Chapter 957: Breakthrough, Nascent Saint!

Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97

"Since I was able to save you from their hands, that only goes to show that I have my own means to stay alive. Thus, there is really no need for you to worry. In the worst-case scenario, I will just flee from them!" Zhang Xuan said with a kind smile.

"I know that you don't fear death, but that doesn't mean that you should throw away your lives like that. At the very least, you must make your lives count! I will go ahead first, and if I fail, you will have to serve as the final line of defense until help arrives. Otherwise, if those Otherworldly Demons charge out of the Subterranean Gallery, who knows how many lives will be lost?"

"Ah…"

The crowd fell silent.

Indeed. Even if they didn't fear death, their deaths shouldn't be meaningless.

They had to make it count every single bit it was worth.

"Alright, we will listen to you and rest up first. Then, Zhang s.h.i.+… you have to be careful, too! If it is really beyond our means, we will report to the headquarters and have them deal with this matter," an elder said.

"Rest a.s.sured!" Zhang Xuan replied with a confident smile.

"Un." At this moment, the master teachers couldn't help but recall the various miracles that the young man before them had produced, and all of a sudden, they couldn't help but feel that the situation wasn't as desperate as they thought.

Considering how the other party had saved them despite the encirclement of so many Otherworldly Demons, it was clear that he possessed means far beyond them. Perhaps, he might just have a way to deal with the Otherworldly Demons.

Just as Zhang Xuan was about to leave, he suddenly recalled something and asked, "Right, do you all have any formation flags or formation plates in your hands? The higher the grade, the better!"

"Formation flags? Formation plates?" Everyone exchanged confused glances with one another.

"I have a set of grade-6 formation flags here. There are 120 of them; you can use them to set up the Zhengyu Illusory Formation."

"I have 81 of them here, you can use them to set up a grade-6 Slaughter Formation!"

"Before I left, I bought a grade-6 pinnacle formation plate. However, it is a Beguilement Formation, so I don't know how useful it will be in a battle."

"I also have a grade-6 pinnacle formation plate here."

Upon hearing that Zhang Xuan needed formation flags and formation plates, the master teachers quickly took out whatever they had, and it didn't take long for a huge pile of items to appear before Zhang Xuan.

These men knew that they would face great danger in the Subterranean Gallery, so they had exchanged all of their possessions for artifacts that would be useful in dangerous situations. Formation flags and formation plates were particularly useful in dealing with stronger enemies, so they had prepared plenty of those.

Looking at the mountain of formation flags and formation plates before him, Zhang Xuan said with a chuckle, "Not bad, this is more than enough."

As expected of 6-star pinnacle master teachers, they did have quite a lot of good items with them. Even though most of the items they had produced were grade-6, they were generally toward the higher end.

With one swift motion, he stowed everything into his storage ring before clasping his fist. "Farewell!"

After saying those words, he turned around and left. But before he could get very far, a voice sounded from behind. "Princ.i.p.al Zhang, wait for a moment."

He turned around to find that the one who had spoken was Lu Feng.

His face was flushed crimson as he looked at Zhang Xuan.

"Lu s.h.i.+?" Zhang Xuan responded questioningly.

"Princ.i.p.al Zhang, I… I wish to apologize to you for the matters that happened before. I hope that you can forgive me for my foolishness," Lu Feng said hesitantly.

"Lu s.h.i.+, there's no need to worry about that. As master teachers, it is our responsibility to guard against Otherworldly Demons; I don't blame you for being too wary," Zhang Xuan replied with a smile.

"Thank you for your magnanimity." After a moment of hesitation, Lu Feng flicked his wrist and took out a round formation plate. "This is a formation plate that I obtained some time ago. It's a grade-7 Beguilement Formation; hopefully, it will be of some use to you."

"Grade-7 formation?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up as he hurriedly took it.

It was hard to tell what kind of material the formation plate was made of, but it felt heavy. Inscribed on it was a complex inscription consisting of lines so fine that he could hardly see them even with his Eye of Insight.

"The creator inscribed it carefully using their Spiritual Perception to check the formation plate. It can exert an incredible might once activated, so it should do you well against the Otherworldly Demons. I happened to obtain it by some stroke of luck, and I haven't been able to bring myself to use it," Lu Feng explained.

"Inscribed using Spiritual Perception? No wonder!" Zhang Xuan nodded.

A grade-7 formation plate could only be inscribed by a 7-star formation master, and the prerequisite to becoming a 7-star formation master was to possess the cultivation of a Saint realm 2-dan Spiritual Perception realm.

Spiritual Perception was a method of perceiving the world through one's soul, allowing one to perceive the world with far greater sensitivity than with one's eyes.

"Thank you!" Knowing that the formation plate would be very useful to him, Zhang Xuan nodded in grat.i.tude before stowing it into his storage ring.

"Alright, I will be leaving now!"

Stepping off, Zhang Xuan began charging ahead, and it didn't take long for him to disappear before everyone's eyes.

After he left, the master teachers turned their gazes to Lu Feng.

"Is that man… really the new princ.i.p.al of the Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy?"

Till this point, the crowd could still hardly believe it. After all, the other party was simply too young.

"That's right." Lu Feng nodded.

Previously, he had thought that the Ten Great Master Teachers nominating him to become a princ.i.p.al was a huge mistake, but from the looks of it now, it seemed like he was the one lacking foresight.

To be able to save them from the hands of so many Otherworldly Demons calmly and yet remain humble and not claim credit for his work on top of that, it was doubtful that Princ.i.p.al Mo Liuzhen from back then would have been able to do the same.

At the very least, he knew that he wouldn't have been able to do the same if in the other party's shoes.

"He might very well be the most formidable princ.i.p.al that our Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy has ever had, ushering in an era of greatness for our academy," Lu Feng muttered to himself as he gazed in the direction that Zhang Xuan disappeared in.

It was only after seeing what that young man had done that he realized how formidable the other party was. With such a great man earnestly putting his effort into the academy, how could the academy possibly not prosper?

…

After proceeding ahead for a moment, Zhang Xuan stopped at a valley.

I won't be their match at this rate. I have to find a solution… Even though he had twenty Saint realm 3-dan puppets, it would still be difficult for him to stand his ground against more than two hundred Saint realm 1-dan and 2-dan Otherworldly Demons and two Saint realm 4-dan Kings. The situation wasn't in his favor.

He had to find a suitable countermeasure that could wipe out the entire group in a single move so as to terminate any possible threat from them.

I should first take a look at this grade-7 formation plate. Flicking his wrist, Zhang Xuan took out the formation plate that Lu Feng had given him and pumped his zhenqi into it furiously.

Hmm? Nothing? Zhang Xuan frowned.

Was the formation plate spoiled?

That wasn't it.

"Flaws," Zhang Xuan muttered, and a corresponding book concerning the formation plate appeared in his Library of Heaven's Path. Upon taking a look, his face darkened, and he really wanted to hide somewhere in shame.

It was fortunately no one had seen it, or else he would have really made a fool out of himself!

It was not that the formation plate was spoiled, but… his zhenqi wasn't strong enough to activate the formation plate yet!

His current zhenqi cultivation was only at Half-Saint pinnacle. Altogether, his fighting prowess was on par with a Saint realm 1-dan cultivator. He could easily drive a grade-6 formation plate without trouble, but grade-7… That was clearly beyond his means!

The Byzantium Helios Beast has reached Spiritual Perception realm, but as a saint beast, he is unable to activate a formation plate. Less has to be said about the Golden Origin Cauldron, a Saint-tier artifact. Zhang Xuan rubbed his glabella in distress.

Perhaps… if I raise my cultivation to Nascent Saint pinnacle, with the sheer strength of the Saint Ascension Decipher, I might be able to exert power comparable to a Saint realm 2-dan cultivator and activate this grade-7 formation plate!

Since he was unable to activate the formation plate in his current state, the logical thing to do was to attempt a breakthrough.

It was fortunate that he had procured the Lightning Resonance Rock beforehand, which was required for his breakthrough to Nascent Saint.

Alright, time to begin! Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xuan leaped into the Myriad Anthive Nest without any hesitation.

To attempt a breakthrough, he would require a quiet environment. Given that the Otherworldly Demons were combing the area to search for him, he couldn't possibly cultivate peacefully in the open.

After entering the Myriad Anthive Nest, Zhang Xuan sat down beneath the Bodhi Tree and took out a pile of high-tier spirit stones with a flick of his wrist.

The first batch of profits from the Shen Clan consisted of more than three thousand high-tier spirit stones. While he had used five hundred of them to raise the cultivation of the candidates for the Master Teacher Selection, he still had a sizeable amount of them remaining. At least for the time being, he didn't need to worry about having insufficient spirit stones.

He casually took out a couple of formation flags and set up a Spirit Gathering Formation in the area. Spiritual energy was swiftly drawn from the high-tier spirit stone, creating a dense mist-like congregation of spiritual energy in the air.

With all of the preparations ready, Zhang Xuan held onto the Lightning Resonance Rock tightly in his hands and closed his eyes to begin cultivating.

Gugugu!

Pure, condensed zhenqi coursed through his veins like a mighty dragon, pus.h.i.+ng his cultivation further up. At the same time, every single pore of his body was greedily taking in the rich spiritual energy in the surroundings, as if a ravenous behemoth enjoying a luxurious feast.

He had already reached Half-Saint pinnacle two months ago, but due to the lack of the Lightning Resonance Rock, he had only been able to further reinforce his cultivation again and again. At this point, his desire for a breakthrough was already irrepressible, like an arid land desiring for rain.

With the Lightning Resonance Stone in his hand and the rich spiritual energy in the surroundings, Zhang Xuan's aura swiftly went through a qualitative change, becoming far sharper and more powerful than before.

Geji geji!

Absorbing the spiritual energy, Zhang Xuan swiftly converted it into zhenqi to knock at the bottleneck limiting his cultivation relentlessly, and eventually, the bottleneck began to loosen.

Hong long!

After some time, with a deafening buzz, he finally broke through the bottleneck. In that instant, Zhang Xuan felt his eyesight and hearing becoming exceptionally clear, and his ability to a.n.a.lyze also became faster than ever.

Nascent Saint, reached!

Nascent Saint was the foundation to achieving a real breakthrough to Sainthood, the preparation to a cultivator's metamorphosis of their level of existence. As such, there was a significant enhancement in one's zhenqi and soul.

It might only have been a cultivation stage of difference between Half-Saint pinnacle and Nascent Saint primary stage, but this single hurdle signified the evolution of a fish into a dragon. 1

Furthermore, he cultivated the Saint Ascension Decipher, which made his zhenqi far more condensed and powerful than ordinary cultivators.

At the same time, his zhenqi strength also advanced from the previous 84,000,000 ding to 90,000,000 ding!

Continue!

Even though he had achieved a breakthrough, he knew that it would still be difficult for him to drive his grade-7 formation plate. Thus, Zhang Xuan continued with his cultivation.

Having achieved the breakthrough, everything else was relatively easier.

Four hours later, he managed to advance to Nascent Saint realm pinnacle.

At the same time, the strength from his zhenqi cultivation had also exceeded the 100,000,000 ding mark, reaching 120,000,000 ding!

More important, the Origin Core in his dantian had also a.s.sumed a perfectly round shape, emanating a brilliant light that seemed to indicate that a breakthrough was just around the corner.

From the looks of it, it seems I have achieved a Second Grade Pinnacle Origin Core!

Mu s.h.i.+ had put in so much time and effort to cultivating the Saint Ascension Decipher, but he had only succeeded in forming a Second Grade Advanced Origin Core. On the other hand, Zhang Xuan hadn't achieved a breakthrough to Saint realm yet, but he had already reached Second Grade Pinnacle.

However, this was to be expected. Considering that he cultivated the Heaven's Path Divine Art and possessed the Heaven's Path zhenqi, if he couldn't achieve this much, he could just knock himself dead with a blob of tofu.

As long as I reinforce my Origin Core, its grade should continue to rise. It shouldn't be too difficult for me to achieve First Grade! Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he hadn't spent so much effort and paid such a heavy price for nothing.

As long as he could successfully forge a First Grade Origin Core, his fighting prowess should increase considerably.

Perhaps, he might even become a Celestial Saint.

Of course, it would still take him quite a bit of effort to reinforce his Origin Core and condense it further.

But I don't have the luxury to do that at the moment. For the time being, I should try activating the grade-7 formation!

Knowing that he didn't have much time to spare, Zhang Xuan took out the grade-7 formation plate once more.