Chapter 424: Strange Language

"You want to look at these books?"

Hall Master Xie Jiuchen and Elder Wei Yuqing exchanged glances, both utterly bewildered.

Ancient beast language sounded impressive, but without a dedicated lineage, the chance of learning it solely from books was nearly zero.

Not to mention whether the syllables marked in the books were correct; even if they were, without hands-on instruction, it was futile.

Most critically, the vocalization method of ancient beast language was completely different from the human throat. Without a special method of circulating true qi, wanting to speak it was pure fantasy.

Countless predecessors in the Beast Hall had tried, and none succeeded. Yet this fellow asked to read books—could he be delusional enough to think he could learn it?

"Mm!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

"This..." Hall Master Xie Jiuchen hesitated, his tone carrying a note of admonition: "Learning ancient beast language is not something that can be accomplished overnight. Without a teacher, forcing it might even result in serious injury..."

"I'll just take a casual look. If by chance I succeed, I might be able to tame this beast!" Zhang Xuan said with a faint smile.

Seeing his insistence, Hall Master Xie Jiuchen frowned, slightly displeased.

This fellow seemed quite clever, having broken through the Ten Beast Cage with top-tier talent and strength. But when he was stubborn, why was he so thick-headed?

Was ancient beast language something one could learn just by reading books?

If that were the case, there wouldn't be so few beast tamers who could speak it.

And 'if by chance I succeed'... If it were that easy, why would they still be so troubled?

What a joke!

"The books in the Beast Hall are open for browsing. Elder Wei, take him there. Also, he cannot continue challenging the Ten Beast Cage!"

Suppressing his displeasure, Hall Master Xie Jiuchen said.

"Alright!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

Even if the Beast Hall had many savage beasts, gathering enough to challenge him would probably be difficult. Twenty consecutive challenges were certainly impossible. His earlier insistence was merely a retreat to advance, forcing the other party to propose a better solution.

After lingering a while longer in front of the Cyan Nightmare Beast and finding no better method, Zhang Xuan followed Elder Wei Yuqing to the library.

"The books on ancient beast language are quite messy. Find them yourself!"

At the door, Elder Wei waved his hand.

He shared the same view as Hall Master Xie Jiuchen—reading books to learn ancient beast language... what a pipe dream!

If it were that easy, beast-taming tamers wouldn't be so valuable.

Seeing him leave speechless, Zhang Xuan was glad to be left alone and stepped inside.

The library of the Beast Hall in the Xuanhuang Kingdom was far larger than that in the Xuanluo Mountains, filled with countless books. Since he was here, he didn't bother searching one by one; instead, he swept his finger across them and began to run quickly.

...

"Still young, success at a young age makes one impetuous!"

Returning to the courtyard, Wei Yuqing shook his head.

"Becoming a two-star tamer before twenty, with the means to fight early-stage supreme beasts—some pride is normal. But thinking he can learn beast language just by reading books... he still underestimates tamers too much!"

Hall Master Xie Jiuchen said calmly.

He had held high hopes for this young man who had appeared out of nowhere, but after hearing his proposed method, all goodwill vanished.

Knocking out the Cyan Nightmare Beast... what a joke!

To tame a wild beast, one must understand its habits and study its preferences; forcibly knocking it out only breeds aversion.

This creature was already proud and hard to tame. If he did that, the chances of successfully taming it would likely drop to zero.

"Indeed!" Elder Wei Yuqing nodded.

"Let's not talk about him. How are things going with the Ten Beast Cage outside?" Xie Jiuchen looked over.

They had come here to study how to tame the Cyan Nightmare Beast, but the Ten Beast Cage hadn't been idle.

Many geniuses visiting the Xuanhuang Kingdom for the first time, seeing someone pass through easily, were all eager to try their luck.

"I took a look when I came over. The results... not good!" Elder Wei Yuqing smiled wryly.

After sending Zhang Xuan to the library, he had taken a look and was left with a bitter smile.

Seeing this Beast Tamer Zhang knock out a Windstorm Wolf and pass through easily, even earning the wolves' worship, the first few geniuses to challenge charged in aggressively, only to be beaten black and blue by the wolves and thrown out; two were nearly bitten to death.

The most talented among them managed to pass the Windstorm Wolf level and reached the Tiger-Head Beast.

Imitating the cat and drawing the tiger, he also punched the other in the stomach, but was immediately shaken off his arm and nearly crushed alive by the tiger-headed beast that came down.

In less than half an hour, no fewer than ten geniuses had been lost, almost all of them failing the first level and lying on the ground.

Even the famous Jiang Nanping, Fang Jin, Luo Tang, and others tried; some of them were even stronger than Zhang Xuan, yet they too failed the first level and were injured.

Before Zhang Xuan, they were as docile as lapdogs, thought to be nothing special, but who would have thought that when they saw them, they were ferocious beyond measure, as if they wanted to devour people.

"If the Ten Beast Cage were so easy to pass, it wouldn't have been a thousand years without good news!"

Xie Jiuchen shook his head.

He knew very well the difficulty of the Ten Beast Cage and had not underestimated it just because Zhang Xuan passed it easily.

"Hmm!" Elder Wei Yuqing nodded, then suddenly thought of something and said, "By the way, the commotion caused by Beastmaster Zhang challenging the Ten Beast Cage is too great. I'm afraid... even if we hold the subsequent Beast Taming Competition, it will be meaningless."

"Oh?" Xie Jiuchen was startled.

"Beastmaster Zhang is not old and fully meets the standards for the Beast Taming Competition... Succeeding in the Ten Beast Cage challenge has inspired many geniuses to want to try it themselves. If they pass, they will surely become famous..." Wei Yuqing said with a bitter smile.

"You mean... everyone has taken this Beastmaster Zhang as their target to challenge? Even if the Beast Taming Competition is held later, if someone wins the championship but fails to complete the Ten Beast Cage challenge, they won't be recognized?"

Xie Jiuchen caught on.

The jade in front was too dazzling, and the tiles behind would go unnoticed.

This Beastmaster Zhang was clearly such a jade.

Having passed the Ten Beast Cage in one go, breaking a thousand-year record, if no one could catch up, even if someone later won the Beast Taming Competition, they would inevitably be overshadowed and lack any luster.

"Exactly!" Wei Yuqing nodded.

"This..."

Xie Jiuchen smiled wryly.

Actually, it wasn't his oversight; that fellow came and wanted to challenge the Ten Beast Cage right away, and no one expected him to succeed, and so easily at that!

"How about this: issue an order now, saying... the content of this Beast Taming Competition is to challenge the Ten Beast Cage, and whoever passes is the champion!" After a moment's hesitation, Xie Jiuchen gave an order, then added, "Also, find out which branch this Beastmaster Zhang belongs to. If no one else passes... he is the champion!"

"Alright!" Wei Yuqing nodded.

That was the only way.

Of course, if Zhang Xuan knew that challenging the Ten Beast Cage for the spirit beast blood might also earn him a Beast Taming Competition championship, he didn't know what he would think.

But he had no time to ponder; he was frowning deeply, looking helpless.

After a day, he had finally collected all the books in the Beast Hall's library into the library.

Once inside, finding books on ancient beast language became simple, but... after reading them, he understood why Xie Jiuchen thought it impossible to succeed.

The ancestors had indeed left many books on ancient beast language, and many syllables were annotated, but unfortunately... through the library's search, the correct ones... amounted to no more than ten characters!

With no more than ten characters, how could a language be formed?

Hundreds of books on beast language, with no more than ten characters correct...

No wonder countless people had failed; with such accuracy, success would truly be a miracle.

"It seems learning ancient beast language is impossible..."

He shook his head, full of disappointment.

He had thought that through the Heavenly Dao Library, he could learn a new skill and make taming beasts easier in the future, but now it seemed he had underestimated this matter.

Ancient beast language was created by Confucius; if it were so easy to learn, it wouldn't have stumped countless beast tamers.

"Hmm? There's another book on language..."

Sighing, he was about to leave the library, thinking of ways to persuade Xie Jiuchen to knock out the Cyan Nightmare Beast by any means, when his eyes suddenly fell on a corner of the room.

In the corner was a thick book, with only the ancient characters for "language" on the cover, and not much else.

Because it was placed too far in the corner, he hadn't noticed it earlier.

He took two steps to its side and casually pulled it out.

The book was as thick as ten fingers, covered in dust, and the pages were yellowed, looking ancient and worn, as if it had been stored for who knows how many years without anyone ever taking it out.

"Defects!"

Too lazy to open it, he focused his mind, and a copy of the same book appeared on the library shelf.

"Hmm? This isn't ancient beast language?"

He casually opened it, took a look, and Zhang Xuan stood frozen in place.

He saw the book densely filled with the pronunciation and introduction of a special language, but it was completely different from the ancient beast language he had seen before. What language it was specifically was not written clearly, nor was it marked in the library.

"There are exactly three correct syllables!"

He flipped through the book.

The book, ten fingers thick, detailed thousands of notes, but according to the library, only three were correct.

"Correct!"

With a mental command, the methods for the flow of true qi during pronunciation gathered together, forming a brand new book.

"Let me try these three syllables..."

With the correct method, he took a deep breath, and the true qi in Zhang Xuan's body circulated according to the method summarized by the library.

"Hōng!"

As the sound came from his mouth, a violent tremor shook him, his body swayed involuntarily, and his vision went dark.

"This... what language is it? How can it be so powerful?"

Panting heavily, Zhang Xuan nearly fainted.

Just uttering one note nearly drained his true qi, and he also felt that if not for the extreme purity of the Heavenly Dao true qi, even with the correct method, he would not have been able to produce the sound.

Through studying the ancient beast language for most of the day, he knew this language was difficult to pronounce, but as long as one found the correct way to circulate true qi, speaking it fluently should be simple.

But this one note he just uttered nearly killed him—how terrifying!

"It is said that the more powerful the language, the harder it is to speak, and the higher the requirement for the purity of true qi. Could it be that this note is very powerful?"

His eyes lit up.

Though strange, he was extremely excited inside.

From reading, he knew that the Master Teacher Continent was not solely inhabited by humans; many races coexisted, each with its own language. The more powerful the race, the stronger its language, and the higher the demand for purity of true qi.

The Heavenly Dao true qi was definitely the pinnacle among the top three grades of true qi, yet even so, speaking it was this troublesome. What language were these three syllables, that they were so powerful?

After studying for a long time, he found that the author of this ancient, worn-out manual did not know what language it was either, and could not even produce the sound, so he shook his head and gave up.

"The ancient beast language is definitely hopeless..."

After wasting most of the day, he had thought he could learn the ancient beast language and return fully loaded, but he had only learned fewer than ten notes, and could only pronounce them without even knowing what they meant. The thought was intoxicating.

"I'll go over later and see if I can bluff that Cyan Nightmare Beast with these few words. If it works, it'll be simple; if not, I'll have to find another way!"

Stretching lazily, he walked out of the library and strode toward the courtyard of the Cyan Nightmare Beast.

Although he hadn't learned many words, with the library, he could confirm that these were definitely the pronunciations of the ancient beast language, with no mistake. At worst, he could go over and see if he could bluff the other party.

If it succeeded, he would have twenty drops of spirit beast blood in hand.

If it didn't, wasn't there still the option of knocking it unconscious?

"Beast Tamer Zhang!"

It hadn't been long since he arrived at the courtyard. Before he even entered, he saw that the previously quiet yard was now bustling with people, a sea of figures.

The many beast tamers he had seen earlier at the Ten Beast Cage arena had all come here.

"What's going on?"

Full of confusion, he walked in and spotted two familiar figures among the crowd.

"Beast Tamer Zhang!"

They also saw him and came over to greet him.

"Hall Master Feng, Beast Tamer Wang, why are you here?"

Zhang Xuan asked, puzzled.

These two were none other than Hall Master Feng and the others from the Xuanluo Mountain Range.

"Why are we here?" Hall Master Feng and Beast Tamer Wang coughed. "The Beast Taming Competition was moved up. We couldn't contact you, so we came ahead."

"The Beast Taming Competition moved up?" Zhang Xuan blinked.

If they hadn't mentioned it, he would have forgotten all about it.

Ever since he arrived from the Tianwu Kingdom, he had rushed straight into the Ten Beast Cage, then the library, and had no idea about the news of the competition being moved up.

Besides, he hadn't made a definite promise back then, so even if he missed it, it wouldn't matter.

"You don't know?"

Seeing his confused expression, both beast tamers staggered.

"I don't know!" Zhang Xuan shook his head.

"But... you are the champion of this competition!" The two beast tamers tugged at their hair.

Was there a mistake? Just now... Hall Master Xie Jiuchen had announced that Zhang Xuan was the champion of this Beast Taming Competition?

They had even been called in for a talk and congratulated...

He had already won the championship, yet he didn't even know when the competition was held...

Could he be any more clueless?

"Champion? What champion?"

Not only were they bewildered, Zhang Xuan was also at a loss.

I don't even know when the competition was held—how could I have become the champion?

"The content of this Beast Taming Competition was to challenge the Ten Beast Cage. So far, within the entire Xuan Yuan Kingdom, only you have succeeded... so naturally, you became the champion!"

Seeing that he truly knew nothing, Hall Master Feng could only explain helplessly.

To be a champion like this was truly speechless.

Every time their Xuanluo Mountain Range held a competition, they would select candidates everywhere, trying to get a good ranking, but they had never succeeded...

Now that they had won the championship, even the champion himself didn't know—what kind of situation was this?

"So that's how it is... Are there any rewards for being champion?"

Hearing that challenging the Ten Beast Cage could win him the championship, Zhang Xuan was also a bit speechless, but then his eyes lit up as he looked over.

The championship didn't matter to him; what mattered was the reward!

If they could reward him with twenty or thirty drops of spirit beast blood, he wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.

"The reward is five spirit stones. I've already collected them for you. Check them."

With that, Hall Master Feng took out a slender jade box. Opening it, five spirit stones lay side by side inside.

"Just this?"

He had thought winning the championship would bring many rewards, but it was only five spirit stones. This Beast Hall was really stingy.

But for him, even a mosquito's leg is meat—why refuse something for nothing?

He casually put the spirit stones into his storage ring and couldn't help looking around: "What's going on? Why are so many people here?"

When he came yesterday, there were still formations set up here, and people weren't allowed to enter casually. How had it become like this today?

"The Beast Hall captured a half-step Mortal Transformation level savage beast and wanted to tame it, but couldn't find the right method. The purpose of holding the Beast Taming Competition early was for this. Now that the competition is over, they've gathered all the hall masters, elders, and prodigies from the branches to pool their wisdom and see who can come up with a method to tame the Cyan Nightmare Beast."

Hall Master Feng said.

The purpose of holding the Beast Taming Competition early was for this savage beast. Now that the champion was determined, there was no need to continue the competition. Hall Master Xie Jiuchen had gathered all the beast tamers who had come to the Beast Hall to study together.

That was why this grand scene had appeared, with people everywhere.

"Oh!" Zhang Xuan understood.

It seemed they didn't have much hope for his research on the ancient beast language.

Thinking about it, it was understandable. Even with the library as a basis, he had only learned a few syllables. Others, not knowing if they were correct, would find it impossible to learn.

"Has anyone succeeded?"

He couldn't help asking.

"Not yet. A half-step Mortal Transformation savage beast is too strong; it's impossible to succeed..."

Hall Master Feng sighed and shook his head.

Even a three-star beast tamer like Hall Master Xie Jiuchen was at a loss; what could they do?

Many people had indeed offered suggestions, but they had all been rejected one by one.

"Look, the genius Wei Youdao is going to give it a try!"

"Wei Youdao? The genius who reached the third level of the Ten Beast Cage yesterday?"

"That's him..."

...

As the three were talking, they heard a commotion from the crowd. Zhang Xuan turned to see a young man striding toward the Cyan Nightmare Beast in front of the iron cage.

In front of the iron cage, Hall Master Xie Jiuchen, Elder Wei Yuqing, and others stood there, their expressions not optimistic.

It seemed they also knew success would be difficult and had prepared for the worst.