43: The proper way to enjoy a library is to sleep.

The morning's commotion had just passed, and the "Human Pyramid" performance art at the entrance of Dormitory 404 was still the top trending topic on the campus forum. Gu Fan, however, appeared at the entrance of the Tianqiong War God Academy library, strolling along as if nothing had happened.

This library was a landmark building of the academy, shaped like a giant open book. It was constructed entirely of translucent psionic glass, which reflected a sacred and inviolable glow under the morning sunlight.

"If you want to slap faces loudly, your theoretical knowledge has to keep up."

Gu Fan stood before the grand gates, stroking his chin with a studious... yet dazed look in his eyes. "Mainly, the System said that to prepare for the upcoming freshman competition, I need to recharge a bit. Otherwise, relying solely on being passively beaten—while satisfying—feels like it's missing that 'convincing people with virtue' charisma."

Xiao Fan, who was following behind him, was currently sporting two massive dark circles under his eyes.

He hadn't slept a wink last night, kept awake by the sound of that heart disco-dancing in the washing machine. Seeing Gu Fan actually take the initiative to visit the library, Xiao Fan felt like he hadn't woken up yet and was hallucinating.

"Gu Fan, are you serious?" Xiao Fan asked suspiciously. "You're going into the library? Are you going there to borrow comic books?"

"Vulgar." Gu Fan rolled his eyes at him. "Within books, one finds halls of gold; within books, one finds beauties like jade. As the president of the Lying Flat Mutual Aid Society, I must lead by example and show everyone what 'efficient study methods' look like."

With that, Gu Fan strode into the library.

The moment he entered, a solemn atmosphere washed over him.

Thousands of bookshelves were arranged neatly, and countless students in school uniforms were hunched over their desks studying hard. The only sounds in the air were the rustling of turning pages and the friction of pen nibs moving across paper.

Everyone here was an overachiever; every minute was used to absorb knowledge.

Gu Fan's appearance was like a drop of oil falling into water; though it didn't explode, it was clearly out of place.

"Look, that Gu Fan is here."

"The same Gu Fan who made the instructor kneel in anger and drove the school beauty crazy? What is he doing here? This is a sacred temple of knowledge!"

"Shh! Don't look at him! I heard that even one glance at him brings bad luck!"

The surrounding students lowered their heads one after another, stealing glances at this legendary "Academy Nuisance" from the corners of their eyes.

Gu Fan ignored the strange looks and walked straight to the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor.

The top floor: the Rare Books Area.

Stored here were unique ancient texts from before the Great Cataclysm, as well as some profound and mysterious Incomplete Manuals. Only students with special permission or enough points could enter.

Of course, as a Special Observation Subject, Gu Fan basically had the privilege of "face-scanning" in this school—after all, no one dared to stop him, fearing they'd be backlashed into a permanent disability.

The administrator of the Rare Books Area was an elderly man wearing a grey robe with thinning white hair. He was holding a cloth, carefully wiping a yellowed ancient book with movements as gentle as if he were caressing a lover's face.

This man was named Mo Wen. Although he looked unremarkable, he was rumored to be a hidden master of the academy, a figure so Senior that even the Dean had to call him Senior Brother.

As Gu Fan walked over, Mo Wen didn't even lift his eyelids, merely saying indifferently, "The Rare Books Area is a restricted zone; maintain silence. Those who damage books will be expelled."

"Got it, old man. Carry on with your work."

Gu Fan replied with a smile and then began wandering through his "hunting ground."

He didn't carefully flip through books one by one like the others. Instead, he picked them like someone choosing watermelons at a market, specifically selecting those that looked the thickest, the most worn, and had the most intimidating titles.

'Ancient Talisman Analysis: From Entry to the Grave'? Taken.

'On the Scientific Application of Spirit Speech and the Art of Verbal Sparring'? This one's good, taken.

'The Dialectical Relationship Between High-Dimensional Geometry and Ground Shrinking'? Sounds like a headache, must take it.

Before long, Gu Fan was holding a tall stack of books in his arms, nearly half a meter high, blocking his line of sight.

He walked to a mahogany table in the corner where the sunlight was best and slammed the books down with a "thud," kicking up a layer of dust.

Several top students nearby who were studying ancient texts furrowed their brows, casting dissatisfied glances his way.

"Crude! An absolute insult to culture!" a boy wearing thick glasses cursed inwardly. He was the top student of the Talisman Department and couldn't stand people who treated books like bricks.

However, his next move left them even more dumbfounded.

Gu Fan sat down but didn't open a single book.

He adjusted the angle of his chair to ensure the sunlight hit his backside just right, then spread the thickest book, 'On the Scientific Application of Spirit Speech and the Art of Verbal Sparring', across his face.

Immediately after, he propped his legs up on the table and crossed his hands over his stomach.

Three seconds later.

"Zzzzz—Snore—"

A long, rhythmic snore with a strange cadence echoed through the silent Rare Books Area.

The entire room fell silent.

All the top students stopped their pens.

Old Mo Wen's hand shook, nearly tearing the ancient book he held.

Sleeping?

This guy spent hundreds of points to reach the top floor just to find a place to sleep?

"Outrageous!"

The Talisman Department's top student slammed his book shut, unable to suppress his anger. "This is a place for learning, not a hotel for sleeping! Gu Fan's behavior is a desecration of knowledge! It's an insult to those of us who study hard!"

[Ding! Detected that the surrounding environment is filled with 'Scholar's Rage' and 'IQ Superiority'.]

[Malice Rank: C+ (A physiological discomfort caused by seeing a slacker sleeping in a Holy Land).]

[Backlash triggered! Multiplier: 50x!]

[System Mode Switch: Quantum Speed Reading - Dream Preaching Version.]

[Description: Since they think your sleeping is a waste of time, let them see what it means to 'have everything in a dream.' For every minute you sleep in the dream realm, it is equivalent to ten years of hard study in the outside world. Furthermore, your snoring will carry an 'IQ Lowering Halo,' forcibly extracting the 'focus' of those around you for your own use.]

Just as that top student was about to stand up and berate Gu Fan, a bizarre scene unfolded.

The ancient book on Gu Fan's face began to flip its pages on its own, despite there being no wind.

Swish, swish, swish—

The pages turned so fast they left afterimages.

As the pages turned, golden characters seemed to come to life, leaping out of the book and transforming into streaks of golden light that cheerfully dove into Gu Fan's ears, nose, and pores.

Not only that.

With every breath Gu Fan took, the books on the surrounding shelves began to resonate.

Those ancient books that had slept for millennia began to emit faint glows, and countless bits of knowledge transformed into points of light, converging toward Gu Fan like fireflies.

Meanwhile, the top students who were glaring at him suddenly felt their eyelids grow heavy and their brains turn to mush.

"What... what's happening? I clearly knew how to solve this problem just now... why can't I even understand the question now?" The Talisman Department's top student discovered in horror that the Talisman structures he had just memorized were vanishing from his mind at an alarming rate, replaced by an overwhelming sleepiness.

*Yawn—*

The top student couldn't help but let out a massive yawn, his eyes tearing up. "So sleepy... Gu Fan's snoring... sounds like a lullaby..."

"No... I must study... I won't sleep..." Another top student poked his thigh with his pen, but his head kept nodding down. Finally, with a "thud," he collapsed onto the table and fell asleep.

In less than five minutes.

In the entire Rare Books Area, aside from Gu Fan's rhythmic snoring, there was only the sound of heads hitting tables one after another.

All the top students were wiped out, slumped over their desks, sleeping soundly.

On Gu Fan's side, the phenomena became even more startling.

Above his head, a translucent vortex began to form—a funnel of pure "Literary Qi" that was frantically pouring knowledge into his brain.

"This... this is..."

Old Mo Wen, who had been observing from the side, was now standing up in shock, completely unaware that the cloth in his hand had fallen to the floor.

An astonishing light burst from his cloudy old eyes.

"Spiritual Journey through the Void? Attaining the Dao in a Dream?"

Mo Wen's voice was trembling. "Legend has it that the ancient masters had an extremely special way to Cultivate called the 'Sleeping Arhat Method.' They would deduce ten thousand Laws in their sleep, and upon waking, ages would have passed... This kid actually has this level of Comprehension Ability?"

"No! Wait! This isn't just Comprehension Ability!"

Mo Wen watched the golden characters that were actively forcing their way into Gu Fan's brain, feeling his worldview take a massive hit. "This is practically... knowledge chasing him down to feed him! It's the kind where his mouth is being pried open and it's being shoved in!"

"Is this a true Genius? No effort needed, not even consciousness—even his breathing makes him stronger?"

Looking at Gu Fan drooling on the table, the dignity and pride Mo Wen felt as a Senior were instantly shattered into pieces.

He had originally wanted to find an opportunity to guide this young man. Now? Guide him my foot! The things this kid grasped in one nap were more than what he had researched in a lifetime!

[Ding! Detected the librarian 'Mo Wen's' extreme shock, questioning of life, and even instability in his Dao Heart.]

[malice points +1000!]

[Congratulations host! Dream Preaching has concluded.]

[Obtained Skill: Spirit Speech - Crow's Mouth Specialization (Elementary).]

[Skill Description: Your words will carry a faint Law of Karma. Good things won't come true, but bad things will. Whoever you say will be unlucky has a high probability of actually becoming unlucky. Works better when combined with malice backlash.]

Two hours later.

Gu Fan stretched, and the book on his face slid to the floor.

"Ah—refreshing!"

He rubbed his bleary eyes, feeling his head filled with a lot of strange knowledge, especially the techniques on how to talk someone to death in one sentence—he had practically mastered them.

He looked around and saw everyone in the reading room slumped over the tables sleeping. He couldn't help but show an expression of disappointment.

"Tsk tsk tsk, young people today... their physical stamina is just too poor."

Gu Fan shook his head as he packed up the books on the table, sighing. "They fell asleep after studying for just a little while? Unlike me—I forget to eat and sleep for the sake of learning, even memorizing books in my dreams. This is the gap between us."

At this moment, old Mo Wen walked over, looking at Gu Fan with a complex expression, as if he were looking at a monster in human skin.

"Student Gu Fan... you... finished learning?"

"More or less." Gu Fan patted the copy of 'On the Scientific Application of Spirit Speech and the Art of Verbal Sparring' and said casually, "This book is a bit wordy, but the core idea is just a few sentences. I understood it."

"Understood it?" Mo Wen's lip twitched. "That is an ancient Incomplete Manual; even I have only grasped thirty percent of it..."

"Old man, that just means your way of reading is wrong."

Gu Fan suggested with a sincere face, "Next time, try covering your face with the book and use the skin-breathing method to read. I've tested it personally; it's very effective."

After saying that, Gu Fan swaggered toward the elevator.

Just as he was about to step into the elevator, that Talisman Department top student happened to wake up. Dazed, he lifted his head and saw Gu Fan leaving, subconsciously shouting:

"Gu Fan! You... you're ignorant! You'll definitely amount to nothing in the future!"

Gu Fan stopped, looked back at him, and revealed a mysterious smile.

He had just learned a new skill; it was the perfect time to practice.

"My fellow student, I see a darkness between your eyebrows. Be careful not to trip over your own feet when you walk out, and watch out for stuff getting stuck in your teeth when you drink water."

With that, the elevator doors closed.

The top student sneered. "Pretentious nonsense! Feudal superstition!"

He stood up indignantly and took a large gulp of water from his cup to refresh himself.

"Pfft—cough, cough, cough!"

As soon as the water entered his mouth, it was as if something had lodged in his throat. He began coughing violently, his face turning bright red.

"Damn it... how can there be something in the water that gets stuck in my teeth..."

He frantically stood up to go to the restroom, but as soon as he stepped out with his left foot, his right foot somehow hooked against it.

*Bang!*

Another dull, heavy thud echoed through the Rare Books Area.

The top student was sprawled flat on the ground in a perfect faceplant. His front tooth happened to hit the corner of the table, snapping half of it off.

Watching this scene, old Mo Wen felt a chill run down his spine, and cold sweat instantly soaked his robe.

"Manifesting words... This kid... is he practicing the Curse Dao?!"

Meanwhile, in the elevator, Gu Fan looked at the rising malice points on the System panel and wore a triumphant smile.

"Knowledge changes destiny; the ancients truly did not deceive me."