The library was a place the Mo Yangling was somewhat accustomed to.
But not the one within the Mo Clan, as they only really kept books regarding their family's history and cultivation, both of which hadn't interested the prodigal young man.
Now, the Monk was going to have to rely on it to learn a bit more.
The Library itself was a Pagoda, much like the other specialized facilities within the Mo Family, like the Forge and the Alchemy buildings.
But the one currently in front of the Monk was certainly the biggest.
It was almost to the size of the Golden Prominence Merchant Group's Pagoda, and that place was big enough to display treasures of any kind on every floor.
That pagoda had been structured in a way that only those of a certain Realm could go up to other floors.
The Library was the same in that aspect.
Books at the first layer were for Martial Apprentices, the second layer for Martial soldiers, and so on.
It stopped at the 6th floor, which was only accessible to the Clan Head of each generation and housed the family's secret techniques within the Golden Core Realm.
Of course, the entire library was heavily guarded, as it housed many of their Clan's secret techniques even for lower realms.
The monk sighed as he looked at the hundreds of bookshelves that lined the walls and formed the halls of that gigantic library.
'Ah, the library, place of learning and exposition... I hate it.'
Within it were contained thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of books, all related to one subject... Cultivation.
The Mo Family had gathered quite an exhaustive collection, one that the Monk planned to take advantage of. It was one of the reasons he had returned to that place so quickly.
'I could have tried to join some Martial Academy or Sect, but without information that some would consider common knowledge, then I likely will attract the wrong type of attention...'
The Monk planned to, at some point, join a sect or an academy, even if only to get a feel of how the youth in that world were being educated.
But he wanted to at least have a basic grasp of humanity's view on cultivation before diving headfirst into that.
At that moment, he knew more about the way Demonic Beasts cultivated than Humans, which was quite sad to admit...
No one bothered him within that library, he just wasn't allowed on the second floor as that part was reserved only for pure-blooded clansmen, and he had yet to prove himself and fully be accepted into the clan.
That didn't make much of a difference for the Monk, he was only seeking basic information to begin with.
He wasn't there looking for any intricate techniques to learn. Hell, he hadn't even mastered the many martial arts he knew, he couldn't afford to fill his head with more of them.
Still, finding the most basic books was quite hard in such a large place. The person who tended to the library, one of the Elders who had witnessed his previous 'disrespect' also didn't seem to be too keen on helping the Monk.
Thankfully, Mo Yangling was in no hurry, by the time midnight came, he had finally found the book he had been searching for.
Its mystical and imposing title made him smile, his slightly bloodshot eyes shining in an eery light under the moonlight that seeped into the room from the many open windows.
'Finally! The fabled 'Cultivation For Dummies!' The very first edition in a line of books made for kids to learn more about the basics of cultivation.'
The monk eagerly opened up the book and started reading.
His eyes greedily devoured the words on each page as he flipped through it.
He was already used to reading and memorizing long Sutras, so studying was not something he was unaccustomed to, even if he didn't like it at all.
Through that book, he finally learned more about how Immortals cultivated.
'Umm... So humans are unable to actually use raw Origin Energy?'
The monk scratched the back of his unruly hair as he finally came to the realization that his 'cultivation methods' weren't really the norm.
He had felt that the Origin Energy in others was a bit strange, but he hadn't really thought much about it, just figured they were practising different laws or something.
Ever since coming into that world, he had been absorbing Origin Energy and using it as it was to strengthen every muscle fibre, organ and bone in his body.
But as it turned out too much unrefined Origin Energy was essentially a lethal poison to humans.
If one managed to attract too much within their dantian, they would either die because of that, or their meridians would explode and their dantian, the place they used to store energy, would be shredded to pieces.
So how did humans manage to turn cultivation into such a huge and sprawling cultural thing if it was so dangerous?
Well, they started to develop and use 'better' ways to absorb energy. Absorbing pieces at a time and slowly breaking them down 'refining' them into actually usable energy that they liked to call 'Internal Energy' or Qi.
Only with that Internal Energy could they start to strengthen their bodies, use martial arts techniques, and advance through the realms properly.
The higher one's realm and understanding was the more Internal Energy they had gathered within their Dantian, and the faster they could refine it.
Those Origin Energy Refinement techniques started being called 'Cultivation Arts' over the years.
As the monk had expected already, there were different types of Cultivation Arts allowing humans to refine Origin Energy into different forms to showcase different versions of natural elements.
The monk's face twisted with confusion when he finally learned of that. He also felt a bit of fear as he touched his stomach, closing his eyes and sensing the energy within his body.
'Amitabha, Internal Energy?! Why the hell didn't Mo Yangling know about that? Or is it another gap in his memories? Fuck sake...'
The monk's thoughts were filled with panic, yet, turns out, his 'Internal Energy' was no different from regular Origin Energy. At least none that the Monk could sense.
Without even thinking about his safety, the monk used cultivation methods that he had read about in web novels in the past.
Namely, he had turned his Dantian into a vortex that swallowed up Origin Energy with every breath he took, filling every part of his body whilst meditating and exhaling any excess back into nature.
It was just a mix of things he had read in the past, he had assumed it would work and he turned out to be right, in a way. The only issue was that he was apparently 'poisoning' himself.
'Odd thing is, I don't feel any adverse effects from my method.
The books described many drawbacks and symptoms of Origin Energy sickness, humans are also said to be unable to surpass the Martial Apprentice stage without a proper Cultivation Art.
Yet I have a lot more energy than any Martial Apprentice should have just within one of my fingernails...'
The monk pondered on that for a moment, he immediately started cultivating whilst standing upright, only taking a breath or two, this time paying close attention to how his body reacted to it.
But there was no sickness or uncomfortable feeling, rather the opposite, he felt refreshed. All of the tiredness flowed out of his body when he exhaled.
'Amitabha, I guess I am just special? Maybe it's related to my enlightenment...'
In a way, the monk's cultivation method was similar to that of the Demonic Beasts, breathing in Origin Energy directly from nature.
Yet, no 'Beast Core' formed in his body as a result of it.
Beast cores were also something he only learned about after finding the 'Demonic Beasts for Dummies' book.
Aside from somewhat misrepresenting the Demonic Beasts to make them sound unintelligent, it also contained a bit of information about some weaker species and their cores.
Any beast that collected Origin Energy to a certain extent developed a Beast Core, it was essentially accumulated energy that they could burn and use at any time.
The monk could assume that there was more to it, but he didn't see any other details in that children's book.
Overall, his stay in the library was quite fruitful, even if he ended up spending around 2 days within it.
When he finally came out and stared at the blue sky, the Monk smiled and muttered to himself.
The monk immediately brought his hands together in prayer and started walking further away from that damnable pagoda.
"Thank Vraja that's finally over... Better get to the training grounds, I need to train my Martial Arts a bit."
Mo Yangling didn't get to walk that far away from the Library before he was accosted by a familiar face.
"So that's where you were!?!"
The Monk sighed as he now stood face to face with none other than Mo Qiao, the little girl seemed to be quite fired up.
"Amitabha, greetings to you as well cousin. Were you looking for me?" The Monk gave her a short martial salute, hoping to quickly get through whatever conversation she wanted to have.
But unfortunately for him, she wasn't looking for just a chat.
"I was shocked when I heard that it was you. Even now, I can hardly believe it!
You're barely recognizable! Only one way to tell... Fight Me!"
And the girl immediately leapt forward, swinging her sheathed blade towards the monk.