Book 2 - Fame Spreads - Chapter 10 - The Library

With a gloomy face and an anxious heart, He Yiming walked out of the underground training room.
Ever since his fortuitous encounter in the lake, this was the first time he’d felt such indecisiveness and loss.
At this moment, that askew disdainful gaze and that extreme confidence seemed to have completely disappeared, and the future seemed to be indistinct and despairing.
If one possesses a certain strength and is habitual of using it, when this strength is suddenly taken away from him, the shock it imparts is simply incomparable.
In any case, He Yiming was still a fifteen year old youngster. Although his strength already stood at the peak of the Tai Cang county, to this day, he’d never felt too satisfied with it.
However, the truth is cruel. When he discovered that he couldn’t use his special body to break through anymore, the intense disappointment he felt could cause anyone to sink in despair.
At this moment, he once again seemed to have turned into a fifteen year old youngster, who had no confidence regarding his future at all.
He left his courtyard and strolled around- unsure of where his future path lied.
Unwittingly, he arrived before a courtyard. Faintly startled, he discovered that he’d arrived outside the Book Pavilion’s courtyard.
He bitterly smiled inwardly. So, even subconsciously, he felt unresigned.
However, he knew that before finding out the crux of the problem, regardless of how many more techniques he cultivated, he would not be able to make the breakthrough.
“How are you, Yiming?” A familiar voice came from his back.
He Yiming faintly started before thinking how could he hear this voice here?
Turning around, he astoundedly asked, “Eldest uncle, how come you’re here?”
He Quanxin arrogantly laughed and said, “You tell me.”
Although his mind was thoughts were somewhat clouded, He Yiming had not lost his spiritual sense. After a few careful glances, his eyes slightly brightened as he said, “Congratulations eldest uncle, on attaining the peak, tenth layer.”
He Quanxin heartily laughed, unable to hide how proud he felt. However, his happiness only lived for a few moments until he discovered that He Yiming before him seemed quite different than as always.
If one were to say that He Yiming usually seemed full of liveliness and confidence, today, he seemed quite listless, not far from resembling a stray dog.
The immensity of these two changes were completely out of He Quanxin’s imagination. He could never have thought that in merely half a year, he would successfully cross the bottleneck of the ninth layer, and on the other hand, He Yiming would lose so much confidence and become so listless.
His chest tightened. He knew that for a cultivator habitual of continuous successes, how catastrophic a loss of confidence could be.
“Yiming, has something happened in the family?”
“No,” He Yiming thought for a bit. He himself didn’t know for sure as he’d spent all of the last six months in his training room and had not been involved in other affairs.
He Quanxin lowered his voice, “Then, did you run into some trouble while cultivating?”
He Yiming hesitated a bit before nodding.
“What trouble? Can you discuss with me?” He Quanxin slowly said.
Currently, he stood at the tenth layer of Internal Energy. His confidence had increased by hundred folds compared to past. Regardless of what troubles He Yiming had, he felt confident to give a few pointers.
He Yiming’s face revealed a bitter smile. He was not looking down on his eldest uncle at all, rather the trouble he’d encountered was such that there might not be a single individual under the heavens who could guide him.
He Yiming shook his head and declined. Although his tone was soft, it contained resolute rejection.
He Quanxin didn’t feel anger, but a headache. Although this nephew of his is a peerless genius, but also extremely obstinate- regarding cultivation in particular. He’d always tried to work his way around by himself and had never consulted any elder of the family.
Being confident was quite good, but being excessively obstinate was not.
However, he’d no way of insisting He Yiming.
After thinking for a while, his gaze turned towards the Book Pavilion as he suddenly said, “Yiming, although training hard is a must, sometimes, reading the accounts of our senior’s experiences is also quite beneficial. If you’ve encountered some trouble in your cultivation and can’t make up your mind, why don’t you check some of these books?”
He Yiming’s eyes brightened a bit. His eldest uncle’s words had merit. If there were accounts of Xiantian realm seniors and they contained information regarding how they break through into the Xiantian realm, it might prove beneficial to the current him.
He Yiming turned his head and went in, but immediately stopped afterwards.
“Eldest uncle, if I remember correctly, there are no such books in the Book Pavilion?”
Indeed. Although he’d not visited the Book Pavilion too many times, all the scriptures inside had already been browsed by him.
Although he didn’t remember with extreme clarity, he could say quite certainly that the Book Pavilion had no written-accounts type of books.
All the bookshelves contained the scriptures of the five-phases, and such books wouldn’t likely be mixed among these.
He Quanxin chuckled, “Yiming, previously, some matters could only be told to you after you have grown into an adult. However, now, there is no harm in telling you.”
After saying these words, he turned around and started walking, “Come with me.”
After a slight hesitation, He Yiming immediately followed.
After a short while, leading He Yiming, He Quanxin entered the grand courtyard. He then entered He Wude’s residence, said a few lines before calling for He Yiming to enter.
As He Yiming entered, He Wude carefully inspected him for a while before feeling alarmed inwardly.
A few moments ago, when He Quanxin had told him, he’d not completely believed the latter. However, at this moment, he felt certain that something was amiss with this grandson of his.
He didn’t inquire. Since He Quanxin had already failed, he wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything either.
Nodding at He Quanxin, He Wude walked to a bookshelf in the room.
He seemed to be moving an exceedingly frail looking porcelain bottle in the shelf. After a few moments, a series of cracking sounds came out from the wall behind.
The gigantic bookshelf opened up from the two sides, revealing a huge, dark entrance.
The Lord Master entered while feeling the side of the entrance. He then took out an already prepared fire torch from inside. From his actions, one could easily tell that he’d done this many times in the past.
He Yiming’s eyes brightened with curiosity. He’d no idea that his grandfather’s room contained such a secret entrance.
“Yiming, in the manor, Quanxin and Laibao are the only two individuals who know about this. Currently, you are the third.” He Wude said in a lowered tone, “Keep in mind, don’t tell anyone else.”
He Yiming promptly nodded and realized even his father and third uncle weren’t aware of this.
Not too long after He Wude stepped down the stairs while holding the torch, they entered an underground room with an unusual composition.
This underground room was not a training room, but a huge book cellar.
The cellar’s atmosphere seemed rather dull, and each book within seemed to be stored with meticulous care.
He Yiming glanced at He Wude only to see latter smilingly nodding at him. He stepped forward and browsed through the books for a few moments before immediately realizing that the large part of these books constituted the original editions of the books in the Book Pavilion.
Suddenly, he found a dense book, which was precisely the [Splitting Mountain Thirty-Six Forms] short of three forms.
This book had not been showcased in the outer Book Pavilion, but was included here. This surprised He Yiming a bit.
He Wude lit the two fire torches which had already been prepared beforehand, and the room immediately brightened a lot.
He Yiming didn’t feel any change at all. After looking for a bit, he’d found that apart from the Xiantian technique, most of the scriptures could be find in the outer pavilion. However, the main attraction here was not scriptures, but ten other books which seemed to be written accounts of somebody’s insights and experiences.
As he flipped through these, he immediately determined that these books covered everything- from experiences regarding how to attack every layer’s bottleneck in Houtian realm, to a detailed description of the Xiantian realm.
However, with He Yiming’s insight, he could tell that these books were copies, not the originals. However, despite this being the case, these books were extremely rare. At the very least, these were much more precious that those ordinary techniques’ scriptures, and thus, had been placed together with the Xiantian battle skill.
His hand slightly caressed the book in his hand. This book had no mention of its writer. However, it had a detailed account of the author’s experience of breaking through every layer, and of course, most importantly, it contained information regarding how to breakthrough into the Xiantian realm.
To He Yiming, this book was priceless.
“Yiming, you can stay here till tomorrow,” He Wude gravely said, “In the future, if you want to read here, feel free to do so at any time, but not for more than a day.”
He Yiming profoundly bowed and said, “Yes.”
He Wude nodded with satisfaction and left with He Quanxin.
After leaving the room, He Quanxin asked with some hesitation, “Father, you saw He Yiming’s appearance….”
He Wude skeptically said, “I believe He Yiming had attained the ninth layer’s peak.”
“So quickly?” He Quanxin said with astonishment all over his face. To attain the ninth layer’s peak since he attained the ninth layer, he’d spent an entire eight years.
He Wude faintly smiled and said, “Extraordinary individuals exhibits extraordinary deeds. Yiming’s talent is not something you can fathom.”
Inwardly, he felt a little complacent but also a little anxious. However, he could never have imagined that he’d still been vastly underestimating his grandson.