Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 409 - Reading All Books

The divine sense lingered on Liu Wuxie for three breaths before retreating.

"For what purpose have you come?" The voice contained no emotion, and everyone had to be questioned if they wanted to enter the Scripture Collection Hall. Liu Wuxie wasn't an exception either.

"I am Liu Wuxie, the winner of the outer sect's competition. I'm here to claim my reward today." Liu Wuxie bowed deeply and stated his purpose.

The higher-ups had already informed the Scripture Collection Hall of the reward, and the winners would be granted entry as long as they came within the stipulated time frame.

"Winning the championship with a cultivation in the second-level Heavenly Dipper Realm?!" The elderly voice expressed disbelief. According to the previous competitions, the champions were generally in the fifth-level Heavenly Dipper Realm, the bare minimum requirement to compete for the championship.

"I assure you, that's true!" No one dared to come to the Scripture Collection Hall to make false claims unless they had a death wish. After all, they would be executed on the spot once they were found to make false claims.

After a minute of silence, the Scripture Collection Hall's gates opened up, revealing a gap wide enough for one person to enter.

"You have six hours to read, and all the floors are accessible except for the top three!" The elderly voice echoed in Liu Wuxie's ears. He continued, "Remember, you only have six hours. I hope you won't waste your time due to greediness."

When the voice disappeared, the gate slowly closed behind Liu Wuxie as he stepped into the Scripture Collection Hall. This pavilion had ten floors, with the top three floors off-limits. The top three floors contained the sect's most confidential secrets.

Given Liu Wuxie's current status, it was impossible for him to gain access to those materials. The elder guarding the Scripture Collection Hall had pointed Liu Wuxie in the right direction, telling him not to be greedy and to focus on what he needed, as he only had six hours.

However, the elder had overlooked a factor: Liu Wuxie's Ghost Eye.

Six hours allowed Liu Wuxie to read five to six thousand books. The number of books in the Scripture Collection Hall differed from the Book Collection Hall, but every book was precious, with only a few hundred books on the first floor.

Time had started ticking the moment Liu Wuxie had stepped into the Scripture Collection Hall.

Time was tight, and Liu Wuxie couldn't afford to waste a single minute. His mind was filled with countless precious cultivation techniques, but they were all useless to him because his path had diverged from his previous life.

The cultivation and martial techniques, such as the ice-attribute energy he had comprehended, were no longer suitable for him. He needed to find a quick way to comprehend a dao technique. Furthermore, the Suppression Hall in his spleen was something he didn't have in his past life.

The power of the Five Elements, the Desolate Devouring Art, the Heavenly Dao Book, and the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron—these were treasures he needed to uncover through his own efforts. Beyond these, only his personal experiences, insights, alchemy, blacksmithing, and spiritual array skills would be of use. This signified that he would have to forge a new path in martial arts on his own.

Thus, the only method was to absorb experience from this world to supplement his deficiencies, and the Scripture Collection Hall was undoubtedly the best shortcut. He could absorb the required knowledge here by reading more cultivation and martial techniques.

The Fatality Blade Art was powerful but just a blade technique. The Primordial Astral Fist was powerful, but defeating every enemy with just the fist technique was impossible.

Thus, Liu Wuxie had to comprehend and practice more martial techniques. He didn't stop the moment he picked up the first book. The entire Scripture Collection Hall was filled with the sounds of flipped pages.

At first, the Scripture Collection Hall's elder paid little attention, thinking Liu Wuxie was searching for the books he wanted. As time passed, the elder noticed something wasn't right because Liu Wuxie stayed on each book for five breaths before moving to the next.

Ten minutes later, only a few books were left on the first floor. Liu Wuxie had recorded all the contents in his soul sea to comprehend later.

This knowledge couldn't be digested in a day or two but was a gradual process. After finishing on the first floor, he quickly ascended to the second floor and repeated the same process. His speed was even faster this time, only taking four breaths to record a book into his soul sea. The hall soon echoed with the sounds of flipping pages.

"What are you doing?" The Scripture Collection Hall's elder finally couldn't bear it any longer because this was blasphemy to the knowledge collected by the ancestors.

"Reading books!" Liu Wuxie paid no attention to the elder because he only had six hours. Every minute of delay meant fewer books he could read.

"You're just flipping through the books, not reading them!" The elder questioned Liu Wuxie. This was the greatest disrespect to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

"How I read books is none of your concern, elder." Liu Wuxie frowned, irritated that his reading pace had slowed as his concentration wavered from the elder's interruption.

"Good, good! You're the first disciple to speak back to me like that. If you don’t provide an explanation within six hours, you’ll face the consequences," the elder snapped before turning away, leaving Liu Wuxie to his reading.

The sect had given Liu Wuxie six hours to read, but it hadn’t specified how he should approach it. As long as he was in the library, he was within the rules, even if he chose not to read at all.

Liu Wuxie soon immersed himself in the books again. But this time, the elder's divine sense stayed on Liu Wuxie, wanting to know what he was doing.

Despite this, two hours passed, and the elder still had no idea what Liu Wuxie was up to—he simply appeared to be flipping through books without any discernible pattern.

From the first floor to the second, then the second to the third—Liu Wuxie kept flipping through the books until he reached the fifth floor.

Fortunately, the books on the last two floors were noticeably fewer, but the martial techniques collected were even more precious.

Liu Wuxie's reading speed slowed significantly, and he focused more on comprehending the knowledge. For those he couldn't figure out, he stored them directly in the soul sea to comprehend later.

Another two hours passed with Liu Wuxie on the seventh floor. There were about a hundred books on this floor.

"Only these left!" Liu Wuxie felt it was too fast because he had read 1,500 books in four hours, covering martial techniques, alchemy, rituals, talismans, and spiritual arrays, encompassing all the techniques in the True Martial Continent.

Liu Wuxie's soul sea was like a treasure trove, storing all the rare information. He began with the first book on this level, but his progress slowed considerably as the remaining two hours ticked away.

Whenever Liu Wuxie placed a book down, the elder would snort coldly. At the six-hour mark, Liu Wuxie placed the last book down and exhaled with wisdom shining in his eyes.

If he could integrate and comprehend these books, Liu Wuxie believed his martial techniques would advance by leaps and bounds in the coming period. Not only could he comprehend new techniques, but he could also perfect the Fatality Blade Art.

"Six hours have passed, and I will take my leave now!" Liu Wuxie cupped his fists in a respectful gesture as he prepared to depart, having completed his time there.

"Hold it right there!" the elder roared, stopping Liu Wuxie.

"How can I help you?" Liu Wuxie looked displeased because he hadn't damaged any books or violated any sect rules.

The reward allowed him to read in the Scripture Collection Hall for six hours, but it didn't specify how many books he could read.

"Who sent you to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, and why are you stealing our martial techniques? If you don't give me an explanation, I'll kill you immediately!" The elder mistook Liu Wuxie for a spy from other forces because only spies would covet the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's techniques.

If Liu Wuxie had read all the books and left with everything he read, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion would have no secrets.

"Elder, what do you mean by that? I have shown no disloyalty nor done anything to betray the sect." Liu Wuxie was displeased. He had no significant grudge against the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. The sect was generally good despite petty people targeting him.

Every sect had rotten eggs, and Liu Wuxie had already anticipated it when he had joined. This was why some people feared becoming famous; troubles would accompany fame.

The recent events made him too conspicuous, thus attracting unnecessary trouble. The elder guarding the Scripture Collection Hall was merely probing Liu Wuxie. The sect must've investigated his background since the higher-ups allowed Liu Wuxie into the Scripture Collection Hall. Thus, the odds of Liu Wuxie being a traitor were almost zero.

However, the elder couldn't explain why Liu Wuxie had to read so many books in six hours.

"If you're not a spy, why didn't you read the books properly instead of flipping through them?" the elder questioned Liu Wuxie, demanding a reasonable explanation.

"Honestly, I have eidetic memory, and I'm not randomly flipping through the books. I have carefully read through each one," Liu Wuxie said sincerely. It was easy to find out about his eidetic memory with a little investigation.

He had read tens of thousands of books in the Book Collection Hall and remembered all their contents. This time, there were only a thousand books, so it was naturally easier for Liu Wuxie to remember.

"Good. Since you said it, I'll punish you according to the sect rules if you get anything wrong!" An invisible force appeared on the third floor, and a few books flew over to the elder. This was a book recording a kick technique.

"Tell me what is in this book!" The elder's voice carried a surge of pressure as if it was ready to strike Liu Wuxie down if he answered incorrectly.

"This book records a technique called the Firecloud Leg Technique, consisting of thirty-seven moves. The final move is called Skyfire Cloud, which is powerful enough to incinerate an area of a few hundred miles," Liu Wuxie summarized.

However, strangely enough, the elder didn't open the book and placed the Firecloud Leg Technique back on the bookshelf.

This was because the elder had read all the books in the Scripture Collection Hall. He had spent years and even decades reading through all the books, memorizing them. But Liu Wuxie had only spent six hours remembering them all, and it was natural that he was in disbelief.

He had seen countless geniuses with eidetic memory, but there was always a limit. Even the strongest one he had seen could only remember tens of thousands of words before reaching the limit.

Most people could only manage to read one book, and they would quickly forget what was in the first book if they read the second one. This meant someone couldn't read over a thousand books from the elder's point of view.

Another book flew in front of Liu Wuxie, and without even looking at the cover, a vast amount of text and pictures appeared in his mind.

"The Cloud Shattering Palm, an earth-grade martial technique with six moves in total. The final move is to unleash waves of fury with the power to topple mountains and overturn seas." Liu Wuxie described the martial technique without hesitation, even offering some commentary.