As Fang Shu left the desk and reached the staircase, a figure happened to come up from below.
The two met face-to-face. Though they had not actually bumped into each other, both wore surprised expressions.
Few people came here.
Although the other man found Fang Shu unfamiliar, he still smiled and cupped his hands in greeting.
Fang Shu returned the gesture, apologetic, then hurried past.
After Fang Shu had gone some distance, the man strolled to the center of the floor. With a casual glance, he spotted a classic Fang Shu had left pressed beneath the books on the desk, along with several volumes stacked beside it.
Curious, the man examined them for a few moments and found that Fang Shu's reading was quite varied, yet none of it was of a low level. Every volume was among the finest texts on the ninth floor.
This piqued his interest.
One had to know that the ninth floor was unlike the other floors, which had disciples or stewards responsible for organizing the classics.
All the books here were merely arranged roughly according to nine categories. Those who came to borrow them had to rely entirely on their own eye to find what suited them.
Moreover, the finest books on the ninth floor were often the most obscure and difficult texts in the entire Scripture Repository.
He is quite an interesting fellow, the man thought, intending to make Fang Shu's acquaintance when he returned.
Elsewhere.
After leaving the Scripture Repository, Fang Shu followed the instructions previously sent by the Hall of Miscellaneous Affairs and flew straight to a famous plaza within the Immortal Prefecture.
Before long, a mountaintop appeared before him, its upper half sliced away from the mountainside while the lower half remained.
It covered a vast area, seemingly ten thousand