Chapter 1070: The Great Compassion Demon Palm

"Take Qiuwu Gusheng as a disciple?"

Wu Shi and the others all twitched their mouths, then shook their heads.

No one believed it.

No wonder—Qiuwu Gusheng was an ultra-powerful figure of the same generation as Confucius. Even the current head of the Master Teacher Hall, a true nine-star master teacher, would address him as an elder and dare not utter any presumptuous words.

Yet this Master Zhang said he wanted to take him as a disciple—was it true or false?

If he really said that, Qiuwu Gusheng would probably slap him to death.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Zhang Xuan knew they definitely didn't believe him.

But he couldn't be bothered to explain; he wanted to keep a low profile anyway. Not believing him was best, as it would save him a lot of trouble.

"Let's continue studying. Since the assessment is left here, there must be a way to solve it."

Not dwelling on this issue, Zhang Xuan waved his hand and continued looking at the stone tablets before him.

Through the Eye of Insight, he discerned that the materials of these tablets were not special—just ordinary rocks, at most hard and durable for long storage, with nothing unique. So, no problems could be found from the materials.

Thus, it seemed he still had to start with the text.

But these texts involved multiple languages. Even if translated, could he understand what they meant?

He couldn't help but step forward and run his fingers along the stone tablet.

Whoosh!

A corresponding book appeared in his sea of consciousness.

He quickly opened it.

"Gray-blue stone tablet, carved by Qiuwu Gusheng, contains the complete cultivation technique of the [Great Compassion Demon Palm], with twenty-seven flaws. First: In this technique, emotions have too great an impact on the method; emotions need to be cultivated before battle, otherwise, full power cannot be exerted, which is disadvantageous in rapid combat. Second: Extremely high demands on true qi..."

The book densely detailed the flaws of the technique.

"There really is a cultivation method..."

His eyes lit up.

It seemed that Qiuwu Gusheng outside had not deceived them; these stone tablets were indeed some kind of assessment.

After quickly finishing the book, Zhang Xuan scratched his head.

He had seen all the flaws and knew the name of the technique, but... he still couldn't understand the cultivation method!

Knowing only the flaws without the method was like knowing the symptoms without the patient—it solved nothing for him.

He had to find a way to understand the meaning of the text on the tablets and fully express the cultivation method.

No longer looking at the book, he turned his eyes to the stone tablets ahead.

Again, dense characters dazzled his eyes, and reading them, he couldn't understand a thing.

"Right, since I can't understand it directly, I can use the flaws to reverse-engineer the method..." Suddenly, Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up with an idea.

If he observed by normal methods, the texts involved beast language, ancient divine language, alien language, and many others. Translating them all would take a long time, let alone fully understanding them.

Moreover, since the other party said it was a test of comprehension, it naturally wouldn't be as simple as just translating to find the technique; there must be many more complications.

Instead of going through all that trouble, why not... use the flaws to reverse-engineer the technique!

Though difficult, if done well, he could completely derive the full method.

"Everyone, does anyone have cultivation manuals for palm techniques? Could you lend them to me?"

Thinking this, Zhang Xuan no longer hesitated and looked around.

"Palm technique manuals?"

Everyone was puzzled, not understanding.

The urgent task was to study the stone tablets left by the ancient sage—what did he want palm technique manuals for?

"I have many here, all copied from the Palm Technique Hall."

Though curious, everyone nodded. Jiang Yuan was the first to take out a pile of manuals, several hundred in number.

Warriors cultivated themselves, studying palm strength, fist strength, spear techniques, sword techniques, etc., in great detail. Everyone could produce many such manuals on palm techniques.

"I have some too!"

Feng Xun also took out a pile.

Soon, there were two to three thousand manuals on palm techniques from the War Master Hall.

"I don't have as many as them, but their levels are not low..."

Wu Shi and President Han both smiled, together producing over a dozen manuals.

Most of these palm techniques reached the Saint realm, each very precious. But since Zhang Xuan wanted to see them, no one said anything unnecessary.

"Thank you all..."

Nodding, Zhang Xuan looked over and quickly absorbed all the books into his mind.

"All books on palm techniques... merge!"

He whispered in his mind.

Whoosh!

Countless books flew up, including the Great Compassion Demon Palm he had just seen from the stone tablet, all appearing together.

Rustle!

A brand new book appeared before him.

He quickly took it and gently opened it.

"Indeed, many flaws of the Great Compassion Demon Palm have been supplemented..."

After scanning it, Zhang Xuan clenched his fist.

As guessed, merging so many manuals on palm techniques had indeed reduced the flaws of the Great Compassion Demon Palm. Previously there were twenty-seven, now only nine.

That meant over half were resolved.

However, the Great Compassion Demon Palm was a higher-level technique. The books everyone gave, plus those he had read before, exceeded ten thousand, yet not all flaws could be resolved.

"Let's see if it can be cultivated..."

He ran the merged new technique through his mind and shook his head.

Though only nine flaws remained, getting closer to a Heaven's Path technique, the lack of a cultivation method still made it incomplete.

In other words, the supplemented parts were smooth and understandable, but the flawed parts were still chaotic and incomprehensible.

"Let's compare..."

Memorizing the supplemented parts, Zhang Xuan looked at the corresponding stone tablet but found himself still completely confused, as if there was no connection.

It was like having the correct answers but still not understanding the questions.

"These texts seem to have nothing to do with the technique..."

After studying for a while longer, Zhang Xuan was utterly perplexed.

Always, with any technique, relying on the Library of Heaven's Path, he could easily find flaws and astonish others. Now, with the correct answers, he couldn't understand the stone tablets—just thinking about it was frustrating.

"Forget it, it's been two hours... If all else fails, I'll take the supplemented eighteen flaws and ask Qiuwu Gusheng. Maybe I'll pass the assessment?"

Rubbing his temples, Zhang Xuan thought to himself.

Even with the correct answers, he couldn't figure out what was going on. He was helpless. If all else failed, he would take the eighteen supplemented flaws and go find Qiuwu Gusheng. Maybe... the other party hadn't thought that far and would just let him pass?

Thinking this, he stood up and was about to call out to the ancient sage when his eyes suddenly caught a corner of the stone tablet.

The text in this corner was all in alien script, dense and originally incomprehensible. But as he stood up abruptly and swayed slightly, it gave the impression of runes shifting.

This feeling was similar to the special runes carved on the walls of the subordinate of King Qingye in the underground cavern back then.

"Could it be... I shouldn't treat these texts as characters, but as runes?"

A sudden insight dawned on him.

If he simply understood the texts, even comparing the correct answers was useless. But what if he viewed them as runes?

He squinted and looked again.

With this thought in mind, the various different characters seemed to float out of the stone tablet, forming interconnected runes.

These runes, like drawing the circulation method of true qi, flowed slowly within his body.

"Let's try cultivating..."

Knowing the entire circulation path of the technique, Zhang Xuan moved his spirit, and his true qi began to flow slowly along it.

Creak! Creak!

The Heaven's Path true qi was supremely domineering; the acupoints along the way were instantly breached. When it reached the flawed parts of the technique, it automatically circulated according to the previously merged correct method.

His whole body crackled.

"So this is how the Great Compassion Demon Palm is cultivated..."

Soon, true qi completed a full cycle in his body, and he had fully learned the palm technique.

Because of the many flaws, this technique had not been supplemented into a Heaven's Path technique, so its level was not high—only Saint-grade intermediate. For other sages, even if they wanted to practice, they couldn't, and even Saint realm third or fourth layer experts would find it hard to master.

But he had cultivated the Sealing Saint Solution, with inexhaustible true qi, and his Heaven's Path true qi was extremely pure. Coupled with the corrected eighteen positions, he had actually managed to bring this palm technique to the minor success stage.

Martial technique cultivation stages: beginner, proficient, minor success, major success, perfect mastery.

"With so many flaws, minor success is enough. I'll have a chance to go to the Palm Technique Hall of the War Master Hall to find more books and form a Heaven's Path palm technique before continuing..."

Stretching, he stood up.

This palm technique had too many flaws. Fortunately, these flaws only weakened the technique's power and required massive true qi, without harming the body. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have cultivated it.

"Too crude..."

He sighed.

This might be the most flawed technique he had ever cultivated since starting his training. Just thinking about it was embarrassing.

"Master Zhang, how is it?"

Seeing that he seemed to have gained some insight, Wu Shi and the others quickly looked over.

They had studied for so long, summarized many insights, and translated many special characters, but so far, they had gained nothing.

"The stone tablet records a palm technique. I not only figured it out but also practiced it a bit..."

Zhang Xuan nodded.

"A palm technique?"

"Practiced it a bit?"

Everyone was stunned.

They only saw a mess of chaotic text, but this man not only saw it as a palm technique but also mastered it—this comprehension was too outrageous!

"A palm technique? You've already figured it out?"

Boom!

Just as Zhang Xuan was about to speak, a loud rumble came from the ground before him. The statue of Qiuwu Gusheng he had seen earlier flew in from the sky and landed heavily, looking somewhat doubtfully at the young man not far away.

The assessment he left was extremely difficult. Even the most talented among his students would need at least a few months to figure it out. Now, in less than three hours, this man had seen through it...

Could there really be someone with such high comprehension?