Since he couldn't find much shield technique in the lightning section, he checked another section. The fire technique session was not better than the lightning one, while the earth technique session was full of defensive techniques. But weirdly, there weren't many defensive techniques that created a floating shield, instead most of the shields were connected to the ground or covered the user's body in a layer of earth.
After searching a bit more, he found the perfect fit technique for him: The Stepping Stone technique. This technique materialized a flat stone below the user's feet and could be used as a stepping stone.
While this technique is fitting, this was an earth technique, and Liu Xing was primarily a lightning technique user. To use earth techniques, he needed more effort and more qi. Still, with his gun, using this technique was probably manageable, so he held onto this technique for now.
Liu Xing browsed again, and in the wind section, he found the Air Step technique. It was categorized as a movement technique, since each step the user took made them move faster.
Seeing this, Liu Xing grinned. While the Stepping Stone technique also fit him, this technique was way cooler! If he needed to choose one of them based only on its coolness, then he would choose this technique in a heartbeat. Liu Xing put down the book of Air Steps technique and made a mental note of the book's position. If he didn't find a more suitable technique, then he would buy this one.
Liu Xing continued his browse, and while he found cool shield techniques, there was nothing better than Air Steps.
Liu Xing glanced at the window not far from him. Seeing through the window, Liu Xing could see green mountains illuminated by the soft glow of the morning sun. It seemed like he had spent more time than he intended on browsing techniques.
"All right, let's go find information about Water Nation."
Liu Xing searched around. This library had a section for techniques, so Liu Xing suspected there was a section for geography or politics.
He browsed here and there, crossing the medicinal book section and the cool illusion technique section. After several moments, he finally found a place where the shelves were full of maps.
Thinking he was in the right area, he started to check the books and the scrolls around him. The first book he grabbed was coincidentally about the Phoenix Empire.
Holding this book, Liu Xing thought for a moment. He wanted info about Water Nation, but since later he would duel Shen Ye, he would like to learn more about him and his family.
Finding a table, Liu Xing sat and started reading.
The first chapter was about the history of the Phoenix Empire: when it was founded, who founded it, and then it moved on to the present. One of the main pieces of info in this first chapter was about the three hundred provinces under the Phoenix Empire.
Reading there were three hundred provinces in this book, Liu Xing wondered how big the Phoenix Empire was. Indonesia, the place where he had lived for most of his life, had thirty eight provinces, and it was the largest country in Southeast Asia.
"Doesn't China only have twenty-two provinces?" Liu Xing muttered.
There was a time when he thought learning Chinese was a good idea, and he had come across that information. Although he wasn't sure that his memory was correct. "How many states does America have? At least forty, right?"
Still, assuming China or America or Indonesia, which have less than fifty provinces/states, are already that large, how big was this empire that had three hundred provinces? Could the whole of Asia fit into this empire? Liu Xing blinked several times, trying to make sense of the size of this world. Sometimes, he forgot how big this world was. This world was probably hundreds of times bigger than Earth. Hell, perhaps bigger than the sun from his old life.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Shaking his head, Liu Xing stopped thinking about the scale and focused on the book.
The Phoenix Empire in the past was only a small nation, but when the Shen clan took over the nation, it expanded rapidly. It was believed that the Shen clan had a Phoenix bloodline and great control over fire. The book said that one member of the Shen clan could fight a thousand cultivators in the same realm.
"That's an exaggeration, obviously."
If every single member of the Shen clan was that strong, then they would not have become a vessel of Purple Moon Sect. The Purple Moon Sect would have become Phoenix Empire's vassal.
"Seems this book is written by a loyalist of the Phoenix Empire."
Which meant Liu Xing needed to approach this book with a healthy dose of pessimism.
He read on, and while he found this book interesting, there was nothing that could benefit Liu Xing. Half of this book was just praise of how great the Phoenix Empire was, and the other half was actually delving deep into interesting places, legends, or commodities in each province. While reading about the legend of a buffalo that cultivated until it could challenge the Phoenix Empire was interesting, he decided reading this book was a waste of time. At least for now.
Returning the book to where he found it, Liu Xing browsed around until he found a book about Water Nation. This book had the title "Seven Wonders of Water Nation".
He grabbed it, but he decided to browse more books. In the span of dozens of minutes, Liu Xing found several more books: there was a history of Water Nation, a bestiary of local spirit beasts in Water Nation, a novel set in the Water Nation, a book about the Tang clan of Water Nation, as well a recipe book.
Liu Xing decided it was enough for now, when he found another interesting book beside the recipe books.
This book was gray, looked old and brittle, and was really thin compared to the books that clamped it. The thing that made Liu Xing interested was the title: "Statue Summoning Technique".
Liu Xing knew that his library was not the most orderly one. Sometimes he found history books in a shelf full of techniques, but the opposite actually never occurred. Seeing this technique here was like seeing a lion in the middle of a group of sheep.
"What are you doing here?" Liu Xing grabbed the book and opened the introductory chapter. But since his left hand was full of other books, when he opened the book with only his right hand, he accidentally opened several pages.
Liu Xing expected to see the words moving like a busy ant colony, but when he saw the words not moving, his eyes widened.
This book was not encrypted!
"Is this real?" Liu Xing whispered.
To test this theory, he opened a random page from the book, and when he still saw the unmoving words, his heart started racing.
It really was an unencrypted book!
Liu Xing checked his surroundings, and when he didn't see anyone, he decided to put every other book on a random shelf and hide this technique inside his robe. The book felt rough against his belly skin, but this feeling was a reminder that the book was real, not an illusion, probably not a joke, but a real technique.
Liu Xing tried to calm his heart. He felt excited as well as anxious. What was the meaning of this? Every other technique in this library was encrypted to ensure that disciples would work hard to get sect points. It was one of the ways the sect induced their disciples to grow. After all, someone wouldn't become strong by sitting on their butt forever. Every cultivator needed experience, whether in life or in battle. Therefore, free techniques were not something that would exist in this library.
He could think of several reasons why this book was unencrypted. The first reason was that this book didn't belong to this library. Someone had placed this book here on purpose, probably an elder or perhaps an older student who had learned this technique and decided to pass it on through this library.
"There's that story," Liu Xing muttered.
There were some old stories about this library. Some of them were insane, like this library actually being a girl who fell in love with the sect patriarch and decided to devote herself by becoming a library, or that this library was actually a spirit beast. But the main thing about all of this story was that the library had a will of its own.
The story of disciples getting an unencrypted book was not unheard of, as were stories of disciples who, whether they grabbed a book about techniques, history, or anything else, after opening the book, it had the same content about a short story about a man who shit himself, as if the library was pissed at him.
But, Liu Xing thought that this kind of story was just an urban legend, until he found this unencrypted book.
"Is a sentient library a thing in this world?" he muttered.