Ethan and Roy stepped up to the massive gray jade entrance of the pagoda. Sitting behind a long stone counter was a blind elder, his long silver beard hanging low over his chest as he sensed their approaching aura.

Without speaking a word, Ethan and Roy placed their pristine white jade plaques onto the counter. The blind elder casually ran his wrinkled fingers over the stones, a faint spiritual light rippling across the surface as the registry updated.

"Official disciples," said the elder, his voice incredibly deep and hollow, sounding like scraping stones. "You are permitted to enter the first floor of the repository. Listen carefully to the laws of the archives. You are strictly forbidden from removing any physical manual or scroll from this building. There is no time limit for your stay inside, but the moment your boots cross the threshold to go back outside, your entry privilege is permanently revoked."

The elder paused, his sightless eyes turning slowly toward them, radiating a faint, warning pressure.

"Furthermore," said the elder. "Each new disciple is only permitted to select and cultivate one single low-tier technique to begin their path. If the enforcement division discovers you attempting to practice multiple stolen attributes simultaneously, your cultivation will be thoroughly crippled, and you will be cast down the mountain. Go inside."

Ethan reclaimed his white jade plaque, his face completely expressionless as he pushed through the heavy wooden doors.

The interior of the Pavilion of Scriptures was utterly breathtaking. Towering shelves carved from spiritual bamboo stretched tens of meters into the air, completely packed with thousands of ancient scrolls, jade slips, and bound manuals. The air was thick with the scent of old parchment and the faint, collective humming of thousands of martial techniques sealed within the ink.

"Let’s split up and search for something suitable," said Roy, his eyes wide with excitement as he looked at the massive sea of knowledge. "I want to see if there are any advanced breathing techniques that complement my dual-blade style."

"Go ahead," said Ethan. He watched Roy vanish down one of the distant corridors before walking toward the very first row of massive bamboo shelves.

As soon as he was entirely hidden from public view, Ethan’s lips curved into a cold, dark smirk.

"Crul," said Ethan, communicating directly through his consciousness. "I am going to begin walking through the aisles. Get ready to scan every single technique in this room."

[Keke... a magnificent feast, Master,] said Crul. The ancient, sinister voice hissed with absolute greed deep inside Ethan’s mind. [The old fools outside think their petty rules can restrict an abyssal entity. Walk as slowly or as fast as you like. Touch the bindings, and I will thoroughly devour and catalog every single line of code they have hidden in these shelves.]

Ethan began to move. He casually walked down the narrow, secluded rows of the first floor, looking like a simple disciple overwhelmed by the massive selection. However, as he passed the endless shelves, his hand lightly and systematically brushed against the spine of every single manual, scroll, and jade slip.

The moment his fingers made contact with the wood and paper, a microscopic, undetectable thread of black spiritual energy shot out from his skin, penetrating the seals of the manuals.

Buzz.

Deep within his soul space, Crul acted like an unholy, high-speed printing press. Instantly, thousands of pages of restricted sword stances, movement techniques, qi circulation paths, and ancient defensive arts were violently scanned, decoded, and permanently copied into Ethan’s personal mental library.

To any outside observer or monitoring array, Ethan Brightsword was merely a standard, indecisive rookie casually browsing the archives, entirely unaware that the young frontier tyrant was currently stealing the entire foundational knowledge of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion right out from under their noses.

Row after row, shelf after shelf, Ethan maintained his steady, rhythmic pace. His fingers lightly grazed the ancient bamboo bindings, and with every touch, Crul’s dark consciousness greedily swallowed decades of closely guarded martial secrets.

After nearly two hours of continuous walking, Ethan had traversed every single aisle of the massive first floor.

[Master, the harvest is complete. We have successfully plundered the entire foundational archive of this floor,] said Crul, his voice echoing with a deep, thoroughly satisfied purr inside Ethan’s mind. [However, among all this generic trash, there is one genuine piece of meat hidden away. Go back to aisle four, look on the second level, row four. There is a faded parchment scroll titled the Hidden Sword Light. Take it.]

Ethan’s eyes flashed with a subtle interest. "What makes that one different?"

[It is an advanced concealment and acceleration technique,] said Crul, chuckling darkly. [It allows the user to mask the trajectory and visible energy of their blade until the absolute fraction of a second before impact. Master, if you combine this method with the Twin Swallow Cut you plundered from the wooden sword during the trial, you will be able to unleash those twin lethal afterimages completely invisibly. Your enemies won’t even realize they have been cleanly bisected until their heads hit the dirt.]

"An invisible, sixty-percent power ambush," said Ethan, a cold, predatory smirk tugging at his lips. "Perfect."

He smoothly retraced his steps, navigating the towering bamboo labyrinth until he arrived at the exact coordinates Crul had specified. Reaching up to the second level of the fourth shelf, his hand wrapped around a dusty, heavily faded parchment scroll that looked entirely neglected by the other disciples.

Ethan unrolled the ancient parchment with a deliberate, slow motion. He leaned back against the heavy wooden shelf, furrowing his brow and narrowing his amethyst eyes as he stared intently at the sweeping ink strokes of the technique. To any passing disciple or hidden monitoring array, Ethan looked like a remarkably focused, ambitious rookie, desperately trying to memorize every complex meridian pathway and stance diagram before his time ran out.

In reality, his mind was completely relaxed. Crul had already perfectly categorized and mastered the technique within his soul space, leaving Ethan to simply play the part of a diligent student while the countdown to his true ascension within the sect quietly ticked away.

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From this moment forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.

Note: These are only the ranks mentioned so far to avoid spoilers.

Body Refinement Realm

Skin Refinement / Bone Refinement / Organ Refinement

Spiritual Gathering Realm

Spiritual Perception / Spiritual Mist / Spiritual Condensation

Spiritual Core Realm

Core Solidification / Core Awakening / Spiritual Collapse (Half-step Spiritual Core)

Spiritual Soul Realm

Spiritual Soul Awakening / Soul Nourishing / Soul-Core Fusion

Golden Core Realm

Prime Fusion / Core Perfection / Core Destruction

Spiritual Sea Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Dao Manifestation Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Spiritual Transcendence

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

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Sword mastery levels

Sword Intent.

Sword Aura.