As Li Guanqi stepped into the Scripture Pavilion, he still felt a trace of bewilderment.
Why would an exceptionally powerful, reclusive master sit brazenly right at the entrance of the Scripture Pavilion?
And the sweeper whom he had taken for a hidden expert had turned out to be truly crippled.
The pavilion's interior vaulted extraordinarily high, and the air was remarkably dry. Some method had clearly been used to keep dampness from ruining the cultivation manuals.
The ground floor was vast and open, filled with densely arranged bookshelves, each bearing a label indicating the category of cultivation techniques it held. At the moment, however, only a scattered dozen disciples were browsing among them.
When he climbed to the second floor, he noticed an immediate and sharp drop in the number of books. There were only a scattered dozen shelves, with a mere two or three people present—one of whom happened to be the senior brother who had struck up a conversation with him earlier.
The moment the young man saw Li Guanqi, he waved warmly and called out with a smile, "Junior Brother! There are several quite decent lightning-attribute manuals over here. They're high-grade Yellow-rank techniques, perfectly suited for you."
Li Guanqi pointed upstairs with a sheepish smile. "Thank you, Senior Brother, but I'm heading to the third floor."
The senior brother's hand froze in midair. He had painstakingly saved sect contribution points for well over a year before scraping together the fifteen hundred needed to come up to the second floor. The third floor required a minimum of three thousand!
Perhaps sensing his confusion, Li Guanqi hastily added, "Senior Brother, you misunderstand. I don't have that many points."
Hearing that, the young man's expression relaxed into a smile, and he murmured, "I was going to say! Junior Brother only just entered the sect—how could you possibly have enough points to go straight to the third floor? The better techniques on the first floor only cost three to five hundred points and are quite good as well, whereas the second floor requires at least a thousand. You can take a look down in the southeast corner."
Li Guanqi really did not want to crush the senior brother's spirits, seeing how enthusiastic the young man was. Helpless, he shrugged and confessed, "The Sect Master made an exception and permitted me to go up and choose."
Their conversation had long drawn the attention of the few others present. When the disciples heard this, they turned one after another to look at the Tianmu Peak disciple.
The grown young man stood there with teary eyes, biting his lower lip, watching the departing silhouette climb the stairs with a gaze dripping with grievance.
Just as Li Guanqi stepped onto the third floor, a curtain of light barred his path. Fluorite overhead cast a gentle radiance down onto the jade slip hanging at his waist. Once his identity was verified, a gap opened in the barrier, and Li Guanqi walked through onto the third floor.
When he arrived, he was thoroughly astonished.
There was not a single bookshelf on the entire third floor. The vast, empty expanse held only countless streaks of spiritual light darting wildly through the air.
What was more, another person was already there.
It was a slender youth of striking good looks, whose head of golden hair was particularly eye-catching. He was none other than a fellow disciple who had entered the sect in the same batch as Li Guanqi!
The youth possessed sword-like brows, starry eyes, and sharp, sculpted features, with a prominent mole on the bridge of his nose that gave his entire demeanor a slightly alluring, uncanny edge.
A flicker of surprise crossed the youth's eyes. Evidently, he had not expected anyone else to reach the third floor at this time either.
He strolled over to Li Guanqi and said with a light chuckle, "Greetings. Tianjin Peak, Ye Feng."
Looking at the handsome youth, Li Guanqi could not help rubbing his nose, thinking to himself, *So flamboyant... This fellow must be wildly popular among the female disciples over on Tianshui Peak.*
Even as the thought crossed his mind, Li Guanqi returned the smile and replied, "Tianlei Peak, Li Guanqi."
Ye Feng chuckled. "I've heard of you. A saint-grade spiritual root—I truly envy that. Even though I awakened a king-grade spiritual root, I was tested right after you and didn't make the slightest splash."
Li Guanqi smiled on the outside while inwardly curling his lip. This fellow clearly loved the spotlight; coming right after him during the spiritual root test, the crowd probably hadn't thought much of it.
Ye Feng then pointed at the spiritual lights darting across the air. "Care for a wager to see who can catch a higher-grade technique?"
Li Guanqi had no idea where the other boy's sudden competitive drive came from, but he figured, *Nothing better to do anyway, so why not?*
"Sure, let's do it."
Ye Feng's eyes lit up at the response. With a wave of his hand, he produced over a hundred low-grade spirit stones. Looking back at Li Guanqi, he smiled and remarked, "My talent still falls far short compared to yours, but I've already sensed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. I should be able to draw qi into my body tonight."
Li Guanqi's eyes flickered, his mind racing. *Why does this guy seem bent on competing with me at every turn? For that matter, doesn't he know that I already broke through to the first layer of Qi Refinement that day at Tianshui Peak?*
Refusing to be outdone, Li Guanqi retrieved roughly a hundred spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them on the floor. With a look of deep regret, he sighed, "Alas, I'm just hopeless. To this day, I haven't even sensed spiritual energy yet. Let's make it these hundred low-grade spirit stones as the stakes, then."
A gleam of cunning flashed through Ye Feng's eyes. Putting on a display of generosity, he said, "Oh dear, wouldn't I be taking advantage of you, then? Tell you what: if I win, I'll take only half of your spirit stones. But if I lose, all one hundred of mine belong to you."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi feigned embarrassment. "How could that be right? We agreed on a wager—"
"Enough! We'll do it my way!" Ye Feng declared with an imperious wave of his hand.
Little did he realize that in Li Guanqi's eyes, this grand display made him look like nothing more than an absolute fool.
Obtaining the spiritual lights in the air was straightforward enough. Once a person stepped within the boundary of the ward, they would have the time it took an incense stick to burn to catch one of the lights. The cultivation methods ranged from low-grade Mysterious rank to peak Mysterious rank. If not for this special opportunity to make a selection here, the two of them would have needed to complete sect missions for over a year just to earn enough points.
With great gentlemanly poise, Ye Feng gestured forward. "You first?"
Li Guanqi hesitated bashfully. "You go first. I'm afraid I won't catch a single one."
To Ye Feng, this meek display was proof that Li Guanqi lacked confidence in his own abilities.
Feigning reluctance, Ye Feng said, "Very well, I'll go first, then. It's quite simple, really—it mostly comes down to speed."
With that, Ye Feng leaped down from the raised platform, landing firmly within the arena.
Li Guanqi clicked his tongue in approval. The boy's Body Tempering foundation was exceptionally solid. No wonder he was so fearless; it stemmed from real capability.
Still, Li Guanqi could not help wondering: did the boy truly not know what had happened at Tianshui Peak?
*Wait, that can't be right... Every disciple was gathered in the main hall that day, except for a few who were late...*
*Uh... Don't tell me this guy was late on the very first day and never even made it inside?*
Inside the vast hall, dozens of multicolored spiritual lights darted swiftly through the air. Using the surrounding walls for leverage, golden-haired Ye Feng moved like the wind, lunging after them. Yet whenever he drew close, the spiritual lights darted away with breathtaking speed.
The reason Ye Feng remained ignorant of Li Guanqi's deeds was precisely as Li Guanqi had guessed. Except Ye Feng hadn't merely arrived late that day—he had completely slept in. Even his copy of the Qi Refinement Chant had been brought back for him by a fellow disciple.
Chapter 25