Hidden Agendas and Rubbings
Arakawa Jiushu stepped into a coastal mansion located west of Mao City.
The mansion's exterior features a refreshing blue and white color scheme, with lush greenery surrounding the outer walls.
However, once you step across the threshold of the mansion, you are greeted by a magnificent and resplendent scene.
Cloisonné enamel wall lamps are neatly arranged on both sides of the corridor, and thick handmade carpets gently smooth out the sound of footsteps.
The walls are adorned with works by different masters, each with a distinct style, yet all remarkably expensive.
Arakawa Jiushu's expression remained calm, clearly accustomed to this abrupt shift from simplicity to luxury.
He walked through the long corridor and headed straight into the depths of the mansion.
A short while later, as he turned a corner, he arrived at a huge courtyard deep inside the villa.
Rather than a courtyard, this is more like a square indoor garden.
The small bridges, streams, and pavilions are surrounded by colorful flowers, creating a breathtaking scene.
In a corner outside the courtyard, the delicate sound of string music drifted in, gently lingering among the flowers.
At this moment, a young man dressed in a blue robe with gold thread was sitting in the pavilion in the center of the garden.
Arakawa Jiushu walked into the small pavilion, casually picked up the colorful porcelain teapot on the table, and poured herself a cup of tea.
The aroma of tea wafts out from the steam rising from the spout of the teapot, along with the flowing tea water and a few tea leaves.
It's a very precious and fine tea, what a waste of this casual way of brewing it by just tossing it into the teapot.
Arakawa Jiushu poured the tea, ignored the young man's suggestive glances, and sat down to drink it.
Seeing that Arakawa Jiushu was too lazy to pay attention to him, the young man had no choice but to take the initiative and ask, "How are you feeling?"
"The tea is good."
"You know I'm not talking about that; I'm asking about the public school."
"The environment is nice."
The string music had stopped sometime earlier, and the pavilion fell into a quiet silence.
The young man knew that Arakawa Jiushu was telling him bluntly: roundabout ways wouldn't work with him.
Yuanqing —that is, the young man—revealed a hint of annoyance in his distinctive sapphire blue vertical pupils.
However, the barely perceptible emotion was suppressed the next moment.
Arakawa Jiushu caught a glimpse of the change in his eyes out of the corner of her eye, but didn't bother to expose him.
Yuanqing spoke again with a serious expression, asking directly.
"White Owl, are you confident that you can kill Ji Xingbang within Shengtian according to the established plan?"
Arakawa Jiushu didn't reply to him, but simply tilted her head slightly, her eyes staring directly into Yuanqing's vertical pupils.
When Yuanqing met those silvery-white eyes, an indescribable sense of crisis made his hair stand on end.
He has the ability; that's the answer.
"I understand," Yuanqing nodded, deliberately averting his gaze. "We'll take care of the aftermath."
After saying that, Yuanqing immediately got up and left in a hurry.
"Laugh!"
A bastard is a bastard; he may have big ambitions, but his strength and courage are just so-so.
Spending too much time with a self-righteous idiot might make you dumber; I need to get on his good side as soon as possible.
Arakawa Jiushu picked up the tea on the table and drank it all in one gulp. Then she got up and left the garden, which was all show and no substance.
January 2nd, 8:00 AM, sunny.
The opening day of Shengtian Public School is set for January 3rd, which is after the only officially recognized public holiday in the entire Ruolan Star.
For many people, the New Year's holiday, which lasts from December 31st to January 2nd of the following year, is only three days long.
At this moment, students have begun to arrive at the main entrance of Shengtian Public School.
Although tomorrow is the official registration day, there will always be students who can't contain their excitement and arrive at school early.
Shengtian Public School has always maintained a reputation as a student-centered, high-quality school.
They certainly couldn't let a large number of reserve personnel stand idly at the door.
Therefore, students who arrive at school early on January 2nd will be able to receive a badge to prove their student status and use it to enter and exit the school.
This has become an unspoken rule.
Shisui, a local and former student, naturally received his brooch early on.
This time, he didn't need to go through the side gate to enter the school; instead, he swiped his student ID directly—the brooch—through the magnificent school gate.
Then, without stopping, he headed straight for Shengtian's library.
You also need to swipe your student ID to enter Shengtian Public Library.
Therefore, today is the first time that Shisui has entered this building that he has circled and observed several times.
Stepping through the tall archway, one is greeted by rows of bookshelves arranged in a tiered fashion.
If you walk to the middle of the first floor of the library and look up, you will see that there are three more floors above the first floor.
And that spire that shimmered with a faint light.
Shisui abruptly stopped in his tracks, looked up, and stared at the faint light.
A faint red hue slowly seeped from the depths of his pupils.
The next moment, Shisui seemed to sense something and withdrew his gaze, then walked inside.
What's going on? Why are my Rc Cells suddenly becoming agitated?
Only after Shisui broke free from that frozen state did he belatedly realize the unusual phenomenon that had just occurred.
He was 100% certain that the library must have other floors that were not visible to the naked eye.
He became interested and casually stopped a rather idle library staff member.
"Hello, can freshmen go to the floors above?"
"Student, you need to complete enough credits and meet the entry requirements to go to the floors above."
"To go up to the second floor, you need to reach the Profound Realm; the third floor is the Earth Realm; and the fourth floor is the Heaven Realm."
"However, you don't need to worry about not having books to read; the first floor has a very rich collection of books."
"Okay, I understand."
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
After the staff member finished their presentation, they left without looking back.
Each level corresponds to a major realm, and there are hidden levels above that. Does this mean that beyond the Heaven Realm, there might be even more...?
Forget it, let's not think that far ahead. Let's look for books about the soul first.
Shisui pulled her scattered thoughts back and, following the library's classification guides and her own intuition, wandered among the bookshelves.
He suppressed his thoughts and let his intuition run wild.
Ghouls possess an innate heightened sense of the five senses, and now Shisui their bodily instincts to perceive the outside world.
This is his most common method when he can't figure out what something is.
He wandered around in circles until he finally stopped in a deep, secluded corner.
The bookshelf in this corner is arranged differently from the other bookshelves, as if it's deliberately concealing something.
Shisui's senses swept across the distance and easily spotted a door that was the same color as the wall.
He wasn't particularly interested in it, but just in case, he adjusted his appearance before approaching the bookshelf.
More than the door, the row of books on the lower shelf piqued his curiosity.
"Soul-Type Talents", "Soul, Body, and Psychic Energy",...
A batch of rubbings of books related to the soul.
With a hint of surprise, Shisui planned to pull out the book "Soul, Body, and Psychic Energy" located in the center.
The moment he touched the book, a faint glimmer of light flashed through the book, which was merely a rubbing.
It seemed to be the very essence of this book, and after sensing the powerful soul, it greeted it affectionately.