Chapter 1948: Dan Xiaotian Advances

This gourd was the very same one that had been stubbornly residing in his dantian. Last time, it had popped out and swallowed the dragon blood offered during Emperor Chen Ling's sacrifice, making him so angry he almost exploded. This time, it waited until just the right moment again, not too early, not too late, to swallow his healing pill!

Were you reincarnated as a glutton?!

How could he have such an unreliable companion?

Trembling with rage, Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth, "Spit it out!"

He gripped the gourd by its slender middle and squeezed with all his might. However, being severely injured, his strength was limited.

"It's already eaten. Do you want me to... bring it back up?" the gourd wiggled its bottom.

"Damn you..." Zhang Xuan picked up the gourd, slammed it onto the ground, and kicked it twice before finally letting out a breath. He then warned, "I'm using these pills to recover from my injuries. If you cause any more trouble, I swear I'll throw you into a cesspool right now!"

"You were injured by a spatial storm, with spatial rifts inside you. You think this kind of pill can heal your injuries? How long will that take, a hundred years?" Hearing him talk about healing his injuries, the gourd sneered, wiggling even more excitedly.

"You mean this pill can't heal my injuries?" Zhang Xuan frowned. The Library of Heaven's Path couldn't assess his own condition because his true qi was unusable. He only knew his injuries were very severe but had no idea of their exact extent.

"For ordinary injuries, certainly, but for damage caused by a spatial storm... you could eat a whole basket of these pills, and they still wouldn't do much!" the gourd stated.

"Then... what level of medicine do I need?" Knowing that this fellow wasn't lying to him, Zhang Xuan's anger subsided a little. He asked, "What kind of medicine is needed?"

"You need pills that can heal spatial injuries, but they're incredibly rare and extremely valuable, virtually impossible to find. How about this... get me a few more of those pills you just had. Once I'm full, I'll tell you how to heal yourself..." the gourd said, looking proud.

Before it even finished speaking, the young man in front of it struggled out of the quiet room and shouted, "Shan Xiaotian, get me a kitchen knife!"

"A kitchen knife?"

"Yes, I have a gourd I want to turn into a ladle. I need a knife to chop it open... an axe works too!" Zhang Xuan replied.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you how to fix it..." Seeing that Zhang Xuan was serious, actually bringing an axe into the room and chopping wildly at it, the gourd couldn't hold back anymore. "Actually, it's not because I'm greedy that I asked for pills. It's because my power is very weak right now, and I need to take medicine to recover some strength before I can help you heal your injuries!"

"Don't play any tricks..." Zhang Xuan's axe pressed down on the gourd.

"No tricks, I swear..." The gourd quickly nodded.

Zhang Xuan returned to the Transcendent Jade Token and used the remaining 100,000 to purchase five Qingyang Pills, which he then handed over to the gourd.

After devouring them, the gourd let out a burp and wiggled over. "Get a large pot, put me in it, and boil me. After an hour, drink the water inside, and your injuries will recover..."

"Boil you and drink the water?" Zhang Xuan was stunned. Such a bizarre healing method existed?

"Yep!" the gourd said, then lazily flopped onto the ground. "If you don't hurry, I'm going back to rest..."

Knowing the gourd's extremely unpredictable nature and that it might actually leave if it said so, Zhang Xuan, filled with helplessness, had no choice but to instruct Shan Xiaotian, who was still guarding outside.

Before long, his tenth disciple brought in the pot and water. As he carried them in, he couldn't help but feel confused. *Didn't Master say he was going to treat his injuries? First a kitchen knife, then an axe, and now a pot? Was this for... hot pot?* Thinking this, he couldn't help but ask, "Master, do you still need lamb or fish balls? If so, I'll have someone prepare them..."

"..." Zhang Xuan.

After finally managing to appease his disciple, Zhang Xuan boiled water and dropped the gourd in. The gourd floated on top, backstroking one moment, diving the next, clearly having a great time. Watching its cheerful antics, Zhang Xuan clutched his forehead, unsure if listening to it was the right decision. On the Master Teacher Continent, he could summon wind and rain, standing at the very pinnacle. Yet here, he was being ordered around by a mere gourd... The thought alone was disheartening.

The most crucial question was... what exactly *was* this thing? Other people's treasures appeared at a mere thought and vanished with a wave, but this one burrowed into his dantian, impossible to summon, and once it *did* emerge, it just ate... It wasn't serious at all. He truly didn't know how someone as reliable as himself could end up with such an unreliable item.

An hour passed in a flash. Without Zhang Xuan needing to retrieve it, the gourd drilled back into his dantian.

He poured the water out of the pot and drank a few mouthfuls. Sure enough, he felt a refreshing sensation inside, and the previously severe pain from his injuries was significantly alleviated.

"It actually worked..." His eyes lit up. He had thought the gourd was tricking him and even had his axe ready again, but he hadn't expected it to actually work.

"The Hollow-Void Gourd... it inherently involves space, so perhaps this is related..." While he knew this Hollow-Void Gourd was surely more profound than just the Hollow Void realm, he still couldn't figure out the underlying principle after thinking for a long time, so he simply consoled himself with that thought.

Before long, he finished drinking the entire pot of water, his belly distended and round. His internal injuries were visibly recovering. In less than half an hour, his body jolted, and the bandages on him scattered, falling to the floor.

"My injuries are completely healed, but my strength hasn't fully recovered yet..." The injuries sustained from traversing the spatial passage were now perfectly fine. However, his true qi had been completely depleted and hadn't yet fully recovered.

Sitting on the ground, Zhang Xuan carefully sensed the mercury-like aura around him. All his pores opened, slowly absorbing it. As the energy flowed into his body, his meridians felt heavy from the pressure, but there was no tearing sensation.

"I didn't expect that with my injuries healed, my body would also adapt to this power?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up. He was currently circulating the normal Heaven's Path Cultivation Technique, not releasing any killing intent. When he had practiced like this in the Kunxu Realm, he couldn't withstand it at all. He hadn't expected that after his injuries healed, his meridians seemed to have become much stronger. Although they still felt heavy, it was no longer an issue.

Spiritual energy entered his body, circulating rapidly. Before long, it transformed into true qi, flowing throughout his system.

"I should be able to fully recover within three days..." Feeling the speed at which he was absorbing spiritual energy, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. After becoming a Conferred Saint and Master of Heaven and Earth, his true qi reserves had already reached an astonishing level. However, having completely depleted them this time, even with the Heaven's Path Cultivation Technique absorbing the mercury-like spiritual energy, it would still take at least three days to fully recover.

However, as long as he had true qi, even just a few strands, his cultivation would be equivalent to the early Void Shattering realm, and he would have nothing to fear in Xuanjiang City.

After adjusting for a while longer and storing hundreds of strands of true qi within him, he called Shan Xiaotian back in.

"Master, you've recovered?" Shan Xiaotian's eyes lit up when he saw that his master's bandages were gone and his previous listlessness had vanished.

"Yes," Zhang Xuan smiled faintly. "Throw a punch for me so I can determine the gu worm's position, then I'll help you eliminate it!"

Shan Xiaotian quickly nodded and executed a set of boxing techniques. After watching for a while, Zhang Xuan determined the location. His palm pressed down sharply, pointing into the air. A strand of Heaven's Path true qi immediately surged into Shan Xiaotian's body. It burrowed along the meridians into his body and, the next moment, reached the gu worm's hiding place.

Sizzling!

Like a corrosive poison, the gu worm, which had been lying there contentedly, immediately fled outwards in fright upon sensing this power. Before it could get far, another strand of true qi surged in and enveloped it. Not long after, it dissolved into a puddle of thick liquid.

Rumble!

The moment the gu worm died, Shan Xiaotian's body involuntarily expanded as if he were a balloon being inflated.

"Master, what's happening to me...?" Feeling the surging power within him, threatening to tear him apart at any moment, Shan Xiaotian's face turned pale.

"I told you before that for ten years, your cultivation never stopped, but your cultivation didn't increase. It wasn't because you weren't diligent enough, but because all the spiritual energy you absorbed was swallowed by this gu worm," Zhang Xuan explained with a smile. "Imagine how much power it swallowed over ten years of your hard work! Now it's all returned to you, so it's natural to feel swollen. Don't hesitate; refine and absorb it according to this cultivation technique!"

With another tap of his finger, a simplified version of the Heaven's Path Cultivation Technique entered Shan Xiaotian's body. Though he had no time to examine it carefully, Shan Xiaotian knew his master would never harm him. He immediately began circulating the true qi within his body. As soon as he began absorbing this power, he immediately noticed something unusual. Normally, absorbing spiritual energy required transformation, purification, and even adaptation. However, the power flowing into his body after the gu worm's death didn't require any of those steps! It felt as if it was inherently his own power, easily controlled and absorbed!

"This is your true qi from your hard-earned cultivation, so it's natural that you'll control it like a fish in water," Zhang Xuan chuckled, seeing his shock. "Hurry up! Before dark, you might reach the realm you should have attained from ten years of hard work!"

"Yes!" Without another word, Shan Xiaotian hastily closed his eyes and rapidly absorbed the power.

Rumble!

His meridians rapidly opened, and power instantly circulated throughout his entire body. His stagnant Saint 6-dan cultivation, which had been unable to progress, visibly soared.

Saint 7-dan!Saint 8-dan!Saint 9-dan!

In less than half an hour, he reached Saint 9-dan and continued to advance.

"He doesn't have a heavenly tribulation?" Zhang Xuan frowned. On the Master Teacher Continent, reaching Saint 8-dan would attract the Hollow Void Tribulation, and Saint 9-dan would attract the Cosmic Tribulation. He himself had expended great effort to overcome them. Yet, this tenth disciple in front of him easily broke through without any phenomenon.

"It must be that the Heaven's Path of the Firmament is more powerful," he quickly realized. "This level of cultivation, like the Grandmasters and Supremes back on the Master Teacher Continent, isn't enough to trigger a backlash... Ordinary people in the Firmament could reach Saint 9-dan upon adulthood. If lightning tribulations appeared at this level, wouldn't the Heaven's Path of the Firmament be exhausted to death?"

While he was lost in thought, he saw that Shan Xiaotian had already broken through to the Great Saint realm. Immediately after, he progressed through the Imperishable Body, Golden Body, and Spontaneous Inspiration realms... until he finally stopped at Great Saint 3-dan Consummation.

The ten years of power the gu worm had swallowed, now entirely released, had allowed him to directly advance six major realms from Saint 6-dan! His strength was now identical to that of Xue Qin, who had come to annul the engagement!