Chapter 16

The crowd, who had already thoughtfully made room for the duel stage and were eagerly preparing to watch the spectacle, suddenly saw two girls arm-in-arm entering the library. In an instant, their minds were filled with question marks.

…Huh??

Weren’t they supposed to duel? Why are they going into the library???

It’s important to note that the library has restrictions in place, meaning spiritual energy cannot be used inside!

Could it be that these two have some special way of dueling?

Or perhaps, in order to avoid the sect’s rule against private duels, they’re deliberately pretending to be friendly, planning to secretly duel in some hidden way???

The disciples in the crowd were still bewildered and hadn’t figured it out when a female disciple in the front of the crowd swiftly took out her disciple jade token, purchased a ticket from the gatekeeper, Shishu Qiu Chao, and entered the library.

At this moment, the crowd finally realized what was happening. Regardless of the method of the duel, they needed to follow them inside to see!

And so, they rushed to buy tickets, causing a commotion.

Shishu Qiu Chao, who had been reading an ancient book, was disturbed by the noise from these young disciples. A look of impatience flashed in her clear eyes.

The scholarly beauty lifted her head, glanced at them, and casually leaned back in her chair, speaking softly, “This is the library. If you make more noise, I’ll have you thrown out.”

“Be mindful, and line up.”

The disciples quickly quieted down and formed a line.

However, upon seeing the ticket prices, they were all taken aback: “Wasn’t the ticket normally fifty points? Why has it suddenly become five hundred points?”

“Shishu Qiu Chao, did you make a mistake?”

Qiu Chao lowered her gaze and turned the pages of her book, speaking in a neutral tone, “Special offer today.”

“A special offer? But the price went up??”

“And it increased by ten times?”

“This is price gouging!! I want to file a complaint!!”

The cold beauty slowly lifted her eyelids. “Don’t want to pay?”

“Of course, we don’t want to!”

“Who could accept this? Five hundred points is enough for my expenses for a whole year…”

“Yes, yes, Shishu Qiu Chao, it’s really too expensive!”

Qiu Chao put down her ancient book, looking troubled. “But you’re not coming here to study. So many of you are just going to disturb the students who are actually trying to study, and affect their learning…”

“Who says we’re not here to read? I love reading books!”

“Don’t just talk about reading, I practically grew up in the library!”

“Alright, Shishu Qiu Chao, hurry up and let us in.”

The disciples all agreed enthusiastically.

It seemed that Qiu Chao finally relented. “Alright. Since you disciples are so eager for knowledge, I, as your senior, shouldn’t stop you. So, we’ll stick to the original price.”

The disciples immediately erupted into cheers.

“Shishu, give me one ticket, I’ll transfer the points!”

“I want two tickets, two!”

The disciples received their tickets and excitedly entered one after the other.

Qiu Chao slowly lowered her eyelashes, a malicious smile flickering in her beautiful eyes.

—

As Yu Tao entered the library, she heard the noise behind her and turned to look. She saw a long line at the entrance, which left her puzzled.

Strange, didn’t they say they weren’t coming to the library? Why are they suddenly lining up?

Zhu Mingyu glanced at the crowd and immediately felt a headache. Why are these onlookers still following them inside? She quickly pulled Yu Tao further into the library.

Just then, a female cultivator called out urgently from behind.

“Junior Sister Zhu, Junior Sister Yu, wait a moment.”

Zhu Mingyu turned around, stunned for a moment: Lu Qingyu?

Zhu Mingyu knew Lu Qingyu, although it was more of a one-sided acquaintance. Rather than saying they knew each other, it was more accurate to say she had heard of her.

In the three great families, there was always competition—rankings, descendants, and talent were the most common comparisons. Just like how families preferred to nurture the most talented children, using them as a source of pride.

Lu Qingyu was the most talented of this generation. At just twelve years old, she had already formed her Golden Core and was hailed as a once-in-a-thousand-years swordsmanship genius.

Zhu Mingyu often heard Lu Qingyu’s name at the Zhu family, usually used to reprimand her. To put it simply, Lu Qingyu was the type of person who was so outstanding that others could only look up to her—a child from another family.

Yu Tao nodded at Lu Qingyu as a greeting.

Zhu Mingyu became slightly more serious and asked, “Is there something the senior sister needs?”

Lu Qingyu looked at both of them, trying to find some sign of hostility on their faces, but there was nothing—both of their expressions were calm.

She became even more confused, so she decided to ask directly: “Aren’t you two supposed to…?”

Before she could finish speaking, Zhu Mingyu widened her eyes and quickly interrupted her, “Yes, I made an appointment with Yu Tao to come to the library today to read books!”

She turned to Yu Tao, “Right?”

Yu Tao nodded honestly, “That’s right.”

Now it was Lu Qingyu’s turn to be stunned, still not quite believing it, “So you two really just came here to read books?”

Yu Tao looked puzzled and tilted her head, “What else would we do in the library if not read books?”

Only then did she realize that this sounded a bit familiar—Zhu Mingyu had asked her a similar question before. Could there be something else in the library that she didn’t know about?

Lu Qingyu paused for a moment, “…I suppose that’s true.”

Usually, the library was indeed for reading books, but the issue was, weren’t the two of them supposed to be having a duel? Why had it suddenly turned into a harmonious learning session?

Before Lu Qingyu could ask, Zhu Mingyu suddenly grabbed her hands anxiously, blinking wildly to signal her: “Senior Sister Lu, I’ve been having some problems with my swordsmanship lately, and I just can’t solve them no matter what. I really don’t know what to do. Can I ask you for advice?”

Lu Qingyu was a little dazed by this sudden turn of events and slowly nodded, “Alright, sure.”

Zhu Mingyu turned to Yu Tao, “Yu Tao, you go find a book you like and read for now. Once I’m done asking Senior Sister Lu, I’ll come join you. Let’s meet at the seventh floor in the ‘White Night’ section!”

Yu Tao waved her hand casually, “Go ahead, go ahead.”

Lu Qingyu, still confused, was dragged by Zhu Mingyu to a corner. She looked at her as though she was doing something sneaky, and only after seeing Yu Tao walk away did she finally relax and let out a sigh.

The relationship between the Lu and Zhu families was usually harmonious, but Lu Qingyu only knew Zhu Qianying slightly. Every time there was a family banquet, Zhu Qianying would cling to her, calling her ‘Senior Sister Qingyu’ and chatting about trivial matters.

As for her impression of Zhu Mingyu, it was mostly negative—like refusing to attend family banquets, having a proud and aloof personality, and casually beating up servants, among other things, countless times.

This was also why, when she heard that Zhu Mingyu and Yu Tao had a duel arranged, she subconsciously thought that Zhu Mingyu was bullying Yu Tao into a forced life-and-death battle.

Lu Qingyu silently withdrew her hand, “Junior Sister Zhu, what’s the problem you’re dealing with?”

“I don’t have any problem,” Zhu Mingyu turned to face her. “Senior Sister Lu, I brought you over here to avoid Yu Tao and tell you something.”

Lu Qingyu furrowed her brow slightly, “What is it that you want to say?”

“Senior Sister Lu, you were about to ask me about the duel, right? Actually, it was all just a misunderstanding.”

Zhu Mingyu explained the situation and sighed lightly, “I went to see Shishu Lin Lin this morning, and Shishu Lin Lin told me that the elders had known about it since last night.”

This was also why she had been late for their meeting.

Zhu Mingyu continued, “But for some reason, it seems like Shishu Qiu Chao hasn’t received the message yet. The disciples haven’t been dismissed, and I noticed that the posts that should have been deleted from the spirit network are still there.”

After hearing this, Lu Qingyu suddenly fell silent.

In addition to being the librarian of the library, Shishu Qiu Chao is also an administrator of the sect’s forum. Since all the other elders knew, it was impossible that she didn’t know about it.

So… Shishu Qiu Chao deliberately left the posts up to lure the disciples into the library.

Thinking back to the conversation she overheard at the entrance, Lu Qingyu couldn’t help but feel pity for those disciples who were unaware of what was about to happen to them.

“Since it’s just a misunderstanding, why did you pull me aside to tell me and not inform Yu Tao?” Lu Qingyu asked in confusion.

“She doesn’t know about the duel,” Zhu Mingyu replied.

Lu Qingyu was stunned. “She doesn’t know?”

Zhu Mingyu nodded. “Yes, it’s hard to believe, right? The whole spirit network is buzzing about it, yet the person involved has no clue.”

“But that’s the truth. She’s been too busy these past days trying to earn points by completing sect missions while also cultivating to come here with me. She barely has enough time to sleep, so how could she have the time to check the forum?”

Zhu Mingyu had learned this from Shishu Lin Lin this morning. It turned out that Yu Tao hadn’t been secretly scheming or had any malicious intent—she just genuinely wanted to come to the library with her.

After hearing this, Zhu Mingyu was stunned on the spot.

Her expression turned serious. “Senior Sister Lu, you must be aware of the discussions about Yu Tao in those posts, right? I’ve avoided talking about it in front of her because I didn’t want her to see them.”

At the moment, the posts on the spirit network hadn’t been deleted, and if Yu Tao wanted to find out what was going on, she could easily discover everything by browsing through the posts.

Lu Qingyu hesitated and asked, “Yu Tao doesn’t know about the discussions regarding her?”

Zhu Mingyu nodded. “Yes, so I’d like to ask you, Senior Sister Lu…”

Lu Qingyu, who had already felt some sympathy for Yu Tao, now that she knew the truth, couldn’t help but feel even more moved. “Don’t worry. I won’t bring it up to Yu Tao again.”

Moreover, after understanding the situation, Lu Qingyu was also a bit surprised by Zhu Mingyu herself.

This person doesn’t seem so bad to get along with, after all.

—

The library of the Wuchang Sect was vast, with dozens of floors and millions of books on a variety of subjects, ranging from astronomy to geography, and everything in between.

It was said that all these books were the collection of an unknown powerful being.

However, entering the library required spending points. Although once inside, there was no time limit and one could stay as long as they wanted, most students didn’t enjoy reading or studying, so the library was usually empty, with few disciples coming in.

The library was divided into the book collection area and the reading area. Each floor’s reading area offered a different environment, such as quiet tea rooms, a central pavilion by a tranquil lake, a spiritual plant garden, and other varied settings to cater to the different reading preferences of people.

Yu Tao didn’t have a particular goal, so she wandered slowly in front of the bookshelves, her gaze drifting over the books as she searched for something that piqued her interest.

Suddenly, her attention stopped as her eyes landed on a book with a cat head illustration on the spine.

— “A Hundred Ways to Train Spirit Pets: The Cat Edition”

Driven by curiosity, Yu Tao pulled it out and flipped open the cover page.

【Are you still troubled by your cat’s aloof and distant nature?

Are you still frustrated by your cat’s tendency to scratch and bite?

Are you still in tears because your cat keeps destroying your house?

Don’t worry about these problems anymore!

This book will teach you, in thirty days, how to make your aloof cat unable to resist you!】

Yu Tao: Hmm?

—

Word Count: 2,105