Chapter 27 Reading Extensively

General Lin Jian fled the State Religion in a sorry state with General Yang Cang.

A quarter of an hour ago, they had sneaked into the State Religion, and after some effort, finally learned that Yun Bai was in the Scripture Pavilion.

Just as they were about to intercept him, they never expected that Yun Bai would be taken away by Zhang Huai first, entering the Guanshan Realm of Great Elder Xu Antong.

They had come up empty-handed, so they decided to lie in wait.

But they hadn't expected that as soon as Yun Bai came out, he was called over by Supervisor Zhou Shengtai, the Elder in charge.

Damn it! He, General Lin Jian, was the dignified Magistrate of Chu Prefecture, yet this trip had turned into something akin to petty thievery.

"This damn Supervisor Zhou Shengtai, he must have done it on purpose! As the dignified local Supervisor of the National Temple, how could he possibly come personally to see a kid at the First Realm Mid-stage!" General Lin Jian stomped his feet fiercely, extremely annoyed.

"It seems the State Religion has already offered Yun Bai new terms. I wonder what Rank of special contract it is," General Yang Cang said.

"If it could be decided so quickly, it's likely Grade C at best." General Lin Jian picked up the pipe on the table and took a fierce puff. "Go report to the higher-ups and ask if we can offer this Yun Bai a Grade B special contract. Special situations require special handling. My Northwest Army has been rooted in the Northwest for many years; we absolutely cannot let the State Religion recruit people on our turf so easily!"

When it came down to it, his Northwest Army had not completely submitted to the central government, and now that the State Religion had moved in, it was merely a cooperative relationship.

Since there was cooperation, there was naturally competition.

Talents like Yun Bai were even scarcer for them than for the far-reaching State Religion.

General Lin Jian took another puff of his pipe: "Right, there's one more thing. Tell the Chen family that I will personally step in to mediate with the State Religion and settle this privately. You go and notify the State Religion to set a date."

"Yes." General Yang Cang replied and withdrew.

"Brother! Who are this aunt and this big sister?" Yun Qian asked, happy to see Yun Bai return, limping out to greet him.

"Qianqian, your leg is not convenient, don't be so anxious," Yun Bai said helplessly. "This is Aunt Yang Peilan, and this is her daughter, Sister Shen Qi. I invited them over mainly to take care of you. I sometimes have to go out on missions later and might be away from home for a long time. I'm worried about you, so I have to trouble them."

Yun Bai then introduced Yun Qian to Yang Peilan and Shen Qi.

He arranged for the two to stay in the right wing room, which would make it convenient to take care of Yun Qian. After getting settled, the four of them helped each other cook.

Yun Qian had always taken care of herself when her brother was away, and she was not used to having someone wait on her suddenly. In fact, Yun Bai was the same.

So in the end, it turned into all four people being busy together.

After a hearty lunch, the other three went to settle down for a nap, while Yun Bai went alone to the training room.

It was only after talking to Zhang Huai earlier that he learned of the training room's wonders. The so-called training room was actually a cultivation room specially built by the State Religion for Cultivators.

The cultivation room was protected by multiple Formations, which could maximize the safety of a Cultivator's Cultivation. At the same time, the room was equipped with a communication Formation, which allowed one to access some of the materials in the Scripture Pavilion and accept missions via the communication network. One could even purchase items remotely, and the State Religion would send someone to deliver them.

This was practically a replica of the internet.

Yun Bai took out his nameplate and injected Qi into it; the nameplate was similar to a master control terminal. The Formation inside the training room recognized the nameplate's owner, Yun Bai, and released its lockdown on the room.

Yun Bai stepped inside.

There wasn't much inside, just a meditation cushion and a desk in the center. On the desk was an incense burner, and beside it were a few sticks of Mind-Calming Incense.

He lit the Mind-Calming Incense. This incense could help a person calm their mind.

Yun Bai sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, placed his hands on his legs, closed his eyes, and injected Qi into the nameplate.

He felt his Divine Sense being pulled by a force, and the Formation already laid out in the foundation of the training room began to operate naturally. Soon, a new scene appeared before his eyes—it was the Scripture Pavilion of the State Religion.

This was not his physical body arriving here, but his Divine Sense being drawn into the "Cave Heaven Illusion" created by the State Religion. Within this Cave Heaven, Cultivators were not allowed to fight, but they could communicate freely, discuss trades, and consult materials.

Yun Bai entered the Scripture Pavilion.

The first floor of the Scripture Pavilion was a massive database, covering basic information on astronomy, geography, and all walks of life. In other words, the entire first floor was dedicated to displaying "encyclopedias" for State Religion Cultivators to browse at will.

The speed of reading books via Divine Sense was extremely fast. In the Cave Heaven Illusion, one did not need to take down books or Jade Slips to read them as in reality; one only needed to sweep them with their Divine Sense to quickly identify the shelf type, book title, and page content. The reading speed depended entirely on the individual's Divine Sense strength.

Like Great Elder Xu Antong, whom Yun Bai had met at the State Religion, he had only needed a moment to read books like the True Martial Demon-Subduing Technique and the Gouchen Technique, along with their corresponding annotations, and form them into a mass of information to transmit into Yun Bai's Sea of Consciousness.

Yun Bai arrived at the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion; his goal was to read through all the encyclopedias on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion!

That's right, he wanted to memorize all the thousands of massive tomes on this floor!

Yun Bai was immersed in the sea of books, and in the blink of an eye, it was dinnertime. Yun Qian and the others had long since woken up, but seeing the "Do Not Disturb" sign in front of the training room, they knew that Yun Bai was immersed in his Cultivation.

"Brother Yun is truly diligent." When Shen Qi had just arrived, she was still a bit reserved, but over the course of the afternoon, she and Yun Qian had chatted and hit it off so well that they soon started addressing each other as sisters.

Yun Qian was thirteen, Shen Qi was sixteen, and Yun Bai was eighteen and already an adult. At Yun Qian's strong insistence, Shen Qi finally changed her address for Yun Bai from "Young Master Yun" to "Brother Yun."

"Brother has always been like this," Yun Qian said helplessly. She knew that Yun Bai had truly sacrificed so much to cure her illness.

Just then, Yun Bai pushed the door open and came out.

"This, why are so many people here to greet me?" Yun Bai saw the three of them sitting in the courtyard chatting and said half-jokingly.

"Brother, you're finally out. I thought you weren't planning on eating? What, have you become a Cultivator and plan to practice inedia?" Yun Qian rolled her eyes and "sternly" lectured her brother. "Aunt Yang went out to buy groceries and came back a long time ago. Now the food is all prepared, just waiting for you."

"Alright, alright, let me see what good dishes there are tonight?" Hearing this, Yun Bai's appetite was whetted. Even though one could try inedia after becoming a Cultivator, he couldn't bear to give up the many delicacies of the mortal world. The world was vast and full of countless delicacies; how could he be content without feasting?

Seeing this, Yang Peilan quickly stood up to serve the food.

Suddenly, Yun Bai heard a knock at the door.

"You all go to the table and eat first; I'll go check." Yun Bai stopped his sister, who was about to stand up.

Yun Bai pushed open the courtyard gate and discovered a pale-faced man with only his right arm standing in front of the door. Behind him were several carts fully loaded with goods.

So it was Zhao Xiang, Yun Bai smiled.