Even though it was inevitable for him to learn step-by-step, he could occasionally skip steps to study superb things.
Once he made up his mind, he shifted his gaze to the book collections deeper inside the hall.
The book collections in the library were not simply arranged. Normal books were placed at the outer layer so that any disciple could easily access them. As long as they did not take them out of the library, there would not be a problem.
However, books that involved high-level skills could not be read by anyone.
Unless one had a certain status and paid some price, one would not be able to read them.
Of course, due to Yuqi the Venerable One’s jade pendant, Ou Yangming had the highest-level pass in the library. Regardless of a book’s level, he could retrieve them without any problems.
As at this moment, Ou Yangming strolled toward the innermost area in the side hall.
He looked up at the last shelf in this area, but there were only roughly 10 books there. Furthermore, each of the books was not thick; they were extremely thin, which made them look lonely.
Even so, all of the blacksmiths from the Beast King Sect knew that those 10 over books were the real treasures and were far more valuable than the 10,000 books at the front.
Seeing as Ou Yangming arrived at the last shield, about 10 people in the side hall could not help but look at each other. They could not even focus on their books anymore.
“Hey, look, what is he trying to do?”
“Since he came to the library, he’s here to read, of course.”
“Pfft, you don’t say, but he’s looking at that shelf!”
“Yes, what’s going on? That shelf keeps the treasures of our sect. I heard that those books were written by Venerable Blacksmiths. Even Elder Bai isn’t qualified to read them, is he?”
“Heh, after pretending for so many days, he finally reached his limit today.”
“It’s good for him to hit a brick wall so that he’ll stop reaching for what’s beyond him.”
They controlled their voices as much as they could, but they could not hide their looks of surprise.
This was because they never saw any of their seniors reading the books from the innermost section in the side hall as though nobody in the sect was qualified at the moment.
Thus, when Ou Yangming stood in front of that shelf, they thought that he was putting up another show.
Ou Yangming looked with bright eyes at the books in front of him. He had not touched any of them, but he could surprisingly sense the powerful auras that they contained.
Those were powers of Venerable Ones, which meant that the books’ owners or authors were beings that were comparable with Venerable Ones.
Back then, Ou Yangming would have backed away if he sensed these auras. After all, he had not even grasped the smithing techniques for High Grade and Fine Grade magic tools, so it was still early for him to read books from Venerable Blacksmiths indeed.
Despite that, he could not stop thinking about flying carpets at the moment, and he could not wait.
After looking for some time, Ou Yangming finally decided on one of the books. He reached out for it.
He did not realize that while he was doing that, the blacksmiths that were either standing or sitting behind him had odd smiles on their faces as if they were waiting for him to make a joke out of himself.
Since the books were of a different level, they could not be read by anyone.
Without the required status and standard, one would not have the right to read the books from the inner section. If one tried to take one of the books by force, they would only be taught a painful and unforgettable lesson.
When Ou Yangming reached out for one of the books, the other people felt like he was being overconfident.
They widened their eyes and sneered as they wanted to watch Ou Yangming being fended off by the defensive power.
This was not because Ou Yangming had poor relations with people, but the blacksmiths were simply envious of him reading rapidly throughout these few days.
Eventually, Ou Yangming extended his arm and grabbed one of the books.
‘It’s coming!’
Almost at the same time, all of the onlookers shouted internally.
Who knew, they were soon surprised because unlike what they had expected, Ou Yangming was not struck by thunderbolts. The young man took the book away as though he was taking an ordinary book. It was exactly the same as what he had been doing for the past few days.
Following that, Ou Yangming returned to his seat slowly and enjoyed reading the book.
Everyone else looked at each other in disbelief.
For the past few days, Ou Yangming might have successfully read all sorts of books because he was being looked after by Bai Zhiyi, but the people were flustered after what happened today.
As far as they knew, even Bai Zhiyi had not read the books on the last row.
The people exchanged glances, then one of the disciples gritted his teeth and got up to walk toward the last shelf.
Upon seeing this, the others knew what he was trying to do. The disciple wanted to test if the Guardian Formation Map was malfunctioning because it had been such a long time.
When the disciple reached the last shelf, he reached out for a book like how Ou Yangming did…
Chapter 680 - The Market Outside The Mountain
While trembling, the blacksmith mustered his courage and reached out to the shelf.
Who knew, before his fingertips actually touched the precious books on the shelf, an unimaginably enormous power surged. There seemed to be an invisible energy shield in front of the books, where attacking energy that could numb one’s body burst out from the shield.
Before the blacksmith could react at all, he was ruthlessly pushed away by the power.
His body suddenly flew backward and crashed into the back of one of the shelves.
Since the shelf was pinned to the ground, it was not affected by the crash at all. On the contrary, the unlucky blacksmith fell hard to the ground and groaned in pain.
Everyone else was shocked. 2 of the blacksmith’s friends immediately jumped over to help him up.
Fortunately, the only prohibition here was to stop people from retrieving books beyond their levels instead of punishing them with death. Therefore, while the blacksmith was in immense pain, his life was not in danger.
Nonetheless, when the people that witnessed what happened turned to look at Ou Yangming again, they had indescribably strange looks on their faces.
Ou Yangming was also alarmed by the sudden noise, so he turned to look. He saw one of the men moaning in pain on the ground while the others cast weird looks at him.
He touched his nose and felt extremely dispirited. ‘I’m not on the headlines anyway; I’m only hiding here to read books, so why am I attracting attention?’
All of a sudden, someone strode over. It was Shui Wenliang, who was in charge of maintaining the order in the library.
He scanned everyone with his lightning eyes, but he paused for a second longer when he looked at Ou Yangming and the injured man.
“What happened? Why are you making so much noise? Don’t you know that you mustn’t clamor in the library?” Shui Wenliang asked in a deep voice.
Everyone else fell silent. In particular, the blacksmith on the ground had an ashen face. It was difficult for ordinary disciples like them to enter the library, where they had to pay rather high prices.
Thus, they valued every opportunity very much. However, the blacksmith went to the last shelf due to a curious coincidence. In a less serious case, the blacksmith would be driven out for making such a mistake but in an extreme case, he would not be qualified to enter the library anymore. As such, he was anxious.
Shui Wenliang furrowed his eyebrows and approached that blacksmith. “What’s your name?” He was in charge of guarding the library, but the place was visited by somewhat different disciples every day, hence he could not remember everyone’s name.
&nb
sp; “I’m Tian Yinghao. I accidentally did something prohibited in the attic, but please forgive me, elder.”
“Why did you do something prohibited? Weren’t you informed about the rules before you entered the library?” Shui Wenliang scoffed.
Tian Yinghao smiled bitterly and explained, “Elder, I-I saw something taking one of the books, so I became possessed and wanted to try as well…” He eventually spoke softer, and he flushed.
Shui Wenliang rebuked him with a straight face, “Hmph, that person must’ve taken the book because he’s qualified, whereas you tried to reach for something beyond your abilities by retrieving a higher-level book when you’re not qualified enough. It’s a serious offense, so you must be punished heavily.”
Tian Yinghao’s face changed, and he pleaded with the middle-aged man, “Elder, I only couldn’t help it because I saw someone taking a book from the shelf on the last row.” He paused before he added, “I was reckless, but please forgive me this once. I assure you that I won’t do it anymore.”
“Nonsense!” Shui Wenliang was furious. “Do you think that I know nothing? The last row of books was brought by Sir Venerable One from the other states, and they can only be read by Venerable Blacksmiths or blacksmiths that are approaching that level.” He glared at the man and uttered, “Nobody in the sect can…” He paused abruptly, and he also had a strange look on his face.
Any other guardian of the library would not have believed what Tian Yinghao said.
This was because very few people in the entire sect were qualified to read books from the last shelf. Even if those people came, how could the guardians not be aware? This was why Shui Wenliang’s first reaction was that the fellow was lying.
Nevertheless, when he began to reprimand Tian Yinghao, he suddenly remembered Ou Yangming.
‘Mm, that young fella seems to have sir’s authenticating object…
‘With that, not to mention the last shelf in this side hall, even if it’s the books about our sect’s greatest lost arts, which I can’t access in the main hall, he can read them if he wants to.’
Shui Wenliang twitched his mouth hard. He understood what Tian Yinghao’s mistake was.
He figured that the fellow must have seen Ou Yangming taking a book from the last shelf and thought that the prohibition had disappeared, which was why the fellow tried to follow suit.
“Elder, please show mercy on me.” Tian Yinghao was appalled. He begged the middle-aged man, “It was really unintentional.”
Shui Wenliang waved his hand and said coldly, “Alright, seeing as this is your first offense and that it’s forgivable, I’ll spare you this once. Don’t act recklessly anymore, or you’ll be punished with due severity.”
Tian Yinghao was stunned. He was soon elated, and he quickly thanked the middle-aged man.
The other people were surprised too because they could not understand why Shui Wenliang, who was always stern, would suddenly become so easygoing.
They thought about what he said earlier, then they stole glances at Ou Yangming half-intentionally and tried to guess his identity again.
Once Shui Wenliang left, the side hall fell silent. Other than Ou Yangming, who curbed his thoughts and focused on his reading material, the other people could not calm down at all.
Even so, Ou Yangming was not affected by their reactions at all.
He read his book quietly, and his eyes shone brighter.
The book that he was reading at the moment was written by an unknown Venerable Blacksmith, who was known for being adept in smithing various pieces of flight equipment. Apart from flying carpets, there were also flying boats, flying ships, and even flying palaces.
Besides, the flight function of those pieces of equipment was only a basis. On top of that, they also had unique effects such as defense, attack, and so on.
In particular, a flying palace was almost similar to a comprehensive, massive formation. If one encountered a formidable enemy, as long as one hid inside the palace, even a Venerable One would find it difficult to break it.
Before this, Ou Yangming thought that the pieces of flight equipment could only be controlled by Venerable One. Only after reading the book, he found out that Spiritualists that possessed spiritual powers could use those pieces of flight equipment.
Needless to say, the pieces of equipment were unusually precious. If they were possessed by ordinary Spiritualists, who showed them off to others without any restraints, it would be similar to a child holding gold on a busy street; one could imagine what would happen.
Among the pieces of flight equipment that were introduced, the palace was unquestionably the greatest equipment. Despite that, Ou Yangming was certainly powerless in terms of smithing something like that. This was because the knowledge involved was too profound, and it was unreachable for him at the moment.
On the other hand, he was somewhat confident in refining the simplest flight equipment, which was the flying carpet.
The flying carpet was the easiest flight equipment to be refined, but it was not something that could be underestimated by ordinary blacksmiths. Without the Military Fire and his spiritual world, Ou Yangming would not be able to figure out anything useful, nor would he gain a practical understanding of the equipment.
Having said that, due to his experience of riding a flying carpet, as well as the introduction in the book, Ou Yangming had a little clue about how it should be done.
After reading the book in detail twice, Ou Yangming stood up and returned it to the shelf, then he left the library, where he had stayed for roughly 10 days.
For some reason, the moment Ou Yangming left, whether it was the blacksmiths in the side hall or Shui Wenliang, who was in charge of guarding the library, they were relieved.
‘That pretentious and annoying fella finally left!’
Ou Yangming returned to his courtyard. After pondering for a brief moment, without alarming Bai Zhiyi nor anyone in the Beast King Sect, he left alone and arrived at a bustling ravine outside the side.
It was a naturally-formed trading point outside the Beast King Sect.
Every day, people from everywhere brought all sorts of precious items or things that they deemed as valuable to trade them here.
Since the place was near to the Beast King Sect, nobody dared to dominate the market here, nor did anyone have the guts to force a sale or snatch items.
Disciples from the Beast King Sect would often visit the area out of habit, and they would often gain from their trips.
Since Ou Yangming had Yuqi the Venerable One’s jade pendant with him, he had access to everywhere in the Beast King Sect. He arrived at the ravine with ease and before he entered, he could sense the lively atmosphere in the air.
There were at least 1,000 people in the ravine. They either occupied a spot to set up their stalls or walked with the crowd.
Ou Yangming was surprised when he looked because he realized that the stall owners were not only humans, but at least a third of them were also beasts. Furthermore, judging from how familiar they were with the place, it was evident that this was not their first time.
Indeed, the Beast King Sect was worthy of its name. Ou Yangming was speechless about the Humans’ relationship with the Beasts.
Nonetheless, he was glad that he could trade with beasts directly.
He entered the ravine but instead of browsing the items displayed in the stalls, he kept scanning the bodies of formidable beasts.
Additionally, he also mumbled to himself.
“This won’t do—its fur is too thick…”
“This won’t do either—its fur doesn’t have enough spiritual power. Ah, Fat Antelope’s wool is better…”
Ou Yangming missed Fat Antelope very much at this time. Unfortunately, by the time he waited for the antelope’s wool to grow again, it would be too late.
At the spur of the moment, Ou Yangming stopped. His eyes gleamed as if they were 2 large light bulbs.
Chapter 681 - Bargaining In The Market
In the Beast King Sect’s market, the ratio of the stalls by human cultivators and beast cultivators was 2 to 1.
Nonetheless, the majority of the wanderers in the market were humans. According to Ou Yangming’s observation, human cultivators would first look at the stalls set up by beasts, whereas beast cultivators were more interested in the stalls set up by humans.
At this moment, what attracted Ou Yangming was not items that were sold at the stalls, but a burly vulture. In particular, he was extremely pleased with its long feathers.
It would not be easy to refine a flying carpet. Perhaps Venerable Blacksmiths could refine flying carpets using the fur of formidable spirit beasts but given Ou Yangming’s strength at the moment, he could not achieve that easily. If he wanted to refine the same flying carpet, apart from the overall raw material used, he also needed to add some auxiliary items.
Before this, Ou Yangming thought about Fat Antelope’s wool.
He was familiar with it, after all, hence there would not be a big problem for him to refine a flying carpet with it.
Even so, when he saw the vulture, he could not help but wonder, ‘If one wants to fly in the sky, what will be more suitable than a bird’s feathers?’
The vulture in front of the stall turned its neck uneasily. Being a powerful spirit beast, its sensing ability must not be underestimated. If not, it would have long been eliminated in nature by the law of the jungle, where the strong preyed on the weak.
Therefore, the vulture sensed it when Ou Yangming kept scanning its body.
It suddenly turned to stare at Ou Yangming.
A fierce look could be seen in its black eyes. Although it dared not attack anyone in this place, it would be fine for it to warn someone with its eyes.
Ou Yangming was slightly stunned. He smiled embarrassedly and looked away.
He also understood that what he did earlier was untimely. Besides, he was simply looking for the feathers of a mighty bird. As long as it was a bird, it would not matter what species it was.
The young fellow browsed the items at the stall, but he finally looked at the spot in front of the vulture again.
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