The Silver-Sand Kingdom was not just a land of heat; it was a land of secrets. Beneath the shimmering dunes lay the Great Library of the Sands, an underground labyrinth carved into the bedrock of the continent. Unlike the airy towers of the Azure Empire, this library was a fortress of stone, protected by ancient enchantments that kept the temperature at a perfect, dry coolness to preserve scrolls that were older than the kingdom itself.
Lin Fan walked through the massive sandstone gates, his Gold-Purple Badge glinting under the magical torches. Behind him followed his students, their footsteps echoing in the vast, silent halls. Queen Medusa walked at his side, her presence a silent warning to any who dared to block their path.
"This is the Hall of the Ten Billion Whispers," Medusa said, her emerald eyes reflecting the golden light of the runes. "My ancestors collected every scrap of knowledge that drifted across the desert. It is said that if you listen closely, the books themselves will tell you the future."
Lin Fan didn't need to listen to the books; he had the Divine Library.
[Divine Library: Detecting Rank-5 Territory Library...]
[Status: Level 3 System Active.]
[Scanning Range: 1 Full Floor in 10 Minutes.]
[Total Floors: 12. Estimated Scan Time: 2 Hours.]
"Go and find your own paths," Lin Fan told his students. "Mu Tie, look for the 'Glacial Origin' section. Ling'er, seek the 'Solar Scriptures' to stabilize your second awakening. Lu Bao... just try not to eat the ancient scrolls."
"Teacher, I promised I'd only eat the ones that smell like cinnamon!" Lu Bao chirped, already heading toward the 'Ancient Culinary and Qi-Herbalism' wing.
The Scan of the Ages
As Lin Fan walked through the aisles, he didn't even look at the titles. He simply walked, his hands slightly raised. Sunehre (golden) streams of data began to flow from the shelves, spiraling into his temples.
[Scan Initiated: History of the Southern Continent... Complete.]
[Scan Initiated: 1,000 New Alchemy Formulas... Complete.]
[Scan Initiated: The Lost Arts of the Desert... Complete.]
Suddenly, the system flickered.
[Ding! Rare Blueprint Detected: 'The Void-Ripping Array'.]
[Ding! Forbidden Record Detected: 'The Fall of the God-Tribe'.]
Lin Fan stopped in front of a shelf made of black jade. A single, crumbling scroll sat there, encased in a bubble of distorted space. It was the record of the God-Tribe, the beings who ruled the world before the humans and demons began their eternal war.
[Divine Library: Analyzing 'The Fall of the God-Tribe'...]
[Synthesis with 'Shadow-Seeker' Data: 85% Match.]
[Result: The Demon King is not a demon. He is a 'Corrupted God-Tribe' member seeking to reclaim the Origin Core.]
Lin Fan's heart went cold. If the Demon King was a corrupted God, then the current methods of the Master Teacher Pavilion—the seals and the defensive barriers—were like trying to stop a flood with a paper fan.
The High Elder's Challenge
"So, the rumors were true. A 1-Star Master Teacher with a Gold-Purple badge has entered our sanctuary."
Lin Fan turned to see an old man sitting at a stone table at the end of the aisle. He was dressed in the ornate, white-and-gold robes of the Master Teacher Pavilion's High Elders. Behind him floated six Divine Halos, vibrating with the power of a 6-Star Master Teacher.
This was High Elder Feng, the regional supervisor of the Southern Continent.
"Elder Feng," Medusa said, her voice dropping an octave into a defensive growl. "Master Lin Fan is a guest of the Crown. I hope you aren't here to play the role of the obstacle."
"A Queen should worry about her borders, not her libraries," Feng said, his eyes fixed on Lin Fan. "Master Lin, you have caused quite a stir. Awarding a Gold-Purple badge to a 1-Star teacher is a violation of protocol that has reached the ears of the Central Pavilion. They believe Grandmaster Mo was... 'dazzled' by a few clever tricks."
Feng stood up, and the air in the library became heavy. "I am here to conduct a Re-Evaluation. If you fail, your badge will be stripped, your academy disbanded, and your students returned to their 'rightful' status as trash."
Lin Fan smiled, though there was no warmth in it. "Elder Feng, you speak of protocol while sitting in a library that has ten billion truths. Tell me, in all those years of study, did you ever learn that a Master Teacher is not judged by his badge, but by the fire in his students' eyes?"
"Arrogance!" Feng barked. "Let us test this 'fire'. My disciple, Yan Kun, has been studying the 'Sun-Sand Palm' for twenty years. He is at the Stage 8 Peak. I challenge one of your students to a duel of 'Conceptual Understanding'. Not a fight of strength, but a fight of Technique Perfection."
The Duel of Concept: Yan Kun vs. Mu Tie
Yan Kun stepped forward—a man in his late thirties with a build like a stone golem. He was at Stage 8, while Mu Tie was only at Stage 5. In a physical fight, Mu Tie would be crushed. But this was a duel of Concepts.
"The rules are simple," Elder Feng explained. "Both will execute the 'Sun-Sand Palm'. The one whose technique has the fewest flaws wins. I have spent twenty years perfecting Yan Kun's form. He has only three flaws remaining in the entire manual."
The crowd of librarians and guards gathered.
Yan Kun began. His palm moved with the weight of a desert storm. Each strike created a shockwave of heat and grit. It was beautiful, disciplined, and terrifyingly efficient.
[Divine Library: Scanning Yan Kun's 'Sun-Sand Palm'...]
[Analysis: 3 Major Flaws detected. 12 Minor Flaws detected.]
"Excellent," Elder Feng beamed. "Only three major flaws. Can your 'Dragon' boy do better?"
Mu Tie stepped forward. He had never practiced the Sun-Sand Palm in his life. He looked at Lin Fan.
"Teacher?"
"Mu Tie, I am going to transmit the 'Perfected Sun-Sand Concept' into your mind. You will use your Frost-Dragon Bloodline to 'invert' the heat. We aren't going to show them a better storm; we are going to show them the Stillness of the Oasis."
Lin Fan tapped Mu Tie's forehead.
[Divine Library: Synthesis—Sun-Sand Palm + Glacial Origin = 'The Frozen Mirage'.]
Mu Tie's eyes turned a deep, frosty blue. He raised his hand. His movements were slow, almost lazy. But as he moved, the sand in the air didn't fly; it froze. The heat in the room was sucked into his palm, turning the air around him into a shimmering, crystal-clear mirage.
Every move Mu Tie made was a direct correction of Yan Kun's flaws. Where Yan Kun's Qi leaked, Mu Tie's Qi was sealed. Where Yan Kun's stance was rigid, Mu Tie's stance was like water.
When Mu Tie finished, the air in the library was covered in a thin layer of frost, despite being in the middle of a desert.
[Divine Library: Flaws detected in Mu Tie's execution... ZERO.]
Elder Feng's jaw dropped. The stone table he was leaning on cracked in half. "Zero... flaws? That's impossible! Even a 9-Star Master Teacher has at least one flaw in their execution!"
"That is because they are looking for the 'Highest' power," Lin Fan said, walking toward the Elder. "I am looking for the 'Simplest' truth. You spent twenty years hiding your disciple's flaws. I spent ten seconds removing them."
The Heart-Stalking Trap
Elder Feng was humiliated. But his eyes didn't show defeat; they showed a dark, desperate cunning.
"You may have won the duel, Lin Fan, but you cannot escape the Shadow-Oath."
Suddenly, the floor of the library began to glow with a sickly purple light. Feng hadn't just come to evaluate; he had come to assassinate. He had planted a Rank-6 'Soul-Stalking Array' under the library floor.
"If I cannot strip your badge, I will strip your soul!" Feng roared, activating the array.
Black chains made of shadow energy erupted from the ground, lashing toward Lin Fan and his students. These were not physical chains; they were designed to bypass the body and drag the soul into the Void-Prison.
"Teacher!" Ling'er cried out, her Phoenix fire erupting, but the shadow chains simply absorbed the flames.
Medusa tried to strike Feng, but the Elder was protected by a 6-Star 'Heaven-Shield Charm'.
Lin Fan stood in the center of the black chains. He didn't move. He didn't look afraid.
"Elder Feng," Lin Fan said, his voice echoing with a terrifying calm. "You are a 6-Star Master Teacher. You should know that an array is only as strong as its foundation. And your foundation... is built on a lie."
[Divine Library: Analyzing Soul-Stalking Array...]
[Flaw Detected: The North-West anchor point is utilizing 'Demonic Qi' to boost its power.]
Lin Fan's eyes turned a brilliant, piercing gold.
"You made a deal with the Demon Tribe to kill me," Lin Fan said, his voice reaching every corner of the library. "A High Elder of the Master Teacher Pavilion... a traitor to the human race."
The crowd gasped. Medusa's emerald eyes flared with a murderous rage.
"Die!" Feng screamed, sending all the chains at Lin Fan's heart.
Lin Fan raised a single finger.
[Teacher's Skill: The Word of Dismissal.]
He didn't use Qi. He used Truth.
"Break."
The word resonated with the frequency of the array's flaw. The black chains didn't just stop; they shattered like glass. The backlash hit Elder Feng like a physical mountain, throwing him against the jade shelves.
But Lin Fan wasn't done. He walked over to the fallen Elder and placed a hand on his chest.
"You want to see my 'Profound Archive'? I'll show you the part you fear the most."
Lin Fan used the 10-to-1 Synthesis logic to forcefully "extract" the demonic corruption from Feng's soul. A black, oily smoke began to rise from the Elder's mouth, forming the shape of a screaming demon face before evaporating in the library's holy light.
Elder Feng shriveled up, his 6 Divine Halos shattering one by one until he was nothing more than an ordinary, terrified old man.
The Sovereign's Command
The librarians and warriors fell to their knees. They had just witnessed a 1-Star teacher dismantle a 6-Star Elder as if he were a misbehaving child.
Queen Medusa walked up to the shriveled Feng and placed her scimitar at his throat. "For the crime of treason and using demonic arts in my kingdom, you are sentenced to the Dune-Death."
"Wait," Lin Fan said. "Don't kill him yet. He is a piece of a larger puzzle. The Demons are already inside the Pavilion. We need to know how deep the rot goes."
Lin Fan turned to the librarians. "Pack the 'Forbidden Section'. I am taking the God-Tribe records. And as for this library... it is no longer under the Pavilion's control. It is now a branch of the Celestial Path Academy."
No one dared to argue.
The Academy Development: The Library Branch
Lin Fan used his Multiple Profession Fusion (Array + Blacksmithing) to create a 'Knowledge-Mirror'. He placed it in the center of the library.
"This mirror is connected to my Divine Library," Lin Fan announced. "From today, any student of this academy can seek the truth here. But if you hold a single thought of betrayal or malice, the mirror will reflect your own flaws until your mind breaks."
[Ding! Academy Expansion Successful.]
[Reputation: 500,000 (Continental Fame).]
[System Level Up! Level 3 → Level 4.]
[New Feature Unlocked: Instant Scan (One Glance = Entire Library).]
[New Feature Unlocked: Soul-Projection Teaching.]
The Moment of Comedy
As the tension cleared, Lu Bao came running out from the 'Ancient Culinary' wing, covered in a strange yellow powder.
"Teacher! Teacher! I found it!"
"Found what, Lu Bao? A secret weapon? A demonic map?"
"No!" Lu Bao shouted, holding up a dusty scroll. "The recipe for the 'Nine-Heaven Golden Bun'! It says here that if you bake it with Spirit-Essence and Dragon-Fire, one bite can keep you full for a hundred years!"
Lin Fan looked at his student, then at the shriveled 6-Star Elder, then at the Queen of the Silver Sands.
He couldn't help it. He started to laugh.
"Lu Bao," Lin Fan said, patting the boy's head. "If you can bake that bun, I'll make you the Dean of Gastronomy."
The Rising Shadow
That night, on the balcony of the Queen's palace, Lin Fan and Medusa looked out over the desert. The stars seemed brighter, but there was a coldness in the wind.
"The Demon King is coming, isn't he?" Medusa asked, her hand brushing against Lin Fan's.
"He's already here," Lin Fan said. "He's in the shadows of the Pavilion, in the corruption of the Elders, and in the fear of the people. But he made one mistake."
"What's that?"
"He let me find his library," Lin Fan said, his eyes glowing with the golden light of the Divine Archive. "And in my library, there is no such thing as an unbeatable God."
Lin Fan looked at his system. He was now ready to head to the Central Continent—the heart of the world, where the Master Teacher Pavilion's Headquarters stood.