Chapter 976: Breakthrough, From the Saint

"The fact that I was able to rescue you from them proves I can certainly protect myself! So, there's no need to worry about that. At worst, I can always just leave!"

Zhang Xuan smiled. "I know you're not afraid of death, but even a Master Teacher must die a meaningful death. If you're senselessly killed by these creatures, and they manage to escape the crypt to the surface, who will save the countless human lives there?"

"Uh..." Everyone fell silent. Indeed, even if they weren't afraid of death, they couldn't die in vain. Everything had to be done with purpose.

"Alright, we'll follow your advice and recuperate first! Master Teacher Zhang... you be careful too. If things become too difficult, we can report it to headquarters and let them handle it," the elder from before said.

"Don't worry!" Knowing their good intentions, Zhang Xuan smiled.

"Yes!" Only then did everyone recall the young man's miraculous abilities, and they nodded in unison. To have successfully rescued them while surrounded by so many members of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe, this young man, despite his youth, possessed abilities far beyond their own.

"By the way, do any of you have formation flags or formation plates? The higher the level, the better!" Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Xuan suddenly remembered something and looked at the group.

"Formation flags? Formation plates?" Everyone exchanged glances.

"I have a set of formation flags, roughly peak-level six, with over 120 flags. They can be used to set up the Zhengyu Illusion Formation."

"I have some too, 81 flags, capable of setting up a peak-level six killing formation!"

"When I left, I bought a peak-level six formation plate, but it's only a maze formation, so its power isn't particularly great..."

"I also have a peak-level six formation plate..."

Hearing that he needed formation flags and plates, everyone eagerly retrieved them, accumulating a considerable pile.

These individuals knew that entering the crypt was a near-death experience, so they had all converted their possessions into life-saving treasures. Since formation flags and plates could help the weak overcome the strong and significantly boost one's power, they had naturally prepared a great many of them.

"Excellent, this should be enough..." Zhang Xuan smiled, seeing the ground covered with formation flags and plates.

As expected of peak six-star Master Teachers, they possessed a wealth of valuable items. Although all were merely peak-level six, they represented the most powerful within that tier. Acquiring them externally would be incredibly costly, and many were simply unavailable on the market.

With a sweep of his hand, he collected all these items into his storage ring. Zhang Xuan cupped his fist to the group. "Farewell!"

As he turned to leave, before he had gone far, he heard a voice from behind.

"Dean Zhang, please wait!"

He turned his head to see that it was Lu Feng who had spoken. The man's face was flushed as he looked over.

"Master Lu!" Zhang Xuan acknowledged him.

"Dean Zhang, I... I apologize to you for what happened earlier, and I hope you won't take offense," Lu Feng said.

"Master Lu, you're too kind! Resisting the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe is a responsibility that all Master Teachers should shoulder, without distinction," Zhang Xuan said with a smile.

"Thank you for your generosity, Dean."

After a moment's hesitation, Lu Feng flipped his wrist and produced a round plate. "This is a formation plate I acquired years ago; it's a level-seven maze formation. Perhaps it could be useful to you..."

"A level-seven formation?"

His eyes lit up, and Zhang Xuan quickly took the item. The formation plate was carved from an unknown material, its intricate patterns dense and incredibly fine. Even his Eye of Insight struggled to discern them clearly.

"It was carved by observing with divine sense. Once activated, its power is immense. I obtained it purely by chance and have never used it," Lu Feng explained, seeing Zhang Xuan's scrutiny.

"Carved by observing with divine sense? No wonder!" Zhang Xuan nodded. Only seven-star formation masters could carve formations of level seven. To reach this level, the primary requirement was for one's cultivation to reach the Saint 2-dan Divine Sense realm. Divine sense acts as the soul's tactile perception, allowing for the observation of minute details that the naked eye cannot possibly discern.

"Many thanks!" Knowing that this formation plate would be incredibly useful to him, Zhang Xuan accepted it without hesitation. With a flick of his wrist, he stored it in his ring.

"Farewell!"

He swayed and shot straight forward, disappearing from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

Seeing him depart, the numerous Master Teachers unanimously turned their gazes towards Lu Feng.

"Is this... really the new dean of the Master Teacher Academy?"

No one could quite believe it; after all, he was simply too young.

"Yes!" Lu Feng nodded. Previously, he too had thought it was a mistake for the elders to choose Zhang Xuan as dean. Now, however, it seemed to be the wisest decision. To calmly rescue them from such a multitude of Otherworldly Demonic Tribesmen, without seeking credit or displaying arrogance—even the former Dean Mo Liuzhen might not have been able to achieve that. At the very least, Lu Feng himself was no match; he was not just one level, but several levels, below.

"He has the potential to become the most formidable dean the Master Teacher Academy has ever seen, leading it to glory..." Lu Feng murmured to himself, gazing in the direction where Zhang Xuan had vanished. Having personally witnessed the young man's numerous abilities, he now understood how truly formidable he was. With such a dedicated individual serving the academy, how could it not flourish?

After flying for some time, Zhang Xuan stopped in a mountain hollow.

"Going forward like this certainly won't work; I need to devise a plan..."

Although he possessed over twenty Saint 3-dan puppets, facing more than two hundred Saint 1-dan Otherworldly Demonic Tribesmen and two Saint 4-dan kings would still result in an easy defeat and his puppets' destruction. He needed to devise a countermeasure in advance, ideally one that could capture all these adversaries in a single sweep and eliminate future threats.

"First, let's examine this level-seven formation plate..." With a thought, he retrieved the formation plate Lu Feng had given him. He gripped it tightly and frantically channeled his zhenqi into it.

"Hmm? No reaction?" He frowned.

Could this thing be broken? That shouldn't be the case.

Upon discerning the flaw, a book appeared in his mind. After a quick glance, his face darkened, and he wished for a hole to crawl into. Fortunately, no one witnessed it, or his reputation as dean would have been utterly ruined! The formation plate wasn't broken; instead, his cultivation was insufficient, his zhenqi level too low to activate it.

Currently, his zhenqi strength was only at the peak of Half-Saint. Even with all his combat power combined, it was barely comparable to Saint 1-dan. Activating a level-six formation plate would be no issue, but a level-seven one... was completely impossible!

"Although the Purple Sun Beast has reached the Divine Sense realm, it's a Saint Beast and similarly cannot use it... And the Golden Origin Cauldron is out of the question; it's merely a Saint artifact..." He rubbed his forehead.

"Unless... my current cultivation reaches Consummate Saint peak, then perhaps I can use the power of the Heaven's Path Divination to activate a level-seven formation plate, which normally requires a Saint 2-dan cultivator to activate!"

Activating the formation plate with his current strength was definitely impossible; he had no choice but to find a way to break through.

Fortunately, he had already acquired the Thunderous Stone needed to break through to Consummate Saint.

"Let's begin!"

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Xuan had no reservations. His body flickered, and he entered the Myriad Anthill.

Breaking through cultivation realms required absolute quiet and no disturbances. With the Otherworldly Demonic Tribesmen currently in pursuit, he certainly couldn't train in peace outside. Entering the Anthill, Zhang Xuan sat down cross-legged beneath the Bodhi Tree. With a flick of his wrist, a pile of high-grade spirit stones appeared before him.

The first batch of profits provided by the Shen Clan amounted to over 3,000 spirit stones. Although he had used 500 of them to help various students improve their cultivation, he still had a significant amount remaining, more than enough for his current needs, so he wouldn't have to worry about spirit stones for some time.

He casually flicked out a pile of formation flags and set up a Spirit Gathering Formation, drawing the spiritual energy from the numerous high-grade spirit stones. Only then did Zhang Xuan grasp the Thunderous Stone in his palm and close his eyes to cultivate.

Gurgle, gurgle!

Pure, profound zhenqi surged through his meridians like a great dragon coursing through his body. All of Zhang Xuan's acupoints opened, greedily absorbing the dense spiritual energy around him, much like a ravenous behemoth devouring a lavish feast.

For the past two months, he had been at the peak of Half-Saint. Lacking the Thunderous Stone, he had continuously accumulated energy, and the yearning for a breakthrough within him was like parched earth, long past its breaking point. The moment the Thunderous Stone appeared, combined with the abundant spiritual energy, his entire aura transformed instantly.

Creak, creak!

As he absorbed more and more spiritual energy, his zhenqi circulated for increasingly longer periods. The barrier restricting his body weakened with each impact, gradually trembling.

Boom!

After an unknown duration, a sudden violent rumble signaled the opening of a profound gateway. Zhang Xuan felt his eyes and ears become extraordinarily clear, and his thoughts grew even swifter than before.

Consummate Saint, achieved!

Consummate Saint lays the foundation for truly breaking through to the Saint realm, granting the cultivator's life essence a qualitative leap. Consequently, significant improvements occur in the body, soul, and zhenqi. Despite the seemingly small difference between Half-Saint peak and early Consummate Saint, it's akin to the vast disparity between a dragon and a fish; they are incomparable. Moreover, because he cultivated the Heaven's Path Divination, his zhenqi was even more condensed and profound, causing the power within him to surge like an ocean tide.

His zhenqi, previously at 84 million ding, achieved another breakthrough, reaching a full 90 million ding!

"Continue!"

Knowing that it would still be difficult to activate a level-seven formation plate even after this recent breakthrough, Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes and resumed cultivating. Once the initial bottleneck was overcome, further cultivation became significantly simpler.

Two hours later, he had already reached the peak of Consummate Saint. His zhenqi strength successfully surpassed the 100 million ding mark—a feat typically only achievable by Saint realm cultivators—reaching 120 million ding!

More importantly, the Origin Embryo within his dantian was perfectly rounded, emitting a dazzling radiance, poised for a breakthrough at any moment.

"It seems I've already achieved a perfect second-grade!"

Master Mu Kai, despite countless efforts throughout his life, only managed to cultivate his Origin Embryo to a high-grade second-tier. Yet, Zhang Xuan had already reached a perfect second-grade even before breaking through to the Saint realm.

This was hardly surprising. With Heaven's Path zhenqi and Heaven's Path cultivation techniques, if he couldn't even reach this level, he might as well just find a block of tofu to bash his head in!

"As long as I continue to refine it, the Origin Embryo's grade will further improve. Reaching first grade shouldn't be difficult!" Zhang Xuan let out a sigh of relief. All this effort and arduous cultivation had indeed not been in vain.

As long as he could achieve a first-grade Origin Embryo, his future potential and combat power would both dramatically increase. He might even become a Heaven-Acknowledged Saint.

Of course, to achieve this, he would need to continue refining the Origin Embryo, making it even more solidified.

"No time for further refinement now; let's test the formation!"

Knowing it wasn't the time for continued cultivation, Zhang Xuan retrieved the level-seven formation plate.