Chapter 690: Five Radiant Golden Bodies

The moment his finger touched the "Five Elements Golden Body" manual, the Library of Heaven's Path generated its content. For him, it no longer mattered whether he read the physical book.

He had expected such a high-level manual to be incredibly profound. He never dreamed that upon opening it, he would find seventy-eight flaws. If he had known this garbage was so useless, he wouldn't have bothered coming all this way. He would have been better off collecting similar techniques back in Emperor Phantom Feather's capital. As long as he had enough body cultivation techniques, the results would undoubtedly be much better! What a waste! He looked utterly dejected.

However, it was too late to complain now. He shook his head, approached the headless puppet, grabbed it, and stored it in his storage ring. Even though the puppet was decapitated and seemingly useless, its body was forged to be indestructible, making it a truly valuable item. He planned to take it back and study it, to see if he could extract some rare minerals from it.

Leaving the main hall, they entered a small stone chamber where Luo Qiqi retrieved her longsword. They then ascended the stairs, returning to the Dragon-Breaking Lock. Zhang Xuan ran his fingers along the Dragon-Breaking Lock for a long time, then gently pressed a spot according to the directions in the book. Click! The sound of the lock mechanism activating echoed, followed by a slight tremor from the Dragon-Breaking Lock.

"Is it open?" Luo Qiqi's eyes lit up, and she reached out to push. Her face turned red with effort, but the massive rock remained motionless.

Zhang Xuan frowned. Luo Qiqi, at the peak of the Bridge of Heaven realm (Transcendental Mortal 6-dan), possessed over 6.2 million ding of strength. It was understandable that she couldn't open the Dragon-Breaking Lock when it was sealed, but why couldn't she push it now that the mechanism was open?

"Let me try!" Approaching it, Zhang Xuan raised his eyebrows and exerted force with both arms. RUMBLE! His physical strength, soul force, and zhenqi combined, unleashed over nine million ding of power, all directed at the Dragon-Breaking Lock. The massive object above remained completely still, as if glued in place.

"This..." Zhang Xuan lowered his arms, utterly bewildered. "Could it be... this thing broke after two thousand years?" According to the book left by Wu Yangzi, once the mechanism was activated, the Dragon-Breaking Lock should be pushable. How could it be that after so much effort, it had no effect? That shouldn't be the case! If it was really broken, they would be in serious trouble. A single Dragon-Breaking Lock was difficult for even a Saint to break, let alone them. Could their only way out simply be gone?

"It's recorded here," Luo Qiqi said, pulling out Wu Yangzi's artifact forging legacy and quickly flipping through it. "Even if the lock mechanism of the Dragon-Breaking Lock is opened, it can't be pushed open just by anyone. It requires pure physical strength. If zhenqi is used, the mechanism will automatically re-lock."

"Pure physical strength?" Zhang Xuan was startled.

"Yes. The Dragon-Breaking Lock is a combination of mechanisms and special devices, extremely sensitive to zhenqi," Luo Qiqi explained. "Since Master Wu Yangzi left this failsafe, he must have intended to prevent the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe from discovering it. Their unique killing aura is similar to zhenqi, and if that aura passes through, it will automatically re-lock, preventing them from opening it even if they know the mechanism!"

"Oh!" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up. Given Wu Yangzi's track record of cunningly eliminating so many Otherworldly Demons, it was highly plausible he would design such a mechanism. If an Otherworldly Demon had indeed obtained his legacy, even if they knew there was a way out, they wouldn't be able to leave and would likely die of frustration.

"Let's try again!" With this new hypothesis, Zhang Xuan withdrew his soul and zhenqi power. His muscles rippled as he pushed forcefully. Creak! Creak! The Dragon-Breaking Lock emitted a dull grinding sound, but it still wouldn't open.

"My strength isn't enough!"

"Let me help you!" Luo Qiqi walked over, and they both pushed together, but found they still couldn't open it. In other words, their combined physical strength was still insufficient. However, the Dragon-Breaking Lock was clearly not as completely unmoving as before. This meant their approach was correct; they simply lacked enough strength.

"Although we couldn't push it open, the mechanism definitely didn't re-lock. Now... the only way is to quickly increase our physical strength!" He frowned. Zhang Xuan could actually summon his clone and have it work with his main body, which should open it. However, his clone was extraordinary, and he didn't want others to know about it. Once revealed, not only might the matter of Master Yang be exposed, but his cultivation of the Demonic Tune also definitely wouldn't be kept secret.

"Increase physical strength? Master, do you mean... cultivate the Five Elements Golden Body?" Luo Qiqi was startled.

"Yes! This might also be Senior Wu Yangzi's test," Zhang Xuan analyzed. "If we can't even cultivate the Five Elements Golden Body, then the talk of forging Saint artifacts is likely just empty words... If that's the case, we might as well stay here and accompany him!"

One had to admit, Senior Wu Yangzi had accounted for everything. His meticulous planning was astonishing. It suddenly made sense; to design such intricate mechanisms and trick so many Otherworldly Demons to their deaths, this grandmaster artifact forger must have planned everything flawlessly. Otherwise, he certainly wouldn't have been the one to have the last laugh; he would have been killed by the Otherworldly Demons long ago.

"Cultivate now?" Luo Qiqi's face showed distress. "Body cultivation isn't something achieved in a day. It requires years of continuous training, through all seasons. Are we going to be trapped here for many years?" Body cultivation, like zhenqi cultivation, is a system of training. Without years, even decades, of relentless, day-and-night practice, progress is almost impossible. If they had to cultivate to get out... when would that even be possible? They weren't really going to be trapped here until they died, were they?

"Besides the... Five Elements Golden Body, do you have any other body cultivation techniques on you?" Seeing her frown, unsure of what to do, Zhang Xuan hesitated before asking.

"Other body cultivation techniques? I have quite a few, but... their levels aren't particularly high, nor are they very powerful!" Luo Qiqi was startled, unsure why her master was asking this. As a five-star alchemist and artifact forger, she had high demands for her physical body, so she possessed many such methods. However, they were all low-level and far inferior to the Five Elements Golden Body.

"Bring them all over and let me see them!" He had only asked casually, but to his surprise, she actually had them. Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

"Alright!" Knowing that her master must have his reasons, Luo Qiqi didn't ask further. With a flick of her wrist, a pile of books, hundreds of them, landed densely on the stone steps.

"So many..." He had thought she might have a dozen or so at most; he never expected so many. Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed as he eagerly picked them up, touching each one.

"Actually... a classmate helped me collect them," Luo Qiqi said, a little embarrassed. "Last time I took the five-star artifact forger exam, my physique wasn't strong enough, so he gathered all these..." Even the unruly Princess Yu Feier had suitors; with Luo Qiqi's beauty, it was natural she wouldn't lack them. After she failed the five-star artifact forger exam last time, a senior from the artifact forging academy, who was a suitor, collected all these body cultivation techniques and sent them to her. She had always wanted to return them but hadn't found the opportunity. Since her master needed them now, she took them all out.

"Excellent..." The hundreds of books were quickly processed. Zhang Xuan stood up, his mind stirring. The Library of Heaven's Path now contained a brand new Five Elements Golden Body manual. He casually flipped it open. The pages were densely filled with content, and surprisingly, there were only four flaws.

"This is perfect..." He smiled faintly. Just moments ago, he had been frustrated that the Five Elements Golden Body manual had too many flaws to cultivate. He never expected Luo Qiqi's body cultivation techniques to easily supplement it. Even with four remaining flaws, cultivation would undoubtedly be much faster than before! With this, he could make his physical body incredibly powerful within just one hour!

"Let's go back to the hall!" The stone steps were too narrow for cultivation. Returning to the main hall, they both sat on the ground and began to cultivate.

Understanding her master's intention, Luo Qiqi casually opened the Five Elements Golden Body manual. The first page contained an introduction: "The Five Elements Golden Body was not created by me, but obtained from an ancient ruin. It has five levels, known as the 'Five Elements'. Upon completion, the body shines with five-colored light, possessing unparalleled power... I myself have only cultivated it to the Three Elements realm!"

After reading for a while, Luo Qiqi couldn't help but feel admiration. It had to be said that the person who created this cultivation method was indeed a genius. At the Master Teacher Academy, she had seen many geniuses and formidable master teachers, and she had heard of many powerful body cultivation techniques, but none seemed comparable to this one! However, despite its power, it was indeed very difficult to cultivate successfully. Beyond other things, reaching the second element wasn't something achievable through mere arduous training; it also required various supplementary materials. Although she had many pills and herbs on her, none of them clearly met the requirements.

"Never mind, I'll worry about that later. For now, I'll just focus on cultivating the first element and getting out of here..." Pushing other thoughts aside, she turned to the content of the first element. The first line on the page read: "Cultivating this level requires concentrating all of one's strength. For those with good talent, it takes approximately two years to achieve mastery. For those with weaker talent, at least ten years!"

"Two years?" Luo Qiqi's mouth twitched. If she was trapped here for two years, the entire academy would probably assume she was dead! And that was for those with good talent. What if they couldn't do it in two years? Wouldn't they be trapped here for ten?

"What are you thinking? Hurry up and cultivate! The sooner you succeed, the sooner we can leave!" Shaking her head, she cast aside the distracting thoughts. Gritting her teeth, Luo Qiqi began to memorize the first level of the technique. She didn't know how much time had passed, but just as she finished memorizing the content and was about to start understanding it for cultivation, she saw Master Zhang, not far away, stand up.

"Let's go!"

"Go where?" Luo Qiqi was stunned. She hadn't even started cultivating yet, why was he in such a hurry?

"To leave! Don't you want to go?" Zhang Xuan looked at her.

"I..." Luo Qiqi's expression was odd. "Of course I want to go, but... didn't we come here specifically to cultivate because we couldn't push open the Dragon-Breaking Lock? I just finished reading the first level of the Five Elements Golden Body; I haven't even had a chance to cultivate it yet..."

Zhang Xuan shook his head. "It's fine, I'm done cultivating!"

"Done cultivating?" Luo Qiqi was bewildered. "What do you mean?"

As she wondered, they had already reached the Dragon-Breaking Lock. She then watched as Master Zhang extended his arm and exerted force. His entire body glowed with light, and with a resounding "Creak!", the Dragon-Breaking Lock directly opened.

"The Five Elements Golden Body... the first level? What just happened?" Luo Qiqi's delicate body swayed; she was almost going insane. Didn't you say you hadn't read this book? What in the world was going on?