After composing himself, Xu Ziqing stopped dwelling upon his amazement.
He had already received more than enough shocks today. Now that he was calmer, he thought for a moment and released his spiritual sense, intending to search quickly for what he needed.
But the moment his spiritual sense touched a bookshelf, it was repelled, making him frown.
He couldn’t use spiritual sense to read the books!
Sighing, he resigned himself to searching manually, beginning with the first shelf.
The shelves were heavy and about three tiers high. This one held only individual bound volumes, their titles written plainly on their covers, so the names were easy to read.
Xu Ziqing did not pick anything up at first. He simply looked at the titles.
Extreme Fire Thunder Art, Seven Sages Thunder Art, Void-Riding Startling Thunder Art, Purple Flame Thunder Art…
He inspected an entire tier and found nothing but Lightning-attribute techniques. Their names alone suggested great power, but none suited him.
The second and third tiers were also filled with Lightning techniques. Xu Ziqing shook his head and moved to the next bookshelf, only to find more of the same.
After passing five whole bookshelves, he finally encountered a different attribute.
This time, the titles included Blazing Wildfire Art, Thunderfire Heart Scripture, and Shadow Windfire Art. All were Fire-attribute cultivation methods.
Xu Ziqing began to understand the arrangement.
There were so many techniques in the library that they could scarcely be counted. If they had been scattered randomly, disciples would waste enormous amounts of time searching. Grouping the same attributes together made the process far easier.
But the techniques he had seen, whether Lightning or Fire, were chiefly methods of circulating and refining true essence. Though they sometimes included magical arts and combat moves, refining true essence was the main purpose, with combat techniques only supplementary.
Xu Ziqing already cultivated the Great Art of Myriad Woods Heart-Planting, a legendary method surpassing even Heaven-rank cultivation arts. He had no need to look for ordinary Human-rank methods of cultivating true essence.
He had therefore decided beforehand that his first choice would be a sword technique.
Cultivators rarely fought with their bare hands. They generally relied on magical treasures in battle. Among such treasures, sabers, spears, swords, halberds, and whips were all tremendously powerful, much as the eighteen traditional weapons were among mortals. Their techniques, however, were far more mysterious, and once empowered with true essence, they possessed power many times greater than their mundane counterparts.
Among the cultivators Xu Ziqing had met, Diao Zimo favored the whip and Zhang Tiantai favored the saber, but most used swords. There had been Xu Zifeng, who could already release sword qi though he had not condensed sword force; Su Xin and his Blazing Fire Sword Art; and now Senior Martial Brother Yun, who had mastered the sword Dao and even comprehended sword intent.
After weighing his options, Xu Ziqing felt that his Wood attribute was ill-suited to the more violent nature of many other weapons. Sword techniques were versatile and adaptable. Besides, he had spent many days practicing swordsmanship with Senior Martial Brother Yun. Although his temperament made it unlikely that he would become a true sword cultivator, he should still be capable of learning a few techniques to defend himself.
Thus he passed shelf after shelf of true-essence refinement methods and eventually found collections of saber techniques, followed by whip arts and spear arts. Only at the far end did he reach the sword techniques.
There were nearly as many sword manuals as there had been manuals for all the other weapons combined. Some were written in books, but even more were stored in jade slips.
Since his spiritual sense could not penetrate the shelves in this room, Xu Ziqing had needed considerable time to find the sword manuals. Now that he had reached them, he eagerly began searching.
There were many lower-grade Human-rank sword techniques. Unlike cultivation methods, sword arts did not always need to match a cultivator’s spiritual-root attribute, unless they were designed to complement a particular cultivation method. Many contained only sword moves, while the attribute of the practitioner’s true essence determined how those moves manifested.
Thus, even when several disciples practiced the same sword art, the techniques they eventually developed could differ greatly.
Naturally, selection still required care. If a Fire cultivator chose a technique built around gentle, yielding motions, the attacks might be weakened rather than strengthened. A Water cultivator using the same technique could produce very different results.
Even that was not an absolute rule. A disciple who chose an ill-suited technique might nevertheless practice it to the utmost extreme, where softness gave rise to hardness and hardness revealed a trace of softness. Unexpected opportunities might emerge. But for the sake of steady progress along the immortal path, replacing an incompatible technique immediately was generally wiser. Someone who chose appropriately might achieve in one month what another would need three years or more to accomplish. That difference was hardly worth ignoring.
Xu Ziqing had considered all this and intended to choose very carefully.
Wind, rain, thunder, lightning, mist, cloud, rosy clouds, snow, frost, ice, dew, rainbow… Sword arts whose titles contained such words generally drew upon natural phenomena and could often enhance their moves by complementing the user’s attributes. The shelf before him contained precisely this kind of technique.
Xu Ziqing possessed the Wood attribute. Wood embodied growth and was nourished by rain.
His first choice would therefore be something associated with rain.
After searching slowly for a while, he reached for a volume titled Drifting Rain Sword Manual.
At the very same moment, someone else reached toward it.
As their hands were about to touch, Xu Ziqing immediately withdrew his own. The other person laid a hand directly upon the manual.
Then came a declaration. “I’ll take this sword manual.”
Xu Ziqing had been so absorbed in his search that he had not noticed anyone coming close. He raised his head and examined the man standing to his right.
The man was tall and thin, dressed in a long blue robe. The aura escaping from him was somewhat stronger than Xu Ziqing’s and carried the essence of Water. He might not have reached the middle Foundation Establishment stage, but he had certainly accumulated a much deeper foundation than Xu Ziqing, who had only recently entered the early stage.
His attitude, however, seemed distinctly unfriendly.
The tall, thin man looked Xu Ziqing up and down with a hint of arrogance. “Which peak are you from?”
Xu Ziqing frowned inwardly. Yet they were fellow disciples, and he did not wish to make an enemy, so he answered, “I am a disciple of Little Bamboo Peak.”
The man sneered. “So you’re from one of the small peaks. No wonder you don’t know the rules!”
Rules? Xu Ziqing was perplexed, but had no desire to quarrel there. He smiled faintly. “Since Senior Martial Brother wants this sword technique, please take it. I’ll look farther along for another.”
With that, he turned to leave.
But the next instant, a hand barred his way.
Xu Ziqing’s expression remained calm, though annoyance stirred within him. “What do you mean by this, Senior Martial Brother?”
The thin man laughed coldly. “Since you’re my junior martial brother, you wouldn’t refuse to do your senior martial brother a small favor, would you?”
Xu Ziqing paused. “What favor?”
The man’s long arm swept across the shelf, gathering more than ten sword manuals into a thick stack. “I’ve wandered around here for ages without finding a technique I like. I think I’ll take several back and try them at my leisure. But I’ve used up a great deal of spiritual sense today. How about helping me copy all these?”
At last, the smile on Xu Ziqing’s face grew faint.
This man had plainly never even inspected those manuals, yet now he demanded that Xu Ziqing copy every one. He was obviously looking for a fight. Xu Ziqing had never offended him. They had merely reached for the same technique, and Xu Ziqing had yielded it immediately. Why was the man refusing to leave him alone?
His behavior reminded Xu Ziqing of a legitimate heir of the Tian family from years before.
Back then, Xu Ziqing had been only a servant. Tian Liang, eager to curry favor with Xu Zitang, had sought someone upon whom to vent his anger and had targeted him. Tian Liang’s expression at that time had looked remarkably like this man’s.
Although Xu Ziqing would not blame this man for someone else’s actions, his opinion of him deteriorated instantly.
His face and tone remained gentle, but his words offered no concession. “I have other important matters to attend to and fear I have no time to help. Please forgive me, Senior Martial Brother.”
The man’s face darkened immediately. “You dare refuse me?”
Xu Ziqing smiled faintly. “Please let me pass.”
The thin man’s face flushed red, and anger blazed in his eyes. He jabbed a finger toward Xu Ziqing and took a deep breath. “Very good. Very good indeed.”
Xu Ziqing smiled without retreating or showing fear.
The man clenched and unclenched his fingers, his anger mounting, but ultimately did nothing.
Xu Ziqing had no wish to continue the standoff. He stepped a little to the side and walked past him.
The thin man did not pursue him. Xu Ziqing put the matter aside and continued looking for a suitable sword technique on the shelves ahead.
While he searched slowly, someone nearby whispered, “Hey! You’ve certainly got courage!”
Xu Ziqing paused and turned. This time he saw a clever-looking young man with a round face, large eyes, and a cheerful smile. He immediately felt more favorably disposed toward the stranger and asked with a smile, “Why do you say that?”
The young man blinked in surprise. “You don’t recognize that fellow?”
Xu Ziqing shook his head. “I’ve only just joined the sect. I don’t know him.”
The young man sighed. “No wonder. If you knew who he was, you probably wouldn’t have dared contradict him like that.”
Xu Ziqing frowned, then smoothed his expression.
He had never lowered his head to people like that in the past, and he would not begin now, regardless of the man’s identity. But he saw no need to say this aloud to someone he had only just met.
The helpful young man continued in a low voice. “That man is called Li Cai. He’s from a middle peak, and the Nascent Soul Patriarch of that peak is his ancestor!”
Li Cai’s aptitude was unimpressive, with only triple spiritual roots. But he happened to be the last direct-line descendant of the patriarch’s family from before the patriarch began cultivating. Since he possessed spiritual roots, the patriarch had brought him into the sect and accepted him on his own peak as a personal disciple.
Yet Li Cai’s aptitude was only average, and his comprehension was hardly better. Even with the patriarch constantly providing pills and cultivation methods, he had barely reached Foundation Establishment after many years, the level ordinarily expected of an ordinary inner disciple.
The patriarch was dissatisfied and frequently scolded him, becoming ever stricter. Yet the same patriarch was fiercely protective of his own people. Li Cai consequently enjoyed high status on the middle peak, and apart from the patriarch himself, everyone had to show him deference.
Human-rank copying slips were among the least valuable things Li Cai possessed. Whenever the patriarch reprimanded him, Li Cai visited the library to copy a batch of manuals and take them home. At such times, his mood was particularly foul. Anyone unlucky enough to cross his path could become a convenient target for his resentment.
Those seeking Human-rank techniques were generally not very powerful. Li Cai was not reckless enough to provoke just anyone: he always asked about his victim’s background first. If the person was merely from a small peak, they were likely to receive a thorough bullying.
And this time Xu Ziqing had clearly been the unfortunate one.
The young man looked at him sympathetically. “You’ve refused Li Cai. He can’t do much to you inside the library, but once you’re outside, he has plenty of ways to make your life miserable! The patriarch would never attack a junior like you himself, of course, but apart from Li Cai, the other disciples under him are all outstanding cultivators…”
After hearing the explanation, Xu Ziqing’s brows drew together again.
A patriarch’s direct descendant, cultivation propped up by pills, gifted senior martial brothers ready to defend him, and an appalling temperament… Why did those details sound so familiar?