The Spiritual Library Division was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside.
Xu Xiaoshou scanned the place and found that there were hundreds of shelves around, with every shelf either having jade scrolls or ancient texts on them. There were easily over 1000 [Acquired Level Spiritual Techniques] to be found on that one floor alone.
"Tsk, tsk, this is something."
He walked to the end along with the crowd and turned, reaching out his hand and touching the first technique.
That was a snippet of an ancient text that one could read, yet an array had been installed on it, causing the reader to only be able to read the name and introduction but not the content inside.
Xu Xiaoshou didn't dwell on this book. He glanced at it, then shook it a bit, but nothing happened.
He then shook even harder, and still nothing happened.
He put the book down and went for the second book.
The result was the same.
In contrast, the others in the crowd passed through the first floor and made their way to the stairs leading to the second floor.
Xiao Qixiu had made it very clear that the first floor contained [Acquired Level Techniques], which no one out of the group batted an eye at.
It wasn't every day they were allowed to come inside this place. Given that there were no restrictions on what they could read, they all naturally headed to the second floor.
Zhou Tianshen had thought to do the same as them initially, following the rest to the stairs, but when he saw that no one else was behind him when they turned a corner, he stopped instead.
"Where's Xu Xiaoshou gone to again? Is he still on the first floor picking techniques?"
Zhou Tianshen was puzzled. He figured that he should advise his friend if that were the case.
He peered around the corner and found Xu Xiaoshou doing something at a shelf near the entrance.
He took a closer look and missed a step on the stairs, causing him to almost roll down the steps.
"Sh**!" he thought.
"What's that guy doing?
"Shaking ancient texts??"
Zhou Tianshen was completely baffled, thinking that Xu Xiaoshou was definitely very bold.
He'd completely forgotten what Elder Xiao had just said as soon as they'd gone inside. The way Xu Xiaoshou was shaking the books, it would only take moments for the caretakers to come and pick a fight with him.
Zhou Tianshen was exasperated. He headed back there and stopped Xu Xiaoshou from shaking the books again. "What the h*ll are you doing?"
"Looking for techniques." The look on Xu Xiaoshou's face seemed to suggest that he'd done nothing wrong.
"You call this looking for techniques?" Zhou Tianshen was so exasperated that his voice raised considerably. "What you're doing here is ruining the books. You'll be done for when the caretakers get here!"
"Quiet!"
Xu Xiaoshou then shushed him and said, "You know nothing, do you? The books are protected by arrays, so there's no way they could be ruined. You on the other hand, why the h*ll are you being so loud? Looking to get your head chopped off?"
Zhou Tianshen shrunk back and added, "But that's no reason for you to do what you did. Just in case, you know, the books do get ruined."
"They won't!"
Xu Xiaoshou waved his hand in dismissal, then stared at him instead. "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be upstairs looking for [Innate Level Techniques]?"
Zhou Tianshen was speechless.
"So you did know that the [Innate Level] ones were up there, huh?" he thought. "Then why the h*ll are you shak…
"Huh?
"Hold on."
He paused all of a sudden and started pondering.
"The guy knows that the good stuff is upstairs, so what is he doing here still?
"Oh…
"I see."
He recalled the conversation he'd had with Xu Xiaoshou on their way here, and his face lit up with sudden understanding as he asked, "You have other ways, then?"
Xu Xiaoshou was dumbfounded.
"Other ways, yeah, right. I'm trying to find gold in the sands, dude!"
"Pfftt!" Zhou Tianshen pouted for a bit, then continued, "What gold could you find in the first floor, eh? The way I see it, you're picking sesames in a pile of sh** instead."
Xu Xiaoshou's hand that was shaking the text stopped. He was kind of offended by Zhou Tianshen's words.
"So what? You know how to go about it then?" he thought.
"Whatever. You've been here before. Might as well teach you something, then," Xu Xiaoshou sighed, figuring that these people of foreign worlds were indeed hopeless. However, he figured that it would do no harm to remind a guy who'd been kind enough to come and remind him about some things.
He pulled Zhou Tianshen over and pressed the other man's head low, saying, "Listen now. The real deal, the truly powerful techniques, will definitely not be put right in front of you.
"Only by selecting certain texts like me can you seek the lost treasures."
Zhou Tianshen looked doubtful, and he retorted, "What? You think you can shake treasures out of these old books?"
"That's hard to say…"
Xu Xiaoshou stretched himself a bit, a mysterious grin on his face. "You know, the likes of golden pages, ancient maps, pieces of broken scrolls and whatever. They're often found wedged inside the common ones."
"How do you know that?"
"Hehe, I've read enough books to tell."
Zhou Tianshen saw how confident Xu Xiaoshou was and figured that he might not be lying, but then again…
He wondered if such ways that seemed to have come out of nowhere would actually work.
"Believe it or not. Have it your way."
Xu Xiaoshou rolled his eyes, tired of explaining. Then he returned to shaking the ancient texts again.
Zhou Tianshen looked at Xu Xiaoshou, then shifted his gaze upwards as he thought about something. His gaze was so intense he could've seen through into the second floor.
He thought for a bit, then found himself reaching for a book on a shelf.
"We have six hours, so I'm going to search for three hours and then head upstairs if I don't find anything."
"Yeah, just like that."
He nodded in the affirmative and looked at Xu Xiaoshou again. The other man almost looked like he were glowing.
While Xu Xiaoshou did look like a lunatic, most of those who were thought to have sense had all been taken out by him. Zhou Tianshen then figured that there was maybe something to what the former had said.
That was probably how he'd managed to become champion.
Zhou Tianshen's eyes widened, as he felt he had seemingly discovered a piece of Xu Xiaoshou's secret to success.
Swoop, swoop, swoop.
He started shaking the books one by one, finding nothing.
"I knew it!" he thought. "That the road to success would be anything but easy!"
Zhou Tianshen's eyes lit up.
Moving on!
Swoop, swoop, swoop.
Still nothing.
"Failed again, as expected…"
"Great. I guess this is what grandpa meant when he told me about the trials and tribulations one experiences on the road to success."
"Thinking could actually enable one to discover shortcuts to success. Now I know why grandpa kept telling me to think more."
A stout kid rubbed his hands and then kept searching the books on the first floor of the library, his eyes seemingly sparkling the whole time.
…
On the other side.
Xu Xiaoshou had already searched several shelves. His [Sense] told him that Zhou Tianshen was actually searching the places he'd already searched, and he almost fainted at the thought.
He walked up to Zhou Tianshen and said, "I've already searched the places you're looking through!"
"Hey, you might have overlooked something," Zhou Tianshen answered without looking up. His hands were busy shaking through all the books. No one could stop him from reaching success.
Xu Xiaoshou's expression turned glum. The other man actually made sense.
"But we don't have that much time!"
He pointed at the end of the first floor and said, "Search over there instead. We'll split up. Remember to share when you find something."
"Hmm…"
"Seems like a good idea." Zhou Tianshen stopped doing what he was doing and decided to do as told.
"Remember, the weirder the stuff you find, the better. If you happen to find a piece of blank paper, you're inches away from becoming a god."
"Blank paper?" Zhou Tianshen then looked like he had just realized something and clenched his fists. "I'll keep that in mind."
"And don't just search the shelves. Look through the dusty corners, and there might be pieces stuffed under the legs of tables and chairs. If you find something, let me have a look first!"
"Man…" he thought.
"You want to cover that much, eh?"
Zhou Tianshen was stunned at the thought there might be legendary obscured pieces hidden somewhere.
That was the champion for you!
He gulped and came to believe all of a sudden that Xu Xiaoshou's thought patterns would definitely lead him to fame and glory.
Xu Xiaoshou saw him walk away and returned to flipping everywhere he could flip, not missing even a single corner.
He figured that Zhou Tianshen might not find anything satisfactory, but he was different.
Knowing oneself was a precious trait. Xu Xiaoshou knew how rare his potential was from the fact that he'd only been able to master one move, even after practicing the [White Cloud Sword Techniques] for three years. As such, he knew that he had no hopes of being able to master any of the [Innate Level Techniques].
What he was looking for at the moment were techniques that were practical, yet had few requirements in terms of talent. As for level, he figured that it would be better if it was beneath the Acquired level.
As for those powerful techniques, he saw fit to just let the [Passive System] take care of them.
As for broken pieces…
He deemed it imperative to find any pieces of those. Although the chances of finding such pieces were low, every book he read had something of that sort.
Just in case, man!
He turned around to look at Zhou Tianshen. Truth be told, he actually had high hopes for the other man.
There was a saying about it, after all.
What was it again?
Luck favors the dumb?
He might just actually run into some [Rare Techniques].