of Heaven's Path

"I'll be troubling you then." The elder clasped his fist and bowed.

Even though the young man had shown capabilities that far exceeded common geniuses, he still found it hard to believe that the other party could alter the Vitreous Heart Tempering Sutra within such a short period of time.

He had to confirm it with his own eyes.

Having guessed the elder's thoughts, Zhang Xuan waved his hand, and line after line of words formed out of zhenqi slowly appeared in the air.

It was the altered Vitreous Heart Tempering Sutra!

"T-this…"

Upon taking a look, the elder's body stiffened as incredulity crept into his gaze. "With this alteration, the temptations will still appear, but in a progressive manner instead. This will allow those with a weaker state of mind to cultivate the secret art and slowly advance their proficiency…"

He had studied the Vitreous Heart Tempering Sutra for many years, so he knew it inside out. The other party had not altered much of the sutra, but he had managed to change it from its very foundations.

The prowess upon reaching Major Accomplishment had not changed, but the starting point had been lowered instead.

In the past, even the head of the Combat Master Hall would have difficulties cultivating the technique, but now… even an ordinary Ten Men Commander could probably grasp it with ease.

Seeing the elder trembling in agitation, Zhang Xuan smiled.

Admittedly, the Vitreous Heart Tempering Sutra was a hard-to-come-by technique. While it was not of much use to him, he could still impart it to Wang Ying and Liu Yang. It should complement the weaknesses in their state of mind, allowing them to reach even greater heights.

More than that, if all combat masters could cultivate the technique, the overall fighting prowess of the Combat Master Hall could be brought to greater heights.

The events in Qiu Wu Palace had given him deeper respect toward master teachers. This was also why he had accepted Hall Master Xing's request readily.

The elder bowed deeply. "Allow me to thank you on behalf of the entire Combat Master Hall!"

"You are being too polite. We are all master teachers, so it's only right for us to help one another!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

The elder had passed away many years ago, but he had chosen to leave behind his will to pass down his secret art, all in hopes that mankind could strive for greatness. His concern for the future of mankind was truly worthy of respect.

Zhang Xuan's response made the elder nod in approval. Curious, he asked, "Considering your incredible mental resilience, I guess that you must be the newly-elected head of the Heart Division?"

"I'm not…" Zhang Xuan shook his head.

He was only dropping by the Combat Master Hall to help Hall Master Xing. He was not even a combat master, so how could he be a division head?

The elder was taken aback for a moment before realization struck him. "You aren't? Oh, I get it! Your strength must have been a factor limiting you from becoming a division head. After all, the minimum requirement is Primordial Spirit realm while you are only at Saint 1-dan pinnacle."

Naturally, there was a requirement on one's cultivation before one could be qualified to become a division head.

If they were to just go by the young man's mental resilience, he was definitely the best candidate to become the head of the Heart Division. However, it seemed like his cultivation had hindered him.

Upon 'understanding' what was going on, the elder said, "How about this then? As the founder of the Heart Division, I wield the ultimate control over the Heart Division. I'll give this to you as compensation for resolving my greatest regret. This way, once your cultivation reaches the mark, you'll automatically become the head of the Heart Division. Not even the hall master will be able to question the matter."

"Thank you for your concern, but it's fine…" Zhang Xuan shook his head.

He was not even interested in becoming a combat master, let alone the head of some Heart Division. Just as he was in the midst of rejecting the other party, he suddenly felt the elder before him sending a thought into his mind. As the thought fused with his mind, he suddenly found himself with perfect knowledge of all the formations in the Heart Division. With this, he had effectively gained full control over all of them.

"Alright. With this, my job is done here. I will be entrusting the Heart Division to your hands."

The transmission of thought had left the elder's soul fading even more. Even so, there was a satisfied smile on his face.

The reason the elder had persisted for so long was due to his regret in being unable to find a successor whom he was truly satisfied with. Even though the cultivation of the young man before him was a little too low, his capability was truly not one to be underestimated. Under the other party's leadership, he was confident that the Heart Division could be brought to greater heights. With this, he was finally able to put down the baggage in his heart.

"But I…" Seeing the elder's look, Zhang Xuan was deeply conflicted.

While he was still in the midst of finding the words to explain his identity, the elder's soul was visibly growing more and more transparent, and eventually, with a light 'pop', it vanished altogether.

"Jeez!" Seeing that it was already too late for him to say anything, Zhang Xuan shook his head helplessly.

Forget it. I'll just pass on the Vitreous Heart Tempering Sutra to Hall Master Xing and Division Head Liao when I get out and let them deal with the matter. That should be more than enough.

He simply was not interested in becoming a combat master, so he could not possibly become the head of the Heart Division. At the very least, if he could pass on the Vitreous Heart Tempering Sutra to them, they would disseminate it. In a sense, he would be fulfilling the elder's final wishes as well.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. He took one last look around the room, and after confirming that there was really nothing around that he could temper his mind with, he began walking out with a disappointed look on his face.

However, barely after taking a few steps out of the passageway, he suddenly felt a chilling sensation pounding on his heart, and goosebumps rose all over his skin.

Hu!

Trusting his instincts, he immediately executed his Heaven's Path Divine Art, and his figure vanished from the spot. The next moment, the hands of a cactus struck the place where he had been standing, creating a huge depression in his place.

Hong long!

The cactus did not stop there just because he had missed. The following moment, Zhang Xuan felt the air crushing heavily down on him, threatening to flatten him into a sheet of paper.

Narrowing his eyes, Zhang Xuan unhesitatingly halted in his direction of advance and forcefully leaped into the air.

Paji!

Right after he left the ground, a brilliant ray of light blasted across the area that he had been about to pass by earlier, crushing everything in its path callously. If he had been a second late in responding, he might have lost his life.

Sou!

Before he had chance to catch his breath, the flash of a sword flew across the sky, headed for him.

It seemed as if the assaulter had already calculated the trajectory of his movements. Despite his swift reaction, he was still unable to free himself from the relentless offense of the assaulters.

If the previous two attacks were only to corner him, this attack was definitely a killing blow! The sword qi emanated by the sword covered every single path that he could escape to, leaving him no room to flee at all!

What is going on? Zhang Xuan's complexion turned incredibly awful.

He had never thought that he would be assaulted in the Combat Master Hall!

However, this was no time to be thinking about the matter. If he could not overcome the attack before him, all that would be left of him was a cold, lifeless corpse.

With a threat looming right before him, his mind whirred at great speed. In this moment, he seemed to have entered a unique state of mind. Under the assessment of the Eye of Insight, even the sword before him seemed to have slowed down.

Hu!

In this state of mind, Zhang Xuan found that he was completely composed and rational, and such a state allowed him to make the best decision before him. With a huge gust of wind, he compressed his body tightly together.

Geji geji!

In the blink of an eye, from his initial height of 1.8m, he was compressed into roughly the size of a watermelon.

Putting aside the fact that sword qi had sealed his surroundings, preventing him from dodging at all, even if he had managed to dodge the attack by some chance, there was no knowing if the other party still had some other countermeasures to corner him further. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he was killed! Since that was the case, he had to retaliate!

Shortly after he compressed his body into a bundle, he felt a cold burst of air flying straight above his head. The sword barely nicked his skin, causing a stinging sensation.

"Break!"

Reverting back to his original form, Zhang Xuan swiftly shot his finger forward.

Huala!

Innumerable bursts of sword qi shot forth from his fingers. They swiftly flew toward the barrier of sword qi ahead of him that had sealed his surroundings, and reminiscent of rain striking down on a banana tree, the clash between the two produced relentless 'ding ding dang dang' sounds.

From the previous few attacks, he could already tell that the other party's strength was far greater than his, at least reaching the level of Primordial Spirit pinnacle. With his current strength, there was no way he could face them head-on. Since that was the case, he would just have to overwhelm them by quantity!

Relentless sword qi stormed forth from his finger and struck the barrier of sword qi. As powerful as the barrier was, it still swiftly thinned under the relentless attacks before eventually dissipating.

"What?"

This series of actions was completed in the blink of an eye. From the initial escape to retaliation, not even half a breath had passed. The one who had launched the attack clearly had not expected that he would be able to dodge the attack and even retaliate, breaking the barrier of sword qi, and he exclaimed in astonishment.

I have to flee now! Knowing that he was still in a dangerous position, Zhang Xuan leaped forward and dashed as fast as he could.

"Where do you think you're going?"

A furious bellow sounded, and a massive palm print suddenly came falling down upon Zhang Xuan.

The palm print covered over a dozen square meters with him centered at the middle, thus effectively blocking his path of escape. With the speed that the palm print was heading toward him at, it was nigh impossible for him to escape in time.

His combat sense is too strong. Zhang Xuan's face turned grim.

He had thought that he could make use of the other party's lapse in concentration to flee, but the other party had recovered faster than expected. Furthermore, the other party was even able to come up with an attack that could corner him within the blink of an eye. The other party's combat sense was truly frightening!

Even Wu shi could hardly compare to that.

Zhang Xuan knew that he would be severely injured once he was struck by the palm strike, and in his weakened state, there would be no way for him to escape with his life anymore. Thus, he quickly hastened his footsteps and rushed off as fast as he could.

Huala!

In the blink of an eye, he reached the corner of the hall.

But at the same moment, the palm print had finally reached right above him.

"Break!"

Zhang Xuan tapped his finger upwards.

Weng!

Something seemed to whir into life in the room, and the massive palm print froze in midair, as if a fish frozen within a block of ice.

From the information imparted to him by the elder, he had gained a thorough understanding of the layout and formations within the Heart Division, allowing him to control them easily. From the very start, he knew that it would be hard for him to escape, so his movements were also calculated to head toward the center of the formation so as to activate it.

If someone traced his path of movement from the moment he left the passageway of the trial, they would shockingly notice that it was actually a straight line right toward this point!

In other words, even while dodging those attacks, he was still able to instantaneously find a way to resolve it and continue advancing forward. Considering that he was up against an opponent far stronger than him, this was definitely an incredible feat.

With the formation active, Zhang Xuan was finally able to see the faces of his assailants, and a cold gaze immediately slipped into his eyes.

"Hall Master Xing, Division Head Liao, and Division Head Wei, what are you three trying to do?"

They were the three experts of the Combat Master Hall.