Gazing as he enters, Aden takes in the conservative environment Long has made for himself. Plain wooden pillars without adornment, a smooth stone floor, a dusty vaulted ceiling, and barely cushioned chairs. In the back, by Longs center seat, sits a familiar face in one of her own.

I would rather not deal with her, but perhaps she can make the same about face these two have. Her resting bitch face is still there, but her eyes show some proper fear and reverence.

Greeting everyone as if she stayed up all night. “I was beginning to wonder when you would return, after so much time had passed, I had begun to worry.”

Ling, looking amused. “You say that but the air has not settled around you yet, perhaps next time you should be aware of your surroundings before trying to jest us, child.”

Breaking the ensuing conversation, “She can leave and return when I am elsewhere. Same deal as with the religious zealots earlier. I would like to settle in peacefully.”

Shao Lin, gaining look of incredulousness, is interrupted by Aden before she can speak in her defense. “There will be no argument, I can see your mind. If you wish to converse with me, gain some humility.”

Senior Lin lets part of his smile go. “I’m sorry daughter, but if Aden speaks, then it shall be. Be that as it may, you should be with the children. Come, I will join you. Aden, it has been enlightening. I will try to find you another time, if you are available.”

“I am glad you are awake enough to speak once more. Of course I will be available to teach someone of such an open mind.”

Shao Lin gives Aden the stink eye as she passes him while leaving with Senior Lin, receiving a quiet rebuke from him. Aden takes his seat in the center as Long retrieves tea from a nearby hidden cupboard.

“Just a cup will do, Long. I don’t intend to sit still…for long. I would like to begin studying immediately, after finding somewhere to rest for the night. There is also no point in guiding you more so soon, as you have not yet digested what you received earlier.”

“Aaaa, yes. It will take me some time to take what you said in. I have an extra room to the right, in the rear courtyard, that you can use. Would you like the tea warm or cold?”

“It does not matter to me, only extreme temperature would make any sense of a difference anyways.”

Handing Aden the teacup and cup plate, “That does make sense, your body is almost fire itself.”

Aden takes it all in one sip, looking for something else in the tea.

Got it. “White Venom Thistle”. It’s weak, even a child could drink it, but it seems helpful for their specific cultivation. The venom seems to have been supposed to work with the yang chi somehow. Mmmm, another to absorb when I am alone.

“An interesting tea…how does the venom work with the yang chi?”

“How impressive, you were able to tell so much so quickly. The venom weakens the body to receive yang chi wherever there is excessive yin chi, allowing the weaker of us to balance ourselves. For us older ones, it holds more sentimental value. Is it to your taste?”

“The taste is not so appealing, rather neutral. If you have any meat, I believe that would more suit my taste. That will have to wait for next time though. Do you have a map of this town I can keep?”

“Ah, yes. I should have one overrrrr…” Long opens a hidden shelf from within the side table. “Here. These here are the pavilions. This is the scripture pavilion where you can find most of what you asked for, and this one is the hall of resources where normally disciples exchange contributions. This is the alchemy pavilion and over here is where our formation master used to work. Since he is no longer with us, it is just a storage of his belongings and research now. It is simple, but one of our outer disciples has taken up forging in this building here, if you are interested.”

“Do I need your plaque, or will my face be sufficient?”

“Oh, how could I forget. Here, take this medallion. It will get you into almost any place, aside from places where only the ancestor is permitted.”

“This will do, for now… It is late, we can pick up again another time. Perhaps senior Lin can join us too, if he is up for it.” Suggested Aden, walking into the hallway toward the courtyard door behind the wall at the back of the reception hall.

Giving a short bow with clasped hands, long bids goodnight. “Very well, until next time, Aden. Rest well.”

It is certainly directly to the right. With such a small place, it's not so hard to navigate. Let’s see what we have here…aside from the oversized bed, it looks a bit japanese to me. Perhaps I am not familiar enough with the differences though. It’s been an interesting day.

As Aden moves his hands to begin undressing for bed, he realizes something. Oh my god, I’ve been naked this whole time. Hmm, well, at least I don’t have anything to show or be shy about. How would this body reproduce anyways? Problems for the romantic, I have other goals in life.

This bed is quite comfy. It doesn't look like silk. The fibers are coated in something, joining the fabric as one flexible piece. Is this made of tendons and collagen glue? Another novel find…

What if I had a nibble? No, that would be rude. It would be unseemly of the perceived me I just worked on creating… I’ll ask Long next time I see him.

…

…

I don’t feel tired. This feeling, it's keeping me up I think. This sense of having to do something… I’ll go check out the books they got. Get some rest after reading.

In fluid motion, Aden kicks out of bed and walks off, worming his way through the residence. Once outside, he recalls the map he just left inside and goes by memory, heading for the scripture pavilion.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Once there, he sees just a single beginner chi condensation guard “sitting” watch. “Is this the scripture pavilion Long told me of?”

Looking up from his yawn, the guard's eyes readjust. Then he goes wide-eyed.

“Hold it! I am Aden. Just look at me, do you understand what this visage means?”

“Ah, right, sorry ‘bout that. Hadn’t slept from the previous night's watch. You are just as uncanny as they said. Head right in, Elder Ling will be real interested in you.”

Heading through the open door into the poorly lit entry hall, Aden spots a thoroughly aged man behind the counter, watching him as if Aden was a bother.

Ling, “Watcha want?”

These fellows certainly speak different. What happened to that formal speech I hear earlier?

Showing Long’s Medallion, “Everything this can show me. From the simplest and mundane, to the complex and extraordinary.”

“That's a whole lotta nothing. How am I supposed to point you to that? Just start reading.”

A bit stunned, Aden walks into the hallway on the right and enters the first floor of shelves.

They weren’t kidding, they try to keep what they can, and they can keep a lot. Guess I’ll start from here and work my way around, looks like this loops to the left entrance.

Let’s see here…”213,483 4th Era - Toluo’s Fall”. Hmmmm, looks to be a historical account holding barely more veracity than archeological retellings from earth. I think that there were so many years in this 4th era is more interesting, but It still doesn’t say who Toluo was.

…

Fascinating. This does not belong here, or at least they don’t seem to have. A romanesque empire wielding advanced runic magic blew itself up by accident when a sieging enemy tricked them. All of their territories highly dependent on runic engineering with a wireless power grid, the moment their capital and its well of power was taken in the explosion, everywhere else was free pickings. Their formations and weapons became practically useless.

Hmmm…”213,522 4th Era - Gantry’s Remise”. It seems these scrolls are organized…Ah, I see. This bandit leader convinced several of the Toluo cities to work with him, one after the other. Sweeping through a large portion of the abandoned territories and creating a fierce enough defense that it was preferable to make a deal with him than to attack. Gantry then secretly ceded control to the previous heads of territory and kamikaze’d the dispatch and their second largest army with pre-buried runic explosives he designed based on what happened in the capital. Hilarious. I’m surprised a neutral account of this survived.

Next up, “5th Era - Dawn”. No year, just 5th Era. I have four arms, I feel like I can read two at once.

Holy shit, no wonder they hate demons. This also explains something I noticed about this area looking like it used to be a seabed long ago. A demon lord of blood and creation flooded this world with blood, killing almost everyone below nascent soul…wait. Their nascent soul is before core formation. I knew they were doing it wrong! The shortest era…the demon supposedly ascended upon flooding the world, having absorbed enough souls.

Now ontooooo… “Sisters of the Raven - Treatise on the Beyond”, well, this doesn't seem like it belongs in this section. Hmmm, these people seem just as misplaced as Toluo. Some sort of outsider god in the form of a grotesque monster raven. Rituals, sacrificial offerings, and recitations allowing them to summon and contract with lesser beings related to the so-called raven. This is some dark arts shit. What happened to my xianxia world?

Aden continued passing the time, having picked up reading two at a time just as he surmised, and later sometimes three. As his second day of reading came to an end, a boy in his late teens turned the corner around the shelf he was reading at.

The boy simply stared at Aden, mesmerized. “Like what you see? What’s the gossip about me like?”

“You really are real! Everyone said Angahina has visited us through their apostle!”

“While I am indeed real, the apostle part is wrong. Just think of me as the embodiment of an uncle god. So, what has brought you to me?” Kid looks starstruck but also seems a bit…slow. Like a child in an older body.

“Elder Ling said to check on you because Elder Long won’t stop pestering him.”

“Long couldn’t get any sleep either? I’ll go see then.”

That was a great deal of information. I could have fallen into danger without knowing what hit me If I went out before reading here. Detonating corpse puppets on an enemy as the sacrificial cost to summon eldritch beings on the spot causing the enemy to act as a sacrifice to sate them? I don’t think I could run fast enough! An archer literally shooting the sun down, not the 2nd one, but apparently it was the 8th sun? Something else worries me too, this world doesn’t seem to be strong in life. There are plenty of dark and hellish forms of energy, but that’s it. Will I be like the demon lord devouring the world just to escape? Is that why he did it? I'll pick up on that thought when I get back here.

Turning the corner back into the entrance hall, Aden sees a frustrated Long arguing with Ling at the front desk.

“Would you want to be the one to interrupt his reading? If he wants to come out, then he’ll come out. Calm down Long.” Is this guy trying to keep me to himself?

“You better not be hiding him or…or something!” Long shakes his fist angrily. Then his expressions changes completely as if he was never angry as he notices Aden.

“Aden, I had feared something had happened. My apologies if I interrupted your reading.”

“You seem quite worried, was leaving in the middle of the night too much? Did you have trouble sleeping?”

“Oh, no, I slept well. Thank you for your concern. I had just not seen you for so long and remembered you spoke of meeting with Senior Lin and I.”

“Wait, “so long”? How long have I been in here?”

Elder Ling speaks up, “About two and a half days. Impressive reading technique, might I add. Wish I could do the same. You were real focused, didn’t wanna interrupt you.” This fucker was trying to keep me here after pretending he didnt care

“Ah, my apologies, Long. I was caught up in studying the history of this world. I have learned many...peculiar things. Things that I thought shouldn’t belong here. They seem to have engrossed me and I let the time get away. I suppose when one can sleep the centuries away, a few days is not much.” Aden gives a light laugh and a smile.

Long, gaining a quizzical look and holding his chin. “Oh, that is intriguing. That which even you believe does not belong? And of your passing of time, I suppose that is what we should have known for a god. We should perhaps be grateful it was not a millennia.” Finishes Long, giving a little smile of his own with a raised eyebrow.

There’s the friendliness I was looking for. Getting a little cheeky with me, eh?

“A millennia? Just be glad I didn’t nap the world away. These realities can be so fleeting!” Rebukes Aden with a hearty laugh. “Good to see you getting cheeky with me. Looks like getting you frazzled helped loosen you up, thanks Ling. Speaking of, did you try to hide me from him to keep me to yourself? After pretending not to care? How mature of you, unable to use words when you live in a building dedicated to words.” Aden, bringing up the muscle where his eyebrow should be. Oh right, don’t have those. Well, he gets the idea.

“I was just making sure your studies weren’t interrupted was all!”

Long, retaining a light smile. “Elder Ling can be distant at times but he means well, once he gets what he wants.”

“So, Long, was there something important you needed from me?”

“The ancestor has returned…injured.”