"Young master, have you... asked about the Soulless Metal Humanoid yet?"
Seeing the young master's slightly trembling body, the elder knew that the young master would surely lose his sanity if they were to continue discussing this topic. Thus, he hurriedly changed the subject.
"Ah? I... forgot!"
Song Chao's body swayed weakly.
He only had time to say a single sentence before the other party began pointing out the various symptoms he was suffering from. After that... he fell to the onslaught of words and lost himself.
Putting aside the Soulless Metal Humanoid, he didn't even manage to speak much.
How was he supposed to ask the question when he was in a trance?
"Then... I'll try asking..." the elder said slowly.
"Un, go on... Be careful!" After hesitating for a moment, Song Chao nodded his head.
He was a little fearful at the moment already. He was scared that if he were to go over again, he might be bewitched by the other party's words once more. Thus, it might be wiser to send his subordinate over instead.
But... Given that the other party was able to give him a lesson via the Impartation of Heaven's Will and determine the root of his problem, the other party's ranking as a master teacher was definitely above his. It was natural for a person of such capability to want to retain the Soulless Metal Humanoid to study it. If so, how could the other party possibly give it up to him?
"Yes!"
The elder nodded his head. He hurriedly walked over to Zhang Xuan who had already traveled a very far distance away during this period of time. "Zhang shi, we wish to buy the Soulless Metal Humanoid. May I know if... you're interested in selling it? Our young master is willing to offer two half 5-star master teacher Tutelage Jade Tokens for it!"
"Forty-thousand spirit stones!" Zhang Xuan came to a stop.
"This price is already extremely high. Even our young master only has three of such Tutelage Jade Token... Wait a moment, what did you say?"
The elder thought that Zhang shi would reject him outright, but contrary to his expectation, the other party tossed out a price so candidly. Taken aback, the elder attempted to verify the matter by asking, "You're saying that you're willing to sell it to us at... forty-thousand spirit stones?"
Hu!
Before he could finish his words, a shadow flashed across his eyes and a Soulless Metal Humanoid appeared on the floor.
"If you can produce the spirit stones, you can take the metal humanoid away. I won't be accepting any Tutelage Jade Token. If you don't have the money to pay up... I'll have to ask of you to leave!"
Zhang Xuan waved his hands.
He was in a rush to compile and study the Heaven's Path Divine Art, and he didn't want to waste any time dawdling here.
Since Zhang Xuan had already examined the Soulless Metal Humanoid already, it was of no use to him anymore. Rather to keeping it with him, he might as well sell it for a profit.
"...So simple?"
Standing behind, Song Chao had thought that the elder would surely fail. Never in his dreams did he expect the matter would be so simple...
If only he'd known that the fellow had the intention to sell it, he wouldn't have tried to act cool and insist on offering guidance to the other party. In the end... not only did he fail in his deed, he became the one being taught instead...
He had truly embarrassed himself greatly today...
Song Chao felt frenzied.
As a master teacher, he was always able to perceive the intentions and meaning behind the actions of others. Yet, this fellow before him didn't seem to obey any common sense at all. It felt as though he was knocking his head on a rock, every interaction with the other party simply left him faint-headed.
"Zhang shi, are you serious in selling the Soulless Metal Humanoid to me for forty-thousand spirit stones?"
Unable to hold back his agitation, Song
Chao stepped forward.
"If you can't afford it, the deal is off!"
Putting away the metal humanoid into his storage ring, Zhang Xuan prepared to leave once more.
"I'll buy it..."
With a reddened face, Song Chao hurriedly spoke up.
Huala!
After saying those words, a mountain of spirit stones immediately appeared before everyone's eyes. It totaled up to exactly forty-thousand.
"Un, the metal humanoid is yours then!" Taking the spirit stones, Zhang Xuan tossed the metal humanoid to the other party's side, turned around, and left.
"Thank you, Zhang shi..."
Grabbing over the Soulless Metal Humanoid, Song Chao quickly placed it into his storage ring, fearful that the other party might change his mind. However, right after he kept the item, he suddenly froze. An urge to bash his head into the nearest pillar suddenly gripped him.
"I fell for his trick again! My forty-thousand spirit stones..."
How could he not even have tried to haggle with the other party? Clearly, he had fallen for the other party's Impartation of Heaven's Will once more, resulting in him taking out the sum immediately...
Thpse were his total savings throughout the years. To think that he would be sapped dry by the other party in an instant... Why did it have to be so damned?
What kind of monster was the other party?
"Congratulations, young master. You finally managed to obtain the Soulless Metal Humanoid..." The elder clasped his fist.
"Scram!"
Song Chao was already in a very bad mood, and when he heard the congratulations, he immediately erupted.
"Keng... alright!"
Perplexed, the elder scratched his head doubtfully. What was wrong with the young master? Did he... damage his brain somehow?
While relishing in the joy of having just earned forty-thousand spirit stones with little to no effort, Zhang Xuan returned back to his room. With a flick of his wrist, several rows of bookshelves appeared before him.
With this, he wouldn't have to worry about having insufficient spirit stones for his cultivation in the short term.
The pressing matter at hand was for him to read through more books so that he could raise his cultivation.
Sliding his finger across the rows of books, identical books appeared in his head.
Soon, all of the cultivation technique and battle technique manuals that Hall Master Sai had collected were replicated within the Library of Heaven's Path.
"Compile!"
Placing all of the Transcendent Mortal 1-dan Prolonged Longevity realm cultivation techniques together, Zhang Xuan willed.
Hu!
An entirely new book appeared before Zhang Xuan's eyes.
Picking it up, he began flipping through it.
"Transcendent Mortal, also known as Surmounting Mortality and Mortal Metamorphosis, refers to the stage where one evolves beyond the limits of mortals. One's level of existence will be increased significantly. In order to transcend mortality, one has to abstain from inferior mortal sustenance and feast on the spiritual energy in the air instead. Those who consume material sustenance are intelligent but die, those who consume spiritual energy are intelligent and lasting..."
The content of the book appeared in Zhang Xuan's eyes.
After an unknown period of time, he breathed out a mouthful of turbid air and opened his eyes.
He had finished comprehending the essence of the Transcendent Mortal 1-dan Heaven's Path Divine Art, and he was ready to cultivate it now.
"Let's begin!"
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he flicked his wrist and a spirit stone appeared in his hand. Driving his zhenqi according to the method detailed in the cultivation technique, he began absorbing spiritual energy from the spirit stone.
Kacha!
Two breaths later, the spirit stone in his hand was reduced to powder.
"Hmm? This..."
Zhang Xuan's face twitched.
Spirit stones were a natural product of the world. They contain spiritual energy and each of them are crystal clear... Going by logic, it should be exceptionally tough. Why did it simply crumble all of the sudden?
Lowering his head to assess the situation, a bizarre expression soon surfaced.
"The spiritual energy within... has been fully absorbed?"
Looking at the crumbled spirit stone on the floor, it was completely white, reminiscent of ashes. Clearly, the spiritual energy within it had been devoured completely.
"This... How many spirit stones will I require to make the breakthrough to Transcendent Mortal 1-dan?"
Zhang Xuan felt faint-headed.
He thought that several hundred spirit stones would be sufficient for him to reach Transcendent Mortal 1-dan. Given that he had several ten thousand in his possession now, it should be a piece of cake. However, it seemed like he was severely underestimating his consumption rate.
Transcendent Mortal meant evolving beyond mortality.
His body had been tempered by Heaven's Path zhenqi, making it far superior to that of ordinary humans. As such, the difficulty in him making the leap from a mortal to the next realm was hundred times greater than them as well.
It was easy to expand a ditch of one-meter radius wide by twofold but expanding an ocean by twofold... was exponentially more difficult!
That was exactly the case with him.
Nourished by the Heaven's Path zhenqi, his physical body and soul had undergone a qualitative change, making him invincible among his fellow peers. However, this also made it harder for him to make the final breakthrough.
"If I were to absorb them one by one, it would just be a matter of time before I died of exhaustion..."
Zhang Xuan had several ten thousand spirit stones at the moment. It should be sufficient to fuel his breakthrough, but... the spiritual energy contained within these low-tier spirit stones was limited. On top of that, his consumption was extremely great... If he were to go on like that, having to pause his cultivation to replace a broken spirit stone every two breath, it would be incredibly inconvenient!
Who knows how long it would take for him to reach Transcendent Mortal realm if he had to do it that way?
Even if there was sufficient water in a bottle to alleviate one's thirst, if one could only drink a drop at a time, one would still die of dehydration!
In other words, Zhang Xuan had to find a way to extract the spiritual energy from the spirit stones so that he could cultivate continuously without pause.
"Formations!"
Frowning, an occupation suddenly appeared in Zhang Xuan's mind.
Holding a spirit stone one at a time to cultivate wouldn't work out at all. There was only one way if Zhang Xuan wanted hundreds or even thousands of spirit stone to provide him spiritual energy simultaneously... Formations!
Back then, after eradicating the Lin Clan, Zhang Xuan had read through several books regarding formations and learned that some of the more formidable Spirit Gathering Formations were capable of extracting spiritual energy from spirit stones and gather them in the area.
If he had this kind of formation, he could simply put spirit stones in it and the spiritual energy within them would be extracted automatically. If so, his cultivation would become much smoother.
"I should go and look for some formations!"
Zhang Xuan stood up.
Along with the rise in his cultivation, his requirement for spiritual energy would increase exponentially as well. Even if he had sufficient spirit stones, cultivation would become terribly inefficient.
Walking out of the room, Zhang Xuan went to look for Hall Master Sai.
"Hall Master Sai, may I know if there is a Formation Master Guild in Honghai City? If so, could you take me over, please?"
Hall Master Sai looked at Zhang Xuan and asked, "As a large commercial city, there's no reason why Honghai City wouldn't have a Formation Master Guild. Does Zhang shi intend to purchase formation plates in preparation for the trip to the soul oracle tomb?"
Formation plates were a miniaturization of a formation and could be easily carried around with one. Even if one weren't a formation master, one could still activate it by infusing one's zhenqi into it. As such, it was one of the most sought-after product in the Formation Master Guild.
The trip to the soul oracle tomb was filled with dangers. With a formation plate in hand, Zhang Xuan would gain another assurance on his survivability.
"Formation plate? Right, I also wish to see if there's anything suitable there to buy!"
Zhang Xuan nodded.
If he could find a Spirit Gathering Formation plate, he could easily carry it around and use it whenever he needed it. That would surely prove to be convenient.
"I am old buddies with the head of the Formation Master Guild, Guild Master Zheng Jingfeng. He has the highest tiered formation plates in the entire Honghai City. Allow me to take you there, I'm certain I can get you something you'll be satisfied with!" Hall Master Sai said.
"I'll be depending on Hall Master Sai then!" Knowing that this was a gesture of goodwill from the other party, Zhang Xuan didn't turn it down.
Due to the unique role that the Appraiser Hall played in Honghai City, it was located at the center of the various guilds. As such, it wasn't too far away from the Formation Master Guild. In just ten minutes, they had already arrived at their destination.
Previously, at Tianwu Kingdom, Zhang Xuan had paid the Formation Master Guild a visit to gather the books contained within. Compared to the magnificent infrastructure standing before him at this very moment, the Tianwu Kingdom felt nothing more than a crude shack.
The gates to the guild were tall and majestic, and an Eight Trigram was imprinted on it, creating a profound and mysterious air to it.
Stepping into the guild, Zhang Xuan immediately felt the air around him change. The temperature was comfortable, the air was slightly moist, and the surroundings was concentrated in spiritual energy. It felt as though one had walked into a garden in spring, and an indescribable sensation of relaxation and tranquility swept over him.
"This..."
Zhang Xuan blinked his eyes.
It was already late autumn, and winter was able to set in soon. How could this area be warm as though spring?
"The Formation Master Guild has set up a formation here so that it'll be permanently spring in here..." Seeing Zhang Xuan's expression, Hall Master Sai understood what Zhang Xuan was thinking of and stroked his beard. "Don't worry, this formation will only put one in a comfortable position. It doesn't possess any offense capability so there's no need to worry!"
"To set up such an elaborate formation just for comfort... As expected of the Formation Master Guild!" Zhang Xuan commented in awe.
To control such a huge formation so precisely such that it was limited to the interiors of the guild was a difficult feat. The Myriad Kingdom Alliance Formation Guild was indeed formidable. Just this formation itself was probably grade-3 pinnacle or perhaps even grade-4!