The Library

The bus stopped and started, and in the distance, amidst the tall buildings, a patch of dark green foliage grew larger with each step.

As it got closer, a faint coolness could be felt, like morning dew landing on the forehead, invigorating the spirit.

Looking up, a giant green tree, large enough for ten people to embrace and hundreds of meters tall, stood proudly amidst the city of steel and concrete.

Its branches and leaves were incredibly lush, covering several kilometers around. Crimson birds the size of fists hopped and skipped among the foliage, and trains weaved through the branches, a perfect blend of humanity and nature.

A treasured artifact of the Immortal Sect, one of the carriers of the Central Array Spirit Computer—the third-tier Rongcheng branch of the Sacred Tree Covering the Sky Banyan.

"The place closest to the spiritual veins, I'm so envious."

"It would be great if my family had a house here."

"Dream on. Only cultivators or those who have rendered great service can settle here, and it can only be passed down for three generations at most."

The passengers on the bus chatted, filled with envy.

Jiang Ding felt the same. If his mother and Jiang Yuan could live here, their health would surely improve, as would their martial arts progress. Over many years, their lifespans could even be extended by seven or eight years.

"Rongcheng Library, we've arrived. Please exit through the rear door..."

Jiang Ding followed the crowd off the bus, queuing to swipe his ID card to enter the library.

The first thing he saw were rows upon rows of tall bookshelves, with various books neatly arranged. Their materials differed, including beast hide, jade slips, and stone tablets, many of which were captured during extraterrestrial wars. Some cultivation techniques and secret arts had special requirements for their carriers.

The scent of books permeated the air, making it feel like stepping into a world of knowledge.

Jiang Ding didn't linger, heading straight to the computer reading room, swiping his ID card, and taking a seat.

Ding!

"Your library points: 325."

This was the result of two weeks of collecting specimens for the Otherworld's General Store.

Huang Deyou was indeed an expert. In just two weeks, he had acquired over four thousand specimens, including common roadside flowers and herbs, and wheat seedlings from the fields.

Unfortunately, even in the Otherworld, not all specimens were new species unrecorded by the Immortal Sect Library. Only a little over three hundred were usable.

From then on, it became more difficult. Not every roadside plant was useful; he had to specifically search in the countryside and mountains.

Therefore, after discussing it with Huang Deyou, the acquisition price for a specimen was raised to ten copper coins. Their silver reserves were rapidly declining, and they could barely maintain the situation.

His fingers tapped on the computer keyboard.

"Hundred Pace Flying Sword."

Clang!

As usual, a dialog box with a red cross popped up: Dangerous knowledge, minors are not allowed to access.

Jiang Ding took out his phone and, lowering his voice, called Lin Wanqiu.

"Mom! I have a request, can you approve it?"

"Dangerous? It's not dangerous, I'm just curious, it'll broaden my horizons and be good for martial arts..."

Thanks to Jiang Ding's good impression in the past, Lin Wanqiu hesitated for a moment before clicking "Approve Guardian Access to 'Hundred Pace Flying Sword Related'" on the Immortal Sect Library App.

After hanging up, he refreshed the page. A long list of Hundred Pace Flying Sword-related cultivation techniques and secret arts appeared, stretching to the ninety-ninth page without end.

Song Family Hundred Pace Flying Sword, Blood Refinement Hundred Pace Flying Sword, Thunder Hundred Pace Flying Sword...

Jiang Ding clicked on the abstract of the Blood Refinement Hundred Pace Flying Sword by Hu Yuan; Zhang Bing, published in the Spirit Veil University Cultivator's Gazette on September 6, 11115.

"The Hundred Pace Flying Sword is a palm-sized sword-shaped semi-magical artifact used by mortal martial artists. It is forged from spiritual metal and nurtured with one's own vital blood and a large quantity of decades-old medicinal herbs for about ten to twenty years, allowing it to gain sentience and be wielded flexibly. It is a rather ingenious concept... often at the cost of cutting off one's future path... Today, we have improved it... The innovation is..."

Cutting off one's future path!

Jiang Ding's heart trembled, and he quickly opened the detailed paper, which was over a hundred pages long and contained more than a hundred thousand characters.

Several hours later, he rubbed his temples.

He had roughly skimmed through the paper. Many parts were incomprehensible, but he had a general idea of what it was about.

Hundred Pace Flying Sword!

This was a side-door secret technique created by wise individuals among mortal martial artists who envied cultivators for wielding magical artifacts. Using spiritual metal as a base, they would continuously nurture the sword embryo with potent elixirs and vital blood, allowing them to wield a flying sword during their mortal stage.

This was a foolish act of seeking quick gains at the cost of one's future.

Vital blood is the foundation of a person.

Even the most powerful martial artist's vital blood is limited. Consuming excessive vital blood was akin to suicide. Even with cautious use, it would inevitably harm the body's foundation, and martial arts progress would be hindered.

Especially for young martial artists, losing a drop of vital blood might take years to recover.

Its value might not be that great.

However, it couldn't withstand the need for undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students in the cultivation departments of various universities to publish papers. Even if it was just a minor aspect, the accumulation over nearly ten thousand years resulted in a vast database of cultivation techniques.

"Blood Refinement... could it be a problem with this technique?" Jiang Ding clicked on Thunder Hundred Pace Flying Sword.

This was done by a doctoral student from Caiyun University. It was originally a secret inheritance technique from a martial arts sect in the Canghai minor realm, captured during the interface wars. This doctoral student collected and corrected some errors before uploading it to gain library points.

He skimmed through it, especially the sword-training section in the general principles.

"The underlying principle is not much different; both require vital blood for nurturing."

The difference lies in the addition of a local ore called Thunderclap Stone, which can absorb the bioelectricity of spirit beasts to enhance flying swords and add lightning attributes, making them faster and more potent.

Jiang Ding was unwilling to accept this and flipped open another book.

"Song Family Hundred Pace Flying Sword. Captured during the war in the Yellow Sand Minor Realm. When forging the sword, it gains the 'Clan Artifact' attribute, allowing it to be inherited by descendants. It can be refined, but outsiders cannot use it... Useless."

Next book, next book, next next book...

Jiang Ding flipped through an entire page, then randomly sampled and browsed dozens more books. They were all sorts, with various attributes and unconventional techniques, but none escaped the core requirement: pure blood, continuously nourished for at least ten years.

Others' methods were completely useless.

"It seems that nourishing with one's own pure blood is the most fundamental basis for the Hundred Pace Flying Sword, and all advancements are built upon this point."

Jiang Ding mused inwardly, but did not lose confidence. His thoughts gradually drifted.

"Are there any methods that challenge principles, that turn the impossible into the possible?"

"Yes!"

An answer surfaced in his mind almost immediately.

"A sufficiently powerful cultivation technique, such as the 'Sixty-eighth Set of Eagle's Takeoff Sword Art' for a Dao Body Prototype."

With his idea solidified, Jiang Ding's spirits lifted. He clicked on the filter, selecting the highest grade.

"Great Sun Sword Scripture - Seed Sword Refining Method by Zhang Jun Sheng, Hu Lin, Pure Breeze University Cultivator's Report, July 1, 10823."

The Immortal Sect generally categorized cultivation techniques into four types: Sutras, Classics, Methods, and Arts. Due to the influence of the First Law of the Immortal Sect, anyone could cultivate the sect's most powerful techniques.

However, the vast majority did not.

This was because, commensurate with their grade, was their terrifying difficulty. Without peerless prodigies and the support of top-tier resources and treasures, they were uncultivable.

Forcing oneself to cultivate would be fortunate if it resulted in no progress for a lifetime; more commonly, it led to qi deviation and death.

Jiang Ding hesitated for a moment, his mouse hovering over the entry.

Great Sun Sword Scripture!

It was famous in history books, the foundational technique of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, a major sect from beyond this realm.

The Great Sun Sword Pavilion was once among the nine great immortal sects beyond this realm. During the 'Third Great Interface War of the Immortal Sect' over three thousand years ago, they were the primary enemy. At their peak, a million Great Sun sword cultivators had invaded Blue Star, occupying over 95% of its surface area. All the Law-Breaking Immortal Gold produced on the planet was theirs for the taking.

During that period, most Blue Star cultivators and mortals were reduced to mining slaves, refining Law-Breaking Divine Gold. The population drastically decreased by over 50%, with tens of billions dying from endless mining, their bones filling the mine shafts.

Later, the forbidden nuclear weapon 'Xian Xie' (Arrowing Immortals) appeared, killing a Void Refinement ancestor of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion in a single battle. The Immortal Sect entered its counter-offensive phase, leveling the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's mountain gate with numerous nuclear weapons. Even now, the area remains a forbidden zone, and its sect's minor realm is nearly ecologically extinct.

The Great Sun Sword Pavilion's ultimate technique, Great Sun Sword Scripture, was partially captured during this war. For three thousand years, scholars and experts had conducted countless studies on it, yielding fruitful results and giving birth to numerous civilian and military technologies.

Great Sun Sword Scripture - Seed Sword Refining Method was one such result, specifically an outcome leaning towards original analysis.

It was a typical 'valuable but useless' result, as the Immortal Sect's combat style involved joint ground, air, and space operations using tanks, warships, space carriers, drones, and fighter jets. Direct combat with cold weapons seemed too primitive to most.

"It's now the year 11126. This result was produced in 10823, over two thousand years after the Great Sun Sword Pavilion's destruction..." Jiang Ding's gaze drifted over the title, as if seeing that epic past.

"Indeed, the Immortal Sect isn't specialized in this area; it's quite weak."

Looking further down, he saw only cultivation techniques and secret arts with the suffix 'Hundred Pace Flying Sword'. Similar to the previous 'Song Family Hundred Pace Flying Sword', there were no breakthrough studies. They were all the lowest tier within 'Classics and Methods', barely qualifying for the 'Arts' category.

He clicked on the abstract.

What appeared before him was no longer Chinese characters, but a special script that resembled Chinese characters but was more distorted and arbitrary, as if constantly changing.

Spiritual Script. Compared to Chinese characters, it could convey more information within a single character and was more precise. It was the foundation of Immortal Sect language classes.

"...Using Supreme Clarity Divine Iron as the embryo, Law-Breaking Immortal Gold as the bone, taking a drop of pure blood as the spirit, melting the essence of the Great Sun, tempering with Heart Fire for a hundred days, transforming from mortal to immortal, forging an supreme immortal foundation..."

As expected.

Jiang Ding took a deep breath.

Even a sub-section of a Sutra-level technique, classified as a 'Method', possessed the ability to turn decay into magic.

Seeing the words 'Law-Breaking Immortal Gold' again made his heart clench.

Blue Star was indeed a rich deposit of Law-Breaking Immortal Gold, but that didn't mean it was common!

In fact, only a select few Nascent Soul cultivators who had rendered great service could apply for enough material to forge a single magic treasure, and even then, it was only a small amount for the 'dotting the eye' ceremony.

Furthermore, upon receiving the Law-Breaking Immortal Gold, one had to make a great oath not to sell it to cultivators from outside the realm. If they perished or reached the end of their lifespan, the magic treasure would be repossessed by the Immortal Sect, with compensation provided to their descendants.

Yet, even with such stringent conditions, the number of Nascent Soul cultivators applying each year was always full, without hesitation.

Because this Immortal Gold was too powerful!

It possessed inherent law-breaking properties. Shields, spells, and formations were like paper against treasures that broke laws.

How could a mere mortal, not even at the Qi Refining stage, dare to covet it!