The ladies' shocked expressions took Xuefeng aback. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Are you trying to say you already learned to multitask with your consciousness split into two?" Wuying asked, seeking clarification. "You don't seem to realize how hard that is."
"Is it...?" Xuefeng asked cautiously, panicking internally. 'Is it really that hard to split your mind and multitask?'
'It is difficult, but only for cultivators without great support like me. I can easily teach you once you grow stronger. I will handle all refining for now since I have to sustain all the artifacts in my space anyway,' Ling explained.
Princess Shan and Wuying looked at him as if he were a monster. In the Spirit Gathering stage, the basic step was to split your mind into two to enter your Spirit and cultivate. But during cultivation, you had to focus on feeling the Spirit Essence in the air, absorbing it, and refining it. Walking, talking, and cultivating simultaneously was a different level. You would need an extremely flexible mind to do that.
To verify his claim, Wuying activated her Spirit Eyes Art. Her pupils shone with light, and the invisible Spirit Essence in the air became visible. She saw strings of Essence gathered around Xuefeng and disappearing inside his body as if he were a vacuum.
"He wasn't lying… How did you learn so much in just one day?" Her eyes returned to normal as she asked suspiciously.
"I mean, it just came naturally to me..." he lied, faking a shy expression.
"Really…" Both ladies were left jealous. They still couldn't do it after so many years, but he did it after one day.
"How about we eat something before we start training? There's still a lot of time left today," Xuefeng suggested, trying to change the subject.
"I already asked the kitchen to send dinner. They should deliver it soon. But before that, let's visit the Spirit Arts Tower," Wuying said, glancing at Princess Shan.
"Oh, I forgot about that. Can Princess Shan come with us?" Xuefeng asked, noticing Wuying's glance.
"No, that's why we stopped by our courtyard. She can wait for us here," Wuying said with a smile.
"Well, I don't mind. I still need to change my clothes. You can go," Princess Shan said, heading to her room. She couldn't show herself in dirty clothes outside.
"Okay, we'll be right back," Xuefeng told her, and she waved them off without saying anything further.
"Let's go." Wuying grabbed his hand and led the way.
"How many Spirit Arts can I learn?" Xuefeng asked as he let her lead him by the hand.
"Normally, there's a limit to the floors you can access, but you have special access to all floors," she explained while dragging him out of the courtyard.
"Oh, how many floors are there?" he asked curiously.
"There are five. Each rank has its floor, from rank 1 to 5. The fifth floor is only open to people with the Clan Leader's permission." People stared at them as they walked, but Wuying didn't care anymore. She needed to establish her dominance to avoid losing him someday.
Xuefeng watched her determined face and decided against saying anything. He would also feel threatened if some guy tried to flirt with Tianshi, so he understood her.
It didn't take long to arrive at the Spirit Arts Tower. Even from afar, the five-story tower was impressive, with a diameter of at least fifty meters. It was entirely made of blue limestone, making it stand out as the only building of its kind.
"It's made of Blue Fire Stone filled with many formations. Even if you replicated your earlier attack, you wouldn't be able to scratch it," Wuying explained when she saw him gazing at the tower.
"Let's go inside." Xuefeng led the way to the entrance. This time, he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him. She tried to maintain a calm face, but a blush still tinged her cheeks.
It was easier for her when she took the initiative.
To enter the tower, you had to show your token to the guards. Every member of the Liu Clan had a token that only reacted to its owner, making stealing useless.
Xuefeng pulled out his token, given to him years ago, and showed it to the guards. Even as the Liu Clan's Young Master, he had to follow the rules.
"Young Master, you may go inside. Enjoy your time," the guard said, recognizing him and checking the token before letting him pass.
The entrance to the Spirit Art Tower wasn't a normal door either. After the token check, you had to pass through another barrier that scanned for any ill intent. If you thought about destroying anything inside, you would be instantly denied entry. This showed how seriously the clan protected its Spirit Arts collection.
Wuying entered seconds later. What Xuefeng saw inside looked like a normal library, with bookcases everywhere and numerous manuals and Spirit Arts books.
'Is it just a normal library?' he wondered as he approached a bookcase.
He picked a random book and read the title: "Rank 1 Tiger Fist."
Intrigued, he opened it, but the pages were blank.
"Is there something wrong here?" he asked Wuying, who was standing behind him.
"Just pour a little Spirit Qi inside, and you'll see," she advised.
He did as she said, and his vision blurred. In his mind, he saw a shadow of a man gathering Spirit Qi in his fist and destroying a tree with a powerful move.
When the scene ended, his mind returned to reality, and text appeared on the blank pages, explaining the move in detail.
"Wow, so cool," he exclaimed loudly. Others looked at him strangely, but when they recognized him, they smirked. They had been excited like that when they read Spirit Manuals for the first time, but they had been ten years old at the time.
'Young Master, you're 16 now, keep your cool,' they thought. The people on the first floor were mostly Spirit Masters with weak talent, so they didn't voice their opinions aloud.
"Let's go to the upper floors. These rank 1 Spirit Arts are weak," Wuying commented, walking toward the stairs.
Xuefeng put down the manual and followed her excitedly.
The clansmen on the first floor cried internally when they heard her.
'They're not weak, okay... you're just too strong...' they lamented.
They skipped the second and third floors, entering directly onto the fourth.
The number of Spirit Arts on this floor was much less compared to the others. There were only about 100 manuals on four bookcases. Only four cultivators were reading the manuals.
Seeing someone enter, they glanced at the newcomers but soon returned to their reading. Their time in the tower was limited; they weren't like Xuefeng with unlimited access.
"Take a look at the manuals and see if something catches your eye. Some Spirit Arts might suit you, while others won't. If you can't see anything after sending your Spirit Qi inside, it means it doesn't fit you," Wuying explained before picking a book and starting to read.
Xuefeng noticed the manual in her hands was titled "Rank 4 Blood Daggers." He guessed she used daggers. Deciding to use a sword, he didn't need to look at that one.
He approached the bookcase on the very left side and picked up the first manual. The title read "Rank 4 Shadow Clone."
He poured Spirit Qi inside, using much more than he had with the Tiger Fist manual.
After using one-tenth of his total Spirit Qi, a vision appeared in his mind.
A shadow of a man ran through a forest, chased by someone. Suddenly, he emitted a huge amount of Spirit Qi, and his shadow transformed into an identical clone. They split, running in different directions. The enemy mistook the clone for the original and followed it.
The vision ended.
Xuefeng was impressed. 'That Spirit Art would be quite useful in the future.'
He looked at the description and frowned. It had almost 50 pages, each packed with detail.
"Can I take these home to read?" he whispered to Wuying as he read the first page. It would take him a long time to read the whole thing, so he might as well take it back with him.
"No. You can only read them here. If everyone could take manuals home, there would be nothing left for others," she explained without lifting her head, looking very focused on her manual.
'Then it will take forever to read all of these. I thought it would be easy, but I guess I was wrong,' he thought, trying to think of a solution. After a moment, he finally thought of something.
'Ling, can you copy the books so I can view them later?' he asked shamelessly in his mind.