Without recklessly making contact again, Li Cheng颐 returned to his residence, contemplating the scene he had just witnessed.

‘Judging from the information gathered, the Eldest Brother hasn't done anything to attract attention, and his schedule is filled with normal activities. If it were simply a problem with the cultivation method, then the Sect Leader would have been the first to be affected. It wouldn't have been the Eldest Brother's turn.’

Li Cheng颐 frowned and sat cross-legged. After a moment, unable to glean any useful information, he decided to go directly to the sect's library.

The Wu Mian Sword Sect did indeed have a library, a towering, multi-layered structure.

Unfortunately, most disciples hadn't even mastered their own swordsmanship, and had no time to waste reading other books.

When Li Cheng颐 arrived at the library, only two ordinary disciples and a male steward were quietly reading books inside.

His current reputation was catching up with that of Huo Qingkong, so he was recognized as soon as he entered the small pagoda-like library.

The two ordinary disciples saluted him from afar. The steward seemed to want to strike up a conversation, but seeing Li Cheng颐 pick up a book and quickly flip through it, clearly not wanting to be disturbed, he wisely stopped.

Inside the tower, rows of circular bookshelves held the essence of countless books accumulated and selected by the Wu Mian Sword Sect over the years.

From stone tablets from ancient times to bamboo scrolls from antiquity, to the paper books of today, the collection spanned a vast period and included everything imaginable.

Moreover, Li Cheng颐 even suspected that the library was set up with some kind of spatial formation, as the interior space seemed much larger than it appeared from the outside.

A single floor had an area of ​​over a thousand square meters.

He walked around the first floor, which was filled with books on ordinary fist and foot techniques, as well as some guidance books, health cultivation methods, records of Pan Guang history, and so on. There was nothing he wanted.

So, he went upstairs.

The second floor was empty, with dust accumulated in many places.

The bookshelves were still densely packed, but the books on them hadn't even been maintained or wiped.

There was also a sign standing at the entrance.

‘Do not be arrogant or impatient, purify your mind and focus. If the writing you see here is black, you may enter. If it is red, retreat immediately.’

Black? Red?

Li Cheng颐 confirmed that he saw black writing, then strode past the sign and came to the rows of bookshelves inside.

Most of the books here had no names, and the covers were simply and roughly wrapped, with no decorations at all.

But strangely, Li Cheng颐 could still sense a kind of inexplicable aura emanating from them.

Some books were cold, some were warm. Some were grand and majestic, others were luxurious and domineering.

Different books had similar auras, but the intensity, concentration, and style were completely different.

Li Cheng颐 randomly took out a book and opened it.

With a rustling of pages, the pages were filled with dense Black Sea Text, and all the words were wriggling and changing like insects.

‘Book of Life, Volume 1366.’

A small line of words was written at the very beginning of the first page.

Among the large, changing characters, only this line remained unchanged.

"Book of Life?" Li Cheng颐 flipped through it for a while and found that he couldn't recognize any of the text. The Black Sea Text changed too quickly, and the combinations were completely irregular. He recognized the individual characters, but when they were strung together, he had no idea what they meant.

His purpose here was to find out about the history and origins of the Sword Sect, to see if he could find out what that strange aura on the Eldest Brother was.

If the powerful traits of the Wu Mian Scholar had ever appeared before, there would definitely be a record.

So, it seemed he should be looking for history books, local chronicles, and the like.

Putting down the book, Li Cheng颐 scanned the vast bookshelves, containing at least tens of thousands of books. If he had to look through them one by one, he didn't know how long it would take.

There wasn't even a guide here.

He pondered for a moment and decided to set aside some time each day to come and look through the books here.

This was a long-term task.

Also...

Li Cheng颐 reached into his pocket and touched something he had always carried with him.

It was a piece of purple jade.

It was the special jade that Yin Yue Zhenren had given him, representing his identity and guaranteeing his safety.

‘Just in case, if I can't beat the Wu Mian Scholar, I have to prepare for the worst... This place is too far from the Heavenly Gathering Pavilion of my sect, and too far from the Earth-Moon in reality. The next Flower Utterance, if I choose to strengthen and amplify the restorative abilities of the Flower Utterance itself, maybe I can contact the sect and the other Flower Utterance Beads... to determine the coordinates.’

Having determined his follow-up plan, Li Cheng颐 continued upward, touring all the floors of the library tower.

But he didn't find the information he needed.

Helpless, he could only start slowly flipping through the books from the second floor, until it was late, and then he returned to eat and cultivate.

Time passed day by day.

The entire Sword Sect returned to its original quiet but tense cultivation environment.

The elders and stewards went in and out repeatedly, and news of battles with the Qing Mu Sword Sect was constantly being reported from the outside world.

The stalemate between the two sides resulted in many casualties on both sides.

Many of the experts in the Sword Sect were seriously injured, and Huo Qingkong's strength became even more prominent.

In this difficult period, his strength was actually still increasing! And not slowly.

Two months later.

The two Huo Shan twins that Li Cheng颐 sent out to receive the snow lotus flowers successfully brought back one hundred snow lotus flowers.

Yuan Qi of the Sui Yue Sect even sent a dozen extra as a supplement, to prevent them from withering.

The snow-white snow lotus flowers were neatly wrapped in soft dry grass, and underneath were flowerpot-like containers filled with black soil.

"You've worked hard." Li Cheng颐 was overjoyed.

With the snow lotus flowers in hand, the flower energy was guaranteed. After that, he only needed to supplement some evil thoughts to complete an evolution.

The two squirrels with muscles all over their bodies cupped their fists and saluted in unison.

"It's not hard to serve the master!"

Li Cheng颐 watched the two of them move all the flowers into the courtyard in front of the pavilion. He immediately stepped forward and began to check the flowers' bodies.

It looked like he was checking the quality of each pot, but in reality, he was constantly absorbing new flower energy.

The flower energy quickly exceeded half, rushing to 60%, and then completely filled up, reaching 100% when he touched the eighty-ninth pot.

Having completed the absorption of all the flower energy, Li Cheng颐 stood up in satisfaction.

He waved his hand.

"No problem, move them all down to my yard and plant them all." Whether they lived or not didn't matter, since he had already absorbed all the flower energy.

"Yes." The Huo Shan twins replied respectfully.

Watching the two leave, Li Cheng颐 returned to the pavilion, walked to the door of Kui Ling's room and knocked gently.

"Enter." Kui Ling's voice came from inside.

"Mother, I want to go out for a walk. It's too boring to stay on the mountain all the time." Li Cheng颐 casually made an excuse, pushed the door open, and looked at Kui Ling who was meditating cross-legged.

"You are only allowed to move around within the safe area we control, and don't get close to the war zone. Can you do that?" Kui Ling opened her eyes wearily and instructed.

"Yes, I promise." Li Cheng颐 nodded.

"Go ahead, and remember to use the Ding Yuan Sword I gave you in a critical moment. It contains three strands of my sword intent." Kui Ling had just returned from the war zone and suffered some minor injuries, and was now recuperating.

"I won't forget, don't worry. I will definitely avoid dangerous places from afar and never get close." Li Cheng颐 promised.

"Well, that's good." Kui Ling originally wanted to have Tie Zhou follow Li Cheng颐, but cultivators couldn't grow if they were always in a greenhouse. Too much protection would only harm Bai Lu.

So, she hesitated and didn't say anything more.

But Li Cheng颐 didn't have time to carefully observe Kui Ling's expression. His mind was now filled with filling up his evil thoughts as soon as possible, then completing his first evolution, completing the fusion of the Twelve Flower Scale Armor. At that time, his strength would definitely increase dramatically.

When that happened, with strength as his foundation, he planned to try to break through the blind spot and leave, and... truly have a serious talk with the Eldest Brother.

What exactly was that aura he had sensed from afar, and what was its relationship with the Wu Mian Scholar?

This was something he had to find out.

If he determined that it was impossible to save, he planned to take his loved ones away from this blind spot.

"By the way, Mother, when I was reading, I came across the Yin Huan realm, which is your current realm. Why have so many elders been stagnating in the same place for so many years, and their Yuan Imprints haven't continued to grow?" Li Cheng颐 suddenly asked.

This was a question that had been bothering him since he entered the Yin Huan realm.

He was now familiar with the several elders of the Wu Mian Sword Sect, but what realm were these people in before, and three years later, they were still in the same place, still in that realm.

This was quite strange.

Moreover, according to Senior Brother Tie Zhou, many of the elders had been like this for hundreds of years, never changing.

So, before leaving, he simply asked.

After returning this time, he didn't plan to continue hiding his strength, after all, he couldn't hide it anymore. If he was going to confront the Eldest Brother, there was a high probability that they would fight.

At that time, it would be impossible to continue concealing his strength.

"The Yin Huan realm is different from below." Kui Ling revealed a trace of a smile. "Below the Yin Huan realm, you increase the number of Yuan Imprints, but above the Yin Huan realm, it is not worth it to continue increasing miscellaneous Yuan Imprints, because the more abilities you have, the more mixed they are, and the less likely you are to be proficient in one thing. So, at the Yin Huan level, you need to reach the pinnacle."

"Reach the pinnacle? How do you do that?" Li Cheng颐 knew that this level had a trick to it.

"Continuously strengthen your existing Yin Huan, try to add as few Yuan Imprints as possible, and instead strengthen your original Yuan Imprints, allowing them to continuously fuse, thereby increasing the Yin Huan's illusory light. So, at this level, you don't need to blindly increase other Yuan Imprints, but instead continue to break through on your original Yuan Imprints. It is very difficult to do this." Kui Ling smiled.

She estimated in her mind and guessed that Bai Lu might have just passed five imprints.

After that, if he fully trained the Saint Spirit Technique and the Wu Mian Sword Art, he could reach the eight-imprint level, plus his own innate Yuan Imprint, that would be nine imprints.

At this point, it was indeed possible to learn some relevant information in advance.

"You should also be aware of some ways to strengthen Yuan Imprints, that is, to condense similar Yuan Imprints, and they will automatically fuse and intertwine." Kui Ling continued.

"So, does that mean that you can't judge strength based on the number of Yuan Imprints once you reach the Yin Huan realm?" Li Cheng颐 frowned.

"Strength has never been about what is written on paper, but is earned through real fights." Kui Ling smiled. "The Eldest Brother's Yuan Imprints haven't changed much in the past three years, and their number is about the same as our elders, but his strength is stronger than all of us. Can that be compared simply by the number of Yuan Imprints? And..."

The smile on Kui Ling's face suddenly faded.

"Life has limits. The innate aptitude of the body determines the physiological limits. And the scope of innate awareness and cognition also determines the limits of consciousness... We old people have actually reached our limits long ago... We can't make any progress."

"Your child understands." Li Cheng颐 nodded. His heart also felt a little heavy.

Limits... Kui Ling's limits had been reached, so what about his?

As the Master of Evil Flowers, did he also have limits?

After a moment of silence, he took advantage of the fact that he was about to condense Yuan Imprints and asked several questions.

It wasn't until Kui Ling showed traces of fatigue on her face that he said goodbye to Kui Ling. After bidding farewell to Yun Chen and Tie Zhou again, he planned to go down the mountain alone to collect evil thoughts.

(End of this chapter)