Xin Ma stared at the entrance as a young girl entered. She had skin resembling white jade, silky dark hair with a patch of white on her bangs, and a face akin to a pretty peach. Despite her beauty, something felt off about her demeanor; her silvery gaze was cold and emotionless.
"The library is closed," Xin Ma informed her.
"I'm here to meet Liu Feng under Song Song's orders," she stated, casually scanning her surroundings.
Xin Ma maintained eye contact as he discreetly activated a barrage of arrays. Despite the numerous arrays present, she seemed oblivious to any changes in Qi. Yet, Xin Ma sensed something peculiar about the young lady—a Qi blockage, as if her cultivation teetered on the brink of collapse.
"Liu Feng is currently on the third floor," Xin Ma informed her.
Though the girl appeared rough around the edges, she posed no threat to any Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Hence, excessive caution seemed unnecessary.
"I'll wait for him here. I'm not keen on returning and facing Song Song's wrath for failing to meet her favorite toy," the girl remarked coldly.
"Kids these days growing ruder with each generation," Shang Sha interjected, drawing attention to himself.
"My name is Ye An," she revealed.
"Well, Ye An, you don't strike me as someone easily intimidated," the old man remarked, sipping his tea with a smirk. "Not even by someone like Song Song."
Ye An rolled up the sleeve of her new blue uniform, revealing a nasty scar below her elbow. "The last time I defied Song Song, refusing to comply with her orders and insisting I wasn't her servant, she severed my arm."
For the first time since entering the library, Ye An's gaze wavered, hinting that the incident had affected her more deeply than she let on.
"Though she had someone reattach my arm, she made it clear that the next time I talked back to her or questioned her orders, she would feed my arm to the dogs," Ye An stated, her breath trembling slightly as she pulled her sleeve back down.
Immediately, Shan Sha's expression darkened, his playful demeanor replaced by seriousness. For a moment, his elderly façade vanished, replaced by a sharp intensity in his gaze.
"No doubt she wants to meet him," said the old man, his tone reflecting concern. "It makes me wonder if sending Liu Feng to Song Song is a smart thing to do. It's like sending a lamb into a lion's den."
Shan Sha kept glancing at the librarian as he spoke, signaling him to intervene.
Even Xin Ma found himself at a loss for words. There seemed to be little choice in the matter, knowing that someone like Song Song could easily manipulate inner elders to do her bidding in order to gain favor as a future Sect Leader.
Xin Ma removed his glasses and began wiping them with a white cloth.
While he had only glimpsed Song Song in passing during significant events, her reputation seemed warranted. They were in a troublesome situation, and logic dictated a retreat. But this was his responsibility. He had been the one to send Liu Feng to that fateful exam, where he encountered Song Song.
"No, she treats him alright," Ye An suddenly interjected, snapping the librarian out of his thoughts. "In fact, I'd say Song Song behaves better when he's around."
She walked towards the table and sat, crossing one leg over the other while leaning forward. "Without Liu Feng, Song Song compensates for her lack of leadership and personality that inspires no loyalty by resorting to violence and cruelty to keep people in line."
Ye An had a distant look in her eyes as she spoke as if recalling something from the past. However, she quickly snapped back to reality before continuing, "The most surprising part of this whole ordeal is how many people within the inner sect actually support her."
"Well, she's essentially royalty within the Blazing Sun Sect, given her family's lineage tracing back to one of the Blazing Sun Immortals' ten wives," the old janitor remarked.
Despite his job being technically just standing around and doing nothing, the old janitor was quite well-learned in the history of the Sect. Xin Ma had also delved into the Sect's historical records. Still, it was evident that the history was biased, written by the winners.
Only two direct bloodlines could be traced back to the Blazing Sun Immortal. In contrast, others had mysteriously vanished over the millennia.
"They must be so against having someone of peasant descent as the sect leader that they're willing to place their trust in someone unfit to lead anything more than a herd of goats," Ye An remarked, a smirk playing on her lips. "If Song Song were to ascend to the Blazing Sun Sect Leader position, it would spell doom for the Sect. She's is grossly incompetent at anything other than fighting."
Her bold statements reverberated through the library. Ye An's eyes burned with intensity, indicating her determination for revenge despite her current setbacks.
How did someone like Liu Feng become entangled with such troublesome women? He didn't seem the type at all!—Xin Ma wondered.
***********
I learned something new while training and instinctively using my own Qi. That magical energy took a while to recover naturally. When it was low, a drowsy feeling in my head compelled me to sleep, even though I should physically be fully rested.
It was a shame I had none of the modern equipment, as that might have shed some light on whether Qi and Cultivation were somehow connected to the brain or mindset.
The green glow on my hands slowly sizzled out, and I sighed before slumping backward and lying on my back. The cold floor provided a sense of comfort that really made me want to sleep there. However, the second floor would be easier to sleep on, and I was wondering what Mao's policy was regarding people sleeping on his part of the library. The librarian hadn't minded, but assuming Mao was the same would be presumptuous. I didn't want to come off as rude.
While still lying down, I looked around, trying to find the humanoid owl. It wasn't hard, as Mao was just peeking at me from behind one of the bookshelves. His large, beady eyes stared at me with a strange intensity.
Okay, this was getting creepy!
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Hey, what's up..." I called out to him.
That ended up with Mao just meekly trying to hide behind one of the shelves.
Forcing myself to stand up, I dusted off my clothes and shrugged before finding the stairs at the end of the cave-like library. While walking down the stairs, I was prepared for another array to try and stop me from going down, but there was none.
I had seen enough horror movies to know that messing around any longer was not a smart idea. Even though Mao's behavior could be attributed to being an owl and isolated for so long, I would not take my chances and stick around to find out.
From the second floor, I immediately went to the first floor. I was ready to talk to the librarian about the weird humanoid owl. For all I knew, Mao might just be some weird spirit who was not supposed to be there!
But when I arrived on the first floor, I saw a face I had not thought I would see in a while. Our eyes met, and her silver eyes had the same nonchalant look as ever.
"Well, I'll just get right to the point," she said, taking a breath before continuing. "Song Song has sent you an invitation to join her unit during the Beast Waves in winter."
Who starts a conversation like that?
Oh well, I had seen weirder at this point. I was also too tired to engage in any banter.
"Tell Song Song that this is a choice I will make later," I said.
Her eye twitched before she let out a breath, which formed into steam as soon as it left her mouth. "There is a good chance that if Song Song got news like this, she would kill the messenger. But please do go and make this choice make sense."
Though she was not trying to hide it, she seemed annoyed. Well, her feelings were none of my problems.
"I'm waiting to see whether the Sect will draft me. If I am not drafted, that would be preferable. But if I am drafted, then I would rather work under someone who I know and could trust rather than some arrogant young master," I stated my reason, hiding nothing.
Ye An looked at me, blinked, and said, "You really are dumb."
She left me no time to respond as she continued. "I mean, you already showed it when you decided to spare me. But damn, you can't just go and decide to refuse the offer of someone clearly psychotic. To add insult to injury, you're even making it clear that you plan to use her for your convenience, depending on the situation. Does your brain filter the words before they come out?"
Her insults almost hurt my feelings. But I wasn't going to take to heart insults to my intelligence from someone who thought it would be a good idea to just massacre a bunch of people from the Sect she was planning to join.
Honestly, I was more curious how Song Song had convinced someone like Ye An to become a glorified messenger.
"I bet you don't talk to Song Song like this," I added while sitting on the chair opposite her.
She sent a cold gaze my way in response, to which I shrugged.
"If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen," I added.
I wouldn't take her words to heart if she wanted to insult someone, but that did not mean I wasn't going to shoot back.
"Since you spared my life, let me give you some advice. Song Song will absolutely bash your head in if she hears your answer," she stated matter-of-factly. "After she's done killing me in anger, she will personally come and rip your heart out. I've seen her do much worse for much less."
"I'm not necessarily worried about that," I leaned back on the wooden chair, looking at the ceiling. "I promised Song Song that I would always tell her the truth. This was the truth and my real thoughts about her offer."
Ye An didn't seem convinced, but she still said, "Let's say that by some miracle, Song Song felt merciful that day and decided not to kill you. Let me remind you this is less likely than seeing a unicorn dance in the sky. But for argument's sake, let's say she's feeling nice. She could just as easily pull strings from behind the scenes and have you drafted. After all, most disciples who have been here a year or longer help with the Beast Waves somehow."
"If she decides to do so, that would be her decision, and she had better be good at hiding her trail. Because if I ever found out she pulled the strings from behind the scenes to have me drafted, our trust would be broken," I stated.
There was an unspoken understanding between Song Song and me. We had trusted each other on blind faith more than once. Neither of us had broken their trust in the other. I would trust her with my life.
"After that, the only thing she can trust me to become is one of her many lackeys who will backstab her whenever it is convenient for me or another stronger figure bribes me," I stated, not caring whether Ye An would tell this part to Song Song. "Despite that, I believe that Song Song would not do something like that behind my back."
"That just shows how little you know of her," Ye An shook her head.
No, that showed just how little everyone else knew Song Song.
She had saved my life more than once. So either way, I owed it to her to at least not lie.
I was just some regular guy with everyday fears and insecurities. I would rather not get drafted into some horrific defensive battle against literal monsters. If Song Song wanted some brave young man who valued his life so little they were willing to put it in line for her without questioning her decisions, then she was barking up the wrong tree, and no doubt Song Song was smart enough to figure out something like this by now.
Ye An kept staring at me as if expecting me to change my answer.
In response, I just shook my head and doubled down, “Tell Song Song I appreciate the offer. But I would rather sit this war out.”
Ye An shrugged and stood up from her chair. She turned toward the exit and walked out without saying a word.
Clearly, the jade-like beauty was not pleased by my response. Whatever Song Song had done to get this chick so obedient could not have been pretty. But I was about 70% sure that Song Song would not take this personally. Also, she should find better advisors than me and inspire loyalty on her own instead of relying on someone whose strategic knowledge came from YouTube videos.
I turned toward the librarian and the old man sitting on the corner of the table. The old goat looked at me bewildered, “How did a bookworm like you get involved with such dangerous women? You barely even go outside.”
I shrugged in response and turned toward the librarian, “Anyway, do you know anything about the owl on the third floor, or is he some kind of evil spirit who has been haunting me all along?”
“He was the pet of the guy who made this library. Some experiments caused him to end up like that. So, no, he is not some evil spirit,” said the librarian.
Oh, okay. So, the worst-case scenario of Mao being an evil spirit was not something to worry about.
“Though you should be careful around him. His master was known to be one of the Blazing Sun Immortal’s many sons, but he was also known to be insane. Even though one might assume that he liked books since he created this library, he never had the talent to grow much as a cultivator, despite who his father was. His only legacy is a book about some mad ramblings about wills and fate. Then he threw himself off a window,” the librarian said. “I have been preparing for the owl to one day break, show his true colors, and finally take him down for good.”
Oh… that guy sounded a lot like the so-called madman who wrote the book about the wills of heaven, earth, and man. It seemed like Mao had a deeper connection to the book than he had first let on.
The book stated that the author never met an immortal, which was one of the stumbling points in my theory. After all, if his father was an immortal, could a son never really meet his father when they were both living in the same Sect?
The Blazing Sun Immortal had ten wives and countless concubines throughout his long life and likely hundreds of children. So, it wasn’t like there was no chance he would never meet his father, especially when he lacked the talent to draw any attention, even from his own father.
Now that I thought about it, it was suspicious that only two families could be traced to be direct descendants of the Blazing Sun Immortal when he had a harem of women and so many kids. Also, the guy who made this library threw himself off the tower… perhaps…
Oops, it seemed like I just stumbled on another possible conspiracy within the Sect. This was the second one, and I would act like I knew nothing about it, just like the first one. I was just another bookworm here to read and knew nothing about grand conspiracies.
Well, none of this mattered to me, and I did not want to get involved in any way.
I was here to cultivate and learn cool techniques, not to get involved in political bullshit.