Chapter 735: Repairing the Passage

"With such a formidable teacher... Could it be that he actually broke the record just now?"

If before, everyone was half-convinced whether he truly broke the record, now that they heard he had such a powerful teacher, even Hall Master Mo and Elder Mi were full of admiration, all doubts were dispelled.

A master surpassing six stars had increasingly terrifying and numerous methods, many abilities beyond their imagination.

That was why the descendants of those sage clans were so formidable, far surpassing their peers.

With a high starting point, their insight and vision far exceeded ordinary people; many things, even if they wanted to, they couldn't conceive.

"Thank you!"

Hearing his agreement, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Since someone else could forge it, he might be able to repair it; if it worked, he could save a large sum of money!

As long as he didn't spend money, it was equivalent to earning money!

He was too poor, far from the time when he could squander freely.

Returning to the ruins in a few steps, he took a deep breath and reached out to touch them.

Earlier inside, he had only used the Eye of Insight, not the Library of Heaven's Path. Now he would use this to see what was wrong with the passage and whether it could be repaired.

Although the passage had collapsed, the walls remained, and the various mechanisms and springs were still connected as a whole; touching them could form a complete book.

"Flaw!"

With a soft call in his mind, a book appeared before him, and Zhang Xuan looked at it.

Then, he squinted his eyes.

The reason the passage collapsed was that the ore maintaining its power had been consumed, breaking the balance of the formation. To repair it, there was only one way: find four more pieces of Earth Core Lava Rock... then repair the formation and re-establish balance.

He could repair the formation and re-establish balance, but... where could he find Earth Core Lava Rock?

Not only was this material rare, each piece was priceless; with his current wealth, he couldn't afford even one, let alone four.

"Unless I can solve... the flaw of having to use Earth Core Lava Rock!"

He lowered his head in thought.

The book in the Library listed Earth Core Lava Rock as a flaw because it was too expensive and not the most effective. If he could replace it with something else of lower cost, the problem would be easier to solve.

But... what to replace it with and how? He didn't know much about such mechanisms, and after thinking for a while, he was still at a loss.

Unable to help it, he turned around: "Elder, I have a request..."

Although he didn't know exactly who this old man was, he was certainly an elder, so addressing him thus was correct.

"What is it?" Wondering what trouble this fellow was up to now, Yuan Hong frowned.

"It's like this... After my observation just now, I have some understanding of this passage, but... there are still parts I don't quite grasp. I wonder if the Alchemy Academy has any books on this subject that I could borrow to read?"

When he didn't understand, there was only one way: find books to generate a Heavenly Path secret manual.

For others, it was cramming at the last moment; for him, it was the most effective method.

"Reading books?"

Yuan Hong was startled.

The passage had already collapsed like this, and he only thought of reading now... Wasn't it too late?

"What kind of books do you need?" Although he felt this fellow was utterly unreliable, Yuan Hong still couldn't help asking.

"Anything about the Earth Fire Passage, the more the better..." Zhang Xuan said.

Hearing that this fellow didn't even have a specific goal, Yuan Hong was speechless. After a pause, he finally turned around: "Luo Yan, go to the library and bring all the books about the Earth Fire Passage!"

For anyone else, he wouldn't have granted such treatment, but this fellow had Elder Mi's token and a formidable teacher; though full of frustration, he held back.

Of course, the most important thing was that he also wanted to see how to solve the problem of the collapsed Earth Fire Passage.

"Reading books? What can you understand from books about such advanced formations and mechanisms?"

"Yeah, I don't get it either. Maybe he wants to study the structure?"

"The Earth Fire Passage is no secret; the most important thing is the four pieces of Earth Core Lava Rock. It is said that a huge price was paid to obtain them. As long as they aren't damaged, repairing it isn't hard!"

...

Hearing that the young man wanted to read books after going around, everyone was full of confusion.

Although books are the ladder of human progress, without guidance, one cannot fully learn a profession just by reading.

No one had ever heard of someone becoming a peerless genius by working behind closed doors.

Hearing him vow to try repairing it, they thought he had studied both alchemy and engineering and could really solve it. Unexpectedly, he said nothing and went to cram at the last moment...

If cramming were that effective, Vice Dean Yuan Hong wouldn't be so angry.

Ignoring the strange looks from the crowd, Zhang Xuan waited quietly. Before long, Luo Yan returned.

The books about the Earth Fire Passage were mostly kept together, so finding them wasn't complicated. Coming over, after confirming with his teacher, Luo Yan flicked his wrist, and several hundred books piled up in front of him.

These books all introduced the Earth Fire Passage; some annotated the structure, some the usage methods, and others suggested modifications... Many were just personal opinions. Without the ability to discern, not only would one fail to absorb knowledge, but reading for a while would leave one dizzy and confused.

Approaching the books, Zhang Xuan let out a breath, touched each one, pretending to look for a specific book. After touching them all, he picked up one and slowly opened it.

His eyes weren't on the book; instead, he concentrated his mind, using the newly collected books to form a Heavenly Path technique.

Whoosh!

A book appeared, and he took it in hand, casually flipping it open.

"So many flaws?"

Glancing at it, his eyelids twitched.

The number of books about this passage was too small; after compiling for so long, it still wasn't complete, with as many as fifty-two flaws!

But the number of flaws didn't matter; the key was whether he could replace the Earth Core Lava Rock with something else.

Reading quickly, he soon turned to the section about the flaw of Earth Core Lava Rock.

"Earth Core Lava Rock is scarce, the biggest flaw of the passage. If Earth Core Fire could be used instead, costs would be greatly reduced, and the fire would be continuous. However, Earth Core Fire is the fire of the earth, hard to control, and its heat is slightly weaker..."

It went on for over a page.

Although it mentioned using Earth Core Fire as a substitute, it also had many flaws and was not easy to accomplish.

First, the temperature of Earth Core Fire was insufficient, not reaching the level of Earth Core Lava Rock!

To achieve the same effect, there was only one way: use an auxiliary formation.

The diagram of the auxiliary formation was in one of the books; it was a five-star formation. With Zhang Xuan's current strength, he could handle it, but... this formation easily conflicted with the one maintaining balance. If not handled properly, it could cause an explosion!

Thus, using Earth Core Fire to form an Earth Fire Passage was only theoretically feasible; almost no one could accomplish it.

Finding the balance point between two conflicting formations was difficult; even a true formation grandmaster couldn't do it, let alone the original builder of the passage.

That was why, to be safe, they spared no expense to find Earth Core Lava Rock.

But... what was difficult for others was easy for Zhang Xuan.

Wasn't it just finding a balance point?

Apparently, that was how he made his name...

Breaking formations, passing trials, the Purification Pool... all relied on finding balance points to awe the crowd and spread his fame.

"But... with insufficient books, finding this balance point might not be as easy as before. Still, if I succeed, it's like earning ten high-grade spirit stones. No matter what, I have to give it a try!"

Zhang Xuan nodded.

Earth Core Fire not only had issues with the auxiliary formation's balance but also other flaws, such as being far less stable than Earth Core Lava Rock and having uneven power output...

Although the books were insufficient and didn't explain how to solve these, as long as the major problem of balance was resolved, the rest shouldn't be an issue.

"Alright, Earth Core Fire it is!"

After pondering several times and feeling there were no major problems, Zhang Xuan stood up again and exhaled a mouthful of turbid air.

"Elder, do you have a way to channel Earth Core Fire here?"

"Earth Core Fire? Yes!"

Yuan Hong nodded: "Alchemists often need the heat of earth fire to smelt metals. This is a necessity in the Alchemy Academy, like charcoal!"

When smelting, many metals are hard to melt with ordinary charcoal, so they had to rely on this.

Thus, there was a special formation here to channel earth fire, making it easy to bring it over.

"Great..."

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up: "I'd like to borrow this. Could Elder Yuan help channel it over..."

"Channel Earth Core Fire? You want to use it to replace Earth Core Lava Rock?"

Yuan Hong frowned.

"Yes, I've found a precise method. Rest assured, it will succeed!" Smiling lightly, Zhang Xuan was full of confidence.

"Alright!"

Seeing him speak so confidently, Yuan Hong hesitated for a moment but finally nodded.

Although earth fire was dangerous, alchemists used it often. With his ability, controlling it wasn't too difficult, and there should be no danger.

Since this fellow said he could succeed, he wanted to see it too.

If he really accomplished it, he would have done what many predecessors couldn't, truly breaking a record.

Turning around, he left and soon returned with a metal formation plate. After asking for the location, he placed it on the ground, waved his hand, and infused true energy into it.

Hum!

The formation patterns on the plate writhed, and everyone immediately felt a scorching earth core flame, like a fire dragon, surging out from the center, as if it would melt the air.

Many elders in the Alchemist Guild used such formation plates as charcoal, having done it countless times, so it was familiar.

"Thank you!"

Letting out a breath, Zhang Xuan smiled lightly.

This Earth Core Fire was indeed much weaker in temperature compared to the previous Earth Core Lava Rock, just as the books said. To truly repair the passage, he had to use an auxiliary formation to increase the temperature.