After all the tournament fights, Song Song and I wandered through some of the Colosseum's secret hallways. Though the place was shrouded in darkness, with barely a hint of light seeping through, I could still make out the outlines and details around us relatively well. With her superior vision, Song Song undoubtedly saw everything with perfect clarity. As we moved deeper into the hidden passages, the air grew cooler, and the sounds of the bustling arena faded into a distant murmur.
"What a pathetic fight," Song Song suddenly said, her voice echoing through the empty halls. Her tone carried a mix of disappointment and disdain, cutting through the silence like a blade.
"Hm?" I turned toward her.
She had a cold look on her face. "My brother. What was with that pathetic showing? Everyone could see he was defeated and would have died if this wasn't a tournament. He couldn't even injure his opponent."
Cultivators usually wouldn't play the victim if it involved losing face, especially on such a grand stage as the tournament where each of the great sects participated. If I had been less knowledgeable about how things worked in the background, I may have also dismissed Song San.
We quietly walked through the hallways before I decided to warn Song Song.
"You should still not underestimate your brother. While his tactics might appear shameful, and he lost face doing something like this, that is precisely what makes him dangerous. We know every other fighter's element and even some of their techniques. Still, no one knows what his element is or even what techniques your brother uses," I explained.
While others might see Song San as a loser, logically, his decision to hide everything about himself was a very good one. However, it made him appear pathetic to the average person. Reputation was a handy thing, and he ruined most of it; it would take a while before people would forget this and stop using it against him.
Either way, not really my problem.
After getting out of the arena, we ended up coming out of some rough-looking cave that served as a secret exit from the arena. Song Song and I walked back to the mansion, sticking close to each other. Who knew when someone might decide to try their hand? I was the only one on Song Song's side for now.
But as soon as we walked inside the mansion, I turned around and said, "I'm going to the library."
"I'm going to try and break through to two-star Foundation Establishment," she said.
Telling each other what we would do was just a point of reassurance. I may have to break into two-star Qi Gathering soon. My advancement was faster than expected but nothing special.
As I walked outside, I looked at the greenery around the mansion's yard and the vines that gripped the wall, tightly wrapped around the metal bars of the front gate. Speedy was blending into the environment with extreme stealth. Even his Qi was barely noticeable amongst the grass and plants.
I used the Galloping Horse Power Technique, feeling the rush of wind against my face as I traversed a long distance with blinding speed. Everything around me became a hazy blur, the landscape melding into streaks of color as I surged forward. Eventually, I found myself standing in front of a familiar castle-like building with its towering walls. At its base was a grand, winding staircase that I stood next to, each step worn smooth by the passage of countless feet over the ages.
A chill went down my spine as I recalled the conversation Song Song and I had with her father.
Perhaps coming here so often wasn't a bright idea. But I couldn't resist the temptation of the forbidden knowledge in that library.
I hurriedly took Song Song's wooden token out of my storage ring and pressed it against the wall below the stairs. A shadowy secret passage was revealed, as sketchy as always, and I rushed in before anyone could see me.
By now, I was used to this place, so I rushed down the stairs and ended up in the library with the shadowy grounds.
The guy trapped in the book quickly fluttered toward me and said, "What took you so long, brat?"
Did older people in this world have something with calling me a "brat"? It wasn't like I minded, but I was curious whether I gave off a bratty vibe.
"There is a tournament happening," I explained the general gist. "I'm not sure whether you can even go outside this library. But if you can, I will hide you under my shirt or something so you can get a look at the fights."
The book was open on a page where the man drawn in it stared at me with an unreadable look.
Then the book flipped to a page where the same guy was drawn again, but his mouth was open this time. "Anyway, what book are you looking for this time, kid?"
Damn, he straight-up dodged my question. I asked him if he wanted to come since he was probably lonely here. But it seemed like he wasn't ready to even talk about it.
Well, I wasn't going to open any old wounds this guy had lying around.
"I'm thinking of reading some history today. Give myself some time to digest all those arrays. I haven't even tried out most of the ones I have learned," I said as I walked past the shelves, looking for any books that would pique my interest. "By the way, when do I have to return those books I borrowed?"
The book flipped to a page where the man was drawn with his mouth open, nonchalantly shrugging. "There was never a rule made about that for your high level of access. So, keep them as long as you can until a rule is made about that. Though be careful not to piss off the current Song Clan Leader, lest he might take it as an offense."
I waved my hand, and a neat pile of a dozen books appeared. Before they could hit the ground, I used Dancing Jade Armor to create a platform for them.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Liu Feng had a good memory, and I had memorized the general gist of what every book talked about. If I needed further revision, I could come and take a look again. But I was not risking pissing off Song Song's creepy-ass father.
I looked through some of the books and set them down on the jade platform on one of the tables. After looking around, I found the reading material I was looking for.
Usually, I would have returned to the mansion after getting the books. But this time, I decided to keep the book guy company until I had to cultivate in the evening. There was this experiment I had going on about what would happen if I continued cultivating under the moonlight for extended periods.
I had learned this new array that absorbed moonlight, and there seemed to be some strange Qi from the moon that I planned to study.
But that was for later…
As the soft shadowy floor brushed against my legs, I began reading while standing up. The shadows were kind of chilly today.
As I began reading, I created a standing desk for myself as I realized that history records were a jumbled-up mess. Only some specific dates were mentioned, so I had to base it on other close events. I took out a notebook, a thin brush, and a small ink bottle and began cataloging things.
However, halfway through the three-thousand-year history of the Blazing Sun Sect…
'The Blazing Sun Sect was founded soon after the Blazing Sun Immortal broke through past the Nascent Soul Realm.' I read the first paragraph I had written down and skipped past some of the minor details until the hundredth year.
'Year 100 after the Blazing Sun Sect was established. A Heavenly Scorpion Storm appeared. The Heavenly Scorpion Storm is a strange phenomenon formed due to combinations of untouched poisons and untamed winds…'
After that, a strange sequence of repeating events began appearing.
'Year 200 after the Blazing Sun Sect was established. A Monstrous Beast ate a Yang Extreme Physique, and it formed some kind of immortal phoenix that attacked the Sect. Not a lot of details in this one, except that the Blazing Sun Immortal dealt with it…'
The same continuous significant incidents almost destroyed the Sect in one way or another. These incidents seemed dangerous enough that even immortals were affected!
'Year 2900 after the Blazing Sun Sect was established. A Mountain Eating Bull appeared and attacked the Blazing Sun Sect…'
As I looked closer, I saw that each incident had core details missing. No specifics were mentioned. I had no idea whether this was intentional or whether cultivators did not care about writing things down.
That last incident was almost a hundred years ago. A chill pierced my heart when I realized it would soon be the 3000th year since the Blazing Sun Sect was founded.
What was I supposed to do with that information? How was it even happening? It had happened almost thirty times in a row; the chances of it being coincidental were slim. Though the incidents themselves seemed coincidental, it felt like an invisible hand was moving things behind the scenes!
Was the Blazing Sun Sect intentionally creating these? But why? Was it to cull their own numbers or something? That made no sense. They would need to be stupid to develop it in such a sequence that anyone who studied a bit of history would notice the pattern. I doubted I was the only one who noticed this.
Someone was hiding this pattern; it was not common knowledge at all.
I turned toward the book guy and noticed him hovering above me. He was flipped to a page, and it showed him with a cold look in his eyes as he stared me down. It was a creepy atmosphere, and the place was already dark.
"What are your thoughts on this weird repeating history of incidents?" I asked the book guy.
His gaze turned crimson. "From now on, no matter who you're talking to, never… and I mean never ask this question to anyone else."
Ah… Another Sect conspiracy. Another thing to act like I knew nothing about.
However, this answer from the book guy all but confirmed that these events were somehow related.
I tried thinking of what kind of incident could threaten the Sect nowadays. There was no major ongoing calamity… The first thing that came to mind was a particular red-haired guy.
Was he connected to all this somehow?
Well, whenever the time came for another calamity, I was going on a journey to visit my family and see the world. I hadn't seen my grandfather in a while.
"Well, it seems like I'm already bored with history," I said while putting all the history books I had found into my storage ring. "I have overstayed my welcome for today. See you later."
The shadow beneath my feet seemed to grow heavier as I walked away, a palpable weight tugging at my steps. Despite this, I reached the stairs, and an eerie silence enveloped the place as I climbed. Each step up the dark staircase echoed softly, amplifying the stillness. My eyes scanned the surrounding darkness, half-expecting a shadow to leap out and seize me at any moment.
Once I was out of the place, the soft evening sun brushed against my skin. But I didn't stick around to enjoy the sun and immediately shot off like a bullet.
As I absentmindedly traveled past the Song Clan Compound and into the greenery, I was about to cross a random place close to the arena when I sensed two presences. One of them I recognized was Zun Gon, the Core Elder who seemed to be close with Hu Jin. The other presence was some weak Qi Gathering Cultivator I had never felt before. He might have broken through recently.
I had a sneaking suspicion of who the other presence was, but I wanted to confirm it with my own two eyes. The recent history lessons had left me uncertain about some things.
Should I just go and appear in front of them? The chances of them killing me due to this were slim to none.
Changing direction, I "accidentally" ended up stumbling on Zun Gon, whose thick sausage-like fingers were on Hu Jin's shoulder.
"Good, now we just need to get you a blue uniform. Also, you don't have to be on the stand where the higher-ups hang out. No offense, but you really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut," Zun Gon laughed out loud and slapped Hu Jin on the back.
Zun Gon glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. He had noticed me coming. But Hu Jin was different and showed no signs he had seen me. This made sense since he had just broken through, and his Qi sensory observations should have gone crazy. Standing next to a Core Formation Cultivator and trying to sense me would be like standing next to a forest fire while at the same time feeling the heat from a matchstick twenty feet away.
"Sure…" Hu Jin seemed absentminded as he asked, "By the way, what generation of Sect Leaders is the current Sect Leader?"
"Hm?" Zun Gon raised a questioning brow. "Fifth."
"Ah…" Hu Jin grimaced.
If we didn't count the Blazing Sun Sect Immortal as the first Sect Leader, then yes, we were on the fifth generation Sect Leader. On average, each Sect Leader ruled for about six hundred years.
Well, I had cultivation to get to.
I just used my movement technique again and went away. Hu Jin had broken through, but nothing else seemed interesting about it. So I just went away before he noticed anything, though his master would probably tell him. Whether it would be Zun Gon or his other master, who knew?