Gu Nanhai

After finishing his conversation with Gu Yuan, Gu Fengchen planned to visit the Gu Clan's Scripture Repository.

The Ancient Realm was vast—far larger than he had imagined.

The entire Ancient Realm was lush and verdant. Walking through it felt like being in a forest maze.

Simply put, Gu Fengchen got lost.

During the month since his transmigration, he had basically gone everywhere with Gu Xun'er and rarely acted alone.

Fortunately, before long, he spotted an ancient, elegant building.

Rows of willow trees stood outside it, and only a single path led there. It was exceedingly quiet.

Beside the building stood a seamless stone table, with a reclining chair next to it.

An old man was sitting in the reclining chair.

The old man's expression was serene, like that of a Living Buddha—both compassionate and stern.

However, apart from his eyes, every other feature on the old man's face looked extremely strange.

His ears, nose, and mouth were all crooked, and not even tilted in the same direction. Gu Fengchen felt a powerful urge to go over and straighten them out.

The old man was crouched in his chair, playing chess by himself.

Black and white pieces crisscrossed the board. Gu Fengchen stood beside it and studied it carefully for a moment.

"Kid, do you know how to play chess?"

Gu Fengchen nodded.

The next moment, he struck with lightning speed, pulled out a white chess piece, and slapped it onto the board with a smack.

"Live Three!"

"This is Go!"

Gu Fengchen scratched his head.

The old man glanced at Gu Fengchen and smiled. "You've got decent talent, kid. You're actually a Dou Zhe. Keep it up and strive to advance to Dou Shi next year. My name is Gu Nanhai. You may call me Elder Nanhai."

That casual remark made Gu Fengchen's breathing hitch slightly. He then nodded without betraying anything, naturally revealing the pride a young boy should feel after receiving praise.

Yet Gu Fengchen was utterly shocked inside.

Damn, he saw through my cultivation at a glance. Gu Fengchen had not released the slightest trace of aura and had done his utmost to conceal himself, yet he had still been recognized.

It was not as though any Dou Emperor could casually discern another person's strength.

One needed special methods for observing auras.

This old man was terrifying.

Gu Nanhai. Gu Fengchen searched his memories of the Original Work for that name.

He should have been an elder of the Gu Clan, and apparently possessed the strength of a Dou Saint?

It had to be said, there were simply too many ancient monsters within the Gu Clan. Picking out any one of them at random would be enough to stir up a bloody storm across this world.

That only strengthened Gu Fengchen's resolve to leave the Ancient Realm.

He could not stay in this damned place. Things were fine for now, but if the Taotie Seal helped him leap straight into the Da Dou Shi realm and caught the attention of the Gu Clan's upper ranks, that would be bad.

Gu Fengchen still hoped to get rich quietly. He had no desire to be sliced apart for research.

In fact, several Gu Clan disciples close to Gu Fengchen, including Xun'er, had already noticed that his strength had improved rapidly lately.

Thus, to conceal it, Gu Fengchen could only claim that he cultivated every day, training tirelessly day and night.

Of course, if such high-intensity, overloaded cultivation were imposed on an ordinary eleven-year-old child, even the corpse would probably be cold by now.

As a result, Gu Fengchen sometimes found it difficult to make his story hold together.

Fortunately, he was still young, and most of the friends he knew were simple-minded youngsters who did not pay much attention to such things or investigate further.

But in the future, once the gap gradually widened and his terrifying cultivation speed was exposed, suspicion would arise sooner or later.

Setting aside his turbulent thoughts, Gu Fengchen entered the Scripture Repository and discovered that the Gu Clan's collection was incredibly extensive.

There were Cultivation Methods and Martial Skills, strange and unconventional arts, and even several books on Formations.

Everything was available, from Yellow Tier and Profound Tier to Earth Tier and Heaven Tier.

The only catch was that all of it had to be exchanged for points.

Points could only be earned by completing clan missions, handing in Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, or making outstanding contributions to the clan.

Gu Fengchen's predecessor had spent every day clinging to Xun'er and had been thoroughly drained dry, leaving him no time to earn clan contributions, much less points.

The only points he had were given to him by Xun'er. This freeloading was truly without limits.

Then again, if Xiao Yan had not been burdened by those stupid notions of pride, refusing this and rejecting that, constantly turning down everything Xun'er gave him—

If he had started living off her sooner, Xiao Yan would probably have become a Dou Emperor long ago. There would not have been so much damn trouble.

Therefore, the first thing Gu Fengchen learned after coming to this world was to let go of the pride of being a transmigrator.

Eat the free meal when it was offered. Don't be so fucking pretentious!

Of course, within this Scripture Repository, higher rank did not necessarily mean a higher point cost. Some obscure cultivation methods required special physiques to practice, while some obscure Dou Skills exacted too great a price after use, so almost no one chose them.

Gu Fengchen wandered aimlessly when, suddenly, the Taotie Seal in his left palm sent out a scorching sensation.

And as Gu Fengchen continued walking in one direction, that burning sensation grew stronger and stronger.

What is this?

Very quickly, Gu Fengchen found the source that had made the Taotie Seal burn so intensely.

It was a sword—a black longsword.

At the end of the iron sword's hilt was a gray pattern, somewhat resembling the legendary Bodhi Seed.

The engraved Bodhi Seed pattern was as large as a walnut. Its naturally formed veins connected together to form the image of a Buddha.

The Buddha image seemed as though it had existed upon the Bodhi Seed from the very beginning—dim, ancient, and natural, faintly radiating an air of Zen.

Hmm. The Taotie Seal is actually interested in this?

Gu Fengchen extended his hand and felt the Taotie Seal on his left hand grow even hotter.

He initially wanted to pick up the sword, only to discover that the black sword was absurdly heavy.

Gu Fengchen had to use all his strength before he could lift the ancient black sword.

He examined it closely. The ancient scabbard was coated in red-black lacquer and densely covered in swirling cloud patterns and vigorous flying tiger patterns.

Gu Fengchen carefully drew the blade. A chilling, murderous aura immediately surged forth, and the blade's gleam illuminated the entire room.

This sword—

At that moment, the old man guarding the entrance emerged from who knew where. He looked at Gu Fengchen in surprise. "Hmm? I didn't expect a little fellow like you to be interested in this thing."

Hearing the old man's voice, Gu Fengchen set the black iron sword on the ground. Yet because the sword seemed too heavy, half its blade sank into the earth.

"Elder Nanhai, what brings you here?" Gu Fengchen gave Gu Nanhai a slight bow.

Gu Nanhai smiled. "This sword has been sitting here for several hundred years. The dust on it has piled up thick."

"Does this sword have some story behind it?" Gu Fengchen asked curiously.

A story?

Gu Nanhai thought for a moment before explaining, "This sword is called Momentary, listed in the Imperial Qi Saber and Sword Record. It was forged from Mountain Refining Iron. Over the past thousand years, it has passed through the hands of countless experts and slain thirty Dou Zong-level masters."