After the two brothers finished speaking, they continued their focused search.
They moved so quickly that they had combed through the entire first floor in one night. The Scripture Repository Pavilion had five floors, and tonight they were on the second. Though they had finished searching it, they still found nothing.
The brothers were not anxious. They continued hiding during the day. Both possessed storage treasures filled with all manner of supplies. They drank when thirsty and ate when hungry, though they could also go without food. Grandmaster-level experts could fast for a month without eating or drinking with ease.
Li Jiusheng observed them with his domain, and neither brother noticed him. Thus, when they opened their storage bags, they were careless, allowing Li Jiusheng to see the many books inside, piled high enough to fill the bags' space.
"These should be secret manuals the brothers stole from other sects. Judging by this thickness, they must have visited quite a few sects and stolen many cultivation manuals native to the Old Land. If they take these away and spread them to the Outer Domain, cultivators of the Old Land will be in serious trouble." Li Jiusheng's heart turned cold, as though he had seen the future: Outer Domain cultivators thoroughly studying the Old Land's cultivation techniques and using them to counter Old Land cultivators. The culprits would be these two brothers.
He absolutely could not let the brothers leave!
On the third day, the brothers were very quiet during daylight—so quiet that it was as though they did not exist.
Li Jiusheng treated them as though they did not exist either. He sat in meditation within the Scripture Repository Pavilion, seeking within himself and excavating the "aura" and "depth" of various cultivation techniques.
That excavation lasted the entire day.
Not a single disciple of Shangqing Palace came to the Scripture Repository Pavilion today, leaving Li Jiusheng quite free. When night fell, he rose and departed.
As soon as he left, the brothers appeared. The younger brother rubbed his neck and said, "Big Brother, that old man sat there all day without even absorbing spiritual energy. What kind of Dao is he cultivating? What sort of technique is he practicing?"
"He's just putting on an act. Maybe he was meditating while asleep. Who knows?" The elder brother was equally disdainful. He thought Li Jiusheng was pretentious. He was clearly an old waste who had cultivated for a hundred years yet remained in the Houtian Realm, but he carried himself with such poise. His bones and features were excellent, and dressed in a Daoist robe, he had the bearing of an immortal—more like a grandmaster than they were.
Looking at Li Jiusheng's handsome face, still handsome even in old age, the elder brother—who had never known what it felt like to be handsome—was deeply jealous.
"Big Brother, once we find the Anomaly Diagram and leave, should we deal with that old man..." A vicious glint flashed across the younger brother's face as he lightly drew a finger across his throat.
The elder brother was tempted, but he shook his head. "Don't be careless. What if we're discovered?"
"Big Brother, after this job, we'll fly far away. Who would stay in this closed-off Old Land? By then, the sky will be high and the emperor far away. Even if they find out we killed him, what can Shangqing Palace do?" The younger brother spoke disdainfully, trying to persuade his brother.
The elder brother was swayed. "We'll talk after we find the Anomaly Diagram."
"Alright!" The younger brother nodded excitedly. He knew that once his brother said that, it meant he had agreed completely.
It had been a long time since he had killed anyone. He was practically bursting from holding it in.
The brothers continued searching for the Anomaly Diagram, unaware that Li Jiusheng was sitting expressionlessly in the tea room beside the first floor of the Scripture Repository Pavilion, holding a cup of tea and drinking it sip by sip.
That night passed simply enough.
The brothers searched the entire third floor, trying to find the Anomaly Diagram, but they never discovered it.
Only when dawn broke and sunlight pierced through the gauze windows of the Scripture Repository Pavilion did the brothers realize that the night had already passed.
They had now searched the entire third floor without finding anything. Just as they were about to climb the stairs to the fourth floor, sunlight washed over them.
The younger brother instinctively closed his eyes. He had not seen the sun for days, and he said automatically, "Big Brother, let's hide and come back tonight. There are only two floors left. We'll find it soon."
His elder brother's excited, trembling voice came from beside him. "No need to wait. I found it."
The younger brother swiftly retreated into the shadows and followed his brother's delighted gaze. There, on the wall of the stairwell between the third and fourth floors, hung a painting.
The painting depicted a vast blue sea. Above the sea, a large white carp leaped high into the air, its tail scattering countless droplets of water.
It was an utterly ordinary painting. The brothers had seen it the moment they climbed the stairs, yet neither had paid it any mind. Who would have thought that now, as the morning sunlight streamed through the mottled windows and landed upon it, the fish and water in the painting would begin to move miraculously?
In the brothers' eyes, the sea instantly churned and surged. Violent winds howled like a natural catastrophe. Yet in the next moment, a large white carp leaped high, flicked its tail, and suppressed dozens of waves. The world became clear and bright, peaceful in the passage of time.
"Fish... Fish Leaping in the Sea of Time!" The younger brother covered his mouth in excitement, nearly mad with joy as he grabbed his brother and hopped up and down.
They had searched for the Anomaly Diagram for days, never expecting it to hang in such an inconspicuous corner. If not for the help of the sunlight, they would never have discovered it even if they had turned the Scripture Repository Pavilion upside down.
"Those damned bastards, hanging the Anomaly Diagram in a place like this—who could possibly find it?" The elder brother was excited as well, yet he cursed the ancestors of Shangqing Palace. Were they not deliberately trying to keep people from finding it?
"Take the painting and let's go." After his excitement subsided, the elder brother remembered something and spoke decisively. They had the item. They needed to leave at once.
The younger brother nodded, but then he looked toward the tea room beside the first floor of the Scripture Repository Pavilion. His eyes turned cold. "Big Brother, it's been a long time since I killed someone."
The elder brother frowned. He knew his younger brother had a bloodthirsty habit. If he went too long without killing, he would feel uncomfortable all over. In a deep voice, he said, "Go quickly and come back quickly. I'll take the painting first."
"Got it!" The younger brother immediately gave an excited roar. His eyes instantly turned blood-red. He had endured himself painfully these past days, but now he could finally unleash himself. He leaped from the third-floor stairwell window and landed directly at the tea room on the first floor.
"You old bastard, always putting on airs. What I hate most are self-proclaimed righteous people like you, always preaching benevolence and morality while hiding nothing but filth behind your backs." The younger brother spoke excitedly. Energy surged in his palm as his grandmaster domain expanded into the tea room. He saw only Li Jiusheng sitting calmly in his chair, holding a cup. With a flick of his finger, he sent the water in the cup flying.
Clang!
That drop of tea transformed into a tiny short sword and flew across the tea room. As the younger brother opened the tea room door, it pierced his brow with a soft thud, then shot out through the back of his head. Only after cleaving through a stone did it turn back into tea and drip onto the grass.
Before the tea room door, the younger brother in black had been ferocious, intending to kill Li Jiusheng to vent his anger. Now, however, his expression was blank as he stared at Li Jiusheng in disbelief.
That single sword strike had already shattered his consciousness, domain, and the energy within his body.
"You... you... you're not in the Houtian Realm?" The younger brother in black spoke with difficulty. He could clearly feel his life force draining away frantically. He was about to die, but he did not want to die.
"When did I ever say I was in the Houtian Realm?" Li Jiusheng looked calmly at the younger brother in black, his eyes cold. He had heard their conversation throughout the night perfectly clearly. Since they had dared harbor the intention to kill him, they needed to be prepared for the prey to kill the hunters instead.
Li Jiusheng did not spare the younger brother in black another glance. He stepped over his trembling, vacant corpse and looked toward the third floor.
First the younger brother, then the elder brother. He would not be lonely on the road to the underworld!
Before you continue