The library was vast, with two floors. The sun had just risen when he entered, and warm sunlight streamed through the windows, casting irregular patches of light across the shelves, books, and tables.
Tap, tap, tap.
Su Ziyu walked straight up to the second floor.
He had already gone through every book on the first floor as a child. Most were literary or historical works, with little research value.
The second floor was even larger than the first. Su Ziyu entered the shelves, took a small detour, and arrived before an iron door.
This had been his grandfather's study while he was alive. His grandfather had always liked sitting in here alone, reading and sorting out work matters.
As far as Su Ziyu remembered, he had only ever caught a glimpse inside by sneaking a look while pretending to use the bathroom. That time, his grandfather had accidentally failed to shut the door, giving Su Ziyu the opportunity.
Back then, he had only seen a simple desk and several large shelves. The books on them were all wrapped in thick covers and looked exceedingly valuable.
As he approached the iron door, Su Ziyu frowned. His shadow seemed to grow restless, revealing a red eye that flashed and vanished in an instant.
Su Ziyu caught the scent of danger, and his nerves immediately tightened. He placed a hand on the doorknob and gave it a slight turn. Dark matter moved like a nimble key, stirring twice within the old lock cylinder. With two clicks, the door opened inward on its own, releasing a teeth-grating creak that came only from something left unused for too long.
The air was filled with the sour stench of rotting vegetable leaves soaked for days. Su Ziyu's nose twitched. He also caught another unusual scent—a faint trace of blood.
The room was roughly thirty square meters. Shelves lined the walls, every compartment packed with thick books of various colors. Some seemed to have been read, their pages visibly creased. Others were like imperial concubines neglected by the emperor, coated in a thin layer of dust.
Behind that row of shelves stood a wooden desk. Various hefty books lay on it, several spread open. Ink, a fountain pen, and a yellowed ancient tome sat in one corner. The chair was blocked by the last row of shelves, making its exact shape impossible to see.
The room remained dark. Su Ziyu could not find the light switch; he had observed all of this through the All-Seeing True Eye.
Clearly, someone was still using this study!
His grandfather was already dead, so it could not possibly have been him. Then could it be the eldest master his aunt-by-marriage had mentioned?
Su Ziyu gradually tensed up and walked toward the desk step by step. He remained alert throughout, one hand in his pocket, ready to summon the Dread Demon Eye. The scarlet solitary eye within his shadow flickered as the Void Shadow Beast quietly merged into the room's shadows.
After only a few steps, Su Ziyu finally reached the desk. Looking into what had previously been a blind spot, his eyes widened at once.
A shriveled old man sat in the chair. Beneath a ragged black robe was a body so thin it was little more than skin and bones. His head, seemingly devoid of flesh, hung eternally low, while his deeply sunken eye sockets appeared to be reading something.
This was beyond Su Ziyu's expectations. He had thought some powerful Beyonder would appear here, yet it was actually a corpse that looked as though it had been dead for many years...
He did not let his guard down. Stepping past the corpse-like body, he looked at what it was reading. It was a book with slightly yellowed edges, filled with incomprehensible symbols and writing used exclusively by sorcerers. With only a brief glance, Su Ziyu noticed several striking words within.
He could vaguely make out words such as Morning Star, advancement, ritual, potion, and spiritual Awakening...
His brows rose slightly. The skeletal old man was reading a secret tome on advancing to Morning Star!
Above the Awakening level was Morning Star.
Why were so many Beyonders unable to advance to Morning Star? Partly because the Morning Star Tier threshold was indeed high, requiring considerable comprehension. But a much larger reason was that the methods of advancing to Morning Star had never been made widely public!
This seemed to be intentional on the Federation's part. As a result, many independent Beyonders had no way of obtaining a method to advance to Morning Star, which was also why so many humans chose to join cults.
After all, cultists could use all kinds of bizarre sacrificial rituals to pray to the evil gods they worshipped for the power to advance to Morning Star. Some ancient sects also possessed records of methods for advancing to Morning Star.
Just as expected, Grandfather had left behind a method for advancing to Morning Star!
That yellowed ancient book was right before him!
Suppressing his excitement, Su Ziyu reached out for the book. The moment he pulled his hand back, his pupils abruptly contracted. His shoulders dropped as he nimbly dodged an attack from a bony hand, only to find himself facing a wrinkled face and two eyeballs that showed nothing but whites.
Hiss...
Su Ziyu retreated two steps as a familiar feeling welled up inside him. This old man—or rather, this skeleton—felt familiar, as if they had met before.
"Give it back to me!"
The bony old man spoke. His lips were dry and shriveled like tree bark, without a single visible tooth. It was nearly impossible to tell whether he was still human or some kind of monster.
Su Ziyu calmed down as well. His gaze lingered on the old man's face for several seconds before he took a deep breath and said evenly,
"Second Granduncle, you... you're still alive?"
Su Ziyu recognized him. He understood where that sense of familiarity had come from. This old man, so thin that he was little more than skin and bones, was actually his second granduncle, Su Jingtian!
This sorcerer, whose name had once shocked the world, had spent his entire life stuck at the threshold of Morning Star.
In the end, he had vanished from public view with the strength of a Half-Step Morning Star.
Su Ziyu had heard that the old man had died. So he had not died at all, but hidden in Grandfather's study, apparently researching a way to advance to Morning Star?
Thinking back, after Grandfather died, his second granduncle had also disappeared in almost the same year. The timeline matched.
Su Ziyu looked at Su Jingtian, his expression solemn. Su Jingtian had already possessed the strength of a Half-Step Morning Star back then. By now, he had likely entered the Morning Star Tier!
Moreover, Su Ziyu could smell a power from him that differed from that of a Morning Star. It carried the signs of distortion and corruption!
Just like Su Mingyi's family!
Most likely, this second granduncle of his had also been corrupted by some ghastly thing!
A corrupted Morning Star Tier powerhouse!
Just thinking about it made Su Ziyu's scalp tingle.
Before you continue