"That"s right!" Song s.h.i.+ said with a cold glint in his eyes."Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback for a moment before slowly nodding.
There were some details about the Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy in the books of the Qingyuan Empire Master Teacher Pavilion, so he did have some understanding of it.
Impartation of Heaven"s Will was an ability that could be triggered through one"s Soul Depth when one"s words were aligned with the essence of the world. It served to place the students into a trance, allowing them to better absorb the knowledge that was being imparted. At the same time, it would also generate certain phenomena in the surroundings, such as drawing in spiritual energy, to further support the learning of the students.
The more profound and aligned the content was to the essence of the world, the more effective the Impartation of Heaven"s Will would be.
Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy was similar to Impartation of Heaven"s Will in terms of the principles behind them, but the former was achieved through using an artifact known as the Brush of Heavenly Impartation as a medium.
The Brush of Heaven"s Impartation was not a Saint-tier artifact. Rather, it was a unique artifact that was infused with the will of master teachers, and it was capable of discerning the authenticity of the words spoken by other master teachers. If the words spoken were aligned with the essence of the world and offered a fresh perspective on the topic, the Brush of Heaven"s Impartation would automatically move to pen down the essence of those words in the form of characters.
The observation of those characters penned down could generate an effect reminiscent of the Impartation of Heaven"s Will to the individual, thus hastening the latter"s cultivation significantly.
Of course, the characters penned down by the Brush of Heavenly Impartation would not exist eternally. After one observation, the characters would disappear.
There were two reasons the Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy was considered the most difficult challenge of Impartation of Heaven"s Will.
Firstly, the Brush of Heavenly Impartation was infused with the ideas and understanding of innumerable master teachers, so it had already seen its fair share of ordinary Impartations of Heaven"s Will. In order to prompt it into action, the content lectured had to be innovative compared to the other master teachers.
Secondly, it was extremely taxing on one"s Soul Depth, even more exhausting than conducting an entire lecture. On average, the writing of a single character could expend 1.0 Soul Depth of a master teacher.
It was for these two reasons that it had left countless master teachers defeated. There were many 7-star pinnacle master teachers who were unable to invoke the movement of the Brush of Heavenly Impartation even after a long lecture, and even for quasi 8-star master teachers, the most characters anyone had evoked from the Brush of Heavenly Will in a single sitting was ten. Nearly no one had been able to break that record.
"The Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy is extremely damaging to one"s Soul Depth. Are you sure you want to choose this for the duel?" Yao s.h.i.+ asked with a darkened complexion.
To make the Brush of Heaven"s Impartation write was extremely taxing on one"s Soul Depth. If a master teacher accidentally pushed themself too far, it could lead to their state of mind collapsing altogether, and their many years of cultivation would be ruined. As such, this duel would not only be difficult but dangerous as well.
"I am sure!" Song s.h.i.+ replied firmly.
"You…" Yao s.h.i.+ frowned at Song s.h.i.+ for a moment before turning her gaze to Zhang Xuan. "Zhang s.h.i.+, what"s your view on this matter? If you don"t wish to proceed with the duel, you can always turn it down."
As she said those words to Zhang Xuan, she also secretly sent him a telepathic message.
"Song Xuan has specially studied Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy, and he has achieved the outstanding record of having the Brush of Heavenly Impartation pen down eight characters. You have never used the Brush of Heavenly Impartation, so it"ll be extremely difficult for you to defeat him. Why don"t you just turn down his proposal and choose another type of duel?"
Without prior experience with the Brush of Heavenly Impartation, it was difficult to ascertain what kind of content excited it, making it nigh impossible for it to move. So far, there had nearly been no master teachers who had managed to get the Brush of Heavenly Impartation to move on their first attempt.
The reason Song s.h.i.+ had proposed this challenge was because he possessed a Brush of Heavenly Impartation, and he had even achieved an outstanding record of eight characters.
Given that ten characters were the very limits of a quasi 8-star master teacher, his record of eight characters would put him among the top in the field even in the Qianchong Empire Master Teacher Pavilion.
Indubitably, Song Xuan had an overwhelming advantage in this challenge, making this duel unfair for Zhang Xuan.
"It"s fine, let"s just go along with his rules." Knowing that Yao s.h.i.+ was advising him out of goodwill, Zhang Xuan directed a nod along with a smile toward her to express his grat.i.tude.
It was just Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy. While he had never come into contact with it before, he did not think that it would be too difficult.
"Alright then." Seeing how nonchalantly Zhang Xuan accepted the duel, Yao s.h.i.+ could not help but shake her head. With a flick of her wrist, a floating golden brush appeared before everyone"s eyes.
It was roughly a chi long, and there was no ink on its tip. When scanning it with one"s Spiritual Perception, one could feel an aura unique to master teachers from it, inducing a slight pressure on one.
With a tap, the brush quietly took its place between the duo. After which, Yao s.h.i.+ looked at the duo and said, "This is the Brush of Heavenly Impartation. Who will be going first?"
"Since Song s.h.i.+ was the one who has proposed the rules of the duel, let"s allow him to go first," Zhang Xuan said humbly.
While he had read the records concerning Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy, he had never tried it himself before, so he was not too certain of the rules concerning it. By allowing the other party to go first, he would have a chance to examine how the Brush of Heavenly Impartation should be used.
"Very well!" Song s.h.i.+ nodded.
He took two steps toward the brush, and his lips began moving.
There was no sound to be heard—he was communicating with the brush via zhenqi telepathy.
Fearing that Zhang Xuan would not understand, Yao s.h.i.+ secretly informed him via zhenqi telepathy. "Through using zhenqi telepathy, the effects of the Impartation of Heaven"s Will are more directed, and that makes it easier to move the Brush of Heavenly Impartation."
Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan nodded.
Indeed, there was a vast difference between lecturing an individual and lecturing a group of people.
Naturally, one-to-one guidance from a teacher would be more nurturing and effective as compared to a one-to-many guidance.
Through using zhenqi telepathy, the effects of the Impartation of Heaven"s Will would be more directed, thus reducing unnecessary wastage of energy.
Proceeding with his impartation, Song s.h.i.+"s lips never stopped once, and it did not take long before sweat droplets began appearing on his forehead.
However, the brush before him remained completely motionless, as if it had been fixed in place.
Using his Spiritual Perception to a.s.sess the situation, Zhang Xuan could clearly sense that Song s.h.i.+"s Soul Depth was rapidly falling with time.
Hu!
After some time, the silent brush finally began moving. With swift strokes, a ma.s.sive character soon appeared in the sky.
Suspended Imagery!
The character written by the Brush of Heavenly Impartation was not of a language Zhang Xuan was familiar with; it was not the language of a human, Otherworldly Demon, or the Beast Tribe. It was a character he had never ever seen before. But while he could not recognize the character, he found that he was vaguely able to understand the meaning and conception behind it.
If a normal cultivator studied the character, their zhenqi might have been driven to cultivate according to the method depicted within it.
"By scanning the character with your Spiritual Perception, you will be able to learn the ideas infused within the character. However, the character will disappear after a single scan," Yao s.h.i.+ explained to Zhang Xuan.
Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy could be considered a form of Impartation of Heaven"s Will, being able to drive a cultivator"s zhenqi through the profound knowledge harnessed within the written characters. As long as a cultivator scanned the characters with their Spiritual Perception, they would find their body cultivating the technique uncontrollably. However, the characters produced through Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy could only be used once. No matter how profound or mystical the cultivation technique infused within the character was, it could only be viewed by one person.
In a sense, it could be said that the characters were storable Impartation of Heaven"s Will that master teachers could gift to those whom they viewed to be fated with them.
In view of precious knowledge harnessed within these characters, they were extremely high in demand and valuable. However, due to the difficulty in Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy, it was one of those commodities that could not be bought with just money.
With the appearance of the first character, the droplets of sweat on Song s.h.i.+"s head grew more and more numerous. The second character swiftly followed after the first, and then the third and fourth…
As the number of characters increased, Song s.h.i.+"s face grew paler and paler. It seemed like he had expended too much of his Soul Depth, and it was already about to be sapped dry.
Quasi 8-star master teachers had a Soul Depth of 23 and above, but they could not afford to expend all of it in a single breath or else it could lead to the breakdown of their state of mind, and that could potentially introduce countless inner demons in their minds.
Typically speaking, a quasi 8-star master teacher would be in a dangerous position once their Soul Depth fell beneath 15.
Activating his Eye of Insight, Zhang Xuan observed Song s.h.i.+ intently. As the number of characters written increased, the latter"s body trembled with greater and greater intensity, and his Primordial Spirit was starting to show signs of breaking down.
It was fortunate that his Primordial Spirit had been tempered by four lightning tribulations, or else it would have already succ.u.mbed.
"Six, seven, eight… Eight characters! That is his record so far…"
By the tenth minute, there were already eight characters floating silently in the sky, emanating a brilliant glow.
Eight words were Song s.h.i.+"s record so far, as well as his limit. His body trembled non-stop, and it looked as if he would collapse to the ground at any moment. His face was also as pale as a sheet of paper, and there was not the slightest trace of color to be seen.
However, it appeared that Song s.h.i.+ still had no intention of stopping as he continued communicating with the Brush of Heavenly Impartation through his zhenqi telepathy.
Seeing this, Zhang Xuan said with a frown, "If you continue pus.h.i.+ng yourself, you will inflict irreparable harm to your body."
Be it in cultivation or Impartation of Heaven"s Will, a cultivator should always take note of their own limits and strive not to overexert themself. Otherwise, the overwhelming burden they had forced upon their body could very well cause it permanent impairment.
As a 7-star pinnacle physician, he could tell that Song s.h.i.+ had already reached his limits. Perhaps he would be able to achieve unprecedented results if he forced himself on, but he would also be inflicting permanent damage on his body and possibly his state of mind.
It could cause his soul depth to stagnate permanently, and as a master teacher, that would mean that Song s.h.i.+ would be doomed to remain a quasi 8-star master teacher for life, unable to ascend to greater heights.
Hu! Hu! Hu!
Despite his poor condition, Song s.h.i.+ still gritted his teeth and forced himself on. All of a sudden, a spurt of blood escaped from his mouth, and in just a mere instant, it seemed like he had grown much older.
Huala!
The brush in the air moved once more and wrote the ninth character.
Peng!
That single character seemed to have stolen every single last bit of strength Song s.h.i.+ had. He fell weakly to the ground and fainted.
"Jeez, is there any point going this far?" Seeing how Song s.h.i.+ had pushed himself to his limits for the sake of achieving victory, Zhang Xuan could not help but shake his head in disapproval.
To throw away whatever future he had just to get even with him… that fellow sure was tenacious.
Sighing deeply, he walked up to Song s.h.i.+ and placed his finger on the latter"s acupoints before sending a surge of zhenqi in. A moment later, Song s.h.i.+ slowly opened his eyes.
"You…" Gritting his teeth furiously, Song s.h.i.+ struggled to his feet, and with a livid face, he spat, "It"s too late to show your goodwill. It won"t change a thing…"
Zhang Xuan shrugged. "Whatever pleases you."
He had only saved the other party out of his obligation as a master teacher. Whether the other party appreciated his favor or not, it did not matter to him.
After regaining consciousness, Song s.h.i.+ quickly took out a pill and ate it, and only then did his complexion finally improve slightly. Following that, he turned to Yao s.h.i.+ and said, "Yao s.h.i.+, I have completed my Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy. I hope that you can bear witness to my results!"
"You have written a total of nine characters. While it has not broken the highest record of ten characters among quasi 8-star master teachers, you have indeed performed exceptionally," Yao s.h.i.+ replied with a nod.
The result of nine characters was nothing much among 8-star master teachers, but indubitably, it was an exceptional result among quasi 8-star master teachers. Even the head of the Qianchong Empire Master Teacher Pavilion was unlikely to be able to rival this feat.
"Thank you for your compliment, Yao s.h.i.+." Seeing that Yao s.h.i.+ had acknowledged his results, Song s.h.i.+ glanced at Zhang Xuan with narrowed eyes. "Zhang s.h.i.+, it"s your turn now."
"Very well." Zhang Xuan nodded.
He had seen how the other party had carried out the Heavenly Impartation of Mentor"s Calligraphy previously, and that had given him a good idea of how he should go about doing it as well.
He walked up to the floating Brush of Heavenly Impartation, and with his hands behind his back, he began lecturing it telepathically. His mouth opened and closed swiftly, making it hard to discern what he was talking about.
The brush was still fidgeting slightly in the air earlier, but upon hearing Zhang Xuan"s words, it suddenly froze completely, as if someone had nailed it in place.
"It has been nearly an hour now, so why is there no movement from the brush yet?"
"It can"t be that Zhang s.h.i.+ cannot get a single character out of the Brush of Heavenly Impartation, right?"
"If that"s really the case, it would really be terrible…"
After waiting for nearly an hour, the brush remained completely motionless in the air. At this point, the crowd had begun looking at one another, a little apprehensive at the current situation.
Within the same period, Song s.h.i.+ had made the Brush of Heavenly Impartation write down seven to eight words.
Why would there be no movement when it came to Zhang s.h.i.+?
Could this mean that… he had failed?One chi is approximately 0.33cm.