Chapter 1392: Library Transformation

Although Zhang Xuan had some grievances with the Zhang clan, he wasn't someone who would cause trouble without reason. As long as the other party's character was acceptable and not too despicable, he wouldn't go too far. But if they were truly shameless like Zhang Chun, reaching far above their station, then he wouldn't hesitate to be ruthless. If he didn't make them doubt their very existence, he wouldn't be Zhang Xuan.

"What did you mean by 'Saint Son' just now?" Having made up his mind, he looked over with a puzzled expression.

"The Saint Son Hall encompasses many professions," Luo Xuanqing explained. "As long as you can surpass all others of the same cultivation level in one profession, becoming the undisputed number one, you can earn the honor of 'Saint Son.' Furthermore, this isn't just an honor; it's a symbol of status and position. Becoming a Saint Son means becoming the undeniable student representative and the senior disciple for everyone in that profession within the Saint Son Hall!"

Seeing his confusion, Luo Xuanqing added, "This Zhang Feng successfully awakened the guardian stone statue, which represents the Saint Son's identity, and made it move a full seven steps, breaking the Guild's 3000-year record. That's how he succeeded."

"A stone statue?" Zhang Xuan frowned. Awakening a stone statue should be quite simple. Back then, he had even successfully awakened an entire guild hall.

"You'll understand the difficulty once you see it for yourself!" Seeing his dismissive attitude, Luo Xuanqing shook his head with a wry smile. For powerful soul awakeners, awakening ordinary stone statues isn't difficult. However, awakening a guardian stone statue is far from easy; otherwise, Zhang Feng wouldn't have been the only one to achieve it in 3000 years.

The Soul Awakener Guild was also in the Wisdom Hall, and they soon arrived before it. Standing before the guild's entrance and seeing the so-called guardian stone statue, Zhang Xuan finally understood why Luo Xuanqing had spoken that way.

The statue was dozens of feet tall and about twenty feet wide, standing like a towering building. Carved from an unknown black rock, it was entirely black and seemed to absorb others' thoughts, making the flame of soul awakening difficult to ignite.

"This... is indeed quite difficult," Zhang Xuan murmured. After sensing it for a moment, his gaze became serious. Even if he wanted to awaken this statue, it would likely take a long time and consume a great deal of energy. What was most crucial was its unique material, which made it difficult to imbue with spiritual energy. Even if successful, it would likely dissipate again quickly. Awakening it was like pouring water into a bamboo basket: the faster you poured, the faster it leaked. If the pouring speed couldn't keep up with the leaking, it would never succeed. The fact that Zhang Feng not only completed it but also made it walk seven steps truly showed his powerful techniques.

Approaching, he placed his palm against it. His Primordial Spirit stirred, and a thought surged into the statue. In an instant, Zhang Xuan felt as if he had fallen into a pitch-black, lightless environment where he couldn't see his own hand, and even his spiritual sense couldn't spread out. With a slight touch, a ray of light shone from his fingertip. However, before the light could fully spread, he felt a powerful suction continuously devouring the surrounding light. Just like when surrounded by starlight stones, the flame could only hover around his fingertip, unable to illuminate anything further away. With a mental command, his Primordial Spirit returned to his body. Opening his eyes again, Zhang Xuan let out a breath.

It was indeed very difficult, several times harder than awakening the previous guild hall. Even with his current strength, it wouldn't be easy to accomplish.

"How was it?" Luo Xuanqing looked at him.

"Could you take me to see the Level 8 Soul Awakener books? I have some doubts that I can't resolve currently and need to read to figure them out," Zhang Xuan said after a moment of hesitation. He had only read Level 7 books and hadn't systematically studied Level 8 ones yet. As long as he had enough books to read and could condense them into Heaven's Path cultivation techniques, becoming the so-called Saint Son should be easily achievable.

"Read books?" Luo Xuanqing smiled faintly. "As long as you pass the Level 8 assessment and become a Level 8 Soul Awakener, you can read any book you want without restrictions. In that case, you go ahead. I have something to take care of..."

"Alright!" Hearing it was simple, Zhang Xuan said no more and entered the guild.

This place was somewhat similar to the Formation Master assessment location he had visited before; it was sparsely populated and quite deserted. He quickly approached the front desk, found a staff member, took out his emblem, and handed it over.

"Teacher Zhang, please follow me!" The staff member was a girl in her twenties who became quite enthusiastic after learning his identity. She quickly led him towards the library.

"All the Level 7 Soul Awakener books are here... there are many of them. If you need to look for anything specific, just let me know in advance, and I can help you find it..."

"No need, thank you!" With a faint smile, Zhang Xuan disregarded the girl and walked straight in. The guild in Qingyuan City was a lower-level one with relatively fewer books. Before taking the Level 8 assessment, he decided to review more Level 7 books to solidify his knowledge.

Entering the room, he indeed saw countless books standing before him. "Flaws!" With a thought. *Whizz!* The books swiftly appeared in his mind.

"Huh? Why is it faster than before?" Zhang Xuan was startled. Previously, he could still collect books by scanning, but there was always a delay. This meant if his gaze swept over three rows of bookshelves, the Library of Heaven's Path would only generate two rows at most. Now, he could look at three rows and generate three rows, an increase in speed of more than one-third.

"The library hasn't changed, and I haven't fallen unconscious, so it shouldn't be another transformation!" Thoughts flashed continuously in his mind. After seeing Luo Ruoxi at the Master Teacher Academy, the library had undergone a transformation. Previously, he needed to touch books to collect them, but after that transformation, simply observing them with his eyes was enough. That significant change had caused him to fall unconscious for three full days. Now, there was no such situation, yet the speed of collecting books had increased... What was going on?

"Could it be..." His eyes lit up. After much thought, there was only one possible reason: he had destroyed the Diviner Guild! Destroying a den that spied on the Heavenly Dao was equivalent to dismantling a criminal syndicate, a malignant tumor... Could the increased speed be related to this?

"Could it be that messing with Diviners comes with rewards?" Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed. Although it was already incredibly powerful, if it could advance again, it would undoubtedly greatly benefit his strength. "It seems I'll have to find more opportunities to destroy a few more Diviner Guilds in the future..." he nodded to himself. Of course, this was just a guess. He needed to verify if this was truly the reason.

With the increased reading speed, books that would have originally taken six hours to finish were completely absorbed into his mind and became his knowledge in just four hours.

Returning to the main hall, he found the staff member. "I'd like to take the Level 8 Soul Awakener assessment. What are the steps?" To view Level 8 books, he first needed to pass the corresponding assessment level.

"A Level 8 Soul Awakener?" Surprise flickered in the girl's eyes, and then she nodded: "The Soul Awakener assessment is very simple, unlike troublesome top-tier professions like alchemists or artifact forgers. You just need to awaken a Level 8 primary puppet in front of an elder."

"Thank you for your trouble!" Zhang Xuan nodded. The girl led the way, and they soon arrived at a large hall. The elder in charge of the assessment was a man in his sixties who had already reached Level 8. The puppet was somewhat similar to the one he had seen in Qingyuan City, simple in structure, testing one's comprehension of the soul awakening profession. Approaching it, Zhang Xuan placed his palm on it. His Primordial Spirit flickered, and a thought entered it. Before long, it was completely ignited. This Level 8 puppet was the lowest grade, and just like the formations set up during the Level 8 Formation Master assessment, anyone with the ability to break through could pass easily.

"Here is your Level 8 emblem!" Unexpectedly, this person passed the assessment on the first try. The elder was greatly surprised and quickly processed the emblem application, handing it over. Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and went to the section containing Level 8 Soul Awakener books to continue reading.

Six hours later, he walked out of the room. Although he felt tired, he had completely mastered all the Level 8 soul awakening techniques, and his comprehension of this profession had successfully reached the peak of Level 8.

"Teacher Zhang, how was it?" As soon as he left the library, he saw Luo Xuanqing approaching him.

"Hmm, as expected..." Zhang Xuan nodded and replied, then suddenly stopped, staring dumbfounded at what was ahead. "This... what's going on here?"

Before him, the magnificent and towering hall that had stood six hours earlier had now collapsed, with white smoke rising from various spots.

"Oh... I asked Elder Zhao of the guild to help stabilize my Primordial Spirit... Who knew that fellow's methods were too weak? It caused my Primordial Spirit to burst out, and I couldn't control it... and it ended up like this!" Luo Xuanqing scratched his head, a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

"Stabilizing a Primordial Spirit... could result in *this*?" Zhang Xuan stared blankly. When this guy said he had something to do at the Soul Awakener Guild earlier, Zhang Xuan had guessed he might be looking for help stabilizing his Primordial Spirit to prepare for the Void Glimpse Tribulation... He had thought it would be simple, but he never dreamed Luo Xuanqing would still manage to demolish the hall. "Can't he go anywhere without causing destruction? Isn't this incredibly shameful?"

"It's all because this hall was poorly designed, the building wasn't sturdy..." Luo Xuanqing waved his hand, huffing with an expression that clearly said it wasn't his fault.

"Luo Xuanqing, have you no shame?" Before he finished speaking, an angry shout rang out, and several people were seen stomping over, fuming. Leading them was a young man, appearing to be twenty-eight or twenty-nine, whose appearance bore some resemblance to Zhang Chun.

"Zhang Feng, what do you mean?"

"You've come twice, and both times it ended up like this! From today onwards, my Soul Awakener Guild no longer welcomes you. If you dare to take another step inside, don't blame us for being impolite..." Zhang Feng gritted his teeth.

"Impolite? Your guild's building quality is too poor, what does that have to do with me?" Luo Xuanqing scoffed.

"You have the nerve to say that... if your Primordial Spirit hadn't gone out of control, would it have ended up like this? You're a complete king of destruction!" With a wave of his hand, Zhang Feng stepped forward. "I will now issue the Soul Awakener Guild's Saint Son decree... If you dare to step foot in here again, all Soul Awakeners can directly attack you without mercy!"