Yun Lintian put his jumbled thoughts aside and went to the bookshelf on the left. He examined it for a moment and found nothing out of the ordinary before he channeled his profound energy into it. The bookshelf trembled slightly, emitting a creaking sound, and started to shift sideways, unveiling a concealed door behind it.
"Tsk. Has this old man been hiding something here all this time?" Yun Lintian clicked his tongue in amusement and opened the door, walking through it.
"What the…" Yun Lintian exclaimed when he arrived in a vast room with countless towering bookshelves stand tall along with all kinds of books on them. There were at least a hundred aisles from his estimation, and each one of them was deep, around 200 meters. The floor was laid with planks of Heavenly Sandalwood, emitting a soothing fragrance that made one's mind clearer upon inhaling.
On the left side, there was a small counter and comfortable-looking chairs reserved for a librarian. Hanging on the wall was a large touchscreen monitor that was currently displaying the sentence "Welcome to the library" in digital text.
What surprised Yun Lintian the most was the size of the room. There was no way his villa could accommodate this room. Undoubtedly, this place had to be a profound artifact.
Calming himself down, Yun Lintian approached the touchscreen monitor and gently tapped it with his finger.
"Scanning…" Suddenly, a sweet female voice rang out from built-in speakers around the library.
"Detecting the SSS level identity."
"Identity confirm."
"Welcome Master Yun Lintian to the library."
"My name is Smart 01, the library's administrator."
"If the Master has any questions, please feel free to ask me."
A series of female voices resounded, causing Yun Lintian to startle for a moment. He was both surprised and overjoyed simultaneously. With this AI, he didn't have to check all the books by himself.
"Wait, how did you know my identity? My fingerprints shouldn't be the same, right?" Yun Lintian suddenly thought of this problem. Theoretically, he was transmigrated here. His body shouldn't be the same as he was on Earth. Then how did the AI recognize him? Unless... he had remained the same person all this time! But how!? If that was the case, it also explained why he had the necklace with him.
Yun Lintian's mind spun rapidly. Several hypotheses appeared in his mind, but he didn't know how to prove them. He concluded that the mysterious woman who brought him to the Misty Cloud Sect must be a subordinate or friend of his old man. Was his father so powerful that he could reverse death? He was certain that he had already died for good at that time.
The more Yun Lintian thought, the more confused he became, as he lacked evidence and information. Everything was limited to his imagination at the moment.
"I cannot answer you, Master." Smart01 replied simply.
Yun Lintian was disappointed, but he didn't inquire further. He changed the topic. "Can I change your name? I don't like your current name."
"You can, Master." Smart01 replied.
Yun Lintian thought for a moment and said, "I'll name you Lynn."
"Understood. From now on my name is Lynn." Lynn responded with a hint of excitement in her voice.
Oh? Does it evoke emotion? Yun Lintian was surprised. "Alright, please introduce this place to me."
"This place was built three thousand years ago…" Lynn started to introduce but was interrupted by Yun Lintian.
"Just get to the point. What are these books." Yun Lintian looked at the books on the bookshelves.
"Okay, Master. Currently, there are 874,325 books in this library. They are profound arts from all over the multiverse, classifying into 7 ranks namely, Primordial rank, Supreme rank, Divine rank, Mythical rank, Heaven rank, Earth rank, and Mortal rank."
"There are totally 4 categories, Body Refinement Art, Essence Profound Art, Soul Profound Art and Knowledge category. "Master, you can ask me for a recommendation, and I will sort everything according to your current level."
Yun Lintian nodded calmly. But his mind was in a mess... How did my old man collect all of this? What is his identity exactly? He asked, "Is my father built this place? And how did he collect these books?"
"It's your father, Master. However, I cannot tell you specific information because it was deleted by him." Lynn replied.
Tsk, this smelly old man. Yun Lintian was disappointed. He set this matter aside and inquired. "Can you recommend me a profound art that suitable to my current level?"
The next moment, a few names appeared on the screen, sorted by rank and category, with aisle numbers listed next to them.
Yun Lintian looked at the names and was stunned for a moment because there were too few, and none of them were higher than the Heaven rank.
"Just this?" Yun Lintian asked.
"Yes, Master. According to your current talents, these profound arts are your limit." Lynn replied softly.
Yun Lintian was speechless as he carefully examined the profound arts of the Heaven rank. There were only four of them, and all of them were mainly focused on the fire element… Without The Sun, I probably can't even practice an Earth rank's profound art? Before that, my talent is literally the lowest of the low. He thought.
Yun Lintian sighed and asked, "How did you assess my talent?"
"Mainly from your Profound Vein and constitution, Master. As for other variations, such as comprehension and spiritual strength, I am unable to measure them. Therefore, I will always provide every book without concerning your comprehension." Lynn explained.
"So there is a chance I cannot practice it, even though it's suitable to my Profound Vein." Yun Lintian understood the point. Lynn would give him a Primordial rank's profound art if it was suitable to his Profound Vein and constitution, but it still depended on his comprehension and other variations to learn it too.
"That's right, Master." Lynn said.
Yun Lintian didn't linger on this topic further. He asked, "Can I move this library to other locations?"
"You can, Master. You can inject your profound energy into this monitor and the library will reduce into a small ball of light. Master can put it to any place you want later. However, Master cannot bring the library to the outside world." Lynn explained.
Yun Lintian nodded and said, "Alright, I'll go back first. See you later, Lynn." He remembered this was not the time to stay here further, as his sect was probably under attack at this moment.
"Have a safe trip, Master." Lynn replied, and the screen returned to normal, displaying the welcome text.
Yun Lintian walked out of the library and opened the silver gate, leaving the Land of Beyond Heaven.
"Lintian!" Upon Yun Lintian's appearance in the river, Yun Huanxin's spiritual sense immediately captured him. She was confused as to why he appeared here out of nowhere, but she cared more about his safety.
"Third Aunt?" Yun Lintian was surprised to see her.
"Are you hurt?" Yun Huanxin produced an invisible hand to lift Yun Lintian out of the river and asked with concern.
Yun Lintian shook his head, "I'm fine, Third Aunt." In fact, he was certain that his bones were broken, but it seemed he was healed by the Profound Spirit Lake.
Yun Huanxin didn't ask further as she said with a severe expression, "We need to go back now. The situation over there is not optimistic." In the end, she didn't dare to tell Yun Lintian about Yun Qianxue's current condition.
Yun Lintian's expression changed, and he hurriedly said, "I will set up the formation now. Please help me make a cave here, Third Aunt."
Yun Huanxin shot a sword light at the cliff, creating a small cave within a minute, and brought Yun Lintian into the cave. The team quickly set up the transmission formation and concealment formation. A half an hour later, both of them vanished into the transmission formation.
***
Above the Misty Cloud Peak, Qi Qianxing leisurely sipped a cup of spirit tea, showing no urgency to launch an attack on the Misty Cloud Sect.
"Your Majesty, there is a situation at the entrance of the mythical realm." Suddenly, an old man with a white beard appeared beside him with a serious expression.
Qi Qianxing's brows raised slightly. "What is it?"
The old man began to narrate the report he received from Qi Hao.
Qi Qianxing frowned and set the teacup down. "Yuanfeng failed to capture him?"
The old man bowed his head and remained silent.
Qi Qianxing pondered for a moment and waved his hand. "Never mind. We can start now."
"Understood, Your Majesty." The old man bowed his head and called over a group of about ten people behind him, initiating an attack on the barrier of the Grand Protection Formation.
Boom! Boom!
Each attack was powerful enough to create a hole in the barrier. However, none of them could completely deal permanent damage, as the barrier recovered almost instantly.
In the main hall, Yun Ruanyu wore a severe look on her face as she gazed at the barrier worriedly.
"Sister Ruanyu, we can hold at most an hour." Yun Qingrou said after checking the remained Profound Stones.
Yun Ruanyu was silent for a while before she said, "I am going to use The Final Haze."
Yun Qingrou hurriedly said, "Don't, Sister Ruanyu. We should wait for Sister Huanxin and the others first."
Yun Ruanyu turned to look at Yun Qingrou and Yun Qianxue, who lay unconscious on the ice bed. She said solemnly, "I'll delay them until Sister Huanxin returns."
Yun Qingrou said nothing further to persuade Yun Ruanyu, knowing that eventually they would have no choice but to use The Final Haze.
Yun Ruanyu took out a brand new Guqin and headed out of the hall under Yun Qingrou's sad gaze.
Woosh—
Just as Yun Ruanyu was about to take flight, she noticed a disturbance near the transmission formation.
"Sister Ruanyu!" Yun Huanxin appeared near the main hall with Yun Lintian.
"You're back." Yun Ruanyu said and looked at Yun Lintian. Seeing that he was safe and sound, she felt relieved. However, the heaviness in her heart did not dissipate because she was uncertain about how Yun Lintian would react to Yun Qianxue's current appearance.
"Aunt Ruanyu, where is mom?" Yun Lintian asked why he couldn't see Yun Qianxue, even though the sect was being bombarded by the enemy at this moment.
Yun Ruanyu's hands trembled slightly, and she said, "Your mother is inside. Go and take a look."
Yun Lintian noticed Yun Ruanyu's hands, and he had a bad premonition. Without wasting time further, he rushed into the hall and saw Yun Qianxue lying on the ice bed, unconscious.
"Mom!" Yun Lintian exclaimed and arrived by her side. Currently, Yun Qianxue had already lost all of her former enchanting beauty. Her hair turned white, and wrinkles covered her entire body. She appeared to be a woman in her sixties.
With a glance, Yun Lintian could see her Profound Vein's condition as well as the vitality within her body. Without a doubt, Yun Qianxue had no more than ten years left in her.
Yun Lintian's eyes turned bloodshot. His hands were clenched into fists tightly to the point that blood dripping out. A strong sense of murderous intent enveloped his body. At this moment, he was outraged. This was the first time he had felt genuine anger since coming into this world.