Anonymous Scroll

The entrance to the fourth floor of the Scripture Depository Pavilion was hidden behind a stone wall deep within the third floor and could only be opened with a personal disciple token.

When White Night pressed his token into the groove on the stone wall, the heavy stone door creaked open, slowly swinging inward. A sense of long-forgotten antiquity rushed out, mingled with a faint scent of ink and spiritual energy.

Unlike the brightness of the first three floors, the fourth floor was dimly lit, with only the night-luminescent pearls embedded in the ceiling emitting a soft halo of light.

Dozens of bookshelves were built against the mountain, reaching all the way to the cave ceiling. Most of the ancient books on the shelves were wrapped in animal hide or gold foil, their covers inscribed with ancient, vigorous calligraphy. Many of the books had edges that had turned golden, clearly treasures that had existed for over ten thousand years.

"Classics on the fourth floor require a deposit of essence blood and cannot be taken out of the pavilion," the pavilion elder said, sitting behind a stone table near the entrance with a thick registry in front of him. "Once you have selected a classic, register it here."

The elder's hair and beard were completely white, yet his aura was unfathomable. White Night's Heavenly Heart Imprint could only barely sense that the other party was at least at the early stage of the Deity Transformation Realm.

White Night nodded slightly, said nothing, and turned to walk into the depths of the bookshelves.

His goal was clear—to find high-level classics related to the Wind Law, preferably cultivation insights that could touch upon the threshold of the Deity Transformation Realm.

The bookshelves were filled with a dazzling array of classics: "True Explanation of Heavenly Wind," "Void-Breaking Sword Art," "Wind Spirit Transformation"... Any one of these would be enough to make inner sect disciples fight tooth and nail, but White Night only scanned the covers before looking away.

Although these classics were exquisite, they had not yet broken away from the basic framework of the Qinglan Sect, and for him, their benefits were limited.

When he ventured to the fourth row of bookshelves, a parchment scroll without a cover caught his attention.

The scroll was stuffed casually in a corner, its edges somewhat damaged. It had neither a title nor an author's signature; only a twisted wind pattern drawn in cinnabar on the cover, within which one could faintly see tiny spatial cracks.

"This is..." The moment White Night's fingertips touched the parchment, his Heavenly Heart Imprint suddenly burned intensely. Countless fragmented images instantly flooded his mind—gale winds tearing through the starry sky, air currents condensing into bridges, a blurry figure standing in the eye of the storm, the laws flowing between their fingertips resonating with heaven and earth...

He calmly pulled out the parchment scroll and turned to walk toward the registration desk.

The pavilion elder glanced at the scroll, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes, but he immediately regained his composure. He wrote "Nameless Scroll, Serial Number 732" in the registry and waved his hand to indicate that he could enter to read it.

The reading area on the fourth floor of the Scripture Depository Pavilion consisted of individual stone rooms. White Night chose the one in the deepest part and spread the parchment scroll out on the stone table.

The moment the scroll was unfurled, countless pale cyan wind patterns surged from the paper, condensing into a small wind eye in the stone room. The fluctuations of the laws flowing within the wind eye actually resonated wondrously with the Wind Law spiritual energy inside his body.

"So that is how it is..." White Night looked at the text at the beginning of the scroll, his pupils slightly contracting. This was not a classic of the Qinglan Sect, but one written by an ancient cultivator named "Wind Elder." This person was not a cultivator of the Immortal Domain, but from the vast "Nine Heavens Realm." He had fallen into the Qingxuan Continent after accidentally entering a spatial crack and had eventually died in a foreign land. This manuscript was his life's realization regarding the Wind Law.

The manuscript contained no specific cultivation techniques, only an analysis of the "True Meaning of Wind": Wind is not merely the energy of heaven and earth, but also contains the crevices of space. By guiding wind into these crevices, one can break all laws and reverse the cosmos...

"Guiding wind into the crevices..." White Night's fingertips swirled with a wisp of spiritual energy. Following the description in the manuscript, he attempted to inject his Wind Law spiritual energy into the surrounding spatial cracks.

This step was extremely dangerous; the slightest carelessness would result in being backlashed by spatial turbulence. However, with the assistance of the Heavenly Heart Imprint, he could clearly see those tiny cracks that were difficult for the naked eye to discern, and precisely control the flow of spiritual energy.

When the first wisp of Wind Law spiritual energy successfully merged into a spatial crack, a breeze suddenly whipped up in the stone room. Where the wind passed, the night-luminescent pearl on the stone table vanished into thin air, only to reappear on a stone platform three meters away a moment later—this was not teleportation, but short-distance transmission using spatial crevices!

"This is the true high-level application of the Wind Law." White Night understood in his heart.

The Qinglan Sect's Wind Law techniques only stopped at "controlling wind momentum," while this Wind Elder's insights had already touched upon "Wind Crevice Shuttle." This was precisely the key to breaking through to the Deity Transformation Realm—Deity Transformation means resonating laws with heaven and earth and touching the power of the spatial dimension.

He immersed himself in the world of the manuscript, sometimes frowning in thought, sometimes flicking his fingers. The wind eye in the stone room expanded continuously with his comprehension, and the wind patterns began to be interspersed with tiny spatial fragments.

He did not know how much time had passed. When the last word came into view, White Night suddenly closed the parchment scroll. The spiritual energy around his body surged violently, and the bottleneck of the third level of the Golden Core Stage shattered like paper. The aura of the fourth level of the Golden Core Stage spread out, but was instantly restrained by him.

"No wonder the pavilion elder was not surprised." White Night realized this in his heart as he returned the parchment scroll to its original place.

This manuscript appeared precious, but in reality, it had extremely high requirements for a cultivator's comprehension. Ordinary Golden Core cultivators would find it difficult to even understand the text, let alone comprehend it. Only he, with the blessing of the Heavenly Heart Imprint, could gain something in just a single day.

When he left the Scripture Depository Pavilion, the pavilion elder looked at him with a deeper meaning in his eyes: "Since the sect built the pavilion, no more than three people have been able to finish reading that nameless scroll."

White Night nodded: "I was fortunate to gain something."

"Go," the elder waved his hand. "The Deity Transformation Realm is not easy; take care of yourself."

When he returned to the Wind Listening Courtyard, Qiu Xuan was already waiting in the courtyard, with a cyan jade box placed on the stone table beside him.

Seeing White Night return, he pushed the jade box over: "This is the reward for topping the grand competition, fifty catties of top-grade spiritual marrow, to help you break through to the late stage of the Golden Core Stage."

The moment the jade box opened, a burst of pure spiritual energy rushed toward him. The spiritual marrow was translucent and milky white, with liquid spiritual energy flowing inside; it was truly an excellent supplement for cultivation.

White Night's heart stirred—the one hundred catties of spiritual marrow rewarded by the system plus these fifty catties were enough to support his cultivation to the peak of the Golden Core Stage.

"Thank you, Elder." He stored the jade box into his system space, but on the surface, he only took out an ordinary storage bag, pretending to put the spiritual marrow away.

Qiu Xuan did not press the matter, only saying: "Next month, the sect will open the 'Heavenly Wind Secret Realm.' The secret realm is rich in 'Wind Spirit Crystals,' which will be of great benefit to your breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Stage. You should prepare."

White Night agreed, and after seeing Qiu Xuan off, he immediately sat cross-legged to cultivate.

He took out ten catties of the top-grade spiritual marrow rewarded by the system and circulated the revised "Qinglan Art." The spiritual marrow turned into a milky white stream of air in his palm, surging into his dantian along his meridians.

With the assistance of the Heavenly Heart Imprint, the energy of the spiritual marrow was perfectly absorbed, without a single bit of waste.

The Golden Core in his dantian rotated faster and faster, the patterns on its surface becoming increasingly clear, with faint signs of shattering once again—this was the precursor to breaking through to the fifth level of the Golden Core Stage.

This cultivation lasted for a full month. During this time, apart from his daily routine of sect check-ins, White Night almost never stepped out of his door.

Because a large amount of spiritual energy was absorbed, the condensing wind bamboo in the Wind Listening Courtyard had taken on a faint golden hue, leading passing disciples to marvel: "Senior Brother Bai's courtyard is so strange; this bamboo seems to have intelligence."

One month later, on the day the Heavenly Wind Secret Realm opened, White Night appeared at the assembly point on time.

There were thirty disciples entering the secret realm this time, most of them in the late stage of the Golden Core Stage. Among them, although Li Muran had been defeated last time, he was selected due to his deep foundation, though his eyes held a touch of complexity when looking at White Night, lacking his former arrogance.

"After the secret realm opens, you must find Wind Spirit Crystals within seven days; the more, the better," the leading Elder Zhao instructed. "There are not only demon beasts in the secret realm, but also disciples from other sects. Remember not to be careless."

As the token in his hand lit up, the space in front rippled, and a pale cyan crack slowly unfolded, revealing the cloud-shrouded entrance to the secret realm inside.

"Depart!"

The disciples filed in one by one. White Night brought up the rear. The moment he stepped into the crack, his Heavenly Heart Imprint suddenly sensed a familiar fluctuation—it was Su Mei. Her aura was significantly stronger than it had been a month ago, having reached the late stage of the Golden Core Stage; she had clearly also obtained a fortuitous encounter.

The interior of the secret realm was a vast valley. The air was filled with dense Wind Law spiritual energy, and crystals flickering with a pale cyan light could be seen everywhere on the ground. These were Wind Spirit Crystals, though most were of low quality.

"Look, there's a mid-grade one!" A disciple pointed at a stone wall not far away and was about to rush over when he was tackled to the ground by a dark shadow. The shadow looked like a wolf but was not, possessing two pairs of wings; it was the guardian demon beast of the secret realm, the "Wind-Winged Wolf."

"It's a mid-stage Golden Core demon beast!" The other disciples hurriedly summoned their magical artifacts, and sword light intertwined with spells, only just managing to slay the Wind-Winged Wolf.

White Night did not participate in the scramble, but followed the guidance of his Heavenly Heart Imprint and walked toward the depths of the secret realm.

He could sense that there was an extremely pure Wind Law energy in the depths, far exceeding that of ordinary Wind Spirit Crystals.

The deeper he went, the higher the level of the demon beasts. Occasionally, he could see disciples from other sects confronting Qinglan Sect disciples, mostly to fight over Wind Spirit Crystals.

White Night consistently avoided the crowds. His movement technique, bolstered by the Wind Law spiritual energy, became increasingly swift, like a faint shadow, passing silently through the valley.

On the third day, he discovered a cave behind a waterfall. The cave walls were embedded with dozens of top-grade Wind Spirit Crystals, and on the stone platform in the center, a Wind Spirit Crystal the size of a human head emitted a brilliant light—it was a rare top-tier treasure!

"It is indeed here." Just as White Night was about to step forward, footsteps suddenly came from outside the cave. It was Su Mei and two other female disciples.

"Senior Brother Bai?" Su Mei saw him, a flash of surprise in her eyes, and then she smiled: "It seems we have the same goal."

The female disciple behind her looked at White Night vigilantly: "We found this top-tier Wind Spirit Crystal first!"

White Night ignored her and walked straight to the stone platform.

Su Mei suddenly struck, two short daggers carrying a sharp whistling wind piercing toward his back: "Senior Brother Bai, I am sorry!"

White Night did not stop walking. He swung his hand back, his iron sword carving an arc in the air, precisely deflecting the short daggers.

He controlled his force perfectly; it only caused Su Mei's figure to stagger, but did not injure her in the slightest.

"Do you want to try again?" He looked at Su Mei, his tone calm.

Su Mei put away her short daggers, a bitter smile appearing on her face: "I lost."

She knew that the gap between herself and White Night was growing ever larger; continuing to tangle with him would only be inviting humiliation.

White Night took the top-tier Wind Spirit Crystal and turned to leave the cave, not making things difficult for them.

To him, although this Wind Spirit Crystal had value, it was far inferior to his gains on the fourth floor of the Scripture Depository Pavilion; it was not worth wasting time over.

On the seventh day, before the secret realm closed, White Night returned to the entrance. His storage bag contained fifty top-grade Wind Spirit Crystals and that top-tier one. Although the quantity was not the highest, the quality far exceeded that of others.

When Elder Zhao tallied them up and saw that top-tier Wind Spirit Crystal, he could not help but gasp: "There is actually such a large Wind Spirit Crystal... You kid have good luck."

White Night just smiled faintly, but in his heart, he was calculating—with the assistance of this top-tier Wind Spirit Crystal, perhaps he could break through to the Nascent Soul Stage within three months, taking another step closer to the Deity Transformation Realm.

After leaving the secret realm, he handed over most of the Wind Spirit Crystals to the sect, keeping only five top-grade ones and the top-tier one.

Seeing him be so sensible, Qiu Xuan was increasingly satisfied and sent over a few more classics regarding cultivation at the Nascent Soul Stage. Although they were not as exquisite as the Nameless Scroll, they were still able to fill in gaps.

Under the condensing wind bamboo in the Wind Listening Courtyard, White Night sat cross-legged once again, holding the top-tier Wind Spirit Crystal in his palm.

The crystal turned into a cyan torrent, surging into his dantian. The Golden Core emitted a faint golden light under the scouring of the energy, and the cracks on its surface became more and more numerous—the moment to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage was already close at hand.

Meanwhile, at the Main Peak of the Qinglan Sect, the Sect Master and several elders were standing on the viewing platform, looking in the direction of the Wind Listening Courtyard.

"This child's progress is likely to break the sect's record," an elder sighed with emotion.

The Sect Master stroked his beard, his gaze profound: "More than just a record... I always feel that this kid does not belong to the Qingxuan Continent. His future lies in a wider world."

Qiu Xuan smiled: "Regardless, he is now a disciple of our Qinglan Sect."

They looked at each other and smiled, their eyes filled with anticipation.

They knew that White Night's rise might bring unprecedented opportunities to the Qinglan Sect.