In his groggy state, Zhang Xuan vaguely saw himself standing on top of a cloud. His surroundings were completely empty, and there was nothing to be seen.
The cloud wandered freely along with the wind, embarking on a journey with no start and no end.
When he took a closer look though, he realized that he was mistaken.
There was another silhouette standing on the cloud as well.
That silhouette was gazing upon on the humongous world beneath them, a world filled with countless gods and magnificent buildings.
However, it was also a completely still world. Nothing was moving or breathing at all. It felt like the entire world was holding its breath for something to arrive.
“Elder…”
Perplexed, Zhang Xuan walked over to the silhouette doubtfully.
Those at his cultivation realm would rarely dream. He himself had only dreamt once ever since transcending over to this world. So, he had a feeling that there was a deeper reason as to why he was seeing such a sight before his eyes.
The silhouette neither spoke nor looked at him. Instead, a voice echoed right within his head. “You didn’t let me down. You were able to forge your own path forward with your own strength. Follow the path you have chosen for yourself, and you should be able to climb higher and higher. But you might need to hurry up a little. I can’t hold on for too long. One more thing. Try to create more Heaven’s Parchment, and you should be able to receive something that will help you on your journey…”
Boom!
Before the silhouette could finish speaking, Zhang Xuan’s body suddenly surged forward, and the scenery around him vanished. His eyes opened, and he realized that he was back in his room.
It was almost as if it was all a hallucination.
“What’s going on?”
It was a brief encounter, but everything felt so real to him. He found himself unable to discern what was real and what was not anymore.
Even though his cultivation was not too high, he was protected by the Library of Heaven’s Path, and his willpower and soul were extraordinarily powerful as well. This had allowed him to remain unfazed by most inner demons and illusions.
Yet, his senses and mind were confused by what he had seen.
Furthermore, who could that silhouette be?
He seemed to know about the existence of the golden page too.
“Is he Kong shi?”
As far as he knew, the only ones who knew about the golden page and the Library of Heaven’s Path were Luo Ruoxin and Kong shi. He was unable to clearly distinguish the appearance and physique of the silhouette, but he could vaguely tell that the other party was male.
Since that was the case, the silhouette was very likely the World’s Teacher!
“He mentioned that he can’t hold on for too long… Does that refer to his fight against the monarch of the Sky of Freedom?”
Shortly after he arrived in the Firmament, he had heard that the Heaven Subjugation Monarch and the monarch of the Sky of Freedom were going to have a final showdown. They were both top-notch experts of the Firmament, so the outcome was impossible for anyone to predict.
“Regardless of whether I am right or not, it’s true that I’m too weak at the moment. Those things are still too far away for me to get involved with at the moment…”
As a high-tier God, even dealing with a middle-tier Celestial God would pose difficulties to him, let alone the God Kings and God Monarchs.
Even if he looked for Kong shi, there was nothing he could do to help the latter. He might even drag the latter down instead.
What he should be focusing on was raising his cultivation and looking for Ruoxin.
Shaking those thoughts out of his mind, he turned his focus to his Library of Heaven’s Path.
The earlier jolt from the Library of Heaven’s Path had caused him to lose consciousness, so he was anxious to check if there was any changes to it.
But after examining the area for a while, he was unable to find anything different. It did not seem like the earlier incident had made any changes to it at all; it looked the exact same as before.
However, there was one thing he remembered clearly from the earlier exchange, and that was regarding the golden page.
The golden page was a weapon that harnessed the power of the heavens. After entering the Firmament, the Library of Heaven’s Path would have stolen a fragment of the powers from the heavens of the Firmament, thus significantly enhancing the might of the golden page.
With it, perhaps with the exception of God Monarchs, he should be able to deal with even God Kings and Conferred God Kings easily.
If he could just gather a bunch of them, he would pretty much be the most powerful cultivator in the Firmament aside from the God Monarchs.
With those thoughts in mind, Zhang Xuan tucked his pendant beneath his robe and stood up.
The earlier experience had made him realize that he was not strong enough to examine the origin of the crimson pendant yet, so he decided to postpone the matter.
He pushed the door to his courtyard open and walked into the courtyard, and it was only then that he realized that he had actually been unconscious for four hours. Sun Qiang had already finished his investigation and was waiting outside to report the matter.
“Young Master!”
Upon seeing Zhang Xuan, Sun Qiang quickly passed a jade token over.
Zhang Xuan took the jade token and scanned the contents inside with his consciousness.
The information within described the current political situation and power distribution within Drifting Specter Royal City, making it highly confidential information.
Without a doubt, the most powerful expert in Royal City was Demon Monarch Qiankun, who was one of the Nine Monarchs.
Demon Monarch Qiankun had no interest in secular matters, let alone governing his territory, and he spent most of his time cooped up inside the Qianyuan Hall of his Qiankun Divine Palace. As such, barely anyone had seen him in person before.
Directly beneath him were the three Conferred God Kings, namely the old ancestor of Qi Ling-er’s Qi Clan, Qi Meng; the old ancestor of the Shangguan Clan, Shangguan Wufeng; and the old ancestor of the Nangong Clan, Nangong Ping!
Forty years prior, Nangong Ping’s body and soul had been crushed by a single blow from the Heaven Subjugation Monarch, resulting in his premature demise. However, his descendants had used the Netherworld Pool to nourish his fragmented soul, and over the past few decades, he had managed to regain his consciousness. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he made a comeback.
Furthermore, there were two other God Kings to hold the fort for the Nangong Clan, so their position remained unwavering.
“As for the matter regarding Young Master Lu Chong, as this issue directly concerns Demon Monarch Qiankun, I wasn’t able to gather any news at the moment… However, I did manage to figure out where Demon Monarch Qiankun lives. He resides in the floating Qiankun Palace that is located right above the center of Royal City!” Sun Qiang said. “I think that it’s highly likely that he will have taken Young Master Lu Chong there if he intends to personally groom him.”
Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.
His students had been practicing the simplified Heaven’s Path Divine Art right from the start, and that had allowed them to build up a strong foundation. Furthermore, they had a deep comprehension of battle techniques, which granted them superior fighting prowess over their counterparts in the Firmament.
It was only natural for them to catch the eye of God Monarch experts.
Given that Demon Monarch Qiankun had left those words personally on the Celestial Mountain, it was unlikely for him to renege on his words and mistreat Lu Chong.
So, he did not think that Lu Chong was in danger at the moment.
Nevertheless, as Lu Chong’s teacher, he still could not help but be worried, so he wanted to know how Lu Chong was faring at the moment. After all, he did not know the God Monarchs personally, so he had no way of gauging their characters.
If his students were really suffering under the God Monarchs, he would have to find a way to save them.
“Is Qi Ling-er back yet?”
“Not yet. However, she had her attendant inform us that she has managed to sell thirty Beauty pills so far, and the money has been deposited into your card. As for the matter concerning the Spirit God, there hasn’t been any progress yet,” Sun Qiang said.
Zhang Xuan took out the card that Qi Ling-er had given him previously and scanned its contents with his consciousness. As expected, there was a change with the numbers reflected inside. The money inside had nearly depleted due to his many purchases over the past day, but at this moment, the number had risen to over 45,000 Divine Coins.
According to his quick math, it meant that each Divine Pill was being sold at around 1,500 Divine Coins.
Even while they were in Twilight City, the demand for the Beauty Pill had been explosive. Given that they were in Royal City, where the most affluent cultivators of the Sky of Drifting Specter resided, the demand for the pills was bound to be even higher.
The only issue that Qi Ling-er had to consider was how she wanted to start the market for the Beauty Pills here.
But again, this was not an issue that he needed to be worried about. All he was responsible for was infusing his Heaven’s Path zhenqi into the God Essence Pills.
Hearing that Qi Ling-er still had no news about Luo Ruoxin, Zhang Xuan could not be bothered to leave the residence anymore. So, he returned to his room to reinforce his cultivation.
A night later, he managed to recover from the side effects resulting from the Library of Heaven’s Path’s jolt. While he had not managed to advance his cultivation, his fighting prowess grew a fair bit.
“It’s a pity that I haven’t managed to come up with the Celestial God realm cultivation technique of my Pathos of Heaven…”
He had not been slacking the past few days. He had spent any free time refining his cultivation technique.
But even though he had already identified a direction he wanted to work toward, creating a brand-new cultivation technique from scratch was still no easy feat.
As a result, despite being only a small push away from a breakthrough, he was still unable to take that final step forward.
“I need more information. If I could gather the Celestial God realm Heaven’s Path Divine Art, I should be able to figure something out…”
If he relied solely on himself, he would need at least a month’s time in order to figure things out. However, if he could compile the corresponding Heaven’s Path Divine Art manual, he felt like he would be able to put the missing puzzle pieces together and complete his cultivation technique.
So, he walked out of his room and looked for Sun Qiang.
“Is there a Master Teacher Pavilion in Drifting Specter Royal City?”
The Master Teacher Pavilion was known for generously sharing knowledge back on the Master Teacher Continent. Furthermore, it regarded the bonds between a teacher and a student very highly. If he could find a talented student while he was there and impart some cultivation techniques to him, he might just be able to invoke the creation of a golden page.
“It was previously banned in Royal City, but after the fight between the Heaven Subjugation Monarch and Demon Monarch Qiankun, they were allowed to create an official branch here. It’s just that the students they take in tend to be less talented than the students in the other academies of the Sky of Drifting Specters,” Sun Qiang replied.
“That being said, I heard that the master teachers there are highly capable individuals. Despite the lacking talent of their students, the master teachers are still able to groom them into cultivators on par with the students of the other academies. For this reason, most people send their less talented offspring over to the Master Teacher Pavilion.”
Zhang Xuan nodded in agreement.
Master teachers were known for their ability to identify the individual strengths of a student and craft a lesson plan tailored for them, thus allowing the individual to grow swiftly. As a result, even if the student was untalented, as long as they were willing to put in hard work, there was still a good chance that they could do well in the future.
“Bring me over to take a look!”
Hearing that there was a Master Teacher Pavilion, Zhang Xuan immediately instructed Sun Qiang to lead the way there.
Even though the Sky of Drifting Specter no longer discriminated against the master teachers, it was inevitable that the Master Teacher Pavilion in Royal City was not as grand as those on the Master Teacher Continent. Master teacher was just another ordinary occupation here, and in terms of standing, it might even be beneath blacksmiths and apothecaries.
As such, the scale of their branches was much smaller, too.
Looking at the ordinary wooden doors and humble building, Zhang Xuan could not help but shake his head.
Even though Kong shi had defeated Demon Monarch Qiankun, and the Master Teacher Pavilion had shown significant results over the years, it was still viewed as an unorthodox organization. Many viewed it as inferior to ordinary academies.
“Are the two of you here to listen to Fan Zhe laoshi’s lessons?”
As soon as they walked through the wooden doors, a young man quickly walked up to them and welcomed them with a warm smile.
“Fan Zhe laoshi?”
“Ah, it must be your first time in our Master Teacher Pavilion. Fan Zhe laoshi is a middle-tier Celestial God realm master teacher, as well as the star teacher of our Master Teacher Pavilion. His lessons are deeply insightful. However, due to some parents questioning his abilities a while back, he decided to make the lecture today open to the parents as well. If you wish to join the lecture, I can take you over,” the young man replied.
“What is the topic of the lesson?” Zhang Xuan asked.
Middle-tier Celestial Gods could be considered experts in the Firmament, but if the content of the lecture was unsuited to him, there was no need for him to waste his time there.
“The topic for today is about making a breakthrough to the Celestial God realm, as well as an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Celestial Gods and an evaluation on their true fighting prowess!” the young man replied.
“Oh? If that’s the case, I’m interested in listening to the lecture,” Zhang Xuan replied.
The lecture sounded like something he needed at the moment. He might just find some inspiration from it.
“The lecture is free for the parents of the students, but otherwise, you’ll have to pay an entrance fee of ten Divine Coins,” the young man said as he took out two tickets.
The price appeared to be exorbitant, but it was expected given that it was a lecture by a middle-tier Celestial God. Without any hesitation, Zhang Xuan signaled for Sun Qiang to pay.
After that, the two of them followed the young man toward the lecture hall.
Along the way, Zhang Xuan examined the interior of the Master Teacher Pavilion.
He really had to say that this building was much shabbier than the magnificent Master Teacher Pavilions on the Master Teacher Continent. On top of that, the atmosphere was not too lively.
Just as Sun Qiang had mentioned, most of the students were not too talented, and a significant number of them were either crippled or wounded.
It was not easy for Kong shi to initiate change in the Firmament when most territories were already under the rule of the Nine God Monarchs.
The lecture hall was in a corner of the Master Teacher Pavilion. Zhang Xuan pushed open the doors of the lecture hall and walked in.
There were both students and parents seated inside, and all in all, there seemed to be roughly fifty people. A spirited old man was standing on top of the stage located at the front of the lecture hall.
His aura felt pure, and even by looking at him from afar, his presence felt imposing.
Zhang Xuan and Sun Qiang traded gazes before heading toward the seats demarcated on their tickets.
…
After waiting roughly ten minutes, Fan Zhe laoshi looked at the time before saying, “We’ll be starting the lesson now!”
