597 Library
"You must have business coming here to the Sea of Demons, and I"m sure it has nothing to do with the Walkers," said the general.
"No, we"re here to partake in the upcoming auction, we have something that we need to obtain from it," he said.
"I see. Dwei, come here," said the general, and soon the man who drove the carriage arrived to the hall and stood in front of us.
"Once the auction stars, you shall support our guests with the full power of the Western General, if they even want to buy out the entire auction, help them do so, the treasure room is all at their disposal," he said.
"As you command," said Dwei.
"There won"t be a need for that. We just need the painting that"s going to be auctioned there," I said.
"If it"s just one item, I"ll feel it too cheap for the life of my daughter, then, I"ll tell you what, Dwei go to the general of the east, and get one of their Soul Flames, the Emerald Soul Flame, it shouldn"t account for all the favor you have graced us with, but it is the least I can offer you."
Old Fu nodded to me, and I accepted.
"If that"s what the General of the west wishes for, then I shall kindly accept," I replied.
"Good. As for you, Master Fu. I believe that you"re at the peak of the Void Shattering Stage," he said.
"Something like that," old Fu replied.
"Good, then would you be willing to help us?" he asked.
"To do what?" old Fu replied.
"After investigating what had occurred, we conclude that someone is accelerating the growth rate of the Walkers. We have a feeling that whoever is doing so wishes to harm our city. Or do something nefarious under the vestige of the a.s.sault from the Walkers. None of us four generals can leave the city unless expressed directly but the reigning emperor, otherwise I would have personally went and investigated." Said the general.
"And you want me to do this for you?" asked Old Fu.
"I won"t hide it, as though it"s shameful to ask for another favor from the people who helped my daughter, my hands are tied and I don"t want to be caught off-guard when the Night falls." He said.
Old Fu thought for a moment and said, "I find no reason compelling me to help."
"Good one Fu, you"re learning." I nodded inwardly.
"Oh that"s the reason I asked for your cultivation level. He then pulled a small golden box and placed it in front of old Fu.
Once Old Fu opened the box, a beautiful jade colored root was sitting comfortably in the box.
Old Fu frowned, "Bodhi roots… where did you get something like this," old Fu extended his hand to the box but the general lightly closed it.
"It will be yours once you help us, what do you think?" he asked.
Old Fu placed his hand under his chin weighing his options. But before he could come to a decision I asked, "What is that and why do you need it?"
"The Bodhi Roots, especially of this pure quality is undoubtedly the best catalyst to help someone at the Void Shattering Stage to breakthrough and reach the next stage. Cultivation resources are not as rare as in where you come from but something like this is not easy to come by. Through my life, I"ve seen only two of this. And I never was able to obtain them at any point in time. Something like this will give me an easy access to the Origin realm."
"Then let"s go, what are we waiting for?" I asked.
"It"s a difficult mission, I believe that old Fu is capable of handling himself, but I fear for my benefactor"s life, after all, I sent three Void Stage cultivators with my daughter and only Dwei returned."
"What a sly old man, even after all I"ve done to him, he"s trying to keep me here as a hostage until Old Fu comes back. But I don"t blame him, if the Bodhi roots are this priceless, they may as well try and keep me hostage here to guarantee that old Fu would complete his mission and come back."
"I refuse," said Old Fu.
"May I know the reason? Is the reward not enough?" the general asked.
"No, the reward is plenty, but I don"t go anywhere where my Junior Brother isn"t. After all, I don"t trust you."
The general thought for a moment and said, "Then at least allow me to send some escorts with you, Dwei knows the path and region and a few other of my elite soldiers will accompany you to safety, we only need to investigate the reason behind this sudden sprout of Walkers. So don"t risk your lives for anything," he said.
"Fair enough," I replied, "When are we departing?" I asked.
"You may leave whenever you wish, but I would advise you to wait this night out. You must first see the Walkers before you walk into their den, right?" he asked.
"Indeed, so in the mean time I need to go somewhere," I said.
"Where is that?" asked the General.
"A library, the biggest one you have here."
The general looked at us awkwardly and said, "This is a city of ruffians, muggers, thieves and fools. Finding someone who keeps a couple books would be a miracle. But… I know someone who can help you if you want a large collection to read from," the general"s expressions were a bit too grim.
"I suppose that the person you"re talking about is not on friendly relations.h.i.+p with you," I said.
"Not at all, on the contrary. We"re actually good friends, it"s just that meeting them is going to be difficult for someone like you," he said.
"Let me guess, it"s the emperor and since I have no achievements I have no right to request seeing his collection," I said.
"Right on the nose, I like smart people," said the General.
I sighed as I was about to give up until I received a Divine Sense message from the Automaton.
"Master, why must you seek lesser knowledge when you have the Lord of Lords PaG.o.da?" he said.
"What do you mean? I already finished reading all the books in the PaG.o.da, and none of them had anything to do with the Beyond."
"But that was before we reached the Beyond. My Lord had made sure to only allow you a fraction of the Lord of Lords paG.o.da"s treasure of knowledge, since if you were to delve into the higher form of knowledge you"d have lost your mind. But now that you reached your current stage, you"re able to access more floors. Including the upper Library with a vast array of books and scrolls over the Beyond"s culture, resources, cultivation materials and many more," he said.
"Why didn"t you mention this before…"
"Because master never asked…"
"Touché"
"We"ll excuse ourselves for now," said old Fu.
beautifully carved wood. And the whole room seemed to have an extravagance to it 11:16
that would put a king to shame.
"Dwei, take them to the honored guest residence, and go and procure the Soul Flame," he said.
"As you command," Dwei saluted and led the way for us to follow him.
He took us to a vast room where we were allowed in.
"Please enjoy your stay, if you need anything just ring that bell and servants will immediately arrive to accommodate all your needs," he said and then left after closing the door to the room.
Of anything I"ve seen in the palace, this room seemed to have the most decorative items in it, it actually felt like it belonged to a proper palace.
The carpet alone seemed to be intricately weaved. The walls and ceiling were made of beautifully carved wood. And the whole room seemed to have an extravagance to it that would put a king to shame.
"I guess they treat their guests better than they treat themselves," said old Fu.
"They"re soldiers, they don"t need all that fancy stuff, not that we need it. Old Fu, I"ll need you to keep an eye out on me, I"ll return shortly," I said.
"Are you leaving the perimeter of the palace?" he asked.
"No, I"ll be here, just not here," I said.
He didn"t understand much but the Automaton appeared and opened a portal for me to the Lord of Lords paG.o.da.
Once I stepped inside, I found myself in the same ma.s.sive library of the Lord of Lords. I"ve spent years here and know every nook and cranny of this place, I have already read every book here.
"Follow me, master," said the automaton until we arrived to an inconspicuous corner of the library.
"Wave the Lord of Lords token here," he said.
And just as I did, the whole shelf fell down revealing a tunnel like entrance that led forward. Luminescent orbs were imbedded on the ceiling of this square walled tunnel that lit the way and on the other side of the tunnel there was light.
Just as I arrived to the other side, my eyes widened as I saw the real library of the Lord of Lords.
"s.h.i.+t…"