Early the next morning, Zhao Feng made his way to the Scripture Pavilion. Since he hadn't joined any peak, that was the best place for him to get a proper cultivation technique. He had tried to go to various peaks to see if he could be admitted but was unable to get past even the entrance properly due to the cultivators there having low cultivation.

  The Scripture Pavilion was located behind the Main Peak. His current dwelling at the guest house was situated at the front base of the Main Peak. He had to go around the whole peak just to get there, and by the time he reached his destination, small beads of sweat were already covering his forehead.

  Climbing the last stair, Zhao Feng came face to face with the Core Formation cultivator guarding the place. From his free-flowing clothes and the sword on his back, he seemed to belong to the Sword Peak.

  The hawk-eyed cultivator was looking directly at him with an intimidating gaze. Zhao Feng wiped the sweat with the hem of his shirt and walked with measured, slow steps. But after walking for a few steps, he discovered something was wrong. The cultivator's gaze was still focused on his original position. His lips were slightly moving, but no sound was coming out.

  Zhao Feng stealthily moved closer and closer with soundless steps, and when he was just a few steps away from the cultivator, he heard a small sound. It seemed like a mantra of some sort, and even with his eyes open, the cultivator's attention was focused on the chanting. Normally, this was not a problem. Anyone coming here would enter his sight, and he would know. But he had met his match today.

  When Zhao Feng was observing him, the cultivator blinked and made the young boy jump back in fright. Yet, there was no further reaction from the cultivator. Zhao Feng let out a small sigh of relief.

  Not wanting to disturb the hardworking "Senior," Zhao Feng quickly made his way toward the repository. Even from the outside, it seemed like a large five-story structure, each floor occupying nearly ten times his height. Going inside, it was not at all exaggerated from the outside. Except for the place he was standing and the way to the second floor, every space was filled with large shelves. Wherever his eyes moved, there were only books and more heaps of books.

  Slightly shaking his head, he brought his spinning eyes back to their place. Just when he started walking inside, he heard the sound of something falling from upstairs. Curious, he ran to the second floor and encountered another member of the test group.

  Bai Wenjun was slowly collecting the books she had dropped. Her brown hair was messy, as he remembered from the last time, and her round glasses were slightly drooping. He bent down and started to help her with the books. In no time, the fallen books were collected by the duo.

  "Thank you," Bai Wenjun said in her soft yet steady voice. She took the books from Zhao Feng's hands, and along with the ones in her hand, they nearly surpassed her head in height. Now Zhao Feng got a clear picture of what must have happened.

  Bai Wenjun made her way to the marble table in the center of the second floor. Just as she reached it, her foot was about to collide with the leg of a wooden chair beside the table. "Stop!" Zhao Feng shouted, and hearing his loud cry, Bai Wenjun halted in place.

  Zhao Feng went ahead and helped her carefully put the books down without another mishap. Bai Wenjun looked at him with grateful eyes, a very faint golden light invisible to the naked eye glittering between her dark pupils. To thank him this time, she said, "Since you are up here, you must be a new inner disciple. I know most of the books and manuals here. You can ask what you want, and I will point it out as repayment for now."

  Zhao Feng was completely dumbfounded by her words, his mouth hanging slightly open. How did everyone know that he was an inner disciple? He hadn't even received an inner disciple token yet. Moreover, this girl had become an inner disciple just two days ago—how did she know all the books inside here?

  But quickly regaining his senses and with the thought of trying his luck, he simply said, "Shadow element cultivation manual. And some martial techniques that will go along with it."

  Bai Wenjun fell silent upon hearing these words. Just as Zhao Feng had given up hope, he heard, "Seventh shelf, second row, fourth column. You will find both of those things there."

  At first, Zhao Feng doubted her words, but as he went to the designated place, he really found the things he wanted. The cultivation method was called the Shadowsilk Scripture, which made his darkness Qi flow smoothly like silk. The technique was called Phantom Armory, which improved his control over Qi and helped him shape it into weapons. Moreover, both could be cultivated to the peak of the Core Formation realm.

  "What should I do if I want to take them?" he asked Bai Wenjun, who had already sat down at the table and was rapidly turning the pages of a book.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Just take them and go. If your contribution points aren't enough, the senior guarding outside will tell you," she replied.

  Zhao Feng lightly coughed upon hearing these words. The senior seemed to be in deep meditation and hadn't even noticed him. But since the girl's advice had proved useful once, he decided to trust it.

  When Zhao Feng went down to the first floor, a signal was sent to the array network. His contribution points fell short for the exchange, and the message was supposed to be sent directly to the guard outside the Scripture Pavilion. But Lu Wancheng had made it so that any message regarding the fifteen kids would pass through him first. Hence, he received this message.

  Lu Wancheng's clone furrowed his brows while sitting in his abode. There should be no need for someone to take a cultivation manual this early. The real effect of a higher-level cultivation method would only start to show at higher realms. He quickly spread his senses and observed the situation.

  "Ah!" he lightly slapped his hand. It was that boy whose existence always phased out from the world. From the looks of it, he hadn't been able to join any peak and was struggling. However, instead of helping directly, Lu Wancheng simply filled contribution points under his name. If something really needed his attention, then the world's will, which was hiding from him, would come forward willingly.

  Zhao Feng made his way outside the Scripture Pavilion. By now, more disciples were seen coming here. The senior cultivator had also stopped chanting and was scrutinizing everyone with his sharp eyes.

  Zhao Feng walked with deliberately slow steps, expecting to be stopped at any moment. Even as he made his way to the stairs, he was not interrupted. His heart, which had been racing, finally settled down. He made his way back to his guest room to study the manuals.

  Back on the second floor, Bai Wenjun remained seated at the marble table. A heap of books loomed on her left, and only three were placed on her right. She abruptly closed the book in her hand and placed it on her right, bringing the total to four. Then, taking a book from her left, she started to rapidly flip its pages. Her pupils had already turned to pure white, with a needle-sized soft golden dot visible at their center. In just a dozen breaths, the book was also completed and placed on her right, and she took another book in her hand.

  Zhao Feng spent the next few days only cultivating and ignoring any other distractions. He found the cultivation method very suitable for him and faced not a single problem while cultivating it. The speed of accumulating Qi in his body was also quite fast, and in just two days he had broken through the second acupoint, rapidly nearing the third. But even his determined resolve started to falter on the third day, and he went out to take a small stroll.

  The first thing Zhao Feng encountered on the road was the group of his fellow test passers who were making their way to the Medical Peak. With nothing of importance to attend to, he followed behind them. From their conversation, he learned that Xiaomeng had run into some trouble during her cultivation. She had been admitted to the Medical Hall for the time being. The group heard that she had woken up and were going for a group visit. Knowing full well that they would have forgotten him, he just trod along without alarming anyone.

  He saw them entering the Medical Hall by giving some unfounded reasons and going to Xiaomeng's room. But just as they were about to speak with her, a Core Formation Healer identified them, and they had to run out and hide.

  While looking at Gu Yichen being beaten up, he was not able to control his laughter and nearly alerted them to his presence. He had noticed that even though these fellows didn't remember him, they were able to easily detect his presence compared to others of the same level. Finally, after everyone was gone, he decided to help Gu Yichen up.

  But as he neared the fallen compatriot, he saw that Gu Yichen's body was slightly shaking. Moving a few more steps ahead, he heard a slight laughter. Looking at Gu Yichen's dirt-covered face, there was a slight smile tugging at his lips. Zhao Feng felt a shiver run down his spine, and the hair on his body stood up. He directly turned his head and ran away without looking back. In his mind, the mistaken Gu Yichen had already been branded as someone to keep a distance from.

  Once he was quite a distance away, he decided his future course of action. Since he was searching for motivation, the best place will be the First Peak where the strongest supposedly lived.

  On the way there he saw a large number of disciples of the First Peak carrying injured people to the Medical Hall. The injured also had the symbol of the First Peak on their sect clothes. Some had bent arms; some had twisted legs, and a few unlucky ones had both. Growing slightly curious, he made his way to the First Peak.

  The base of the First Peak was already completely packed. The disciples from all the six peaks were gathered here and crowding to go inside. He tried to hear what was going on but the voices were overlapping too much creating complete confusion. By now, even disciples from other peaks had joined the ranks of the injured. And the numbers coming down from the peak didn't seem like they would thin anytime soon.

  One voice in Zhao Feng's mind was telling him to go to the peak and observe what was happening regardless of the cost. The other was telling him to turn his head and run back as fast as possible. The debate between the two thoughts continued until he saw a man with knocked-out teeth and blood staining his whole clothes being carried down. Then the one who came after him was the same. And this continued for everyone after him.

  Looking at the people trying to boast about something through their bloodied mouth was truly bone chillingly scary. Even the ghosts in his dreams would not be able to make such horrible noises!

  That was all he needed to see to regain his determination and resolve to continue cultivation once again.

  Zhao Feng hurriedly ran back to his dwelling. Quickly washing the sweat and grime on his body he went back to cultivation. The sect was a scarier place than he had expected. People suddenly behaving like crazy and being injured inexplicably. In order to survive here, he would need a lot more strength than he currently had.

  Lu Wancheng’s clone sat in his abode observing everything while eating from a collection of sweets. He was finding it very hard to get bored these past few days. Sigh, the lament of a Sect Master.