Sa Min looked up. A tower-shaped pavilion of four stories stood before him. It was the Yantra Library, a valuable free resource that the academy offered to its inner disciples. Wasting no time, Sa Min walked up the stairs.

Though he didn’t hold much hope of finding the Yantra manual of the Yantra responsible for engraving words on his back. But still…

Who knows. I might discover some interesting Yantra manuals here that I’ve never seen before, Sa Min thought with a clear mind. All in all, it's a good thing for me to expand his knowledge of Yantras and Kas.

At the entrance, a group of cultivators stood guard. The Yantra Library held a huge number of Common-tier Yantra manuals; it was only natural for it to be closely guarded from outside and inside.

Sa Min took his ID and Seal out of his robe, waiting patiently as the guards checked out those who arrived before him. When it was finally his turn, Sa Min stepped forward and handed his things to one of the guards.

The guard glanced lazily at them before passing them to the elderly guard behind the desk, responsible for registering names. "You'll get these back when you leave on time," the guard said, handing Sa Min a small stick.

Sa Min frowned slightly at the stick. It was a time-stick, but how much time did it hold?"

“How long, if I may ask?”

The guard raised an eyebrow. “You’re new?”

“He’s a first-year inner disciple,” said the old man, registering Sa Min’s information.

"Oh." The guard rubbed his forehead with his finger; his companions laughing at him. "I... I totally forgot about that. Anyhow, the 1st-transformation Beyond Mortal stage only has one hour on the first floor every week. The stick I gave you is a one-hour-stick that will completely melt when one hour has passed. Make sure to come out on time if you don't want to get expelled."

He opened the doors. “And… you probably haven’t opened your Essence Core yet, but I’ll say it anyway. Don’t use any Yantras, or you’ll be punished.”

Sa Min nodded and stepped inside; the guard immediately shut the door behind him.

Without using some memorizing Yantra or picturing Yantra or something similar, one hour is definitely not enough,’Sa Min thought, scanning the dimly lit room filled with towering bookshelves. But I believe that as we advance in ranks, we’ll get more time.

Except for the occasional whispers and the flutter of pages turning, the room was utterly silent.

Sa Min walked down the aisle, his eyes drifting between the Yantra manuals.

Thankfully, the bookshelves were well-organized by category, and that saved Sa Min the trouble of searching for the communication-type Yantra manuals. In no time, Sa Min found himself before the communication-type bookshelf; roughly thirty manuals were there.

Without hesitation, Sa Min reached out and grabbed one, its cover displaying the Yantra’s name: The Whisperflying Blade. He barely glanced at it before returning it to its place—he knew that one well. He pulled out another manual, but it too was a familiar Yantra.

"The Short Sound Carrying Yantra," muttered Sa Min as he picked up the third manual. This one was new to him. Curious, he flipped open the cover and began reading the first page.

*[Yantra Ability: Record your voice in one cube and transmit it to its twin cube.

Yantra Rank: Rank 1.

Yantra drawbacks: Sound takes three days to arrive. Cubes must be within 700 meters.

Yantra Type: Communication.

Yantra Highway: Reality.

Yantra Smallway: Sound.

Required Ka: The Green Dotted Cubes. Wooden Beak Cubes.

Pentagon Imprints: 15 gray, 12 white, 21 blue]*

Unimpressed, Sa Min casually flipped through the pages, skimming over the pentagon-shaped dots meticulously placed on every page. With each turn, the dots multiplied, gradually turning into a complete design that unfolded on the final page—a cube with two lines coming out of it, swirling it twice before meeting at the top.

That was the Yantra. That was the design cultivators needed to craft within their Essence Core using Imprints in order to use the Yantra's ability.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

I can think of twenty rank 1 Yantra that do the same, if not better, Sa Min thought, shoving the manual back onto the shelf and continuing his search for something more interesting.

Sa Min didn't expect to find anything special, though. After all, the Yantras manuals available here were merely Common-tier manuals of rank 1 Yantras.

Yantras, like Kas, were classified from rank 1 to rank 9, based on their ability, the number of Imprints required, and various other factors. However, when it came to their manuals, the classification was entirely different.

Yantra Manuals were categorized into six tiers, ranging from Common-tier to the rarest, Mysterious-tier, with their tier based solely on how common they were. The more common a manual, the less valuable it became, while rarer manuals were considered more precious.

And in spite of the fact that a manual being Common-tier or even Mysterious-tier had nothing to do with the actual strength of the Yantra itself, Yantras with Common-tier manuals tended to be the weakest among Yantras of their rank.

The reason for that was quite simple: people didn't like to share powerful Yantras.

Despite their lower value, cultivators still had to pay for Common-tier manuals. Here, however, the academy provided them to inner disciples as a free resource—though only for a limited time.

As for anyone wanting Yantra manuals above Common-tier, there was a well known store not far from here called Treasure Hall that offered higher tier manuals and cultivation ressources. They just needed enough merits.

Sa Min skimmed through the last communication-type manual and closed it with a snap. There was nothing about engraving words on someone’s back. But he wasn’t disappointed—he hadn’t expected to find something related to that in the first place.

I'll check the Treasure Hall once I open my Essence Core, Sa Min thought as he moved to another bookshelf. They have all ranks and tiers of Yantra manuals there.

Naturally, he wouldn’t be able to browse through them like he was doing here, but that was fine. All he needed to do was hint at the abilities he was interested in, and they would provide him with the possible Yantras.

The name of the Yantra was all he needed.

There were other places he could explore as well, especially in the cursed area.

Sa Min took his time, examining other Yantra manuals before ultimately deciding to leave. The small stick in his hand had shrunk significantly and was about to disappear.

Stepping out of the library, he went straight to the desk on the side to retrieve his belongings.

"You’re that Sa Min who beheaded an outer disciple yesterday, aren’t you?" the old man behind the desk said casually, continuing to register information.

His words drew the attention of the other guards and inner disciples waiting for their turn to enter the library.

Sa Min sighed inwardly, offering the man as respectful a face as he could muster. "Pleasure to meet you, Senior."

He didn't want to go around defying everyone and he hadn’t even opened his Essence Core.

The old man looked up at him, no anger or annoyance in his eyes. It seemed he simply wanted to put Sa Min on the spot for the sake of it. Perhaps he was just bored from jotting down names all day and craved something interesting to break the monotony.

"You know, after you'd killed him, his poor wife took her own life along with their daughter out of grief," he continued.

Sa Min widened his eyes slightly, acting as if he were surprised. "That's… I had no idea," he lied. He had heard the story earlier this morning when everyone was gossiping about him in the lecture hall.

She killed herself and her daughter, and? What did that have to do with him?

"Why did you do it?" the guard who had opened the door for him jumped in with a hint of curiosity "Why did you kill him that way?"

Putting on a sorrowful expression, Sa Min remained silent for a few seconds, trying to formulate a convincing story that would put an end to this situation once and for all.

Finally, he let out a weary sigh. "I suppose I must say it, don’t I?"

The guards simply stared at him.

"That man was actually from my clan," said Sa Min, a hint of regret in his voice. "We had some unresolved issues from the past. I don’t want to go into details and disrespect him, especially now that he’s gone. But before the competition, we agreed to settle our differences with a fight to the death. That’s why he didn’t surrender."

Sa Min paused, glancing at everyone as though he hadn't had any choice. "How could I back down when he himself chose not to? That would kill his honor as a man."

The inner disciples who had been eavesdropping resumed their paths to the library, their curiosity seemingly satisfied.

The guards also nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, that would’ve wounded his pride," one guard said.

"I was wondering why he didn’t just give up—now it makes sense," another added.

"I figured there had to be more to it. You wouldn’t just kill him without a reason."

The old man behind the desk handed Sa Min his ID and Seal, his face betraying mild disappointment, as though the scene hadn’t played out as dramatically as he’d hoped.

With a slight nod, Sa Min turned and walked away, tucking his belongings into his inner pocket. When it comes to crafting lies, I dare say no one can surpass me, he sneered inwardly.

After a short walk, Sa Min paused and took a deep breath, clearing his mind of the troubling thoughts about who was responsible for the message, at least for the time being.

Once cultivators opened their sea core, the first two steps were invariably to shatter the blocked passage leading to the essence core and opened the remaining meridians.

Only by opening both cores could a cultivator truly enter on the path of cultivation.

Sa Min wasn’t in a rush, though. There was still a matter that was bothering him.

The Wing family!