Scripture Pavilion

A month later, deep in the night.

Ning Fa sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his hands constantly shifting through Hand Seals. Strands of Silver Lightning Thread roamed unpredictably across his body, the spectacle startling enough to lend him an unfathomable air.

After a long while, he opened his eyes, and the phenomenon around him vanished.

"Why is this happening?"

Ning Fa murmured, his expression somewhat grim.

Because of his injuries, he had not been assigned any alchemy tasks over the past month. He had devoted all his time to cultivation.

After the Thunder Rune Pattern within his body became complete, marvelous changes had occurred within him. His sensitivity to spiritual energy had become astonishing, and his cultivation efficiency was exceptionally high.

At first, the Mana within his body had indeed risen rapidly. Yet seven days ago, for some unknown reason, his Mana had ceased growing in the slightest.

Ordinarily, this should have meant he had reached the bottleneck of his current cultivation realm. Only after breaking through that bottleneck would the Mana in his body continue to increase.

But the problem was that Ning Fa could not sense the existence of any bottleneck whatsoever. Naturally, there was nothing for him to break through, which gave him quite a headache.

Ning Fa could not make sense of it. After all, his realm was too low, and this situation had already exceeded his comprehension.

"Looks like I can't put this off any longer. I should still go to the Scripture Pavilion and look for relevant texts, see if there are any clues."

Ning Fa muttered.

In truth, once the Thunder Rune Pattern had become complete, he had already realized that strange changes had occurred in his body. It was probably not as simple as merely having a Lightning Spiritual Root.

Setting everything else aside, his Thunderball Technique, which had been at the Minor Achievement stage, had directly risen to the Great Perfection stage, and he had even obtained a Perfected Technique Seal. That was simply inconceivable.

That was why he had long intended to visit the clan's Scripture Pavilion, to see whether any relevant ancient records existed.

The Ning Clan had been established for more than six hundred years. Over all those years, the Scripture Pavilion had amassed a vast collection of texts, including various cultivation techniques, talisman scriptures, alchemy scriptures, artifact scriptures, array manuals, and more. There were also quite a few ancient books among them.

Even the larger shops in Tianshui Market would find it difficult to possess such an abundant collection of texts. There might very well be records related to the Thunder Rune Pattern within.

Ning Fa had originally planned to visit the Scripture Pavilion a month ago, but he had been eager to cultivate and attempt to break through the Qi Condensation Mid-stage bottleneck, so he had not set out.

Now that he had encountered the predicament of being unable to advance his Mana an inch, he had no choice but to make a trip to the Scripture Pavilion and see whether he could obtain any clues there.

Unless it came to the point of no return, Ning Fa did not intend to tell the clan about the abnormality in his body.

The reason was still the existence of the Mysterious Scroll. He did not dare risk exposing it.

Early the next morning, Ning Fa took a spirit boat to Ningchang Island, the Ning Clan's ancestral grounds.

After all, the Scripture Pavilion was an important clan site, so it was naturally located within the ancestral grounds, where the guards were most stringent.

Standing at Ningchang Island's pier, he was met by pure, dense spiritual energy, while a towering mountain that pierced the clouds came into view.

This mountain was called Changning Mountain, its name signifying the enduring existence of the Ning Clan. It was the place on the island where spiritual energy was most concentrated, and most of the Ning Clan's core members lived upon it.

Not far away stood a bluestone plaza spanning over a thousand zhang. There were no other structures atop it, only a statue at its center, dozens of zhang tall, depicting a middle-aged man.

The statue was lifelike, its features sharply defined. The middle-aged cultivator's face was filled with majesty as he gazed into the distance, his eyes resolute and brimming with powerful confidence.

This man was Ning Kaiqian, ancestor of the Ning Clan.

It was said that the Ning Clan was not without roots, but had originated from a great cultivation family. For some unknown reason, Ning Kaiqian had led the members of his branch away from that family and come to the distant Thousand Wave Lake.

He had hacked a path through brambles and thorns to carve out a family fortune, laying a solid foundation for the Ning Clan's prosperity today.

And this ancestor's statue was not merely symbolic. It was also the Array Eye of Ningchang Island's Second-grade High-grade grand array, the Two Forms Subtle Origin Array. Once Ningchang Island came under attack, this statue would play an important role.

Looking at the somewhat familiar scene before him, Ning Fa could not help feeling sentimental.

His former self had lived here for five years. After being driven out, he had never returned, and another five or six years had passed since then.

"Kid, you've recovered from your injuries? What brings you to Ningchang Island?"

A familiar, booming voice rang out. A burly man built like an iron tower walked over and patted Ning Fa on the shoulder as he spoke.

"Uncle Lie."

The newcomer was Ning Zonglie, a friend of Ning Fa's father. He happened to be on guard duty at Ningchang Island today, and Ning Fa greeted him.

Uncle Lie had visited him when Ning Fa was unconscious. Ning Fa thanked him again. "Thank you for visiting me earlier, Uncle Lie. My injuries are mostly healed. I came here today to look for some texts in the Scripture Pavilion."

Ning Zonglie nodded. Then he glanced around and lowered his voice. "I heard that the Ninth Elder made a huge scene at the Elder Council, insisting that a Heart-Probing Talisman be used on Ning Zhen'an. It nearly left the Tenth Elder unable to save face. Although the Third Elder ultimately rejected the Ninth Elder's demand, Ning Zhen'an still received an extremely severe punishment. You kid won't have to worry about anyone daring to casually hurt you again."

Ning Fa was startled. He had known that Ning Zhen'an had been severely punished—Ning Zifeng had told him about it over the past month—but he did not know the details.

Only after hearing Ning Zonglie did he learn of the role the Ninth Elder had played. He could not help recalling Ning Shaohong's earlier words that she would seek justice for him.

He had not expected Ning Shaohong to go so far for his sake.

Ning Fa silently remembered this debt of gratitude. He was a man who clearly distinguished kindness from enmity. Since Ning Shaohong had helped him so much, he would repay her in the future.

Afterward, seeing Ning Zonglie bring up the old matter again and invite him to his home to meet his daughter Hu Niu, Ning Fa hurriedly fled.

When he arrived at the foot of Changning Mountain, Ning Fa took a white talisman from his Storage Bag. A small white crane was drawn on the palm-sized talisman.

As Ning Fa poured spiritual energy into it, the talisman bloomed with white light. Then, a white crane over a zhang in size appeared before him, lifelike in every detail.

This was a low-grade first-grade talisman, a Feathered Crane Talisman. It could conjure a feathered crane for riding through the air.

Compared to expensive Flying Artifacts, this Feathered Crane Talisman was much cheaper, costing only ten spirit stones.

However, it was very slow and lacked any protective restrictions, though it could fly over a hundred li.

Ning Fa rode the feathered crane and slowly flew up the mountain.

Before long, he reached a protruding platform halfway up the mountain, where a five-story pavilion stood.

Faintly visible was a glazed light barrier enclosing the entire pavilion. Amid the rising rosy light, a vague aura of danger seeped out. Clearly, this glazed light barrier was a formidable restriction.

Ning Fa put away the feathered crane, then took out his Alchemy Hall Token and lightly waved it toward the glazed light barrier.

A streak of azure light flew from the token and struck the glazed light barrier in a flash.

The rosy light on the surface of the barrier flared brightly, then rippled like water. A passage more than a person's height appeared within it.

Ning Fa entered the passage and soon stepped into the five-story pavilion. At the entrance, a middle-aged cultivator sat leisurely in a bamboo chair, reading a book.

However, judging from the scantily clad, seductive beauties on the cover, posed in intimate ways that stirred the imagination, it was probably not a respectable book.

The middle-aged cultivator read it without the slightest restraint, his feet propped on the table as he occasionally let out a lewd laugh.