Yue had quite a stockpile, which would typically take several years to fully read and an unknown amount of time to thoroughly understand.
Even Yue himself had not fully mastered the books he provided.
Most of the books were memorized through secret techniques, like a cold copying machine.
But Wang Sheng was different. With the help of “reading,” after a few months, although he couldn’t claim to have completely grasped every book, he came close.
To integrate all of the knowledge was not something one could achieve by skimming.
It all required practice, to transform everything into something suitable for oneself, turning it into nourishment for growth.
Therefore, Wang Sheng selectively studied.
He didn’t intend to learn everything. Even with a progress bar indicator, there’s only so much time in a day. Learning too much might delay the development of important skills he already had, making them burdens instead of assets.
Wang Sheng’s method was to remember things that were not immediately useful with a simple understanding, and to delve deeper into those that were.
For example, the skill known as “sacrificial refining” originated this way.
And his own martial arts,
like the Six Harmonies Spear. He didn’t study the several Grandmaster level spear techniques from Yue’s books, but instead understood them and integrated the essence into the Six Harmonies Spear.
The framework of the Six Harmonies Spear remained, but Wang Sheng had changed a lot of the content, significantly enhancing its practical combat capability.
This was Wang Sheng’s reading method, the most suitable for him.
This method required a large number of books, and now he faced a rather awkward situation.
He had no books left!
Although it wouldn’t affect his strength enhancement, having read for so long, he had grown unaccustomed to the sudden absence.
“Alas, let’s have someone help with the acquisition for now!”
What he needed were martial arts secret books, which were not easy to find.
The majority of forces held such books tightly, as they were the foundation of ensuring their privileges.
Like some ordinary world families, books were their most vital possession, the essence of their inheritance and the core of maintaining their power.
Acquiring them would likely be extremely difficult.
Thinking of this, he yearned even more for the Great Zhou Imperial Family’s library.
But ultimately, he turned to Yue.
Not to ask Yue to do anything, but rather to inquire about the market price of martial arts secret books.
To see how he might exchange for some.
If it came down to it, his only option would be to target those martial artist families steeped in malevolence, to eliminate harm for the people—that wasn’t something he wished to do unless absolutely necessary.
Yue, who was quite knowledgeable, then said, “Lord Wang Sheng, your spiritual pills could exchange for several books or even more per pill if they are of the middle-tier martial arts secret books. If they’re on my level, about ten pills might fetch one. Of course, you definitely won’t be able to get the core inheritance secret books from the martial artist families.”
Core inheritance secret books would never be traded unless the families were exterminated.
Wang Sheng pondered and asked, “What if it’s something that could help someone breakthrough to the Great Grandmaster level in exchange for a core inheritance secret book?”
Yue was startled by Wang Sheng’s unconventional thinking but still honestly replied, “If it could guarantee a breakthrough to Great Grandmaster, one might even glimpse the core inheritance of what were once the seven transcendent powers.”
“Oh!”
It wasn’t that he couldn’t get them, just the price wasn’t high enough. Simply put, if you want the core inheritance secret books, sure, but it’ll cost you!
Wang Sheng was also surprised, seven meant there were two that were not possible.
“Stargazing Valley and the Border Army, are they so unique that even something that guarantees a breakthrough to Great Grandmaster can’t exchange for it?”
Yue answered, “I can’t be certain about the Border Army, but our Stargazing Valley would definitely not trade. The core inheritance is only passed on to those who are fated.”
Alright, it looked like there were still some forces with such certainty, Stargazing Valley being one.
Having learned what he wanted, Wang Sheng informed Li Yongfeng to be on the lookout, and asked the village head to inquire with the Three Great Families during their next exchange to see if they were willing to sell secret books.
Thus, a month later, Wang Sheng received a batch of martial arts secret books from the Three Great Families and they also provided a list.
The most numerous were the regular martial arts secret books, a total of three hundred and twelve. There were fewer middle-tier martial arts secret books, over one hundred in all, and then some rarer secret books, the least in number, only about a dozen. As for those that lived up to Yue’s standard, there were none.
The Great Grandmaster level powers’ casually offered items were simply superior to what the Three Great Families could provide.
The village head, who was responsible for delivering the secret books, said, “The people from the Three Great Families didn’t take anything you offered. They said that because of your protection, they’ve developed so well. Also, the Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills you gave last time helped their families give birth to a Grandmaster level Martial Artist.
These secret books are their way of repaying you. Oh, and these three, they are said to be their traditional secret books, they’ve given them to you as well!”
Wang Sheng flipped through the three secret books and found them to be decent, barely comparable to some of Yue’s books.
As for the fact that the families did not accept remuneration, he did not dwell on it much.
He was well aware of the existence of Grandmasters in their families. After all, the news of four Grandmasters in three counties had spread.
Originally, he thought it was due to the families’ own prowess, not anticipating that they broke through using the Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pills; even he was unaware of such effects of the pills.
However, since that was the case, he accepted the secret manuals, only concluding that the people from the Three Great Families were exceedingly obvious and generous in their toadying.
He didn’t particularly resist such matters now, considering everything they offered was exactly what he wanted.
Before the village chief took his leave, he shared some news with Wang Sheng.
That was the announcement of an upcoming grand and unique auction in Jiangyuan City.
The auction’s portfolio was straightforward: it was a bundle sale of inheritances from various fallen powers in Shuzhou, which boasted an abundance of rich Martial Artist secret manuals.
“Auction, huh… Not going!”
What was an auction?
It was the gathering place of all troubles. If a few deaths didn’t occur at each auction, it wouldn’t be authentic—of course, this specifically referred to auctions in fantasy worlds.
Although Wang Sheng was very powerful, he had no desire to get involved in such affairs.
One had to consider that those who acquired the valuable items at auctions were usually individuals or forces of wealth, influence, and strength.
If you killed those people, it was almost a certainty that their more powerful seniors would come after you.
As for those forces fond of plundering, they were generally very powerful and troublesome.
While such incidents weren’t guaranteed to happen, Wang Sheng didn’t want to take the risk.
The most critical point was that he now had the books gifted by the Three Great Families which he could read for a long time, and he didn’t particularly lack them.
“It’s best to stay out of the bustle of Jiangyuan City!”
So Wang Sheng organized all his belongings and once again immersed himself in cultivation.
Instead of worrying about the inheritances of those weak, exterminated forces, it was better to swiftly elevate his own strength to the Perfection of Refining Essence to Qi, and then head to the Imperial City to read the books in the royal library.
…
Another three months just like that slipped by.
Wang Sheng hadn’t finished reading the books from the Three Great Families yet. Although they weren’t particularly excellent, they had many valuable aspects. It would still take some time to go through their hundreds of volumes.
During this period, the situation in the outside world underwent tremendous changes once again.
The situation in Shuzhou was relatively stable; after all, the powers of King Yong Nian, Spirit Sword Valley, and Heavenly Saber City were quite on par with each other, maintaining a balance that no one dared to disturb lightly.
But the circumstances outside Shuzhou were another story.
News came once more from the Grandmaster Level power, Divine Lady Peak. They dispatched countless disciples, scoured for numerous “Heirs of Destiny,” and ultimately pinpointed the divinely chosen next dynasty.
The Zhang Family, the family of the Military Leader of the Heavenly Blue Army!
The Heavenly Blue Army was one of the three major armies of the Great Zhou, capable of opposing forces at the level of the Sword Master or Saber Master.
Everyone had been speculating as to who would take control of these armies.
Some guessed it would be King Yong Nian, considering he was a bona fide member of the imperial family and its reception would be proper and fitting.
Others believed it to be the fugitive Crown Prince, well aware that he must have secured a considerable foundation of Great Zhou and perhaps the means to control the three major armies.
But surprisingly, the first to gain control was the Divine Lady Peak, far in the north.
This caught everyone by surprise, as nobody knew when the people from Divine Lady Peak had made connections with the Heavenly Blue Army, with no information having leaked out.
Not only that, but everyone realized a potential problem.
That was the likelihood that the main family of the Heavenly Blue Army, the Zhang Family, had long harbored intentions of rebellion.
This wasn’t just a baseless rumor.
The Heavenly Blue Army was among the armies closest to the Imperial City, yet during the last Great Zhou ruler Zhou Tianyuan’s battle with Wengong, the Heavenly Blue Army hadn’t participated.
If the Heavenly Blue Army had joined the fight back then, the situation might not be as it was now; perhaps they could have prolonged the dynasty’s life span.
Many had speculated maybe Zhou Tianyuan understood the shifting tides of power and chose not to call the Heavenly Blue Army back in order to preserve its strength, but it seemed that might not be the case!
The association between the Zhang Family and Divine Lady Peak implied that the Heavenly Blue Army was probably not a contingency of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Therefore, the situation back then might not have been a refusal by Zhou Tianyuan to mobilize the Heavenly Blue Army, but rather an inability to do so.
As early as that time, the Heavenly Blue Army must have been out of the empire’s control.
Now, in their cooperation with Divine Lady Peak, their strength had become extremely formidable.
It was fair to say that Divine Lady Peak had leaped to the top, becoming the most comprehensively powerful among all the Overlord Level forces, feared by other factions.
Lihai City, too, was nothing to scoff at; they had annexed two more states, expanding their power further and had begun to recruit more troops.
All these tidbits of news were shocking enough until yet another revelation emerged.
In the southernmost state of the Great Zhou, in the desolate state of Huanzhou, a great demon was born, self-proclaimed as the White Lotus Demon King, intending to establish a Demon Country among humans…
As the news broke out, it sent shockwaves through the air!
(“Damn, my hand is about to break!”)