Chapter 1830: A Soul Breakthrough to Ancient Sage (2)
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
“Manuals or insights relating to soul oracles achieving a breakthrough to Ancient Sage?” Hearing those words, Ancient Sage Mo Ling nearly plummeted from the sky.
Aren’t you daring!
Without referring to any insights or cultivation techniques, you actually attempted a breakthrough just like that…
Do you think Ancient Sage is just like any cultivation stage where you can easily achieve a breakthrough?
Rendered speechless, Ancient Sage Mo Ling flicked his wrist, took out a pile of books, and flicked them in Zhang Xuan’s direction. “Here!”
The soul oracles that had moved to the otherworldly battlefield retained their full heritage, and Ancient Sage Mo Ling himself was an Ancient Sage expert. Naturally, he had plenty of books relating to that topic.
Zhang Xuan formed a ma.s.sive hand with his soul energy to grasp all of the books before scanning through them swiftly with his eyes. Endless streams of information flowed into his mind and became his own knowledge.
But soon, he shook his head.
Those books did contain the experiences and breakthrough methods of past soul oracles, but they were not of much use to him.
As one who was cultivating the Heaven’s Path Soul Art, the path that he had taken was very different from that of the other soul oracles. If he attempted a breakthrough using the conventional methods used by other soul oracles, his cultivation might go berserk.
It looks like I can only depend on myself. Since the first soul oracle was able to find a way by himself to achieve a breakthrough to Ancient Sage, I should be able to pave a way out myself! Zhang Xuan thought as he swiftly threw aside everything that he had read and went into a state of inner calm.
Not everything required the experiences and wisdom of the predecessors to point out a way. Eventually, one had to learn to pave one’s own way forward as well.
The soul energy in the Stone of Divine Crusade poured into his soul like a rapid tide, nouris.h.i.+ng it. However, too much of anything was a bad thing, and Zhang Xuan’s consciousness was starting to blur as a result of the overwhelming influx of energy.
The souls of the 100,000 Saint cultivators formed a congregation of energy so great that it even exceeded the might of Blood Reincarnation realm experts. Even though Zhang Xuan’s soul had been tempered by lightning and the Empyrean Heavenly Flame, he still found himself pushed to a corner.
Slowly, hallucinations began appearing right before his eyes.
While the Stone of Divine Crusade was able to wipe away the consciousness within souls and convert them into pure soul energy, it was unable to remove the aura of resentment that lingered within the souls!
Those 100,000 Saint cultivators had cultivated diligently for many years, but their lives came to an abrupt halt just because Sovereign Chen Ling needed some tributes to heal his injuries. It was no wonder that each of those Otherworldly Demons was overflowing with indignation and resentment.
One or two of these souls would not count for much, but when the resentment of over 100,000 souls was combined, the force produced was definitely something that one should stay away from.
“Clarity in the heart, emptiness in the mind!”
Under the influx of resentment, Zhang Xuan felt as if his will was swiftly being corroded. All that was left of him was a hint of clarity that flowed in his consciousness, guarding everything that he stood for.
Having been through the mountain of books and ocean of learning, he had browsed through countless books and a.s.similated much knowledge. As such, his soul was much ‘denser’ than that of most 9-star master teachers and even some of the Ancient Sages.
His mind was slowly blurring out, but he was still able to firmly hold onto his core.
Countless memories of slaughter and bloodshed flashed through his mind, and it felt as if he was living countless lives simultaneously. No matter how vivid the experiences were, he was still able to remember the fact that he was a master teacher. He could lose his life, but there were simply some principles and values that he had to guard at any cost.
It was also the same for many experts on the Master Teacher Continent.
Back then, after defeating Vicious, Kong s.h.i.+ had possessed the power and means to destroy the entire Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. However, he did not choose to do so.
That was because eradicating an entire race was not something that he believed in. He persisted in his faith that enlightenment was the key to progress, and he sought to uphold that belief.
Zhang Xuan had his own beliefs that he was determined to uphold as well.
However, unlike Kong s.h.i.+, he was not that much of an idealist. It was not to say that he could not relate to Kong s.h.i.+’s vision, but even if he chose to pursue the same vision one day, it had to be built on the foundation that the safety of those whom he sought to protect was guaranteed.
Thus, aside from investigating Luo Ruoxin’s whereabouts, his main aim at the otherworldly battlefield was to resolve the threat of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe once and for all.
Of course, he would prioritize peaceful means if he felt that they were feasible, but ultimately, he felt that it would be too dangerous for mankind if the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe was left to do as it pleased.
“My spirit shall be indestructible, and my will shall live on for an eternity… No matter how far I go, I’ll never forget my roots. This is the real me!”
Everything that Zhang Xuan had experienced in the past year since he had arrived at the Master Teacher Continent flashed through his mind.
Boom!
The indestructible spirit borne within him gradually seemed to warp into a golden droplet, which swiftly revolved around the acc.u.mulating soul energy. Soon enough, the golden droplet built up enough momentum to create a vortex around his soul, and it was growing larger and larger by the moment.
Drip! Drip!
The vortex swiftly compressed the soul energy so tightly together that a liquid droplet was squeezed out of the vortex. A second droplet was soon produced, and a third one… It did not take long for droplets to acc.u.mulate and flow through his body, nouris.h.i.+ng him.
The liquefying of the soul—this is a mark of a breakthrough to Ancient Sage… Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up.
He knew that he was going to successfully achieve a breakthrough to Ancient Sage soon.
Due to the intangible and formless nature of souls, it was usually impossible for those who were non-soul oracles and did not possess the Eye of Insight to see them unless one used their Spiritual Perception.
However, the liquefying of Zhang Xuan’s soul meant that his soul was losing its intangible nature, taking on the form of a moving fluid.
Of course, this was not liquefying in the truest sense. Rather, it meant that the purity of his soul energy had reached another level, resulting in a qualitative change in its nature.
The liquid-like form of his soul energy would allow him to exert his might more effectively and powerfully.
Faster!
Feeling his soul, which had been on the verge of exploding just a moment ago, calming down, he hastened the transformation process.
Keeping a close eye on Zhang Xuan’s movements, Ancient Sage Mo Ling’s eyelids twitched a little. “This…”
He recognized the Stone of Divine Crusade in Zhang Xuan’s hands, and he could sense the immense, pulsating soul energy harnessed within it. Even he felt deeply tempted by the power contained within it.
Even as a Blood Reincarnation realm soul oracle, he knew that he would be unable to consume that much power at once. Most likely, he would explode before he could even swallow a tenth of it! Yet, the other party dared to tap into such an overwhelming source of energy just for a breakthrough from Sempiternal realm consummation to Ancient Sage.
How in the world could anyone survive that?
Ancient Sage Mo Ling had thought that Zhang Xuan would stop soon enough, but who would have thought that he would simply continue to absorb more and more soul energy? In less than three minutes, almost half of the soul energy created by the 100,000 souls sacrificed by Sovereign Chen Ling had been devoured.
At that moment, his soul had also reached a size of more than a hundred meters tall, making him appear to be a towering giant.
“Liquefy everything and achieve a breakthrough!”
In Ancient Sage Mo Ling’s moment of shock, the ma.s.sive soul suddenly bellowed furiously, and its towering figure began to shrink at an incredible rate.
At the same time, a painting unrolled itself in the air. From within the painting, an ancient aura could be felt pouring out. This ancient aura contained a quality that had vanished countless years ago from the Master Teacher Continent.
Aeon of Ancient Sage!
Under the influx of this aura, Zhang Xuan’s soul swiftly grew purer, hastening the liquefying process of his soul.
In less than ten minutes, his soul had returned to his own size. However, the sheer concentration of soul energy packed in his soul felt as if he could tear apart s.p.a.ce with just a simple wave of his hand. His entire soul emanated an air of history, reminiscent of an immortal.
“Ancient Sage… The guild leader’s soul cultivation has reached Ancient Sage!” Seeing this transformation, Ancient Sage Mo Ling cried in agitation as his entire body trembled.
While the breakthrough method used by Zhang Xuan was different from anything that he had ever seen, the fact that his soul could contain so much power and harness such an aura meant that he had already overcome the bottleneck that hindered him and successfully arrived at a brand new realm.
While the soul oracles at the otherworldly battlefield had preserved their lineage, they simply numbered too few. There were too few people whom they could pa.s.s on their arts to!
In fact, Ancient Sage Mo Ling was the only Ancient Sage that the Soul Oracle Guild had at the moment, such that it was no exaggeration to say that he was the one propping up the entire guild!
However, the breakthrough of the guild leader signified a new beginning for the Soul Oracle Guild. Under the leaders.h.i.+p of the guild leader, he believed that it was only a matter of time before the Soul Oracle Guild rose to greatness once more!
Hong long long!
Along with the pulsations of Zhang Xuan’s soul energy, the sky above began to ripple. Huge swathes of ominous clouds were quickly gathering around, and countless streaks of lightning and b.a.l.l.s of flames raged within them. A devastating force was swiftly building up above.
The Ancient Sage Ordeal had arrived!