Chapter 15: Heavenly Dao Divine Art

Divine or saint-level cultivation techniques—not even the Hongtian Academy, let alone some extraordinary great sects, may possess them, and even if they do, they are deeply hidden, forever beyond the reach of ordinary people.

If he could create such a technique, his future cultivation would surely yield twice the results with half the effort, growing faster and faster!

"Since I don't have the fourth-level cultivation method either, I'll go check the teacher's library!"

The academy's Hongtian Ninefold Art required one to have cultivated a level before being eligible to receive the next level's manual. He only had the third-level method; the fourth level he had never seen.

Stepping out of his residence, it had just turned dark, and there were still many pedestrians on the road.

Under the bright moonlight, the ground was hazy, as if sprinkled with silver. Many couples stealing forbidden fruit nestled under the trees, whispering sweet nothings, a scene of tranquility.

Zhang Xuan had no time to take in these sights. He quickened his pace, and before long, a massive building appeared before him.

The library was divided into two sections—teachers and students—housing all kinds of manuals and techniques of the academy. It was one of the most important places in the entire institution.

"Old Mo!"

Approaching the door, he bowed to an old man seated not far from the entrance.

Old Mo, one of the library's guardians, had reached an unknown level of strength. It was said he ranked among the academy's top figures, but he hadn't made a move in years, so no one knew his exact power.

"You're here! Broken through to Martial Artist Fourth Layer?"

Old Mo looked over, stroking his sparse beard.

"By sheer luck!" Zhang Xuan didn't hide it.

"Good, good. Cultivate diligently—the academy needs the infusion of young blood like yours!" Old Mo nodded approvingly. "The fourth-level manual is on the fourth shelf of the technique section. Go ahead!"

"Yes!" Zhang Xuan said no more and stepped into the room.

Once he left, Old Mo couldn't help shaking his head and sighed, "The child is good, but his talent is lacking, and his cultivation is too slow!"

Others could break through from Martial Artist Third Layer in two years, but this Zhang Xuan had taken over three years to succeed—his talent was indeed mediocre.

"Having reached Martial Artist Fourth Layer, with diligent cultivation, he could still become an ordinary teacher. I just hope he doesn't do too poorly in the next teacher assessment..."

Muttering to himself, Old Mo closed his eyes again.

Zhang Xuan was merely one of the more polite young teachers—neither particularly liked nor disliked, just a pity for his lack of talent.

Unaware of Old Mo's mutterings, Zhang Xuan entered the library.

Although the Hongtian Academy's library was of a certain scale, no less than the place where he had worked in his previous life, it was far inferior to the Heavenly Dao Library in his mind.

The two were not even on the same level.

He quickly walked to the technique section and found the fourth shelf.

There, indeed, was the cultivation method for the fourth level of the Hongtian Ninefold Art.

He reached out, pulled it out, and casually flipped through it.

Whoosh!

In his mind, an identical manual appeared. Opening it, he saw it was much like the third level, with over a thousand flaws.

"There are other manuals here too—I'll take a look at them as well."

With the experience from his previous breakthrough, Zhang Xuan didn't examine the flaws but instead looked at the bookshelf before him.

The fourth shelf was densely packed with all kinds of techniques, all fourth-level cultivation methods, along with many notes and annotations left by predecessors—thousands of volumes in total.

For anyone else, a single glance would be dizzying. With so many books, many annotations and theories even contradicted each other, and without knowing which were correct, rashly cultivating could easily lead to qi deviation.

Zhang Xuan was different. With the Heavenly Dao Library, he could automatically discern right from wrong. Without hesitation, he picked up a book and gently flipped through it.

Whoosh!

An identical book appeared in his mind.

Without pausing, Zhang Xuan picked up the next one.

He wasn't reading or selecting now; he was simply letting the Heavenly Dao Library acquire more books, so it could better choose the correct cultivation methods.

Rustle!

The room echoed with the continuous sound of pages turning.

"Unstable in mind, frivolous and flashy!"

Hearing the sound, Old Mo frowned.

Since he was already cultivating the Hongtian Ninefold Art, he shouldn't think about other things. He should quickly copy the fourth-level method and go back to study and cultivate. Although stones from other hills can polish jade, without sufficient cultivation and insight, the more he read and the more varied the content, the more easily his mind would become restless. In the end, achieving nothing would be a minor matter; he might even suffer qi deviation and be completely ruined!

Thirty years ago, there was such an example: a talented teacher, brilliant and extraordinary, who thought himself far superior to others and insisted on reading widely to create his own unique moves. But after reading too many techniques, he couldn't decide which to choose, leading to qi deviation and madness.

Bite off more than one can chew!

This was a truth and a fact.

It had taken him over three years just to break through the True Qi realm—his talent was obvious. With such talent, he should obediently cultivate the fourth level of the Hongtian Ninefold Art. Why go flipping through other books? Wasn't that asking for trouble?

He was clearly a frivolous fellow!

Whatever good impression Old Mo had of Zhang Xuan had now vanished without a trace.

"Putting on airs, playing to the gallery!"

After snorting, he noticed that Zhang Xuan was only casually flipping through the books without reading carefully. Old Mo frowned even more, even feeling disgusted.

If he had been reading carefully, even if somewhat flashy, he would still be learning. But this guy was flipping pages at a speed that even Old Mo couldn't catch the content. What could a mere Martial Artist Fourth Layer see?

It was nothing but putting on airs and playing to the gallery!

"The academy's standards are declining—each generation is worse than the last!"

He snorted and closed his eyes, ignoring this frivolous fellow.

"Done!"

The flipping was fast—usually, a book took only a breath or two to finish. In over an hour, all the manuals on the fourth shelf had been flipped through, and the Heavenly Dao Library had gained thousands of identical books.

"Time to go back and summarize!"

Knowing his goal was achieved, Zhang Xuan smiled lightly and, without lingering, walked out.

"Aren't you going to copy it?"

Seeing him walking out empty-handed, Old Mo couldn't help asking.

Even if he was frivolous, he should at least copy the manual to study it at home. Coming empty-handed and leaving empty-handed—was he here just to fool around?

"No, I was just taking a casual look..."

Unaware of the old man's thoughts, Zhang Xuan smiled and took his leave.

"Just a casual look? Frivolous! It seems the academy needs a good shake-up! How can such a frivolous person be a teacher!" Old Mo waved his hand dismissively.

Techniques and manuals were the foundation of a cultivator. Every cultivator should treat them with respect. This guy just came to look, flipped through them casually, and went back—how outrageous!

He would have to talk to the dean about rectifying the bad atmosphere among the teachers.

Back at his residence, Zhang Xuan took out paper and pen, opened the fourth-level manual of the Hongtian Ninefold Art, and copied down the correct parts.

Then he took out the next book and wrote down its correct parts as well.

After several books, Zhang Xuan rubbed his temples.

With thousands of books, flipping through them like this was actually quite troublesome, not as easy as he had imagined.

Just as he was thinking of a way to speed up, his sea of consciousness suddenly trembled.

The thousands of newly created books in the Heavenly Dao Library seemed to be crushed and slowly merged.

Hum!

With a clear ring, the thousands of books completely fused into one.

The book had no title. He casually opened it.

"This... has gathered all the correct parts from thousands of manuals?"

After a glance, Zhang Xuan's face flushed with excitement.

He had just been thinking that extracting the correct parts from thousands of books by himself would be a daunting and exhausting task. He never dreamed that the library would automatically combine them!

"This book... has not a single error!"

The automatically combined nameless book was composed entirely of correct methods, without a single mistake.

Its content was naturally no longer the Hongtian Ninefold Art, nor any other known technique. The cultivation method it recorded had never been seen before.

"Since the Heavenly Dao Library automatically selected the correct methods to form this manual, I'll call it... [Heavenly Dao Divine Art]!"

With a thought, he named the nameless book.

Hum!

As if sensing his intention, the blank cover vibrated softly, and four large characters appeared.

Heavenly Dao Divine Art!