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, sothing felt off about her deanor; her silvery gaze was cold and emotionless.
"The library is closed," Xin Ma inford her.
"I'm here to et 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 nurous arrays present, she seed oblivious to any changes in Qi. Yet, Xin Ma sensed sothing peculiar about the young ladya Qi blockage, as if her cultivation teetered on the brink of collapse.
"Liu Feng is currently on the third floor," Xin Ma inford her.
Though the girl appeared rough around the edges, she posed no threat to any Foundation Establishnt Cultivator. Hence, excessive caution seed unnecessary.
"I'll wait for him here. I'm not keen on returning and facing Song Song's wrath for failing to et her favorite toy," the girl remarked coldly.
"Kids these days growing ruder with each generation," Shang Sha interjected, drawing attention to himself.
"My na is Ye An," she revealed.
"Well, Ye An, you don't strike as soone easily intimidated," the old man remarked, sipping his tea with a smirk. "Not even by soone like Song Song."
Ye An rolled up the sleeve of her new blue uniform, revealing a nasty scar below her elbow. "The last ti I defied Song Song, refusing to comply with her orders and insisting I wasn't her servant, she severed my arm."
For the first ti 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 soone reattach my arm, she made it clear that the next ti 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.
Imdiately, Shan Sha's expression darkened, his playful deanor replaced by seriousness. For a mont, his elderly faade vanished, replaced by a sharp intensity in his gaze.
"No doubt she wants to et him," said the old man, his tone reflecting concern. It makes 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 seed to be little choice in the matter, knowing that soone 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 seed warranted. They were in a troubleso 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 sothing 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 doing 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 soone of peasant descent as the sect leader that they're willing to place their trust in soone 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 statents reverberated through the library. Ye An's eyes burned with intensity, indicating her determination for revenge despite her current setbacks.
How did soone like Liu Feng beco entangled with such troubleso won? He didn't seem the type at all!Xin Ma wondered.
***********
I learned sothing 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 to sleep, even though I should physically be fully rested.
It was a sha I had none of the modern equipnt, as that might have shed so light on whether Qi and Cultivation were sohow 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 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 sa would be presumptuous. I didn't want to co 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 from behind one of the bookshelves. His large, beady eyes stared at with a strange intensity.
Okay, this was getting creepy!
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Hey, what's up..." I called out to him.
That ended up with Mao just ekly 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 from going down, but there was none.
I had seen enough horror movies to know that ssing 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 imdiately 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 so 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 t, and her silver eyes had the sa 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 ford 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 ssenger. But please do go and make this choice make sense."
Though she was not trying to hide it, she seed annoyed. Well, her feelings were none of my problems.
"I'm waiting to see whether the Sect will draft . If I am not drafted, that would be preferable. But if I am drafted, then I would rather work under soone who I know and could trust rather than so arrogant young master," I stated my reason, hiding nothing.
Ye An looked at , blinked, and said, "You really are dumb."
She left no ti to respond as she continued. "I an, you already showed it when you decided to spare . But damn, you can't just go and decide to refuse the offer of soone 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 co out?"
Her insults almost hurt my feelings. But I wasn't going to take to heart insults to my intelligence from soone 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 soone like Ye An to beco a glorified ssenger.
"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 soone, but that did not an I wasn't going to shoot back.
"Since you spared my life, let give you so advice. Song Song will absolutely bash your head in if she hears your answer," she stated matter-of-factly. "After she's done killing in anger, she will personally co 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 so miracle, Song Song felt rciful that day and decided not to kill you. Let remind you this is less likely than seeing a unicorn dance in the sky. But for argunt'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 sohow."
"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 drafted, our trust would be broken," I stated.
There was an unspoken understanding between Song Song and . 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 to beco is one of her many lackeys who will backstab her whenever it is convenient for or another stronger figure bribes ," I stated, not caring whether Ye An would tell this part to Song Song. "Despite that, I believe that Song Song would not do sothing 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 so regular guy with everyday fears and insecurities. I would rather not get drafted into so horrific defensive battle against literal monsters. If Song Song wanted so 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 sothing like this by now.
Ye An kept staring at as if expecting 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 and inspire loyalty on her own instead of relying on soone whose strategic knowledge ca from YouTube videos.
I turned toward the librarian and the old man sitting on the corner of the table. The old goat looked at bewildered, How did a bookworm like you get involved with such dangerous won? 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 so kind of evil spirit who has been haunting all along?
He was the pet of the guy who made this library. So experints caused him to end up like that. So, no, he is not so evil spirit, said the librarian.
Oh, okay. So, the worst-case scenario of Mao being an evil spirit was not sothing to worry about.
Though you should be careful around him. His master was known to be one of the Blazing Sun Immortals many sons, but he was also known to be insane. Even though one might assu 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 so 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 seed like Mao had a deeper connection to the book than he had first let on.
The book stated that the author never t 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 et his father when they were both living in the sa Sect?
The Blazing Sun Immortal had ten wives and countless concubines throughout his long life and likely hundreds of children. So, it wasnt like there was no chance he would never et 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 won and so many kids. Also, the guy who made this library threw himself off the tower perhaps
Oops, it seed 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 , 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.
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