Chapter 230 The Book of Heaven's Way (Part 1)

"Our Zhao family's cultivation technique is bold and grand, with a magnificent aura—Your Majesty must be aware of this as well."

Seeing the other's confusion, City Lord Zhao Feng did not hide anything and spoke up.

"Indeed," nodded Emperor Shen Zhui.

In fact, many years ago, the Shen and Zhao families were friends who together founded the Tianxuan Kingdom—one ruling the realm, the other overseeing wealth. For this reason, the two families had been on good terms for generations, even sharing their cultivation techniques without concealment.

As for the Zhao family's White Jade Technique, Emperor Shen Zhui had been exposed to it since childhood and was very familiar with it. Its power was fierce and its aura abundant, making it unsuitable for a girl like Zhao Ya to cultivate.

City Lord Zhao Feng continued, "Since the founding of the Tianxuan Kingdom, our Zhao family has guarded Jade City, even renaming it 'White Jade,' and has been in contact with jade for generations. In principle, jade nurtures people, and people nurture jade, which can speed up cultivation and enhance progress! However, unfortunately, jade is cold in nature. Contact with one or two pieces is fine, but prolonged exposure to many pieces has a great impact on and damages our hot-natured White Jade Technique."

"At first, it was not noticeable, but after prolonged conflict between cold and heat, a special hidden ailment forms in the body, passed down through the bloodline from generation to generation. This is also the reason why I have been stuck at the late stage of the Tongxuan Realm for so many years, unable to break through."

In his youth, City Lord Zhao Feng's talent was no less than Zhao Ya's. Known as a child prodigy, he reached the Tongxuan Realm in his early twenties, making a name for himself.

Unfortunately, after reaching the late stage of the Tongxuan Realm, he could no longer advance. Over a decade passed with no progress. He had thought it was because his potential was exhausted, but it turned out to be the hidden ailment passed down from his ancestors due to being around jade all day.

"Teacher Zhang saw this problem and deliberately altered the White Jade Technique, making cold and heat intermingle and the power become chaotic. In this way, the hidden ailment accumulated in my body was completely eliminated. With the ailment gone and the accumulation of many years, I finally broke through and successfully reached the peak of the Tongxuan Realm!" Zhao Feng said, his eyes filled with admiration.

Having only seen the technique once and knowing that he was in White Jade City, he deduced all this. This Teacher Zhang's understanding of techniques and cultivation, even if not at the level of a grandmaster, was certainly not far off.

"Since the hidden ailment has been resolved, what about the technique...?" Emperor Shen Zhui still had some doubts.

"Your Majesty is wondering why the technique was burned?"

City Lord Zhao Feng smiled. "That technique was originally wrong, meant to help me eliminate the hidden ailment. Now that the ailment is gone, continuing to cultivate it would likely lead to a real Qi deviation. So Teacher Zhang burned it directly, meaning... it can be forgotten, and there is no need to continue practicing it."

"So that's how it is..." Emperor Shen Zhui finally understood, his heart filled with shock.

The other made it sound simple, but he knew it was certainly not easy.

A technique passed down for hundreds of years, scrutinized by countless ancestors—merely by altering some methods of circulating true qi, he eliminated a hidden ailment accumulated over generations. Such ability could no longer be described as formidable; it was absolutely terrifying.

Even the Three Masters might not be able to achieve this.

"Father, Your Majesty, what are you doing here?"

Just as they were astonished, Zhao Ya's voice rang out. They saw the few young men and women who had made a big splash today walking over.

"Oh, your father came to visit your Teacher Zhang," Zhao Feng nodded. "Aren't you supposed to be at the freshman competition? Why..."

The previous test was the teacher evaluation. To determine the rankings among the freshmen, only the grand competition would do. Why had they returned before the competition even started?

"Even if we wanted to fight now, who would dare to compete?"

Zhao Ya spread her hands.

"Uh... that's true!" Zhao Feng and the other smiled bitterly.

Whether it was Zhao Ya, Zheng Yang, or Yuan Tao, they could all contend with Opening Aperture realm experts, and were even stronger than ordinary teachers. Who would still dare to spar with them?

Probably they would concede as soon as they saw them.

Moreover, with such strength, even winning the so-called freshman competition would bring no honor; it would be better to withdraw.

"By the way, Dad, have you seen Teacher Zhang? Do you need me to introduce you?" Seeing the two standing at the door, Zhao Ya couldn't help asking.

"I've already met your Teacher Zhang." Saying this, Zhao Feng looked at his daughter: "Xiao Ya, being accepted as a student by Teacher Zhang is your fortune. From now on, you must listen well and not throw tantrums like at home!"

"Mm!" Zhao Ya nodded.

"Also, Teacher Zhang is a dragon in the sky. I'm afraid he won't stay in Tianxuan Kingdom for long. If he wants you to follow him, you must seize the opportunity and not let go. Otherwise, you will regret it for life..." Zhao Feng said these words via sound transmission, his eyes filled with deep hope: "Perhaps... only he can help you rescue your mother!"

"Yes!" Zhao Ya clenched her fists.

...

"Let's see how to use this Mingli Jade Crystal!"

Instructing Zhao Feng was only for Zhao Ya's sake, nothing significant. As soon as the two left, Zhang Xuan stopped thinking about it and looked down at the jade in his palm.

Logically, with his Heavenly Dao Library, he could easily see problems and flaws in others' cultivation, so even without the Mind Like Still Water of the Mingli realm, it didn't matter.

But possessing such talent and reaching level 3 was the prerequisite for qualifying as a mentor.

Without a mentor identity, relying solely on disguise would not last long.

This was like driving in his previous life: without a license, even a racing driver would be nervous on the road, afraid of getting caught.

Moreover, the most crucial point was that the Mentor Hall had many books. To enter and read them, quickly improving, this official identity was necessary.

"Absorb!"

With a mental command, his mind entered the second realm again, and sure enough, he felt a cool energy flowing into his body from his palm, slowly restoring the previously depleted mental scale.

"It really works!"

Feeling the change in his body, Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up. He continued to immerse himself, greedily absorbing the energy from the Mingli Jade Crystal.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally felt that the previously depleted mental scale had fully recovered, reaching about 0.1 again.

However, once it recovered to 0.1, it could no longer be absorbed, as if it were already full and could hold no more.

"It seems that without a cultivation technique, this thing is useless, just like how without a cultivation technique, one cannot advance in cultivation level!"

Unable to absorb any further, Zhang Xuan had no choice but to stop.

The relationship between spiritual energy and true energy in cultivation is like flowing water, from high to low. To reverse the situation, one needs to employ various methods, and cultivation techniques are one of them.

Although the Mingli Jade Crystal could help increase one's mind realm, without a matching cultivation technique, it was still useless to him now.

"Forget it, I'll stop studying this for now and take a look at the golden book."

Knowing that dwelling on it was useless, Zhang Xuan stopped thinking and turned his attention to the golden book in the library.

It had appeared when those little fellows cleared his name, but he hadn't had time to examine it. Now that he had some free time, he could study it again.

With a thought, the book came before him. As before, it had only a single blank page.

"Whether it only appears when people feel grateful remains to be studied... but what exactly is this thing for?"

Staring intently at the book before him, Zhang Xuan was full of doubts.

Last time he studied it, the book disappeared, and he fell into a coma. When he woke up, the knowledge in the library had entered his mind and become his own.

Could it be that this seemingly magnificent thing only had that one function?

But if not, there wasn't a single word, nor any hint... Even he was getting more confused the more he looked.

"Try using the Heaven's Path Library!"

After studying it for a long time without figuring it out, a thought struck him.

He couldn't figure it out, but what about the library?

Just like with the poison gas before, so far, there seemed to be nothing that this heaven-defying divine artifact couldn't analyze for flaws.

However, this golden book was in his mind. Although it appeared to be held in his hand, it was actually sensed by the soul, not touched physically. He didn't know if a book could be formed under such circumstances.

"Flaw!"

Gripping the book tightly, he sensed it with his mind.

Looking around, it was indeed as he had guessed: touching it with consciousness alone could not reveal its flaws.

"I'll have to use the brute-force method and guess..."

After trying for a long time without any progress, Zhang Xuan could only smile bitterly.

That method was useless, so he could only rely on his own random guesses.

He took out a blank book, picked up a pen and paper, and wrote on it: "The use of the golden book is only to transform the knowledge of the library into the host's."

Buzz!

A similar book formed in his mind. Opening it, he saw the flaw clearly written: "Transforming knowledge is only one of its abilities, not the only one."

"It really has other uses!"

Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

He had thought that such a powerful book could only have the use of transforming knowledge, but it indeed had other functions.

However, what exactly those uses were, he could only guess on his own.

"The name of this book is... Golden Book!"

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Xuan continued writing.

Soon, a flaw appeared: "The name 'Golden Book' is incorrect. This book is the [Book of Heaven's Way]."

"Book of Heaven's Way? Such a domineering name? But... being domineering alone is useless; I need to know what it does!"

Zhang Xuan frowned.

He already knew one of its uses was transforming knowledge, so what was the second?

"Can it produce a cultivation technique that raises the state of mind?"

Just as he was thinking about how to experiment, an idea popped up.

He had been obsessing over the state of mind all this time. Since this Book of Heaven's Way was so awesome, could it generate a technique to raise the state of mind?

While he was lost in thought, before he could act, he saw the book in front of him shake violently and turn into a brilliant light, enveloping the entire library.

Whoosh!

This time he didn't faint. After a short while, he recovered and quickly looked around. As before, the golden book was still there, but the blank page inside had disappeared again.

"Could it be... that it actually formed a technique to raise the state of mind?"

Just now, he had only thought about how to raise the state of mind, and the golden page was consumed. Could it be that, as he hoped, the library now contained a secret technique for cultivating the state of mind?

Thinking of this, his heart burned with excitement, and he hurriedly looked around.