"Tell me more about this inheritance," I asked as the air around us grew stale.
The humanoid owl was quiet and almost fidgety, its feathers ruffling slightly as it shifted its weight from one clawed foot to another. Its blank, eerie eyes darted around as if contemplating some deep, unspoken thought. The creature's beak opened and closed a few times, hesitating, before it finally decided to speak. "Do you know why the world isn't filled with immortals?"
Its voice was a low, raspy whisper that seemed to echo through the stillness of the third floor.
When I didn't respond, he continued, "Immortals themselves are rare. Unless during certain strange times, on average, only one immortal can break through once every five thousand years or so. But cultivation has been around much longer than that, so why are there so few immortals? It feels like none of them are even alive anymore."
The owl stared straight at me, trying to catch the slightest change in my expression. "Nowadays, only the Void Piercing Sect is assumed to have its Immortal Sect Founder alive, as he appeared three hundred years ago. How many immortals are living in secret? Where are they? Why do they not live amongst us like powerful cultivators like Nascent Soul Cultivators?"
He was going on a rant, but I was eager to listen. I put up a barrier around myself to prevent any arrays, like the Confusion Array, from affecting me.
Now that I knew such an array existed, it would be much harder for it to influence me. For one reason or another, these arrays were usually used—or used to be used—on whole villages. However, it was clear this array had been modified to fit specific criteria.
"My master discovered an invisible hand of fate in the background. For some reason, the immortals didn't involve themselves with mortals, and he observed that some people even had a pre-set fate," the owl explained.
I had already guessed that, considering how certain things played out in the past and how people like Hu Jin existed. I even had a suspicion about why people like Hu Jin existed. If my theory was correct, no matter how lucky he was, a sad fate awaited him at the end of the road.
"How do you know that your master was the greatest Array Conjurer? There are no array conventions or competitions to determine the strongest in the world," I said, slowly shifting the simple array around me while forming a new one underneath my feet.
"Haven't you been listening? He was the only one who discovered the hidden hand fate had to play in the world's story. What else would you call someone who discovered something only immortals might know?" he asked, sounding calm but with a certain edge to his voice now.
It seemed he didn't like his master's abilities being doubted; that was a weakness I could exploit.
On the other hand, this master of his did not sound as impressive as this owl-like monstrous beast made him out to be.
I had also theorized that luck and fate could be tangible things. But I wouldn't call myself the greatest Array Conjurer around.
"Yes, that makes sense," I nodded, agreeing with him. "But how am I going to get the inheritance? Do you keep it hidden in the library?"
Since he had said his master was such a good Array Conjurer, he was perhaps good enough to hide some secret inheritance from the prying eyes of the librarians who managed the library. Though that would be unnecessarily difficult, having the inheritance away from here would be much easier. After all, no matter how good the array was, there was a good chance any Nascent Soul Cultivator would pick up on something unless the Array Conjurer was at the extremes of his craft.
"No, my master was a careful man. He would never leave things like these to pure chance. The last thing he ever wanted was for someone blessed by the heavens to get his inheritance," said the owl-like monstrous beast.
It sounded like this guy's master was annoyed that he wasn't born talented. I remembered a book about one of the sons of the Blazing Sun Immortal; perhaps he was the one who created this whole thing since he was born without talent. He had also made this library.
"Okay, I understand that your master was careful," I nodded. "Now, can you tell me how we will get this inheritance? Are there any books or something?"
The owl walked closer, and I could feel his breath, a warm, unsettling breeze against my skin.There was no bad smell coming off his beak, unlike what one would expect from a monstrous beast.
Despite our close proximity, I didn't back off. In fact, I welcomed it; the closer he was, the better it would be for me.
The owl was clearly skilled in arrays. If we both engaged from a long distance, it would become a clash between Array Conjurers, and I hated fighting a battle I wasn't sure I could win. Closing the gap neutralized his advantage and brought the fight into a realm where I had a better chance of winning.
"I will use a technique to transfer my master's memories and all his experiences about Array Conjuring to you," he stated.
"That will be a no from me," I immediately responded.
As far as I knew, having my memories planted into Liu Feng's body was what essentially allowed me to take over his body.
Sure, the book on Otherworldly Devils implied that their souls fused when an Otherworlder took over someone's body. But as far as I knew, I could have just knocked Liu Feng's soul out of the body, or I could have taken over a body without a soul.
It was dangerous to blindly believe a book about things like these without some proof of my own.
Damn, I had gotten excited for nothing. My luck was kinda shit. Even the first “lucky” encounter I had was not without strings attached.
Body snatching? Hu Jin should be suffering from it, not me. I had no wise grandpa to guide me, but I was still going to get the short end of the stick.
"Why?" the owl asked. There was no tremor in his voice and no signs of anger like I had expected. "You would get the memories of one of the world's finest geniuses."
"No matter what you offer, my answer won't change," I shrugged. There was no harm in twisting the truth here, he didn’t need to know what exactly went on inside my head, "It has nothing to do with your master. But I want to learn things on my own, and that is where I come the most from learning new things. I would rather experiment with arrays and do something new."
Even if this inheritance didn't take over, there would be lingering side effects from having a lifetime of memories shoved into my brain. One of them would be limiting my potential; each Array Conjurer approached things differently.
My arrays worked like programming in real life, and who knew what kind of mindset this so-called master used to create his arrays. If I relied on his knowledge, I would gain easy access to his level. Without the experience as a foundation of my own, I would only ever advance as far as the man himself.
Someone who leaned on crutches to walk would never know the freedom of running.
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The entire cave-like library around us began to shift. The ground trembled beneath our feet as massive stone shelves groaned and moved, generating deafening sounds like titanic dominos smashing against each other.
Ancient books and scrolls tumbled from their places, adding to the cacophony as they hit the floor with dull thuds and rustling whispers. The walls seemed to close in and then expand, creating a disorienting, dizzying effect, as if the very fabric of the space was being rearranged by an unseen force.
"I knew you would do something like this," the owl said. "But as humans say, you can't blame a man for trying."
It seemed like there would be a confrontation either way. I was okay with that; it was always better to fight a raging enemy than a cold, logical one.
"A man?" I raised a questioning brow, looking at the owl's feet. My gaze wandered up over his body until I met his stare. "I wouldn't call you a... man."
"You were always a scary kid," the owl stated, unperturbed by my taunts. "I need to take care of you now, or I will never be able to do so again. Either way, you would have come for me one day due to your insatiable curiosity. I need to make the first move."
He extended his humanoid, feathery hand toward me with surprising speed. His intent was clear as his clawed fingers aimed for my head. Reflexively, I shot my own hand forward, meeting his palm midway. Our hands clashed, feathers rustling and fingers entwining in a struggle for dominance.
A deafening boom rang through the library, rattling the walls and causing dust and debris to rain down from above. Despite the chaos, the owl didn't hesitate to strike at me with his other hand. It moved with fierce determination, feathers bristling as it aimed for my head again.
I reacted instantly, bringing up my other hand to intercept the blow. Our hands collided with a resounding smack, the force of the impact reverberating through my arms. The owl's grip tightened, its blank eyes glowing with a focused intensity as we struggled against each other amid the booming echoes and shifting shelves.
"Does your technique require you to grab my head or something?" I inquired, but the owl's face was hard to read. Unlike humans, his feathery face showed no signs of a grimace.
We tried to overpower each other with raw physical strength. Surprisingly, he didn't overpower me immediately. This didn't make sense since the owl was at a higher cultivation level and was a monstrous beast.
Monstrous beasts almost always had the advantage in a physical clash. I didn't practice any techniques to help me overpower a monstrous beast in raw physical strength, either. So, the only conclusion that made sense was that whatever the so-called master did to try to turn the owl into a human had made him lose the inherited advantage of being a monstrous beast.
I used Dancing Jade Armor, and a flame-like green Qi formed in front of my chest before it burst out into a translucent blade and shot toward the owl's neck.
The monstrous beast tried to move out of the way, but with our fingers interlocked, I held my ground even as he tried to throw me away. The translucent green blade pierced the owl's muscular, almost human-like feathery chest.
Blood came from the owl's beak. His gaze was burning with fury; this was the first time I could read his intentions so clearly.
He would not give up easily. In his intensity, he leaned his head back and swung forward with all his power, going for a headbutt.
"Oh? So you're trying to clash heads? Maybe you just need to touch me to give me your inheritance. We are already touching hands, which is probably not the only condition of the activation method. You probably have to touch my head," I stated.
Just before our heads clashed, a jade-green barrier formed in front of my face, and the owl clashed head-first against it. A loud bang rang out, and the Dancing Jade Armor stood unmovable. A trail of blood ran down from the owl's forehead.
"Just to be clear, I could have made this barrier spiky, and a minor concussion would be the least of your problems," I told him and let go of his hands.
The owl immediately jumped back and cautiously stared at me, wiping the blood off his face with his feathery forearm. It looked like he was observing me and thinking of some strategy.
"C'mon now, try your best and show me some of your moves," I said, curious about what he would do next.
Meanwhile, I locked the array below my feet. As long as I was consciously controlling it, the array wouldn't cause an explosion that would shake the whole tower.
Even though I had allowed him to create some distance between us, the owl still seemed angry at me.
"Since you are further away now, you should try to play to your advantage. Remember, you have lived longer than me and are probably a better Array Conjurer. Also, you can use the arrays on the library's third floor. As I said, play to your advantage; make this an array battle where you can defeat me," I advised him. The difference in our combat experience was too significant; he would struggle to defeat me in close quarters combat.
The owl's gaze sharpened, and he crouched down. My heart leaped with excitement, anticipating what he might show me next!
Was he finally going to reveal some arrays that were part of that inheritance he kept talking about?
However, for reasons unknown, the owl chose not to deploy arrays this time. Instead, he charged at me again, his approach more direct and aggressive.
A howling sound emanated from his fists as he advanced, a clear signal of gathering power. His Qi swirled visibly around his arms, condensing into a radiant aura with vitality. This sudden surge indicated he was using a martial technique. As he closed the distance between us, his arms became blurred lines of force aimed with lethal precision.
While it was interesting to see a monstrous beast use human martial arts, the owl had already lost most of a monstrous beast's physical advantages. It was the same strength behind the attack that a human cultivator could muster.
Another way of saying it would be that it was boring. I expected more from him.
Before his attacks reached me, I called him out.
"Fool, don't try to use martial techniques when you clearly have no experience using them in actual combat," I reminded him. Though his technique was executed excellently, there was still a big difference between an expert and a master. Just by how he used it, I could tell he had never landed a hit with this technique.
It was like someone who had only trained on punching bags and never sparred against a live opponent going against a professional boxer.
The owl abruptly halted as a line of blood appeared, slicing from his shoulder to his hip. He had been struck by the invisible blade of my Falling Moon Claw technique.
As the realization set in, blood burst forth from the deep gash, staining his feathery exterior a stark crimson. Overcome by the sudden loss of strength, he slumped to the ground, his body crumpling under the weight of his injuries.
"I went through the effort of lowering my technique's power so it didn't straight up cut through you," I crouched to his level. "Now, I understand that you want to keep this whole inheritance thing a secret—"
Before I could finish my words, the owl's head turned an eerie 360 degrees. With its head facing me directly again, it lunged forward, its neck stretching like a snake, aiming to head-slam me with renewed vigor.
Oh. Was this a martial technique or something his body could naturally do?
But I had studied monstrous beasts, and if I didn't know that owls could turn their heads quite far and that something like this would likely be enhanced when they grew into monstrous beasts, then I would have to be a fool.
Once again, the owl's head crashed against a translucent green barrier. This time, his beak cracked, and he had put so much pressure on his face that it looked like his right eye was about to pop out.
"You put a lot of effort into that one, but it wasn't a well-thought-out plan. Why you decided not to use arrays, I have no damn idea," I shrugged and stared at the monstrous beast's bloodied face. "Wait, don't tell me you didn't use arrays because I advised you to? That is… incredibly dumb."
I understood the sentiment of not doing what his opponent told him to do. But, damn, that was stupid. I was a human who practiced martial techniques that were made for humans by humans.
Why would he think he would be better than me at that?
"Now, how about we try and make a deal where both of us come out of this satisfied, and I don't have to kill you? After all, it would be a shame if your master's inheritance disappeared like that," I advised him.
While the owl was unique, I was also a veteran of a monstrous beast wave. I had fought against strong, fast, durable monstrous beasts who could fly, and those who could regenerate, and much more. Even monstrous beasts combined those qualities, which made them overpowered. So, I had my own experience to call on.
Despite my advice, the monstrous beast stayed defiant and glared at me.
"Listen, no offense to you. But the chances of you winning in a head-on fight against me are slim to none," I told the humanoid owl. "Also, how long will it take to activate your array, which you're clearly biding your time for?"
The owl's eyes widened, a flicker of surprise breaking through its usually impassive demeanor. Clearly, he hadn't expected me to be aware of his schemes.