Chapter 8 – The Voluminous Amounts of Books
“I was so intimidated by the Faction Head just now.” Xue Ying laughed at himself.
He had already known that he would be reprimanded. Regardless, his stand towards his own idea was extremely firm. Just that facing the anger of a Demigod peak existence… was something that made his heart feel fear. It was like an ant standing in front of an enormous dragon. When the dragon became angry, the ant could not help but lower its head fearfully! However, Xue Ying’s heart was firm, and he did not capitulate.
Actually, Si Kong Yang’s words made Xue Ying reflect that maybe the path he took was wrong.
But—
He would not change his thinking just solely because of the few sentences by Si Kong Yang! He had to contemplate about his path thoroughly, before making a decision himself. Under just the forceful intervention of Si Kong Yang, should he lower his head? That was something Xue Ying would never do.
‘The saying of using the history as a mirror isn’t wrong. I’ll have to read through more of the books depicting the ancestors of our Xia Clan.’ Xue Ying thought to himself. The Xia Clan’s history was long, and every single Transcendent’s biography was quite lengthy. Before this, he had finished looking through the biographies of ancestors who had become Deities as well as some of the more famous Demigods! He had still not read the biographies of at least 99 percent of Demigods. Those were stories he had not read about before, much less to say reading about the lives of the Transcendent at Saint or Sky realms.
“I’ll first finish reading all the books regarding the histories on Demigods!” Xue Ying decided.
……
Infernal Palace, Summer Pavilion.
A black-robed youthful-looking man entered a quaint pavilion. The pavilion was extremely quiet inside, with many bookshelves placed within it. Each and every book shelf was more than a hundred meters high, and there were many gold-leaf books placed within. These gold-leaf books were the books describing the lives of every single Transcendent in Xia Capital’s history!
“So vast.” Xue Ying lamented.
During the last 3000 years, the Xia Clan had approximately 20 Demigods!
And how long did the history of the Xia Clan date back to? Each of these thick books would still require the time taken to brew a cup of tea to read through, even if the Transcendent read extremely quickly. That time to read was required for just one book on a Demigod! Even if he were to not sleep, not rest, and not cultivate, reading through it all the time, it would still take a few years to finish all the books on the Demigods! And for Transcendents, cultivating was something more important than reading. Spending an hour or two every day reading through the books would be considered quite good. It would only require a few tens of years.
And that was too long.
Most Transcendents would never finish the books depicting the lives of the Demigods.
As for books regarding Saint and Sky realm Transcendents, their number was even greater. Thus, there would be a huge amount of books. Xue Ying would only dare to say he would finish reading all the books regarding Demigods.
“Fire Knight Upper Official Mei Jun?” Xue Ying started reading on the first thick gold-leaf book he took.
******
Ever since then, Xue Ying would spend half of his time reading through the books at the Summer Pavilion. And when he cultivated, he would remain in his own mansion instead of entering the Scarlet Cloud Mountain World! Faction Head Si Kong Yang said that he was currently wasting the resources of Xia Clan, and thus, he decided to not use them at all then! Pride was still something in his bones.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed.
“Formidable, formidable.” Xue Ying drank down the wine from the flask as he sat cross-legged on the floor reading through the books. When he read to the point of excitement, he would shout out uncontrollably, “We should spend our life living as joyful as this!”
Da! Da! Da!
Suddenly, loud footsteps could be heard. Xue Ying turned around in shock. The Summer Pavilion would usually not have many Transcendents visiting, and even if they came, few would walk with such a clear footstep sound.
Xue Ying looked towards the source of the sound.
A bald-headed, thin old man wearing slippers walked towards him slowly. That pair of slippers he was wearing revealed all his toes.
“Vice Faction Head Chao Qing.” Xue Ying immediately stood up. He was extremely respectful to ancestor Chao Qing. The reason why he could enter the list of Substitute Elders was because of ancestor Chao Qing’s recommendation.
“Sit, this brat, you don’t have to be so formal.” Chao Qing walked over before sitting down cross-legged. Sniffing with his nose, he looked at the wine flask Xue Ying was holding before asking, “Still have wine?”
“Yes.” Xue Ying understood that and immediately took out another flask of wine which he gave Chao Qing.
Receiving it, Chao Qing tilted his head back and drank two mouthfuls with the sound of ‘gu gu’. His eyes brightened, “The wine is quite good and is strong enough. Brat, you surely know how to enjoy life. I heard that you no longer enter the Scarlet Cloud Mountain World anymore, so I thought you had not recovered after the scolding given by Si Kong Yang. Now that I look at you, reading these books until you are shaking your head… seems like your mood is quite good.”
“Even if my mood is good, a day will pass. Even if my mood isn’t good, a day will similarly pass. Of course, I’ll rather pass the day with such a good mood everyday.” Xue Ying laughed.
“You’re really open-minded.” Chao Qing nodded, “Do you know the reason why I came today?”
Xue Ying stared, before replying awkwardly, “I know. You are here because of the fact that I destroyed my own path towards the True Meaning of Water and Fire.”
“Wrong!” Chao Qing shook his head.
Xue Ying was dumbfounded.
It was not because of that? Looking at ancestor Chao Qing, he had long prepared himself to be reprimanded again.
“It’s because you did not go to the Scarlet Cloud Mountain!” Chao Qing shouted, “Do you think you are foolish or not? Even though you are ranked number nine, don’t you find it wasteful if you do not eat those rare fruits and drink those rare spiritual liquids? You must know, that year, this old man had tried thinking ways in letting you get enlisted onto the list of Substitute Elders. If you don’t eat, then doesn’t that mean I’ve wasted my efforts? This old face of mine is still worth those spiritual liquids and fruits!”
“Uh…” Xue Ying did not know how to reply.
Faction Head Si Kong Yang had said that he was wasting resources, yet Chao Qing was saying that if he was not eating, then he would be wasting his energy.
“Vice Faction Head.” Xue Ying thought through his question before asking, “Are you not angry?”
“What is there to be angry with.” Chao Qing said with his dry and deflated mouth, before it tilted to the side in a smile, “If it was 300 years ago, I would certainly have become extremely angry. But right now, as I’m getting close to death, I’ve always felt that… on the road of cultivation, why should one make himself feel so tired. He should just cultivate happily. If given a chance, I’d certainly cultivate with more impunity.”
Xue Ying could feel the free and easiness of ancestor Chao Qing.
“What do you think?” Chao Qing asked curiously, “Aren’t you afraid that you might end up in a dead-end if you continued down this path?”
Many a times, there were Transcendents who messed up their cultivation. Comprehending bits and pieces from all over the place, before finally, reaching a stage where they could not fuse them together, thus ending in despondence.
“Frightened.”
Xue Ying laughed, “But I’ve thought through it carefully. Firstly, I think that my dream of chasing after the perfection in my spear techniques isn’t wrong! I love my spear techniques a lot. Secondly, by fusing water, fire and wind together, my improvement is extremely quick. I believe that within 30 years, I’ll be able to reach Realm of Myriad Existences level three! And in the future, if I find that this is really a dead-end, I estimate that I’ll only have wasted between 100 to 200 years of time. By then, even if I break my head, I still have time to repeat once again.”
“Right. It’s great that you have this state of mind. What’s the big deal about it? You’ll merely waste 100 to 200 years only!” Chao Qing laughed.
Profound Mystery of Water and Fire were close to reaching the third level.
The moment he reached the third level, with just the Profound Mysteries of water or fire used in assimilating his body’s Transcendent Qi, he would have certainty of stepping into the Saint realm. Xue Ying was someone who attained the second level of Myriad Existences in Profound Mystery of Fire during the Battle of Life and Death. This sort of innate talent was indeed frightening, and becoming a Saint was just like drinking water – that easy.
Of course—
Saint realm was not something huge to the Xia Clan. It was the Demigod realm Transcendents who were the true overlord existences.
“Initially, I was worried for you. But now that I see it, there isn’t anything for me to be worried out.” Chao Qing finished the wine before standing, “I can feel the confidence in you! On this path of Transcendents, confidence is something very important. Only with a heart full of confidence… can you overcome all obstacles on this road. If one did not have any self-confidence, then how great can he ever be?”
“I hope that you can fuse a new True Meaning with this Profound Meaning of Water, Fire and Wind of yours.” Chao Qing sighed, “Hopefully, it’ll be something that this old man can see before I shut my eyes for the last time.”
Xue Ying was stunned.
That’s right, Chao Qing’s life was close to an end.
“I, Dong Bo Xue Ying, will try my best,” Xue Ying said.
“Good good good, you are still young, and still have many hopes and dreams.” Chao Qing laughed, before turning around and left, “Remember to go to the Scarlet Cloud Mountain World and finish those treasures that you can eat and drink. If you don’t eat them, it’ll be such a waste.”
“Yes,” Xue Ying respectfully answered.
Chao Qing’s figure had long disappeared at the distant corner.
