Chapter 21 The Library

Yun Bai felt the world spinning; distorted images flashed rapidly before his eyes, then his vision gradually blurred, only to become clear again shortly after, as if a camera were focusing before him.

Yun Bai entered the black hole, passed through the wormhole, and was violently ejected from the White Hole.

Once he regained his composure, he realized his consciousness had separated from his Sea of Consciousness.

Before him was a peaceful bedroom.

Bed, bookshelf, windowsill...

"Hiss... Ah." Yun Bai found himself lying on the floor, and he slowly sat up.

Sweat had soaked his clothes at some point, even leaving a distinct watermark on the floor.

He subconsciously raised his hand to touch his head, "I am still alive..."

"Bang, bang, bang—"

It was already the third watch of the night.

Moonlight shines before the window, suspected to be frost upon the ground.

"At least I'm still alive," Yun Bai said with a bitter smile. This world is truly fraught with danger; not only is there a threat to life when venturing outside, but even sitting in the room to Cultivate almost killed him.

He mobilized his Divine Sense to inspect himself.

His control over his Divine Sense remained very fluid, indicating that the Divine Sense itself had not suffered much damage.

His physical condition was better than expected.

His body had not suffered too much damage; it was basically just the issue of spiritual energy disorder caused by the impact on his Sea of Consciousness.

Sea of Consciousness... there were no abnormalities in his Sea of Consciousness either.

Yun Bai dared not try to Cultivate lightly again. He could not be sure if it was a problem with the basic Cultivation Technique or if a problem had occurred in his Cultivation.

This experience was just like the legendary Possession, or perhaps it was Qi Deviation?

The more Yun Bai thought about it, the more worried he became.

The strange structure of his Sea of Consciousness, the eerie invasion of black fog... all of this made him increasingly uneasy.

"Xiao Liu, did you discover anything?" At this moment, on a moonlit night, everything was silent, and Yun Bai could hear his heart pounding.

[Detected high-intensity source of spiritual pollution invasion... Aura matching... Demon... Similarity: 99.8%]

"A Demon?" Yun Bai was shocked. "Could it be that Magic Boar I hunted?"

No, he thought again, recalling his experience in the Black Tower trial when participating in the State Religion examination.

At that time, Xiao Liu had warned him that he had encountered a "low-intensity source of spiritual pollution invasion" during the Black Tower battle. Zhang Huai had also mentioned that the purpose of the Black Tower trial was to test Divine Sense strength and willpower.

"It seems there are some precautions in Cultivation that I am not yet aware of," Yun Bai thought to himself.

He reflected on his pain and deeply pondered the problem of being too eager for success in his Cultivation.

He checked his body and Sea of Consciousness repeatedly, finding no very serious consequences.

Only then did he sigh in relief.

At this time, he looked out the window again; the sky was already dawning.

"It might also be a problem with the Cultivation Technique; I must hurry to choose a new Cultivation Technique."

Yun Bai dared not rest; he got up, tidied his clothes, left a note for his sister, and then went out to the National Temple.

The Scripture Pavilion was located within the National Temple. Whether it was to choose a Cultivation Technique or to find the cause of last night's "Qi Deviation," as the most authoritative library in the world, the National Temple Scripture Pavilion was the best choice.

This time, when Yun Bai entered the back hall space of the National Temple, he did not ask Zhang Huai for help. He took out his nameplate and injected a little spiritual energy into it. In an instant, he felt as if the space of the entire back hall was carrying him along as it moved.

His eyes blurred, and he arrived at the Martial Arts Hall.

"Yun Bai?"

Unexpectedly, just as he arrived here, someone actually recognized him.

Yun Bai turned to look.

It was actually Wang Er.

When Wang Er saw Yun Bai looking at him, he subconsciously shivered.

"Hmph!" Wang Er turned his head away, busying himself with striking the wooden dummy in front of him. Ever since he was defeated by Yun Bai, he had been Cultivating his Cultivation Technique and Martial Skill day and night, hoping that one day he could regain his breath.

Seeing that he was so sensible, Yun Bai did not make things difficult for him.

After all, his grudge with Wang Er could not really be considered a life-or-death feud, and mutual slaughter was absolutely forbidden. If the State Religion found out, a hundred lives would not be enough to pay for it.

Seeing that Yun Bai did not trouble him but walked straight past, Wang Er breathed a sigh of relief. He did not have the confidence to face Yun Bai right now.

Just as he relaxed, someone suddenly patted him on the back.

"Who the hell is it? Can't you see I'm—" Wang Er turned his head impatiently, his voice stopping abruptly.

"Uh, Yun, Yun Bai? Is there something you need?" Cold sweat broke out on Wang Er's forehead.

Why hasn't this Buddha left yet?

"Uh, Wang Er, good morning. I wanted to ask, where is the Scripture Pavilion located?" Yun Bai asked politely, while also revealing a friendly smile.

Since he was asking for directions, it was naturally better to be a bit more polite.

Seeing Yun Bai's "malicious" smile, Wang Er felt like he had fallen into an ice cellar. He swallowed his saliva and said: "Go out of the Martial Arts Hall, turn left and go around the Black Tower; it's to the west of the Black Tower. The direction you face when leaving this Martial Arts Hall is due south."

There is no sun in the Martial Arts space; the cardinal directions all rely on landmarks to distinguish.

"Alright, thanks." Yun Bai patted Wang Er's shoulder to show encouragement and walked away.

Just as Yun Bai had stepped into the National Temple, in the folded space of the National Temple's inner hall, a middle-aged man sitting cross-legged in the center of a complex Formation opened his eyes.

"First Realm Mid-stage?" Elder Yin Xin noticed the abnormality in this person's cultivation.

As the ancestral temple established by the State Religion on the land of the Human Race, the National Temple's defenses were by no means as lax as they appeared on the surface.

It was just that ordinary Cultivators would simply not notice these things.

Every Cultivator who stepped into the National Temple would trigger the alert Formation, and their cultivation would be recorded in the central hub for all to see.

When this person participated in the State Religion examination a few days ago, his cultivation had only just broken through to the First Realm Early Stage. How could it be that after two days, his cultivation had broken through to the First Realm Mid-stage?

Elder Yin Xin controlled the Formation central hub and passed the information up.

Yun Bai walked to the front of the Scripture Pavilion and looked up to observe.

The Scripture Pavilion had three floors, with dougong brackets and flying eaves, painted in vermilion and colorful patterns, appearing magnificent and glorious compared to the Black Tower not far away.

There was no one guarding inside the Scripture Pavilion; in the words of Yun Bai's hometown, this was a fully automated library.

Based on his permissions, Yun Bai could only enter the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

The State Religion's collection was vast and all-encompassing.

Don't look at the fact that this Scripture Pavilion was built in Chu Prefecture city, far from the capital. There is a saying in the State Religion: "All the books in the world are in one pavilion," meaning that the Scripture Pavilion in every place is actually exactly the same, and every book collected by the State Religion will be updated in real-time everywhere. Whether it is the Scripture Pavilion in Chu Prefecture city, or the Scripture Pavilion in the capital or the Holy City, there is no essential difference.

To be able to achieve this, it naturally relied on the great magic power and great methods of the National Temple.

Yun Bai was also amazed by this.

Such interconnection technology, he didn't expect it to appear in other planes as well.

Although it is not yet as popular and democratized as in his home plane, this is probably just a matter of time.

Inside the Scripture Pavilion were neatly arranged bookshelves.

But Yun Bai did not need to search blindly.

He injected his Divine Sense into the nameplate in his hand. The nameplate soon received information from the Scripture Pavilion.

[Cultivation Technique] [Martial Skill] [Secret Technique] [Geography] [Literature and History] [Demons] [Legends] [Investigation of Things] [Miscellaneous]...

The classification was very detailed.

"What a great place!" Yun Bai had originally thought that the State Religion Scripture Pavilion was basically all related to Cultivation. He thought that the so-called "vast and all-encompassing" meant only that Cultivation-related Cultivation Techniques, Martial Skills, etc., were collected very comprehensively.

Unexpectedly, this was simply gathering all the knowledge accumulated by the Human Race over millions of years here!

Yun Bai once again felt a bit of admiration for this behemoth, the State Religion.

This was only the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

If he could enter the upper floors, what precious knowledge must be contained within?