On the second floor of the Spiritual Library Division.
The place was different from the first floor, given that there were no shelves. There weren't even ancient texts or jade scrolls. The only things around were white halos spaced far apart from each other.
Every single halo represented an [Innate Level Spiritual Technique], and there were nearly one hundred of them to be found on the floor.
Mu Zixi, with a rather bored look on her face, played with her pigtails as she walked past one of the halos.
Unlike the others, she had set her sights on something and managed to find what she was looking for right away.
It wasn't every day that they got to enter the library, so she didn't want to just register her stuff and head out so quickly. Everyone was still inside. It would've been boring for her to stay outside all on her own, so she'd stayed inside the library.
She scanned her surroundings as she aimlessly walked around.
The halos were rather mystical. They would light up immediately once someone entered them, preventing another from getting inside.
Mu Zixi walked around and found something wasn't right. She counted the halos that were lit up.
"Eight?"
"Why are there only eight halos lit up when there are eleven of us here?" she thought.
"Where are the other three?
"We aren't allowed to enter the third floor, so are there still people on the first floor, then?"
She frowned, finding this turn of events amusing, and ran all the way downstairs.
…
Swoop, swoop, swoop.
Swoop, swoop, swoop.
Rhythmic and minute shaking sounds were heard. Mu Zixi sneaked up on the source of the sounds.
"Zhou Tianshen?" she thought.
"What is he doing?"
Mu Zixi was puzzled.
She saw the stout kid pick up a book and shake it before returning it to its place and reaching for another one.
That wasn't all. Mu Zixi looked on, finding it scary when he suddenly stopped at a corner and pounced on a dusty box, his eyes lighting up as if he'd found some kind of treasure.
He then got up there, pushed the box away, and started fiddling with the dust.
He seemed to be having a good time.
Mu Zixi was completely baffled, and was feeling a little puzzled at this sight. Who would've thought the stout guy would actually enjoy games that were so childish?
But this was the Spiritual Library Division. He was here to play games instead of selecting [Spiritual Techniques]?
"Zhou Tianshen!"
"What are you doing?" she yelled at him, arms akimbo.
The stout guy, who was busy moving the boxes, was startled, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was only Mu Zixi.
"Gosh, you scared me to death. I thought the caretakers were here…"
"Hmph, so you're telling me that you can just fool around as long as the caretakers aren't here?"
Zhou Tianshen was stunned when he heard this. Then, wiping the sweat from his brow, he said, "I'm not fooling around. I'm looking for techniques!"
Mu Zixi, amused, watched his blackened hand leave marks behind on his face and said, "Look at your messy face. Since when do people go about looking for techniques like this?"
"Yeah, that's what you think." Zhou Tianshen said, disgruntled. Then he pointed at Xu Xiaoshou. "Xu Xiaoshou's looking for techniques like this too, okay?"
Xu Xiaoshou?
Mu Zixi looked in the direction he was pointing and immediately spotted a lanky figure.
However, the sight that greeted them was completely different from what they'd expected.
Xu Xiaoshou, who was in his simple white garb, was leaning on a shelf, a book in his hands. He looked dazed, as if he were pondering some big question that was bothering him.
The bit of sunlight coming from the windows above shone on the young man's chiseled face, making the scene look like something out of a painting.
Zhou Tiansheng was completely baffled.
Mu Zixi got engrossed in the scene for a bit before recalling how Xu Xiaoshou had wiped at his neck, saying that it stank. She then quickly snapped back to reality.
She looked at Zhou Tianshen and snickered. "Well, the way you both look for [Spiritual Techniques] is definitely really similar."
Zhou Tianshen was all quiet as he looked at his blackened hand, then at Xu Xiaoshou's clean face, feeling that he'd been several cheated.
"I think I need to explain myself…"
"No need to explain anything. Better get your face washed instead."
"Oh? Don't you wanna know the secret to that guy becoming the champion?"
"I'm no… huh? What did you say? Come again?"
"Well, I'd better just get my face washed."
"Wait, hold on. Come here for a bit."
…
Xu Xiaoshou naturally wasn't just acting cool in a sunny place because he'd sensed the two's conversation and what they were doing.
He was actually engrossed by the broken piece he'd found.
"[10 Sections of the Finger Sword]?" Xu Xiaoshou mumbled.
He'd actually been able to find quite a number of such broken pieces after searching for two hours. However, all those techniques required certain special elemental traits, and it'd taken him just one look to tell that those weren't for him.
All but the "[10 Sections of the Finger Sword]," that is.
The technique's level was unclear, and it didn't require spiritual strength. All the technique required was [Sword Will] and arts of the finger. When fully mastered, one could easily slice a river open with a single attack.
It was as if the technique were tailor-made for him.
The experience of a transported one was actually d*mn useful!
The only thing that concerned him was if the [Sword Finger Technique] would stack with [Glow of Sharpness], yet it was also the part that got him thinking.
According to the introduction, it melded [Sword Will] with one's fingers…
"Not with any sword-like item, like '[All Things are Swords],' but with one's own fingers eh?" he thought.
This was just like the third way a swordsman could train in the way of the sword, then!
The mainstream way of combining a sword with [Spiritual Techniques] was one way.
Fighting with [Pure Sword Will] that he created, which he'd had no idea would actually work, was the second way.
Yet this "[10 Sections of Sword Finger]"…
Combining [Sword Will] with one's own body?
"I guess you can find all manner of weird stuff under the sun..." he thought.
He was completely shocked by this wild, unconventional way of thinking. Combining [Sword Will] and a sword-like item would produce [Sword Telepathy]. He wondered what combining [Sword Will] and one's own body would produce.
"Hold on," he thought.
"[Sword Will] is something that gets produced from one's own training in the first place. Does the "combining" concept even apply here?
"But wait.
"It says here that it could be done."
He was completely puzzled by what he was reading.
He decided that if he were unable to find anything else, then he would settle for "[10 Sections of Sword Finger]."
Even if nothing else came out of his training with the technique, such a unique way of training would keep him occupied for a very long time.
"Heh, who was it who thought something this weird up? I guess I've met my match, and whoever invented this was a genius."
He tried looking for the name of the creator. Unfortunately, it was a broken piece, and there was no mention of the creator.
He packed his stuff and looked at the time. There were still four hours left, which meant he had a lot of time left to explore.
So he went back to searching high and low.
…
Swoop, swoop, swoop.
Swoop, swoop, swoop.
Mu Zixi rather regretted having bought Zhou Tianshen's mumbo-jumbo. She was holding two old books in her hands, and her favorite dress was all dirtied. She looked a mess.
"Zhou Tianshen!"
"There's nothing at all!" She forcefully shoved a book back onto a shelf.
The bang startled him.
He stuck his head through a crack in the wall, then said with a disgruntled expression on his face, "Oh gosh, miss. Don't you go scaring people like that! Becoming champion requires sacrifice, alright!"
Mu Zixi was actually fuming at the moment, yet she laughed out loud when she saw Zhou Tianshen's face.
His face was all blackened, and given that there wasn't enough light around, she was only able to see his white teeth.
Pfft!
"I think you really need to wash your face. Hahahaha!"
"Shh! Keep it down!" Zhou Tianshen shook the piece that he'd managed to find in the crack. It was indeed a page from somewhere. "See?"
"You found something?" Mu Zixi's eyes glittered, and she immediately headed over to him.
Zhou Tianshen dusted off the page by blowing on it, causing both of them to cough.
"An old image?"
The image was of an old one-armed man lifting a saber while bending backwards, looking very twisted and weird on that tattered, old parchment.
Mu Zixi immediately pouted. She could tell from one glance that the technique would fit Zhou Tianshen just right, but would be of no use to her.
She was just about to grumble when she turned around and saw that dirtied man staring at that old image, seemingly in some sort of trance.
"You learned something?" She was stunned.
"Indeed."
"What Xu Xiaoshou said was true, then? That the treasures are indeed on the first floor?"
"Yeah."
Mu Zixi found her motivation for finding techniques there again, but then she quickly realized something, which caused her to freeze.
Zhou Tianshen was in a trance, Xu Xiaoshou wasn't around, then…
"Who was speaking to me?" she thought.
She turned around in fright.