"...It's gone?"
Arriving at the Scripture Pavilion, Leo Young searched the spot where he remembered the Qi Meridian Connection Method should be, but couldn't find it.
This wasn't unusual. The Zhenwu Sect had over a thousand disciples, and any with a bit of ambition would come to the Scripture Pavilion to browse in their free time. Even if they were far from mastering the martial techniques and cultivation arts they already had, it didn't stop them from coming here. Trying to bite off more than one can chew is a universal human failing.
It wasn't that strange for the Qi Meridian Connection Method to be checked out.
"To think all three copies have been checked out..."
For most valuable martial techniques and cultivation arts, the Zhenwu Sect would have disciples transcribe two copies to prevent a single person from borrowing a manual and making the entire sect wait for them.
Leo Young sighed and walked over to the entrance of the Scripture Pavilion, planning to check the disciples' sign-out registry. Borrowing cultivation arts and martial techniques required registration, including one's name, place of origin, master, and dormitory. This way, Leo Young could go directly to them. They were all fellow disciples; if he asked nicely, he was sure he could borrow it.
However, as soon as he got close, Leo Young saw the panel for the wordless secret manual in Jiang Qiu's hands.
[Heavenly Tome: Scroll of Innate Mysteries]
[One of the Nine Heavenly Tomes, containing all the mysteries of the Common Trait 'Innate'...]
[Cultivation Requirements: Innate Lv8, 10000A + 30000 martial aptitude, 30 + 10A Comprehension, 30 + 10A Constitution, total Common Trait levels must reach 50 + 3A]
[Cultivation Formula: (9.1 - A)^2]
(In this formula, 'A' is the number of 'Tome of Mysteries' scrolls you have already learned.)
[Upon completion of comprehension, your Innate trait will be raised from Lv8 to Lv9. Here, any unique traits or special terms that affect the 'level determination' of Innate will have no effect.]
["...Hah."]
Leo Young raised an eyebrow slightly.
A Heavenly Tome... it was actually a Heavenly Tome!
If one were to speak of the most important items in the game, they would undoubtedly be the Heavenly Tomes and the Heavenly Artifacts.
There were nine Heavenly Tomes, each corresponding to one of the nine Common Traits. That much was a given.
As for the Heavenly Artifacts, they were twenty-seven pieces of equipment imbued with wondrous power, born alongside the Heavenly Tomes. Each Heavenly Tome corresponded to three Heavenly Artifacts. For example, the three artifacts corresponding to the Innate Heavenly Tome were undoubtedly equipment that used 'Innate' as their core element. The higher one's Innate level, the more benefits could be gained from them, and so on.
Putting the twenty-seven Heavenly Artifacts aside for now, the Nine Heavenly Tomes were suspected to hold the secret to his return trip. Although Leo Young hadn't grown tired of this world yet, being able to confirm the existence of the Heavenly Tomes was an excellent development.
["This must belong to Perfected Master Zhou. As a peerless master in Shenzhou ranked among the top three, vying for second place, it's not surprising he'd possess a Heavenly Tome. Heh, I've heard Senior Brother Su mention these past few days how Perfected Master Zhou favors Martial Uncle Jiang, but I never expected he'd even let him peruse something like this. Interesting..."]
Leo Young raised an eyebrow slightly, then smiled and spoke up: "Martial Uncle Jiang, what might you be reading?"
—Jiang Qiu was the direct disciple of Perfected Master Zhou, which meant he was of the same generation as Su Tianqing. When disciples of the Zhenwu Sect saw him, they all had to address him as 'Martial Uncle'.
There were many other disciples in the Scripture Pavilion. Hearing Leo Young's words, they were all momentarily incredulous, casting shocked glances his way.
Speaking of Jiang Qiu, he possessed a certain peculiar quality often bestowed by literary creators. Take, for instance, the legendary foot-fetishist Sect Leader Zhang from *The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber*. As a child, his entire family was killed, he was deceived by his first love, and he lived like a savage in the wilderness for several years. That last point, especially—a child not yet fully developed living alone in the wild for years—the damage to his body and mind would be simply immeasurable.
And yet, that godlike Sect Leader Zhang somehow fucking turned into an upstanding gentleman...
Returning to Jiang Qiu, although he had lost both his parents, Perfected Master Zhou, Su Tianqing, and Perfected Master Zhou's second disciple gave him an abundance of care and love. It could even be said that Su Tianqing cared more for Jiang Qiu than for his own son, Su He, to say nothing of Perfected Master Zhou's affections.
Furthermore, Jiang Qiu had never even met his parents, so logically, he should have grown into a cheerful and bright young man, perhaps with some minor emotional scars at most...
However, things didn't turn out that way. Perhaps because of his family background, his personality became cold and solitary. He never showed a pleasant face to anyone. To this day, forget about close friends he could confide in; he didn't even have a single nodding acquaintance on Zhenwu Mountain.
And Leo Young actually went up to talk to him?
Such a crazy act hadn't occurred on Zhenwu Mountain for nearly five years...
"... " Jiang Qiu's gaze lifted from the book and fell upon Leo Young's face. Their eyes met.
Jiang Qiu was exceptionally handsome. His face was like it was carved from cold jade, his complexion so pale it was almost translucent, yet without a hint of sickliness. His eyebrows were like unsheathed blades, slanting sharply towards his temples, their edge so keen that one dared not look at him directly.
"Hm?" Completely unfazed by the other's aura, Leo Young waited for two breaths. When no answer came, he said, "Why don't you speak? Could it be that you don't know what this secret manual is called either?"
"...And what if you did know?" After a moment of silence, Jiang Qiu's deep voice sounded. "What's the point in wasting time on matters that have nothing to do with you?"
"Nothing to do with me? I'm not so sure about that," Leo Young said with a smile. "As for whether or not it's a waste, until the very moment my life ends, who can say that anything I'm doing right now is a waste of time?"
As a modern person, Leo Young's habits of speech and phrasing were completely different from those of the ancients, which seemed to be a major symbol of his 'mental problems.' But it was undeniable that his words, and the bard-like intonation he used when speaking, would draw people into an 'unreal' atmosphere.
Perhaps it was because he was influenced by this atmosphere, or maybe he felt it was pointless to speak further with a madman like Leo Young. It was even possible that, as a long-time adult orphan, he felt a sense of kinship with the newly orphaned Leo Young. In any case, Jiang Qiu did something that none of the Zhenwu disciples present could have anticipated—he answered Leo Young!
"...A book that is difficult to understand."
Leo Young said, "So, you think you're wasting your time?"
Leo Young's logic was actually very simple: Jiang Qiu said he was wasting time → Jiang Qiu himself didn't understand it → Therefore, Jiang Qiu felt he was wasting his own time.
But, stating it so directly made it seem to come out of nowhere, leaving people confused.
However, Jiang Qiu, who was in the middle of the conversation with Leo Young, could more or less understand.
"...Correct."
Leo Young had many ways to phrase his words and purpose more tactfully. For example, 'My Third Senior Brother often praises your astounding talent, Martial Uncle Jiang. I never thought there would be something even you couldn't understand. Could you allow this martial nephew to experience it?' or something similar. But in the end, Leo Young chose the most direct method, the one he was most accustomed to.
"Then, may I take a look?"
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