Chapter 14: Modifying the Cultivation Method

After finally managing to usher away the lingering fat man and arrange everything, Zhang Xuan helplessly realized that the sun had already set in the west, and it was almost dark.

"It seems there are only five students!"

He shook his head.

Today was the last day for student recruitment, and by this time, it had completely ended.

He had initially thought he wouldn't recruit a single student, so managing to recruit five was a decent achievement for him, considering he ranked last in the teacher's assessment.

Closing the classroom door, Zhang Xuan walked back in the direction his memory guided him.

As a teacher at the academy, he had his own single dorm room, though it was just a small space, about ten square meters.

He quickly returned to his dorm, pushed open the door, and walked in. Looking at the scene inside, he couldn't help but sigh.

He had to admit, his predecessor's situation was truly miserable. Not only was the room small, but it was also slightly damp, and the bedding had long since started to mildew. He truly wondered how the previous occupant had managed to sleep here.

"I'll put that aside for now. Classes start tomorrow, so today I must first understand my cultivation level, then try practicing!"

Since he wasn't hungry, Zhang Xuan sat cross-legged on the bed, following the method from his memory.

As a transmigrationist, although he had inherited his predecessor's memories and cultivation was not unfamiliar to him, the thought of growing stronger still made him extremely excited.

Now that student recruitment was over, it was time to cultivate and consolidate his strength. After all, in this world, strength was paramount.

While the Library of Heaven's Path could instantly identify others' weak points and flaws, allowing him to easily overcome those of similar strength, if an opponent was too much stronger, even with flaws, his speed wouldn't be able to keep up. Far from injuring them, he might even end up being dissected and studied like a lab rat.

Therefore, while the Library of Heaven's Path was powerful, it was not an invincible artifact. To become stronger, continuous cultivation was the true path!

"The cultivation technique my predecessor practiced was called the Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art! It was created by the founder of Hongtian Academy and has nine levels, corresponding to each level of a martial artist's cultivation!"

Recalling the cultivation technique recorded in his mind.

Martial artists have nine cultivation levels, with each level presenting a new tier of difficulty. The higher one cultivated, the more challenging it became.

The Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art was one of the most practiced techniques in Hongtian Academy; it also had nine levels, corresponding to the nine levels of martial artists.

"Currently, among all the teachers in the academy, my strength is the lowest!"

Almost all teachers in the academy had reached the Fourth Stage of Martial Artist, while he was only at the Third. He had to accelerate his cultivation.

He focused his mind intently, following the breathing technique from his memory.

Suddenly, it was as if countless bright particles appeared before his eyes. As he slowly breathed and absorbed, the true qi within his dantian gradually became more substantial.

After cultivating for an unknown period, Zhang Xuan opened his eyes and couldn't help but shake his head.

"This is too slow!"

Although he had inherited his predecessor's memories, his consciousness was still that of an Earthling, and he found it difficult to sit idly and cultivate.

He felt even more powerless, especially when he saw the process of condensing true qi.

Condensing true qi meant gathering spiritual energy particles from the air, one by one, compressing them, and like building blocks, forming vast flows.

This process was immense. Some cultivators persisted daily, tirelessly, and only after three years could they fill their dantian and attempt to break through to a higher realm.

It was a matter of persistent, incremental effort.

Cultivating so tediously for several years?

He'd rather be killed!

"Oh, right! The Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art, although the most popular cultivation technique in Hongtian Academy, isn't the most powerful. I can use the Library of Heaven's Path to find its flaws and then figure out how to correct them. If I correct it properly, wouldn't my cultivation yield twice the results with half the effort?"

A thought popped into his mind.

Cultivation techniques varied in strength: stronger ones led to faster cultivation, while weaker ones were slow. Would stronger techniques also have fewer flaws?

Others couldn't improve cultivation techniques, but he was different. With the Library of Heaven's Path at his disposal, he could have it identify flaws and then figure out how to correct them. What if he created a cultivation technique with no flaws that even the Library couldn't find? Wouldn't cultivating it yield twice the results with half the effort and be extremely fast?

Acting on the thought without delay, Zhang Xuan stood up. He casually picked up the copy of the Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art he had been practicing from within the room, held it in his palm, and began to flip through it.

Whoosh!

Just as he expected, the library in his mind vibrated, and immediately, a book with the same name appeared.

He gently opened it. Indeed, it recorded the flaws of the Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art, densely packed, with over a thousand of them!

"Was I just cultivating this technique?" Zhang Xuan was astonished.

A simple third stage, yet so many loopholes—this is outrageous!

It was like eating vegetables full of worms; not having his cultivation ruined already felt impressive.

"What about other cultivation techniques?"

As a teacher, he had many books in his room: the Four Venerable Canons, the All-Heaven Meridian Art, the Lotus Acupoint Rushing Force, and so on. He casually picked up a book, and as soon as he flipped through it, the Library would form a corresponding book, recording all sorts of flaws, with some having over three thousand!

Even more terrifying than the Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art!

"This... wouldn't finding the correct method just exhaust me to death?" After looking for a while, Zhang Xuan felt a bit frantic.

One secret manual contained thousands of flaws, and the correct path was completely unknown. This was like a thousand crossroads, each with countless branches. Even if the Library of Heaven's Path could confirm what was wrong, finding the single most correct path would still exhaust him to death!

"Currently, my cultivation is at the peak of the Third Stage, True Qi realm, of a Martial Artist. I'm just a step away from breaking through. All I need to do is find the flaws in the manual regarding this point and figure out a way to correct them!"

Seeing so many flaws in the third level of the Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art, and knowing he couldn't find them all one by one in a short time, he simply flipped the manual to the last page.

The entire Third Stage of Martial Artist cultivation was troublesome, but the final breakthrough was much simpler.

Indeed, this page had only ten flaws.

"Incorrect method for perceiving spiritual energy, incorrect method for controlling spiritual energy dispersion, incorrect method for gathering spiritual energy to travel through the Yangwei Meridian..."

The ten flaws were recorded in great detail.

The Library of Heaven's Path only marked the errors, without providing solutions, so finding the correct path wasn't as easy as he imagined.

"Oh, right, those few books earlier also contained methods for breaking through the Third Stage of Martial Artist, and it seems their flawed parts were different!"

A flash of inspiration struck him. He remembered the secret manuals he had just seen and immediately turned to their True Qi realm breakthrough sections.

Indeed, just as he recalled, although all had errors, the locations of those errors were different.

"What isn't marked as wrong, must be correct..." Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up. He found paper and a pen, and combining information from a few secret manuals, he first transcribed the correct parts. Soon, a new cultivation method appeared before him.

"Let's see if this has any errors!"

He chuckled softly, picking up the content he had just written. The Library of Heaven's Path vibrated again, and the same book appeared, but this time, it had only one flaw.

He studied for a while longer, corrected this flaw, and when he used the Library of Heaven's Path to observe again, the flaw was indeed rectified, making it perfect.

"This is the most correct method to break through to the Third Stage of Martial Artist! Let's try it!"

Seeing the content he had written by hand, Zhang Xuan nodded excitedly. He quickly sat properly and began to cultivate.

"Relax your entire body, open your pores, and imagine yourself immersed in a bathtub full of spiritual energy. Every pore is a complete life, breathing freely..."

Sizzle!

Cultivating according to this method, he initially wasn't used to it. Not long after, he immediately felt the surrounding spiritual energy descend upon him like an anointing. Although the spiritual energy absorbed by each individual pore was weak, with all pores working simultaneously, the speed was terrifyingly fast.

The abundant spiritual energy was like a hundred streams converging into a river, forming a mighty torrent within his body that surged directly towards his dantian.

Boom!

His Qi Sea roared. The bottleneck he was just one step away from breaking through instantly shattered. True qi overflowed from his dantian, flowing through his entire body, nourishing his muscles and bones, making him feel incredibly comfortable.

Martial Artist Fourth Stage, Skin and Bone Realm!

"This... this is too fast!" Zhang Xuan's eyes widened.

According to the records in the Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art, for his current realm, even if he wanted to break through, it would be impossible without three to five months, or even a good opportunity. Yet after correcting the cultivation technique and removing its flaws, how much time had passed?

Ten minutes? Five minutes?

Probably not even three minutes, and he had successfully broken through!

This...

Moreover, although he only corrected the breakthrough method for the peak of the Martial Artist Third Stage, the true qi he had just gathered was incredibly pure—much more powerful than what he had cultivated before!

If the true qi he had cultivated before was muddy sludge, then this current true qi was crystal-clear spring water, giving a feeling of being utterly pure and bright as a mirror.

True qi also had grades—upper, middle, and lower. The higher the quality, the clearer it was, and the further one could go in their cultivation! His previous true qi was turbid, likely belonging to the worst of the lower grades.

What he had just condensed was crystal clear, likely at least upper-grade true qi!

"Didn't they say... that to cultivate upper-grade true qi, one needed divine or saint-level cultivation techniques?"

Cultivation techniques, according to classification, could be divided into five types: Divine, Saint, Spirit, Ghost, and Mortal. Within each type, there were four sub-levels: low, mid, high, and peak.

According to cultivators, to cultivate upper-grade true qi, one needed at least a Saint-level cultivation technique or higher.

The Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art was merely a low-grade Mortal-level technique, so how could it possibly cultivate such quality true qi?

"It's the Library of Heaven's Path!"

Zhang Xuan clenched his fists.

Although he cultivated using the Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art as a template, he actually avoided all the errors recorded within it and proceeded along the most correct path. Therefore, he was able to gather upper-grade true qi!

It seems... everything recorded by the Library of Heaven's Path was correct. The Nine-fold Heaven Cultivation Art was indeed far from perfect!

"With the Library of Heaven's Path helping me, could I perhaps write a Saint-level, or even Divine-level, cultivation technique myself?"

Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed.