Library of Heaven’s Path 2: Eternal Destiny

Arriving at the library, he called out a couple of times, but found that Su Shao was not there, so the two pushed the door and entered the room.

The surroundings were unusually quiet; all the teachers had been called to the martial arts field as judges, leaving not a single figure or student in sight.

“Where’s the formation?”

As his Eye of Insight operated, Zhang Xuan looked around but did not detect anything unusual. He looked back in confusion.

“It has already stopped operating. Otherwise, without the reference certificate, we wouldn’t even be able to enter!” Chen Jinlin said.

Zhang Xuan suddenly understood.

It seemed that the last few times he had come, he indeed needed a reference certificate. He had thought it was just for Elder Su Qiao, but it turned out to be the key to entering the formation.

After taking a few steps forward, Chen Jinlin pointed to a corner of the wall: “That’s the formation’s base and flags; you can see how to repair it!”

Zhang Xuan looked over. Two formation flags were slanted against the corner of a bookshelf, made of an unknown dark gray material that had no luster.

“Defects!”

Inside the Library of Heaven\'s Path, there were no changes or books forming; it wasn’t that the library was non-functional, but rather... this formation wasn’t operating at all.

A non-operating formation was like a martial artist who hadn’t unleashed their skills; even if the library was powerful, it couldn\'t detect defects. This meant that to repair it, the formation had to operate first.

Seeing his serious expression, Chen Jinlin asked, “Do you have any ideas?”

“I’ll study it a bit…”

Approaching the formation flags, Zhang Xuan touched one with his hand, and a book appeared.

The red iron formation flag, made from purple silk cloth, with a pole of red iron fused with silver, was crafted by the formation master Liao Sheng from the Hanyuan imperial capital eighty years ago.

Defect one: the pole’s tempering level is relatively low; defect two: the array patterns on the flag were not carved correctly.

Glancing over it, Zhang Xuan was at a loss for words.

He touched another one and received the same result, only to look at Chen Jinlin before him: “Elder Chen, do you know the name of this formation?”

Knowing the materials and defects of the formation flags wouldn’t help in repairing the formation.

“You don’t even know... its name?”

Chen Jinlin was baffled.

The other party had confidently taken the task, thinking he had extensive knowledge of formations and even possessed a talent for them, only to admit he didn’t even know the formation’s name... was this a joke?

Zhang Xuan shook his head: “I just arrived; how could I know?”

The formations on the Master Teacher Continent were driven by spirit stones and spiritual energy, while this world used source energy. It was like comparing a fuel car to an electric car—though both are vehicles, their essence was completely different.

Thus, his previous understanding of formations was evidently not applicable here.

Hearing this, Chen Jinlin, though losing all hope, explained out of politeness: “The formation in the library is called the Purple Silk Sealing Formation, set up with purple silk flags, and has multiple functions such as defense and sealing.”

He gave a detailed introduction.

This formation had been built by the Destiny Hall back in the day, so unless someone from the Destiny Hall was invited to come, it was practically impossible to fix.

And even if one were to invite them, the cost wouldn’t be small, which was why it had been left unused for so long.

Zhang Xuan looked around the library; there were no changes, and he could only suppress his embarrassment: “So... can you make this formation operate? Even if it can’t function normally, if it could just be activated…”

“If I could activate it, then I’d earn those 500 merit points easily…” Chen Jinlin rolled his eyes.

Zhang Xuan scratched his head.

He thought this was the simplest way to earn merit points, but now it seemed like it might not be doable.

Just as he was about to give up, a thought occurred to him.

“With the Flaw of Heaven’s Path and the Order of Heaven’s Path, neither can be used in this situation. What about the Nature of Heaven’s Path?”

For anything to exert power, it must comply with natural laws. The closer it aligns with nature, the more powerful it becomes; formations are no exception.

The placement of formation flags needs to consider the terrain and even the surrounding buildings. Since both the Flaw of Heaven and the Order of Heaven couldn’t be used, trying the Nature of Heaven’s Path might yield some results.

With this thought, Zhang Xuan casually adjusted the position of one of the formation flags. Accompanied by his intent, a book in the library indeed emitted light and slowly landed in his palm.

He opened it casually.

The book noted where this formation flag should be placed to harmonize better with the environment and absorb source energy more easily.

“Indeed, it works…”

His eyes lit up. Zhang Xuan placed the formation flag in the position indicated by the book.

Following the same method, he set the formation flags in the other corners of the library one by one.

“If there’s no Destiny of the Formation, and if you don’t understand formations, then no matter how you place them, it won’t work... Teacher Zhang, if you really can’t do it, we can try switching to another task…”

Seeing the other party fiddling around, Chen Jinlin estimated that nothing would come of it and was shaking his head to advise him when suddenly, the formation flag emitted a “whoosh!” sound and released a gentle glow.

“This is... activated?”

Eyes wide, Chen Jinlin froze in place.

Just adjusting the formation flags could activate it… was this for real? If he had known this task was so simple, he would have taken it himself!

Merit points could be exchanged for resources; even as the fifth elder of the White Rock Academy, he wasn’t wealthy...

“Even if it’s activated, it’s useless. The formation has been damaged; to make it operate, you need to find the heart of the formation and inject source energy into it. But the heart of the formation will change with strength, time, season, and constellations. If you don’t know much about formations, you’ll never find it…”

After watching for a while, seeing that the young man had activated the formation but was just standing still and not taking any further action, Chen Jinlin couldn’t help but speak up.

Before he could finish, he saw the other party kick a bookshelf.

With a creak, the bookshelf slid aside, moving half a meter before stopping. Suddenly, Elder Chen Jinlin saw the activated formation suddenly emit brilliant light before disappearing.

In the next moment, a huge repulsive force suddenly appeared on him, a rumbling sound exploded in his ears, and the surrounding source energy gathered, as if it wanted to grind him to dust.

“This is... the formation has completely activated?”

His pupils contracted. Chen Jinlin realized this was the phenomenon of the formation operating, repelling strangers. He didn’t dare waste time and hurriedly took out the reference certificate from his pocket.

As the certificate appeared, the rumbling sound ceased, and the operating formation gradually stopped.

Gasping for breath, he looked again at the young man not far away, filled with disbelief.

Formations, like other professions, first needed the recognition of Destiny to practice. This young man didn’t even know the name of the formation and had clearly never been to the Destiny Hall... How then did he repair it and make it operate?

“Does this count as a success for me?” Zhang Xuan smiled and looked over.

“Of course!” Chen Jinlin nodded eagerly.

“How... did you do it?” Unable to contain his curiosity, he looked over.

“I’m sensitive to source energy and felt that the placements of these flags were a bit chaotic, so I adjusted them a bit. I didn’t expect it would really be repaired,” Zhang Xuan explained.

The Nature of Heaven meant letting everything return to nature and going with the flow. What he said, though strange, was the best explanation.

If he claimed to have a talent for formations, it would only raise suspicions.

“It can work like this?”

Chen Jinlin’s mouth hung open in surprise; the world of geniuses was indeed different from that of ordinary people.

Just like a top student, even if they guess at a question they don’t know, their probability of being correct is much higher than that of a poor student.

“This task happens to be worth 500 merit points. I should count as having passed the elder’s assessment now, right?” Not wanting to dwell on this topic, Zhang Xuan asked.

“Of course!”

Chen Jinlin nodded. “Wait here a moment; I’ll get your Elder Token right now…”

Saying that, Elder Chen hurried out. Before long, he returned holding a token and handed it over.

Zhang Xuan took it.

It was somewhat similar to the token of the Chen family’s guest elder, the size was the same, but the front had the words “Elder of White Rock Academy” inscribed on it.

“Thank you!”

Holding the token in his palm, Zhang Xuan sighed in relief and headed up to the third floor of the library. With this thing, the formation no longer obstructed him, and he smoothly entered to seek out the cultivation method for the Jade Bone Realm.

---

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lu Mingrong, Wu Yunzhou, and others

also arrived at the Elder Hall, looking at Elder Chen Jinlin, who had just returned.

“I heard... Teacher Zhang is being assessed as an elder. How did it go? Did his cultivation really reach the Organs Easing Realm?”

Wu Yunzhou couldn’t help but ask.

Four days ago at the City Lord\'s Mansion, he had personally checked the other party and found that he didn’t have a single true energy in him, not even having activated the source pool. In just a few short days, you’re telling me he reached the Organs Easing Sixth Level and can be assessed as an elder? Is this for real?

“Yeah, not only did he reach the Organs Easing Realm, but he’s also... at the peak of the Organs Easing Realm, possessing 60 horsepower of strength!”

Chen Jinlin explained.

“This is true.”

“Cultivating this fast? How did he do it?”

Hearing his confirmation, everyone gasped, even Lu Mingrong was left speechless.

The most talented person they had seen before was Yu Longqing, the first in a century. Even he took a full five years to go from the Energy Storing Realm to the peak of the Organs Easing Realm, yet this other party did it in just a few days.

“But mere cultivation isn’t enough to become an elder; merit points are also required. What about the others? Did they take on tasks?”

After the shock, everyone looked around, not seeing the other party’s figure, and Wu Qinxu asked.

Chen Jinlin said, “He took on a task, and he finished it; he’s now the seventh elder of our academy.”

“What task?” Su Qiao was taken aback.

Ever since he learned the other party intended to be assessed as an elder, he had brought the principal and others over, totaling no more than fifteen minutes... and he had already completed the task, earning 500 merit points?

Chen Jinlin replied, “To repair the formation in your library.”

“The library?”

Su Qiao’s mind exploded. He could no longer care about idle chatter and turned to rush towards the library. Moments later, he returned to the group, his eyes wide as if they would pop out.

“How did it go?” Lu Mingrong looked over.

“The formation in the library was not only successfully repaired, but it seems... its power is also much greater than before! With my strength, I couldn’t even breach it.”

Su Qiao swallowed hard.

The previous formation could deter students from entering without permission, but it was only effective against those below the Organs Easing Realm. With his strength, it could at most give a warning; it couldn’t truly drive anyone away. But now, without a reference certificate, he felt he would be directly obliterated!

“This...”

Lu Mingrong and the others looked at each other in disbelief, hurriedly rushing over. A short while later, they returned one by one, and the room was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Taming horses, cultivating, teaching... each extraordinary, and now there’s a formation. How many more surprises does this Teacher Zhang have in store for them?

“Principal…”

At that moment, a teacher hurriedly walked over; it was Zhou, who had run to call the principal during the Source Pool Assessment.

Lu Mingrong frowned, “Teacher Zhou, why aren’t you at the martial arts field hosting the competition? Why are you here?”

Teacher Zhou hurriedly bowed and explained, “Principal, your student Mo Yanxue drew a match with Hong Yi!”

Recalling, Lu Mingrong said, “If I remember correctly, his talent is very weak, with a Ninth Grade Source Pool assessment. Although he ignited a supreme grade furnace thanks to Teacher Zhang’s help, with a poor foundation and no background, his progress in just three days shouldn’t be significant!”

And Mo Yanxue had the support of the Mo family. As far as I know, he obtained the Energy Storing Realm elixir, the Golden Source Jade Liquid, yesterday, dramatically increasing his strength. The two are not in the same league; even if he won, it wouldn’t be a particularly glorious thing!

Teacher Zhou looked embarrassed: “He lost!”

“???“

Lu Mingrong was frozen in place.

Author\'s Note