Ninehundred and ninety seven, nine hundred and ninety eight…" the voice of a boy could be heard, one filled to bursting with excitement.

"Seriously Yuto, you're going to turn into one of those muscleheads like Lee and Gai" the voice of a second boy chimes in from nearby, this one filled with annoyance and hopelessness.

"Who are Lee and Gai?" And then a third voice, this time belonging to a girl.

"People from where I came from." The second voice answers, waving his hand dismissively.

"...ninehundred and ninety-nine. Hah… one more pushup" the first voice, the one belonging to Yuto, says "One..Thousand!" A guttural scream leaves his lips, one filled with unbridled determination and will.

*thump*

And so Yuto drops on the hard wooden floor of the library, his face directly impacting the floorboards like some form of a blunt weapon. He remains there, unmoving.

"..."

A awkward silence reigns for a few seconds.

"Say, Kaito, do you think this idiot finally fucking croaked?" The girl asks, a slight trace of hesitation to her words. She'd meant it as a joke but the worry present in the voice is easily noticeable.

"Beats me, Naoe." Kaito shrugs, not caring in the slightest. It will take way more than a thousand pushups to kill a cultivator "Aren't you the one who's supposed to be entering the alchemy quarter? Go check up on him, it's going to be your job in the future after all."

"Hmph" Naoe turns her nose up at Kaito. "You're lucky that you look good, pretty boy, or I would have poisoned you until now." Despite her retort, she approaches the place where Yuto's body lay.

"Poison me with what exactly, wood shavings?" Kaito slams his fist into the wall, causing the invisible lines of an inscription to light up and block his blow, demonstrating how difficult the task of 'gathering wood shavings' would be. "Unless you haven't noticed I still have this annoying slip of paper stuck to my forehead, it signifies that I still can't control my Qi, and I've been a cultivator for ten times longer than you have"

"That's true but you haven't really been training your control, have you?" Naoe kneels down, putting her fingers on Yuto's neck, on a place where a major artery runs. She breathes a sigh of relief when she feels the beat on her fingers. "Unlike this idiot we've actually been studying to pass the customs test, we haven't had any time at all to practice anything even related to Qi" Naoe pouts, her cheeks reddening in annoyance "Does he even know how to read? I don't remember asking him about that."

"He doesn't" Kaito replies with a bland tone "He had so much work in front of him that he gave up on learning all together. Yuto's actually skipping his language class right now, to spend his time here."

"Really!?" Naoe questions, not believing her friend.

"Oh he is. Make no mistake, he will be severely reprimanded by Mistress Rinako when she returns from the core sect. It's just that weak little mortals like us can't do anything to stop him from skipping his classes." Another voice chimes in, startling the duo out of their conversation.

Hashi walks into the room, carrying a tray filled with snacks and cups of tea.

"Oooh!" Stars shine in Naoe's eyes when she notices the elderly woman's approach. She directly bolts from her spot, moving as if teleporting, right into the chair she'd been sitting in previously. Passing the Trial of the Mind had given her a great boost in speed that's for sure.

The tray clinks with a satisfying sound as it is set down on the table and Naoe wastes no time picking up one of the honey-infused cookies and stuffing it in her mouth. Meanwhile Hashi walks you to where Yuto is laying. With one hand she demonstrates strength that is above that of a simple grandma, grabbing the unconscious boy's wrist and using it to haul him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She leaves the room in short order, Kaito stoically watching the event unfold in front of him

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

'Probably some fallen cultivator that had been a friend of Rinako.' He throws an idea out in his mind. 'In any case, there is something complex about Hashi, she's not a mere servant. I better not do anything to piss her off'

"Aren't you going to have any of this?" Naoe asks as the snack in her hand, some sort of a jam filled pastry, is enticingly waved back and forth. She gently tosses it into her mouth before grabbing another one, excitedly munching the delicious food.

"You can have all the food, I'll happily take both cups of tea in return though." Saying so he reaches for the tray, his palms heating up as both of the jade cups are grabbed. There is a shrug in return, Naoe being more than happy to accept the trade.

'I don't know what they put in these things but this tea is sweeter than a cola.' Kaito takes a sip as he looks out of the window he is leaning on, the perpetually lightning struck peak of the small mountain is clearly visible from where he is seated. The small flashes of light somehow add a nice atmosphere to the room, they're not strong enough to be an annoyance, and neither are they too weak, preventing a man from noticing them

Rinako had explained to them why there is a storm cloud always floating over the hill, striking it with thunder.

It's because that is where the Heavenly Library of the outer sect is. The location where all the knowledge required by initiates like Kaito and Naoe is stored. Techniques, historical events, biographies of past cultivators, whatever else that is deemed important. Every layer of the sect has one of these mountains, the outer, the central, the inner and the core. Each one possessing a Heavenly Library with forbidden knowledge.

The very fact that such a knowledge exists out in the open is an insult to the heavens, a tribulation manifesting as a result in an attempt to destroy it, only to be fended off by whatever methods are in place. The one here in the outer sect is small, the other layers having much more intimidating clouds of tribulation with lightning strikes as thick as buildings.

Unfortunately they cannot be seen, somehow hidden from notice by layers upon layers of inscriptions. When Kaito turns to gaze at where the core sect is he sees only clear skies.

The other layers also have proper mountains, instead of the several hundred meter tall hill that is here.

Taking a sip from the all too sweet yellowish tea he turns to look back at the scroll in his hand.

42.1 - The man or woman in charge of the Heavenly Library is aptly titled the Heavenly Librarian. It is your duty to always be aware of the name of the librarian but in the case that you are not you should be able to safely refer to them as 'Master Heavenly Librarian'. Being tasked with librarian duty, especially here in the outer sect, is a form of punishment. Meaning that the librarians are often quite agitated and prone to violence.

42.2 - Always bow towards the Heavenly Librarian when entering and before leaving the Heavenly Library, they will always be seated at the entrance of the building. Not doing so will be seen as an insult and the offender will be swiftly punished. Usually it is nothing more than a couple of broken bones, the offenders sent off with a warning, but as was previously mentioned in 42.1, librarians are often sent here to be penalized. Death can also be a possibility. With good fortunes you will never have to exchange even a single word with the Heavenly Librarian.

42.3 - In the case that a book or scroll in the Heavenly Library is damaged by a disciple, the full price of the item will be considered as debt…

Kaito's gaze becomes mildly unfocused. Moving his eyes off the scroll he rubs the temples of his head, a little bit of relief washing over the areas.

The customs test is just as the name implies –a test for your knowledge about the customs and practices of the sect. An unfortunate necessity with the sect being as large as it is, the disciples here can be from any single region of the continent, and when every single region has its own unique culture… well that can cause a lot of problems. Hence, why the customs test exists, to smooth out the transition.

The only problem for Kaito is how dry all the texts are. There are rules for how you should behave towards your fellow disciples, rules for how you should enter the library, rules for how you should speak. It's all just so boring to him.

He's well aware that the very words in the parchment that he is holding are written with the blood of the dead. It reminds him of all the low budget 3D construction site safety videos, which while funny, really set in stone that people have perished from the exact scenarios displayed there.

Boring… but necessary.

"Can't read anymore?" Naoe asks the boy, her own eyelids fighting to stay open.

"Yep"

"Me neither. Even the sweets aren't helping" She lets out a helpless chuckle, placing the scroll on the side of the table and throwing in the towel. This is as much as her mind can take in a single day.

"We need to continue though, the test is tomorrow morning"

"Fuck that!" The freckled girl cries out "We've been reading from morning till dusk for five straight days in a row. Five!" She thrusts her spread out palm in front of Kaito's face to indicate the number. "I feel like my head is about to get split in half. And don't act as if an hour or two extra are going to change anything, the sun's already dimming. I need to sleep!"

Her irises glint something fierce, Kaito swears that fire is hidden somewhere deep in there.

"Alright then, you have a point. How about one more mock test before heading off to bed?" A request is made, mock tests are just a game of pretend where one acts as an important person in the sect and the other tries to interact with them.

A thin hand reaches for the tray filled with treats. Naoe grabs one of the honeyed cookies before throwing it in her mouth.

"Bring it, pretty boy" she calls out after a bit of deliberation.

A smirk is thrown her way as Kaito sits down on the floor and crosses his legs. "I am the Heavenly Librarian in charge of protecting this Heavenly Library. You wish to enter, what do you do?" The words are spoken in an 'elderly' voice, Kaito doing a fake mustache with his index finger.

Naoe's face twists in amusement however she manages to hold her laughter in. She breathes out, steadying her form and then performing a courtly bow before moving past him…

"Alright. I'm next, pretty boy… hmm." Ideas float through the lanky girl's mind as she wonders on what to challenge her friend with…