I sat down in the comfortable chair again and opened the first page. I tried to listen with my spiritual sense. It happened unexpectedly easily. Here, next to me are two powerful, absurdly strong beings, but they feel as if someone had cut a whole into parts - my guard-bodyguards. Here's the weak glow of the librarian and other visitors, here's the beautiful pattern on the building itself and the shelves. And the book - nothing. Emptiness. Complete. Which was surprising in itself, because even in the chair I could quite feel a droplet of spiritual power.
It knocked me out of this state and I felt blood gushing from my nose. My head was spinning, and my hands were shaking like a leaf in the wind. Nevermind. I remembered everything.
"Don't damage the book," the librarian grumbled.
"Where's the real book?" I asked after catching my breath. What I was holding in my hands was an illusion. A materialized spell. A decoy for naive fools who thought that the stupid Shen clan would leave something so valuable in plain sight.
"In the clan library. In its closed section. Don't you remember?" Cho asked. My head was suddenly pierced with pain. As if some thought was spinning somewhere nearby, but I couldn't formulate it.
"A technique that only the worthiest can possess. A technique that you, in your ignorance, tried to steal. A technique because of which your cultivation was destroyed. Do you really not remember?" my head was nearly bursting with pain, and the strange thought continued to elude me.
At some point, the pain became unbearable, and I felt a crumb of foreign energy in my head. Are these jerks reading my thoughts? As soon as I asked myself this question, the crumb of foreign power instantly disappeared. The pain retreated with it. I was sitting in a comfortable chair, the gushing blood had soaked my face and clothes. And my pair of guards stood at their post as if nothing had happened.
"Third floor?" I asked, catching my breath.
"As you wish, honorable Kai," I heard in response. "And to compensate for the time spent. I recommend you study the 'Salamander Blood' technique. It's the best available in open access."
With some sixth sense, I understood that he was telling the truth. Maybe memories of the past Kai surfaced again, or maybe I was just too exhausted and ready to believe any nonsense. But upon ascending to the third floor, I immediately took this book.
[Salamander Blood]
[Rank: Earthly]
[Do you wish to learn?]
[Learning cost: 1000 Qi]
This was indeed the only technique that had "earthly" written in the rank field. All others had the inscription "mortal" and cost nine times less. There was one problem - I hadn't gained any Qi overnight, and an attempt to simply absorb it failed. Heh, I remember in the past world there was the same problem - to get work experience, you need work experience. And now I was going to solve the Qi problem in a way known from that world... I'll use connections.
"Do you have any Qi accumulator?"
"No, but you can always use pills."
"Pills?" I admit, I was very surprised. I had read about them, but they had completely slipped my mind. Only my guards weren't telling the whole story again - all the books say that such pills can pollute the body and spirit, whatever that means. Or elevate to unattainable heights.
Before setting off, I still decided to try to study the technique the old-fashioned way. Reading a seemingly small volume took me almost five hours, and the result...
"Nonsense," I stated. A bunch of descriptions at the level of "feel the power," or "become a twig burning in the flame, but at the same time the flame burning the twig."
"Many practice for years before comprehending the wisdom encrypted in these tomes," Cho said instructively.
"How quickly did I learn my first technique last time?"
"In three days," he immediately replied. And where does he know this from. Probably daddy has my dossier hidden somewhere under his pillow. Though yes. They don't sleep.
"And how quickly did I reach the level of meridian tempering?"
"Just over a year," the other one answered. Well, definitely - dossier under the pillow.
"And you managed to achieve this without pills," he unexpectedly added.
So, you want me to take magic pills like a proper cultivator... Well... Why not? At least I'll see the local alchemist. No jokes, an honorable profession. The treatises on alchemy said that it was almost the only occupation worthy of a Daoist.
This time we didn't encounter anyone, and I could fully enjoy the beauty of the palace. I even noticed some guy flying on a huge sword, but pretended everything was normal. Big deal, I see this every day!
The Alchemy Pavilion was located on the outskirts. It's understandable - the occupation is sometimes explosive and, despite its nobility, quite smelly. I personally confirmed the latter upon entering through the huge iron gates. The enormous room was filled with cauldrons of different shapes and sizes. Hundreds of disciples were bustling around, and an old man with thin mustaches was hurrying towards us with a kind grandfather's smile. A very familiar old man. The same one I once suggested sending into retirement.
"Oh, Kai Shen, what a pleasant meeting. Have you decided to apologize to the worthless old man?" Is it worth saying that at this moment the massive iron doors slammed shut with a crash, and my pair of supposed bodyguards took a synchronous step back?