Tome upon tome greeted his eyes. Bookshelves perched precariously on the branches, which were long and twisted. One might not be able to explore even two of the branches in the entire hour they were here – and there were tens of them.

"I just need to go steadily."

There must have been thousands and thousands of books. To find three that suited him from such a large amount was not easy. Luckily, he already had three things in mind.

First, he needed a body cultivation skill to mask his own. That way he could start openly practicing.

Secondly, a water, ice or dark technique to fully utilise the strange powers of the green turtle sh.e.l.l inside him. Although he had no idea what it was, it had yet to harm in and had in fact given him a medium-grade water affinity. He would be a fool if he didn't put it to use. If he was to cultivate this technique his main skill, his foes would surely get a nasty surprise when they then got burnt a crisp.

Thirdly, Van wanted a movement skill. Imagine being able to run circles around your opponents, them unable to land a single finger on you. How delicious and satisfying. Plus, running away, quickly, from enemies too powerful to beat was never a dumb option.

"Sand Stirring Whip, Ten Bolts Fist, Ghost Mirage Palm…" The mult.i.tudes of names made Van's excitement grow.

This feeling only intensified when he started to read some of the descriptions.

"Ghost Mirage Palm. Decreases speed of the opponent, can cause them to become confused and fail to return an attack. Uses trickery to win. Minimum requirement is the 3rd level of Qi Distillation. Easy to train. Rank: Low."

Van continued this way before he found something suitable.

"Copper Knight Wall. Absolute defence at the expense of speed. Under full activation can withstand a single killing blow from an opponent of the same rank. Those who train it to the highest level will be able to pa.s.sively deflect mortal blades. Minimum requirement is the 3rd level of Qi Distillation. High difficulty to train. Rank: Low."

Van took it off the shelf, "My Copper Buddha level of the Thousand Saints Sacrifice Method is already enough to deflect mortal blades pa.s.sively. But it seems that this Copper Knight Wall can only do that if trained to a high level. Plus, it decreases your speed. It is clear which one is superior."

Van had a clear idea of what he wanted next, but he still felt moved several times as he went through the martial texts.

"This Piercing Wind Finger is not bad…oh, and this Smiling Locust's Kick…"

"Ah. You are only allowed one trip into this library, Van," he whispered to himself, "just get what you need!"

However, this pace was truly too slow. Half an hour had already pa.s.sed, and he had two more skills he needed to find.

[Surely there is a smarter way to do things.]

Van stopped and scanned the shelves around him.

[How can I find something specific in here?]

As he pondered, Van recalled the way that they had tested them for spiritual attribute at the servant's entrance exam. Now that he was able to project qi…

Van concentrated and tried to emit the tiniest strand of qi possible from his finger. A tiny thread spilled out but then dissipated. Van was not discouraged, once more, he squeezed a strand of qi out – this time a little thicker.

Sure enough!

The strand of qi immediately was attracted to something in the bookshelf.

It was a fire-type sword skill. Van shook his head and continued to use this method while walking quickly down the aisle. Soon enough he found that he could just hold the strand of qi at his fingertip and the attributes of the martial skills would cause a tugging sensation at the finger-tip. If there was a strong reaction, it was probably flame-attribute, if it was weaker it was a water-type…

He stopped in front a bookshelf and pulled out a book of about 1 centimetres thickness.

"Dark Seas Palm. Good offensive power with the ability to freeze an opponent's movements and disrupt the flow of qi at higher levels. Minimum requirement the 3rd level of Qi Distillation. Rank: Middle. Difficulty: High, requires some natural affinity for water."

Van stroked his finger down the page. This was it! Now what he needed was a movement type skill.

He continued to use his little technique of leaving a strand of qi at his fingertip and letting it sniff around like a dog. Soon, it started to pull excitedly in a single direction. Unlike the other times, it didn't s.h.i.+ft to a different target when Van moved along.

"Eh? What's going on?" Van followed curiously. Eventually, he arrived in a gap between the bookshelves.

[There's nothing here.]

There was only darkness where the strand pointed. Game, Van stuck his hand in there. It went further and further in until it touched something smooth.

!

There was a thin black book with charred edges. Why was it tucked into this little gap between the bookshelves? It made it feel like someone had picked out this skill and then hid it here so no one else would find it…

"Scattering Smoke Steps," he read aloud, "A movement skill not based on absolute speed but absolute evasion. Minimum requirement: 4th level of Qi Distillation. Rank: Middle, requires extremely high comprehension skills to understand the essence."

Van grew excited. Scattering Smoke Step's smoke attribute was closely related to his flame attribute – this movement skill was a perfect fit.

But why had someone hidden it away in that crevice?

Van shrugged. He had found it fair and square, and using his own ingenuity. It was fair game!

He wrapped his arms tightly around the three tomes he had drawn out and went quickly down the steps. The old man saw him coming.

"I would like to borrow these three, please, Senior," Van said politely, handing the skill books over.

The old man was expressionless as he stamped the Dark Seas Palm manual, but a small crease appeared between his brows when he stamped Copper Knight Wall, "Body cultivation, eh…It will be arduous and time-consuming…"

When the old man reached to stamp 'Scattering Smoke Steps' his hand halted stiffy in mid-air.

The old servant's expression was pale, Scattering Smoke Steps…? It has been a very long time since I have heard this name…"

Van's brow crinkled. That was the skill he wanted the most! Quickly, he asked the old servant, "Is there something wrong with it? I can borrow it, right?"

The old man frowned disapprovingly, "The last time I heard of this Scattering Smoke Steps was fifty years ago when a young man destroyed his cultivation over it. They said he became obsessed with trying to understand the essence of this skill and stood above a smoking bonfire for ten days and ten nights. When the smoke caused him to become blind in both eyes, he did not want to let anyone else achieve what he failed to do!"

"We thought he had destroyed it, but who knew that he had hidden it in plain sight!"

The old servant turned to Van.

"Do you know who that boy was? The previous Sect Master's younger brother! He was a genius of unsurpa.s.sable talent, and yet he was unable to understand this skill!"

"I advise that you return this book immediately. I will even turn a blind eye and allow you to pick out another skill. This 'Scattering Smoke Steps' is not worth it!"

Van smiled. His heart had been set on that skill a long time ago.

"I can feel your kindness, senior. However, blame me for being stubborn, but I have decided that I will train 'Scattering Smoke Steps!'"

The old servant seemed to age another decade.

"Very well, young man," he stamped it.

"Not only are you hard-headed, you are also foolish. Two of your skills time-consuming and arduous to train in. Adding to that, your offensive skill also requires innate affinity for water…without this, you will not even be able to progress past the beginning level. Don't come crying back to me in three days, asking for a second chance in the Misty Tree Library. I will not be so kind a second time."

The old man shook his head.

Once 'Scattering Smoke Steps' pa.s.sed from his hands to the young boy's, the elder servant shut his eyes and no longer spoke. His disapproval emanated out from him in waves.

Van received the books, unable to push down the excitement in his heart. Carefully, he put them away. At that moment -

Cras.h.!.+

Startled, Van looked up, only to see two pale faces staring at him. A big empty basket rattled back and forth on the ground. The duo clutched at each other, struggling for words.

"V-V-V-van," one of the pale faces stuttered, "W-we didn't know we would be seeing you here?"

Their eyes darted to peek at the tomes in his grasp. One subtly and swiftly pinched the other on the arm.

"Oh?" Van replied with a small smile on his face. He tilted his head.

"Funnily enough, I did not expect to see you two here either."

"Last time I checked... servants weren't allowed in the immediate vicinity library. Unless, of course, you were here to sweep the floor and dust the shelves, that is. I won't get in your way."

Van hoisted the three tomes onto his hip and whistled as he strolled away.

The two servants were left shaking in their boots. His words had sounded courteous, but why did they seem full of thorns?

Though he had yet to wear his outer disciple robes, the three skill books in his arms meant that he had qualified to enter the library!

This was big news.

The village kid had been one of the fastest to advance to outer disciple, only narrowly losing to Klaus!

The young man's back seems to grow bigger and bigger in their eyes.

When they finally calmed enough to speak, the boy who had seen Van walk into the library initially spoke in a depressed tone of voice, "He must have heard us earlier…"

"Now we've angered an outer disciple for no reason. We are so screwed…"

The other one did not answer - he was counting the lucky stars that he had not said something even dumber!