Chapter 51: Heavenly Dao Golden Body

In the corner, a row of books was densely packed, all of them cultivation techniques, some for the first and second levels of martial artists, some for the third and fourth, just like at the Hongtian Academy—the higher the level, the fewer the books. As for sixth-level techniques, there were only about a dozen.

"Though few, they are better than nothing!"

He had thought it would be like the previous library, with hundreds or thousands of books for him to sift through, but it seemed he had been overthinking.

However, on second thought, it made sense. The academy taught and nurtured students; each person had a different constitution, and suitable techniques were not all the same. If everything were uniform, how could they teach according to aptitude? Naturally, more secret techniques were needed to broaden thinking.

But personal collections were different; for him, only one or two techniques would be suitable. Being able to collect over a dozen was already not bad!

He casually picked up these dozen or so books, lightly flipped through them, and with a rustle, the secret manuals appeared in his mind.

"What, are these techniques too low-level for your eyes, young friend?"

Seeing the young man merely pick up the books, flip through them lightly, and put them down without even seeming to read the contents, Master Lu Chen asked doubtfully.

"No, I was just browsing casually!" Zhang Xuan shook his head, scanned the few techniques, and was about to take his leave when he suddenly paused, pointing to a pile of books not far away: "What are these..."

"Oh, those are left by my worthless son! He liked brute force, so he collected many secret manuals on enhancing physical strength. He even went to the kingdom's library and moved all the related books here!" Master Lu Chen said with a wry smile. "In martial cultivation, true qi is the most important; the physical body is just a superficial aspect, not worth mentioning!"

In martial cultivation, although there was the Skin and Bone Realm, tempering the skin and bones, true qi was truly the most important. Only with pure and abundant true qi could one's strength be truly formidable!

As for the physical body, in the eyes of many cultivators, it was merely a minor auxiliary path, insignificant!

"May I take a look?"

Seeing that there were thousands of books on enhancing physical strength, Zhang Xuan felt tempted and couldn't help asking.

He possessed the Heavenly Dao Library; he didn't need techniques to be profound—as long as there were enough of them, he could eliminate the dross and retain the essence, discarding the false and keeping the true, leaving behind what he truly needed.

Although cultivating the physical body seemed superficial and wouldn't allow rapid progress in strength, if he had so many books to eliminate errors and set him on the right path, perhaps the effect would be completely different.

Since he didn't have enough sixth-level techniques anyway, it was better to look at these first; maybe he could gain some insights.

"Young friend, feel free to look!" Master Lu Chen smiled slightly.

Since he had brought him in, he naturally wouldn't be stingy; he could look as much as he wanted.

"Then I'll be presumptuous!" Zhang Xuan nodded, walked toward the pile of books, and, using the same method as before, flipped through them casually.

Rustle! Rustle!

"What is he..."

Master Lu Chen, watching from the side, was utterly baffled by this action.

Wasn't he supposed to be reading? What was he doing flipping through them back and forth?

Could it be that these books... also didn't suit his taste?

That made sense. This young friend had come looking for sixth-level martial techniques, so his strength must have reached the fifth level. At this level, he would have already passed through the Skin and Bone Realm; cultivating the physical body or not was no longer important.

Perhaps he was just looking out of curiosity.

Thinking this, he felt enlightened and stopped pondering. He casually picked up a manuscript left by a master and began to study it carefully.

After more than ten minutes, he had finished flipping through the entire pile of body-tempering techniques.

"The correct cultivation method!"

Looking at the thousands of books that had appeared in the Heavenly Dao Library, Zhang Xuan focused his mind, and with a flash of light, a book without errors appeared in his sea of consciousness.

Like the previous techniques, it extracted all the correct steps from thousands of books, perfectly integrated together.

"Let's take a look..."

He casually opened a page, and a passage immediately rushed into his mind.

"True qi is water; the physical body is the wooden bucket that holds the water. Only when the bucket is sturdy can it hold more water, water of higher quality..."

The very first sentence enlightened him.

"Exactly!"

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Previously, he had thought like everyone else, that cultivating the physical body was unimportant, and that true qi cultivation was paramount.

Only now did he realize how shallow that notion was.

If the skin is gone, what can the hair adhere to?

The relationship between true qi and the physical body was the same. Only with a strong body could one withstand more狂暴 true qi power and unleash greater might.

It was as if a door had been pushed open. Zhang Xuan couldn't help but continue reading, growing more excited with each line. His true qi involuntarily began to circulate according to the method recorded in the book.

Creak! Creak!

Under the flow of true qi, his already not-weak physical body underwent a transformation. Muscle fibers gradually thickened, skin membranes became tougher, and everything progressed along a more reasonable and correct path.

Crack! Crack!

Immersed in the book's explanations, Zhang Xuan was unaware that his physical body was undergoing a startling transformation, as if being cast in steel, gradually turning him into a formidable weapon beyond ordinary men.

"No wonder it's a technique screened by the library—truly remarkable! I'll call it the Heavenly Dao Golden Body from now on!"

An hour later.

Zhang Xuan finally finished reading the book, and his true qi had completely circulated through his body according to the method described.

Hum!

As he named it, the book before him radiated light, and four large characters appeared on the cover: "Heavenly Dao Golden Body!"

"I'll cultivate it properly later... Huh? I've already finished cultivating it?"

Looking at the book, he was about to go back and cultivate it properly when he realized that, while reading, he had unknowingly already completed the cultivation of this technique!

In other words, he had already fully mastered this technique.

"I knew that Heavenly Dao techniques, being error-free, could be cultivated quickly, but I didn't expect this Heavenly Dao Golden Body to be completed without my knowledge..."

He had previous experience cultivating Heavenly Dao techniques and knew that error-free techniques yielded twice the results with half the effort, progressing very fast. He had also anticipated that cultivating the Heavenly Dao Golden Body wouldn't be too difficult, but he hadn't expected to complete it just by reading the book once.

It left him somewhat amused.

"Never mind for now. Although I didn't find enough sixth-level martial techniques, with this body-tempering technique, my strength should have improved considerably!"

This visit to Master Lu Chen's house, though it didn't achieve the goal of finding enough sixth-level martial techniques, had yielded the Heavenly Dao Golden Body, which was a gain.

However, the physical body was different from true qi. The amount of true qi was clearly visible; after cultivation, one could easily know what strength one possessed. But the physical body was hidden beneath the skin, difficult to ascertain clearly.

In other words, although he had completed the cultivation of the Heavenly Dao Golden Body, he didn't know how much his strength had increased, or even whether his physical body had grown at all.

Of course, it wasn't urgent. Since he had already finished cultivating, he could test it on a force-measuring stone pillar when he returned.

"What exactly is this Zhang Xuan young friend doing?"

Master Lu Chen, who had come along, now had a head full of question marks.

He had been reading, but also occasionally glancing at the other. This guy had only flipped through the books for a while, then stood still in one place for an entire hour. What was he up to?

Could it be that reading too many books had caused him to go into qi deviation?

Such cases had happened before.

In the past, there was a super genius in Tianxuan Royal City. While others took two or three years, or even longer, to learn a technique or martial skill, he only needed two or three days!

Because of this, he tried to learn every technique and martial skill, aiming to integrate them and create his own school. But before he could create this novel technique, he himself went into qi deviation!

This young man before him, young as he was, had already cultivated to the peak of the fifth level of martial artist, and had reached the master level in calligraphy and painting. Could it be... that he, like that predecessor, was biting off more than he could chew and had run into trouble?

"Young friend..."

Full of doubt, he could no longer hold back. He approached and reached out to interrupt his thoughts, to prevent him from sinking deeper.

Zhang Xuan was marveling at the power of the Heavenly Dao technique when he heard a call, and then a hand touched his body.

"Oh, Master Lu Chen..."

Coming back to his senses, he turned around hastily, and his shoulder inadvertently bumped into the latter.

Bang!

With a dull thud, Master Lu Chen was sent flying backward, his back crashing into a row of bookshelves, sending books scattering all over the floor.