Inside the room, nothing had changed, although I subconsciously expected some kind of setup. Well, like an assassin behind the curtain or a magical bomb at worst. But no. I even specifically asked my guards to check everything. They just nodded approvingly and assured that everything was clean. And when I went to bed, they remained sitting in the lotus position near my bed.
"Practitioners at the Core Formation level don't need sleep that much," they shrugged in sync.
Core level? Well, that explains a lot. Essentially - I'm guarded by the elite of local sorcerers. And that means everything, absolutely everything that happened today happened with their direct connivance. And some inner feeling told me that this is still normal, this is still nothing. As if, in fact, subconsciously, I expected much worse from my family.
Could it be that part of the original Kai Shen still remained in me? Hence the knowledge of the language, and fighting skills, and intuitive understanding of intrigues? After all, the guy had been stewing in this society since birth, and only his knowledge of cultivation was erased. And how did I end up in his place then? With these thoughts, I fell asleep.
I woke up at dawn to a strange noise. Barely opening my eyes, I saw these two standing back to back, and bright red sparks stretching towards them from all sides. Is this Qi? You don't need to be a genius to understand.
Out of curiosity, I tried to catch one spark with my palm, but nothing came of it. Again, on the edge of consciousness, a strange feeling flashed, but immediately disappeared. Is this the spiritual perception I read about yesterday?
"Sir!" they came out of their meditation.
"To the Pagoda of Knowledge," I nodded grimly to them.
And here again - a peaceful walk was interrupted halfway by a group of some weirdos. This time we were surrounded, not allowed to take a step.
"Oh, brother Kai, I'm so glad you're alive!" a girl in a red and gold qipao stepped forward. To say she was beautiful would be to say nothing. Perfect skin, posture, even this predatory parody of a smile surely broke many hearts. I, for some reason, only felt the desire to leave as soon as possible.
"Liu Shen, I remind you that according to the code of the Phoenix sect, you cannot attack Kai Shen while he has an open duel challenge," Cho suddenly reminded of himself. Thank you. Probably.
"Oh, I know, I've studied our sect's code very carefully and found many... nuances in it," she smiled at me. "I just wanted to make sure brother Kai met brother Ho."
"Why so direct?" I couldn't help but ask. "Where's the elegant wordplay, where are the ambiguities? You could have just said - I sent the idiot Ho to you."
"You!" she blushed. Clearly not the reaction she expected from me. "Bastard Kai, there's no point in casting pearls before a dead man. I'll tell Ho not to kill you quickly!"
The crowd parted and we were about to continue on our way when her phrase hit me in the back.
"You know what, I'll tell him to kill you the same way they killed your mommy. That'll be fun. And also a reminder - only trash is born from trash."
Suddenly, a wild rage flared up in me. My hands clenched into fists, and the world around turned into an ocean of raging energies. I wanted to tear this girl apart, incinerate her, and I pulled towards myself a bright scarlet stream emanating unbearable heat. Not understanding what I was doing, I stretched out my hand and...
"Sir!" Sho's voice brought me back to reality. He and his brother were holding me tightly from both sides, and their hands were glowing from some technique.
I was standing on a stone path and shaking my head. The world had become mundane again, and the insolent girl in front of me was backing away in fear.
"It doesn't matter! You'll die anyway!" she blurted out and ran away shamefully.
"Sir?"
"I'm tired of your 'sir'," I grimaced. "Is there anything useful in that library?"
They just looked at each other and remained silent. Well, fine. I'll find it myself! I read fast, and the books there, to be honest, are not particularly thick. More like brochures written on too thick paper. With these thoughts, I continued on my way.
"I would recommend the treatise 'The Path of Celestial Flame'," Sho suddenly said just before the entrance. "Look for it on the first floor in the fiction section."
I just nodded gratefully. Maybe he's playing me? Easily. But it's worth a try. Especially since this time Elder Mo wasn't here. Instead, there was some man who gave me a contemptuous glance but didn't approach.
The fiction section was large. A hundred times larger than all the books from the third floor. And nevertheless, I found the one I needed quite quickly. Only spent an hour of precious time, during which I could have read some tome describing a technique. I hope it's worth it, because nothing can be understood from the stone faces of these two.
"So, are you mocking me?" I asked after ten minutes of reading.
"Sir?" Cho raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, your 'Sir' is starting to annoy me. That's one. Two - what kind of book is this?" I shook the hefty volume in my hands. "Another test, which is also a setup?"
"Very engaging literature," he nodded. "Honorable Kai."
I lowered my gaze to the book again. "In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a boy..." No. The content hasn't changed. It's still the same fairy tale about the adventures of a peasant who decided to become a practitioner. By the way, it's not too different from the works I read yesterday. Estimating the volume of the book, I realized that it was long. It was too long! I had been flipping through the book for about five minutes, and the pages seemed to never end, although by all laws of logic and common sense - they should! What's going on here? Another incomprehensible magic?
"Pity, I thought this time you would be able to..." Sho suddenly drawled. "Honorable Kai, you'd better return to the third floor."
"What are you talking about?" I became wary, but received no answer. They again made brick faces and pretended not to hear me. Convenient for them.
I even wanted to follow their advice, but something stopped me. As if I had already been through all this. Déjà vu? It seemed to me that if I left here, this book would disappear forever. The story began to seem painfully familiar to me, as if I had heard it somewhere before. Nonsense. Nonsense? Or are Kai Shen's memories breaking through?