Dongyuan Sect, Inner Sect Library.
Not long after Song Yan left, an utterly unremarkable figure in gray robes stepped out of the stream of disciples traveling along the mountain path, as though appearing from thin air.
The man looked exceedingly ordinary, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, dressed in a coarse gray robe washed pale, with even a few flecks of dust on his shoulders.
His presence was so faint it was almost nonexistent.
Were he not seen with one's own eyes, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator sweeping past with Divine Sense would instinctively overlook him, as though he were merely a stubborn rock or a piece of rotten wood.
An utterly ordinary mortal.
His pace was unhurried, yet each step carried him several yards toward the Scripture Repository's entrance.
Truly wondrous.
At the busy entrance, the disciple on duty was chatting and laughing with several familiar fellow disciples who had come to borrow books, utterly oblivious to the gray-robed figure passing straight through.
The man entered the Library Tower as though no one were there. The Inner Sect disciples moving about and conversing in low voices seemed entirely unable to sense his existence.
Their bodies unconsciously shifted to leave a small gap as he approached, yet their gazes never lingered on him for an instant.
He continued straight ahead and ascended the stairs to the upper floors without stopping.
The stairways leading to the fourth and fifth floors were not deserted. Two late Qi Refining stage guards stood on either side, scrutinizing every disciple who passed before them.
Except this man.
As the gray-robed figure approached, the two guards' eyes grew somewhat dazed and bewildered.
Their bodies instinctively turned slightly aside, allowing the gray shadow to pass soundlessly between them.
They unconsciously rubbed their eyes, having experienced a brief lapse