Chapter 14: Soul-Locking Mirror

The human body contains thousands of meridians and acupoints; although martial artists can observe them internally, they do not know which meridians and acupoints allow primal force to flow smoothly and which do not.

Some are even dead meridians and dead acupoints; a single mistake can cause qi deviation and death by body explosion.

Therefore, a martial artist who wishes to become powerful must study the "Human Meridian and Acupoint Array Diagram."

This is the summary of experience accumulated by predecessors over thousands of years, an invaluable treasure.

Cang Luo silently wished for good luck; arriving early is not as good as arriving at the right moment. Just one copy remained; he would take it first.

Cang Luo happily reached out his hand, but just then, the last copy of the "Human Meridian and Acupoint Array Diagram" was snatched away by someone else!

Cang Luo stood frozen with his hand outstretched, cursing inwardly and filled with regret.

What is going on!?

Who is it? Who snatched the last copy?

Cang Luo held back a surge of anger and looked at the newcomer, but upon clearly seeing the face of this "thief," he was instantly struck by her beauty, and the anger in his heart vanished like smoke.

The thief who snatched the book was actually a sweet-looking young girl, with a pale, chubby face and a pair of watery, big eyes gazing joyfully at the book in her hands.

Cang Luo was mesmerized, suddenly feeling that the girl bore an eight-tenths resemblance to the female stewardess from just now.

Not only did their faces resemble each other, but their figures did as well.

Cang Luo could not help but sigh; could it be that all women on the Yuanwu Continent are so curvaceous?

Or does primal force allow martial artists to enhance their chests?

"Ahem! Ahem!"

Cang Luo coughed twice to signal that he had arrived first and that the book should belong to him.

If this were on Earth, Cang Luo certainly would not have snatched a book from a beauty; he might have even tried to get close and added her WeChat ID.

But this was another world, and that book concerned cultivation, so Cang Luo had no choice but to fight for it.

Hearing someone cough, the girl instinctively turned toward the sound source, only to see a senior brother awkwardly extending his hand and staring at the book in her grasp.

Seeing this, the girl immediately clutched the book tighter, widened her watery eyes, and said softly, "Ah! Senior brother, are you also waiting for this book?"

Cang Luo saw her hugging the book tightly to her chest, seemingly very unwilling to hand it over, and felt a bit conflicted.

What should I do? Should I snatch something from her?

I can't do that!

But if I miss this copy, when will the next shipment arrive? Even if it does arrive, I might not be able to get it.

The "Human Meridian and Acupoint Array Diagram" was obviously much more sought-after than the other two books; as soon as it was placed on the shelf, someone would take it.

The reason one copy remained was that it had been buried at the bottom where no one saw it; now that he had dug it out, it was snatched away before he could even get his hands on it.

"Senior brother? Do you not want it? Then I'll take it?" Seeing that Cang Luo did not respond for a long time, the girl turned to leave, fearing he might change his mind.

"Wait." Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed through Cang Luo's mind, and he thought of a solution that satisfied both parties.

The girl stopped and turned back, looking at Cang Luo pitifully, then reluctantly held the book out toward him, pleading, "Senior brother, could you lend it to me after you finish reading it?"

Oh my! She is actually willing to hand it over; Cang Luo was slightly surprised and waved his hand, saying, "Junior sister, since you are so cute, how could I take your things?"

"Then why did Senior brother call me back?" The girl sighed with relief. Am I cute? Does he think I am a child just because I am small?

Cang Luo smiled and said, "Yes, it is like this: Junior sister, lend me the book for a while; after I memorize the content, I will give it back to you."

The girl was stunned, her small mouth wide open, and exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible? The 'Human Meridian and Acupoint Array Diagram' has dozens of pages!"

The girl was extremely surprised and clearly did not believe Cang Luo could memorize it on the spot, but she still handed over the book.

Hehe! Cang Luo said proudly, "Senior brother has his own methods."

After taking the book, Cang Luo walked to a corner of the bookshelf, laid the book flat, then took out his mobile phone, turned it on, ignored a long string of messages, directly enabled flight mode, and then opened the camera.

Click, click, click...

Cang Luo photographed the entire content of the "Human Meridian and Acupoint Array Diagram"; after finishing, he took the other two books and photographed them as well.

A few minutes later, Cang Luo finished inputting the three books; he intended to turn off the phone, but inexplicably turned off flight mode and moved the incoming call to the background.

Then he opened WeChat, found the WeChat ID of Feng Lin Huo Shan's strategist, Zhu Ge Qing, and sent the covers of the three books to her.

"Haha! Tease your appetites." Cang Luo chuckled softly.

After the photos were sent, just as Cang Luo was about to turn off the phone and return the book to the girl, he discovered she was standing behind him on tiptoes, staring fixedly at his phone with an expression of endless curiosity.

Seeing Cang Luo look at her, the girl raised her head, which only reached Cang Luo's chest, and asked softly, "Senior brother, what precious artifact is this? It is so beautiful; it even emits light."

Looking at the tender face so close, Cang Luo almost wanted to kiss her and did not mind her seeing his phone.

Cang Luo said casually, "Oh, this? It is called the Soul-Locking Mirror; it can lock the souls of everything that exists in the world inside it.

Look, I just locked the book souls of those three books inside; from now on, I can read them anytime, anywhere."

Saying this, Cang Luo opened the photo album and showed her the photos he had just taken one by one.

Upon seeing the photos in the phone, the girl's eyes widened instantly, feeling immense shock, curiosity, and envy.

She pressed herself hard against Cang Luo, watching his fingers slide across the phone again and again; with every slide, a book page turned.

"How magical! It really locked the book souls inside! I never knew books had book souls!? Is this called the Soul-Locking Mirror? Could it be a Heavenly-grade precious artifact?!"

The girl became more and more absorbed, completely failing to notice that Cang Luo was staring at her in a daze.

After a long while, Cang Luo gently shook his head and pointed to the front-facing camera on the phone, saying, "Look here."

"Hmm?" The girl instinctively looked at the place Cang Luo pointed to.

Seeing that she had fallen for it, Cang Luo quickly opened the camera, switched to the front-facing camera, and took seven consecutive shots, startling her so much that she opened her small mouth, pointed at the phone, and could not speak coherently.

The girl said nervously, "Se-, Senior brother, what, what just happened? Why... why am I inside there?"

Seeing her panicked state, Cang Luo felt a slight excitement, but fearing it would attract others' attention, he quickly made a gesture for her to be silent.

The girl covered her small mouth; Cang Luo leaned over, pointed at her photo on the phone, and said softly, "Your soul has already been locked inside.

From now on, you are my person; I can look at you whenever I want."

Having said this, she stood frozen in place, her eyes hazy.

Cang Luo put away his phone and swaggered into the room inside the great hall to pick a technique, but he did not see two teardrops spill from the corners of the young girl's eyes behind him......

Cang Luo arrived at the room that stored Yellow-grade low-rank techniques. It was fairly spacious inside.

A rough estimate put it at no less than two hundred square meters. Apart from three eight-meter-long, just-over-one-meter-tall bookshelves placed right in the center, there were no other pieces of furniture.

After seeing what was displayed on the bookshelves, Cang Luo finally understood what the female steward had meant by "come to me to collect the technique jade token after you've chosen."

It turned out this place was merely a technique catalog repository.

Cang Luo saw that at the very top of each of the three bookshelves stood a wooden plaque about the size of a keyboard, inscribed respectively with "Heart Methods," "Fist and Foot Martial Skills," and "Body Movement Martial Skills," representing the categories of techniques displayed on each shelf.

On the bookshelves themselves hung several dozen wooden plaques each about the size of a dictionary. Although the plaques bore carved text, it was not the content of the techniques—only brief introductions to them.

At this moment, some fifty or sixty outer disciples in blue robes were seriously examining the plaques before the bookshelves, selecting techniques.

From time to time they discussed a few words with the fellow disciples beside them; some even argued until red in the face over the merits and flaws of the techniques.

Apart from the outer disciples, two stewards were also there maintaining order, occasionally offering the outer disciples a word or two of guidance.

Cang Luo muttered to himself: "What kind of decorum is all this noise? It has to change!

Once the two realms are connected, all that's needed is to make an APP—input all these techniques into it, convenient for you, me, and everyone else."

Just as Cang Luo was pondering how to build an electronic catalog repository for techniques, a smiling male steward was walking toward him.

The male steward walked up to Cang Luo and warmly cupped his fist in greeting: "This junior brother's face looks unfamiliar—could this be your first time coming to the Technique Pavilion to receive a technique?"