After browsing the various cultivation methods and secret techniques on the bookshelves for a while, Zhang Ling stopped in front of a row of bookshelves and pondered.
The bookshelves in front of him held some special jade slips, all containing knowledge related to cultivation insights. The top few cultivation insights were left behind by Nascent Soul cultivators.
Such cultivation insights were extremely precious. He had exchanged for such insights in Myriad Manifestation City when he formed his Golden Core, which helped him a lot.
If it were insights on forming the Golden Core, it might be possible to obtain them in some places outside. They would occasionally surface in some large bookstores and auctions.
However, insights on forming the Nascent Soul would never appear. Every cultivator who formed the Nascent Soul had different personal insights and would not pass them on.
Not to mention those rogue cultivators who formed the Nascent Soul, even the Nascent Soul cultivators of some immortal cultivation families and the Nascent Soul elders of sects rarely left behind such insights.
It was said that such insights were related to a cultivator's inner demons and privacy, so they were rarely passed on.
Zhang Ling was immediately interested when he discovered such insights on forming the Nascent Soul here, and he inquired with Senior Brother Jiang next to him.
Senior Brother Jiang chuckled and shook his head, explaining it to him in general. After listening, Zhang Ling felt a sense of disappointment. He had misunderstood.
These insights were just cultivation insights left behind by the Flying Cloud Sect's past Nascent Soul elders, not the insights left behind when they formed their Nascent Soul as he had thought.
Even so, Zhang Ling still used the sect contribution points he had just obtained to exchange for two insights. One was a spell insight left behind by a Nascent Soul cultivator who cultivated earth-attribute techniques.
The other insight he exchanged for was an insight left behind by an alchemy master.
He also had many doubts when he usually practiced advanced spells, and his own alchemy skills were mostly raised by using a large number of spiritual herbs. His alchemy skills could only be considered passable.
Both of these insights would be of great help to him.
Before leaving, when Zhang Ling put back the last book he had looked at, he casually shook his sleeve. This action seemed unremarkable, but a translucent object fell from his sleeve to the ground.
That thing was very thin, and it could easily be overlooked even with divine sense. The thing made no sound when it fell to the ground and disappeared instantly.
Zhang Ling took the two cultivation insights he liked, had Senior Brother Jiang make a copy, and then said goodbye and left. After walking out of the Scripture Pavilion, he flew back to his cave abode.
On the sixth floor of the Scripture Pavilion, Senior Brother Jiang was still sitting cross-legged in a certain position, quietly meditating, and did not notice a strange thing hidden behind the row of bookshelves.
Behind that row of bookshelves, several Zhang away, was a wall with a circular light gate on it. This was a small teleportation light gate, leading to the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion.
Zhang Ling learned this information when he was talking with Senior Brother Jiang. The thing hidden behind the bookshelf that was not easy to detect was none other than the Black Tortoise controlled by his second soul.
The Black Tortoise had shrunk to the size of a palm, lying motionless on the ground, covered with a layer of translucent soft glue.
From the outside, there was nothing there.
Zhang Ling had separated a part of the Shapeshifting Mud and covered it on the Black Tortoise, completely concealing the Black Tortoise's aura.
Letting the Black Tortoise hide there was to wait for an opportunity to act. The easiest way to obtain the secret method of condensing Swallowing Cloud Stones was to start from the Scripture Pavilion.
He had previously envisioned that once the beast tide drew out the only Nascent Soul cultivator in the Flying Cloud Sect, Uncle-Master Lü, he would have the opportunity to sneak into the Scripture Pavilion. Now that he had the opportunity to directly reach the sixth floor, it would be easier for the Black Tortoise to hide there and succeed.
Even if it ultimately failed, it didn't matter, as long as Uncle-Master Lü was held back by the beast tide, the Black Tortoise could escape from this place. After all, the Black Tortoise was not an ordinary monster, and its physical body was comparable to that of a transformed monster.
This was the purpose of his coming to Flying Cloud Island. If he could succeed, the subsequent cultivation of the Soul Refining Technique would be smoother.
In the following days, the Golden Core cultivators on Flying Cloud Island would patrol the entire island every day, killing the beast hordes that were occasionally swept in by the turbid mist storms.
Until ten days later, the turbid mist storm expanded again. In just half an hour, another wave of beast roars came from the entire island, and a large number of beast hordes gathered again, gradually forming a new desolate beast tide.
Several hours later, the beast tide rushed down towards Flying Cloud City again.
From a distance, it was unknown how many occupied an area of hundreds of miles. Judging from the scale, it was much larger than the second beast tide.
Standing on the city wall, Zhang Ling was lost in thought, wondering if the upcoming third beast tide would draw out Uncle-Master Lü. If this Nascent Soul cultivator didn't take action, he didn't know how long he would have to wait.
Calculating the time, nearly a month had passed since the beast tide spread to this side. Based on the previous scale of the beast tides, this was not the main force of the beast tide.
Firstly, Flying Cloud Island's location was not in the central area of the beast tide's impact, and secondly, the beast tide might not have reached its peak yet, and it could last for half a year or even several years.
The longer he stayed here, the greater the risk of exposure. Zhang Ling sighed, wondering when the opportunity would come.
Looking at the increasingly overwhelming beast tide, this was the danger he had to face now.
Scanning the large number of mortal warriors and low-level cultivators gathered on the left and right city walls, if the beast tide continued, he didn't know how many of these people would ultimately survive.
Many mortals and cultivators had died in the second beast tide not long ago, and even several Golden Core experts had fallen. The fate of these low-level cultivators was actually linked to them, these Golden Core cultivators.
If the Golden Core cultivator guarding a section of the city wall couldn't deal with the attacking high-level desolate beasts, the city's protective formation might partially collapse. When the beast hordes rushed in, the first to suffer would be the low-level cultivators and mortals.
Looking at these people who were actively preparing for battle, Zhang Ling couldn't help but sigh. Although he wouldn't be in too much danger with his current cultivation, he also had a feeling that his fate was not in his own hands.
He still felt that life and death were impermanent. If he had the strength of a Nascent Soul now, he could deal with the many crises calmly.
But throughout history, how many cultivators had been stuck at this step? Even cultivation geniuses with Heavenly Spiritual Roots had to rely on chance to form the Nascent Soul.
The Heavenly Dao was vast, and time was long. The immortal path was渺渺, and life and death were impermanent.
The people on the city wall, the myriad beasts under the city, didn't know who would ultimately live and who would die. As humans, they were sometimes muddled and sometimes clear-headed. He didn't know who could break free, gain carefree freedom, or fall back into reincarnation.
For a time, Zhang Ling's state of mind underwent a subtle change. He seemed to be trapped in confusion, and yet he seemed to be a little clearer.
The sound of a horn and the rumbling of drums suddenly rang in his ears, pulling his chaotic consciousness back to reality.
