Chapter 341: Daqiang

"With your current cultivation, Jiu Song, you can only enter the first layer of the Ten Thousand Books Pavilion’s Inner Hall."

"Each layer of the Inner Hall is restricted by a different array. Your cultivation isn’t high enough, so don’t wander into the wrong place, or you might get hurt."

"You can view any book in the Ten Thousand Books Pavilion... as long as you *can* view it."

"As for Cultivation Techniques, Elixir Recipes, Artifact Skills, Beast Taming Secret Manuals, and the like, they must all be redeemed with Contribution Points."

When Song Jiulai arrived at the Ten Thousand Books Pavilion in high spirits, she found that even the gatekeeper was a Late-stage Golden Core disciple.

However, after Song Jiulai presented Chihe Zhenren’s Token, the disciple’s tone became exceedingly polite.

In the Immortal Gates, cultivation is what truly matters.

Right now, Song Jiulai’s cultivation was low, making her a junior sister. In the future, once her cultivation was high enough, she would be a senior sister.

Song Jiulai was curious about one thing he said. "What do you mean, ’as long as I *can* view it’?"

A mysterious smile appeared on the Golden Core disciple’s face. "Some books have Book Spirits. Whether a person can read them depends on whether the Book Spirit is willing."

Song Jiulai got it.

’So, some books must have restrictions, just like the different layers. They aren’t something an ordinary disciple can view.’

Song Jiulai went directly into the Inner Hall.

Whatever the Outer Pavilion had, the Inner Hall was certain to have as well.

But what the Inner Hall had, the Outer Pavilion might not.

The Ten Thousand Books Pavilion was different from the grand, imposing structure Song Jiulai had imagined.

No, that wasn’t quite right. It was actually surprisingly similar to a modern library.

The first layer’s hall was enormous, with places for people to sit down and read.

But instead of conspicuous bookshelves, there were rows upon rows of square frames.

Dense clusters of light shimmered within the frames. You just had to pick one and examine it with your Spiritual Energy, and all sorts of books would appear.

Song Jiulai was overwhelmed just by looking.

Her first thought, of course, was to have the System record everything and send it to her Sect.

But the System said, "That’s a no-go. A powerful array has been set up here. You can only look. It would consume a massive amount of energy for me to record anything, and even then, I could only capture the useless books."

The "useless books" it referred to were ordinary texts that Song Jiulai could just read and memorize herself.

As for things like Cultivation Techniques, they had all been sealed with a Forbidden Curse.

The System could crack them, but it would consume an enormous amount of energy. She had just been tricked once, so this was definitely not the time to be using her energy reserves carelessly.

So, Song Jiulai could only give up with a sigh of regret.

Perhaps the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect hadn’t recently recruited any disciples with a cultivation level as low as hers. The batch currently undergoing selection was still in the middle of their trials. As a result, Song Jiulai was the only person on the first layer of the Inner Hall.

She dove headfirst into this ocean of reading.

She didn’t care about Cultivation Techniques or mental methods; the first thing she searched for were the secrets of the Yunzhou Continent.

’After all, this is the main storyline.’

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much valuable information available on the first layer of the Inner Hall.

She did, however, find plenty of travelogues from various Cultivators and some bits of gossipy hearsay.

For example, there was the biography of the Moon Demon Emperor that Song Jiulai had read before.

This time, Song Jiulai found another piece of information in a book titled *Ancient Lotus Autobiography*.

The reason the Moon Demon Emperor was able to rise from the Human Clan to become the Demon Emperor was because she wasn’t part of the Human Clan to begin with; she had simply used a Secret Technique to become human and had never been found out.

"Huh?" This was a theory Song Jiulai had considered herself. After all, becoming the Demon Emperor while being a member of the Human Clan was indeed unbelievable.

And this Cultivator, Ancient Lotus True Man, had good reason for this speculation.

She claimed to have seen the Moon Demon Emperor herself.

But in the autobiography, she only wrote a single sentence about seeing the Moon Demon Emperor once, which led to her speculation. Then, nothing.

"I hate how they refuse to speak plainly," Song Jiulai griped as she read.

The System consoled her, "That’s perfectly normal. It’s one of this world’s greatest secrets, after all. How could you possibly find the answer in a Book Collection Pavilion that any disciple in the Qi Refinement Realm can waltz into?"

There were far too many books here. Even at Song Jiulai’s current reading speed, it would be impossible to get through them all anytime soon.

’Looks like I’ll be spending most of my time here for the foreseeable future,’ she thought.

Meanwhile, her main body was still back in the Sect, recovering.

The Ten Thousand Immortals Sect also had numerous recipes for Alchemy and Artifact Refining. As a massive, all-encompassing sect that dabbled in a bit of everything, it had a large collection of them.

Most of them were suited for Qi Refinement Realm disciples, but after Song Jiulai took a closer look at the Elixir Recipes, she found the ones for the Qi Refinement Realm were too generic. You could find similar Elixir Pills for almost all of them on the open market.

After so many years of development, the foundational cultivation of the Qi Refinement Realm had been researched to death.

Its exclusive, core Elixir Recipes and its Secret Techniques for Artifact Refining and Beast Taming weren’t anything special either.

Song Jiulai had wanted to secretly pass a few recipes to Chen Miaomiao, but she had no Contribution Points.

The Ten Thousand Immortals Sect also required its disciples to hunt demon beasts in exchange for Contribution Points.

And where was the closest Demon Beast Point to the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect?

Demon Cave Valley, of course.

Unlike others, who had to travel a great distance to get there, Song Jiulai only needed to use a Teleportation Array to reach Demon Cave Valley.

And the price wasn’t even expensive.

By the same token, the place she was headed was definitely more dangerous than somewhere like First Mountain.

After all, the Ten Thousand Immortals Sect was truly on the front lines.

Even for Qi Refinement Realm disciples, the demon beasts they faced started at the Third Rank.

Song Jiulai smiled faintly. "Looks like this alias of mine can finally blend in with the crowd."

There were plenty of players over at Demon Cave Valley now.

But as Song Jiulai was quickly flipping through the texts on Artifact Skills, she discovered a rather peculiar method for Artifact Refining.

*Wan Die Sect - Xiaotian’s Artifact Refining Method for the Qi Refinement Realm*

The name "Xiaotian" was a sensitive one for her, so Song Jiulai’s eyelid twitched, and she immediately singled out the book.

Although she couldn’t view the complete version, she could read the summary.

The gist was that a disciple named Xiaotian had researched a unique Artifact Refining method during his Qi Refinement Realm that could increase the success rate for creating Magic Treasures.

Because it was so outstanding, it was officially recorded and passed down through the generations.

’But isn’t the Wan Die Sect a Beast Taming Sect?’

The name reminded Song Jiulai of Zhai Xiaotian.

The System let out a sharp hiss. "It’s probably just someone with the same name. Zhai Xiaotian arranged for Zhan Sheng to go to the Taixue Sect, so he should be from the Taixue Sect."

Song Jiulai replied, "Why are we guessing? We can just go and ask."

The System: "..."

Song Jiulai ended up spending two full days in the Ten Thousand Books Pavilion. By then, her main body had also mostly recovered.

The Elixir Pills Han Daozi had given her weren’t half bad.

Their effects couldn’t be compared to a simple Blood Replenishing Pill. Although a Fourth-rank Blood Replenishing Pill was more than enough for a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Song Jiulai’s body wasn’t like a normal Cultivator’s—its consumption rate was absurd.

’I’ll have to shamelessly ask him what kind of Elixir Pills they are later. Maybe I can get Chen Miaomiao to learn the recipe.’

As a diligent and hardworking guardian, Song Jiulai didn’t just push herself to the limit—she was a tiger mom to her "kid" too.

She hadn’t been back in a long time and had no intention of alerting the players.

This time, she still planned to use this face—the one the players didn’t recognize—to go wander the streets.

But she had barely stepped out when she sensed Su Daqiang’s presence.

Su Daqiang was now helping Fan Guzhou raise the Little Flower Beast, and his skin had completely returned to normal.

Lately, however, he seemed a little... off.

Song Jiulai had been about to head out, but on second thought, she reverted to her original appearance and approached him with a beaming smile.

She called out warmly, "Daqiang."

Su Daqiang’s whole body jolted.