After leaving North Cliff Market, Chu Mo headed straight for the Scripture Repository.
The Scripture Repository's keeper was still the old man surnamed Li. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes the moment he saw Chu Mo; clearly, he still remembered him.
"Senior Brother Li." Chu Mo cupped his hands in greeting and handed over his updated Outer Disciple Identity Token.
The old man surnamed Li took the token and examined it carefully. Once he confirmed that everything was in order, the surprise in his eyes deepened. Yet he said nothing, merely giving Chu Mo a long look before waving him upstairs.
As Chu Mo stepped onto the Scripture Repository's second floor, the space opened up before him. The interior was far more expansive than it appeared from outside, evidently the work of some spatial expansion technique.
Rows of spiritwood shelves stood in neat ranks, their categories clearly marked: [Yin-Yang Secret Records], [Pills, Talismans, Artifacts, and Formations], [Essentials of the Dao], [Heterodox Arts], [Miscellaneous Tales and Strange Accounts]... the selection was extensive.
Chu Mo paused to look around and discovered that every medium bearing a text-whether a jade slip or a book-was enclosed within a soft barrier of light.
Descriptions of the corresponding texts floated across the barriers' surfaces, along with the number of Spell Coins required to obtain them. Only after the appropriate payment would a barrier open and allow access.
With security this tight, are they afraid someone will seize the texts by force? He felt a little disappointed. It seemed getting something for nothing was impossible. Shaking his head, he headed toward the cultivation scripture section.
He soon found the continuation of the Dawncloud One-Qi Profound Cavern Scripture. Astonishingly, its listed price was nine hundred Spell Coins.
"So expensive?" Chu Mo could not help clicking his tongue. Fortunately, he had picked up enough Storage Bags in the Savage Realm. Otherwise, he could only have stared helplessly at it or sought a loan from the Upper Mound Commerce Association.
The expense made his heart ache. Taking a deep breath, he nevertheless paid decisively.
The barrier rippled like water, silently swallowing nine hundred Spell Coins before dissipating to reveal the cultivation scripture's jade slip within.
With the scripture in hand, Chu Mo had no desire to linger. After also repaying the thirty-Spell-Coin spiritual debt he had previously incurred, he left the Scripture Repository and returned straight to his new cave abode.
Seated cross-legged on the stone bed, Chu Mo held the jade slip and stirred his will.
["Dawncloud One-Qi Profound Cavern Scripture: Continuation" learned]
A vast torrent of information instantly flooded his mind. It contained not only detailed circulation routes for the fourth through tenth levels of Qi Refining, but also a special legacy-[Profound Cavern Roselight].
Chu Mo's pupils trembled slightly as he carefully absorbed this legacy. According to the scripture, [Profound Cavern Roselight] was the signature ability of the Dawncloud One-Qi Profound Cavern Scripture, as well as one of the key reasons it ranked as a high-grade Spirit cultivation scripture.
A cultivator had to compress and refine their pure Dawncloud True Qi through a unique method, transforming it into a brilliant ray of rosy light capable of dispelling evil, protecting the body, and slaying demons.
This rosy light combined offense and defense, changing at the wielder's will. Its power depended on the quality of the cultivator's true qi. The firmer their foundation and the more abundant their true qi, the more formidable the [Profound Cavern Roselight] they refined would become.
As expected of a high-grade Spirit cultivation scripture. It even has something this wondrous, Chu Mo marveled inwardly. The contents he had obtained before had indeed been a severely gutted version.
He suppressed the urge to try cultivating [Profound Cavern Roselight] immediately. His most pressing task was to switch to the scripture's continuation, consolidating and improving his cultivation.
Chu Mo calmed his mind and stilled his breath, slowly circulating his qi according to the newly acquired routes.
The mistlike true qi in his dantian flowed in response, traveling along a more intricate and profound network of meridians. With each complete circuit, it grew a little more condensed.
["Dawncloud One-Qi Profound Cavern Scripture" experience +1]
Accompanied by the occasional notification, he sank fully into cultivation.
On the Scripture Repository's first floor, Jiang Yunya still wore his gentle smile as he promoted his services to the ten new disciples gathered around him:
"...Junior brothers, having only just entered an immortal sect, you're bound to be short of resources. As your senior, I'm willing to act as guarantor and secure each of you a hundred-Spell-Coin 'cultivation scripture loan' from the Upper Mound Commerce Association, with a term of one year. For just a tiny bit of interest, you can..."
Before he could finish, an aged voice came from beside him. "Junior Brother Jiang, come over here for a word."
Jiang Yunya looked at the old man in surprise. He first addressed the new disciples gently. "Junior brothers and sisters, take a little time to consider it."
Then he turned, walked over to the old man surnamed Li, and cupped his hands. "What can I do for you, Senior Brother Li?"
"Junior Brother Jiang, do you remember a newly admitted disciple named Chu Mo who first entered the sect under your guidance several months ago?"
A month later.
Chu Mo slowly opened his eyes. Rosy light flashed through them and vanished, while the hazy spiritual energy surrounding him gradually settled. His aura was considerably more robust than before his seclusion.
He opened his palm and stirred his will. A strand of brilliant rosy light emerged from its center, roughly a foot long, shimmering with flowing colors and almost solid.
[Profound Cavern Roselight]
"Go." He flicked a finger, and the rosy light shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow, heading straight for a half-person-high boulder ahead.
There was no earth-shaking crash. The rosy light passed silently through the boulder, leaving a hole that pierced it from front to back. Immediately afterward, the boulder rapidly melted outward from the hole, turning into a wisp of blue smoke and dissipating in the blink of an eye.
A look of satisfaction flashed through Chu Mo's eyes.
He activated his true qi again. This time, the rosy light did not leave him, but swiftly spread out before him, forming a halo of light that sheltered him behind it.
Next, a Golden Baleful Bone-Piercing Art struck the halo. With a faint ting, the golden radiance dispersed. The screen of light merely wavered, returning to normal once the ripples passed.
"Offense and defense in one-truly wondrous!"
Chu Mo withdrew the rosy light and stretched. He planned to buy some talisman paper and study Master Liu's final legacy.
Rumble...
The stone door had barely opened when a Voice Transmission Talisman suddenly flew into the cave abode.
[Junior Brother Chu, I heard that you've been promoted to the outer sect and made great strides in your cultivation. As your senior brother, I'm deeply pleased. Might you have time to visit my cave abode? There is an important matter I'd like to discuss.]
A familiar voice came from the Spirit Talisman, and Chu Mo immediately recognized it as Jiang Yunya's.
His gaze sharpened slightly. He had had little contact with this Senior Brother Jiang. Why had the man sent him a message?
Could it be because of Liu Xian's death? That shouldn't be. Liu Xian died without leaving a trace-not even his soul remained. Besides, so much time has passed. Who would know I did it?
After pondering for a moment, Chu Mo did not reply immediately. With a sweep of his sleeve, a small black banner, the [Profound Scenery Refining Truth Banner], appeared in his hand.
He gave it a gentle shake, summoning a somewhat insubstantial soul bearing a cold, sinister aura. It was Mu Yun.
[Level 3 · Weak Yin Spirit]
Mu Yun's soul was a little more solid than before, evidently having received some nourishment within the soul banner. Upon seeing Chu Mo, it immediately lowered its head respectfully. "Senior Brother Chu."
Chu Mo looked at it and asked directly, "Mu Yun, I remember you used to work for Jiang Yunya. How much do you know about him?"
Mu Yun's soul trembled slightly, and it answered cautiously, "In answer to your question, Senior Brother, Senior Brother Jiang... Jiang Yunya is quite well known among the Outer Disciples,
"But... but most of that reputation comes from the person backing him."