A blinding red light emanated from the Library Pavilion, indicating an alert.

At the same time, the densely packed jade scrolls on the bookshelf floated up, and a space rift appeared in the hall, with the other side seemingly lead to the Star Sea.

The jade scrolls flew into the space rift, disappearing one after another. Qing Qing reached out to grab them, but they evaded her hand as if they had come alive.

The True Dragon on the dome came to life, its massive body began to move, and the two statues at the entrance started to move too, their heads suddenly turned, looking at Qing Qing and the others.

It seemed as though they were invaders, and the Library Pavilion had activated its defenses!

Even though this powerful nation had long vanished in the rivers of history, everything in the Library Pavilion remained as it was before the destruction.

Upon discovering the invaders, it retracted all jade scrolls, activated defense mechanisms, and issued a warning signal.

Before the empire's fall, someone would have already rushed here by now.

But at this moment, the blinding red light attracted all the cultivators who had entered the ruins, their eyes filled with fervor, each rushing towards the source of the red light.

Although they didn't know what had happened, they firmly believed that someone had discovered a treasure or opened a secret cache, enough to drive people mad.

"Roar!"

The majestic dragon's roar echoed in the Library Pavilion hall, the nearest Qing Qing covered her ears and collapsed to the ground, but blood still flowed through her fingers.

The Long Spear in Shi Xiang's hand suddenly swept out, and the cultivator who tried to take the Long Spear for himself was instantly sliced in two, miserably falling to the ground.

The Array Master was furious, no longer caring about others, and turned to rush outside.

But at this moment, a figure was charging towards the Library Pavilion hall, leaving the Array Master puzzled, had someone been attracted so quickly?

When he saw who it was, he was suddenly stunned, as he recalled that this person was with Zhong Ling at first, but after Zhong Ling acted with them, this person disappeared.

"Friend..."

The Array Master just wanted to say something but saw Chen Nan flick his finger, a black flame suddenly exploded, and then the Array Master felt his body unable to move.

Glancing sideways, he saw the black flame landing on his shadow, pinning it firmly in place like a nail.

Chen Nan dashed forward, swinging the Sword Chenyuan down, slicing the Array Master in two, even splitting his Golden Core, killing him outright.

The Array Master never thought he would die so carelessly, his last sight was only of Chen Nan's figure passing him by.

As if he were mere trash blocking the way, casually discarded.

After realizing Zhong Ling was in trouble, Chen Nan rushed in; at this moment, the two statues had already targeted him, and the Long Spear swung down towards him.

"Master!"

From afar came Zhong Ling's joyful shout.

"Still having the strength to shout, seems like it's not a big issue." Chen Nan chuckled, Seven Stars Mark appeared under his feet, and his body swiftly threaded between the statues.

In just a few breaths, he arrived beside Zhong Ling.

"Master..." Zhong Ling's eyes were red, seemingly full of endless grievances.

"Now you should know how dark this world is, right?" Chen Nan lectured like a strict teacher.

Zhong Ling nodded repeatedly, "Master, I understand now, not a single good person outside!"

"Actually, you don't need to be so absolute." Chen Nan smiled wryly, looking at those cultivators who wanted to scheme against Zhong Ling, now also filled with terror.

Looking back at the hall, almost all the jade scrolls were entering the space rift, Qing Qing was pressed down by a dragon claw, looking extremely miserable.

"What a waste!"

Chen Nan sighed, waving his large hand, his sleeve suddenly expanded, emitting a strong suction that collected all the jade scrolls that hadn't yet flown into the space rift, totalling over a dozen.

Thinking about it, one could tell how powerful this nation must have been, as the jade scrolls placed here must be exceptional, Chen Nan was more than satisfied.

Zhong Ling also ran over at this moment, tightly following Chen Nan, realizing only now that the master was the one who treated her the best, asking for nothing in return.

"Zhong Ling, save me!"

Qing Qing reached out to Zhong Ling, crying for help, seemingly having forgotten her previous attempt to kill Zhong Ling.

Zhong Ling took a deep breath and coldly said, "The Sister Qing I knew is dead, you're just Qing Qing. Did you forget you wanted to kill me not long ago?"

Qing Qing's face instantly turned extremely grim, fear engulfed her heart, causing her to cry and sob uncontrollably, "Zhong Ling, I was wrong, I really know I've erred..."

Unfortunately, Zhong Ling had already grown up.

Chen Nan took Zhong Ling, his figure like a specter, returning to the corridor, and behind came waves of miserable cries, the surviving cultivators were no match for the stone dragon and two statues, their deaths were inevitable.

"Alas, such a shame."

Chen Nan couldn't help but sigh again, those jade scrolls, even if useless to him, could have been sold for a considerable amount of spirit stones, but now they've all flown away.

They sped away, eventually completely leaving the Library Pavilion, but by now many cultivators had been drawn there, eagerly clearing the ruins one by one.

...

On a high remnant of a distant building, Chen Nan and Zhong Ling sat on the ground, taking out all the jade scrolls they acquired this time.

One of the jade scrolls was quite unique, not appearing as a regular jade scroll, more like a painting scroll, but upon opening, nothing could be seen.

Moreover, once opened, the jade scrolls seemed eager to fly away, behaving like living things.

Zhong Ling appeared perplexed, "Master, why do these jade scrolls want to fly away by themselves?"

Chen Nan pondered and explained, "Maybe due to a restriction. A restriction was set on the jade scrolls, if not the rightful owner, for the protection of these jade scrolls, they'll be hidden away."

"So to open the jade scrolls, perhaps a specific token is needed."

"I see." Zhong Ling realized, "We'll definitely find the token!"

Seeing his little disciple still energetic after experiencing betrayal, Chen Nan felt relieved, realizing the incident hadn't caused harm.

"Master, where do we head next?"

Zhong Ling brought out the map obtained from Lü Sheng, but they had long gone beyond the marked areas on the map, rendering it useless.

"Don't worry, you'll definitely be rewarded."

After storing all the jade scrolls, Chen Nan summoned the slumbering King of Ten Thousand Gu.

"Next, we'll rely on it!"