Chapter 1135: Modifying the Cultivation Technique

Those who are qualified to enter here, having broken through the outer Heart Demon Array, are usually high-ranking members of the Combat Master Hall, and their primary goal in coming is to acquire the Glazed Heart Practice Scripture. The elder had simply asked if he was interested, assuming the young man would undoubtedly agree. He never dreamed that he would be met with an outright refusal!

"Not interested. Why did you break through the array and come all the way here?"

"Are you playing games with me?"

"This is the supreme art of the Mind Palace, an unparalleled secret text... Are you truly not interested in learning it?" the elder asked with some hesitation.

"No!" Zhang Xuan shook his head.

He currently had no inner demons. This cultivation method, even when mastered, only reduces the number of inner demons. The more he learned, the worse it would be for him. Unless he was insane, only a fool would bother.

"Then why... did you break through the array?" the elder asked, displeased.

"I thought there were inner demons here that could help me enhance my mental cultivation, so I came to challenge myself. However, the inner demons were too weak, completely ineffective. I got excited for nothing. To be honest, I'm feeling quite disappointed!"

Zhang Xuan sighed, his face etched with disappointment.

Had he known it was such a low-level array, he wouldn't have bothered entering; it was a waste of effort.

Still, it wasn't a total loss. He had subdued hundreds of inner demons and successfully learned the location of another part of the 'ruthless individual,' which would be immensely helpful in the future.

"Too weak? Disappointing?"

The elder's face flushed crimson with suppressed anger; he nearly fainted.

This Heart Demon Array was something he had acquired through a serendipitous encounter years ago. It could draw out and exploit various negative emotions within a cultivator, such as evil, sorrow, grief, and terror, causing individuals to unknowingly succumb to them.

Those who successfully resisted would experience a significant boost in their mental state. If one failed to resist, the array would stop after a certain period, preventing fundamental harm.

The assessment sounded simple, but once inner demons appeared, overcoming them was incredibly difficult. The challenge was evident from the fact that fewer than five out of a hundred previous Combat Master Hall Chiefs had succeeded. Yet, this young man before him simply declared it was "too weak"...

By the look on his face, he was utterly disdainful...

What the hell are you disdaining? Are you truly here for the assessment?

"This Heart Demon Array, in the eyes of true experts, is indeed nothing significant, but... your cultivation is only at Saint 1-dan, and it took you this long to break the array. It shouldn't have been that easy for you, right?"

The elder was slightly displeased.

This fellow had been inside the array for at least ten minutes. While that was relatively quick, it certainly wasn't as effortless as he claimed.

Why are you acting so pretentious?

"What? Do you think I'm talking nonsense?"

Seeing the elder's expression, Zhang Xuan shook his head and sighed, "Your array is unbearable; it's practically useless! If you don't believe me, I'll explain. Although this array can evoke inner demons, it requires reaching the center to complete the process. This subtly gives the cultivator a psychological hint that the subsequent experiences are merely illusions. With this subjective thought, the array's power naturally diminishes significantly... That's the first problem!"

"This..." The elder was momentarily stunned, speechless.

This was, in fact, a flaw in the array.

However, once inner demons are drawn out, a person typically descends into confusion, making it difficult to maintain such a subjective thought or to truly doubt the experience.

Under normal circumstances, no one would notice this, yet this person pointed it out instantly... Could it be that he wasn't boasting, but genuinely found the array to be too flawed?

"The inner demons generated by the array have overly simplistic attack methods. They only exploit flaws in cultivation techniques or training to mislead. If the challenger possesses absolute confidence in their cultivation method, the array's power will undoubtedly be significantly weakened... That's the second problem!"

Zhang Xuan continued.

"You..."

The elder stiffened once more.

The Heart Demon Array itself is notoriously difficult to set up, so flaws are normal; they don't overshadow its overall value. Yet this fellow, while surrounded by inner demons, still had the leisure to find its defects...

Was this real or fake?

"This array leaves too many discernible traces of a formation, and the inner demons are too generic and grotesque, which negatively impacts the experience. Who would have the patience to engage with them? One would likely just want to destroy them on the spot! They should transform into people the challenger knows; that would be far more effective... That's the third problem!"

"...That's the fourth problem!"

"...That's the fifth problem!"

"...And that's the tenth problem. A relatively small array has so many defects and loopholes. Doesn't that make it simply too flawed?"

With his hands clasped behind his back, Zhang Xuan pursed his lips.

While the array could draw out a person's inner demons, making them difficult to guard against, its flaws were also substantial.

The biggest issue was the lack of immersion!

Appearing with the face of a devil would immediately reveal that they are inner demons, wouldn't it?

The "user experience" was too poor, severely impairing the senses.

Truly formidable inner demons would transform into your deepest regrets or flaws, appearing in ways that make them indistinguishable from reality... That's what's truly terrifying.

For example, if these inner demons weren't so ugly but transformed into Luo Ruoxi's appearance, he might very well have become ensnared, finding it difficult to extricate himself.

"This, this..."

The elder's face turned pale, and his already somewhat ethereal mental projection swayed even more violently, as if it could collapse at any moment.

As the designer of the array, he naturally knew its flaws and loopholes. Not a single one of the ten points the young man mentioned was incorrect!

In other words, the young man had not only passed through the array but had also seen its true essence with perfect clarity.

No wonder it took him over ten minutes... It seemed the young man wasn't fighting the inner demons, but rather analyzing the array for its defects and problems.

To identify so many in such a short time... his insight was simply astounding!

"Do you have... any solutions?"

No longer daring to underestimate him, the elder asked cautiously.

"A complete solution would be difficult, even for me. However, it's certainly possible to modestly enhance its power. If you incorporate an illusion array within it, causing challengers to fall into an illusion before they even perceive any problems, and then trigger the inner demons, its power will increase significantly..."

After a moment of thought, Zhang Xuan pointed his finger in the air, and his True Qi transformed into a pattern identical to the previous room.

He pointed again, and hundreds of light points immediately appeared around the room.

This was the technique of a Calligrapher-Painter creating images in the void.

"By arranging an illusion array at these light points, and merging the two arrays, the power will be significantly different..." Zhang Xuan explained.

His understanding of arrays had long since reached the peak of 7-star, even comparable to the early stage of 8-star. Having experienced the Qiuwu Palace, integrating arrays, while complex, was not overly difficult for him.

Furthermore, he was only enhancing a portion of this Heart Demon Array's power, not intending to increase it excessively.

"This..."

As someone capable of setting up the Heart Demon Array, the elder's understanding of arrays was also extremely profound. After observing for a moment, his body trembled with utter disbelief.

The array-setting method before him, though wildly imaginative and unconventional, happened to perfectly compensate for the Heart Demon Array's many loopholes, dramatically increasing its power.

"I stand enlightened..."

The elder bowed, utterly convinced.

His previous doubts not only vanished completely, but he was also filled with profound admiration.

This young man, though not old, possessed a more profound understanding of arrays than he did. Most crucially, his mental state was so robust that even the Heart Demon Array couldn't affect him. He truly hadn't imagined such a formidable genius would emerge in later generations.

"No need to be so polite!"

Zhang Xuan waved his hand dismissively.

He had merely thought the array wasn't very good and casually mentioned it. Since the other party acknowledged his points, there was no need to press the issue further.

"This is the secret manual for the Glazed Heart Practice Scripture. Even if you're not interested, since you've passed, it must be given to you as per our agreement..." The elder pointed a finger, and light flickered before them as a cultivation secret manual appeared.

Zhang Xuan glanced at it, committing it to memory, then frowned, "This cultivation method has extremely high requirements for one's mental state!"

The heart-training technique before him had extremely high mental state requirements. Only those who reached a certain level could cultivate it; otherwise, they would not only fail but also attract inner demons, ultimately leading to a significant drop in cultivation, or even mental derangement, turning them into lunatics.

Individuals possessing such a high mental state were inherently rare, so it was no wonder that an assessment was required to transmit this cultivation method.

To learn it, one's strength had to be sufficient. Otherwise, if it were leaked, it would not only fail to facilitate progress but also cause harm.

"Indeed!" the elder nodded.

"A cultivation method with such high mental state requirements is difficult to popularize. How about this: I'll help you modify it so that ordinary people can also cultivate it smoothly. What do you think?"

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Xuan said.

For other cultivation methods, even he would be powerless to change them, but this one was different.

The so-called Glazed Heart Practice Scripture was essentially a method to cultivate one's primordial spirit and soul to be as clear and transparent as glazed glass, achieving an effect similar to the gentle primordial spirit of an Enlightenment Master.

While pondering, he had merged this technique with various cultivation methods of the Enlightenment Master. Although it didn't form a Heaven's Path cultivation method, it broke the barrier that previously allowed only powerful individuals to cultivate it.

This could be considered compensating for its biggest flaw.

"Even ordinary people can cultivate it?" The elder stiffened.

Back then, he had endured countless hardships to obtain this cultivation method, solely for the purpose of helping Combat Masters enhance their combat prowess.

Unfortunately, the cultivation method was too complex, suitable only for those with extremely high mental states. He had always felt great regret about this, but there was nothing he could do.

If ordinary people could truly cultivate it, then the strength of the entire Combat Master Hall would undoubtedly experience another substantial increase.

The safety of humanity would also be greatly ensured.

"The biggest flaw of this cultivation method is that during cultivation, various temptations appear. If one's resolve is even slightly weak, it's impossible to resist, which is why the entry threshold had to be so high. In fact, resolving this is quite simple. I just reviewed it once and have already finished the modifications."

Zhang Xuan nodded.

"Finished modifying? You completed the modifications just by glancing at it once?"

He had assumed that when the young man mentioned "modifying" it, it would require years, even decades or centuries. He never expected that in less than half a minute from the moment he presented the cultivation method, the young man had not only read it but also completed the modifications... The elder trembled all over, his face etched with disbelief.

To enable ordinary people to cultivate it, he himself had spent countless efforts during his lifetime, all to no avail. Yet this person before him merely glanced at it, and before others could even clearly discern the cultivation method's content, he had already completed the modifications...

Even Master Kong himself might not have possessed such an ability back then.

"Mm!"

With a slight smile, Zhang Xuan looked over, his face filled with kindness: "What? If you wish to see it, I can write a copy for you right now!"

PS: I recommend a friend, Changfeng's book, "Behind the Scenes." Its synopsis: His name is Lu Xiyan, the renowned "Judge." With his Book of Life and Death and Soul-Hooking Pen, the souls of traitors from "No. 76" (the Wang Puppet regime) scatter, and even Doihara must keep one eye open if he dares to nap.