"Younger generation?"The lips of the crowd twitched upon hearing those words.
Isn"t Zhang Jiuxiao older than you?
For a twenty-year-old young man to address someone older than him as the "younger generation"… Well, in terms of seniority, Zhang Jiuxiao was his student, so there was not anything wrong with that address, just that…
There was just an inexplicable feeling of incongruity.
Furthermore…
"Zhang Jiuxiao is only at Saint 8-dan pinnacle at the moment. Even though his bloodline is pure, he has never learned the core battle techniques and cultivation techniques of our Zhang Clan, so I fear…" Sword Saint Xing said with a deep frown.
It was during the clan tournament that Zhang Jiuxiao had achieved a breakthrough to Saint 8-dan primary stage. During that period of time, the clan had devoted many resources to grooming him, so it did not take long for his cultivation to advance to Saint 8-dan pinnacle.
With such cultivation, he could indeed be considered as one of the most outstanding cultivators among the younger generation… However, the opponent that he was facing was a genius from the Hundred Schools of Philosophers, Tantai Jiankui!
To make matters worse, he had come from the side family. As a result, he had never had the opportunity to access the core heritage of the Zhang Clan.
No matter how they looked at it, it did not seem like Zhang Jiuxiao stood much of a chance.
The Celestial Amulet of Legacy was at stake! Was it really fine to take this matter so lightly?
Paying no heed to the words of advice around him, Zhang Xuan waved his hand casually and instructed, "It"s fine. Invite him over!"
"Yes!" An elder bowed deeply in response before walking out of the main hall. It did not take long for him to return with a young man in tow.
"Teacher!" Walking into the room, Zhang Jiuxiao quickly walked up to Zhang Xuan and bowed deeply.
"Un. I believe that the Ninth Elder should have filled you in on the situation by now. I want you to represent our Zhang Clan in a duel against the Hundred Schools of Philosophers, and I want you to know that I won"t tolerate a loss!" Zhang Xuan placed his hands behind his back.
"I can"t lose the duel?" A distressed frown surfaced between Zhang Jiuxiao"s brows. "Teacher, I barely made a breakthrough yesterday, so I haven"t fully reinforced my cultivation yet…"
He had already heard the story from the Ninth Elder on the way there, and he knew just how important the duel with the Hundred Schools of Philosophers was. If he lost, he would really become the sinner of the Zhang Clan!
"You haven"t fully reinforced your cultivation yet? That"s no problem at all." Zhang Xuan stood up and walked toward Zhang Jiuxiao. "Sit down!"
"Yes, Teacher!"
Zhang Jiuxiao had no idea what his teacher was going to do, but he knew his teacher would not instruct him to do something for no reason. Thus, he crossed his leg and sat down on the floor without any hesitation.
Walking behind Zhang Jiuxiao, Zhang Xuan stretched his hand forward and placed it on top of the other party"s head.
Slightly surprised by Zhang Xuan"s sudden action, Zhang Jiuxiao was just about to say something when he suddenly felt a warm surge of energy flowing in from the other party"s palm.
This warm surge of energy swiftly diffused throughout his entire body, clearing up all of the energy blockages and repairing all of the wear and tear that his body had sustained as a result of his recent breakthrough.
In the blink of an eye, his cultivation had already harmonized perfectly with his mind, spirit, and psyche. The lapses in his control over his cultivation vanished completely, allowing his zhenqi to flow smoothly at will. It was almost as if he was a veteran who had been in this cultivation realm for many years.
"This…"
Nangong Yuanfeng and Tantai Zhenqing traded shocked gazes. Disbelief could be seen reflected in their eyes.
This was not Cultivation Impartation, so it could not be considered a breach of any rules.
What the young man did was harmonize his student"s cultivation together with his body and soul through a secret art. This was a feat easier said than done.
On top of possessing incredibly pure zhenqi and the utmost control over his energy, more importantly, he needed to have a complete understanding of his student"s physical condition.
The Great Phrontistery of Confucianism was filled with experts, but there was hardly anyone who could achieve this feat. In fact, not even the Ancient Sages would confidently claim that they would be able to pull it off!
Yet, a Saint 9-dan pinnacle cultivator had actually managed to do it so easily…
Was the head of the Zhang Clan not a little too formidable?
"Alright, you should have already fully reinforced your Saint 8-dan pinnacle cultivation. As for the Zhang Clan"s heritage…" At this point, a slight frown emerged on Zhang Xuan"s forehead, and he fell into a brief moment of thought.
A moment later, he raised his head to look at Tantai Zhenqing. With an apologetic look on his face, he clasped his fist and bowed. "Elder Tantai, it hasn"t been long since my student returned to the Zhang Clan, so he"s only adept in the battle techniques of the side family. If you would just give me some time, I"d like to impart some moves to him right now. This way, he will be more prepared for the battle with your student later on!"
"You are intending to impart some moves to your student right now?"
Even someone with Tantai Zhenqing"s demeanor could not help but be taken aback by Zhang Xuan"s request.
Temporal laws were known to be incredibly abstract and difficult to grasp. This was even more so for temporal arts, which were derived from the temporal laws. Even his students took several years under his guidance before they were finally able to grasp the bare basics, yet the young man actually intended to start teaching his student right now.
Are you for real?
Thinking that Tantai Zhenqing was worrying that he would take too long, Zhang Xuan added with a smile, "Indeed. Please do not worry, I won"t take up too much time. An hour will be sufficient!"
"An hour…" Tantai Zhenqing was even more dazed after hearing those words.
What could the other party possibly learn within an hour?
Furthermore, the opponent that the other party would be facing was his student, an Introspective Convalescence expert!
Tantai Zhenqing was not the only one who was stunned by this seemingly ridiculous request. Nangong Yuanfeng and his students also glanced at one another in confusion as well.
The crowd could not help but lean closer a little, hoping to see how Zhang Xuan intended to impart temporal arts to his student within an hour. However, at this moment, they heard Sword Saint Xing"s frenzied voice.
"Xuan-er, it has only been two days since you returned to the Zhang Clan! You haven"t even inherited the heritage of the clan yet, so how in the world do you plan to impart it to Jiuxiao?"
"…" Nangong Yuanfeng and Tantai Zhenqing staggered.
In the end, the young man was not even adept in temporal arts himself… and he still dared to claim that he would impart it to his student within an hour.
Really, can you tell us just what is going through your mind?
Is the head of the Zhang Clan actually an idiot?
"It"s fine, I can just learn them right now… Eighth Elder, you hold the key to the library of our Zhang Clan. I want you to bring the battle techniques and cultivation techniques of our clans over right now!" Zhang Xuan instructed.
"Yes, clan head!"
The Eighth Elder quickly rushed out of the main hall. A few moments later, he returned to the room. With a flick of his hand, a huge pile of books stacked on bookshelves materialized before the crowd. It was a tremendous collection consisting of several hundred thousand books.
The reason the Zhang Clan was able to continuously groom generation after generation of experts and retain its position as the number one Sage Clan could mostly be credited to its rich heritage. The collection of cultivation techniques and battle techniques that it had ama.s.sed over the years was truly a sight to behold.
In fact, the Eighth Elder had only brought over some of the more commonly practiced cultivation techniques and battle techniques.
Considering the limited time that they had, he did not have time to take out all of the books.
"I"ve troubled you!" Zhang Xuan first thanked the Eighth Elder before turning his gaze to the books before him.
He swiftly enveloped the bookshelves before him with his Spiritual Perception, and the next moment, the several hundred thousand books floated into the air and began flipping automatically.
"This is… Memorization Through Spiritual Perception, Recital of a Thousand Books? How is this possible?"
Tantai Zhenqing widened his eyes in disbelief.
"Memorization Through Spiritual Perception requires a cultivator to divide his Spiritual Perception into countless fragments in order to browse through and memorize the content in the books simultaneously.
"Even Kong s.h.i.+yao, who is known to possess the greatest talent in the Great Phrontistery of Confucianism, is only capable of browsing through three thousand books simultaneously, and that is already a feat that has broken records that have stood for tens of thousands of years…
"Yet, that young man is actually flipping through several hundred thousand books simultaneously… Just how powerful is his Spiritual Perception?"
Nangong Yuanfeng"s jaw had practically dropped to the ground.
Any Saint 2-dan expert could easily use their Spiritual Perception to memorize a book swiftly, but it was a different story when it came to multiple books. Reading two books simultaneously would require a cultivator divide their attention between the two books, and this was not too easy for Primordial Spirit realm cultivators to pull off.
The Great Phrontistery of Confucianism was filled with experts, but even the most talented prodigy was only capable of memorizing three thousand books simultaneously. Yet, this fellow was actually trying to browse through several hundred thousand books at once…
Was he not afraid of overloading his mind with information and turning into a r.e.t.a.r.d?