Ye Wen followed Zhang Jingyi through the room and into a larger one. Rows of bookcases filled it, every shelf packed with books. He couldn't help feeling a headache coming on. With this many books, when would I ever find what I'm looking for?
Looking at the girl beside him, Ye Wen shamelessly asked,
"Miss Zhang Jingyi, I'm looking for some books on the mainland's history, and some that introduce the current factions and their strength."
The girl beside him smiled. "Young master, you don't have to be so formal. Just call me Jingyi. I'll help you look. If I remember right, the history books are over there."
With that, she headed in the direction she'd pointed to. Ye Wen smiled and said,
"Jingyi, you told me not to be so formal, but you're still calling me 'young master.' I'm no young master. I come from a remote village in the mountains. No one has ever left our village, so I don't know anything about the world outside. I'm practically a primitive man. From now on, just call me Ye Wen."
Zhang Jingyi found what Ye Wen said amusing. Who called himself a savage? She had already pulled out a book titled A Comprehensive History of the Mainland and handed it to him.
"All right. I'll call you Brother Ye Wen from now on. You're so polite and refined—how could you be a savage? At a glance, you look like a noble young master who's had a fine education."
As she spoke, she gazed at Ye Wen with her bright, sparkling eyes.
Ye Wen couldn't help thanking his country for raising him and getting him through a top university. He really did stand out from the people of this world. But that wasn't a good thing for him. He had to blend into this new world as quickly as possible, or he'd easily get taken advantage of!
"Zhang... Jingyi, you really have it wrong. I truly did come from the mountains. Otherwise, how could I know nothing about the world today? I wouldn't be in such a hurry to read these books, either."
Zhang Jingyi was a clever girl. How could she fail to see that Ye Wen was lying? Perhaps his lie wouldn't have any real impact on her, but it would affect how favorably she felt toward him. Sure enough, Zhang Jingyi left in a bit of a huff, though as she went, she still quietly told Ye Wen,
"Take your time reading here. I'm going to see my grandpa."
Only after she stepped out the door did Zhang Jingyi pout and mutter under her breath,
"That liar! He told me he was some country bumpkin, but the first thing he asked for was books on the mainland's history. The book I gave him is a unique volume from the City Lord's collection, with a history of several thousand years. He took it and started reading right away. Even Grandpa can't recognize a lot of the characters in it! He lied to me—how awful!"
Seeing his granddaughter storm out, the old man was quite curious. "That kid's something, isn't he? He actually managed to anger my good-natured granddaughter. He's got some skill."
But he didn't ask his granddaughter about it. He knew her temper; she wouldn't tell him anything. So he tried a different approach.
"What's that kid's background? How did he get the Little County Princess, who's usually so scared I'll take her life, to personally bring him here?"
"He said he's the Little County Princess's lifesaver. The Grand Princess ordered her to bring him here." Zhang Jingyi told her grandpa what she knew.
"Oh? So the kid's got some ability. He helped that boy, Dongfang Yu, kill a second-rank Wind Demon Tiger. The younger generation really is impressive!"
Ye Wen had barely taken the book before he stopped paying attention to Zhang Jingyi. He was busy trying to absorb what he was reading. The book covered the mainland's history from three thousand years ago.
The mainland was vast, but the area where humans lived was less than one percent of it. The rest was either endless ocean, endless desert, or endless forests like the ones around Yu Village. The human race had many different cultivation systems.
There was the Martial Dao, like the one Dongfang Yu practiced: entering the realm through martial arts and reaching the Xiantian realm. Practitioners tempered their bodies in the Houtian stage. After reaching the peak, they sensed the moment to advance to Xiantian, then wielded martial arts through qi, unleashing immense destructive power. Once they reached the Xiantian Seventh Rank, they were like earthly immortals, able to fly through the sky and burrow through the earth.
The second was the magic users he'd heard about last night. Their Houtian stage was called the Magic Apprentice stage, when they sensed magic elements. Once they sensed the elements they were compatible with, they could absorb them into their bodies, forming a Devil Core like those of giant beasts to store magic power. Then they could cast magic by using Magic Incantations.
They were ranked according to the amount of magic power they stored and the might of the magic they could cast. At the first rank, they could cast only the simplest spells. Once they reached the seventh rank, they could cast forbidden spells. Such magic users were called Magic Masters!
There were also the various cultivation systems of Buddhism, demons, Daoism, monsters, ghosts, corpses, and shamans!
Ye Wen was stunned when he read this. He'd once thought that Xiantian was just the starting point of the Martial Dao. But as he read on, he discovered that most of the people and events recorded in the book concerned those below the seventh rank. Once someone reached the seventh rank, they were already near the pinnacle of the mainland.
One line about cultivating the Martial Dao said that at the Ninth Rank Peak, one could shatter the void and ascend in broad daylight! That made Ye Wen realize that Xiantian was already the peak of the present day.
But then he thought he couldn't look at it that way. Xiantian was just a name. In truth, after reaching the seventh rank, people were no longer wholly human. Their abilities made them a different kind of immortal.
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