Chapter 957: Breakthrough, to Saint!

"The fact that I could rescue you from their hands shows that my ability to survive is definitely no problem! So, there's no need to worry about that. At worst, I'll just leave!"

Zhang Xuan smiled: "I know you're not afraid of death, but even a master teacher must die meaningfully. To be killed inexplicably by these fellows—if they break out of the underground cavern and reach the surface, who will save the countless human race?"

"Uh..."

The crowd fell silent.

Indeed, even if they were not afraid of death, they could not die in vain.

Everything must be done with value.

"Alright, we'll listen to you. We'll heal our injuries first! Zhang Shi... you be careful too. If it really doesn't work, we'll report to headquarters and let them handle it..."

The elder from before said.

"Rest assured!" Knowing the other's goodwill, Zhang Xuan smiled.

"Mm!" Only then did the crowd remember the young man's miraculous methods, and they nodded simultaneously.

Surrounded by so many alien spirit clansmen, he had still managed to rescue them smoothly. Although this young man was not old, his abilities far surpassed theirs.

"By the way, do you have any formation flags or formation plates? The higher the level, the better!"

Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Xuan suddenly thought of something and looked at the crowd.

"Formation flags? Formation plates?"

The crowd exchanged glances.

"I have a set of formation flags, roughly at the peak of level six, totaling over 120 pieces. They can be used to set up the True Universe Illusion Formation."

"I have some too, 81 pieces, which can set up a peak level six killing formation!"

"When I left, I purchased a peak level six formation plate, but it's only a maze formation, not particularly powerful..."

"I also have a formation plate, peak level six..."

Hearing that he needed formation flags and plates, the crowd took them out one after another, producing a whole pile.

These people knew that coming to the underground cavern was a desperate venture, so they had exchanged all their belongings for life-saving treasures beforehand. Formation flags and plates could turn weakness into strength and greatly enhance one's power, so naturally they had prepared many.

"Good, that's enough..." Seeing the formation flags and plates covering the ground, Zhang Xuan smiled.

As expected of peak six-star master teachers, they indeed had many good things in hand. Although they were only at the peak of level six, they were among the strongest of that level. If bought outside, they would cost who knows how much, and many were not even available on the market.

With a grab of his hand, he collected these items into his storage ring. Zhang Xuan clasped his fists to the crowd: "I take my leave!"

Having said that, he turned to leave. Before he had gone far, a voice sounded from behind.

"Dean Zhang, wait!"

Turning his head, he saw that it was Lu Feng who had spoken.

The guy was flushed red, looking over.

"Master Lu!" Zhang Xuan apologized.

"Dean Zhang, I... I want to apologize for what happened before, and I hope you won't take offense..." Lu Feng said.

"Master Lu is too kind! Fighting against the Otherworldly Demons is a responsibility we master teachers must shoulder, regardless of who does what." Zhang Xuan smiled.

"Thank you for your magnanimity, Dean."

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Feng flipped his wrist and took out a disc: "This is a formation disc I obtained back then, a grade-7 maze formation. Perhaps it might be useful to you..."

"A grade-7 formation?"

His eyes lighting up, Zhang Xuan quickly took it.

This formation disc seemed to be carved from some unknown material, its lines dense and extremely fine, so much so that even his Eye of Insight had difficulty seeing them clearly.

"It was carved using observation with divine sense. Once activated, its power is immense. I obtained it by sheer chance and have never used it..." Lu Feng explained as he watched him examine it.

"Carved using observation with divine sense? No wonder!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

For a formation to reach grade 7, only a grade-7 formation master could carve it, and the first requirement to become such a formation master was to reach the Saint realm second layer, the Divine Sense realm.

Divine sense is the touch of the soul, capable of observing finer details that the naked eye cannot match.

"Thank you very much!" Knowing that this formation disc would be of great use to him, Zhang Xuan did not refuse. He flipped his wrist and stored it into his ring.

"Farewell!"

His body flickered, and he shot straight forward, disappearing from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

Seeing him leave, the many master teachers all turned to look at Lu Feng.

"Is this... really the new dean of the Master Teacher Academy?"

None of them could believe it, after all, he was far too young.

"Yes," Lu Feng nodded.

Previously, he too had thought that the elders' choice of him as dean was a mistake, but now it seemed it was indeed the wisest decision.

To calmly rescue them from so many Otherworldly Demons without claiming credit or acting arrogantly—even the former dean, Mo Liuzhen, could not have done it.

At the very least, he himself could not compare; he was more than a level behind.

"He might become the greatest dean of the Master Teacher Academy, leading it to glory..."

Gazing in the direction Zhang Xuan had disappeared, Lu Feng murmured to himself.

Having witnessed the young man's many abilities firsthand, he knew how formidable he was. With such a person sincerely devoted to the academy, how could it not flourish?

……

After flying forward for a while, Zhang Xuan stopped in a mountain hollow.

"Going like this, I'm definitely no match. I have to think of a way..."

Although he had over twenty puppets at Saint realm 1-dan, if he really faced more than two hundred alien clan members at Saint realm 1-dan and two kings at Saint realm 4-dan, he would still be easily slain, unable to withstand them.

He had to come up with a countermeasure in advance, preferably one that could wipe them all out in one fell swoop and eliminate future trouble.

"Let me first take a look at this level-7 formation plate..." With a thought, he took out the formation plate Lu Feng had given him, clenched it in his palm, and frantically infused it with true energy.

"Hmm? No reaction?" He frowned.

Could it be that this thing was broken?

That shouldn't be.

He muttered a flaw, and a book appeared in his mind. He glanced at it, his face darkened, and he wished he could find a hole to crawl into.

Fortunately, no one saw him, or else he, as the academy head, would have lost all face!

It wasn't that the formation plate was broken, but... his strength was insufficient, his true energy level too low, and he simply couldn't activate it.

His current true energy power was only at the peak of Half-Saint. Even with all his combat strength combined, it was barely comparable to Saint realm 1-dan. Driving a level-6 formation plate was no problem, but level-7... absolutely impossible!

"Although the Ziyang Beast has reached the Spirit Perception realm, it's a sacred beast and likewise cannot use it... As for the Jinyuan Cauldron, it's just a sacred artifact..."

He rubbed his brow.

"Unless... my current strength reaches the peak of Saint Ascension. Then, perhaps, I could rely on the power of the Saint Ascension Solution to activate the level-7 formation plate, which normally requires Saint realm 2-dan to activate!"

With his current strength, activating the formation plate was definitely impossible. He could only find a way to break through.

Fortunately, the Thunderclap Stone needed to break through to Saint Ascension was already in hand.

"Let's begin!"

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xuan didn't hesitate. He shook his body and entered the Thousand Ants Beehive.

Cultivating to break through a realm required absolute silence and no disturbance. Since the alien clan members were currently tracking him, he certainly couldn't be at ease here.

Once inside, Zhang Xuan came to the Bodhi tree, sat down cross-legged, and with a flick of his wrist, a pile of high-grade spirit stones appeared before him.

The first batch of profits from the Shen family had over 3,000 stones. Although he had used 500 to help many students improve their strength, he still had plenty left, more than enough. He didn't need to worry about spirit stones for a while.

Casually flicking out a pile of formation flags, he set up a spirit-gathering formation to concentrate the spiritual energy from the many high-grade spirit stones. Only then did Zhang Xuan grasp the Thunderclap Stone in his palm, close his eyes, and begin to cultivate.

Gurgle, gurgle!

Pure, thick true energy flowed through his meridians, like a great dragon coursing through his body. All the acupoints in Zhang Xuan's body opened wide, greedily absorbing the dense spiritual energy around him, like a starving gluttonous beast enjoying a sumptuous feast.

For two months, he had long reached the peak of Half-Saint. Without the Thunderclap Stone, he had been accumulating all along. The craving for breakthrough within his body was like parched ground that could no longer bear it.

As soon as the Thunderstone appeared, combined with abundant spiritual energy, his entire aura immediately changed.

Creak, creak!

With the spiritual energy, the more he absorbed, the longer his true qi circulated, and the barrier imprisoning his body was increasingly weakened, gradually shaking.

Boom!

After an unknown amount of time, suddenly a violent roar sounded, the acupoint opened, and Zhang Xuan felt his eyes and ears become exceptionally clear, his thinking faster than before.

The Saint Ascendant realm had arrived!

The Saint Ascendant realm lays the foundation for truly breaking through the Saint domain, allowing the practitioner's life essence to undergo a qualitative leap, thus greatly enhancing the body, soul, and true qi.

Although the peak of Half-Saint and the early stage of Saint Ascendant are only separated by a small level, they are as different as a dragon and a fish, incomparable.

Moreover, since he cultivated the Saint Sealing Scripture, his true qi was more condensed and substantial, making the power within him surge like seawater.

His true qi also broke through from the previous 84 million cauldrons, reaching a full 90 million cauldrons!

"Continue!"

Knowing that even after a breakthrough, it was still difficult to drive a seventh-grade array disk, Zhang Xuan squinted his eyes and continued to cultivate.

Having broken through the shackles, continuing to cultivate became much simpler.

Two hours later, he had already reached the peak of Saint Ascendant.

His true qi power successfully broke through the hundred million cauldrons that could only be achieved in the Saint domain, reaching 120 million cauldrons!

More importantly, the primordial embryo in his dantian was perfectly round, emitting a dazzling light, on the verge of breaking through at any moment.

"It seems that it is now at the second-rank supreme grade!"

Mu Kai and Mu Shi had spent countless efforts and a lifetime to only cultivate their primordial embryo to the second-rank upper grade, but he had already reached the second-rank supreme grade without even breaking through to the Saint domain.

This was not surprising; with Heavenly Dao true qi and Heavenly Dao techniques, if he couldn't even reach this level, he might as well find a piece of tofu and smash his head against it!

"As long as I continue to temper it, the grade of the primordial embryo will still rise, and reaching the first rank should not be difficult!"

Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Having spent such a great price and worked so hard in cultivation, it had indeed not been in vain.

As long as he could become a first-rank primordial embryo, both his future and combat strength would be greatly enhanced.

He might even become a Heaven-recognized Saint.

Of course, to achieve this, he still needed to continue tempering the primordial embryo to make it more solid.

"No time to temper now; let's try the array!"

Knowing that now was not the time for cultivation, Zhang Xuan took out that seventh-grade array disk.