Chapter 14: Cultivation Technique
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Thaddpole&Tortex
It wasn’t easy for Zhang Xuan arrange everything properly with fatty and send him away. Only then did he realize that the sun is already setting in the west and it is about to turn dark soon.
“Looks like I only have five students!”
He shakes his head.
Today is the last day to recruit students. Judging from the current time, it is probably the end of the recruitment.
Initially, he thought that he wouldn’t even recruit a student. He didn’t expect that he would end up pulling five students in. For a teacher who scored the worst in the Teacher Qualification Examination, it isn’t a bad result.
Closing the doors to the classroom, Zhang Xuan follows the path back to his room based on his memory.
As a teacher of the academy, he has a dormitory room of his own. However, it is only a small room of around a dozen meter square large.
Soon, he reaches the dormitory. Pushing the door open and looking at the sight within, he couldn’t help but sigh.
His previous self really had it bad. Not mentioning how the room is small, it is extremely humid. Mold is growing on some of the bedding and such. He really has no idea how that fellow managed to survive like this.
“Let’s forget about this first. Lessons are going to start tomorrow so I have to first ascertain my level of cultivation and try training a bit!”
Since he isn’t hungry now anyway, Zhang Xuan follows the method he recalls in his memories and sits with crossed legs on the bed.
As a transcender, although he has inherited the memories of his previous self and isn’t foreign to cultivating, he is still quite excited at the thought of growing stronger.
After he is done with the recruitment, it is about time for him to solidify his cultivation. No matter what, in this world, strength reigns supreme.
The Library of Heaven’s Path is capable of to identifying other’s mingmen and flaws, allowing him to easily break through the defenses of opponents of the same level. However, if his enemy is much stronger than he is, even if he is able to identify the gaps in their attacks, he is unable to keep up with them speed-wise. Before he could injure his opponent, he might already have been severed into multiple pieces like a lab rat.
Thus, even though the Library of Heaven’s Path is formidable, it doesn’t ensure his invincibility. If he wants to become stronger, cultivation is the way to go!
“The cultivation technique of my previous self is called the Hongtian Nine Dan Formula! It is a skill created by the founder of Hongtian Academy. The skill consists of nine dans, with each of the dan corresponding to the cultivation realm of the cultivator!”
He recalls the skill memorized in his head.
There are nine dans to a cultivator and every level opens up a new realm. The higher one climbs, the harder it is to cultivate.
Hongtian Nine Dan Formula is one of the most common cultivation technique in Hongtian Academy. It also consists of nine dans which correspond to the cultivator’s nine dans.
“Right now, I am the weakest of all of the teachers in the academy!”
In the academy, almost all teachers have reached Fighter 4-dan, leaving him to be the only 3-dan. Thus, he has to train harder to catch up to them.
Following the exhalation method in his memory, he focuses his concentration.
In an instant, countless bright particles appear before him as he slowly inhales and exhales while absorbing them. Gradually, the zhenqi within his dantian enriches.
After cultivating for an unknown period of time, Zhang Xuan opens his eyes and shakes his head.
“This is way too slow!”
Even though he has inherited the memories of his previous self, his consciousness still remains that of an earthling. He finds it difficult to be sitting still to cultivate for long periods of time.
Especially upon viewing the process of the gathering of zhenqi, he feels even more helpless.
Gathering zhenqi refers to the action of pulling and gathering in the spirit particles in the air and suppressing them together. Just like the stacking of logs, they would be accumulated to form a river.
This is an extremely huge project. There are some cultivators who persist in it every day without fail and fills up their dantian within three years to break into higher realms.
It is a work that requires accumulation over time.
To cultivate so blandly for multiple years?
You might as well kill him!
“Oh, that’s right! Although the Hongtian Nine Dan Formula is the most popular cultivation technique in the academy, it isn’t the strongest one. I can use the Library of Heaven’s Path to seek out its flaws and find a way to correct them. Once I correct the flaws, won’t my training be much more efficient?”
A thought pops into his mind.
There are different tiers to cultivation technique as well. Better cultivation technique allows one to cultivate faster while the weak ones cause one to cultivate at a slower pace. Could it be that the better cultivation technique has fewer flaws, causing the difference between the two?
Other people might be unable to improve their cultivation technique, but Zhang Xuan is different. With the Library of Heaven’s Path in hand, he could make use of it to seek out the flaws in it and think of a way to correct them. If he were to create a cultivation technique where even the Library of Heaven’s Path is unable to find a flaw in, won’t his cultivation speed soar significantly?
At this point, Zhang Xuan stands up, places the Hongtian Nine Dan Formula in his palm and starts flipping through it.
Hu!
Just as he expected, the library in his mind jolts and a book with the exact same name appears in it.
Opening the book gently, he realized that there are countless flaws on the Hongtian Nine Dan Formula on it, numbering more than a thousand!
“This is the skill that I was training with a moment ago?” Zhang Xuan is shocked.
Just a simple 3-dan and there are countless flaws in it, isn’t this way too much!
It is just like eating a vegetable full of worms! Zhang Xuan feels that it is already incredible that his cultivation hasn’t disappeared after training in that skill.
“What about the other cultivation techniques?”
As a teacher, there are quite a few books in his room, 《Supreme Four Inscription》, 《Heaven Meridian Technique》, 《Lotus Acupoint Breakthrough Might》… As he casually picks each of them and flips through them, the library would automatically compile a corresponding book on it that records all kinds of flaws in the skill. For these skills, the flaws that are recorded exceeds 3000!
That is even scarier than the Hongtian Nine Dan Formula!
“This… Won’t I die out of exhaustion while searching for a way to correct all of those?” After taking a look, Zhang Xuan feels like he is about to go mad from frustration.
It is hard to find a correct path when there are more than a thousand flaws in a secret manual. It is like having a thousand different paths before you and each of which have countless divergence to them. Even if the Library of Heaven’s Path is capable of ascertaining whether the path is right or not, finding the most accurate path would definitely tire him to death!
“Right now, my cultivation is at Fighter 3-dan Zhenqi Pinnacle, just a little bit away from breaking through. Right now, I only have to find the flaw in the secret manual regarding this aspect and correct it!”
Upon seeing the countless mistakes in Hongtian Nine Dan Formula, he knows that it is impossible for him to resolve them in a short period of time. Thus, he flips the manual to the very last page.
It is difficult to train in the Fighter 3-dan, but the last step to breaking through is significantly easier.
As he expected, there are only ten flaws in this page.
“Error in the method in sensing the spirit in the air, error in manipulating the flow of spirit particles, error in guiding the gathered spirit to flow through the Yangwei Meridian…”
The ten flaws that written here are detailed clearly.
The Library of Heaven’s Path only records flaws, it doesn’t list methods to resolving them. It isn’t easy to search for the correct path one should take.
“Right! It seems that the parts of the Fighter 3-dan breakthrough method in the other books have different flaws from this!”
A thought flashes through his mind as he recalls what is written in the other secret manuals. Thus, he flips through the other books to view the portion of it about breaking through the Zhenqi realm.
It is indeed as he recalls. Although there are mistakes in those as well, their errors are in different aspects.
“If it isn’t demarcated as an error, then it should be correct…” Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up. He immediately grabs pen and paper and jots down the correct portion of each of them. Soon, a new cultivation method appears before him.
“Let’s see if there are errors in this!”
With a faint smile, he grabs the book that he had just written and the Library of Heaven’s Path jolts once more. A similar book appears, just that this time, there’s only one error in it.
After researching for a moment longer, he corrects this final error and uses the Library of Heaven’s Path to ascertain once again. Indeed, all of the errors have been filled up and it is in its perfect form.
“This is the most precise method to break through Fighter 3-dan realm! Let me give it a try!”
Looking at the contents he wrote himself, Zhang Xuan nods his head excitedly. He hurriedly gets into position and starts to cultivate.
“Relax my body and allow my pores to open, as though I am sinking into a tub of spirit air. Every single pore of mine is a complete lifeform by itself, breathing by its own will…”
Tzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
Cultivating through this method, although he isn’t very used to it at the start, it didn’t take long for him to feel the spirit in the surrounding surge into him. The spirit absorbed by a single pore may not be much, but when all of the pores of a body are undergoing the same process concurrently, the absorption speed is one to behold.
The spirit in the air gathers like a flowing river, forming a giant flood in his body and rushes towards his dantian.
Boom!
An explosion echoes from his spirit sea. Initially, he was just a step away to breaking through his bottleneck. At the current moment, zhenqi overflows from his dantian and courses through his entire body, enriching his muscles and bones, generating a refreshing sensation.
Figher 4-dan, Pigu realm!
“This… this is too fast!” Zhang Xuan’s eyes widen.
Based on what is recorded on the Hongtian Nine Dan Formula, he would need to take at least three to five months to break through, and this would still require a certain amount of luck. After slightly modifying the skill to correct the flaws on it, how long did he take in comparison?
Ten minutes? Five minutes?
Probably, he didn’t even take three minutes to successfully achieve a breakthrough!
This…
Furthermore, despite only correcting the breakthrough method for Fighter 3-dan Pinnacle, the purity of the zhenqi he absorbed is incomparably pure, containing much more power as compared to the ones he cultivated in the past!
If the zhenqi he cultivated in the past is sloppy mud, then this wave is a clear spring water without any impurities in it.
There are also different tiers to zhenqi, superior, intermediate and inferior. The higher the quality, the more clear it would be and the further one would be able to climb in the future! In the past, the zhenqi he cultivates is murky and probably of inferior quality.
The ones he are cultivating is so clear that you could see through it. Most probably, it is zhenqi of superior quality.
“Didn’t they say that… if one wants to cultivate superior zhenqi, they would require a god or saint cultivation technique?”
There are different tiers to a cultivation technique as well, namely god, saint, spirit, phantom and mortal. In each tier, they are classified further into inferior, intermediate, superior and pinnacle.
Based on rumors among cultivators, one would need at least a saint cultivation technique in order to cultivate superior zhenqi.
Hongtian Nine Dan Formula is the lowest mortal cultivation technique, so how could it cultivate zhenqi of such quality?
“It is the Library of Heaven’s Path!”
Zhang Xuan clenches his fist.
He is still cultivating the Hongtian Nine Dan Formula, but as he managed to avoid the mistakes recorded on it and followed the correct path upwards, he is able to gather superior zhenqi.
It seems that… what is recorded on the Library of Heaven’s Path is accurate. The Hongtian Nine Dan Formula is indeed too far from perfection.
“If so, with the help of the Library of Heaven’s Path, could it be possible for me to create a book of saint or even god cultivation technique?”
Zhang Xuan’s eyes twinkle.