Chapter 142: Chapter 6: Xuanlong Palm
Sights like these were everywhere along the way.
Upon seeing Zhang Xuan, many of the students reacted as if they had encountered the goddess of their secret high school crushes, acting in bizarre ways under the surge of hormones—odd to outsiders, but feeling good to themselves…
“Young Master, have you considered taking on a few more disciples?” Sun Qiang smiled.
“Let’s not, once we take on disciples, we must ensure their safety…” Zhang Xuan shook his head.
According to the news from Empyrean Kong shi, Heaven Mandate Hall was not friendly towards ascendents like them. Once their identities were exposed, the more disciples he took on, the more trouble it would cause, likely implicating them as well.
Better to decisively refuse from the start than to encounter issues later.
“That’s true!” Sun Qiang nodded.
Xuanlong Pavilion was located at the northeastern corner of Baiyan Academy, near Huaiyuan Mountain. Even before they arrived, they saw many people gathered in groups, discussing something animatedly.
Ahead of the crowd stood a giant stele, ten meters tall and seven meters wide, smooth all over, with hundreds of bizarre characters carved into it—resembling dragons ready to soar and roam at any moment.
“Young Master, this is the incomplete secret manual ‘Xuanlong Palm’ left by the sixth Dean Zhao Yunqing. It is said that he obtained it from a relic and replicated it one-to-one. It contains an extremely profound set of martial skills, and practicing it can greatly enhance one’s strength!”
Sun Qiang continued, “Sadly, we don’t know if the dean’s memory was incomplete or if the martial skills were inherently damaged. Over the centuries, countless people have come to observe and learn, but none have successfully practiced it.”
“To prevent such profound martial skills from vanishing, Baiyan Academy had to lift the restrictions. Anyone who can comprehend and complete the manual will not be pursued for any wrongdoing, and will be directly rewarded with 2 million Origin Currency!”
As he said that, he looked around and gestured towards the groups gathered together: “These are all here in pursuit of the manual. Some have been studying it for ten or twenty years and still refuse to leave.”
Zhang Xuan nodded and looked around.
The closest to him was a cultivator in his sixties, dressed in white clothes that had turned somewhat yellow, his beard and hair a mess, resembling a beggar. In front of him were six or seven similarly disheveled people, looking extremely thin, as if malnourished; however, their spirits were exceptionally vigorous.
“I’ve told you, it’s not about understanding the meaning, but observing the pattern! Look at that figure, doesn’t it look like someone sitting cross-legged? And that one like a person rising to slap… I suspect, when combined together, it forms the execution technique of Xuanlong Palm!”
“I don’t think so. The figure you mentioned does resemble someone sitting cross-legged, but upon closer inspection and combining with the previous character, it looks like a name of an acupoint. I believe it indicates the pathways of zhenqi circulation…”
“You’re all mistaken, these characters are not textual information, but rather the sequence and direction of zhenqi flowing through the meridians!”
…
Several beggar-like fellows argued stubbornly with each other.
It wasn’t just them; the others grouped together were not much different, either arguing or sharing their own conjectures for joint research.
“If it hasn’t been figured out in hundreds of years, could it be that this isn’t a martial arts technique at all?”
Zhang Xuan frowned.
With so many people having researched it for centuries without any progress, could it be that the supposed secret manual did not exist and was merely ordinary characters?
Sun Qiang said, “This conjecture was raised over two hundred years ago, but everyone who has studied it for a period of time gains new insights into their practice, greatly improving their strength. Although they haven’t learned Xuanlong Palm, their comprehension of other martial skills has improved significantly. Therefore, everyone is certain that this set of cultivation methods must be real…”
Zhang Xuan nodded.
For hundreds of years, so many experts had been convinced it was an unequalled martial arts technique, so the possibility it wasn’t seemed very slim. One person might be mistaken, but tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands or millions of people, would not be.
Walking a few steps forward, Zhang Xuan was about to study it, when he heard the sound of hurried footsteps, followed by Dean Lu Mingrong’s laughter: “Zhang laoshi, do you intend to comprehend this Xuanlong Palm?”
Zhang Xuan hadn’t concealed his departure from his residence, and news quickly reached Dean Lu’s ears.
“Hmm, just having a look!”
Zhang Xuan smiled lightly, “If I can complete this cultivation method, I hope to exchange it for a Destiny Plate.”
His hard work in earning money was for the sake of Heavenly Mandate Vitality, and since the dean had come, money had no significance.
“Of course!”
Dean Lu nodded repeatedly.
With his agreement, Zhang Xuan didn’t say much more, and looked up at the stele in front of him. The characters carved on it were each half a person tall, with an energetic flourish, looking like words but at the same time not.
His Eye of Insight activated, carefully observing.
In an instant, the characters on the stele seemed to stir to life, turning into small golden dragons that rose and leaped through the clouds.
“It really is a set of martial arts…”
Zhang Xuan’s gaze grew solemn.
Previously, upon hearing that no one had comprehended it in hundreds of years, he had wondered if there had been some mistake, but now he was completely certain that within these inscriptions lay a powerful cultivation method, seemingly of great help in breaking through to the Divine Soul Realm.
Soon, under the Eye of Insight’s observation, the small dragons made a full circuit. However, like everyone else, Zhang Xuan was just as perplexed.
The directions in which these small dragons moved were completely random. If one were to circulate zhenqi in such a manner, let’s not even talk about mastering the skills; it might directly cause one’s body to explode and die…
Therefore, this method is wrong!
“Let’s try rearranging and combining them…”
Since the regular sequence from the stone stele didn’t work, he tried skipping characters, reading every other character, and reading backward.
Soon enough, he had tried everything he could think of and discovered that none of it worked.
“For hundreds of years, at least millions of masters have studied this martial technique without reaching the correct conclusion, and none has succeeded…”
Seeing the same look of perplexity in Zhang Xuan’s eyes, School Head Lu gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
At first, when he heard that Zhang Xuan wanted to study this, an inexplicable excitement surged in his heart. If anyone in Baiyan Academy could possibly succeed over the past few hundred years, it would undoubtedly be the person before him…
However, seeing his current state, he immediately realized that although Zhang Xuan had a gift for cultivation and knowledge impartation, that didn’t necessarily mean he had the same over-the-top intelligence.
It seemed that in his lifetime, he would have no hope of seeing someone successfully master the Xuanlong Palm.
As he was reflecting on this, the young man beside him turned and asked, “School Head Lu, since numerous masters have studied this stone stele over the centuries, did they leave behind their summaries, directions, and the difficulties and insights they encountered?”
“Yes, they did. Every year our academy would specially assign people to collect everyone’s insights and transcribe them, hoping to give some help to those who come after… They’re all in that room!”
School Head Lu pointed.
Zhang Xuan looked in the direction pointed out, the room beside the stone stele had its doors wide open. From a distance, rows of books were placed on shelves, sitting among them were crowds of cultivators, each holding a book, studying feverishly.
Just as he was about to step inside, Zhang Xuan stopped and looked a bit awkwardly at School Head Lu, “School Head Lu, may I borrow a Destiny Plate for a moment? As for the money… I’ll reimburse you later!”
With these books, he could definitely use the Library of Heaven’s Path to find the correct comprehension pathway. Unfortunately, he had exhausted all his Heavenly Mandate Vitality. To read every single book would take decades!
“Borrow?”
Not expecting such a request, School Head Lu was slightly taken aback.
“Yes, if I can fully understand and complete this Xuanlong Palm, I’ll use the reward Origin Currency to cover the cost of the Destiny Plate. If not, I’ll find another way to repay the money…”
Zhang Xuan quickly explained.
“This… You are an Elder and a teacher of Baiyan Academy, there’s nothing wrong with borrowing one…” School Head Lu nodded.
Ignoring his titles, just the fact that Zhang Xuan helped him break through meant lending one and even giving another wouldn’t be a big deal.
School Head Lu turned and walked toward the distance, with Zhang Xuan quickly following him. “I’ll come with you!”
Before long, a brand-new Destiny Plate was in his hands. After a glance, Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.
Back at his residence, he activated the mini-formation that School Head Lu had set up. Streams of pure Heavenly Mandate Vitality immediately flowed into the library. A quarter of an hour later, the Destiny Plate shattered, and within the library emerged thousands of brand-new books.
Upon returning to Xuanlong Pavilion, Dean Lu Mingrong and Sun Qiang were waiting quietly. Seeing him return, they both let out a sigh of relief.
“I’ll go take a look at those books first…”
No longer observing the stone stele, Zhang Xuan made his way to the room.
The room was quite large, occupying about an acre of space. For hundreds of years, the “insights and experiences” gathered annually were all concentrated here, lined up in over ten rows of bookshelves, amounting to tens of thousands of volumes.
Many books, due to frequent use and the passage of time, were severely worn. Whenever this happened, someone would transcribe them afresh. Thus, despite being worn and tattered, the books were complete, without missing pages or words.
Ignoring the people sitting on the ground reading, Zhang Xuan approached a row of bookshelves and, with a light swipe of his finger, the insights on the Xuanlong Palm from hundreds of books entered his mind in the blink of an eye.
“Merge!”
With a thought, the correct content from the books merged to form one book.
He casually flipped it open, and Zhang Xuan’s brows immediately wrinkled.
The book in front of him was empty, as if it were a Heavenly Dao Booklet with no words.
In other words, out of hundreds of “experiences, feelings, and comprehensions,” not a single one was correct; they were all mistakes!
Those who managed to leave their content behind were persons of no low status, and their cultivation would not be weak. Even such individuals were incorrect…
Feeling perplexity, Zhang Xuan continued swiping his finger, and in the blink of an eye, several hundred more volumes entered the library. As the light flickered, another Heavenly Dao Booklet formed, also completely blank.
All wrong again!
After continuously collecting nearly five hundred volumes, which included insights from thousands of experts, not a single one was correct. This Xuanlong Palm… It couldn’t truly be unattainable, could it!