Ye Chuan remained expressionless, silently glancing at the other person. "Reason?"
"The resources given to us servant disciples are too meager—not enough to cultivate and improve our strength, so..." The other person explained, voicing the helplessness of being a servant disciple.
Though they were envied by mortals as immortal cultivators, within the cultivation world, they were merely disciples with no resources, relegated to menial tasks for the sect. Without cultivation resources, advancing to become an outer disciple was nearly impossible.
In this lifetime, unless they stumbled upon a rare opportunity, even reaching the Foundation Establishment stage would be a struggle.
"What's your name?" Ye Chuan asked.
"Jiu'er."
"You can stay," Ye Chuan said.
"Thank you, Senior Brother!" The other person hadn’t expected Ye Chuan to agree, her face lighting up with joy. She had only asked tentatively, never imagining she’d succeed.
Ye Chuan kept her around to gather more information about the Tianxuan Continent. He needed someone who could provide intelligence.
And as a senior brother, wasn’t it perfectly reasonable for him to ask a servant disciple a few things?
Too bad that other guy earlier hadn’t been selected—claiming to be thirty when he was clearly thirty-one, only to be thrown straight down the mountain.
He probably took quite the tumble.
Could’ve rubbed an egg on his wounds.
"Come over here," Ye Chuan said.
"Mm..." Jiu'er nodded.
"Wait—why are you taking off your clothes? I just want to ask you about the Qingyun Sect."
Jiu'er froze, her face flushing crimson before she obediently sat back down.
......
Half an hour later, having obtained the information he needed, Ye Chuan left the cave and headed straight for the Scripture Pavilion.
With a map in hand, finding the Scripture Pavilion wasn’t difficult. After spotting a pagoda-like structure atop a mountain peak, Ye Chuan descended.
"That’s the new personal disciple Elder Ziyun took in. Barely any age on him, yet already at the peak of Foundation Establishment."
"Seriously? We’ve been cultivating for a century and barely made it to Foundation Establishment. Did he step in dog crap or something?"
"Why would I lie? The elders were practically fighting over him."
"What kind of talent is that? He might become the youngest elder in our Flying Sword Peak."
"A bright future ahead—this kid’s bound to be the Qingyun Sect’s youngest powerhouse."
"Pfft, who knows if he just lucked into some fortuitous encounter to break through to Foundation Establishment."
The moment he landed, Ye Chuan sensed numerous gazes on him—disciples of the Flying Sword Peak, all clad in white robes with swords at their waists, their faces so uniformly handsome it was like they’d been mass-produced. Truly, the Tianxuan Continent had no shortage of good looks.
Even those with slightly worse bone structure had been saved by some skin-smoothing, whitening magic.
"Gonna blow you all up later," Ye Chuan thought to himself, smiling faintly on the surface.
Entering the Scripture Pavilion, Ye Chuan glanced around and spotted rows of bookshelves in the distance, along with an old man dozing behind a desk.
Sensing his presence, the old man lazily looked up. "What do you want?"
Ye Chuan handed over Elder Ziyun’s token. "My master sent me to pick a cultivation manual."
"Oh? So you’re that old coot Ziyun’s new disciple?" The old man studied Ye Chuan for a moment. "You’re free to browse the first three floors, but you can only take one manual. Don’t even think about going to the fourth or fifth."
"Why not?"
"Those are restricted to elders. If you’ve got the skills to break the barrier, be my guest—I won’t stop you." The old man snorted before ignoring him again.
Taking the old man’s words to heart, Ye Chuan casually flipped through the manuals on the first floor.
"Be careful what you pick on the first floor. Many of these are from the demonic Jade Void Sect, confiscated after we wiped them out," the old man warned as he noticed Ye Chuan lingering.
"If they’re from a demonic sect, why not destroy them?" Ye Chuan countered.
"Even demonic sects have decent techniques. No point wasting them."
"..."
After browsing the first floor, Ye Chuan felt uneasy working under the old man’s watchful gaze and headed straight for the second floor.
Once there, he activated his Chaos Immortal Body.
Now, even if the old man tried to probe with his divine sense, he wouldn’t be able to tell what Ye Chuan was up to.
"Rise," Ye Chuan commanded.
A shadowy clone emerged beside him, wrapping around his body until only his gleaming white teeth were visible.
Perfect attire for mischief.
Feels good.
The shelves were packed with manuals, their ancient aura suggesting they’d been sitting there for centuries.
Ye Chuan eyed them before sweeping his hand—every single one vanished into his storage space.
Take them all!
After clearing out the second floor, Ye Chuan moved straight to the third.
This floor had even more manuals, but they disappeared into his storage space in the blink of an eye—faster than a robbery.
At the entrance to the fourth floor, Ye Chuan spotted the barrier blocking the way.
"So this is the restriction? Only elders can pass?"
"Let’s take a look."
Channeling his Chaos Immortal Body, Ye Chuan reached out. The barrier flared but was swiftly corroded and annihilated by the chaotic energy.
Magic immunity, kid.
"Just as I thought—barriers are useless against me." Ye Chuan strode in without a second thought. The old man had said it himself—if he had the skills, he could enter.
And he did.
The fourth floor was far more expansive than the third. Picking up a manual at random, Ye Chuan immediately noticed the difference in quality.
So the good stuff was reserved for the elders, while the disciples got scraps.
No matter where you went, the best resources always went to the elite.
But even with so many manuals, Ye Chuan’s looting spree took mere seconds.
Next—the fifth floor!
Then the sixth!
"Packed. Seriously packed." Standing at the center of the sixth floor, Ye Chuan surveyed the now-empty shelves around him. A quick check of his storage space revealed it was crammed with manuals.
"Keep the useful ones for myself and Qian Shuang. The rest can be sold at an auction or the black market—the profits can buy more treasures."
Just as Ye Chuan prepared to leave, his divine sense picked up movement—someone was coming up from below.
"Whatever. Got what I needed. Time to drop a thunderbolt."
If they died afterward, so be it.
Huang Haotian’s death had nothing to do with Ye Chuan.
Pulling out a glowing crystalline pill from his storage space, Ye Chuan popped it into his mouth.
[Breaking through to Crystallization Stage—]
[Due to your unique physique, you must survive the heavenly tribulation.]
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
Outside the Scripture Pavilion, the clear sky darkened in an instant.