Elder Xia was so satisfied with Chu Li that he was now trying to set up his daughter with him. Unfortunately, Xia Wei absolutely hated him, which saved them both a lot of trouble.

Although Xia Wei was beautiful, she was not at the level of Xiao s.h.i.+ or Xiao Qi. Looks were not the main factor though. He just did not want to complicate things, because if a relations.h.i.+p actually came into play, then Chu Li would have a hard time strategizing his moves.

After all, his plan was to become the leader of the Crouching Bull Mountain.

Zhuge Feng would prove to be a tricky obstacle, and Chu Li might even end up getting exposed soon enough if he did not wrap things up quickly. Time was of the essence in this situation. Not to mention, him going back and forth between the An Imperial Residence and the mountain was already stretching his limits.

Any woman staying with him would surely sense something off. In fact, the main reason Chu Li sent Qiao San away from the mountain was to avoid him accidentally exposing his ident.i.ty.

To avoid trouble, it was best to stay completely away from an intimate relations.h.i.+p – which meant avoiding getting too close with Xia Wei.

Chu Li saw Xia Wei send both Zhou Hange and Chu Dazhi away before returning to her spot in the forest to continue her training. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

Xia Wei's control of her abilities was much better than Zhou Hange and Chu Dazhi, possibly even better than Murong Liang. Unfortunately, her inert talent was not up to scratch, and she could not advance her martial arts in a timely manner. It would be difficult for her to even become a Grandmaster.

The world was never fair. Even though Xia Wei worked hard and spent more time training than anyone else, she would never reach their level.

Xia Wei had somehow managed to suppress her disappointment while continuing to work hard. This mental fort.i.tude was not something commonly found, especially in a woman. Chu Li was very impressed with her work rate.

He slowly sheathed his sword and a servant quickly brought over a pale of water. Chu Li washed his face before trekking towards the top of the mountain.

Chu Li met with Zhou Hange and Chu Dazhi as soon as he exited the courtyard.

The two gave him a closed fist salute.

Chu Li looked at them and gestured. "If you guys have nothing to do now then follow me up to the mountaintop."

"Does the Young Master wish to train there?" Chu Dazhi was curious.

 "I am going to read at the Martial Arts Library," replied Chu Li.

"Young Master still needs to go to that library? There are only low-level scriptures inside there. Young Master, you are already a Grandmaster, what's the point in reading those scriptures!" Chu Dazhi was surprised.

Chu Li grinned. "My foundation isn't that strong, so I am planning on reading to build it up."

"Young Master really is hard working!" Chu Dazhi was impressed and whistled at his response.

Chu Li laughed. "You, on the other hand, need to improve your bootlicking skills!"

Chu Dazhi looked away embarra.s.singly while Zhou Hange burst out laughing.

Chu Dazhi and Zhou Hange followed by Chu Li's side as they ascended the mountain.

A small road led them toward the top of the mountain. After about 200 meters, the road became wider and everything cleared up. The mountain valley came into view.

In the mountain valley, there were even more houses and buildings. The atmosphere was lively and bustling. The buildings here had a different structure compared to those located in the lower levels of the mountain.

The buildings in the lower levels of the mountain were slightly old and broken, but those in the valley were modern and looked appealing. The entire ambiance of the place was different, it seemed to make everyone more energetic.

Chu Li grinned. "This place sure is lively."

Chu Dazhi nodded. "Since people here couldn't always head down the mountain, they tried their best to make this place more liveable and enjoyable. Besides, staying in the valley to train without any entertainment is bad for one's mentality, and not at all suitable for cultivation."

Chu Li sighed. "That's true."

Chu Dazhi chuckled. "This was Elder Murong's idea. He supported the addition of shops like the grocer, accessories shop, snack stall, restaurants, wine houses, tea houses, basically everything else found here in the mountain valley."

Chu Li smiled. "This place really is quite impressive."

"Those shops are all located on the same street. Normally, everyone will come to this street and enjoy themselves once they finish with their training," Chu Dazhi continued.

"Come, let's go and look around." Chu Li nodded

Chu Dazhi was delighted. "Young Master will surely enjoy it."

There were four protectors guarding the entrance to the valley. They saw the three of them approach and gave them a fist salute without stopping them.

As the three men entered the valley, they felt the air immediately become warm.

The area was humid, flowers and vines grew on all the walls.

The valley was akin to a small town. Houses were arranged in neat lines and formed six streets in total. The six streets were parallel to a large main road in the middle connecting all of them together.

Shops with colorful banners and flags lined the sides of the main road. There were restaurants and tea houses, and even a board games house and a shooting gallery. There were all kinds of shops, fulfilling almost every need and hobby you could think of.

As the three of them walked along the main street, Chu Li found himself bedazzled by the scenery before him - it took a lot of effort to turn this place into what it was.

At the end of the main street was a building made out of rocks.

The rock building had three levels and was built next to the river. The river originated from a large pool by the mountainside and flowed past the valley all the way down to the base of the mountain. The water was so clear and clean that is was actually safe to drink.

This rock building was the library.

Chu Li entered the library with the other two. The inside of the library was lively as there were many people reading books while standing or squatting.

Chu Li showed the guards his waist tag and headed straight for the third floor.

There were not many scriptures on the third floor, only one shelf to be exact. The other shelves were filled with cultivating reviews.

All the reviews were written by famous past students of the Couching Bull Mountain. They might have been useless to others, but they were very important for the understanding of the other students training here.

Chu Li stopped by the shelf with scriptures and flipped through each of them one by one.

The Crouching Bull Mountain had two types of scriptures; ones that originated directly from the Crouching Bull Mountain and others which had been obtained from somewhere else, mostly from clans that have been eliminated.

Chu Li had a hunch that a lot of blood had to be shed in order to obtain these scriptures.

The first three levels of the shelf were filled with the scriptures originating from the Crouching Bull Mountain, while the rest were filled with the other scriptures. The scriptures were usually compiled together so that they could be read in one go. However, most of the time they were only used for reference, and very rarely actually practiced.

This was because it was pointless to have mastered the power but not completely mastered the technique - even the strongest technique was useless if not mastered completely.

This was why most of the students only focused on training via the Couching Bull Mountain scriptures. The reviews left by the previous students allowed them to focus and train efficiently.

Not to mention, the scriptures from other sects were also weaker compared to those from the Crouching Bull Mountain.

Even if it was as powerful as the technique from the Crouching Bull Mountain, it would take much longer to master. It normally takes an average person one year to completely master the Crouching Bull Mountain technique, but it would take at least ten years to master those from other sects.

Besides, these scriptures obtained were from sects that have been destroyed by the Crouching Bull Mountain. Because of this, they were naturally regarded as weaker techniques.

However, Chu Li did not care about opinions. He read and memorized everything so that he could slowly digest it when he had the time.

What Chu Li needed to do now was to embed the Cloud Slas.h.i.+ng Sword Technique into his Seven Forms of G.o.dly Sword. However, he would need an even stronger discipline and training to do this. This was where the library came in.

Zhou Hange and Chu Dazhi each found a review and started reading too. They saw Chu Li reading quickly, but ignored him and tried their best not to disturb him. They focused on their own matters.

Just as they were getting hungry and thinking of lunch, they turned to see Chu Li returning the last book back to its shelf.

"Young Master, let us find a restaurant and have our lunch." Chu Dazhi walked toward him.

Chu Li nodded.

Zhou Hange suddenly piped up, "Are you really that quick of a reader?"

"I am just looking for something I need, most of these are useless to me," Chu Li replied.

Chu Dazhi was curious and pressed him further, "What does Young Master want to read?"

"I'm looking for something about a sword technique, but, there's not much of that here," Chu Li answered.

"Yes, the library doesn't keep that many sword manuals, but those that are here are very powerful." Zhou Hange sighed.

Chu Li smiled and remained silent.

Instantly, the two youths realized that what was powerful to them, was useless to Chu Li.