"I want to go to the Library of Eternal Wisdom."
Ken said, cringing at the name. Galen's naming sense sounded familiar, and he understood why Leonidas considered the other elder a genius.
"The library? Why? Go to the Residence of a Buddha and a Demon!"
Since Ken searched for it, he could even recognize a slight panic in its tone.
"I was curious about the genius Galen. Why, does it matter where I go first?" Ken feigned ignorance.
"Ahm, no, that's not what I meant. I just meant you've asked Elder Leonidas for advice, and since he gave it to you, it'd be impolite to ignore it."
"I'm not ignoring it. His deep respect for Elder Galen has piqued my interest, so I will just go to the library first, and to the Buddhist place afterward. Since you said the order doesn't matter, I'm sure The Godly Swordsman of the Heavens will not be offended by such a minor matter."
Ken did his best to prevent a hint of mockery to creep into his tone, and he thought he managed well.
"Of course, it doesn't matter. I will open the portal then, but make sure to follow Elder Leonidas' advice soon, or else it'd be very disrespectful."
"You don't have to worry; I will go right afterward."
Ken remembered his fights against the monks and the demons from the Peaceful Demon Sect in the Labyrinth of Blood.
Back at the time, he quickly understood how they claimed the second rank among the five strongest sects in the continent; their techniques often made one's mind calmer or more agitated.
Being subjected to such manipulations was dangerous in a fight as it could easily cost one's life if they were too relaxed or too tense.
Taking this information into account, he didn't want to enter a place of an ascending immortal whose mind manipulation was beyond Ken's current abilities. His main source of confidence was the absence of the actual immortals; if all he had to deal with were the formations, he still had hope.
The child wore his white mask and walked through the portal, his battle instincts already prompting him to kill from the moment the mask touched his face.
When he came out of the other side of the portal, a large lake welcomed his face. Or at least, he first thought it was a lake until he noticed it was a very wide canal surrounding a large platform with a 3-floor building.
'It must be the library.'
His thoughts were confirmed by the huge banner reading 'Knowledge Illuminates the Mind' in large letters that could be perceived with the supernatural eyesight of cultivators from the other side of the wide canal.
Looking around him, he saw people running on the water toward the center while others were watching from land. The entrance to the building was less than a meter from the end of the canal, so he didn't see anyone on the platform. The thing they all had in common was their auburn robes, marking them as disciples of the Infinite Wisdom Sect.
Nobody was fighting; to Ken's surprise, multiple groups of cultivators stood on the water near the library, surrounding it as if they were guards hired to block entrance to the place.
"Kid, go away. This place is guarded and taken by our Infinite Wisdom Sect, and only members of the sect are allowed to enter."
One of the patrolling groups approached him and tried to shoo him away.
'It must be because of the knowledge stored inside. The Infinite Wisdom Sect enjoys nearly a monopoly on the market of craftmanship, and if the other sects gain too much information here, they might lose this edge. Their elders must have instructed them to search for the library beforehand.'
After learning that the supreme elders of the Bloodthirst Sect were members of the righteous sects, he knew the sects must be aware of it as well since it was impossible for them not to notice their ninth-stage elders disappear on the same day as the evil cultivators.
"What if I want to enter?" Ken asked the leader of the group that approached him.
"Then you can die here." Was the answer he received, and he knew that it was the only result if he tried to battle against a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators simultaneously.
However, this group only had 4 members, and only the leader was in the intermediate phase of his stage while the others were weaker. He revealed his fourth-stage aura, exposing his lower stage.
"Haha kid, I take it back. You can stay since I will probably kill you anyway, even if I only get a few BP, I don't look a gift horse in the mouth!"
The man laughed and lowered his guard. He thought Ken messed up by showing his stage.
'One Step.'
'Flash Unwind.'
Ken's speed crossed beyond stages, and his mastery over Heaven-grade techniques was overwhelming. With a swift strike of his sword, he killed the three subordinates and left a dangerous-looking cut on the leader's throat who managed to push himself back in the last moment.
"Aaa!"
The man tried to speak, but his vocal cords were cut, and nothing came out of his mouth other than the blood that kept flowing. He threw to the air a round object as he disengaged Ken.
*BOOM!*
The blast pulled everyone's attention to the noise, resulting in everyone seeing Ken attacking the wounded man again and putting an end to his life.
"Someone tries to cross, kill him!"
A chase soon started, and Ken ran on the lake by coating his feet with Qi, trying to cross it. Many disciples were coming to intercept him. Ken's focus remained sharp, and he never let his chasers surround him.
Slowly, the crowd of people trying to catch him off guard was increasing by the second until most of the disciples positioned to guard the place were chasing him, and he was forced to retreat to the other side of the canal, back to where he started.
Before he could slip out, he found himself completely encircled with nowhere to escape. If only his sneering enemies saw his smile under the mask, they'd certainly be bewildered.
'Now!'
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢