NOVEL NEXT Chapter 123: A Shadowy Library
As I exhaled steam rose from my mouth, clouding my vision slightly. But I was finally at the foot of the place where Song Song had directed me.
I walked next to the staircase, which Song Song had said concealed a secret entrance. I made sure to have the token on hand as I walked around the staircase.
Occasionally, I couldn't help but glance at the twenty stairs leading to the castle. An instinctive part of my mind was on full alert, anticipating that something dangerous might descend those steps.
It was an illogical fear, of course. What was the point of being wary of the Song Clan Leader coming down those steps? It was not like I could do anything against him.
Perhaps coming here immediately after the Sect Leader forced his hand wasn't a good idea. After all, I was the source of this trouble.
Just then, I felt a tiny twitch from the wooden plaque Song Song had given me. I felt the arrays inside the plaque shift and twist as if pointing at something. I followed its direction to another wall under the stairs.
I knew better than to trust just my eyes, so I extended my hand forward. I touched the wall, closed my eyes, and focused entirely on my sixth sense, which I used to sense Qi. However, there was nothing.
Undeterred, I used my other hand to place the wooden plaque next to the wall.
Immediately, a pulse of Qi spread through the wall, revealing the hidden opening I couldn't detect before. The wall didn't physically move, but now I could sense that the apparent wall in front of me was just an illusion. Initially, it had felt solid, but now my hand moved straight through it.
But I couldn't stay here looking like a fool, staring at a wall, so I walked through it. As I passed through the illusion, I sensed an array washing over me as if checking for something. But it didn't stop me.
On the other side of the wall was a dark staircase leading down. Although there was no light, I could see everything perfectly. It was another neat illusion, one I didn't bother to break.
The illusion hypnotized me into thinking I could see the stairs, displaying an illusion of light.
It was a shame that the person who created this was probably dead by now. I would have loved to meet someone like that. They made my tweaked arrays look amateurish, like comparing a child building with Legos to a worker using advanced machinery to build a house.
I walked down the stairs, the cautiousness and fear I had felt regarding the Song Clan dissipating.
For a moment, I had lost sight of myself. So what if it was dangerous? Every man had something for which they would risk their life, and my thing was my curiosity.
My previous life was meaningless. Nothing was gratifying. I was not living; I was just waiting to die! I was not truly passionate about anything, just hobbies at most. I never felt I would be willing to give my life for anything.
But in this life, I had found it! This feeling!
I had already lived a non-dangerous life, and it wasn't all it was sold to be. When it came to gaining new knowledge, I was willing to risk my life!
Who cared if dangerous people were getting in the way of what I wanted? I was dangerous too. As time passed, I continued to grow even more dangerous. It was inevitable.
A smile blossomed on my face as I reached the bottom of the staircase. But as I stepped onto what felt like mud, I realized it wasn't mud. It was what looked like a liquid shadow. I turned toward the staircase I had come from, and the place was utterly dark. I was no longer under an illusion or hypnosis.
On the other hand, in the new room, soft blue gems on the walls acted as weak lighting. The shadowy ground aside, the library was smaller than I had expected. It was just a little bigger than the first floor of the outer sect library.
It made sense, as this place stored important knowledge, and there wasn't much of that around. But I had hoped it would be a giant library with all kinds of secrets from around the world. However, it seemed like I would have to discover those secrets myself.
As I walked through the library, the shadow that almost reached my knees didn't restrict my movements like mud would have.
When I got close enough to see the first book, I felt like a kid at a toy store.
"Sky Grade Techniques to Reach Heavens," I read the title out loud and picked up the book. After scrolling through the first page, I realized it explained what Sky Grade Techniques were and certain specifics.
Stolen story; please report.
Huh? Sky Grade Techniques grew weaker the more people learned them. It made sense why those kinds of techniques were not spread around more. The technique would literally lose power if more people knew it… How the hell did that work?
At some point, a Sky Grade Technique could even degrade to Earth Grade power if too many people learned it. Sadly, that was where the book ended the subject and didn't explain why that was the case!
"What are you reading there?" a voice said from behind, startling me a bit.
What was it with people nowadays sneaking up on me so easily? Or was I just so lost in this book that I forgot.
I turned around and was greeted by a floating book. It had a golden cover and was opened to a page with an ink drawing of a clean-shaven old man with his mouth open. Though he looked like a static drawing, there was life in his eyes.
Okay… What the fuck was this?
"You don't feel like one of my descendants. Did you kill one of them and take their token?" The talking doodle in the book inquired. The drawing hadn't moved, but the voice was definitely coming from the book. "But even then, you would have to know how to use the library token. To get that, you would have to torture the information out of them, but no member of my Song Clan with access to this place would be broken by silly things like torture. So, I will ask again, how did you get here, kid?"
My first thought was that this guy was the Blazing Sun Immortal, who had sealed his consciousness in a book or something like that. But the Blazing Sun Immortal was called an immortal for a reason. I doubted an immortal would imbue his consciousness in a book to preserve his lifespan.
I put the book back in place, cupped my fist respectfully, and bowed my head. "Sorry for disturbing your rest, Honorable Elder. You are right; I'm not a member of the Song Clan. I was given this token by a dear friend."
"Elder?" The book flipped pages and ended up on a page with the drawing of the same man, except he looked offended in this one. "Back in my day, I was the Song Clan Leader!"
"Sorry, Clan Leader. I'm ignorant of the ways of the Song Clan," I said smoothly, without taking offense to his words.
When it came to these kinds of cultivators, I always treated them as sulking kids in my mind. There was no reason to get offended by what a sulking kid said.
The dangerous ones were the cultivators who hid their intentions and remained quiet even when insulted to their faces. Those were the kind that would actually go through the effort of exterminating someone's whole clan and family. In that case, I wouldn't even see it coming.
"Well, I'm Song Lian, the direct grandson of the Blazing Sun Immortal!" The pages flipped again and landed on a drawing where he had his mouth open, then ended on another page where he wore a proud smirk.
Yep, there was a good chance this guy had definitely been a puppet leader. If I had learned one thing about this world, it was that arrogant cultivators were usually used as tools by the scheming cultivators. Also, there was no way this dangerous Song Clan had been created in the last generation or two. They had to have been just as dangerous during this guy's generation, or perhaps even more so because they had to deal with families of similar power.
"Wow, sorry Clan Leader. I never knew you held such a prestigious position," pulling off the starry-eyed look was surprisingly easy. I just had to think about the kinds of books this guy might give me if we got along. "Sorry, I'm kind of nervous. It feels like I'm meeting one of those legendary heroes from books!"
"Of course," the book said, flinging the page to a page where he had his mouth open as his voice came out. Then, the book returned to the same proud-looking drawing.
This had to be one of those techniques that extended people's lifespans.
There was a good chance this book was older than most Nascent Soul Cultivators today. But then again, the Blazing Sun Immortal was an immortal after all. This could be just a couple of cultivator generations ago.
"Sorry for intruding on your time, Honorable Leader. But my friend really wants me to bring back some books. Can I come back and talk to you when I have some free time? I would love to learn about your life history!" I said, and I wasn't trying to trick him this time.
This guy might be an arrogant cultivator, which I didn't usually respect. But he was also a living relic.
"Of course," he said, and the book flipped to a page where the man was nodding with a peaceful smile. "Let me help you with any books you might be looking for. What is it that you want? You have the highest access badge and can take any book here."
"I'm looking for some books on arrays. Most of the arrays I know are defensive barriers in one way or another, so I'm looking for some attacking arrays or something similar," I said.
The book flipped pages and landed on a proud drawing. "Then, I know just the books for you! Follow me."
He levitated toward one of the shelves and said, "Thirteen of those books at the top have information on arrays from level one to level five of all kinds. From setting boundaries, fire arrays, lightning arrays, some ritualistic arrays, three dozen demonic arrays that you shouldn't use in public, and some level four arrays where you can inscribe the beast in an item and cause the soul of the monstrous beast to come fight for you…"
The book continued explaining, and I listened with a smile. After a while, I constructed a jade soldier, and the book stopped explaining, flipping to a drawing of a confused man.
"No, please continue, Honorable Leader. You were just getting to the good part. You were talking about the Leaf Controlling Array, right? Where the array allows the user to imbue Qi in leaves and control them as a tidal wave of sharp blades. A bit complicated for a level three array, but I would love to hear more about it," I said, using the jade soldier as a foothold to reach and grab all the books above.
After putting all the books I needed on a jade platform, I closed my eyes, concentrated, and ran Qi through the storage ring. I felt an empty, dark space with nothing in it. Then I touched the books individually and put them in the storage ring with just a thought.
It was pretty easy to use a storage ring. I had seen Song Song use it with a wave of her hand before, but this was my first time.
As I was putting in the books, another book caught my attention. It was an old book with a red cover, and it looked like it had been a while since it had been touched. Even though it was dark and on another shelf, and I could barely read the title even with my good vision, the title alone was more than enough to grab my attention.
'Explanation of Otherworldly Devils'