Chapter 1098: Examining the Awakener

To be honest, he hadn't sought out Master Wu, President Han, or the War Master Hall—he had already kept a low profile. Yet this guy insisted on shoving his face forward for a slap...

It was truly laughable!

Forget it, a gentleman doesn't stoop to petty grudges. I, Zhang Xuan, am just that magnanimous and virtuous.

Ignoring the man, he looked again at Vice President Xu, who was not far away.

Seeing him look over, the beautiful woman's brows twitched.

The reason she had leaned toward him in her words was, first, because he was a master teacher, and second, because first come, first served... She had thought that if Dao Kou really made a move, she would shout a reprimand. But she never dreamed that before she could speak, the battle would already be over...

And it was such a crushing victory, with no suspense!

A Saint Domain first-level peak... knocking out a fourth-level expert with one punch...

Where did this freak come from?

"Could he be... an expert from the War Master Hall?"

The people of the War Master Hall were always in seclusion, unwilling to come out, and rarely interacted with others. Although they were in the same Qingyuan City, she had only met a few.

Thus, even she knew very few. This man, who could easily defeat a Nascent Soul expert at Saint Domain first-level, was probably one of them, and not low in rank.

No wonder he could casually produce a sacred artifact of such level.

Earlier, she had thought he relied on the protection of the Master Teacher Hall to remain safe. Now it seemed that, based on his own strength alone, no one would dare disturb him casually.

"Young master, you should still be careful. The reason the Jibei Twin Heroes are famous is not so much Luodi Xiong Dao Kou, but his older brother, Qingtian Xiong Cang Xu! He is said to have reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, and he has many tricks up his sleeve, making him hard to deal with..."

Although she knew he was not simple, after thinking it over, she still sent a voice transmission to warn him.

A mere early Nascent Soul cultivator could not have earned the title of Jibei Overlord. The formidable one of the pair was the older brother, Qingtian Xiong, Cang Xu!

His cultivation was unfathomably deep; even she could only avoid him when they crossed paths.

After all, the Awakener profession was a support occupation, not adept at combat.

"Thank you for the reminder, President!" Knowing she meant well, Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, unconcerned, and then asked, "When do you think... it would be convenient for you to awaken the spirit of my weapon?"

"Let's start now!"

Without much hesitation, Vice President Xu nodded.

She circled the Golden Origin Cauldron twice, then gently pressed a spot on it.

Hum!

A beam of light immediately enveloped the cauldron.

Zhang Xuan watched nervously.

After about ten minutes, she withdrew her hand, stumbled back a few steps, and turned pale. "It seems I underestimated the difficulty... This cauldron of yours, from what I can see, fell into slumber due to a lightning strike. With my strength, I'm afraid I cannot awaken it!"

"Lightning has a great destructive effect on spirituality, as you must know. If it had fallen asleep for other reasons, I could have done it with extra effort, but this..." Vice President Xu shook her head.

"Then... does the President know who could awaken it?"

Zhang Xuan couldn't help asking.

"The lightning has not only invaded its spirituality but also left a residue in the cauldron. To summon the spirit, one must cross this area... To truly accomplish this, it would require an expert at the Out-of-Body stage. The Nascent Soul of an Out-of-Body cultivator has been tempered by lightning and does not fear its power. As for who... no one in the Qingyuan Empire Awakener Guild can do it!"

After thinking for a moment, Vice President Xu said.

The strongest president of the Qingyuan Empire Awakener Guild had just reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, still far from Out-of-Body, and likewise could not accomplish it.

"You say... there is residual lightning in the cauldron... If one's cultivation hasn't reached Out-of-Body, but their soul does not fear lightning, could they still awaken it?"

Hearing the conditions in her words, Zhang Xuan frowned.

"That should be possible, provided one's understanding of the Awakener profession reaches the seven-star level. But... where would you find a soul that isn't afraid of lightning?" Vice President Xu smiled bitterly.

The Nascent Soul and soul reside within the body, are yin in nature, and fear lightning the most. So far, she had never heard of anyone below the Out-of-Body stage whose Nascent Soul or soul was not afraid of thunder.

"Understanding the Awakener profession to the seven-star level?" Pausing, Zhang Xuan looked up. "Vice President Xu, what conditions are required to view the books in your guild?"

Since she couldn't awaken the Golden Origin Cauldron, he might try it himself.

As for lightning, others feared it, but he had experienced the Sea of Lightning and the Saint Sealing Tribulation; his soul was perfectly rounded, and ordinary lightning posed no threat.

"View books?"

Unexpectedly, he raised this question. Vice President Xu was puzzled, hesitated for a moment, then said, "Our guild's books, unlike those of other professions, have no level restrictions—you don't need a certain rank to access them. You just pay a fee, and you can read them, even copy them, but you can't take the originals away."

Zhang Xuan nodded. "I want to read all the books up to the seven-star level. How much do I need to pay?"

Only when one truly becomes a special profession with a perfect inheritance are level restrictions strict. Ordinary professions don't have so many requirements.

Some even deliberately relax conditions to attract more learners and make the profession stronger.

"To read books up to the seven-star level, you need to pay five thousand high-grade spirit stones..." After calculating, Vice President Xu said.

"Here!"

With a flick of his hand, spirit light shimmered, and five thousand high-grade spirit stones fell to the ground.

"This..."

Vice President Xu stood frozen.

Five thousand high-grade spirit stones—even she couldn't take them out so easily. He was so generous just to read books... He was really rolling in wealth!

"I'll trouble Vice President Xu to lead the way."

Five thousand high-grade spirit stones were nothing to Zhang Xuan now. To learn a profession and perhaps revive the Golden Origin Cauldron was absolutely worth it.

"Alright!"

Seeing his serious expression, not like he was joking, Vice President Xu put away the spirit stones. "Follow me."

Putting the Golden Origin Cauldron into his ring, Zhang Xuan followed closely.

Leaving the room, they walked along a corridor for a while and arrived at a large room.

This was the Awakener's library.

"Here, you can read books or cultivate. If you gain insights, there are corresponding puppets in the room for you to awaken. Successfully awakening one indicates you've reached that level..."

Standing at the door, Vice President Xu handed him a token and explained.

Although the Awakener profession was popular in the Qingyuan Empire, it was not a special profession, so there were not many rules, and even examinations were very simple.

"Thank you!"

Taking the token, Zhang Xuan nodded.

"Go on in. Many people come here every day to read books and learn the Awakener profession, but few achieve anything."

Vice President Xu waved her hand.

The Awakener profession was so lucrative that it attracted many learners daily. However, to become a true Awakener, one needed a strong and delicate soul—a talent that couldn't be learned just by reading books.

Without further ado, Zhang Xuan pushed open the door and entered.

The library was not large, with only a few dozen bookshelves, holding perhaps hundreds of thousands of volumes.

Indeed, there were many people in the room browsing books, likely also wanting to learn the Awakener profession.

To avoid drawing attention, he went to a bookshelf, casually pulled out a book, and pretended to read seriously, while his eyes scanned the entire shelf.

Rustle!

As his gaze swept over, countless books entered his sea of consciousness.

In less than ten minutes, all the books on the dozens of shelves were collected into the Library of Heaven's Path.

"Correct!"

With a thought, a book appeared before him. He gently opened it and read.

It was the Heavenly Path cultivation technique for a four-star Awakener.

After quickly reading through it, Zhang Xuan gained a deeper understanding of the profession.

The so-called awakening was essentially using one's soul power to nourish the spirituality and soul of a weapon or cultivator.

To do this, one first had to make their soul attribute-less, so that it wouldn't be rejected by the other's body, successfully activating or strengthening the spirituality.

For others, this first step was nearly impossible, but Zhang Xuan was different.

The witch soul cultivated by the Heavenly Path technique was inherently attribute-less; otherwise, it couldn't disguise itself as anyone without being discovered.

After reading the book, he circulated his soul power within his body once, and he had learned the four-star Awakener cultivation method in less than half an hour.

"Let's see if it works..."

Going to one side of the room, Zhang Xuan indeed saw a strange puppet standing in the corner, with eight arms and four heads. He couldn't tell its level or what material it was made of.

Too lazy to use the Eye of Insight or the Library of Heaven's Path, he focused his mind, communicated with his soul, and a stream of consciousness spread straight out. At the same time, he gently pressed his palm on the ground.

Hum!

A beam of light completely enveloped the puppet.

In an instant, his consciousness entered a pitch-black world, which he could only illuminate.

Creak! Creak!

After a few breaths, the puppet before him was activated with spirituality, moving its eight arms wildly and turning its four heads.

"It seems a four-star Awakener is quite simple..."

Opening his eyes, Zhang Xuan smiled.

He had thought this profession was difficult, but activating spirituality so easily showed it wasn't complicated.

After doing this, he walked toward the second floor.

The books on the second floor were also on dozens of shelves, hundreds of thousands of volumes. Using the same method, he quickly read them all, forming the five-star Heavenly Path Awakening technique.

After learning it, he went to the corner and successfully awakened a similar puppet, then went up again.

...

Two hours later, he reached the fourth floor.

Here were displayed all the seven-star Awakener books. He absorbed them into his mind, studied the Heavenly Path technique, and then went to the place where the puppets were kept. He looked and couldn't help frowning.

"There's no puppet on this floor? What is this pillar?"

In the corner of this floor, there was no puppet for awakening, only a pillar more than one person thick, running from top to bottom through the room. It was made of some unknown material and was very heavy.

"It's probably a weapon. If I can awaken it, I should be considered a seven-star Awakener."

Speculating inwardly, he approached it.