Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 70 The Invisible Book

Ning Changjiu asked, "Will it violate the rules of the sect?"

Ning Xiaoling said, "It's okay. Master told me that your constitution was average and that the inner disciples were condescending. How could they envy an outer disciple?"

Ning Changjiu said, "I don't think it is appropriate."

Ning Changjiu said in astonishment, "Changjiu, are you shy now? Like feeling embarrassed... Changjiu, your realm is not high now but I believe that you will become very awesome."

Ning Changjiu slightly shook his head. "I don't care how others see me."

Ning Xiaoling said, "That's even better. It will be enough as long as you sit beside me and read the textbook to me. Everyone else all reads the texts loudly so they won't find us noisy."

Ning Changjiu asked, "Can't you let Lu Jiajia read to you?"

Ning Xiaoling said, "She has read the texts to me for half a month. She is the peak master. If she keeps explaining the texts to me separately, inevitably there will be some criticisms. Some disciples even say I'm faking illiteracy and deliberately test me with some words, asking me whether I know the words or not."

Ning Changjiu asked curiously, "With what words?"

Ning Xiaoling said, "I only know the former three words, i.e., Shi Xiong Shi. The last one is a bit tricky. Let me write it down for you..."

Then, she just grabbed the brush pen and wrote it down without caring about its strokes. In the end, she just scribbled it uglily and then in order to prove her progress in learning these days, she also wrote down the former three words.

Ning Changjiu heaved a sigh while staring at the four words.

The rice paper wrote uglily, "Shi Xiong Shi Zhu (The brother fellow disciple is a pig)."

Ning Xiaoling raised her head and asked curiously, "Changjiu, how to read this one?"

Ning Changjiu asked, "Who wrote the four words to you?"

Ning Xiaoling replied, "A brother fellow disciple. He seems to be named Yunze..."

Ning Changjiu kept the name in mind and said, "You are as silly as a pig. I've taught you the word before. Did you forget it?"

"Emm... Did you? It doesn't ring a bell at all." Ning Xiaoling was scarcely scolded before. Now, she was a bit dazed.

She knocked on her head, saying, "So are you coming or not? The sword hall is actually very fun, especially the sword method class given by Jiajia. There are several fellow disciples who can fly their swords skillfully. The most awesome one is a brother fellow disciple called Nancheng. He reached the upper stage of the Immortal Realm at the age of 19. Unfortunately, he is in closed-door training now. I cannot get to meet him..."

Ning Changjiu instantly thought of Lu Yuanbai who was a generation senior to the young man and yet stuck in the middle stage of the Immortal realm so he couldn't help sighing in secret.

Ning Xiaoling continued, "However, I heard that the most impressive one should be the chief disciple of Shouxiao Peak, who reached the upper stage of the Immortal Realm at the age of 17. He is almost as talented as Jiajia. By the way, the peak masters of Xuanri Peak and Huiyang Peak are sister and brother. It is said that their innate spirits were both disabled tigers, one without eyes and the other without a tail..."

Ning Xiaoling blathered for a while and then asked, "Changjiu, are you coming or not tomorrow?"

Ning Changjiu was sitting in repose with his eyes closed, saying casually, "No."

...

...

In the early morning, Ning Changjiu brought a chair over and sat by Ning Xiaoling.

He leaned against the back of the chair with disregard for the gazes on him. Staring at the sword classics piled up on Ning Xiaoling's desk, he heaved a sigh.

"What page were you on last time?" Ning Changjiu asked faintly and resignedly.

Ning Xiaoling opened the book with excitement, turned to a certain page and then passed the book to him. Ning Changjiu browsed it and gradually frowned.

Ning Xiaoling also noticed his reaction and then asked with a low voice, "Changjiu, what's wrong?"

Ning Changjiu said softly, "Nothing."

Lu Jiajia walked to the desk and said in a soft voice, "If you have any questions, just feel free to ask me."

Ning Changjiu nodded and said, "Thank you, Master. I don't have any questions."

Hearing him call her Master, Lu Jiajia felt a bit weird somehow. Yet, her face unswayed, she just nodded indifferently and turned around to leave, without asking further. She only acted like treating an ordinary disciple.

"Jian xin ke yu shen, shou yu du, jian qi you ba shi (The sword mind is respectful, prudent, defensive and alone. There are eight moves of the sword Qi)... Qi zhuang ye, ruo fei long hui yang, qi yi ye, ruo he xing yun chuan (It takes the shape of a flying dragon returning to the sun and contains the intent as if a crane strolls on the sea of clouds)..."

Ning Changjiu read the words of the sword classics to Ning Xiaoling. She nodded her head from now and then. Whenever she encountered any question, she would voice it out and Ning Changjiu would answer.

However, the other disciples in the sword hall would view this scene differently.

Their impression of Ning Changjiu was that he was a young man with beautiful features, which was acquired when they met him at the entrance. Occasionally, they could meet him in the library on the inner peak only because Ning Changjiu needed to teach Ning Xiaoling how to read. The other disciples went to the library at different times from him and only got only a fleeting glimpse of him.

Ning Changjiu never paid attention to the people around him. His facial expression was so calm that it was almost fake. Therefore, when many people gossiped about him in private, they felt his calmness was only a pretentious act in order to avoid his embarrassing stay on Tianku Peak.

The majority of the content of the sword classics was extensive and general, which was used to broaden the mind and attain a point of view. It was not surprising that Ning Changjiu could understand it.

The disciples who were near him would deliberately hear Ning Changjiu's illustration and then identify whether there was any fallacy and error. However, after hearing him out for a while, they still couldn't find any obvious fault.

Yet, they were curious only. They were not very interested in the fellow disciple of this talented girl.

The morning class was over. The disciples got up and walked to the Sword Cloud Tower as usual.

Having finished his duty, Ning Changjiu said a few words to Ning Xiaoling in a soft voice before standing up and walking to the inner peak.

Lu Jiajia hesitated for a moment and still walked forward to stop him.

"Wait," Lu Jiajia said.

"What's wrong?" Ning Changjiu asked.

Lu Jiajia asked, "What have you been doing these days?"

Ning Changjiu said, "Cultivating, reading, teaching Ning Xiaoling to read, well...and talking to Lu Yuanbai?"

Lu Jiajia asked further, "How is your cultivation going?"

Ning Changjiu shook his head and said, "Not so good."

Lu Jiajia heaved a sigh. "No progress at all after half a month?"

Ning Changjiu said, "I haven't found the crux of the problem."

Lu Jiajia asked, "Have you got any clue?"

"Not yet," Ning Changjiu slightly shook his head and said. "Thank you for your concern. Your disciples are still waiting for you."

Lu Jiajia took a meaningful look at him, saying, "If you need help, you can ask Xiaoling to tell me. No need to hang on yourself."

Ning Changjiu felt a bit touched and then bowed to her, saying with a smile, "Okay."

...

"Master seems to be talking with Ning Changjiu."

"It must be because he made mistakes when he illustrated the sword classics to Xiaoling. Master is too kind to point it out on the spot and instead, she chooses to advise after class."

"But it doesn't seem so... The young man looks quite good in terms of temperament and demeanor. What a pity on his constitution!"

"Don't follow the example of Lerou. In terms of constitution and appearance, Nancheng is absolutely excellent. Why do you pity an outsider?"

"You are right. I wonder when Nancheng will finish his closed-door training."

"Who knows? But when he is out of the closed-door training, maybe his realm will be as high as that of the chief disciple of Shouxiao Peak."

"Can he be that awesome..."

Several disciples were talking in a low voice. When they saw Lu Jiajia turn around, they immediately scattered toward the direction of the sword field of the Cloud Tower.

Ning Changjiu stood outside the peak for a while, staring at the clouds scrolling and unfolding above the Tianku Peak and hearing the cold wind whistling by. After a long while, he flicked his white clothes and walked to the inner peak.

There was a deadly silence on the peak.

Ning Changjiu walked to the library of the inner peak as always.

Today, somehow, Lu Yuanbai didn't wait outside to mock him as usual. Ning Changjiu stood outside the door for a while. He found Lu Yuanbai was not there so he directly walked into the library alone.

The old man referred to as Uncle-master Yan Zhou by Lu Yuanbai was still lying on a long wooden desk. An old book was placed on his yellow robe. The book's cover was old, which must be a book about the basics of cultivation placed on a lower layer and read by others numerous times.

Ning Changjiu took a look at him from the distance and had the same feeling again--he seemed to be dying today but he still didn't die.

The feeling was quite mysterious, which was one of the reasons why he insisted on reading here every day. He wanted to know when the old man would die.

Ning Changjiu turned his gaze away and walked to the bookshelves. Today, he didn't search for the books by name. Instead, he picked the books one after another by instinct.

However, his instinct was not keen enough. These books still failed to provide any clues for him as before.

At last, when he was about to leave, he took out another book randomly.

It was "Common Knowledge of Innate Spirits."

The name of the book was quite common. He didn't hold high expectations for it so he glanced it over. Thereafter, he thought of something and gradually knitted his eyebrows.

He came to the desk with the book and felt like reading seriously.

However, the moment he sat down, the glimmer of enlightenment he had just now immediately faded away.

His mind was slightly messy when Uncle-master Yan Zhou who always kept silent suddenly spoke to him.

"Why did you come so late today?"

Ning Changjiu felt a bit surprised. He raised his head and replied in a low voice, "I attended the morning class with Xiaoling so I came a bit late."

The old man raised his eyelids and took a look at him, saying slowly, "You are not dressed like an inner disciple."

Ning Changjiu said, "No, I'm not. My fellow disciple is exceptionally talented. Thanks to her, I can stay here."

The old man nodded and said, "Do you know who I am?"

Ning Changjiu said, "Lu Yuanbai told me your name was Yan Zhou."

Yan Zhou grinned. "You don't like playing dumb. Previously, a lot of young people knew my identity but they just pretended that they didn't and saw me as an ordinary man watching the library. They tried to cotton up to me, hoping to seek a lucky chance."

Ning Changjiu said, "Now, I'm a basket that leaks water. Even if I obtain a lucky chance, I can't keep it. What's the point?"

Yan Zhou asked, "In this case, why do you read so many books about the sea of Qi and acupoints? What? Do you want to change your body's condition with the acquired skills?"

Ning Changjiu said with puzzlement, "How do you know I'm reading these books?"

Yan Zhou sneered and said, "I don't have time to care about you. It is just I've been here for decades. Every book here is somewhat connected with me. When a lot of people are in the library, I will sever the connection in case that I may be bothered. However, you complimented me as a master that day. I could tell that you were sincere so I paid some attention to you specially."

Ning Changjiu grinned with self-mockery, saying, "Pitifully, it is my wishful thinking."

The old man seemed to agree to his words so he didn't respond then.

Ning Changjiu suddenly asked, "I heard that you imprisoned yourself here because you lost the valuable treasure of the sect?"

Yan Zhou said casually, "Did Lu Yuanbai tell you that?"

Ning Changjiu was noncommittal.

"That chap never changes. He always gets involved with others' business instead of cultivating," Yan Zhou cursed very explicitly and sneered with a slightly hoarse voice, "If I want to leave Tianku Peak, who can stop me?"

Ning Changjiu said with a smile, "You are right."

Yan Zhou rubbed against the old book on him and sighed lightly, "I just don't want to leave."

Ning Changjiu hesitated for a while and still asked, "Why?"

Yan Zhou's grey eyebrows were knitted. There was a look of uncoverable pain flashing across his face. The old man looked somewhat older and said with a hoarse voice, "I lost the valuable treasure of the branch back then... It is a book, which seems to be alive. I chased it to this place and then it just disappeared. I could faintly feel that it was here, hiding from me. Therefore, I've been searching for it but it has been decades and I still can't find it..."