Swallowing Premier Immortal Pills one after another, Zhang Xuan released the unique aura that he had collected from the circular platforms alongside the Azure Bridge and allowed it to swirl around him like a tornado.
Sitting quietly in the midst of the tremendous air currents, his Heavenly High Immortal realm cultivation slowly rose bit by bit. After overcoming his previous bottleneck, Zhang Xuan saw another towering mountain peak appearing right before his eyes. It was a majestic mountain that pierced right into the heavens.
As he assimilated the medicinal energy from the Premier Immortal Pills, he was able to gather the power required for him to scale the mountain a step at a time.
When he finally reached the very peak of the mountain, he saw a familiar silhouette standing before him—Sun Qiang!
Sun Qiang was currently pacing around the top of the mountain in a panic. He was trapped and could not leave this mountain peak at all.
The memories of the time Zhang Xuan had spent with Sun Qiang gradually floated in his mind.
“Old master, are you here to buy a house?” These were the very first words that Sun Qiang had said when they first met one another.
“Your humble servant’s name is Sun Qiang! You can call me Xiao Qiang!” Those were the words that Sun Qiang said when their relationship as master and butler had been sealed.
…
Time seemed to pass relentlessly like a flowing river. Sun Qiang had not been the most reliable of subordinates, and his desire to brag was at odds with Zhang Xuan’s humble and low-profile character. However, the two years that they had spent together had allowed them to get used to each other’s existence, and they had come to familiarize themselves with each other’s temperament and habits.
Zhang Xuan spent most of his time cultivating, leaving any important miscellaneous affairs for Sun Qiang to deal with. Before he had even realized it, this master-butler relationship had become something extremely important to him. Nothing could substitute Sun Qiang’s existence to him anymore.
Zhang Xuan harrumphed nonchalantly. “I’ll save you.”
He raised his hand up and chopped it down with great might.
Boom!
The mountain peak split in two before everything abruptly disappeared. There was no more mountain peak and Sun Qiang. At the same time, the bottleneck limiting his cultivation vanished as well.
The doors leading to the Semi-Divinity realm broke open!
So, these are the feelings between a master and a subordinate! Zhang Xuan thought with a smile as he drove his zhenqi according to the feeling that he felt within him.
Back when he was cultivating the Heaven’s Path Divine Art, he had limited his zhenqi to flow strictly in accordance with the circulation pathway defined in the cultivation technique. That was the only way he could cultivate unparalleled zhenqi and maximize his fighting prowess.
However, he decided to limit himself no longer. Letting completely loose, he allowed his zhenqi to flow along with his feelings.
He could feel it.
Everything could be a cultivation technique. Everything could be a battle technique.
Even emotions could be used as a cultivation technique. Even emotions could be utilized as a sword.
Hong long long!
The resounding chimes of a bell echoed in his ears as spiritual energy surged endlessly into his body, causing his strength to grow exponentially.
Semi-Divinity realm!
That realm that had stunted the growth of countless geniuses of the Azure… he had finally reached it!
Zhang Xuan continued putting more and more Premier Immortal Pills into his mouth, and the unique aura shrouding him swiftly depleted.
A long time later, he finally opened his eyes once more.
At this moment, he had already finished using all the Premier Immortal Pills that he had acquired from the Ethereal Hall, and he had used a total of twenty sets of the unique aura gathered from the circular platforms.
While others only needed a single set to achieve a breakthrough, he had actually needed twenty people’s worth.
It’s a pity that I only managed to raise his cultivation to Greater Semi-Divinity realm. I am still a long way off from reaching Heavenly Semi-Divinity realm… Zhang Xuan sighed deeply.
Ultimately, the amount of Premier Immortal Pills he had was still insufficient. Furthermore, due to his breakthrough, the quality of spiritual energy that he required to make a breakthrough rose once again. Thus, he was only able to make a breakthrough to Greater Semi-Divinity realm with the twenty Premier Immortal Pills he had in hand before losing his momentum.
Zhang Xuan contemplated for a moment before coming up with the name for his new cultivation technique.
This is a cultivation technique that I managed to create through comprehending my own emotions. Since that’s the case, I shall call it Pathos of Heaven!
Perhaps because it was Sun Qiang’s reminder that had enabled him to achieve a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm, the first sentimentality he comprehended was the sentiments between a master and a subordinate.
The quintessence behind such a relation lay in mutual trust.
Sun Qiang had never been a strong individual, but he was willing to stand against stronger opponents and even the entire Master Teacher Pavilion for his sake. Standing steadfast in the face of danger for the one he had decided to stand with, this represented the values of loyalty and brotherhood.
Infused with emotions, the Heaven’s Path Divine Art was clearly vastly different from before. It seemed to have gained its own spirituality, harnessing its own powers.
Let me test its might! Zhang Xuan thought.
He gathered his strength within his palm and lightly thrust it forth.
Peng!
The stable space before him immediately tore open, revealing a pitch-black dimension rift.
Zhang Xuan was stunned.
He had seen plenty of Semi-Divinity realm experts. In fact, eight of his tamed beasts had already reached the Semi-Divinity realm. As such, he knew what the usual strength of a Semi-Divinity realm cultivator was.
In terms of fighting prowess, he was already on par with the overwhelmingly powerful Semi-Divinity realm cultivator whom he had faced on the Ocean of Exiled Stars.
He had never thought that he would gain so much strength right after his breakthrough. Even if that Semi-Divinity realm cultivator were to explode his cultivation before him once more, he would not sustain the slightest harm at all!
“Come out!”
With a wave of his hand, Zhang Xuan brought out the Serpentine Dragon, Nine-headed Fiery Phoenix, and the Tongshang Sword.
“Use your strongest attacks against me!” Zhang Xuan instructed.
Huhuhu!
The two Semi-Divinity realm beasts and a Semi-Divinity artifact formed a collaborative formation and launched a furious barrage of attacks against Zhang Xuan. In response, Zhang Xuan sat on the ground without moving a single step. All he did was use his finger as a sword to deflect their attacks.
A few moments later, the attacking trio collapsed weakly on the ground, unable to move at all.
Despite their collaborative offense, they had not been able to force him to his feet!
“Master, your strength…”
The Serpentine Dragon and the Nine-headed Fiery Phoenix could hardly believe what was happening.
They had thought that they had reached the top of the Forsaken Continent by having achieved a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm, but to their disbelief, they found that they were no different from novices before their master. They could not even withstand a single strike from the other party!
“I had an epiphany earlier and successfully made a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm.” Zhang Xuan chuckled softly as he finally rose his feet.
He stowed the trio back into his tamed beast sack and storage ring before summoning the one he had been wanting to deal with all this while—his clone.
“You. Let’s trade blows!”
Peng!
The swollen-faced Zhang Xuan struggled back to his feet as he snarled with twitching lips, “Darn it. Just you wait! I’ll challenge you again once I reach Heavenly Semi-Divinity realm!”
Shrugging nonchalantly, the clone returned to the storage ring.
Sighing deeply, Zhang Xuan shook his head.
His clone was truly a pervert. Not only did he manage to achieve a breakthrough to the Semi-Divinity realm, over the past few days, he had actually figured out a way to advance his cultivation to Heavenly Semi-Divinity realm.
Thus, it was only a given that he would be no match for his clone!
Nevertheless, it was certain that he had gotten much stronger after comprehending the Pathos of Heaven. While his Greater Semi-Divinity realm strength did lose out to his clone’s Heavenly Semi-Divinity realm cultivation, the gap was not that big anymore. As long as he could make a few more breakthroughs, there was a good chance that he could stand on par with his clone even when they were in the same cultivation realm!
“But where in the world can I find more Premier Immortal Pills?”
With his current cultivation realm, ordinary pills and even the blood essence of Semi-Divinity realm experts were no longer effective on him. He needed something more potent than those.
The only thing he could think of that was still effective to him was the Premier Immortal Pills. However, those pills were known to be incredibly expensive and rare, such that even a major sect like the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion was unlikely to have too many of them.
Leaving the silent chamber, Zhang Xuan headed to the sect treasury, a place where only the sect leader of each generation was authorized to enter.
He did manage to find some Premier Immortal Pills there, but there were only ten of them in total.
“Let’s head to Starchaser Palace together.”
Having achieved a breakthrough in his cultivation, Zhang Xuan did not think that there was any need for him to stay there any longer. Thus, he called Zhao Ya, Sun Qiang, and the others over before bringing out the Serpentine Dragon. Together, they got onto the back of the Serpentine Dragon, and soon, they were well on their way to Starchaser Palace.
…
Three days later…
Entering the main hall of Starchaser Palace once more, Zhang Xuan met Jiang Yao, Zhao Yue, Kui Xiao, Qin Yuan, Han Jianqiu, and the core elders of the four sects.
He had sent a request previously for the other three sects to bring all of their Premier Immortal Pills to Starchaser Palace. Nevertheless, they only managed to scrape together twenty-seven of them.
In other words, Zhang Xuan only had thirty-seven Premier Immortal Pills with him at the moment.
Zhang Xuan quickly headed to a silent chamber in Starchaser Palace before swallowing all the Premier Immortal Pills at once. After several minutes, he successfully advanced his cultivation to Earthly Semi-Divinity realm.
As my cultivation increases, the effectiveness of the pills is clearly lowering. Previously, twenty pills were enough for me to reach Greater Semi-Divinity realm, but now, even after I consumed thirty-seven pills, I was only able to advance my cultivation by a single stage. At this rate, I’ll need at least one hundred pills to reach Heavenly Semi-Divinity realm!
His requirement for spiritual energy increased exponentially alongside his cultivation, and that had always been a severe headache for him.
Where in the world was he supposed to find one hundred Premier Immortal Pills?
Seeing right through Zhang Xuan’s thoughts, Han Jianqiu explained, “Sect Leader Zhang, Premier Immortal Pills are known to be a cultivation resource that only Semi-Divinity realm cultivators are able to use. The Six Sects usually only have one expert of such caliber, so it’s inevitable that we haven’t stockpiled too many of them in our inventory. However, it is a different case for the Ethereal Hall. Possessing a complete ‘神 (God)’ character, it’s likely that they have many Semi-Divinity realm cultivators in their ranks. Given so, it’s highly likely that they have quite a number of Premier Immortal Pills with them!”
“In other words, the Ethereal Hall has plenty of Premier Immortal Pills?” Zhang Xuan clarified.
Indeed!
Thinking back, the twenty Premier Immortal Pills that he had were from the Ethereal Hall. Given that the Ethereal Hall had remained the dominant power for thousands of years, it went without saying that its treasury was much fuller than those of the Six Sects.
The only problem was that he was at loggerheads with the head of their organization, not to mention that he had inadvertently induced the destruction of its headquarters.
Even if he demanded Premier Immortal Pills from them, it was likely that they would not give any to him!
But I guess that it’s still worth a try. I do still have the token that Kong shi gave me, so there’s a chance that the disciples of the Ethereal Hall will be forced to provide me with whatever I need, Zhang Xuan thought with a glint in his eyes.
He had been hesitant to use it after realizing that it was the thing that had been giving away his location to the Hall of Gods, resulting in the assassination attempts time and time again. However, now that his cultivation had reached Earthly Semi-Divinity realm, there was no one in this world who could threaten him other than Kong shi.
What else did he have to fear?
In fact, he would be extremely glad if Kong shi came personally for him. That would save him the hassle of having to hunt him down.
Zhang Xuan looked at Han Jianqiu and asked, “Is it still possible to enter the Ethereal Hall?”
Realizing the devious thoughts that were in Zhang Xuan’s mind, Han Jianqiu could not help but chuckle to himself as he replied, “Of course!”
Even though the headquarters of the Ethereal Hall had been destroyed, the other branches remained perfectly intact. Cultivators could still enter and leave it as they pleased, and the teleportation service of purchased objects was still working as usual.
“I’ll be heading in for a moment,” Zhang Xuan informed them.
He took out the Ethereal Token that he had been using and quickly immersed his consciousness into it. Soon, he found himself standing before a familiar tower.
Without any hesitation, he made his way over to the receptionist and passed the token that he had received from Kong shi over.
“I want one hundred Premier Immortal Pills,” Zhang Xuan demanded coolly.
“One hundred Premier Immortal Pills?”
The elder of the Ethereal Hall shuddered in horror upon hearing the ridiculous demand. He glanced at the token in the young man’s hand before anxiously flipping through the records. A moment later, he said, “We don’t have that many Premier Immortal Pills here at the moment. However, we can transfer the stock from other branches over. I think we should be able to gather the required amount within a day’s time…”
“Good. Give me everything that you have at the moment, and I’ll collect everything else a day from now!” Zhang Xuan replied.
“Y-yes, esteemed guest!” The elder quickly rushed into a room, and roughly an hour later, he passed several jade bottles over. “There are thirty Premier Immortal Pills here in total!”
“Un!” Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction before retracting his consciousness out of the Ethereal Hall.
He had worried that Kong shi would have revoked his privileges after revealing his true color, but to his surprise, it was still working!
Most likely, Kong shi is so busy recuperating from the injuries that he sustained from the clone a while back that he forgot about this matter… However, this will be last time that I can tap into this privilege.
Even though the elder had said that he would gather the remaining seventy Premier Immortal Pills by tomorrow, the problem was that it was even more likely that news would reach the headquarters of the Ethereal Hall before then. Once that happened, the privileges that he enjoyed through the token would be annulled, and the seventy Premier Immortal Pills would never reach his hands.
After all, there was no way Kong shi would be so foolish as to provide his enemy with the cultivation resources that he needed to power up.
As such, he could only take away as much as he could in the earlier transaction.
