Evergreen Immortal-Chapter 24: Tianyi Hall

In the southeastern corner of the Heaven-Earth Alliance stood a three-story wooden building that covered an area of ten mu. It appeared elegant and classical in style.

“Master Li, this is Tianyi Hall,” Ding Liang said.

Li Rui looked up at the wooden building.

“This is quite the place for self-cultivation and quiet reflection.”

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He was very pleased with the environment of Tianyi Hall. Tucked away in a corner, the chaos and disputes of the Heaven-Earth Alliance rarely reached here, it was like a place detached from the world.

Tianyi corresponds to water.

Thus, many book repositories were named with "Tianyi" in them, such as Tianyi Tower, Tianyi Pavilion.

Li Rui waved his hand. “You can stop here. Help me pass along a message, thank Brother Wu for me. I'll treat him to a drink another day.”

“Alright.”

Ding Liang respectfully bowed and turned to leave.

Wu Tu placed great importance on Li Rui. He had specifically instructed Ding Liang to take good care of him, so Ding Liang only left once Li Rui spoke up.

Li Rui walked alone to the front of Tianyi Hall. The entrance was very quiet, not a single person in sight. Green leaves were scattered all over the ground.

He stepped into the wooden building.

Antique wooden bookshelves filled the space, densely packed with countless books.

On the first floor, a young disciple in the Heaven-Earth Alliance’s standard black robe was sprawled out on a wooden table, looking utterly bored.

Li Rui walked up to him.

“Is this place Tianyi Tower?”

The young disciple didn’t even raise his head as he flung a piece of paper toward Li Rui. “Fill this out. Pens are over there. Hand it back to me once you’re done, then wait to pick up your books.”

As he spoke, he casually pointed to another desk.

On that table were brush, ink, and inkstone.

Li Rui said, “My name is Li Rui.”

“Doesn’t matter if your name is Li Rui or Zhang—wait... Li... Li Rui?!”

The young disciple suddenly jerked his head up.

He had just remembered, they’d been notified yesterday that a new Hall Master was arriving at Tianyi Hall. Wasn’t his name... Li Rui?!

“H-Hall Master!”

The young disciple instantly stood up, nervously clasping his hands behind his back like a student who had made a mistake.

Li Rui waved his hand. “Why do I only see you here? Where are the other two?”

The young disciple explained, “Senior Brother Liu had some business and went out. Junior Brother Liang is upstairs on the second floor.”

“So, you must be Zhou Shulin?”

Before coming, Ding Liang had already told him, Tianyi Hall had a total of three disciples:

Liu Tong, Liang He, and Zhou Shulin.

“Yes, yes!” the young disciple nodded repeatedly.

Li Rui said, “Alright, you can go back to sleep.”

“…”

Zhou Shulin looked conflicted. Should he sleep… or not?

Li Rui walked past Zhou Shulin and casually strolled around the first floor. Tianyi Hall was quite large, and there were a lot of books, but most were trivial miscellaneous texts.

Rumor had it that among the three founders of the Heaven-Earth Alliance, one of them had originally been a scholar who only turned to martial arts after failing the imperial examination.

Perhaps he believed that even in the martial world, one must have culture.

That’s why every branch of the Heaven-Earth Alliance had a Tianyi Hall as a book repository.

Li Rui then walked upstairs with his hands behind his back.

Compared to the first floor, the second floor was much more streamlined.

Here, the shelves held basic martial arts manuals. Li Rui casually flipped through a few and found them to be no better than Eight Pieces of Brocade, all were common and widely circulated.

As for the third floor…

He couldn’t go up.

That’s right, even as the Hall Master of Tianyi Hall, he couldn’t access the third floor.

The third floor was the essence of Tianyi Tower. It housed martial arts manuals collected by the Heaven-Earth Alliance over many years. Although they were all copies, their value was still inestimable.

To enter the third floor, one needed a written token from the Branch Master and must be accompanied by people from both Tianyi Hall and the Transmission Hall.

If anyone dared to secretly learn the martial arts from the third floor, it would be considered betrayal of the Alliance, and they would be hunted endlessly.

“No wonder no one wants to be the Hall Master of Tianyi Hall.”

There were no benefits whatsoever, it was basically just being a glorified guard.

As he walked along, he encountered another subordinate near a row of bookshelves.

“You must be Liang He?”

A still-young-looking teenager quickly stood up at the sound of his voice. “Are you Hall Master Li?”

Li Rui smiled faintly. “Quite perceptive.”

Those assigned to Tianyi Hall generally fell into two categories: either well-connected with poor aptitude, or unconnected but with decent talent.

As for those with poor aptitude and no connections? They were thrown out to guard outer properties and could forget about enjoying life at the branch headquarters.

Zhou Shulin and Liu Tong, whom he hadn’t yet met, were the former type.

One was the nephew of Deputy Branch Master Zhou, and the other the brother-in-law of Deputy Branch Master Qian.

The most miserable one was clearly this Liang He.

According to Ding Liang, Liang He had originally belonged to the Civil and Martial Hall, but after offending that hall’s master, he’d been banished here to Tianyi Hall.

Embarrassed, Liang He quickly hid a book titled “Chronicles of the Heroines of Yunzhou” behind his back.

Li Rui didn’t expose him. He simply gave him a meaningful pat on the shoulder. “Little He, if you don't enter the tiger's den, how will you catch the tiger cub? Just looking won’t get you anywhere.”

“…”

Liang He was speechless.

Li Rui finished touring the second floor of Tianyi Hall.

Only then did he return, quite satisfied, to his private room on the first floor.

Being the Hall Master was indeed comfortable.

At Tianyi Hall, there was almost nothing he needed to worry about.

Most of the daily tasks were handled by Liang He and Zhou Shulin, unless some extremely bold thief tried to sneak into Tianyi Tower to steal martial arts manuals.

But Li Rui was confident he could handle it.

After all, the techniques on the third floor at most would attract Ninth Grade martial artists. As for Eighth Grade manuals, only the main headquarters of the Heaven-Earth Alliance possessed those. So at worst, he might draw in a Ninth Grade expert and with support from other strong fighters at the branch, he had nothing to fear.

Dusk approached.

Only Liang He remained on duty at Tianyi Hall.

But Li Rui’s residence was separated from Tianyi Hall by only one wall. Any rustle or disturbance inside Tianyi Hall could be heard clearly. Add in the Alliance guards patrolling at night, and security was airtight.

Li Rui walked into his residence.

A spacious four-courtyard house, more than enough for one person to live in. It even felt somewhat lonely. Normally, a Hall Master in the Heaven-Earth Alliance would keep two or three servant girls or attendants around to serve him.

But Li Rui wasn’t about to waste money on that.

Besides, he carried too many secrets. If word got out, it would only bring unnecessary trouble.

The house was fully furnished. The old belongings he had brought from the Zhu family seemed completely out of place now.

In the end, he stuffed all those items into a large wooden chest.

“Beds in the Heaven-Earth Alliance sure are soft.”

That night, Li Rui slept very well.

At dawn.

Li Rui’s internal body clock had him up practicing his saber even before the Chen Hour (around 7 a.m.).

He had martial bones and secret techniques.

But that was no excuse for slacking. In just a few more days, he would truly turn seventy years old. In ancient times, who knew how many years he had left?

Li Rui drew the standard-issue saber he had received from the Heaven-Earth Alliance the day before.

The Hall Master's saber was indeed better than an ordinary disciple’s. Though the craftsmanship was average, the materials were solid. The handle was wrapped in cowhide, making it more comfortable to wield.

In the large courtyard, Li Rui practiced his saber techniques alone, no longer needing to worry about being spied on.

His blade danced faster and faster, until it became a flurry of phantom shadows.

Liberating!