Chapter 23: Back Outside - 23
It wasn't long before Zhou Fan made a Qi for everyone. Their Qi all looked like smaller and less detailed versions of themselves.
Each of the beasts had broken through to the first level and gotten rid of their impurities.
However, even after they were introduced to the Qi, they couldn't absorb it from the world without Zhou Fans' assistance. Zhou Fan was stumped with this issue. Perhaps the only Qi that existed naturally was Chaos Qi. Thinking further, Zhou Fan pondered what chaos Qi was.
It has a light gray color and no single form. At sometimes it acts like a solid, at others, it will act like a liquid or gas. After an hour, Zhou Fan had come up with a few thoughts.
"Maybe chaos Qi is the combination of everything?" Zhou Fan thought out loud. Maybe that's why it can turn into anything by taking parts away. Zhou Fan felt that such a conclusion made sense. However, he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that he was missing something. Either way, chaos Qi wasn't something he could fathom at this point.
Zhou Fan walked to his yard and decided to start cultivating for the first time in a while. He got in position and started absorbing Qi. The speed of absorption was much faster than it was when he was in foundation establishment.
As he was cultivating, the beasts gathered around him. Xiaolong curled around his body without touching him while the others lay on or against Xiaolong. They quickly fell asleep and if one looked from afar, they would see a perfect scene of harmony between humongous beasts and a human.
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After two straight days of cultivation, Zhou Fan broke into the second level of core formation. Although he felt an immense difference in power, Zhou Fan had no point of reference. He couldn't go around blowing up mountains every time he broke through after all. When he opened his eyes, Zhou Fan smiled at the scene of his pets gathered around him.
When he opened his eyes, so did Xiaolong. Zhou Fan spent a little bit of time trying to communicate with him before silently floating away. He didn't want to wake them up just to tell them that he had to leave. He entrusted Xiaolong to somehow get them to understand. While Zhou Fan was hesitant to leave, he did have a job soon. Somehow, four days had passed down there. Zhou Fan exited through the snake-filled path and found himself back at the courtyard.
On his way back inside, he saw Fui Rong knocking on his door.
"Hello."
"AAHHHHHHH." Fui Rong stumbled backwards and fell on the ground. It seemed she wasn't expecting someone to appear behind her.
"You're alive?!"
"Yes? Why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, you bought a house that's known for dead owners and then disappeared for 4 days. Did you think we would think you're alive?"
Her logic had reason. Zhou Fan had completely forgot about the fact that his house was treated as a place of death.
"I might have found the reason behind the murders." Zhou Fan suddenly said. He remembered the snake that he captured. He thought there was a chance that it was venomous and that's why the owners were dying.
"Really! What did you find?" She curiously asked.
Zhou Fan walked inside and saw the snake slithering around on the floor. It seemed that the cage had dissipated and it had been locked in the courtyard. Zhou Fan made sure that Fui Rong wasn't looking and formed another cage around it.
"Here, this snake might be venomous. I spent the last few days destroying their nest and this is the last one." Zhou Fan had come up with such an excuse after realizing he had disappeared for 4 days.
"Really!? In that case, let's take it to the lab!" Fui Rong grabbed Zhou Fan by the arm and dragged him to the library. It seemed she was quite interested in solving this decade-old mystery.
Since he had to travel at her pace, it took nearly an hour to make it to the library. Fui Rong attempted to drag him to the 5th floor before Zhou Fan pulled out his silver card.
"Wow! How did you get that!" Fui Rong was quite surprised to see the silver card. After all, Zhou Fan didn't seem like someone who could afford a 1 gold card. Even she couldn't afford one.
"I got a job here and they gave me one for free." Zhou Fan said.
"Nice."
Zhou Fan walked up to the 8th floor and Fui Rong followed. Luckily, Zhou Fan was allowed to take someone who didn't have a silver card to a research floor.
When they arrived, the area was busy as usual. Suddenly, Fui Rong loudly cleared her throat and declared their intentions.
"EXCUSE ME! We believe we may have found the solution to a 5-decade old mystery. Would anyone like to assist us?"
Everyone stopped in their tracks after hearing her loud voice. After they heard what she said, half the people on the floor rushed over toward her. Something like this wasn't seen every day after all.
"There is also a high chance it is an undiscovered species" Zhou Fan added. When the researchers heard this, a fire lit in their eyes as they ran toward Zhou Fan.
Zhou Fan simply threw the cage to the most trustworthy-looking old man. It merely took an hour before the 30 or so researchers compiled a book on the snake. The old man that Zhou Fan threw the snake to walked over and handed him it.
"Here. We have confirmed that it is an undiscovered species and that it is venomous. Please decide on a name so we can add it to the library records."
Zhou Fan didn't have to think about it for long before he named it the 'Hidden Rainbow Snake'. He called it this due to the fact that it led him to a hidden underground world and that it was rainbow-colored.
Although the old man looked at him weirdly after hearing the name, he didn't argue with Zhou Fan. After asking his name and writing him down as the discoverer, the old man sent the book down to the main floor for confirmation and revision.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Han_Jue_Fan
Han_Jue_Fan I think this is my best written chapter. Please give me your honest opinions and tell me how you think I should improve.
Chapter 24: Preparation - 24
Zhou Fan was walked out of the library by the old man he had tossed the cage to. It turns out that he possessed a high position in the library. He was one of the few head researchers. His name was Muon Erzai.
"We'll reach out to you by tomorrow. As previously mentioned, you will be compensated accordingly." Muon Erzai said.
Zhou Fan did recall the examiner girl telling him about that. After some parting words, Zhou Fan walked back to the courtyard. Fui Rong had left earlier after hearing that the snake was indeed poisonous. She must've been excited to solve the 50 year old mystery.
In fact, Zhou Fan was disappointed that the outcome was so simple. He was hoping for something more interesting. It seems that there is truly little interesting in this world.
Actually, the discovery of the underground cave and the beasts was quite incredible. It could be said that Zhou Fan was satisfied with the overall outcome of moving in.
Zhou Fan made it back to the courtyard quickly. Instead of going inside, Zhou Fan flew down the hole in the back. It wasn't long before he made it to the underground cave.
When he arrived at the middle, he was greeted by the beasts. Zhou Fan pet them for a few minutes before going inside his house and sitting down on one of the chairs he made. Although he wasn't expecting any guests or even expecting to eat in here, he still made a dinner table and 4 chairs. It was more pleasing to the eye, after all.
While sitting, Zhou Fan started to think. The courtyard he bought was essentially useless now. If anything, it could simply be used as a cover. In the end, he still needed a place of residence for the outside world.
Still, it would be a waste of time and resources to fix up the courtyard any further. After all, he had a nicer house down here along with a HUGE yard. He even had an incredible view of the blue crystal. It could be said that kings would fight to live here. Emperors even!
There was also the problem of his pets. He couldn't exactly take them outside. Not to mention the fact that they couldn't fit through the hole, they were too big to hide. Although he wasn't exactly aiming to be a near invisible presence, it would drag too much attention to himself by having 5 humongous beasts roaming about.
He would also prefer to not be separated from them. After all, they already shared a bond with him.
Instead of continuing to endlessly think, Zhou Fan decided to go outside and play with the beasts.
After an hour, Zhou Fan was sprawled atop Bainu. Although Xiaolong was his favorite, his scales were harder than steel. Bainu's soft fur was much more comfortable. Even then, Xiaolong couldn't be left out. He was laying on top of Zhou Fan. Although he weighed multiple tons, that much was nothing to the current Zhou Fan. In fact, he himself weighed around the same amount as Xiaolong. Bainu was the one that he should be worried about. Luckily, he was strong enough to support them.
While staring at the crystal, Zhou Fan fell asleep.
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Zhou Fan awoke several hours later. Everyone was still in the same position as when he fell asleep. Zhou Fan stood up without waking anybody and headed to the river. When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was his reflection. His body was now that of an adult. Although he couldn't be called a grown man, he looked at least 18. He was skinny and had short gray hair.
However, no sign of facial hair could be seen on him. Zhou Fan couldn't decide whether that was a blessing or a curse.
Zhou Fan soon decided to leave the underground. He estimated that there was only one day left until the start of his job at the library. When Zhou Fan made it back, he quickly noticed the familiar face of Fui Rongs at his door.
"Hello." Zhou Fan said from behind.
"AAHHHH." Once again falling on her butt, Fui Rong let out a scream. It seemed that Zhou Fan had scared her again.
"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS SCARING ME!" Fui Rong angrily yelled. She was huffing and puffing and Zhou Fan was worried that she would blow his house down.
"Sorry. You should really work on your timing." Zhou Fan said apologetically. Although it was kind of his fault, she was always showing up right before he came home. If she had left 5 minutes later, the situation would have been avoided.
"Anyways, I'm here to deliver your payment for your work." Fui Rong said.
Only then did Zhou Fan remember that he was getting paid today.
Fui Rong reached into her pocket and pulled out two golden coins.
"The library decided that your discovery was significant enough to deserve gold coins as compensation. It seems that the venom of the snake is one of the highest recorded. Although two gold may seem small for such a discovery, it was deemed as worthy for your efforts." Fui Rong delivered the speech very formally. It seemed that there is a certain process to the compensation of discovery.
Fui Rong didn't stay behind long after handing the gold coins to him.
Zhou Fan didn't spend the rest of the day idle as he went to the library. Now that he has a silver card, he can explore the sixth to tenth floors. Zhou Fan was quite excited to gain more knowledge.
Zhou Fan chose to start at the 6th floor. Since he wasn't in a rush to learn anything specific, he decided to go from bottom to top. It took Zhou Fan 12 hours to finish the 6th floor. The content it contained was about the same as the previous floors.
Although Zhou Fan had broken through and could both read faster and move faster, he was limited by the books themselves. If he read at his full speed, the books would be ripped apart instantly.
The 6th floor contained books about history overall, instead of differentiating between the empires history and the worlds history. The information went into more depth and farther back in time.
After he finished reading, Zhou Fan went back home cultivated through the night. When he woke up, it was almost time to start his new job.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
stone 
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