“The exam is when you and I will compete!”
Ling Xiao left this sentence, before walking past the pair and entering the Library Pavilion.
Even if one’s tongue could spew flowers like a glorious lotus, if one lost in the exam, everything would be meaningless.
Therefore, he didn’t want to waste time bickering; he wanted to make the best use of his time and enhance his strength. Defeating Ling Feng in one fell swoop would be much more impressive than using his sharp tongue now.
“Hehe, Big Brother Feng, that little beggar seems to look down on you.” Ling Yu grinned and said, her words sowing discord.
“Rest assured. I will take care of him at the exam.”
Ling Feng, in fact, only felt disdain toward Ling Xiao.
In his heart, Ling Xiao was an appetizer, barely enough to warm him up. Ling Xiao was not even qualified to be his opponent.
There was only half a month before the exam. Could Ling Xiao truly reach Rank Three Martial Vein by then?
Even if he succeeded, in the Elite Hall alone were no less than 60 to 70 disciples at Rank Three Martial Vein. Even Ling Feng himself ranked just tenth.
Furthermore, that was without even mentioning the Genius Hall above Elite Hall. The disciples there were even more monstrous.
His true opponents were those top ten disciples of Elite Hall and those monsters of the Genius Hall. His aim was to enter the Genius Hall!
Why would he compete against a disciple who was not even qualified to enter the Elite Hall.
“Hee hee! Since he didn’t offer respect to Big Brother Feng, at that time, I will make him kneel and beg for forgiveness.”
Ling Yu laughed in glee. Then, this fortuitous pair of a handsome man and a beautiful woman left the Library Pavilion under others’ envious and jealous gazes.
……
Ling Xiao had confidently entered Library Pavilion after challenging Ling Feng, but now, his nerves began to show. After all, this was his first time. Hesitantly wiping his sweaty palms, he examined where he had found himself.
On the first floor of the Library Pavilion was a single room. There was no collection of books.
This was where the guards of Library Pavilion stayed.
Generally, they were the first-rate experts, or clan elders, or patriarchs’ sons, or something of that ilk.
The guard on duty today was a middle-aged man who was roughly 35 years old.
“Ling Xiao? Hehe, you are very good! No wonder you were able to injure my son. So it turns out that you had already made a breakthrough.”
Correct! The person on duty was Ling Chong’s father, the old patriarch’s ninth son, also known as Uncle Jiu.
“Uncle Jiu, this disciple has come today to study martial arts!”
Ling Xiao knew that Uncle Jiu was very strong and terribly powerful. He was certainly above Rank Four Martial Vein!
He knew this because although the Landscape Martial Soul couldn’t accurately display Uncle Jiu’s data, red warning signs had appeared.
The difference in strength between them was too big. He had no chance to win against Uncle Jiu.
However, he acted neither haughty nor humble. Since he knew that as long as he remained a disciple of the Ling Clan, Uncle Jiu wouldn’t dare kill him.
However, if he were truly expelled from the clan, he would surely die very miserably.
Thus, he had to work even harder; it was his only path for survival.
“Good boy! You have guts.”
Uncle Jiu sneered. “I’m also not afraid to speak directly. The matter of you injuring my son… I certainly will not let it go like this. Now you are still one of Ling Clan’s disciples, so I can’t raise my hand. But you better hope that you don’t get expelled, since you will immediately die without a doubt.”
This was an undisguised threat. After all, Uncle Jiu had no reason to fear him.
“This disciple knows,” Ling Xiao nodded his head and replied. He naturally understood this principle.
“It’s good that you know this. Since you are an external disciple who entered the clan via the examination, your treatment will naturally not be equal to that of the clan disciples. I have to tell you something in advance to prevent you from messing up the rules.”
When Uncle Jiu found that he was unexpectedly unable to frighten Ling Xiao, he couldn’t help but display a playful smile before mocking him.
Upon hearing his words, a spike of rage flew through Ling Xiao. The clan definitely didn’t have this kind of rule. This Uncle Jiu was clearly abusing the power of his public office to avenge personal grudges!
Nevertheless, Ling Xiao could do nothing. His strength was insufficient. He could only endure . Bargaining was also meaningless; it would only lead to more mockery.
“Uncle Jiu, please do tell this humble disciple,” He indifferently spoke.
Uncle Jiu smirked before announcing, “As an external disciple, you may only enter the second floor and select at most two types of martial arts. There is no restriction on whether it will be of the Intermediate or Elementary grade. Whether you can select an Intermediate Martial Art will entirely depend on your insight and luck. The time limit for your selection is two hours. After your selection, you can hold the manuals for at most 20 days. Do you understand?”
Ling Xiao was endlessly angry upon hearing his words.
He had inquired long before arriving at the Library Pavilion. As long as one were a disciple of the Ling Clan, regardless of whether one came from the external world or within the main clan, one could select at least four types of martial arts with a time limit of six hours. Moreover, those martial arts could be kept for up to four months for cultivation!
This disparity was too big.
Despite his endless anger, he was also helpless. He could only grit his teeth and swallow this insult. With a terse nod, he managed to say, “This disciple understands.”
He naturally understood the injustice he had suffered today. In the future, he would return it tenfold. No, a hundredfold!
“It’s good that you understand. Now, go quickly. After all, time’s ticking.”
A disdainful smile flickered at the corner of Uncle Jiu’s mouth. Before hitting a dog, see who was its master! Daring to injure my son… Although I cannot kill you because of the clan’s rules, after forcing you to roll out of the clan, I can take care of you at will.
Ling Xiao took a deep breath in order to suppress his heart’s anger. Settling his emotions, he then stepped on the stairs, ascending to the second floor.
The Library Pavilion was where the books and records of the Ling Clan’s martial arts were stored. It was a very important place!
It represented the hard-won accumulation and glory of the powerful clan!
Ordinary small clans wouldn’t have this kind of place. This was the gap between true cultivation clans. The larger the clan, the deeper its foundations, and the more martial art scriptures it would possess.
The Ling Clan’s Library Pavilion had four floors altogether.
The first floor was where the guard would reside.
The second floor was where basic, elementary, and intermediate martial arts were stored. Naturally, elementary martial arts accounted for the vast majority, but there were still many basic martial arts. As for intermediate martial arts, allegedly, there were less than 20. The chance of obtaining one was very low.
The third floor had a large number of intermediate martial arts, a set number of advanced martial arts, and a small number of peak martial arts.
One had to at least be a martial disciple of Rank Four Martial Vein to enter the third floor.
As for the fourth floor, it supposedly had mostly peak martial arts, classified documents of the Ling Clan, and a small number of martial art records created by martial artists who had already broken free of the secular world.
Of course, these were all just rumors among the disciples. It was hard to ascertain the truth.
Naturally, the rules were governed by people. If one were a clan disciple and had a backstage supporter or possessed extraordinary talent, one could actually step all over many of these rules.
This was why Ling Chong could learn an advanced martial art while Ling Xiao could only learn a basic martial art.
For Ling Xiao, this was a rare opportunity. He had to carefully select only intermediate martial arts.
When Ling Xiao entered the second floor, he noticed a lot of people already inside.
However, none even raised their heads to glance at him. Although these people had an entire six hours to choose, it was definitely not an easy task to pick out an intermediate martial art among several thousand martial arts.
No one was willing to waste any time.
Ling Xiao naturally was even more unwilling because each minute of his was even more precious than it was for these people. He only had two hours.
Therefore, after a brief daze, he gaze focused on the bookshelves.
As one of the four major clans of Heavenly Peak City, Ling Clan indeed had deep foundations. If he wanted to inspect each of these several thousand martial art books individually, even eight hours would not be enough.
Ling Jiu clearly wanted to make things difficult for me!
“<Stele Breaking Palm>, <Raging Fire Fist>, <Heavenly Peak Thirteen Swords>, <Gale Pursue Leaf Steps>, <Pure Yang Technique>…”
Examining the books on the first row, Ling Xiao was immediately dazzled. Moreover, from skimming the contents of the first few pages, it was difficult to distinguish the grade of these martial arts.
Too difficult!
Was there any trick?
