Better Find the Time to Ask Questions!

As Gu Feidi arrived at the dining hall with Di Ling, it was the same time as Li Shijie with Pu Lingyun and Fan Xi behind her.

As soon as Pu Lingyun saw Gu Feidi, she immediately came forward and called out, “Xiao-Shixiong!”

Fan Xi looked around, raised his eyebrows and asked, “Where is Su Yang? Why isn’t he with you?”

Gu Feidi turned toward him and replied keenly, “No longer calling him ‘Young Master’?”

Fan Xi raised his hand to rub his chin and said with a smile, “You must have a lot of free time to be concerned about this trivial matter.”

Gu Feidi acknowledged, “Your attitude towards him has changed since he walked out of the stone forest array. Qinglian Sect is well known for seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. In the beginning, I could tell you didn’t respect him from the bottom of your heart.”

Fan Xi signed, “I am not as snobbish as you think. I just think those rumours about him in the Jianghu are falsely spread by the righteous group.”

Before Gu Feidi could speak, Pu Lingyun expressed her unhappiness first.

“There are people with proof of his evil deeds, how is that falsely spread!” She glared at Fan Xi and continued, “No one has heard from the young men that were taken by him, and no one knows whether they are dead or alive. No matter what the reason for his abduction of those young people, it is unforgivable for him to take them away from their family!”

The accuracy of this statement made Fan Xi unable to rebuke, and he stayed silent in the end.

Pu Lingyun smirked triumphantly. “Have nothing else to say?”

Fan Xi sighed with a smile, looked her straight in the eye and asked, “You are not Su Yang, how would you know? He doesn’t have the freedom to act independently, he is not to be blamed!”

Hearing this, Gu Feidi suddenly raised his gaze and stared intently at Fan Xi.

Pu Lingyun raised her chin and hissed, “He is the Evil Sect’s Young Master, who else could force him? From what I see from his appearance…”

“Lingyun.” Gu Feidi suddenly interrupted. “It is pointless to say more. We are here to advance our skills. You have already made a breakthrough in Layers of Feathers. Today, we are going to the Pavilion of Infinite Knowledge to select advanced mental skills. Don’t delay time because of trifles.”

Pu Lingyun tightened her lips and muttered, “What Xiao-Shixiong said is right, I will go eat now.”

With that, she walked toward the long table full of breakfast.

Gu Feidi took a meaningful look at Fan Xi and followed Pu Lingyun, saying nothing.

Fan Xi squinted at Gu Feidi until his target sat down at the table. Then he clicked his tongue and sat down at the other end of the long table.

After breakfast, Gu Feidi accompanied Di Ling to the Pavilion of Infinite Knowledge. He encountered Xu Yunzhan, who was also seeking a manual for heavy weapon techniques. They greeted each other and entered together. 

The Pavilion of Infinite Knowledge was a building that stored all the books residing in the House of Jade. Although it covered a small area, it had five floors, and the book collection was very considerable. The arrangement of the books here was also very particular. On the first floor, most of the skills and martial arts manuals leant toward the cold nature. The higher the level, the more intense the manuals became.

Xu Yunzhan went down to the east side under Mo Shixiong’s guidance. Gu Feidi did not hesitate to go up to the third floor right away and went to the corridor for mental skills labeled ‘Pure Fundamental’.

Most of the Tengyun Pavilion’s internal mental skills were in favour of the Pure Fundamentals. Gu Feidi’s Path to Home was universally recognized as essential for its freshness and elegance. If he wanted to practice the advanced mental skills complementary to Path to Home, or practice the martial arts technique most suitable for him, it was best to continue to follow the same path.

There were many different kinds of pure fundamental mental skills and martial arts. Fortunately, the bookshelves here were well organized, and the directory of manuals on the shelves was also marked on the shelf edge. It was very convenient to locate what he was looking for.

Gu Feidi wandered among the bookshelves for a moment. He picked out a copy of Three Wonders of Peregrine Falcon from the top shelf and flipped through an entire chapter before putting it back. He walked along the corridor from beginning to end, reading dozens of different mental skills manuals, but none of them caught his attention.

As the sun gradually rose, and the afternoon heat invaded the pavilion from the windows, Gu Feidi was still empty-handed.

Xu Yunzhan appeared beside him with a set of manuals in his hand.

“Feidi, did you find a suitable mental skill?”

His face was calm, but he could not completely hide his joy. Obviously, he was very satisfied with the set of martial arts manuals he found.

Gu Feidi returned the manual in his hand back to the bookshelf, and shook his head, showing a trace of melancholy between his eyebrows.

“The House of Jade indeed has a very extensive knowledge of martial arts.” He continued, “But…not as outstanding compared to Path to Home. How is there a way to improve your mental skills using what you know as a foundation?”

Xu Yunzhan frowned and said, “Feidi, locating an advanced method will be difficult with your unique, gifted talent and having Path to Home’s mental skill as foundation. This is unavoidable. Your father knew this, that’s why he allowed you to study within the House of Jade’s walls.”

After a pause, he added, “Also, you gained about seventy to eighty percent of the benefit from Path to Home even without the last volume. That means the mental skills available here could indeed be used as a supplement for you to advance your skill.”

Gu Feidi stared at the bookshelf for a moment and replied, “If I can find the last volume, I won’t need to practice any other mental skills for the rest of my life. Such a pity…”

On hearing this, Xu Yunzhan was also somewhat disappointed. “That’s right, very unfortunately. Even the Alliance Leader Gu does not know the whereabouts of the last volume. If it still exists, you will surpass Su Yang as Returning to the Nest is superior to the Six Night Flower Burial. You can become the strongest inner mental skill user in our generation.”

“Evil Sect…”

Gu Feidi paused and shared, “Yesterday, when I was in the stone forest array, Su Yang accidentally slipped some information to me.”

Xu Yunzhan raised his eyebrows. “Oh? What information?”

Gu Feidi uttered, “He said, the last volume of Path to Home is here somewhere.”

Xu Yunzhan exclaimed, “What? How did he know that?!”

Gu Feidi shook his head. “It seemed that he leaked something when he was mumbling quickly, but afterward he rushed to cover up his mistake. He didn’t disclose his source of information, and I can’t judge whether or not it is true. But at the gate of the second assessment, Ling Shijie also mentioned Returning to the Nest. She said that I might be able to gain something here. Makes me wonder if the last volume is really here.”

For a while, neither of them spoke again.

After a long time, Xu Yunzhan hesitated and uttered, “But if the last volume is really here, why didn’t Alliance Leader Gu study it during his time here?”

Gu Feidi pondered over for a moment and then shook his head again. 

Seeing the misery in his eyes, Xun Yunzhan advised, “You don’t have to worry. Although Path to Home is a pure fundamental mental skill, if you want to choose an advanced level, maybe you should check in the ‘Hidden Clarity’ and ‘Righteous Sun’ section. Maybe you will find something. The Flying Kite Technique was created by your father, it is also derived from the Righteous Sun, so it is worth a try.”

Gu Feidi sighed, “It looks like there really is no other choice.”

Then he looked at the stack of manuals Xu Yunzhan held in his arms and pointed in surprise, “Is that Wufeng’s Demolition of Mountain! According to legend, a martial arts genius from the western region called Yue Wufeng wrote it. He had an enlightenment when he split a large boulder in half with his heavy blade a hundred years ago. It has not been seen in the world for many years. I can’t believe it has been hidden in the House of Jade all this time!”

Xu Yunzhan gushed, “I was lucky to find it.”

Then he glanced at the colour of the sky outside the window. “Let’s have lunch. We now know the way to the Pavilion of Infinite Knowledge. We can come back later. You shouldn’t be in a hurry to advance your mental skills, as you haven’t made a breakthrough in Battlement yet. You never know, there might be other opportunities next time.”

Gu Feidi thought about it for a while, laughed, and nodded his head. “You’re right, let’s go.”

...

Su Yang was woken up by his empty stomach.

He sat up in a daze, staring into space for a while before he slowly got out of bed to begin his day. Walking out of his room dressed in only his middle robe, he found the water jar outside of the house to wash his face and rinse his mouth. He then tried his best to put on his Evil Sect’s outfit. 

This time, with no one helping him comb his hair, he let his long raven hair drape over his shoulder like a waterfall. He walked around the courtyard, trying to find the kitchen’s location.

However, apart from the two residences, the Lively Spring Garden didn’t even have a well, let alone a kitchen.

He pressed on his hungry stomach and looked into Gu Feidi’s room. He listened carefully to any movement of the main house behind the north wall, confirming that he was the only one left in the small courtyard. 

He finally couldn’t help but grunt in pain, thinking, ‘Could it be that because he didn’t wake up early, they won’t allow him to have lunch?!’

Perhaps, by noon, Di Ling and Gu Feidi should be back?

Thinking of this, Su Yang turned back to his room dejectedly.

After stepping into his bedroom again, he realised that there was a pile of manuals on his desk that weren’t there last evening. 

He curiously approached the manuals bound tightly by strings and saw the four large characters written in graceful cursive calligraphy on the cover. The four characters were written the same way in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, so they were easy for him to recognise, but still, it took Su Yang a moment to murmur, “Blooming of the Nine Glacials…?”

He picked up the book and opened it to a random page. Before he could see what was written in the book, a letter suddenly fell out from the front page.

He picked it up and saw the familiar writing style on it.

“Su Su, I heard you have made a breakthrough in Six Night Flower Burial. This set of Blooming of the Nine Glacials is for you to advance your mental skill. Ask Li Shijie anything you do not understand, have her teach you.”

“One more thing, when Fei Fei comes back, remember to tell him that what he is looking for is located on the highest floor of the Pavilion of Infinite Knowledge at the bookshelf in the southeast corner. It is between a manual called ‘Calamity Phoenix’s Everlasting Fire’.”

Although this letter was very informal, containing no punctuation anywhere, he could organise and understand the sentences with great difficulty. He became speechless once he understood the letter’s meaning.

Wasn’t this Shizun’s heart too big?

Directing Gu Feidi where to find the last volume of Path to Home and instructing the Young Master of Evil Sect to pass the message on top of that?

What if he had some selfish intention and refused to inform Gu Feidi? Making so he would never find the last volume in his lifetime?

Su Yang complained internally as he sandwiched the letter back between his manual and decided to notify Gu Feidi of this once he returned. 

However, with nothing to do at present, he simply opened the first volume of Blooming of the Nine Glacials, intending to see what all the fuss was regarding the magical skill called ‘internal mental skill’ that this world had to offer.

…Five seconds later.

He slammed the book in his hand and pressed his hand against his forehead, fighting back a headache.

He had some self-knowledge at least, even as an underachieving student.

This internal mental skill was indeed different from the martial arts technique manual. Without anyone’s help, let alone two years, he won’t be able to figure a way out by himself within twenty years.

He should…find the time to ask Ling Shijie questions.