Chapter 856: Goodbye Master Kong

After some time, Zhang Xuan let out a breath, his dark eyes gleaming.

"His state of mind score increased by 2.0!"

This "Master" character heart refinement session had twice the effect of the last one. His state of mind score increased by a full 2.0. Having already reached 19.1, it now broke through to 21.1 in one go.

The requirement for assessing a 7-star master teacher was a certain level of state of mind; now, purely in terms of his state of mind, he could already rival a 7-star master teacher!

A 4-star master teacher possessing the state of mind score of a 7-star master teacher—if this got out, it would surely shock countless people beyond belief.

For master teachers, the most difficult thing to improve was not cultivation or auxiliary professions; it was precisely the state of mind score.

To gain so much from this trip, it was truly the right decision to come. The past few days were certainly not wasted.

Filled with excitement, he was about to put away the scroll when he saw a flash of light on it. A scholarly-looking young man in white robes materialized on the ground.

It was a phantom image formed by light, extremely clear, as if a real person.

"To be able to avoid the trap and find the flaws in my insights, you are very good!"

The young man, appearing to be in his early twenties, smiled slightly as he looked at Zhang Xuan, his eyes full of admiration.

"You are... Master Kong?"

Zhang Xuan was startled, his eyes widening.

Although this phantom image before him was young, it bore a striking resemblance to the old man he had seen in his dream when he first became a Celestial Master Teacher.

In other words... if his guess was correct, this must be Master Kong in his youth!

Master Kong had reached 9-star Master Teacher before the age of thirty. This was the Saint Sealing Platform, meaning it was when he had just achieved sainthood, at which point his Master Teacher rank would correspond to 6-star... Twenty-three or twenty-four years old, it wasn't far off.

"My surname is indeed Kong..."

The young Master Kong smiled, not saying much more. "I am merely a wisp of consciousness now, and I won't remain for long. Since you've seen the issues I left in my insights and understood my intention, consider us fated. This scroll contains my insights on breaking through to the Saint realm, and it also holds cultivation techniques; I bestow it upon you. Study it carefully, and it may greatly benefit your future cultivation."

"It contains cultivation techniques?" Zhang Xuan lowered his head to look at the book.

The content inside was identical to the inscriptions on the rock wall outside. The only difference was that it was Master Kong's personal handwriting, imbued with his vast righteous aura.

Just now, outside, he had used the Library of Heaven's Path to collect the texts, but he hadn't seen any cultivation techniques then.

Could it be that he hadn't studied it carefully enough?

It seemed he would have to examine it thoroughly later.

"Furthermore," the young Master Kong continued with a smile, "these characters contain my essence, qi, and spirit after achieving sainthood. If you utilize them well, they will be of great help to you."

The young Master Kong continued to smile. "That is all I have to say. After all, cultivation relies on oneself. Work hard, and I hope we meet again!"

As he finished speaking, the already somewhat flickering figure appeared as if it could dissipate at any moment.

"Wait," Zhang Xuan said hastily. "I still have something to ask you. I've read ancient texts, and it seems you also suffered from congenital fetal poison. Do you know how it can be resolved?"

Seeing that he was about to disappear, Zhang Xuan dared not hesitate. He paid no mind to the so-called book, urgently looked over, and asked anxiously.

He himself had congenital fetal poison, and having checked ancient texts, Master Kong also had it. Now that he had the chance to ask directly, he naturally wouldn't let it go.

"You also suffer from congenital fetal poison?" Hearing his words, the young Master Kong was startled.

"That's right!" Zhang Xuan quickly said. "How do I resolve it?"

"Haha, my path is not solitary!"

Without answering him, the young Master Kong's eyes lit up, and he burst into laughter. "Finally, someone else is like me! This is excellent..."

Before he finished speaking, the young Master Kong's voice dissipated.

A wisp of consciousness left tens of thousands of years ago could not have lasted much longer anyway. Being able to say this much was already quite remarkable.

"You..."

Zhang Xuan rolled his eyes repeatedly.

I was asking you a question, and you still haven't answered me...

Was this guy really Master Kong?

Weren't they saying Master Kong embraced the world, taking the common people's well-being as his responsibility, and was an out-and-out good person?

How did he feel as sly as himself?

Upon hearing he had congenital fetal poison, not only did he not mention a solution, but he even looked excited... "My path is not solitary," "like me"... Did that mean "as unlucky as you"?

Most importantly, he even said, "Excellent!"... Excellent, my foot!

Zhang Xuan was speechless.

He had originally thought that by encountering Master Kong's wisp of consciousness, he would surely be able to ask for a solution to the congenital fetal poison. But in the end... he got no useful information whatsoever and was even ridiculed by the other party.

"Never mind," he thought. "He probably hadn't found a solution himself at this point..."

Filled with frustration, he suddenly realized when he thought about it.

This wisp of consciousness was left by Master Kong just after he achieved sainthood. At that time, he was only twenty-three or twenty-four years old, at most a 6-star Master Teacher, and he hadn't resolved the congenital fetal poison himself, so it was perfectly normal that he couldn't provide a method!

If he truly wanted to ask, he would likely only get an answer from Master Kong after he reached 9-star.

He shook his head, pushing those thoughts aside, and picked up the bamboo scroll from the table again.

It was woven from bamboo slips, and although it had endured tens of thousands of years, it showed no signs of damage. The characters on it were not written with ink, but carved using a special method. Each one was round and full, imbued with astonishing grandeur.

"If I could copy these characters even once, my achievements in calligraphy and painting would surely increase significantly!"

Feeling the surging power emanating from the characters, Zhang Xuan's mind became active.

Master Kong, who founded the Master Teacher profession, was naturally not weak in calligraphy and painting. Although he was only around 6-star when he left these characters, his comprehension in calligraphy and painting was already no weaker than some 7-star, or even 8-star calligraphers and painters.

If he could meticulously copy and diligently study them, reaching 6-star or 7-star in calligraphy and painting should not be difficult.

As for the cultivation techniques mentioned by the other party, he hadn't found them yet. He could only go back and study it thoroughly.

Just as he was about to take the bamboo scroll, a thought suddenly struck him, and he took out a book from his embrace.

It was precisely the Tome of Heaven's Path that suppressed the Feral.

He had just damaged the rock wall of the Saint Sealing Platform, and fearing he might be surrounded and attacked, he had taken it out of his storage ring as a precaution.

"What is it?"

He opened the book and looked at the heart before him.

The thing had been continuously beating, and it seemed to want to say something.

"This is Master Kong's personal handwriting, imbued with his will," the Feral said with greed. "Why not... let me devour it! Once I consume it, my strength will recover significantly... and then, I can be of great help to you!"

"Dream on!"

Zhang Xuan slapped it.

He had thought it was something important, but he never imagined this guy wanted to devour the book he had just acquired. What a wild idea!

"These characters are already recorded in your mind, so whether you have the book or not doesn't matter much," the Feral continued after being slapped. "If you give it to me, I can use the aura within the characters to purify my murderous qi, and even... imitate Master Kong's aura to teach others a lesson for you!"

After being slapped and tumbling several times, the Feral stopped and continued, "Anyway, with your book suppressing me, I can't escape. The more my strength recovers, the safer you'll be..."

"Don't even think about this book! However, I will find a way to help you recover your strength!"

Waving his hand, Zhang Xuan stopped the idle chatter and put both the bamboo scroll and the book into his embrace.

Having finally obtained a book personally written by Master Kong, he naturally couldn't let this guy devour it. Besides, if it weren't for Luo Ruoxi, he wouldn't have gotten this item at all. This book wasn't just his; it belonged to both of them.

How to deal with it required discussion with her first.

However, what the other party said was true: the more this guy recovered his strength, the safer Zhang Xuan would be.

With the Tome of Heaven's Path suppressing him, he wasn't afraid of the Feral rebelling. No matter how strong it became, could it surpass the Heaven's Path? It could only obediently listen to him.

"I won't think about it for now..."

Knowing that thinking too much was useless, he pushed open the door and stepped out of the thatched hut.

He then saw the girl's back standing on the grass not far away, appearing quite forlorn.

"How was it?"

Seeing him appear, the girl turned around and smiled faintly.

"I benefited greatly... What about you? Did you gain anything?" Zhang Xuan couldn't help but ask.

She had come here seemingly to verify a certain conjecture. The exact location where Master Kong achieved sainthood had been found, but whether she had succeeded was unknown.

"I did gain something, but... never mind, it's not worth mentioning!"

Not wanting to elaborate, Luo Ruoxi looked up. "You received the 'Master' character heart refinement; it wasn't a wasted trip for you. Let's go back!"

"Go back?" Zhang Xuan was startled, and quickly took out the bamboo scroll from his embrace. "We discovered this together; half of it is yours. How should we deal with it?"

"This book, you obtained it by finding the errors in Master Kong's insights, so it naturally belongs to you..." Luo Ruoxi shook her head.

She now understood that before, at the Saint Sealing Platform, Zhang Xuan hadn't been wantonly destroying things. Instead, he had solved a problem left by Master Kong, which triggered a certain restriction.

It was a test intentionally left by Master Kong.

"No, we obtained this together..." Zhang Xuan shook his head.

If it weren't for her bringing him here, he wouldn't even have known about the Saint Sealing Platform, let alone this place.

Now that he had already benefited from the "Master" character heart refinement and she hadn't gotten anything, he truly felt a bit bad.

"Master Kong's personal handwriting—others would fear it being snatched away if they got it, yet you actually want to give it away..."

Seeing his attitude, Luo Ruoxi shook her head with a wry smile.

This wasn't some common item; it was Master Kong's personal handwriting!

If this item were released, even the Saint Clans would fiercely contend for it. Yet, this guy before her didn't take it seriously... She truly didn't know if he was genuinely foolish or feigning it.

"Alright, I'll tell you, this thing is useless to me. If I wanted it, I could certainly find more. You keep it for now!"

"Useless?" Zhang Xuan was startled.

Although he didn't know why she was so confident, her demeanor didn't seem feigned, so he knew she was speaking the truth.

"I'm not very clear about the Saint Clans, but perhaps... they don't lack Master Kong's works!"

He quickly understood.

She was very likely from the Luo Clan, a Saint Clan. Such a prominent family, with an unknown length of heritage, would certainly be able to produce quite a few of Master Kong's personal writings, however precious they were.

Furthermore, the personal writing in his hand was merely left by Master Kong when he achieved sainthood, still some distance from his peak. It was perfectly normal for a descendant of such a prominent family to look down on it.

"Then I won't be polite..."

Seeing that she genuinely didn't want it, Zhang Xuan said no more. He put away the bamboo scroll, glanced around, and looked at her with a puzzled expression: "Since this is a folded space, how do we get out?"