Chapter 7: Deliberate Difficulties

"The day of the Grand Competition is when you and I shall settle this!"

Ling Xiao threw those words down, turned, and walked into the Library Pavilion.

Even if one had a silver tongue, it would be meaningless if they lost the Grand Competition.

Therefore, he didn't want to waste time bickering. It was better to seize the time to strengthen his own power; defeating Ling Feng in one fell swoop at the Grand Competition would be far more glorious than winning a war of words now.

"Hehe, Brother Ling Feng, that little beggar seems to look down on you quite a bit."

Ling Yu said with a giggle, her words carrying a distinct hint of provocation.

"Don't worry. On the day of the Grand Competition, I'll deal with him while I'm at it."

Ling Feng was, in truth, extremely disdainful of Ling Xiao's words.

In his heart, Ling Xiao was nothing more than an appetizer—fine for a warm-up, but not worthy of being his opponent.

It was only half a month at most; could Ling Xiao really reach the third level of the Martial Pulse?

Even if he could, there were no fewer than sixty or seventy disciples at the third level of the Martial Pulse in the Elite Hall alone, and he, Ling Feng, only ranked tenth among them.

Not to mention, above the Elite Hall was the Genius Hall, where the disciples were even more monstrous.

Ling Feng's opponents were the top ten of the Elite Hall and those monsters in the Genius Hall. His goal was to advance from the Elite Hall to the Genius Hall!

It was not to compete with a bottom-tier disciple who couldn't even enter the Elite Hall.

"Hee hee, perhaps it won't even be your turn, Brother Ling Feng. By then, I'll make him kneel and beg for mercy."

Ling Yu giggled, and then this pair of handsome man and beautiful woman left the Library Pavilion amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the crowd.

...

Ling Xiao had already entered the Library Pavilion, though he felt somewhat nervous.

After all, it was his first time.

The first floor of the Library Pavilion consisted of only one room and contained no books.

This was where the guards of the Library Pavilion lived.

The guards were generally top experts of the clan, such as elders or the sons of the Clan Head.

The one on duty today was a middle-aged man of about thirty-five.

"Ling Xiao? Hehe, you're quite something. No wonder you were able to injure my son; so you've had a breakthrough."

That’s right, the person on duty today was none other than Ling Chong’s father, the ninth son of the old Clan Head, known as "Ninth Master."

"Ninth Master, this disciple has come today to study martial arts!"

Ling Xiao knew that Ninth Master was strong—terrifyingly strong—definitely above the fourth level of the Martial Pulse!

Because the Ninth Master, as displayed by his Mountain and River Martial Soul, did not show detailed data, but instead presented a red warning.

This meant the gap in strength was too great; there was simply no possibility of victory.

Yet, he remained neither servile nor overbearing, because he knew that as long as he was still a disciple of the Ling family, Ninth Master would not dare to kill him easily.

But if he were truly driven out, he would definitely die a miserable death.

Therefore, he had to work hard—work hard to stay; that was the only way to save his life.

"Good lad, you’ve got guts."

Ninth Master sneered, "I won't mince words: I will not let the matter of you injuring my son slide. As long as you are a Ling family disciple, it is inconvenient for me to act, but you had best not get kicked out, or you will surely die."

This was an undisguised threat.

"This disciple understands," Ling Xiao nodded and replied. He naturally understood this logic.

"As long as you understand. You are an outsider disciple who entered through an assessment; your treatment is naturally not as good as that of the clan's own disciples. There are some things I must tell you in advance, lest you break the rules."

Ninth Master noticed that he hadn't managed to scare Ling Xiao, and a playful smile appeared on his face as he spoke.

Hearing this, Ling Xiao felt a flicker of anger. There was no such rule in the clan; this Ninth Master was clearly using his position to settle a personal vendetta!

But he had no choice. Without sufficient strength, he could only endure. Bargaining was meaningless and would only invite ridicule.

"Please speak, Ninth Master," he said indifferently.

Ninth Master chuckled, "As an outsider disciple, you may only enter the second floor and choose at most two martial arts. There is no limit on whether they are intermediate or low-level. Whether you can find an intermediate martial art depends entirely on your discernment and luck. You have one hour to choose. Once selected, you may keep them for twenty days. Do you hear me clearly?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Xiao was filled with fury.

He had inquired about this before coming: as long as one was a Ling family disciple, whether an outsider or from the main branch, one could choose at least four martial arts at a time, the selection time could be three hours, and the time allowed to take them out for practice could be up to four months!

The gap was simply too large.

Yet, despite his anger, he was helpless. He could only grit his teeth and nod, "This disciple understands."

He certainly understood. The injustice he suffered today, he would surely repay tenfold, a hundredfold in the future!

"As long as you understand, get going."

A look of disdain appeared on the corner of Ninth Master's mouth. Even a dog must be judged by its owner; daring to hurt his son—although he couldn't kill him due to clan rules, if he could force him to be kicked out of the Ling family, he could deal with him as he pleased.

Ling Xiao took a deep breath, suppressed the foul air in his heart, lifted his feet, and walked up the stairs toward the second floor.

The Library Pavilion was the repository of the Ling family's martial arts classics—it was a vital area of the Ling family!

It represented the accumulation and glory of a great clan!

Small families generally didn't have such a place; this was the gap. The larger and more profound the foundation of a family, the more martial arts classics they possessed, and the higher their quality would be.

The Ling family's Library Pavilion was divided into four floors.

The first floor was where the guards lived.

The second floor was where basic, low-level, and intermediate martial arts were stored. Naturally, low-level martial arts made up the vast majority, and there were quite a few basic ones as well. It was said there were only a mere twenty intermediate martial arts, so the chance of finding one was very low.

The third floor contained a large number of intermediate martial arts, a certain amount of advanced martial arts, and a small number of top-tier martial arts.

To enter the third floor of the Library Pavilion, one had to be at least a Martial Disciple at the fourth level of the Martial Pulse.

It was said that the fourth floor was mostly top-tier martial arts, along with some confidential documents of the Ling family, and a small number of martial arts classics that were said to have transcended the secular world.

Of course, these were just rumors among the disciples; whether they were true was hard to say.

Naturally, rules were made by people. If you were a disciple of the main branch, had backing or support, or possessed extraordinary talent, then many rules could actually be bent for you.

This was why Ling Chong could learn advanced martial arts, while Ling Xiao could only learn basic ones.

For Ling Xiao, this opportunity was truly rare. He had to choose carefully and try his best to select an intermediate martial art.

When he entered the second floor, Ling Xiao found that there were already people inside.

However, no one even looked up at him. Although these people had three hours to choose, selecting an intermediate martial art from thousands of books was no easy task.

No one wanted to waste time.

Ling Xiao naturally didn't want to either, because his time was even more precious than theirs—he only had one hour.

So, he only paused for a moment before turning his gaze to the bookshelves.

As one of the four great families of Tianfeng City, the Ling family indeed had a deep foundation. With these thousands of martial arts, if one were to flip through them one by one, it would likely take three or four hours.

That guy Ling Jiu was clearly trying to make things difficult for me!

"《Stele-Splitting Palm》, 《Blazing Fire Fist》, 《Tianfeng Thirteen Swords》, 《Swift Wind Chasing Leaf Footwork》, 《Red Sun Technique》..."

Starting from the first book on the first row, Ling Xiao was dazzled. Moreover, it was very difficult to distinguish the level of these martial arts classics based on just a few pages of content.

It was too hard!

Could there be some trick to it?

(End of chapter)