Chapter 98: Scripture Repository Hall
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Damn! Pretty boy, you’re way too ruthless. If what happened earlier was my own doing, then what you’re doing now is clearly open and honest extortion! You’ve got guts! Today I’ll just consider it spending money to avoid disaster. Yue Qianchou calmly and readily took out another high-grade spirit stone. He knew that continuing to entangle would be even more disgusting, so he quickly offered it over.
“Smart of you.” The young man took the spirit stone with a cold snort and pointed to a small path diagonally across in the distance: “Kid, follow that path straight ahead – the Scripture Repository Hall is at the end. Remember, don’t do such things beyond your capabilities next time.”
“This disciple knows his mistake. May I ask Uncle Master’s honored name, so this disciple can remember your teachings.” Yue Qianchou was also someone who could bend and stretch.
“What? From your tone, you’re still holding a grudge?” The young man swept him with cold eyes, flicked his two fingers, and his long sword left its sheath. A cold gleam swept past Yue Qianchou’s forehead, scaring him into taking a step back. The young man leaped up, gracefully stepping onto his sword, and sneered: “If you want revenge, remember well – Cultivation Hall disciple Gu Qingyun.” A gust of wind rose as flowing light streaked toward the distance.
“This guy is quite interesting, has a bit of an evil aura. Gu Qingyun, I’ll remember you.” Yue Qianchou touched his nose, watching the figure departing on his sword. Instead of being angry, he actually laughed. He turned and walked in the direction Gu Qingyun had pointed.
The Scripture Repository Hall – a place protected by Cultivation Hall was naturally no ordinary place. It contained various classics that Floating Immortal Island had treasured for thousands of years. Yue Qianchou had long heard of this place, which was called the most book-rich location in the entire cultivation world. There had been such a saying: as long as the collection of books in Floating Immortal Island’s Scripture Repository Hall continued unbroken, Floating Immortal Island could continue standing undefeated in the cultivation world.
Yue Qianchou deeply agreed with this saying. Just like the country he had lived in during his previous life – as long as that country’s cultural heritage continued unbroken, any external force’s destruction would be useless. Instead, the more tribulations it experienced, the more brilliantly it could shine among the world’s nations. With unbroken cultural heritage, even if that country became fragmented and declined, there would always be people who could carry on the legacy and restore the old mountains and rivers. This was the unique charm of cultural heritage – the charm of flowing far and lasting long! Yue Qianchou had once deeply loved that land. Although it had this or that fault, he still loved it without complaint or regret. That love was carved deep in his soul, unforgettable even after reincarnating into this life!
In a basin surrounded by mountains, a building of unknown vast area, nearly twenty zhang tall, emanating thick and simple ancient charm, stood quietly there, telling of the vicissitudes it had experienced.
Walking to the main entrance of the building and looking up, at a height of over ten meters hung a huge stone plaque with three gilt characters: “Scripture Repository Hall.” Yue Qianchou climbed the steps. At the entrance, a robust middle-aged man with a cold expression blocked his path and pointed to a wooden box beside the door.
Yue Qianchou had already inquired about the rules here. Storage bags were not allowed inside and had already been stored in his golden pearl. He nodded and threw a high-grade spirit stone into the box, and the middle-aged man immediately stepped aside.
Anyone entering the Scripture Repository Hall to read the treasured classics had to pay one high-grade spirit stone per visit. For ordinary cultivators, this was indeed too expensive. The treatment of Floating Immortal Island disciples was considered good, but this was equivalent to half a year’s stipend for a Foundation Establishment stage disciple. Many disciples who had just reached Foundation Establishment stage often had to borrow spirit stones to come here.
Yue Qianchou also knew that Floating Immortal Island wasn’t trying to make money from the disciples. Making it expensive was actually a way to protect the Scripture Repository Hall’s classics, preventing some disciples from running in frequently when they had nothing to do. Of course, those at elder level and above could enter for free.
After entering the door, he hadn’t walked far when another light barrier blocked his path. Disciples without Foundation Establishment stage cultivation couldn’t get through. Yue Qianchou circulated his true essence and crossed through with some difficulty. At the entrance to the first floor stairs was another light barrier – that was a place only those with Core Formation stage cultivation could break into. He didn’t have that ability yet.
He turned toward the first floor’s main hall. Crossing a doorway, he entered a considerable space where many wooden boxes hung at shoulder height, containing precious classics. Quite a few people had arrived before him.
A few steps ahead stood a wooden board with various rules to be observed written on it. After reading it, Yue Qianchou first walked around in a circle and discovered that people were sitting cross-legged around the edges – they didn’t look like Foundation Establishment stage disciples by age, probably guards watching over the classics, naturally to prevent people from stealing the books. Yue Qianchou had indeed harbored such thoughts, but seeing the tight security, he had to give up and see if there would be opportunities later. He began searching box by box for what he needed.
The wooden boxes were all labeled with what was stored inside. He quickly found the “Sword Control Technique” he needed in the Foundation Establishment early stage area. Opening the wooden box, he found a jade disc inside. He immediately excitedly injected his divine sense to examine it, discovering that the contents recorded inside were different from what he had seen in jade discs before – they were all fixed using special techniques and couldn’t be damaged or have their contents altered at all.
This wasn’t what concerned him – the main thing was the content inside. After reading through nearly ten thousand words, Yue Qianchou had a bit of a headache. This thing couldn’t be taken out, and he couldn’t cultivate here, so wouldn’t he have to forcibly memorize it? Nearly ten thousand words! Only now did he discover that requiring one high-grade spirit stone per visit to the Scripture Repository Hall was somewhat outrageously expensive. It seemed he had no choice but to forcibly memorize it here. He didn’t know this was precisely Floating Immortal Island’s brilliance – they were afraid disciples would bite off more than they could chew.
No wonder Floating Immortal Island had such chaotic seniority rankings with almost no one taking disciples. All cultivation techniques were public without reservation – anyone could cultivate them. As long as you had the talent, you could be stronger than others and become someone’s martial uncle or grand master. Of course, people like Guan Weiwu who had their own special skills were exceptions. There were also some highly talented people who created techniques they didn’t want to make public and would take disciples to pass them down.
When Yue Qianchou confirmed he had memorized the nearly ten thousand words of “Sword Control Technique,” two days had already passed. Apart from cursing a few times, there was no other solution. He had wanted to steal it but kept noticing vague gazes watching him. He hadn’t eaten properly for several days already, and adding these two days, his stomach was growling with hunger – after all, he hadn’t reached Core Formation stage where he could go without food. Under watchful eyes, he put the jade disc back in its original place and directly left.
After leaving the Scripture Repository Hall and then Cultivation Hall, without stopping, he went straight back to the small courtyard where he lived at the Alchemy Pavilion, closed the door, and hid in his room. He focused his divine sense on the golden pearl, wanting to return to Utopia, when suddenly his whole body shook violently.
He withdrew his divine sense and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Was it an illusion? Just now, when his divine sense locked onto the golden pearl, he seemed to be able to see the scenery inside Utopia. Yue Qianchou again focused his divine sense on the golden pearl. The scenery in Utopia was clearly visible, as if he were looking down at the entire land from high altitude. Except for the boundless purple chaos around the edges, everything in Utopia was before his eyes – that newly appeared high mountain, and the deep ravine in the middle, all things he had seen from the air last time.
Could this be because he had reached Foundation Establishment stage? In his amazement, to verify his guess, Yue Qianchou moved his divine sense slightly. The originally damaged bamboo cottage surrounded by green trees appeared before him at close range, completely renewed. This… how was this possible?
His divine sense moved again. Guan Yu and Chen Feng were reorganizing the flower sea. His sister stood together with that broken Red Hare, gazing into the distance with gentle and touching expression, evoking pity. Yue Qianchou couldn’t help but move his divine sense closer and call out in his heart: “Sister!”
Bai Suzhen turned around in confusion but didn’t discover anything. She looked around: “Little brother, have you returned?”
“Ah!” Yue Qianchou cried out in shock, his divine sense snapping back. He retreated several steps in his room, stammering: “Sis… Sister can hear me speak! How is this possible?”
