Chapter 226

Cen Jian looked at the man in front of him who appeared to be over thirty and only had Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivation, feeling very annoyed and unhappy.

He had finally succeeded in Foundation Establishment just a few days ago, becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In the past few days, outer and inner sect Qi Refining disciples who met him all respectfully called him 'Uncle-Master'.

This morning he specially went to Changqing City for a stroll, and it was even more incredible there; basically everyone he met respectfully called him 'Xu Shixiong'.

It could truly be said that he was riding high on the wind!

As a result, a disciple who was over thirty and only at Qi Refining Ninth Layer suddenly appeared and called him 'Xu Shixiong'; could he feel comfortable?

"Do you not understand the rules? You are a Qi Refining disciple; when you meet a Foundation Establishment cultivator, you should call him 'Uncle-Master'!" Cen Jian put on the posture of an elder and reprimanded him.

"Xu Shixiong, I'm sorry, I'm not an ordinary Qi Refining disciple, I am..." Xia Daoming said.

"You must be over thirty, right?" Cen Jian interrupted.

It seems I should visit Master more often when I have time, but he has an eccentric personality; if I visit too often, he might not like it.

He had thought the other party looked old, but he didn't expect he really was over thirty, and actually had the nerve to say he wasn't an ordinary Qi Refining disciple.

"Oh my, I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare; you are a direct disciple of a Jin Dan Elder, you are the Xu Shixiong, I am the Xia Shidi Xu Shixiong. My name is Cen Jian, you can call me Little Cen or Little Jian," Cen Jian said quickly.

This ability to brag is even more powerful than mine!

"Yes! Is there a problem?" Xia Daoming touched his face, thinking that if he had any Youth-Preserving Pills left, he should take one as soon as possible.

"Token, what token?" Cen Jian glanced at it dismissively, then his whole body trembled slightly, and then a smile immediately piled up on his face, saying: "So it's Xu Shixiong; you want to go to the Scripture Library? I'm going that way, I'll take you."

Xia Daoming looked at Cen Jian, who was acting like a sycophant and was surely at least a cycle older than him, feeling speechless.

"Xu Shixiong, please follow me."

Xia Daoming suddenly felt goosebumps all over his body.

"May I ask Xu Shixiong's honorable name?"

Xia Daoming was speechless again; this guy's attitude had changed too drastically.

Looking at Cen Jian's smiling face, Xia Daoming suddenly felt that the status of a Jin Dan Elder's disciple was not bad.

Forget it, let nature take its course; anyway, as long as he could enter the Scripture Library, it would be fine.

Thinking this, Xia Daoming said quickly: "Then I really have to trouble you, Xu Shixiong."

"Xia Daoming, Daoming, Daoming, what a good name; it sounds like someone with innate talent and strong understanding of the Great Dao. No wonder Xu Shixiong is young and only one step away from Qi Refining perfection, and was accepted as a disciple by a Jin Dan Elder; I am deeply impressed."

The tokens of direct disciples of Jin Dan Elders have a fixed specification and style, only with different characters and symbols representing different elders.

"Does Xu Shixiong recognize this token?" Xia Daoming was too lazy to explain to Cen Jian and directly took out the token.

"Xia Daoming."

This guy is really a bit of a 'little cheap'!

"Fine, then I'll trouble Xia Shidi Xu Shixiong Cen to lead the way," Xia Daoming said.

"What trouble? It's my honor to lead the way for Xu Shixiong," Cen Jian said quickly.

"Thirty-something years old and only at Qi Refining Ninth Layer, you actually have the nerve to say you aren't an ordinary Qi Refining disciple? No, logically you should be an outer sect disciple; what are you doing in the inner sect? The inner sect Scripture Library is only open to inner sect disciples; you should go to the outer sect Scripture Library," Cen Jian said very speechlessly.

This was the first time he had heard someone praise him for being young and having reached such a cultivation realm.

"By the way, Xu Shixiong, which Jin Dan Elder are you apprenticed to?"

"Zuo Dongge."

"Zuo Dongge?" Cen Jian muttered to himself, unable to recall such a Jin Dan Elder for a moment.

But soon, Cen Jian trembled all over, and his gaze toward Xia Daoming was full of incredulity and shock.

"It's actually Elder Zuo! He is a legendary genius of our Profound Origin

Sect, and it is said that his requirements for accepting disciples are extremely high; now, no one in the entire sect meets his requirements.

Xu Shixiong, you are truly amazing to be able to apprentice under him and become his direct disciple; Xia Shidi Xu Shixiong is truly impressed," Cen Jian said with a look of admiration.

Xia Daoming curled his lips dismissively.

Cen Jian was very talkative.

He chattered incessantly along the way.

Not long after, Cen Jian brought Xia Daoming to a very magnificent building with three characters hanging above it: Scripture Library.

"Xu Shixiong, I won't go in; I live on Lion Shanfeng. If you happen to pass by when you have time, feel free to come in for a cup of tea," Cen Jian said.

Ordinary inner sect disciples cannot exclusively enjoy a mountain peak, but are arranged by the sect to share a mountain peak as a cave dwelling, or live on the summit of the main peak.

"Okay, thank you, see you another day." Xia Daoming bowed to Cen Jian, then turned and entered the Scripture Library.

Watching Xia Daoming enter the Scripture Library, Cen Jian's eyes were full of envy.

Good luck! To be over thirty and only at Qi Refining Ninth Layer, yet be accepted as a direct disciple by a Jin Dan Elder!

If I, Cen Jian, could also apprentice under a Jin Dan Elder, even if I couldn't step onto the Jin Dan path in this life, reaching late-stage Foundation Establishment or perfection shouldn't be a problem.

What a pity, why don't I have such good luck!

Cen Jian left in disappointment, his high spirits from becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator a few days ago having vanished completely.

At the entrance of the Scripture Library, an elderly late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator sat leaning on a sandalwood chair, eyes half-closed in a doze.

The moment Xia Daoming stepped over the threshold, the elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator opened his eyes.

Huh!

He looked at Xia Daoming, his wrinkled old face revealing a look of surprise and astonishment.

"Are you an inner sect disciple?" the old man asked, his expression questioning.

The inner sect never accepts disciples with mediocre aptitude.

In the inner sect, Qi Refining disciples are generally very young.

Those who are over thirty and still in the Qi Refining realm are mostly at Qi Refining perfection, waiting for Foundation Establishment.

Only a very small number, perhaps because the sect misjudged them back then or for other special reasons, remain stagnant in the late Qi Refining stage and haven't been able to enter the perfection realm.

"Yes, Xu Shixiong," Xia Daoming replied.

"Xu Shixiong!" Upon hearing this, the old man's white eyebrows couldn't help but rise, and the wrinkles on his face couldn't help but tremble.

However, Xia Daoming had experience this time; before the old man could reprimand him for not knowing the rules, he had already offered his identity token.

"A direct disciple of a Jin Dan Elder!" The old man sat up straight, looking at the token in Xia Daoming's hand with disbelief.

Which Jin Dan Elder would be so irrational as to recruit a thirty-something Qi Refining cultivator as a direct disciple?

"Elder Zuo?" After seeing the characters on the token clearly, the old man was even more shocked and incredulous, but soon turned to relief.

That Xia Daoming's master was Zuo Dongge, who no longer accepted disciples, was indeed shocking and surprising, but upon deeper thought, only someone with an eccentric personality like Zuo Dongge would accept such a disciple with mediocre aptitude as a direct disciple.

"Since you are Elder Zuo's direct disciple, you can browse all the scrolls on the first floor for free. It just so happens that all the scrolls on the first floor are suitable for Qi Refining disciples to browse; the scrolls on the second floor are still too obscure and profound for you for the time being," the old man's expression softened significantly after confirming Xia Daoming's identity.

"Browse the first floor for free? Could it be that the second floor requires payment?" Xia Daoming asked.

Upon hearing this, the old man looked at Xia Daoming up and down with a strange gaze.

"I just became a direct disciple of a Jin Dan Elder today; I was an outer sect disciple before, so I don't know much about the rules of the inner sect," Xia Daoming explained frankly when he saw this.

The old man looked at Xia Daoming, his gaze even stranger.

Being a thirty-something Qi Refining Ninth Layer and being accepted as a direct disciple by a Jin Dan Elder was already outrageous enough.

As a result, he had gone directly from an outer sect disciple to becoming a direct disciple of a Jin Dan

Elder in one step.

What was even more outrageous was that on the very first day of his apprenticeship, he wasn't staying at the Elder's mansion but had run to the Scripture Library.

As a Qi Refining cultivator, a few pointers from a Jin Dan Elder would be enough to benefit you for a lifetime; did you need to run to the Scripture Library on the first day?

Besides, which Elder's mansion didn't have a private Scripture Library?

However, when the old man remembered that Xia Daoming's master was Zuo Dongge, his gaze quickly turned from strange to relieved.

Elder Zuo, that's a different story!

"The first floor is only free for Foundation Establishment disciples; inner sect Qi Refining disciples have to pay contribution points to browse, but since you are under a Jin Dan Elder, even if you are at the Qi Refining realm, you are equivalent to a Foundation Establishment disciple. The second floor requires True Disciple status to browse for free; if you want to browse it, you need to pay contribution points," the old man explained patiently after his relief.

"I want to browse some ancient records regarding the path after the Martial Grandmaster; will the first floor have them?" Xia Daoming asked.

"You want to browse ancient records regarding body-refining martial arts?" Upon hearing this, the old man's gaze toward Xia Daoming began to turn strange again.

"That's right, Xu Shixiong, you are the administrator of the first floor of the Scripture Library; you should know very well what ancient records are hidden here," Xia Daoming said.

"The path after the Grandmaster is at least equivalent to Foundation Establishment. Ancient records at the Foundation Establishment level are generally on the second floor; if you really want to find the martial path after the Grandmaster, you need to go to the second floor," the old man said.

"But I don't have any contribution points; can I use spirit stones instead?" Xia Daoming asked.

He had only been in the Profound Origin Sect for a little over a year, and he didn't farm spiritual fields, spending his days at Changqing Lake; how could he have any contribution points?

"You intend to use spirit stones to replace contribution points?" The old man asked in surprise.

"Does Xu Shixiong mean that the Scripture Library here allows spirit stones to replace contribution points?" Xia Daoming asked with great joy.

"It is possible, but the exchange ratio between contribution points and spirit stones is one to one hundred. The second floor of the Scripture Library doesn't require many contribution points for a day, only twenty points, but if you convert that to spirit stones, it's two thousand. The reason the sect set it up this way is to encourage disciples to do more sect tasks and contribute more to the sect, not to collect more spirit stones," the old man explained specifically.

"In that case, as long as I pay two thousand spirit stones, I can enter the second floor of the Scripture Library to browse without needing contribution points?" Xia Daoming asked with a look of surprise.

It would indeed be difficult if he were temporarily asked to get contribution points.

But if it were just spirit stones, that wouldn't be an issue.

Uh!

The old man looked surprised.

He had thought that two thousand spirit stones would scare off Xia Daoming, this Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivator, but instead, the person was full of surprise and hadn't put two thousand spirit stones in his eyes at all!