Cultivation Nerd (xianxia)

Chapter 161 - The Bird Problem

 

Despite how weird he was acting about not remembering the owl on the third floor, I knew the librarian wasn't the type to partake in a cheap joke like this.

"By the owl, I mean this old guy here," I pointed my thumb at the old man and smiled. "He's almost as wise as an owl."

"What do you mean by almost?" asked the old guy.

"Well, you're not really wise despite your age. But I didn't want to be rude to an old fellow like you, who at best has a couple of weeks left to live," I joked.

Our humor was dark and always had a hint of truth. To others, it might seem like I was insulting old man Shan Sha, but we got along fabulously.

It felt like I had never left. The old man and I continued bickering while the librarian smiled at us from the sidelines.

By the end, the old man had finished his tea and was eyeing the second cup initially meant for the owl. Could the owl even drink tea?

I sat on the opposite side of the old goat and stared at him like a hawk.

"You know, I missed you too, old man," I smiled.

The old goat snorted, but a smile slowly appeared on his face.

"Anyway, I have to go and check some things on the third floor. It shouldn't take long. I'll punch the floor and shake the whole tower if something happens," I said jokingly. But if the tower were to shake, they should know something was wrong.

There was something on the third floor that could change people's memories. It was a very dangerous thing to approach, but if the owl-like humanoid monstrous beast wanted to harm me, it would have done so when we were alone. Also, I knew that the owl-like monstrous beast was a Qi Gathering Cultivator.

"Don't worry, I have control over the arrays that cover the library," said the librarian with an amused glint in his eyes. He also wanted to get a slice of the humor. "If something goes wrong, I know who to blame."

"Yes, you can blame the old goat," I said as I stood up and walked toward the stairs. An array barrier washed over me but didn't inhibit my movement.

The stairway hadn't changed much, and I felt the same "flavor" of arrays—likely most were to confirm my identity. I didn't stop on the second floor and continued to the third.

There was some resistance this time as if I were trying to walk on the ocean floor. The sensation was strange and otherworldly; each step felt heavy, as though the weight of the water pressed down on me from all directions. Despite the dense, aquatic environment enveloping me, I found that I could still breathe with ease, my lungs filling with air as naturally as if I were on land. The contrast of the cumbersome movement and effortless breathing created a surreal experience. 

It was an interesting experience and perhaps an array I should try copying. Yet, just like the others, it couldn't hinder me.

For now, there were more interesting things to see, like the owl that apparently could change someone's memories. So, I had no incentive to stay much longer. 

How did it even change memories? The brain was a very delicate thing to manipulate.

I was curious enough to take some risks. I may forget this whole thing happened in the future. However, experiencing a technique that causes memory loss might be interesting on its own. 

What would that feel like?

Thinking about what might happen if I lost my memories, I used Dancing Jade Armour under my clothes and wrote a message on my right shoulder. Something that would heal eventually but leave a scar with the message if I forgot about this series of events.

I stopped climbing the stairs midway to the third floor and used some Qi to stop the bleeding from my new injury.

It would be useless as a secret message to my amnesiac future self if the owl could see the red blood patch on my uniform.

Perhaps the owl might try and kill me outright? No, that seemed very unlikely. After all, if I went missing, many people would come snooping around. Clearly, he was erasing people's memories because he couldn't deal with the consequences of powerful people knowing. Murdering people within Sect grounds or having them disappear would draw too much attention.

I continued walking up to the third floor, and unlike the first time I came here, none of the illusion arrays activated. Likely because if they had, I could have easily disrupted them. Those things usually only worked when a person was caught in them for the first time.

As I stepped onto the third floor, my feet touched the stone floor, and the whole place was as quiet as a grave. The walls were cold stone, giving it the appearance of a cave.

But I remembered how the owl had shown me through here. I walked around a bit until I stumbled upon shelves piled up like a house of cards with books spilling out.

"If somebody is trying to send some kind of artistic message here, I just want to clarify that I don't understand it at all," I said aloud.

My voice echoed through the strange place, echoing off stone surfaces until it felt like a whispered secret right next to my ear. I turned around and saw an owl with a humanoid, feathery body, its eyes eerily blank and staring straight ahead. The creature's gaze was unnerving, its empty eyes seemingly looking through me rather than at me.

"I always knew you were a curious sort. Even if you heard someone was wiping out people's memories, you would come here with zero precaution. Deep down, humans are all the same; inside them will be one sin or feeling that will trump all others. In most cases, it is lust, greed, or pride. But you're different; you seek knowledge…" the owl said in a deep voice that sent a chill down my spine.

But despite the chillingly cold and dangerous-sounding deep voice, it was hard not to laugh when I heard his villain-like speech. Normally, this would have intimidated anyone. But judging by how clearly he spoke his words and how much emotion he put into it as if he was reading a script, it sounded like he was giving a practiced speech.

Just imagining the owl-man practicing in front of a mirror removed any feelings of fear or intimidation I might have had.

I knew just the right way to get under the skin of these kinds of personalities.

"That is a shit assessment. I'm actually quite lustful and have five wives," I fabricated some claims. "Also, what are you talking about wiping people's memories? If such a technique existed, it would be a balance breaker. Though I guess even the sharpest sword would be useless to someone with no arms."

After I said that, the owl just stared at me. He looked almost confused, though it was hard to tell since he was… well, an owl.

"What I meant by that part about saying even the sharpest sword is useless in the hands of an armless man—It is a backhanded insult to you, saying that even a technique that can remove someone's memories would be useless in the hands of someone as stupid as you," I said.

If this were any other circumstance, I would have been more lenient. Despite the recent Beast Wave, I had nothing against monstrous beasts. But this guy had gone and modified the memories of the librarian, someone I cared about.

"Remarkably, even with the help of the arrays, I can't tell whether you're lying or have any negative intentions toward me," the owl said.

"If lying-detection and emotion-detection arrays were absolute, then there would be no betrayals or liars left alive," I said.

Some arrays could help detect whether someone was lying. But those arrays were about as reliable as a lie detector in my previous world. They mostly read physical reactions to determine if someone was lying. If those things were accurate, they would be used in real crimes. Instead, they were just used as props on TV.

Many people reacted differently to lying, so one could never tell with those things. Also, I wasn't too emotional about the situation I had found myself in.

"Anyway, can you show me the thing that you used to delete the librarian's memories? You should try and use it on me, make me forget about you and all that," I said, trying to goad him into playing his hand. "Or we could play it nicely, and you just tell me how you did it."

"I will choose the second option," said the owl.

Wait. He just going to tell me? Now, whatever cards I held close to my chest became somewhat useless.

"It technically isn't a memory erasing or memory locking array. As you said, things that deal with the mind are very imprecise. So deleting selective memories is almost impossible unless someone has reached the peak of Array Conjuring and has had time to work on the subject personally," explained the owl, his eyes staring at me unblinkingly. "What I have cast is a library-wide confusion array. Technically, I targeted the librarian's thoughts about me."

Confusion arrays were usually ineffective and took a long time to show any real effects. However, with the librarian spending all his time here and believing he had control of all the arrays in the library, the effect was likely slow but eventually took hold.

Ironically, the best way to combat this array was to just walk out of its bounds. With the librarian being a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, he would have regained his memories if he had stayed just a couple of minutes outside the library.

It was disappointing to be handed information like this so easily. Learning and discovering these kinds of things on my own was fun. Being given this way felt like playing chess but then using a bot to cheat or trying to learn something I already knew.

At the same time, I had expected to see some high-level technique or array. But it turned out to be just a relatively simple array.

It was impressive that someone had used such a simple array to create these effects—that was actually genius. But it would have been way more rewarding to figure this out alone.

"You must be excited to learn that something like this is possible with arrays," the owl said.

No, I wasn't excited. This owl just kind of ruined my whole day.

"I have spent a lot of effort dodging people who still have the blood of the Blazing Sun Immortal running through their veins. But it was worth it to find someone like you, who has a thirst for knowledge and wants to learn everything there is," he said, taking a step forward until he was within arm's reach of me.

Damn, he should just get to the point already.

"Liu Feng, are you willing to open your mind and gain the inheritance of the greatest Array Conjurer to ever live!" the owl declared with a grandiose speech.

Greatest Array Conjurer to ever live? That sounded like a very biased opinion. I wouldn't say I had terrible luck, but I didn't have good luck either. This sounded like someone telling me they would give me a million dollars if I signed a contract. Nobody would be celebrating that kind of news; they would be more suspicious that it was some kind of scam. This offer also came out of nowhere, which was extra sketchy.

The owl was still looking at me, waiting for an answer.

"Tell me more about this inheritance," I said.

 

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