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!