Xiao Yu and Xiao Yan were both exceptionally promising talents. Yet no matter how good a sapling was, without a gardener's diligent cultivation, it could still grow crooked. Even Hu Gan deeply admired the teacher who had produced students like Xiao Yu and Xiao Yan.
Anyone capable of nurturing two such students was naturally no ordinary person.
"Since you're all here, I won't waste words." Hu Gan rose from his chair and walked over to them, smiling as he said, "You are the top five in this year's competition. Next, you may enter the Library Pavilion to select Dou Techniques. Follow me."
Afterward, Hu Gan walked to the wall behind him and casually slapped it a few times. A low rumbling sound arose, and a pitch-black passage appeared before everyone's eyes.
"Follow me!" Hu Gan waved at them and took the lead into the passage. The others promptly followed. Once everyone had entered, another rumble sounded, and the office returned to silence as the passage vanished from sight once more.
After entering the passage, they discovered that massive luminous pearls were embedded in the walls, brightly illuminating the corridor. The five followed Hu Gan without speaking, and the atmosphere was somewhat stifling. After walking for about half an hour, they finally reached the end of the passage.
The moment they stepped out of the passage, the blinding white light forced them to close their eyes. After adjusting for a while, they opened them and saw a vast hollow within a mountain valley. The steep cliffs around them stretched endlessly upward, their ends nowhere in sight. Before them lay an immensely broad clearing, where a huge, ancient-looking pavilion stood.
Xiao Yu's gaze slowly swept across the pavilion. On an ancient plaque, three weathered and somewhat blurred characters faintly emerged.
Library Pavilion!