Chapter 1697: Sword Saint Xing Makes a Breakthrough

The effect of the golden page was not just limited to smashing his enemies to a pulp. More than that, it would help him assimilate the knowledge that he had stored in the Library of Heaven's Path and raise his Soul Depth.

He had used the golden page to raise his Soul Depth twice, and each time, it had increased by 5.0. If he used the golden page to increase his Soul Depth, would he be able to overcome the 29.9 bottleneck? If it worked out, he would possess a state of mind comparable to Ancient Sages!

He had only faced an Ancient Sage in battle once, and he had smashed the other party to death with his book before the other party could do anything. Nevertheless, from the other party's corpse stored in his storage ring, he was still able to roughly fathom how terrifying Ancient Sages were. If he could advance his Soul Depth further, would he gain the ability to protect himself even when faced with an Ancient Sage?

Even if his fighting prowess was lacking, as long as his state of mind was up to par, he might just be able to fool Ancient Sages with his disguise!

State of mind was of paramount importance when it came to disguise. As long as his Soul Depth was up to par, it would be difficult for anyone to see through his disguise.

Let me give it a try! Zhang Xuan thought excitedly.

Recalling the state that he had been in when he first used the golden page to raise his Soul Depth, he closed his eyes and willed, Increase my Soul Depth!

There was no reaction.

Zhang Xuan closed his eyes once more and willed, Increase my Soul Depth!

There was still no reaction at all.

The golden page continued floating quietly in the Library of Heaven's Path, seemingly mocking him for his futile actions.

Please, help me raise my Soul Depth!

I choose you, golden page! Crush that bottleneck before me!

Push! Puuuushhhhhhh! Just 0.1 more...

...

After wasting a minute on trying to get the golden page to work, Zhang Xuan could only rub his glabella in distress.

From the looks of it, it seemed like he could not rely on the golden page to raise his Soul Depth anymore.

Cultivating one's state of mind was indeed not that easy!

From the looks of it, he had to prepare himself for a long battle. If a day would not work, he would just have to use two. If two did not work, he would have to use three... Or else, half a month should surely do the job, right?

If not, he could try to aim for a sixth acknowledgement of Celestial Master Teacher or something. That might work, too.

Heaving a long sigh, Zhang Xuan was just about to see how Sword Saint Xing was progressing along when he suddenly felt spiritual energy converging toward them.

He turned his head over and saw that shortly after Sword Saint Meng's Soul Depth had reached 29.9, her cultivation, which had stagnated at Intuitive Impulse realm consummation for a very long time, had suddenly surged up, reaching Sempiternal realm!

Sword Saint Meng had always been a highly talented cultivator, and the reason that she had been unable to make the breakthrough before was because of the knot in her heart for having lost her son. Now that she had found her son and her Soul Depth had just made such a massive advancement, using the momentum built up so far, she managed to push through her bottleneck and achieve a breakthrough in her cultivation!

In Great Sage 4-dan Sempiternal realm, the term 'sempiternal' referred to the deathlessness and imperviousness of one's Primordial Spirit. No external force would be able to sway one's emotions, and with a mere thought, one would be able to tear the fabric of space apart.

Such was the power wielded by the strongest experts beneath Ancient Sage.

As spiritual energy surged into her body, Sword Saint Meng's cultivation swiftly rose.

Seeing that it would take a while for Sword Saint Meng to reinforce her cultivation, Zhang Xuan flicked a grade-9 pill into the latter's mouth.

The pill melted as soon as it entered her mouth, and a tremendous burst of spiritual energy immediately surged through her body. The bottlenecks that had been limiting her previously were instantaneously cleared out.

After ensuring that Sword Saint Meng would not face any problem in her breakthrough, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.

Many dangers lurked within the Temple of Confucius, be it from fellow explorers or from the traps within. It was of the utmost importance for the Xingmeng Sword Saints to become stronger so that they would be able to protect themselves.

Even though he was only a transcended soul, he had already come to view the Xingmeng Sword Saints as close kin of his. He would not allow any danger to fall upon them.

Turning his gaze toward Sword Saint Xing, who was standing before the crystal ball, Zhang Xuan saw that his Soul Depth was also increasing by 0.1 at fixed intervals, just like Sword Saint Meng. It did not take long for his Soul Depth to reach the bottleneck of 29.9.

"I have reached the limits for my Soul Depth too..." Sword Saint Xing said with eyes glowing in excitement.

"Aren't you going to push for a breakthrough, too?" Zhang Xuan asked doubtfully.

"There's no hurry. I just made a breakthrough in my state of mind, so I need to condition my state for a while before I am ready," Sword Saint Xing replied.

"There's no need for that. Quick, let's get it over and done with. I took a look at your condition earlier, and the reason you haven't been able to achieve a breakthrough is due to several blockages in your meridians. I have a pill over here that will help you open up your sealed meridians. With this, you should be able to reach the Sempiternal realm easily," Zhang Xuan said as he flicked a pill toward Sword Saint Xing as well.

Given that your wife has already achieved a breakthrough, do you think you have the leisure to condition your state? You are already henpecked enough as it is! Are you willing to see your position in the family plummet even further than this?

"I..." Sword Saint Xing was slightly stunned by the vehement attitude of his son.

Am I... being looked down by my son for cultivating too slowly?

Oof!

It was a heavy blow, but Sword Saint Xing could not find any rebuttal at all.

One year ago, when his son had barely started out as a Fighter, he had been at the Intuitive Impulse realm.

Half a year ago, his son had successfully reached the Saint realm. He had been at the Intuitive Impulse realm.

A few days ago, his son had made a breakthrough to Great Sage 1-dan Introspective Convalescence realm. He had still been at the Intuitive Impulse realm.

On this very day, his son was already at the Aureate Body realm. But as for him... Yes, he was freaking at the Intuitive Impulse realm!

If he did not start to speed up now, he would really be overtaken by his son!

Without much hesitation, Sword Saint Xing swallowed the pill that Zhang Xuan had flicked to him. As the medicinal energy diffused through his body, he felt a concentrated surge of zhenqi coursing swiftly through his meridians, clearing up the blockages in the blink of an eye.

Following which, a powerful aura burst forth from his body. After facing stagnation in his cultivation for so many years, he had finally achieved a breakthrough!

"This..."

Seeing how he had achieved a breakthrough before he could even sit down to cultivate, Sword Saint Xing could not help but feel a little dazed.

Was this breakthrough not a little too easy!

However, he knew that this was not the time for him to be shocked. He quickly closed his eyes and began reinforcing his cultivation.

Seeing that both his father and mother had reached the Sempiternal realm, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief. He turned to Luo Ruoxin and Wu Chen and asked, "There's still some time left. Do you want to try as well?"

"Thank you for your offer, but there's no need for it. The Soul Depth of both Milady and I has reached a bottleneck. It would be meaningless for us to continue cultivating our state of mind!" Wu Chen clasped his fist.

"Bottleneck? Are your Soul Depths at 29.9 too?" Zhang Xuan was taken aback.

He knew that Wu Chen and Luo Ruoxin were no ordinary Sempiternal realm cultivators, but he did not think that their Soul Depth would have reached 29.9 as well. It seemed like their background was much more impressive than he had thought.

"I guess we're done then!" Zhang Xuan said. He turned to the middle-aged man by the side and said, "We have only used the crystal ball for less than an hour. Are you going to refund the remaining hour to us?"

"..." The cheeks of the middle-aged man twitched.

While other cultivators used the entire two hours in hopes that they would be able to advance their Soul Depth by 0.1, those three actually took less than an hour to advance their Soul Depth to 29.9. More importantly, they were even asking for a refund after all of that!

He swore that he had never seen anyone as stingy as that before!

"What? Are you unwilling to refund us?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

"That's not it. It's the utmost honor of our Heart Pavilion to have you here. Why don't we count the hour you have spent here on me as well?"

Seeing that the other party was earnestly asking for a refund, the middle-aged man flicked his wrist and returned the Saint pinnacle artifact to the other party.

It might have seemed as if he had made a loss, but the fact that three cultivators had advanced their Soul Depth to 29.9 at his Heart Pavilion was an invaluable advertisement for him.

All in all, it was still a win for him.

"That's more like it..." Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction as he returned the Saint pinnacle artifact to his storage ring.

The middle-aged man nodded in response before his gaze slowly drifted over to the crystal ball. A gleam flickered in his eye as he thought, Since they were able to achieve a breakthrough in their Soul Depth so quickly, is there a chance that I might just be able to do the same?

With such a thought in mind, he quietly shuffled his footsteps over to the crystal ball.

The formation in the crystal ball had to be activated for two hours at the very minimum. Since the current guests were not intending to use it anymore, it would be a waste to leave it be. He might as well use it for himself.

He placed his hand on the crystal ball, and after a very long time... there was still no change to his Soul Depth.

At that moment, he realized that the advancement of their Soul Depth actually had nothing to do with his crystal ball at all...