Chapter 1789: Heartstate Breakthrough to Ancient Sage

Since there was no danger, there was no need to waste time. They should quickly pass the assessment and then find the Spring and Autumn Codex.

Everyone nodded simultaneously and walked towards the passage together.

Whoosh!

As he approached, Zhang Xuan immediately felt a warm glow envelop him. His vision blurred, and he vanished from his spot.

The next moment, he appeared before a majestic mountain peak. Soaring into the clouds, its peak out of sight, the entire mountain seemed to be formed from stacked books. There were no paths, no visible end, only a series of characters occasionally appearing and floating, giving it a dreamlike and illusory feel.

"Reaching the summit means you pass! If you give up, you will be granted different opportunities based on your progress!"

Master Kong's faint voice continued to resound.

"Mm!" Zhang Xuan responded and took a deep breath. Although everything before him appeared incredibly real, based on the situation with Zhao Ya and the others just now, it had to be an illusion.

In other words, his physical body was still in the passage, but his spirit had entered this great mountain made of stacked books.

His gaze was serious, and Zhang Xuan circulated the power within him. He did not leave his spot.

"It seems I can't fly... That makes sense; if I could fly, it would be too easy..." He nodded to himself. Reaching the summit meant passing; if one could fly, wouldn't it be too simple to just fly straight up?

He looked at the book mountain again. The entire mountain was bare, nothing but books. There were no passages, nor any obvious places to start climbing.

He gently pressed his palm against a book. Just as he intended to climb upwards, he felt an immense pressure bear down on him. As if struck by lightning, his entire body went numb. His palm seemed to be pricked by thorns, and blood seeped out.

"This..." His expression darkened.

He had been thinking it was just a climb, and with his strength, even if the surface were as smooth as a mirror, reaching the peak shouldn't be difficult. He hadn't expected such immense pressure! It was as if an expert at the Grand Perfected Immortal Realm was continuously attacking him. How could he ascend in such a situation?

"Could it be... it's not about climbing?"

After circling for a while and trying several spots, all with the same result—unable to ascend even half a meter before being pushed down by the pressure—Zhang Xuan had to stop, his brows furrowed. If it wasn't by climbing, and there were no paths, how was he supposed to get up?

No wonder Zhao Ya, Wei Ruyan, and the others couldn't pass. It was indeed not as simple as he had imagined.

"Since it's a mountain of books, I should first examine what kind of books these are. Perhaps I can find a clue..."

He paused for a moment, then looked at the numerous books before him. With a thought, hundreds of books were collected into his Library, and countless pieces of knowledge flowed into his mind. These books covered various topics: cultivation techniques, martial arts, humanities, geography, astronomy, divination... It seemed that many professions on the continent were represented within them.

Whoosh!

As soon as he had processed the knowledge, a set of steps suddenly appeared on the smooth, mirror-like book mountain before him, seemingly several stories high.

Zhang Xuan was momentarily stunned. He had circled for a long time just now and hadn't seen this. How could it appear after he had only read a few hundred books? Could it be... that reading books could reveal a path?

"Let's try!"

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated and directly scanned the surroundings of the book mountain.

Whoosh!

Countless books appeared within the Library. In less than ten minutes, he had collected tens of thousands of them. With a thought, knowledge flowed into his mind. He closed his eyes tightly. As soon as he had digested it, he felt the mountain peak before him tremble, and a set of steps appeared out of thin air, slowly extending upwards.

"Indeed..."

Seeing that it was indeed related to reading and digesting knowledge, Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed. If others were to read so many books, even if they could scan with their spiritual sense, they would surely go crazy and their minds would become chaotic. He was different; with a single glance, the Library automatically recorded, organized, and converted them into memories... Not a single moment was wasted, nor did it cause his mind to become muddled. He was now like a powerful computer. The enormous book mountain before him, which for others required memorization, deep thought, and constant recitation, was for him merely a matter of copying and pasting.

Whoosh!

Stepping onto the stairs, he continued to look at the surrounding books, and knowledge flowed into his mind. As he read more books, the stairs appeared layer by layer, and Zhang Xuan gradually walked upwards. As he progressed, he also discovered that typically, reading a hundred books would make one flight of stairs appear. Only he could read books like this; if it were anyone else, constantly reading and memorizing... even an Ancient Sage would surely have gone mad long ago.

After walking for an unknown duration, he looked down. Below, clouds swirled, revealing only a single staircase, diagonally piercing through the white clouds. The surrounding world was vast and desolate, and he seemed to be the only solitary figure remaining.

"Reading so many books and still not reaching the summit... Anyone's mind would break under this!" He sighed with emotion.

As expected, the flow of time here was completely different from the outside world. With such a powerful cheat, he had spent most of the day reaching this point. For others to reach this point, it would absolutely take hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Hundreds of years of continuous reading with no tangible reward—just the solitude would cause one's mentality to become imbalanced; even an Ancient Sage might not be able to persevere.

He continued forward a few steps. After a while, Zhang Xuan's face was filled with helplessness. From this point on, he needed to read a thousand books for one flight of stairs to appear. It had already been difficult to persevere before, but now the difficulty increased tenfold, equivalent to the last straw that breaks the camel's back. However, while the difficulty increased for others, for him, it was still just a process of copying, making no difference.

Continuing forward, he walked for another half a day. At this point, he had to read ten thousand books for a single step to appear. Knowing he was nearing the end, Zhang Xuan did not give up and accelerated his pace.

After another unknown period of time, he finally saw the mountain peak appear in his sight.

"Diligence is the path to the mountain of books... It seems Master Kong is testing one's comprehension of knowledge and diligence..." Zhang Xuan sighed with emotion.

Only by reading books could one ascend the mountain; the more one read, the higher one climbed. This was not only a test of one's mental fortitude but also Master Kong's warning to future generations. He wanted to tell future generations... that ultimately, cultivation wasn't about innate talent, but about knowledge and culture! Only with a sufficient cultural foundation could one gain a deeper comprehension and understanding of cultivation and the Heavenly Dao. Only then could one possess a broader mind to accept new things, and only then could one progress further and achieve greater success.

Just like the Seventy-Two Sages and the Ten Disciples of Confucius. Even if their innate talent wasn't as great as Master Kong's, they received his personal guidance and direct instruction on cultivation methods. Their conditions were surely far more advantageous than his. Yet, their achievements were far from comparable to Master Kong's...

There was only one possibility: that in terms of knowledge, they were far inferior to Master Kong, and their cultural background limited their progress. Master Kong, who had once established the High, Middle, and Low tiers for various professions, seemingly unrelated to cultivation, actually used this tempering to broaden his perspective and advance further in the world.

Crack!

As these thoughts flowed through his mind, suddenly, the sound of an egg cracking echoed, or like a seedling breaking through the soil to welcome the sunlight.

"My State of Mind... broke through 29.9?"

His fists clenched, and Zhang Xuan's eyes emitted dazzling light.