Chapter 14: Modifying the Cultivation Method

After finally driving away the inky fat man and arranging everything, Zhang Xuan helplessly realized that the sun was already setting in the west, and it would soon be dark.

"It seems there are only five students!"

He shook his head.

Today was the last day for recruiting students, and by this time, it was completely over.

He had thought he wouldn't recruit anyone, but unexpectedly he had recruited five. For someone who ranked last in the teacher assessment, this was a decent result.

Closing the classroom door, Zhang Xuan headed back in the direction he remembered.

As a teacher at the academy, he had his own single dormitory, but it was just a small room, about a dozen square meters.

Soon he returned to the dormitory, pushed the door open, and walked in. Looking at the scene in the room, he couldn't help sighing.

He had to admit, his predecessor was really miserable. The room was not only small but also slightly damp, and the bedding had already started to mold. He really didn't know how that guy used to sleep.

"Forget it for now. Class starts tomorrow, so today I must first figure out my cultivation and then try to practice!"

Since he wasn't hungry anyway, Zhang Xuan sat cross-legged on the bed according to the method he remembered.

As a transmigrator, although he had inherited his predecessor's memories and was not unfamiliar with cultivation, the thought of becoming stronger still filled him with excitement.

Now that the students had been recruited, it was time to cultivate and consolidate his strength. After all, in this world, strength was the most important thing.

Although the Library of Heaven's Path could instantly see others' vital points and flaws, if their strength was similar, he could easily break them. But if they were much stronger, even if there were weaknesses, his speed couldn't keep up. Not to mention hurting them, he might even be treated like a lab rat and dissected.

Therefore, although the Library of Heaven's Path was powerful, it was not an invincible artifact. To become stronger, continuous cultivation was the true path!

"The cultivation method my predecessor practiced is called the Hongtian Ninefold Art! It was created by the founder of Hongtian Academy, with nine levels corresponding to each realm of martial artists!"

He recalled the cultivation method recorded in his mind.

Martial artists have nine levels, each level a different heaven. The higher the level, the harder the cultivation.

The Hongtian Ninefold Art was one of the most commonly practiced methods at Hongtian Academy, also with nine levels, corresponding to the nine levels of martial artists.

"Right now, among all the teachers in the academy, my strength is the lowest!"

Almost all teachers in the academy had reached the fourth level of martial artist, while he was only at the third. He had to speed up his cultivation.

Following the breathing method in his memory, he concentrated his mind.

Instantly, it seemed as if countless luminous particles appeared before him. He slowly breathed and absorbed them, and the true energy in his dantian gradually became more vigorous.

After cultivating for an unknown period, he opened his eyes and couldn't help shaking his head.

"This is too slow!"

Although he had inherited his predecessor's memories, his consciousness was still that of an Earthling. He couldn't quite manage to sit still and cultivate.

Especially when he saw the process of condensing true energy, he felt even more powerless.

Condensing true energy meant gathering the spiritual energy particles from the air one by one, compressing them, and building them up like stacking blocks to form a river.

This project was enormous. Some cultivators persisted daily, working tirelessly, and only after three years could they fill their dantian and break through to a higher realm.

It was a matter of persistent effort over time.

Several years of such monotonous cultivation?

He might as well be killed!

"Hmm, right! Although the Hongtian Ninefold Art is the most popular cultivation method at Hongtian Academy, it's not the most powerful. I can use the Library of Heaven's Path to find its flaws and then find ways to correct them. Once corrected, wouldn't cultivation be twice as effective with half the effort?"

An idea popped into his mind.

Cultivation methods vary in strength; strong ones cultivate quickly, weak ones slowly. Would a strong method have fewer flaws?

Others couldn't improve their methods, but he was different. With the Library of Heaven's Path in hand, he could have the library find flaws and then find ways to correct them. When he eventually created a method with no flaws detectable by the library, wouldn't cultivation be twice as effective and fast?

Thinking of this, he acted immediately. Zhang Xuan stood up, casually picked up the Hongtian Ninefold Art manual he had been practicing, and opened it.

Whoosh!

As expected, the library in his mind shook, and a book with the same name appeared.

He gently opened it, and indeed it recorded the flaws of the Hongtian Ninefold Art, densely packed, with over a thousand defects!

"I was practicing this method?" Zhang Xuan was astonished.

A simple third level with so many loopholes? What a scam!

It was like eating vegetables full of bugs. It was impressive that he hadn't been crippled by practicing it.

"What about other methods?"

As a teacher, there were quite a few books in his room: "Four Venerable Treasures," "Zhutian Meridian Art," "Lotus Flower Acupoint Charge Art"... He picked up one at random, and as soon as he flipped through it, the library formed a corresponding book, recording various flaws, some exceeding three thousand!

Even more terrifying than the Hongtian Ninefold Art!

"This... finding the correct method would drive me to exhaustion!" After looking for a while, Zhang Xuan felt frustrated.

A single manual with over a thousand flaws, and the correct direction completely unknown. It was like a thousand forks in the road, each with countless branches. Even with the Library of Heaven's Path to confirm errors, finding the most correct path would still exhaust him to death!

"My current cultivation is at the peak of the third level of martial artist, the True Energy Realm. I'm just one step away from breaking through. I just need to find the flaws in the manual regarding this point and find a way to correct them!"

Seeing so many flaws in the third level of the Hongtian Ninefold Art, he knew he couldn't find them all in a short time, so he turned to the last page.

The entire third level was troublesome to cultivate, but the final step was much simpler.

Sure enough, this page had only ten flaws.

"The method for sensing spiritual energy is wrong, the method for controlling free spiritual energy is wrong, the method for gathering spiritual energy to circulate through the Yangwei Meridian is wrong..."

The ten flaws were recorded in great detail.

The Library of Heaven's Path only marked errors, not providing solutions. Finding the correct path was not as easy as imagined.

"Right, those other books also had methods for breaking through the third level, and the errors seemed different!"

A flash of inspiration struck. He recalled the other manuals he had just seen and also turned to the breakthrough for the True Energy Realm.

Sure enough, as he remembered, although they all had errors, the errors were in different places.

"What isn't marked as wrong is correct..." Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up. He found paper and a pen, combined the correct parts from several manuals, and copied them down. Soon, a new cultivation method appeared before him.

"Let's see if this has any errors!"

With a slight smile, he picked up the newly written content. The Library of Heaven's Path shook again, and a similar book appeared. This time, there was only one flaw.

After studying it for a while, he corrected that flaw. Using the Library of Heaven's Path to check again, the flaw was indeed fixed, and it was perfect.

"This is the most correct method to break through the third level of martial artist! Let's try it!"

Seeing the content he had written, Zhang Xuan nodded excitedly, quickly sat down, and began to cultivate.

"Relax the whole body, open the pores, as if immersing oneself in a bathtub full of spiritual energy. Each pore is a complete life, breathing freely..."

Sizzle sizzle sizzle!

Cultivating according to this method, he was initially unaccustomed, but soon he felt the surrounding spiritual energy pouring down like a waterfall. Although the spiritual energy absorbed by each pore was weak, when all pores worked simultaneously, the speed was terrifyingly fast.

The spiritual energy, like a hundred streams converging, formed a massive torrent in his body, rushing directly toward his dantian.

Boom!

The sea of qi exploded. The bottleneck that was just one step away from breaking through instantly shattered. True energy overflowed from his dantian, flowing through his body, nourishing his muscles and bones, bringing a pleasant sensation.

Fourth level of martial artist, the Skin and Bone Realm!

"This... too fast!" Zhang Xuan's eyes widened.

According to the Hongtian Ninefold Art, even if he wanted to break through at his current realm, it would take three to five months, or even a good opportunity, to succeed. But after correcting the method to make it flawless, how long had it been?

Ten minutes? Five minutes?

Probably not even three minutes, and he had already broken through!

This...

Moreover, although he had only corrected the breakthrough method for the peak of the third level, the true energy he had just condensed was extremely pure, far more powerful than what he had cultivated before!

If the true energy he cultivated before was muddy mud, this one was clear spring water, giving a feeling of being free of impurities, bright as a mirror.

True energy also had grades: upper, middle, and lower, each with three sub-levels. The higher the quality, the clearer it was, and the farther one could go in the future! His previous true energy was muddy, probably belonging to the worst of the lower three grades.

The true energy he had now condensed was so clear it could see the bottom, likely at least upper three grades!

"Isn't it said that... to cultivate upper three grades of true energy, one needs divine or saint-level methods?"

Cultivation methods, according to classification, could be divided into five levels: Divine, Saint, Spirit, Ghost, and Mortal. Each level had four sub-levels: lower, middle, upper, and peak.

According to cultivators, to cultivate upper three grades of true energy, one needed at least a Saint-level method.

The Hongtian Ninefold Art was only the lowest Mortal-level upper-grade method. How could it produce true energy of this quality?

"It's the Library of Heaven's Path!"

Zhang Xuan clenched his fists.

Although he had used the Hongtian Ninefold Art as a template for cultivation, he had actually avoided all the errors recorded in it and followed the most correct path. That was why he could condense upper three grades of true energy!

It seemed... what the Library of Heaven's Path recorded was correct. The Hongtian Ninefold Art was indeed far from perfection!

"With the help of the Library of Heaven's Path, could I write a Saint-level or even Divine-level cultivation method myself?"

Zhang Xuan's eyes shone with excitement.