Fifth-Floor Library, Five Months Flew By

Di Tian handled all the meetings with those people, while Yun Ze and Gu Yue Na continued living their lives as students. The fifth floor of the Library was not easy to enter. Each visit required the accompaniment of Principal Xu Lin and four other council members. There were no guards on the fifth floor, only a heavy metal door. It was said that even a Limit Douluo could not easily blast it open. Not only was the door made of special metal, but the walls were as well, capable of withstanding an attack from a Rank 9 Fixed Soul Cannon Shell. Principal Xu Lin and the other four council members each took out a key and inserted them into the five keyholes beside the door. Only when they turned them simultaneously did the door slowly slide apart. This was Yun Ze's tenth day entering the fifth floor, and there was no longer any need for the principal to explain anything. As soon as the door opened, he walked in. Xu Lin and the other four stood outside. Once Yun Ze had entered, they turned their keys back, and the door slowly closed. All five of them had to be present to open the fifth floor, but they could only open it. Without approval from the academy council, they could not enter freely. "Let's go." Xu Lin left with the four council members. They would return at one in the afternoon, when Yun Ze was due to come out. The fifth floor was remarkably spacious. There were no bookshelves or paper books, only a metal table in the center and a chair. On the metal table was an angled Soul Guidance Screen, thirty units long and twenty units wide. The instant Yun Ze entered, the screen lit up automatically. In a room of nearly a thousand square meters, there was only this much inside. The layout was absurdly sparse; without someone specifically telling them, no one would think this was a Library.

This was Yun Ze's tenth day here, so he sat down with practiced ease and pressed his palm against the dark green handprint on the Soul Guidance Screen. A straight beam of light swept up and down across the screen. The dark green handprint began to glow, and when it lit up completely, a mechanical prompt sounded. "Identity confirmed. Yun Ze, welcome to the Intelligent Library."

As the voice fell silent, the display on the Soul Guidance Screen instantly changed, revealing five options: Soul Tools, Mecha, Soul Masters, Battle Armor, and Records. The text for all five options was set within red boxes against a white background. The overall design was simple and unadorned. Yun Ze selected Soul Tools, the category he had been reading for the past ten days. After entering it, book titles rapidly appeared, arranged from smallest to largest. There were fifty-eight books in total. The number was not large, but every single one was incomparably precious, all related to Ninth Level Soul Tools. The books gave detailed accounts of how to make powerful Soul Tools such as Rank 9 Fixed Soul Cannon Shells, Rank 9 Array Soul Tools, and Rank 9 Eyes of Fear. Aside from Ninth Level Soul Tools, one book covered even more advanced Level Ten and Level Twelve Soul Tools. The first book Yun Ze had read was this one concerning Level Ten and Level Twelve Soul Tools, and he had finished it in less than a day. To be precise, it had taken five hours. He generally read inside for five hours before leaving, then returned the next day.

Put simply, that book was a collection of research notes on Level Ten and Level Twelve Soul Tools, not any detailed method of construction. After reading it, Yun Ze had merely broadened his knowledge and learned of the three Fixed Soul Cannon Shells hailed as God-Slaying Weapons. The specific methods for making those shells were likely preserved within the Federation Research Institute, as this place contained very little information about them.

He opened the third book on the list. The device was highly intelligent, displaying the exact page he had reached yesterday: page one hundred sixty-five. He continued reading from where he had left off. After finishing a page, he lightly touched the lower-right corner of the screen, and it automatically turned to the next page. This small Soul Guidance Screen was brimming with technology. It had been developed jointly by the Sun Moon Royal Academy and the Federation Research Institute. It contained some of the Sun Moon Royal Academy's most important books and materials, stored by special means to prevent information leaks to the greatest extent possible. Yun Ze read until one in the afternoon. As soon as the agreed time arrived, Xu Lin came with the other four council members to open the door.

After leaving the Library and heading downstairs, he saw Gu Yue Na waiting there. She smiled and walked toward him.

"I've reached Level Forty-Two. I want to celebrate my breakthrough. Can you accompany me to the Sun Moon Hotel outside the academy for a meal?"

Gu Yue Na held her hands behind her back and asked in a cheerful voice, sharing her joy with Yun Ze. Her eyes were full of anticipation as she looked at him, like a little girl waiting to be praised.

Because of her transformation into human form, she had basically encountered no bottlenecks in her breakthroughs. During class that day, her soul power had naturally broken through while she was listening.

Yun Ze looked up at Gu Yue Na, then naturally shifted his gaze away and nodded. "Let's go."

Seeing Yun Ze agree, Gu Yue Na flashed a radiant smile. Her steps became even lighter as she walked with Yun Ze toward the academy gates.

"You don't seem surprised by my breakthrough at all?"

"What's there to be surprised about? Isn't breaking through perfectly normal?"

"Uh..."

Time flew by, and before they knew it, May had passed.

Over those five months, the uproar caused by the auction gradually subsided. It was no longer a topic people discussed after meals, only occasionally mentioned.

The popularity of Dragon Phoenix Hall had also declined somewhat, but it remained strong. Every day, people from all over the continent came to buy pills, and business was excellent.

The One Year Longevity Pills, priced at five hundred million each, remained in short supply and sparked fierce competition. Often, less than a minute after the shop opened, they would be sold out.

Sales of Foundation Establishment Pills and Breakthrough Pills had declined somewhat. The decline for Foundation Establishment Pills was smaller. No young Soul Master would not want a pill capable of increasing Innate Soul Power; it was simply that many could not afford one due to financial constraints, which led to the drop in sales.

Dragon Phoenix Hall's daily revenue had also fallen from nearly six billion during the first half-month to around four billion. It had now basically stabilized, with little fluctuation in income.

Reports about Dragon Phoenix Hall's daily revenue had been everywhere four months earlier, and those figures had shocked quite a few people.

Even major powers such as Shrek Academy, the Tang Sect, and the Spirit Pagoda were somewhat envious. Dragon Phoenix Hall made money at an outrageously fast rate.

Many factions, including them, had considered cracking the pill formulas so they could refine and sell the pills themselves.

They all wanted a share of such an enormous cake, but they all failed. No faction had been able to crack the pill formulas.

Since they could not crack the formulas, some began considering poaching Dragon Phoenix Hall's pill refiners or sending people to infiltrate Dragon Phoenix Hall and secretly learn the craft. More extreme individuals let malice embolden them and infiltrated Dragon Phoenix Hall at night, intending to abduct several pill refiners to obtain the formulas.

Every one of these attempts ended in failure.

Those responsible for Pill Refining at Medicine King Pavilion were all Emerald Swans that had transformed into human form. There were no human pill refiners at all, so how could anyone poach them? Dragon Phoenix Hall had now accumulated astonishing wealth, yet it had never expanded or recruited anyone, leaving no opportunity for others to send infiltrators inside.

As for those intruders who had been bold enough to sneak in, their Titled Douluo cultivation and martial souls were crippled, and they were hung from the roof of Dragon Phoenix Hall for three days.

This person was an Evil Soul Master, so there was no need to interrogate him to know which faction he came from. After hanging him for three days to serve as a warning and deterrent, they handed him over to the Federation Police Department as a convenient favor.

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