Chapter 917: Another Breakthrough, Half-Saint!

"Forget it for now, keep cultivating!"

Now, he was only one step away from Half-Saint, and he happened to have the Red Fire Fruit needed for the breakthrough, so he could give it a try.

Adjusting his state to the best, Zhang Xuan took a deep breath, flipped his palm, and placed the remaining three hundred spirit stones into the spirit-gathering array.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

As soon as the spirit stones touched the array, dense spiritual energy surged up, filling the space around him as if it were tangible.

Raising his eyebrows, he took out a Red Fire Fruit and swallowed it.

There were ten of these fruits in total. Hu Yaoyao and the others had used four, each breaking through and no longer needing them, so the rest were in his hands.

The fruit melted upon entering his mouth, and a rich power filled his limbs and bones, giving him a faint feeling that he could break through at any moment.

Sensing this, Zhang Xuan knew the power was still too weak. If he rushed now, with his current accumulation, he would likely fail. Not anxious, he took out another fruit and swallowed it.

After eating four in a row, he finally felt a狂暴 power that could burst through his body at any moment. He stopped, opened his mouth wide, and absorbed the tangible spiritual energy around him into his abdomen.

Boom!

With a violent roar, his body seemed to break some shackle or limitation, as if pushing open a great door.

All his acupoints opened simultaneously, absorbing all the surrounding spiritual energy into his body. His life transformed in an instant, as if reborn.

Half-Saint... reached!

Half-Saint, though still a distance from the Saint realm, was already a life form different from the Mortal Transformation stage. Both his physical body and soul had undergone a qualitative leap, and even his lifespan had greatly increased.

An ordinary Mortal Transformation cultivator lived only about two hundred years, but breaking through to Half-Saint allowed one to live at least five hundred years!

In other words, his lifespan had more than doubled!

With his cultivation reaching Half-Saint, his power had another qualitative leap. Previously, his true qi alone was 47 million cauldrons; now it had surged by 13 million cauldrons, reaching 60 million cauldrons!

His true qi alone was now equivalent to that of an initial-stage Saint!

Combined with his physical body and soul power, he could easily crush a Saint realm first-level expert as long as they were close.

With the surge in power, his reaction speed and awareness had also undergone a great transformation, becoming sharper and quicker.

Now, even if he fought the Mu Shi puppet again without using his clone, he could surely win easily.

"Strength has grown quickly, but... I'm broke again!"

Knowing the limits of his strength, Zhang Xuan shook his head with a bitter smile.

A few days ago, he had obtained so many good things, thinking he had become super rich, rejecting many gifts and being arrogantly unstoppable. After one bout of cultivation, he was back to square one...

His cultivation was truly a bottomless pit!

No wonder. The Saint Seal itself required a huge amount of true qi, and on top of that, he cultivated the Heaven's Path technique, which demanded even more. High-grade spirit stones, precious in others' eyes, were like pebbles thrown into a pond to him, insignificant and unable to stir up any waves.

"According to conservative estimates now, advancing to the Saint realm... would require nearly five thousand high-grade spirit stones!"

He twitched his mouth.

From the initial stage of the Silkworm Seal to the initial stage of Half-Saint, with the help of four Red Fire Fruits, he had still consumed eight hundred high-grade spirit stones. For Saint and Saint realm... continuing like this, five thousand high-grade spirit stones would probably be the bare minimum.

So many... even if he turned the Master Teacher Academy upside down, he couldn't gather enough!

"It seems I must find a way to go out and earn money..."

Rubbing his brow, Zhang Xuan's face was full of resentment.

What kind of situation was this?

Others worried about how to progress and break through barriers in cultivation; he had never worried about that. Instead, every time, it was because he was 'poor'...

Truly, poverty limits imagination...

"If worst comes to worst... I'll sell those Cloud Mist Flowers and the congratulatory gifts from the spirit beasts!"

The spirit pets from Cloud Mist Ridge had given many congratulatory gifts. If he sold these things, exchanging them for two to three thousand high-grade spirit stones should be easy, but...

Probably no one in Hongyuan City could afford them, not even the royal family!

Without spirit stones, even with the Saint Seal, he couldn't cultivate.

He had thought of breaking through to the Saint realm in one go, but now it seemed he had been overthinking. For now, he had to find a way to earn money and seek treasures!

"By the way, I wonder if the people from the four great empires and the Master Teacher Pavilion who came earlier are still here. If worst comes to worst, I can sell them some things..."

Previously, when Elder Mi introduced the situation, he had mentioned the four great empires: Hongchi, Yuanjiang, Baituo, and Chiyao.

These four were no weaker than the Hongyuan Empire in national strength, and some even surpassed it.

If he could sell them some things, he should be able to get quite a few spirit stones to use for a while...

"This matter is worth considering, but first, I need to go to the Principal's Mausoleum to retrieve the Thunderclap Stone..."

Supporting his chin, Zhang Xuan stood up and walked out of the library.

The Thunderclap Stone was a treasure for breaking through to Saint. Now that he had reached Half-Saint, with enough high-grade spirit stones, breaking through was only a matter of time. It would be better to get it first before earning money.

Leaving the library, Zhang Xuan found Elder Mi. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the latter looking at him excitedly: "Principal, congratulations!"

Zhang Xuan looked at him.

"Principal mentioned before that you wanted to buy some Thousand Ant Queen Bee blood essence, right? So I submitted an application to the Beast Hall headquarters... Unexpectedly, it was approved. The Saint realm Thousand Ant Queen Bee blood essence was delivered early this morning!"

Elder Mi said joyfully: "Also, your Seven-Star Beast Tamer badge has arrived!"

With that, he handed over a jade bottle and a rank badge.

Taking them casually, Zhang Xuan showed a puzzled expression: "Didn't you say that buying this would require a huge cost? How..."

The Thousand Ant Queen Bee was too weak to continue building the Thousand Ant Beehive unless it improved its strength. A few days ago, he had asked Elder Mi to buy high-level blood essence, only to hear that it would require a huge cost, even several thousand high-grade spirit stones.

How had the item arrived before the spirit stones were even taken?

"It did require a huge cost, but the Principal's taming of all the spirit beasts and saint beasts in Cloud Mist Ridge was a great merit... This bottle of Thousand Ant Queen Bee blood essence is a direct reward!"

Elder Mi laughed: "Moreover, the Beast Hall has instructed that they hope you can visit their branch in Qingyuan Empire to teach them the method for quickly taming spirit beasts!"

"I see! Thank the Beast Hall headquarters for me. I'll definitely go when I have the chance..."

Hearing that taming the Cloud Mist Ridge spirit beasts had earned such great merit, Zhang Xuan smiled.

He had done this only because he couldn't bear to see the academy's students die in vain, and because the main cause of the beast tide was him...

Unexpectedly, it had become a merit.

He casually pulled out the jade bottle's stopper, and a pure blood energy shot straight up.

Taking a look, Zhang Xuan found it hard to believe: "This is... Saint realm fourth-level Thousand Ant Queen Bee blood essence?"

The blood essence in the jade bottle was not from a Saint realm first or second level, but from a fourth-level Thousand Ant Queen Bee.

Such blood essence was extremely precious and almost impossible to find. For them to give so much... No wonder it was worth several thousand high-grade spirit stones. If he had to buy it, he really couldn't afford it!

With this, it was foreseeable that the Thousand Ant Queen Bee's strength would soar, and breaking through to the Saint realm was just around the corner!

Flipping his wrist, he sent the jade bottle into the beehive for the queen bee to devour, while his eyes fell on the Beast Tamer badge.

He had had a Four-Star badge before, identical to this one, except the four stars had become seven, and the material had changed, becoming heavier, giving a sense of status and identity.

Although his Magic Sound Mastery had also reached seven stars, it was only a lower-tier auxiliary profession, far inferior to this profession that ranked high on the continent.

Even without the identity of principal, with just this Seven-Star Beast Tamer badge, no one would dare to underestimate him wherever he went.

"Thank you for your trouble, Elder Mi..."

Knowing that the other party had put in a lot of effort to apply for this badge, Zhang Xuan nodded.

"Principal, you flatter me..."

Elder Mi shook his head and looked at him with bright eyes: "When does the Principal plan to take the Six-Star Master Teacher exam? If you want to take it, I'll prepare in advance..."

The Principal already had six auxiliary professions at six stars and had passed the Record Mountain test, so he was eligible to take the Six-Star Master Teacher exam.

"Prepare now, but before that, I want to go to the Principal's Mausoleum first."

Zhang Xuan said.

"Principal's Mausoleum?" Elder Mi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "I'm afraid the Principal is not yet qualified to enter..."

"Not qualified?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

He had condensed a perfect Principal's Token. Was there any place in the Master Teacher Academy he couldn't go?

"The Principal has been recognized by everyone and holds the Principal's Token, so entering is naturally no problem. But... to enter the Principal's Mausoleum, one must split their consciousness and leave it on the mausoleum stele... that is, one must leave a will."

"This involves splitting the soul, which harms the spirit. It would be better to take the Six-Star Master Teacher exam first, then use the merit to apply for a soul-splitting treasure from the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters. That way... you can preserve your soul's integrity while entering, killing two birds with one stone!"

Afraid the Principal might misunderstand, Elder Mi quickly explained.

Taming so many spirit beasts and saint beasts in Cloud Mist Ridge was a great merit in the Beast Hall, and naturally even greater in the Master Teacher Pavilion.

He could definitely apply for some powerful treasures to assist.

Zhang Xuan nodded.

The fact that the many principals of the Master Teacher Academy could emerge when summoning ancestors indicated that they had split their souls and left wills while alive.

He had experienced the difficulty of soul-splitting before. Even a Soul Spirit Master would suffer a great loss of vitality and take a long time to recover, let alone ordinary people.

However, he now had the pure soul of a Green-Horned Dragon Beast, so this loss was nothing. But if he did this, he would inevitably expose his methods and identity as a Soul Spirit Master.

"Let's take the Six-Star Master Teacher exam first..."

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

As the principal of the Master Teacher Academy, his identity as a Soul Spirit Master must not be leaked; otherwise, explaining the various rules and regulations of the Master Teacher Pavilion would be extremely troublesome.

Since taking the Six-Star Master Teacher exam was not difficult for him, it was better to finish it first.

"Alright..."

Elder Mi nodded and was about to speak when he saw an elder rushing over. Seeing the two, the elder quickly cupped his fists: "Principal, Emperor Yu Shenqing has been waiting outside and wants to see you!"