Heading to the Library

"Ancient One, you old hag! You're fighting dirty again! Fuck..."

With that furious shout, Xiahou landed in front of Uncle Mads.

Uncle Mads stared speechlessly at Xiahou, who had suddenly dropped in front of him. Hearing what he had just shouted, Uncle Mads knew he had angered the Sorcerer Supreme again.

"Xiahou! How did you make the teacher angry again? And you should show her some respect!"

Hearing Uncle Mads's question, Xiahou said unhappily, "How is that my fault? We were just having tea! I only asked her if she was plotting something against me, and she threw me out! When she dies in a few years, I'm going to hold a three-day, three-night feast right here to celebrate!"

But the moment he finished speaking, a small portal appeared above his head. A hand reached out and smacked him hard on the forehead with a fan, knocking him straight to the ground, then withdrew.

Ancient One's voice came through at the same time. "Didn't I tell you I can hear you bad-mouthing me? Stop talking behind my back all day!"

Lying on the ground, Xiahou gave her two middle fingers to express his displeasure!

Uncle Mads watched from the side, his heart pounding. Xiahou had only been hit once after saying something like that. It seemed the teacher really did value him.

After making sure Ancient One was no longer paying attention to them, Uncle Mads hurriedly helped Xiahou up and whispered, "I told you to show the teacher some respect. Got yourself punished, didn't you?"

Xiahou rubbed the bump on his head and complained disdainfully, "Respect my ass! Respect! If I could beat her, I'd definitely have a proper fight with her! Show her the terror of the Fourth Scourge!"

Seeing that Xiahou didn't think he was wrong at all, Uncle Mads said no more about it. He only asked, "The teacher just told me to look after you, but what are you planning to do here? You can't learn magic anyway!"

Xiahou was displeased the moment he heard that. What did he mean, he couldn't learn magic?

"Who says I can't? Take me to the library. I'll look for myself! If I can't learn it, I won't come out!" With that, he grabbed Uncle Mads and pulled him along.

As Xiahou dragged him along, Uncle Mads said quietly, "Wrong way. It's on the other side."

Xiahou... "Why didn't you say so earlier? I don't know my way around!"

When they arrived at the library, the librarian wasn't Wong yet, but an old Asian man with white hair and a white beard.

After going over to speak with him, Uncle Mads said to Xiahou, "This is Master Levi. He's been looking after the library for over thirty years. Xiahou, show him some respect!"

Xiahou nodded, then gave the mage a fist-and-palm salute and said, "Hello, Master Levi! My name is Xiahou. I've come to read some magic books. Sorry to trouble you!"

Master Levi smiled in reply. "Look around as you please. If there's anything you don't understand, you can come and ask me. Some of the forbidden magic books have seals on them, though, so you might not be able to read them!"

Xiahou replied, "That's fine. I can't study books that profound anyway. I know my own limits!"

Uncle Mads stared, dumbfounded. Was this really the same Xiahou who had dared to talk back to the Sorcerer Supreme as soon as he arrived? Had someone possessed him?

After Xiahou and Master Levi exchanged a few more compliments, Xiahou was about to look for a book he could understand when he noticed Uncle Mads was still watching him from the side.

"Uncle Mads! You haven't left yet? Why are you staring at me? I'm going to read. I don't have time to play with you!"

Uncle Mads...

Fine! I'll leave. Without another word to Xiahou, he turned and walked straight out.

The library had two floors, and at the back of the first floor was a closed stone door. It was covered in magical patterns and gave off a faint glow.

Xiahou looked at the door, stroking his chin. He thought that was probably where the Eye of Agamotto was kept, but Ancient One seemed to have been wearing it these past few days, so it was probably empty inside.

He picked a bookshelf at random and took out a magic book that caught his eye. Its title was Astral Projection Manual. But when he opened it, he found that it was entirely about out-of-body experiences during astral projection. It divided a person into the physical, etheric, astral, mental, and spiritual bodies. Astral projection referred to "traveling" (Astral Travel) outside the physical body in dreams or after training.

But after leafing through the whole thing, Xiahou thought, What is all this? I'm a lousy student. I can't understand any of it!

After putting the book back, he took another from beside it. The title was The Key of Solomon. He had heard of this book, though he had never read it, so he eagerly flipped through its contents. It was a book about various magic circles, but the circles were far too profound.

Xiahou thought, I'm just not cut out to study something this profound, and stuffed it back. After looking through more than ten other books, including The Doors of Perception, the Book of Cagliostro, and the Copy of the Book of Vishanti, he gave up.

Then he started complaining. "What is all this stuff? Understanding space, insights into multiple dimensions, and so on. It even involves constructing multidimensional images! Anyone who can learn this must be a scientist or a scholar, right? I'm just a lousy student with an associate degree. There's no way I can understand something this profound!"

Levi watched Xiahou cursing to himself, then walked over and asked, "What's wrong, Xiahou? Is there something you don't understand? Tell me about it. Maybe I can explain it for you?"

Xiahou's face reddened, and his voice grew much quieter, like a lousy student called on by the teacher to answer a question.

He spoke timidly. "I don't understand any of it! Is there any hope for me?"

Levi... How did he get in here?

But he still steeled himself and asked, "Is it the writing in these books that you can't read?"

Xiahou's voice grew even quieter. "I can read all the words. I just can't understand what they mean!"

Levi... I shouldn't have come over and asked. And how can you recognize all the words but not understand what they mean? These books were written in at least ten different languages!

If Xiahou had known what he was thinking, he probably would have proudly replied, I'm using a cheat!

Levi didn't know how to answer Xiahou, either. He simply sighed and walked back to his place, shaking his head.

Xiahou watched Levi walk away and screamed inwardly, Wait, are you just going to ignore me now?

He looked at the books around him again and, refusing to give up, flipped through another ten or so. Then he confirmed one thing: his intelligence really wasn't up to being a mage. He decided to accept his fate.

As he walked out of the library, Xiahou kept staring at Master Levi, hoping he would say, "I have a magic book here that's suitable for you," and save him.

But even when Xiahou reached the door, the old mage didn't dare look up and meet his eyes. Instead, he lowered his head even further, as though there were something in the magic book before him that required close examination.

To spare them both further embarrassment, Xiahou silently walked out of the library. Only when he saw the star-filled night sky did he realize he had spent the entire day there.

After breathing out the frustration in his chest, Xiahou looked up at the sky full of stars again and shouted inwardly, So what if I can't learn it? I'll just buy other people's experience from the shop and come back to show off in front of you all! If that doesn't work, I'll just focus on being a warrior! I'm not jealous at all!

Then he headed toward the dining hall. He was hungry!