Clearing Doubts, a Discovery

Elder Zhang's arrival was utterly abrupt; the dispute over the front-row seats had yet to be resolved.

Then an aged yet vigorous voice suddenly rang out from the cliff.

"Silence, all of you! The lecture begins now!!"

As though talking to himself, Elder Zhang swiftly finished explaining everything.

Then, without caring whether the disciples below had understood, he transformed into a streak of light and departed.

Though it had been somewhat dull, Lu Nan had gained quite a bit.

He had learned much common knowledge about cultivation—for instance, Spiritual Roots were divided into nonexistent, inferior, low, medium, high, and supreme grades.

Spiritual Roots also possessed the attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; beyond those, there were also Mutant Spiritual Roots.

Such as ice, lightning, poison, and so on.

Ordinary people mostly possessed multiple Spiritual Roots, so most cultivators would only focus on cultivating the highest-grade one.

All in all, this trip had been richly rewarding.

However, what concerned Lu Nan most was the assessment.

According to Elder Zhang, if one could not break through to Qi Condensation Layer Three within a year,

they would be sent back or kept on as Servant Disciples.

There was no need to think about what Servant Disciples were—they served others.

At that thought, Lu Nan's gaze sharpened. "I must break through to the Qi Condensation stage within a year!!"

But when he thought of his own aptitude, his balls ached terribly.

Taking out his Identity Token, he focused his mind and stared at it as Elder Zhang had instructed.

A map immediately surfaced in his mind. Looking at the glowing point on the map and the Book Collection Pavilion he needed to visit,

a faint smile appeared on Lu Nan's face. "That's pretty convenient!!!"

He then hurried toward the Book Collection Pavilion. Right now, he needed to understand this world as quickly as possible.

And the Book Collection Pavilion was undoubtedly a fine choice. The Sword Sect had two places where it stored books.

One was the Scripture Repository, and the other was the Book Collection Pavilion.

Though their names differed by only one word, their purposes were worlds apart.

The Scripture Repository contained cultivation methods, and entry required Sect Contribution Points.

The Book Collection Pavilion, meanwhile, contained magazines, journals, and the like; everyone in the Sword Sect could visit it.

It was primarily meant to broaden the horizons of Sword Sect disciples.

This was exactly what Lu Nan needed!

Following the map, he soon arrived at the Book Collection Pavilion. After registering with the Senior Brother on duty,

Lu Nan plunged straight into the Book Collection Pavilion. Before him stood countless bookshelves.

An immeasurable number of books were arranged neatly and orderly upon them, and every shelf bore a label.

That saved Lu Nan quite a bit of time.

After searching around, he quickly found what he wanted.

A book called World Overview caught his attention.

"So this world is called the Azure Realm, divided into the Five Domains: East, South, West, North, and Central. And I'm currently in the Northern Southern Domain."

The original owner of this body had been from the Cang Kingdom, one of the Seven Northern Kingdoms. The entire Northern Region had only three sects.

The Azure Lotus Sword Sect was one of them; the other two were the Artifact Refining Sect and the Soul Refining Sect, known as the Demonic Path.

After returning the book to its original place, Lu Nan could not help but sigh with emotion.

Shaking his head, he searched for other books and read tirelessly.

Rapidly enriching himself with knowledge...

"Junior Brother, you're still here??" An astonished voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

Lu Nan looked up and saw that it was the Senior Brother on duty.

"Sorry, I got a little too absorbed in my reading.

Senior Brother, are you closing up? I'll leave right away." As he spoke, he quickly shut the book.

Unexpectedly, the Senior Brother on duty smiled. "It's no matter!

The Book Collection Pavilion isn't like the Scripture Repository. You can read for as long as you want.

Just be careful not to damage the books."

With that, he turned and left. Seeing this, Lu Nan let out a breath of relief and spread open the book to continue reading.

For the next several days, Lu Nan remained in the Book Collection Pavilion, absorbing knowledge.

"Phew..." Lu Nan set down the book in his hands.

A trace of a smile appeared on his face. "I understand enough now. It's time to test it out!"

After many days of reading, Lu Nan had gained a deep understanding of both the Azure Realm and the Azure Lotus Sword Sect.

At the same time, he had concluded that the soil in the Mysterious Space was the legendary Spirit Soil.

He simply could not determine its grade. According to the books,

Spirit Soil was divided into low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade, supreme-grade, Spirit-grade, and Immortal-grade.

Low- and medium-grade were relatively common, while high-grade and supreme-grade were fairly rare.

Spirit-grade was something one could encounter only by chance, never by seeking it, while Immortal-grade existed only in legends.

Yet the soil in the Mysterious Space matched none of the descriptions of Spirit Soil in the books.

That gave Lu Nan quite a headache, and he could only find some medicinal herbs to experiment with.

After returning the book to its original place, Lu Nan hurried to the sect's Trade Market.

But upon reaching the entrance, he realized he did not have a single Spirit Stone.

Looking up at the bustling market, he could only leave in regret.

Only after advancing to the Qi Condensation stage would the sect distribute Spirit Stone resources.

Before that, all they received were Body Tempering Pills, and he had already used up this month's allotment.

At that thought, Lu Nan pulled a pained face. "Damn it! A single penny can stump a hero!!"

"Right, if I can't buy precious medicinal herbs, then I'll buy ordinary ones!!"

Lu Nan's eyes suddenly lit up, but then he remembered that even ordinary ones seemed to cost money!

He was currently penniless. If the sect did not provide food and lodging,

even keeping himself fed and clothed would probably be a problem. "Damn it!!!"

At his wits' end, he could not help but slam his fist against the wooden bed.

"Looks like I can only try it with weeds!!"

He quickly left the Wooden Cabin, looked at the peach blossoms around him,

snapped off a branch, and returned indoors.

After carefully inspecting it, he silently recited, Enter.

His figure vanished. Lu Nan had already entered the Mysterious Space.

Jogging over to the mysterious soil, he hesitated briefly before sticking the peach tree branch into it.

Then an unbelievable scene unfolded. The short peach branch rapidly grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, it had grown into a peach tree as thick as a small bowl, its branches lush and leaves flourishing.

Lu Nan was utterly stunned. His mouth hung open, and he did not recover for a long while.

"Damn it! I've struck it rich!

If I plant some precious medicinal herbs and spirit plants, what resources would I ever have to worry about!!"

After coming back to his senses, Lu Nan was beyond excited. He observed it for a while longer.

Finding nothing else, he reluctantly withdrew from the Mysterious Space.

"No! I need to find a way to get some spirit plants!

I just don't know whether they'll have the same effect."

"But where can I get them???" As he pondered, Lu Nan suddenly thought of sect missions.

"I'm an Outer Disciple now, so I should be able to accept sect missions too, right??"

He rushed to the sect's mission hall and headed straight for a less crowded window.

Searching for a suitable mission, he soon spotted one for Herb Garden Duty.

"Herb Garden Duty: tend and maintain it, term of three months!"

"Herb Garden Duty? It probably won't be too difficult!" Lu Nan pondered for a few seconds before accepting it.

He turned and walked to the window, looking at the handsome young man inside as he said softly, "Senior Brother! Please help me register."

Hearing this, the young man inside the window looked up at him.

His brows rose. "Body Tempering Layer One? You're a new disciple??"

"Yes!!!"

"Why aren't you cultivating properly? What are you doing here??"

Lu Nan gave a dry laugh. "My resources are a bit insufficient, so..."

The young man gave him a curious glance but said nothing further.

After lowering his head to make some adjustments, he handed Lu Nan a token and said blandly, "Just go directly to the Herb Garden!"

"Thank you, Senior Brother!!!!" Lu Nan happily accepted the token.