Chapter 935: Again Breaking Through, Half-Saint

“Never mind that for now, I’ll continue cultivating!”

He was now only a step away from becoming a Half-Saint, and he happened to have the Scarlet Glow Fruits needed for the breakthrough. He might as well give it a try.

Adjusting his state to its peak, Zhang Xuan took a deep breath, flipped his palm again, and placed his remaining three hundred spirit stones into the Spirit Gathering Formation.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! As the spirit stones came into contact with the formation, dense spiritual energy immediately surged, filling the area around him as if it were a tangible substance.

Raising an eyebrow, he took out a Scarlet Glow Fruit and swallowed it.

There were ten of these fruits in total; Hu Yaoyao and the others had used four, no longer needing them after their respective breakthroughs. The rest were in his hands.

The fruit melted instantly in his mouth, and a potent energy surged through his limbs and bones, giving him a subtle feeling that he could break through at any moment.

After sensing it, Zhang Xuan knew this power was still quite weak. If he were to push for a breakthrough with his current accumulation, he would likely fail. Not rushing, he took out another one and swallowed it.

After continuously eating four fruits, he finally felt a furious power on the verge of bursting through his body. He stopped, opened his mouth wide, and absorbed the tangible spiritual energy around him into his abdomen.

Boom! With a violent roar, his body seemed to shatter a certain shackle and limitation, as if pushing open a grand door.

All his acupoints opened simultaneously, absorbing all the surrounding spiritual energy into his body. His life underwent an instant transformation, as if reborn.

Half-Saint… he had arrived!

Although still some distance from the Saint realm, a Half-Saint was fundamentally different from a Transcendent Mortal. Both their physical body and soul experienced a qualitative leap, and even their lifespan greatly increased.

A typical Transcendent Mortal lived for about two hundred years, but upon breaking through to Half-Saint, one could live for at least five hundred years!

In other words, his lifespan had more than doubled!

Having reached Half-Saint, his strength once again underwent a qualitative leap. Previously, his pure True Qi strength was 47 million ding. Now it had surged by 13 million ding, reaching 60 million ding!

His pure True Qi strength alone was now comparable to that of an early Leaving Aperture realm cultivator!

Combined with his physical body and soul power, he could easily crush a Saint realm 1-dan expert in close combat.

With this surge in power, his reaction speed and consciousness also underwent significant transformations, becoming sharper and swifter.

Now, if he were to fight Mu Shi's puppet again, he could easily defeat it even without using his clone.

“My strength grew quickly, but unfortunately… I’m broke again!”

Knowing the limits of his strength, Zhang Xuan shook his head with a bitter smile.

Just a few days ago, he had acquired so many valuable items, feeling like a super-rich man, arrogant enough to refuse many gifts. Yet, a single cultivation session immediately brought him back to square one…

His cultivation was truly a bottomless pit!

No wonder. The Path to Conferred Saint required a vast amount of True Qi, and since he cultivated the Heaven's Path Divine Art, the demands were even higher. High-grade spirit stones, priceless to others, were like pebbles thrown into a pond for him – they barely made a ripple.

“Based on a conservative estimate, advancing to the Saint realm… would likely require close to five thousand high-grade spirit stones!”

His mouth twitched.

From the early Chrysalis realm to the early Half-Saint realm, even with the power of four Scarlet Glow Fruits, he still consumed eight hundred high-grade spirit stones. If this continued for Leaving Aperture and Saint realms… five thousand high-grade spirit stones would probably be the bare minimum.

So many… even if he ransacked the entire Master Teacher Academy, he wouldn't be able to gather enough!

“It seems I’ll have to find a way to go out and earn money…”

Rubbing his temples, Zhang Xuan’s face was full of resentment.

What a predicament.

When others cultivated, they worried about how to improve and break through bottlenecks. He never worried about that; instead, every time, it was because he was ‘poor’…

Indeed, poverty limited one’s imagination…

“If all else fails… I’ll sell all the Cloud Mist Flowers and the spirit beasts’ congratulatory gifts!”

The beast pets from Cloud Mist Ridge had given him many congratulatory gifts. Selling these should easily yield two or three thousand high-grade spirit stones, but…

No one in Hongyuan City, not even the imperial family, would likely be able to afford them!

Without spirit stones, even with the Path to Conferred Saint, he couldn't cultivate.

He had originally thought of breaking through to the Saint realm in one go, but now it seemed he had been too optimistic. The current priority was to find ways to earn money and search for treasures!

“Oh right, I wonder if the people from the Four Great Empires and the Master Teacher Pavilions who came earlier are still around. If not, I could sell some things to them…”

Elder Mi had mentioned the Four Great Empires—Hongchi, Yuanjiang, Baituo, and Chiyao—when he was explaining the situation.

These four empires were no less powerful than the Hongyuan Empire, some even surpassing it.

If he could sell some items to them, he should be able to get a good number of spirit stones, enough for him to use for a while…

“That’s something to consider, but first, I need to go to the Academy Head’s Mausoleum and retrieve the Thunderstone…”

Cupping his chin, Zhang Xuan stood up and walked out of the Compendium Pavilion.

The Thunderstone was a treasure for breaking through to the Leaving Aperture realm. Now that he had reached Half-Saint, breaking through was only a matter of time, provided he had enough high-grade spirit stones. It was better to get it first before earning money.

Leaving the Compendium Pavilion, Zhang Xuan found Elder Mi. Just as he was about to speak, he saw the elder looking at him with an excited expression: “Academy Head, congratulations!”

Zhang Xuan looked at him.

“Didn’t the Academy Head mention wanting to purchase some of the Thousand Ant Queen Bee’s vital blood? I submitted an application to the Beast Hall headquarters… and unexpectedly, it was granted! The vital blood of a Saint realm Thousand Ant Queen Bee was delivered early this morning!”

Elder Mi’s face was full of joy: “And the Academy Head’s seven-star Beast Tamer emblem has also arrived!”

With that, he handed over a jade bottle and a rank emblem.

Taking them casually, Zhang Xuan showed a puzzled expression: “Didn’t you say purchasing this would cost a great deal? How…”

The Thousand Ant Queen Bee was too weak to continue building the Thousand Ant Hive unless its strength was increased. A few days ago, he had asked Elder Mi to purchase high-grade vital blood, only to learn it would cost an enormous sum, even thousands of high-grade spirit stones.

How was it that the item was already in hand before he even got the spirit stones?

“It does require a great cost, but the Academy Head’s taming of all the spirit beasts and saint beasts in Cloud Mist Ridge was a monumental contribution… This bottle of Thousand Ant Queen Bee vital blood is a direct reward!”

Elder Mi chuckled: “Furthermore, the Beast Hall also instructed that they hope you can visit their branch in Qingyuan Empire to teach them methods for quickly taming spirit beasts!”

“So that’s it! Please thank the Beast Hall headquarters for me; I’ll definitely visit if I get the chance in the future…”

Hearing that taming the Cloud Mist Ridge spirit beasts was such a great contribution, Zhang Xuan smiled.

He had done it simply because he couldn’t bear to see the academy’s many students die in vain, and besides, the beast tide’s main cause originated with him…

He hadn’t expected it to become a contribution.

Casually uncorking the jade bottle, a surge of pure vital blood energy shot straight up.

Taking a look, Zhang Xuan found it hard to believe: “This is… the vital blood of a Saint realm 4-dan Thousand Ant Queen Bee?”

The vital blood in the jade bottle was not from a Saint realm 1-dan or 2-dan Thousand Ant Queen Bee, but from a 4-dan one.

Such vital blood was incredibly precious and almost impossible to find, yet they had given so much… No wonder it was worth thousands of high-grade spirit stones; if he really had to buy it, he truly couldn’t afford it!

With this, it was predictable that the Thousand Ant Queen Bee’s strength would soar, and its breakthrough to the Saint realm would be just around the corner!

With a flick of his wrist, he sent the jade bottle into the hive for the Queen Bee to consume, while his eyes fell on the Beast Tamer emblem.

He had previously possessed a four-star emblem, and the one in his hand was identical, except the four stars had become seven. The material had also changed, becoming heavier and giving a greater sense of status.

Although his Demonic Tuner profession had also reached seven stars, it was only a low-rank auxiliary profession. Compared to top-ranked professions on the continent like this, there was still a significant gap.

Even without his identity as Academy Head, with just this seven-star Beast Tamer title, no one would dare to look down on him no matter where he went.

“Thank you for your trouble, Elder Mi…”

Knowing that Elder Mi must have put in a lot of effort to help him apply for this emblem, Zhang Xuan nodded.

“What are you talking about, Academy Head…”

Elder Mi shook his head and looked at him with bright eyes: “When does the Academy Head plan to take the six-star Master Teacher assessment? If you’re going to take it, I’ll prepare in advance…”

The Academy Head already had six auxiliary professions that had reached six stars, and he had also passed the assessment at Record Mountain, so he was already eligible to take the six-star Master Teacher assessment.

“Prepare now, but before that, I want to visit the Academy Head’s Mausoleum first!” Zhang Xuan said.

“The Academy Head’s Mausoleum?” Elder Mi was stunned for a moment, then immediately shook his head: “I’m afraid, Academy Head, you’re not yet qualified to enter…”

“Not qualified?” Zhang Xuan frowned.

He had forged the perfect Academy Head Token; was there still a place in the Master Teacher Academy he wasn’t qualified to enter?

“The Academy Head has gained everyone’s approval, and with the Academy Head Token, entering is naturally no problem. However… to enter the Academy Head’s Mausoleum, you need to split off a wisp of your consciousness and leave it on the mausoleum stele… meaning you must leave a wisp of your will behind!”

“This involves splitting the soul, which causes a certain degree of harm to the spirit. It would be better to apply to the Master Teacher Pavilion headquarters for a soul-splitting treasure after you pass the six-star Master Teacher assessment, using your merits. That way… you can ensure your soul remains intact while still entering, achieving the best of both worlds!”

Fearing the Academy Head might misunderstand, Elder Mi hurriedly explained.

Taming so many spirit beasts and saint beasts in Cloud Mist Ridge was a great contribution to the Beast Hall, and naturally, an even greater one to the Master Teacher Pavilion.

He could certainly apply for some powerful treasures to assist him.

Zhang Xuan nodded.

The fact that many Academy Heads of the Master Teacher Academy could appear when ancestors were invoked indicated that they had split off and left behind a wisp of their consciousness while alive.

He had experienced the difficulty of splitting one’s soul before; even for a Soul Oracle, it would severely deplete their vitality, requiring a long recovery. How much more so for an ordinary person?

However, he now possessed the pure soul of an Azure Horned Dragon Beast, so this minor loss was nothing. But if he truly did that, it would inevitably expose his methods and identity as a Soul Oracle.

“I’ll take the six-star Master Teacher assessment first then…”

Hesitating for a moment, Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

As the Academy Head of the Master Teacher Academy, his identity as a Soul Oracle absolutely could not be revealed. Otherwise, explaining the various rules and regulations of the Master Teacher Pavilion would be incredibly troublesome.

Anyway, taking the six-star Master Teacher assessment wasn’t difficult for him, so he might as well take it first.

“Alright…”

Elder Mi nodded, and just as he was about to speak, he saw another elder hurrying over. Upon seeing the two, he quickly cupped his fists: “Academy Head, His Majesty Yu Shenqing has been waiting outside, saying he wishes to see you!”