I Can Do Anything?-Chapter 18: What Evil?

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Hidden Scripture Pavilion.

Books are neatly lined up in arranged order, from low-grade manuals to high-grade manuals. The scent of clean paper and bamboo, mixed with a little incense and calm drifts through.

The Hidden Scripture Pavilion is divided into five floors—the first for outer disciples, second for inner disciples, third for core disciples, and the rest? A mystery, at least to Xuan Wu.

After arriving here, Xuan Wu is easily amazed. Sure he visited before, but he barely caught sight of the pavilion, only going up to the counter for his master. There are dozens of bookshelves, to say the least. Xuan Wu goes up to a random bookshelf.

Xuan Wu glances at each manual in the random bookshelf he came up to. "These are low-grade manuals? They seem so powerful though..."

He reads the title imprinted on the spine of each book.

"Tactical Advantages: The heavens weep at the sight of me!"

"Moon Howling Overpowered Heavenly Cultivation Technique"

"Super-Super Powerful World-Shaking Fist"

Xuan Wu finishes scanning each book lined up in the bookshelf, nodding in awareness. "These books consist of cultivation techniques, battle techniques, tactical techniques, and many more."

An old man behind Xuan Wu laughs, sitting down on a wooden chair with a grunt. "Boy, you seem to be pretty smart." He says sarcastically.

Xuan Wu turns around, spotting the janitor from before. Despite already being a first layer qi gathering cultivator, he bows towards the janitor. "Greetings senior."

Seniority is very important in the Great Whirlwind sect, even an immortal must respect his mortal grandma.

The janitor continues laughing, then pauses to drink some green tea. "Remember kid, those flashy names mean nothing."

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He points at the books, specifically the ones with powerful names.

"Low-grade techniques are low-grade techniques no matter the name or details inside, fit for a low-grade cultivator."

He leans back, smile ever-present.

Xuan Wu nods, smiling back at the janitor. "You are right, senior, it's not the form that matters but the essence."

He takes a seat next to the janitor, appraising him silently.

"This old man, Heavenly Pattern Recognition? I didn't get it as a mortal but ever since becoming a qi gathering realm cultivator, I've started to really understand the complexity of innate talents."

Xuan Wu suddenly sits up, eyes gleaming. "Pattern recognition is a very important skill in the cultivation world. I need to put aside my ego and get this mortal on my side, no matter what."

He then grins. "Who knows? I might become a powerhouse without even using my system."

All the while, Xuan Wu stares at the janitor.

The janitor shifts uncomfortably in his seat, deciding to revive the conversation. "Tell you what, my name is Wei Yin, what's yours?"

Xuan Wu also laughs, snapping out of his thoughts. "Oh, senior Wei Yin, my name's Xuan Wu. I've recently entered the first layer of qi gathering."

The janitor nods, sipping tea. But behind the shadow of the cup covering his face, his eyes narrow. "This kid... he acted exactly like sect leader when he first found me."

Setting the tea cup down, he exhales, then speaks. "Qi gathering? How impressive, you know—"

Bam!

The pavilion doors burst open, revealing an old drunkard. His robes are free, revealing his beer gut. He walks inside and immediately goes up to Wei Yin and Xuan Wu without warning, pointing at them.

"Pathetic! You—you two aren't even ants to me! I am your emperor!" Spittle flies everywhere, he burps, robes billowing behind him.

He continues blabbering about being an emperor, likely a superiority complex.

Xuan Wu's eyes narrow, his hands balling up into fists, he stands up, palm smacking against the wooden table. No way his newly acquired ego would allow this drunkard to run free.

On the other hand, the janitor remains calm, sipping his tea like this was a regular occurrence—like it happened before. He looks towards Xuan Wu, sighing.

"Junior, settle down. This man is sect-protected."

Xuan Wu pauses, turning towards Wei Yin. "Sect-protected? You mean the sect allows him to cause such a ruckus?"

Wei Yin sighs, glancing at the elder who sits at the counter. Xuan Wu follows his eyesight, and then his jaw nearly drops.

The elder, supposed to be keeping this space nice and quiet, is seemingly unbothered! Even reading a book, acting like the drunkard doesn't exist!

"B-but how could this be? Is he an elders child?" Xuan Wu looks at the drunkard once again. He is only mortal, old enough to be his grandfather, and only has four teeth.

As soon as he finishes appraising the drunkard, he opens his system panel to get info on him.

[Name: Zhang Tai] [Title: Sects Drunkard. Effects: None]

[Age: 67/80]

[Nature: Unrefined and gross.]

[Innate Talents: None]

[...]

He really was just a normal person!

"So how come!" Xuan Wu is baffled, quickly looking at the janitor for confirmation, but even the janitor is shaking his head slowly.

Taking a deep breath, he stares at Zhang Tai's face.

"Last night, I took a deep look at the system, and barely uncovered a new function."

He pauses for a moment, and then nods.

[Activating Deep Info mode.]

Suddenly, everything around him blurs, and the blue panel turns into a translucent black. Small specks of white seemingly float around, and a mysterious ambience sounds out.

[Scanning...]

[Zhang Tai: He obtained this name because...] [Title: Sects drunkard: This title was given to him by a passing outer sect disciple...]

[Timeline]

[Personal info]

[Karmic ties]

[...]

Its as if the system covered itself with a veil.

Xuan Wu immediately compared this feeling to accessing the dark web for the first time back in his old world. Mysterious and unsettling. He felt as if he wasn't supposed to be here, that it was taboo. Invisible eyes seemed to glare at him, and the hairs on his back stood up, he slightly shivered as he felt a cold breeze blowing on him.

"Karmic ties? Sounds too dangerous, personal info? I don't want to know what colour underwear he has on, let's just go with timeline." Even through the fear he is currently experiencing, he takes his time scanning this new interface.

Xuan Wu assesses the dozens of options laid out before him, choosing to go with what he thinks will gather the most information.

Almost immediately after pressing on the "Timeline" tab, a small river stretches out before him, showing Zhang Tai's entire lifetime.

[Timeline of Zhang Tai]

[Birth year: Zhang Tai is born in a bamboo hut to Zhang Wei and Zhang Lin...]

[...Here, Zhang Tai accepts that he loves alcohol...]

[...]

Looking at the river with astonishment, Xuan Wu feels as if he is some sort of divine being, watching a mortal's life pass by in seconds. He skips through majority, trying to find where he gained sect-protection.

"There it is—"

[...Zhang Tai, reaching the age of 60, arrives at the Great Whirlwind Sect. He meets a little boy, around four years of age, and the boy humbles him. The sect leader eventually finds him and gives him sect-protection, due to...]

Xuan Wu's eyes widen.

"So that's why!"

...