Inside the Scripture Pavilion, 'Spitting Blood'

Outside the Scripture Pavilion, Lin Fan stopped and cast a calm glance behind him.

Whispers and rumors were already beginning to drift through the air.

Some said the Saintess had made a breakthrough, others claimed she had hit a bottleneck and was searching the scriptures for a way through, while some even questioned how the Saintess could be here at all when she had supposedly been sealed in ice...

Lin Fan heard these remarks clearly, but he paid them no mind.

Chen Cheng and Zhou Yining, however, shot a glare at the crowd, and they dared not speak another word.

Dismissing these thoughts, Lin Fan locked his gaze onto the Scripture Pavilion before him.

The Scripture Pavilion was not large—at least, not from the outside. It was a simple, two-story building, as ordinary as could be.

Yet, this simple structure possessed an indescribably profound aura.

It felt as if it had existed for countless eons, spanning the breadth of time itself...

Lin Fan could not put his finger on it, nor could he explain it, but he did not need to. He simply knew that this Scripture Pavilion was incredibly formidable.

Appearance?

That meant nothing here.

As he pushed the door open to enter, he paused and looked to either side.

Flanking the entrance were two statues of Daoists sitting in meditation. Both were so lifelike that, were it not for their distinct color and texture, one might easily mistake them for real people.

I doubt it's that simple.

Lin Fan muttered to himself, unable to resist taking a few extra looks.

He would not use his internal cultivation or his Spiritual Consciousness, but having read plenty of novels, he knew even with his eyes closed that a place like the Scripture Pavilion must be guarded by someone immensely powerful.

Since no big shots were visible and only these two statues seemed to be "guarding the gate," the statues themselves had to be extraordinary.

After making a mental note of this, Lin Fan stepped into the Scripture Pavilion.

What he did not know was that the moment he entered, a Divine Sense drifted out from the two statues, communicating silently.

"Did she discover us?"

"With her current cultivation and Divine Sense, she shouldn't be able to detect our presence."

"But before she went in, she truly looked at us several times. She has been here many times before, yet she has never done that."

"Indeed. Could it be... that although she didn't break through during this seclusion, she gained some exceptional benefit, such as heightened intuition?"

"That must be it. She is truly a promising talent... Heh, let her be."

"As expected, there is a world within."

Upon entering, Lin Fan was surprised, yet he found it entirely reasonable.

From the outside, the Scripture Pavilion looked like a weathered, two-story building, but the interior resembled the structure of a Seven-Story Exquisite Pagoda!

There were seven levels in total, each smaller than the one below, connected by staircases.

Looking around, the interior was lined with various bookshelves. On the first floor where he stood, the shelves were most numerous, each packed densely with books.

The sheer number of books was uncountable. Of course, that was not the point; the point was that many of them were covered in dust.

Lin Fan: "..."

So, nobody really reads the books on this floor?

That makes sense. The first floor is accessible to Servant Disciples, so the books stored here must be of little value.

Lin Fan realized.

Although a few disciples were reading intently on the first floor, there were only a handful of them...

He climbed the stairs to the second floor, where there were significantly fewer books, yet more people reading than on the first.

"Your Highness Saintess..."

A disciple recognized "Qi Zixiao," and as she spoke, the other disciples hurried over to pay their respects.

"Carry on with your business."

Lin Fan said indifferently, waving his sleeve as he continued upward.

The third floor, the fourth floor...

The number of people on the third floor reached its peak, but by the fourth, it began to drop sharply...

Though he did not understand the exact rules, Lin Fan could deduce the reason. Clearly, one needed a corresponding "status" or strength to access each level.

After all, the higher one went, the more precious the "techniques" became; they could not be left out for just anyone to browse.

Then, with my status as the Saintess, how high can I go?

He continued all the way up, finally reaching the seventh floor.

Here, there was not a soul to be seen.

"Unobstructed?"

"But... what the hell is this?!"

He pressed a hand to his forehead.

"The sixth floor at least had some books, but this seventh floor is filled with nothing but strange jade stones. It's clearly meant to stop me from reading!"

Lin Fan had originally intended to find some 'immortal techniques' in this Scripture Pavilion, memorize them, and then slowly cultivate them once he transmigrated back.

But...

Jade stones?

He guessed they were likely the 'jade slips' from novels, which required Spiritual Consciousness to communicate with or True Essence to be poured into before their contents could be revealed.

The problem was, he didn't know how to do that...

"I'll come back next time..."

Without hesitation, Lin Fan took a few more glances at the dozens of jade stones of various shapes and colors floating in the air, then retreated to the sixth floor.

He stopped paying attention to the jade stones and instead picked up an ancient book at random to flip through.

"Refining: Mortal to Immortal Transformation Chapter"

Lin Fan: "..."

So, this was teaching people how to refine Immortal Artifacts?

"In the Cultivation World, teaching people how to refine Immortal Artifacts, and it can only be placed on the sixth floor?"

As expected of a Holy Land!

The guy bared his teeth and swapped it for another.

"On the Composition and Restraint of Immortal and Demon Magic Power"

"..., I'll swap again!"

"Reincarnation Fist - Fragmented Chapter"

"This one is good. Don't novels always write about this? These fragmented chapters are often incredibly powerful. Even a fragment from the first floor becomes a great treasure once completed, so one from the sixth floor must be insanely awesome, right?"

Filled with anticipation, Lin Fan flipped to the first page...

Only those at the Great Ascension Stage or above may practice this.

"What the..."

The Great Ascension Stage, really?!

Forget about him; even if Qi Zixiao were here, she couldn't handle this!

There was no one on the sixth floor, and it was extremely quiet.

But... Lin Fan didn't dare to be reckless, so he could only complain in his heart.

After all, what if some big shot was monitoring the Scripture Pavilion at all times? That wasn't an impossible scenario.

Setting down the secret manual, Lin Fan picked out several more until he finally found a 'cultivation method' manual.

So-called cultivation methods were techniques for practicing.

Things like the Reincarnation Fist were 'arts', also known as 'combat techniques' or 'fighting styles'.

"Purple Haze Skill"

Full of expectation, Lin Fan flipped to the first page.

At the break of dawn, in a place rich with spiritual energy, absorb the first ray of purple haze to refine it, using the purple haze as the True Essence within the body...

Just from the first sentence, Lin Fan put the book back.

It wasn't that it wasn't powerful; on the contrary, the Purple Haze Skill was formidable. If one had enough talent, they could cultivate it all the way to the Great Ascension Stage, and becoming an immortal wouldn't be a problem.

But the issue was, the very first requirement of this thing was to find a place rich in spiritual energy.

Back on Earth... where was he supposed to find a place like that?