Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

Perhaps there will be some other discoveries.

With this purpose in mind, Wang came to the bookstore in the west of the city.

Upon entering, Wang discovered that it was indeed the case. The doorway of the bookstore seemed like a curtain separating two worlds, and its interior did not match its exterior size.

Rows upon rows of bookshelves stretched backward, and even though the bookstore had no windows or candles, it wasn't dark. A giant pool was situated in the center of the hall.

The bookshelves contained not only current affairs essays left by people of the time, classic works, but even some low-level cultivation techniques that had long been lost.

Continuing deeper inside, Wang soon found himself stopped by an invisible barrier; the following bookshelves were temporarily not open to the public.

Inquiring within his heart, the Jade Book Tower replied that one must complete trial tasks before gaining access.

Wang asked if there could be any leeway, but the Jade Book Tower responded with a no!

"Alright then, Guanqi, do your best."

After sending his blessings to the old brother, Wang picked up a book and sat by the pool to read, soon immersing himself in the ocean of knowledge.

Thus, on the first day of the Jade Book Tower's reopening, a day of significant commemoration.

Among five trial takers, two mischievous ones were caught exploiting bugs.

The eldest one, who boasted grandiose words before the start, lost immediately upon entering,

And those brothers, who should have been united like gold, were now idly hanging out at the spring.

Only Li was still on the mountain hunting, still operating.

However, despite someone putting in silent effort.

From observing the scenario, the Jade Book Tower felt something was amiss.

Wrong, ninety percent wrong.

This person named Li Guanqi, why does he seem so disciplined? He seems reminiscent of the children of the Military Merit Family during Dongqi's heyday?

Stern, silent, forging ahead unwaveringly.

[No, this is definitely wrong.]

[Someone like him couldn't possibly teach someone like Zhang Ze.]

[He must have another scheme up his sleeve!]

[Need to ramp up the intensity for him!]

—— I was screwed by my disciple ———

In the mountains.

The sun had already set, but Li wasn't rushing.

Instead of heading up to find the tiger immediately, he located an abandoned little house at the foot of the mountain and temporarily settled there.

The owner likely either followed that Taoist in rebellion or fled elsewhere.

The house contained no valuable items, just some useless elm wood lumps and an immovable solid wood cabinet.

Not even a piece of iron was left.

Li picked up an elm wood lump from the yard, tossed it in his hand, then sat on a half-broken grindstone on the ground, using a worn-out knife to shave the wood piece by piece.

Soon, Li carved out a sharp wooden dart, but he didn't stop and continued to make another one.

As he continued to carve, Li suddenly reminisced about his days before joining the Sword Sect.

Back then, he wasn't called Li Guanqi; this name was given to him by Pavilion Master Zhengyi. He was called Li Hu then, a hunter and carpenter.

Being a carpenter was his ancestral skill, and being a hunter was due to his lone self's love for meat.

Many things were simple at the start, merely that...

He remembered sitting in the courtyard like this, in his youth, carving wood with a small knife.

Then, an already-deceased senior brother led a scrawny Wang Buyu past his home.

"Want to practice sword, brother?" Wang Buyu asked, perched on the wall.

"Hmm?" Li Hu didn't hear clearly.

And just like that, with a simple question and answer, gifted old Li was taken with that senior brother to the Seventh Sword Pavilion...

Li Guanqi took a deep breath, waking from his memories, and found over ten wooden darts in front of him. These darts weren't durable but were sharp enough.

Holding the wooden darts, an indescribable feeling loomed within his heart. Looking at the darts, Li felt that the bottleneck that had troubled him for a while now seemed to show signs of loosening.

Moreover, he was now in a state of inner peace.

Stowing the wooden darts, Li Guanqi shut the courtyard door, took up his knife, and went up the mountain.

He traveled through the night, tracing tracks, and with the overlap of the illusion realm and this current mystical state, his memory of the past became incredibly vivid, as if he reverted to his youth, back to the days when he hunted tigers alone in the forest.

Crossing the second hill, as the sky grew slightly brighter again, Li followed the beast trail and found his target—a tiger that had just reached adulthood but lacked experience.

Shielding his traces, Li climbed an ancient tree, throwing a wooden dart toward the cave entrance, waiting for the tiger to emerge.

However, there seemed to be something wrong with this tiger.

It seemed like someone had tampered with it.

The tiger's head poked out, its face indeed belonging to a freshly grown tiger.

But on stepping the first paw out, its size suddenly expanded.

As the second paw stepped out, a small trace of slyness appeared in the tiger's clear eyes, along with extra patterns on its body.

When the third paw stepped out, the patterns became increasingly demonic, and the king character on its forehead transformed into an eerie symbol.

At the fourth...

Before the fourth paw could step out, Li had already made his move.

He feared if he waited any longer, this tiger might start speaking.

As Li aimed the second dart at the tiger's eye, he sensed that odd feeling from before entering the Jade Book Illusion Realm.

He constantly felt as if he was being targeted.

And Li wasn't wrong; he was indeed being targeted.

With the Jade Book Tower's empowerment, this tiger leveled up three times on the spot...