Xuefeng, oblivious to his father's investigations, approached the only bookcase on the fifth floor.
"There are only ten rank-5 books in the Liu Clan's possession, and most are incomplete. The Sword Art is complete, so you might want to take a look at it," Wuying informed him.
'Gather them all anyway. They will be helpful when I start creating new ones for you,' Ling advised.
"Okay." Xuefeng picked up the Sword Art manual and infused it with his Qi. The higher the rank, the more Qi it required to view its content. He lost two-tenths of his Qi just from this one manual. It was titled "Rank 5 Sword Serpent Steps."
In the vision, the Art consisted of five sword moves. As a shadowy figure performed each move, their power increased, with the fifth move being powerful enough to destroy a small mountain.
'That's quite a decent Spirit Art. I can use it as a base later,' Ling praised, starting to copy it.
Wuying was speechless when she saw him put back the manual after only a few minutes. She watched as he picked up one manual after another, seemingly effortlessly memorizing the contents of tens of books.
It took him twenty minutes to finish reviewing all of them. He then turned to her and announced with a smile, "I'm done."
"Well, the manuals here are too profound for me, so we can go whenever you're ready." Wuying sighed helplessly, feeling useless in comparison to him.
"Okay then, let's go back. I'm starting to get hungry from all this knowledge." He had again depleted his dantian of his precious Qi.
The trip to the Spirit Art tower had taken much longer than anticipated. It had been more than two hours since they left Princess Shan alone in the courtyard. Xuefeng thought she must be quite bored by now, so he quickened his pace.
After all, she was his only chance to survive past this month. He couldn't neglect her, or she might refuse to give him her necklace later.
While they walked along the main road, they noticed something was off. Many youngsters were running past them towards the Training Grounds. It might have been normal if it were only one or two, but there were groups of them, running as fast as they could, even knocking each other around to be the first to arrive.
After the fourth group went past them, Xuefeng finally stopped one of the youngsters and asked what was going on.
"Oh, Young Master, you don't know? There is a super sexy lady on the training grounds, fighting our clansmen. She is probably a guest in the clan, so everyone is going there to check her out." The group looked unhappy at being stopped but recognized him and relayed the news before running off.
Xuefeng glanced at Wuying, both of them knowing exactly who that person was.
"Let's go check it out. She probably got bored and is causing trouble at the Training Grounds," Xuefeng said, shaking his head. Although he didn't show it, he was excited inside. He could finally watch a real fight.
Wuying was smiling because she knew that if Princess Shan did anything too extreme, the Shadow Guard members would contact her. She had itched for a fight with Shan ever since they met.
'You started the fight first. Now I have the perfect opportunity to chase you away,' Wuying thought, a smirk appearing on her face.
The closer they got to the Training Grounds, the more cultivators they saw, and soon they discovered a small crowd forming a circle around the arena. Just as they reached the circle, they heard a loud thud and the crowd erupted in cheers.
Wuying didn't hesitate and used her Spirit Qi to create an aura around her. As she approached, people shuddered and gave way. Xuefeng followed behind her, impressed with her skills.
When they arrived at the front, they saw a man lying on the ground with his buddies helping him up. There was frost on his clothes and on the frozen ground around him. Princess Shan stood proudly in her elegant sky-blue dress, not a speck of dust on it.
An ice-blue katana rested on her shoulder as she smiled confidently. "Anyone else?"
"Me, me. Pick me."
"Over here!"
Many raised their hands and cried out. Even though they knew they would likely lose, the chance to be noticed by a beautiful woman motivated them. She no longer wore her veil, so everyone could see her beauty. Even Xuefeng had to admit she looked quite alluring with the slit showing off her legs.
"Miss Wuying..." When the defeated man saw Wuying at the front of the crowd, his eyes lit up.
At the same time, Wuying's face darkened. Shadow Guard members didn't work all the time; they had shifts to keep their identity secret. That man was one of her subordinates and one of her strongest fighters who had advanced to the Spirit King stage some time ago.
"I will fight you," Wuying declared, stepping forward with two blood-red daggers appearing in her hands.
The crowd cheered loudly, expanding the circle to give the fighters more space. The only thing more entertaining than a normal duel was a battle between two beauties. To heighten the excitement, everyone recognized Wuying as the Young Master's maid, but few were aware of her supreme skills. It was a rare sight to see her in combat.
Princess Shan was initially surprised at Wuying's presence, but then she smiled at Xuefeng behind her, sending him a flying kiss to throw Wuying off her game.
"To think you would volunteer to be beaten yourself. Come. I wanted to teach you a lesson much earlier," Princess Shan mocked Wuying while preparing her stance.
Xuefeng thought of intervening, but Wuying seemed to read his mind as she turned to him with a serious expression. "I hope you won't interfere in our duel. We were bound to clash sooner or later."
"Right, we won't go overboard, don't worry," Princess Shan confirmed, swinging her sword ceremonially.
"Eh, because you say it like that, I got even more worried. If you hurt yourselves, I will have no choice but to stop your fight," Xuefeng replied with a sigh.
"It looks like Young Master knows this lady. Could she be the rumored Princess Zhen Shan?" someone in the crowd asked.
"Yeah, I saw them earlier today. She even walked intimately with him."
"She is said to stay in our clan because she fell in love with him."
"Eh, I thought we had a chance."
"Well, if you also had Black Talent, girls would go crazy about you too."
"Wasn't she said to have worn a veil all the time?"
"My brother works in the capital, and she once said she would only take it off if she met her future husband."
Hearing this, everyone around exclaimed in surprise and looked towards their Young Master.
The crowd's conversation made Xuefeng frown. Was she really telling the truth? If so, then he was really in trouble.
'As much as I'm already used to having them around, it's going to be troublesome if they keep fighting...' he wondered, watching the two ladies stare at each other.
As the fight was about to start, he stopped listening to the crowd. His priority was to ensure no one got injured.
'If there is no winner in a few moves, I will just stop them anyway,' he decided.