Xiao Hua followed the female Foundation Establishment cultivator through the palace gates, then headed straight into a great hall. Inside were numerous female cultivators dressed in colorful robes, their voices like orioles and swallows. Whenever they saw Xiao Hua enter, they pointed at him curiously and whispered among themselves. A warm smile rested on Xiao Hua's face. He did not avoid their gazes, and his faint yet confident eyes swept across the women's faces.
Just like in Dry Thunder Palace, the Library Pavilion was also located within the great hall. As Xiao Hua walked on, the female cultivators around him gradually grew fewer. The occasional ones he encountered were all Foundation Establishment cultivators! Several Golden Core cultivators even passed by indifferently, making Xiao Hua respectfully step aside and offer them salutes.
After walking for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, they unexpectedly arrived in a garden. The garden was enormous, filled with all manner of strange spirit herbs and spirit trees. At its center lay a pond roughly thirty zhang wide, its blue-green waters rippling beneath a blanket of lotus leaves. Amid the sea of emerald green, a single graceful lotus stood proudly in the middle of the pond!
The female Foundation Establishment cultivator walked to the pond's edge and stopped. With a wave of her hand, both the Sect Master Token and Xiao Hua's token flew into the lotus.
"Ah? Could it be... this lotus is the path to the Library Pavilion?" Xiao Hua was astonished. It had never even occurred to him.
Sure enough, not long after the two tokens fell into the lotus, a wave of spiritual energy flickered. The verdant surface of the entire pond began to tremble, then boil. As the lotus leaves rose and fell, the pond water let out