41: Xuan Dan Pavilion, the foundation of the sect!

The sun dipped into the west as twilight gathered from all sides.

Inside the quiet room, Zhang Yang slowly opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing briefly within his pupils.

After an entire afternoon of dedicated refinement, he had completely filled his Ninth Spirit Aperture.

At this moment, he was only a single step away from the Profound Core Realm.

He only needed to comprehend his Saber Intent to the seventh stage to activate the nine great Spirit Apertures within his body and charge toward that Profound Core Realm dreamed of by countless Cultivators!

The daylight gradually faded, and the night sky spread across the firmament like ink.

Zhang Yang sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, palms and soles facing the sky, dividing his mind for two tasks.

One thought sank into his Sea of Consciousness to visualize the precious saber and comprehend Saber Intent;

The other thought turned inward to inspect his own body, where the liquid True Yuan within the nine Spirit Apertures was as thick and heavy as mercury paste.

He continued to circulate his Mind-Cultivation Technique, guiding the Qi throughout his body, repeatedly grinding and tempering the True Yuan within the apertures.

He strove to push its purity to the Peak of what he could currently achieve.

The long night stretched on, and when the first light of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, the aura around Zhang Yang suddenly condensed before returning to tranquility.

After a night of tempering, the liquid True Yuan within the nine Spirit Apertures was finally hammered into a perfect, flawless state, shimmering with a faint jade-like luster and condensed as if solid.

Zhang Yang clearly perceived that his internal True Yuan was now perfectly integrated, and his aura was surging, ready to pierce the heavens.

With a slight stir of his thoughts, it seemed he could easily trigger the innate qi and knock upon the gates of the Profound Core Realm!

However, he instantly suppressed this urge to Breakthrough.

A high-grade profound pill? That was by no means his goal!

Only by waiting for his Saber Intent to break through to the seventh stage could he, according to ancient records, condense that legendary Supreme-Grade Mysterious Pill—also known as the dao rhyme golden core—which was his ultimate pursuit!

As the morning sun rose, Zhang Yang stepped out of the Xuan Yuan Peak quiet room.

Walking not far from the Scripture Pavilion, a simple and heavy three-story pavilion came into view, with three large, forcefully written characters on the plaque: Xuan Dan Pavilion.

The Disciples he encountered along the way, whether inner gate elites or ordinary workers, all showed looks of awe and admiration in their eyes upon seeing Zhang Yang.

His illustrious fame from defeating Cang Lingchuan with a single punch on the Martial Arts Stage yesterday had already spread throughout the Sect.

Zhang Yang seemed oblivious to this, his calm gaze falling upon the Xuan Dan Pavilion.

This pavilion was not a place for Alchemy, but rather a treasury where many predecessors of the Clear Wind Sect over the past millennium had left behind their precious insights and experiences from when they broke through to the Profound Core Realm.

This was but a tip of the iceberg of the profound Foundation of the Southern Region's number one Sect!

Sect rules dictated that any Clear Wind Sect Disciple under the age of thirty who had reached the Spirit Aperture Realm Ninth Level and possessed the potential to charge into the Profound Core Realm could enter this pavilion to read the insights of their predecessors, comprehend the bottlenecks of breaking through, and pave the way for their own core condensation.

The Xuan Dan Pavilion was divided into three floors.

The first floor stored insights on breaking through to a Low Grade profound pill, the second floor for Medium Grade, and the third floor for a high-grade profound pill.

As for the legendary Supreme-Grade Mysterious Pill? Or rather, the Breakthrough experience for a dao rhyme golden core... since the founding of the Clear Wind Sect, not a single person had successfully condensed one!

Such a legendary Realm only had vague, fragmentary mentions in those tattered ancient books inherited from antiquity.

Even Zhang Yang harbored a trace of uncertainty in his heart.

Could that dao rhyme golden core truly be condensed successfully?

The road ahead was vast and filled with the unknown.

To be safe, he decided to spend some time reading and pondering all the Breakthrough insights of his predecessors within the three floors of the Xuan Dan Pavilion several times over.

Of course, the third floor of the Xuan Dan Pavilion was not open to just anyone.

Sect rules were strict; only Core Disciples at the Spirit Aperture Realm Ninth Level who had comprehended the essence of a Concept and were under twenty-two years of age were qualified to ascend.

After Zhang Yang verified his cultivation and bone age at the front of the pavilion, he climbed the stairs and entered the third floor.

The space on the third floor was vast, with dozens of simple bookshelves standing quietly, upon which hundreds of volumes of varying thickness were arranged chronologically.

Beside them was an exquisite jade scroll that detailed the name and life summary of each insight's owner.

Zhang Yang's gaze swept across them, and he discovered the handwritten notes left by the current Sect Master regarding his Profound Core Realm insights from back then!

With a solemn expression, Zhang Yang picked up the Sect Master's notes and focused on reading them.

Upon careful reading, Zhang Yang gained a more thorough and clear understanding of how to break through to the Profound Core Realm, as well as the various dangerous bottlenecks and subtle mysteries involved.

Breaking from the Ninth Spirit Aperture into the Profound Core Realm involved using the body's innate qi as a Foundation and the Concept one had comprehended as a bridge and furnace to completely connect and fuse the nine Spirit Apertures within the body.

Finally, by guiding the innate qi to occupy the fused core, one could nurture and condense it into the Profound Core that symbolized power and Realm!

The grade of the Profound Core was closely related to the depth of one's comprehension of Concept.

Without the assistance of a Concept, one could only barely fuse thirty percent of the Spirit Apertures, forming a Low Grade profound pill.

Though they entered the Profound Core Realm, the purity and total amount of their Yuan power was as different as clouds and mud compared to medium and High Grades.

If one comprehended the essence of a Concept, it could help fuse sixty percent of the Spirit Apertures, achieving a medium-grade profound pill.

And if one's comprehension of Concept reached the fourth stage or higher, they could push the degree of Spirit Aperture Fusion to a staggering ninety percent, thereby condensing a high-grade profound pill with infinite potential!

What shook Zhang Yang's heart even more was that the Sect Master admitted in his notes that he had once tried to charge toward that legendary one hundred percent perfect Fusion!

At that time, the Sect Master's Saber Intent had reached the fifth stage Peak, and he wished to use it to break through the limit.

Although he ultimately failed, he had forcibly raised the Fusion degree to an unprecedented ninety-three percent!

The Sect Master speculated in his insights that the legendary Supreme-Grade Mysterious Pill was by no means a delusion!

Only by pushing one's Concept comprehension to the seventh stage could one achieve the perfect Fusion of the nine Spirit Apertures and finally condense that rare treasure of the ages: the dao rhyme golden core!

“As expected of the Sect Master who governs the Clear Wind Sect! Fifth-stage Saber Intent before the age of twenty-five...”

Zhang Yang closed the notes and praised from the bottom of his heart; the Sect Master's talent back then was terrifying and brilliant!

After reading the Sect Master's insights, Zhang Yang also felt more confident about forming a dao rhyme golden core!

For the entire morning, Zhang Yang remained immersed in the third floor of the Xuan Dan Pavilion.

He hungrily read through the Breakthrough insights left by the top geniuses of the Clear Wind Sect throughout the generations who had comprehended their Concepts to the fourth stage or higher before the age of twenty-five.

These experiences were pearls of wisdom, containing their unique realizations during their Breakthroughs—they were priceless treasures!

In the outside world, any single insight from this third floor would be enough to cause a bloodbath and was worth a fortune.

Yet here, he could access them at will and absorb them all.

This was the Foundation of a great Sect!

As the sun approached its zenith, Zhang Yang gently placed the insights back on the shelf and let out a satisfied sigh.

He composed himself, turned to go downstairs, and headed toward the Martial Arts Stage.

Since he had declared that he would wait for challenges at the Martial Arts Stage every day at noon until the Inner Sect Grand Competition, how could he, Zhang Yang, break his word?

Moreover, such actual combat was also an opportunity to temper himself and gain combat experience.

Yesterday's fierce battle with Cang Lingchuan, though brief—lasting over five minutes—had benefited him immensely.

Upon reaching the Martial Arts Stage, the scene before him was even more spectacular than yesterday.

The crowd below the stage was bustling, a dense mass of people; many Disciples had long been waiting expectantly, their eyes focused intently on the center of the stage.

Under the gaze of countless eyes, Zhang Yang calmly walked through the crowd and stepped onto the center of the bluestone-paved Martial Arts Stage.

“Today, is there anyone else willing to come up and challenge me?” Zhang Yang's clear voice, bolstered by True Yuan, spread clearly in all directions.

“I am!”