Chapter 379: Mundane Life - 379
After a few minutes of silent eating, the old man spoke again.
"So, why did you leave this Yang Lang city?" The old man asked.
"I'm a wanderer. Even Yang Lang city was nothing but a brief stop." Zhou Fan answered.
"I see." The old man nodded. "In that case, I'll have to bother you and ask about your travels some day."
"That's fine." Zhou Fan answered.
Zhou Fan's first workday went well, though there weren't many people who even entered the library.
"It seems that as time passes, fewer and fewer people read books at all, much less come to a library." The old man said at lunch one day.
"Why?" Zhou Fan asked.
"It's just that nobody cares about in-depth knowledge of the mortal world. I bet you this place would be packed if it held martial arts or techniques, but it merely holds mortal knowledge." The old man sighed.
"Even fewer people come at this time of year, when the blue flower sect begins to recruit people." The old man added.
"The blue flower sect?" Zhou Fan asked.
"It is the sect that oversees the surrounding kingdoms. It takes up a third of the entire empire. When the blue flower sect begins recruitment, thousands of young people, from 5 years old to 20, pour over there, hoping to join." The old man explained.
"It's rumored that the sect master of the blue flower sect recently broke into the soul formation realm, but there is no actual evidence. If it is true, then the blue flower sect will not merely span a third of the empire. In fact, it may even begin to oversee more than a single empire." The old man added.
"The girl you met yesterday will soon set off to participate in the selection exam." The old man remembered.
"Will she enter?" Zhou Fan asked.
"This old man doesn't dare to claim I can accurately guess, but in my opinion, she won't." The old man said.
The old man looked Zhou Fan up and down. "You seem pretty young yourself. Do you plan to try and enter the blue flower sect?" The old man asked.
"I'm a bit older than 20." Zhou Fan said.
"I see. I had guessed so." The old man sighed before standing up.
"Time to get back to work." He said as he left.
Zhou Fan got up and began to do his job. When he had nothing to do, he would sit down and read some of the books. He limited himself to a mortal's ability since he planned on staying in the city for a while.
Even after an entire day passed, he had not finished an entire book. A week passed. Nothing changed around Zhou Fan and within the library.
He had been getting paid, though not much, and had needed to find a bank to put his money in.
He did not plan on buying a house or living anywhere for the time being. He would continue to sleep in the small woods.
A month passed, but nothing seemed to change. Zhou Fan had completely settled into his job.
"Hey. We have a room in the library that's been empty for a while. Since you seem to enjoy your work, I was wondering if you'd want to live there." The old man stopped by and asked one day.
He did not know about Zhou Fan's living situation, but felt that Zhou Fan was worthy of living in the room.
"Sure. How much would it cost?" Zhou Fan asked.
"It's not much. I'll just take it out of your paycheck. It is a completely empty room, so you'll have to bring or buy all the things you want in it." The old man answered.
"Alright, I'll move in tonight." Zhou Fan said.
"Good." The old man smiled before walking back to the first floor.
Zhou Fan left work early in order to purchase items for his room. He bought some carpet, as the floor in the room was concrete, a bed, pillows, blankets, a chair, a desk, and a lamp.
It did not take him long to move in, especially since he paid someone to move his stuff in the room.
The room was on the first floor of the library in the back. It was reachable by going through a storage room, though only people who worked at the library would enter the storage room.
Thus, Zhou Fan spent his first night on a bed in a long time. The next morning, Zhou Fan went to his station early. He had a key to the library now, but he did not plan on opening it early. There was no reason to.
Even at its current opening time, nobody came for nearly 3 hours.
When the old man arrived at work, Zhou Fan was reading a book.
"Up and early I see. Admirable." He chuckled as he walked past the second floor.
The day, the week, and the month went by smoothly and calmly. At some point in that time period, the girl that introduced Zhou Fan to the library returned with dejection.
She had gone to the blue flower sect, but did not pass the examination.
"The blue flower sect mostly consists of girls, with very few boys. Even then, I still failed to get in". She complained to Zhou Fan with her head on the table. Zhou Fan nodded and continued to read.
"Are you even listening? Why are all you nerds like this? Always reading books. Can't you at least comfort me. Offer to take me to dinner or something." She said angrily.
Zhou Fan nodded and continued to read.
"Was that a nod? Do you want to take me to dinner?" She asked excitedly.
Zhou Fan nodded and continued reading.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" She asked.
Zhou Fan nodded and continued reading.
"What? Then why are yo—." She said before pausing.
She got up and smacked the book out of Zhou Fan's hand.
"What was that for?" Zhou Fan asked.
"I've been talking to you." She said.
"Oh. Sorry, I tuned you out." Zhou Fan said before grabbing the book and sitting back down.
The girl angrily went downstairs without even speaking a word.
Chapter 380: Hidden Sword King - 380
In what felt like the blink of an eye, a year passed mundanely. There had been no interesting events or occurrences, simply a normal and constant life.
As he was eating lunch with the old man, the old man suddenly spoke.
"Did you hear about the war?" He asked Zhou Fan.
"No." Zhou Fan said as he shook his head.
"Apparently, tensions between our kingdom and the neighboring kingdom, one from a different empire, have been rising, and war is expected to break out at any time." The old man said.
Zhou Fan felt that this was familiar.
'Isn't this like what happened back in Yang Lang city?' He thought to himself.
"Our city wouldn't happen to be on the border of the kingdom, right?" Zhou Fan asked.
"It is indeed. If war breaks out, our city will be the first to be attacked." The old man said.
Suddenly, the ground shook and the earth was overturned. Zhou Fan and the old man nearly fell out of their chairs.
The old man looked out of one of the library's windows, but the city wall blocked his view of the outside.
Zhou Fan could tell what was going on. War broke out.
With cultivators, an entire army could be transported underground without anyone noticing.
Outside of the city walls was a huge army, numbering in the millions. Among the army were many cultivators. In particular, three were floating in the skies. They were at the core formation realm, and one seemed to be at the peak of that realm.
Any core formation cultivator could easily destroy the city. Even the city lord was only at the foundation establishment realm. In the entire kingdom, only the king would be at the nascent soul realm. The emperor himself was only at the peak of the nascent soul realm.
The old man looked at the towering walls and sighed. "War never ceases, no matter how many countless years pass. Humans kill humans constantly. It never ends." He said sadly.
"Luckily, there are those who are not interested in political power or authority. Those who are truly kind and worthy of being called humans." The old man said.
As he spoke, his hand formed two fingers under the table. If Zhou Fan was a mortal, he would not notice it.
The old man swiped his two fingers, and outside of the walls, a giant crescent of sword Qi descended.
The army was instantly obliterated, down to the last cultivator. A giant ravine was all that remained.
Zhou Fan was not surprised. The old man was a soul formation cultivator who lived as a mortal.
"I was born and grew up in this city, rarely ever leaving. I've never even been to another kingdom before. Even then, I am satisfied. I cannot understand what some people think." The old man shook his head.
"It seems it was just an earthquake." Zhou Fan commented.
The old man nodded. "Indeed, it must have been an earthquake. I was worried for a moment. This old heart can't handle so much excitement."
As the old man walked down the stairs, Zhou Fan could not help but admire him.
The old man was insanely talented. If he had joined a sect, he would have reached the space shattering realm at least. On this small planet, he would have been the strongest by a lot.
However, he had always hidden his power and cultivation, simply living, never exploring, never showing off.
Few could even understand how the old man could live in such a way.
—-----------------------
Although a commotion was caused by the arrival and destruction of the army, the city soon fell into its normal habits again. The only difference was a large ravine outside and the legends of a hidden sword king within the city.
Every time the old man heard mention of this, he warmly smiled before quickly regaining calmness.
Another year passed quietly and normally. Occasionally, a few powerful cultivators would enter the city, likely searching for the "hidden sword king", but the old man had created a cultivation hiding technique so well made that only a peak void traversing cultivator would be able to sense it.
Those who had that cultivation were just below the absolute peak of the planet's power, as the world ruler was a 1st level space shattering cultivator, according to the old man.
They would not bother with such a small thing themselves.
"You know, you don't seem to age much." The old man commented one day.
"I suppose I aged a lot when I was younger due to my lifestyle. My face will likely only change in my 50's." Zhou Fan said.
"I see. That makes sense." The old man nodded.
He was not suspicious of Zhou Fan. He had not even considered that Zhou Fan was also a hidden cultivator.
Also, he had developed a good impression of Zhou Fan and saw him as a true fellow librarian. The girl from long ago had quit and moved on to bigger pursuits. In fact, aside from Zhou Fan and the old man, every other person who had worked in the library had changed.
The years seemed to always pass by in an instant to Zhou Fan. Before he had realized it, 3 more years had passed. Although he had not aged a day, neither had the old man.
The old man was not suspicious even now. He would only begin to feel like something was wrong in around 20 years or so.
An exciting thing happened this day. The old man had not come to work even when it was opening time. Zhou Fan opened the library, and the old man came in 2 hours later with a solemn look on his face.
"It happened again." He said when he saw Zhou Fan at the front desk.
"What?" Zhou Fan asked curiously.
"I woke up late, and no more hot buns are being sold. My streak has ended again." He said, sadness apparent in his voice.
"Truly a pity." Zhou Fan said as he left the front desk and went to the second floor.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
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