Chapter 392: Imperial Scholar and Princess - 392
A week later, the grand opening of the library commenced. As he stood on a stage next to the old man, Zhou Fan wondered how everything had turned out like this. He had simply wandered into a city and became a worker at a library.
Now, he was standing on stage looking down at tens of thousands of young people eager to enter the library. He was seen as a mentor and a strong cultivator.
That was despite not once ever using his power.
The old man spoke to the children in the crowd, as well as the many others below him. There were scholars that had come from afar just to enter what was now one of the greatest public libraries on this side of the world.
The libraries that could compare were in sects or other private organizations.
The speech soon ended, and the old man cut a red ribbon, symbolizing the opening of the library.
He and Zhou Fan entered, followed by a large number of young people and scholars.
Luckily, there were nearly a hundred workers in the library. It was unknown if they would all stay as the excitement went down, but they were necessary for the first few days.
Zhou Fan and the old man stayed on the upper floors. They did not expect anyone to come up so far.
It required a certain status or price in order to, and while the library was technically public, not everything was freely accessible.
It was also possible to enter the higher levels with some sort of contribution to humanity such as killing demonic cultivators or helping in a war against some of the other races in the Zhou galaxy.
Surprisingly, after a few hours, Zhou Fan and the old man saw an old looking man in white robes enter the 15th floor where they were staying.
Zhou Fan and the old man recognized him as they were always reading books and he was a well known person.
"Greetings, Imperial Scholar." The old man bowed. Zhou Fan stayed sitting down.
"No need to bow. My status is not too high." The Imperial Scholar said as he raised his hand.
"It is not a bow to status, but a bow of respect." The old man retorted.
"Haha. In that case, I will not refuse." The imperial scholar laughed.
As his title said, he was the imperial scholar of the empire that Zhou Fan and the old man lived in. He was also a powerful cultivator in the nascent soul realm.
The old man did not respect him because of his cultivation, but because of the quantity and quality of books he had written over his many years of life. It was also said that he may enter the soul formation realm before his lifespan ends.
"I'm just here to look around the library. I must say that I am impressed so far." The imperial scholar said.
"Do I qualify to enter the top floors?" The imperial scholar asked.
"No need to joke. If you could not enter, then who could? Still, I am afraid that you will not be impressed." The old man said.
"Don't worry about it. The only libraries that could truly impress me are the ones in the tri-sect alliance." The imperial scholar said.
The old man nodded and began to lead the imperial scholar around. Zhou Fan was left alone on the 15th floor. He had assumed that he would be left alone for the rest of the day at least, but he soon saw a young woman no older than 20 entering the floor.
Zhou Fan saw her and recognized her. The 5th princess of the neighboring empire. The neighboring empire was an ally of the empire that Zhou Fan was in. Otherwise, this empire would have been easily destroyed.
It is said that the emperor of the neighboring empire is in the soul formation realm, and very near to the peak of that realm. There was no doubt that he could defeat the old man.
"You must be the vice-head of the library. Do you know me?" The princess asked.
"I do." Zhou Fan responded.
"In that case, we can skip introductions. Care to show me around the next few floors? If you're not too busy of course." The princess laughed.
Zhou Fan was currently slumped in a chair and staring at the ceiling, so he could not make an excuse.
Zhou Fan showed her around the 15th and 16th floors, meeting the old man and the imperial scholar on the 17th floor.
The imperial scholar was sitting down at a table, reading a book.
As soon as he saw the princess, he stood up and bowed.
"Greetings 5th princess. It is an honor for my empire to host you." He said.
"Of course it is. Don't worry about me, I'm taking a tour." The princess said with a smile.
She seemed much more arrogant than when she spoke to Zhou Fan.
The imperial scholar nodded and sat back down to read.
Zhou Fan briefly introduced the 17th floor before moving to the 18th floor. As he was halfway through the tour, the princess suddenly turned around and shot an icicle at Zhou Fan's head.
Zhou Fan did not react or move, but when the icicle hit him, it immediately shattered into fragments.
"Hah! I knew it. They said that the vice-head of the library was young and weak, but you seem strong." She said happily as if she had won a bet.
Zhou Fan ignored what happened and continued on with the tour. The princess shot more icicles at him from behind, but Zhou Fan acted as if nothing was happening.
Finally, after the 145th icicle, Zhou Fan acknowledged what was happening.
"If you throw another icicle at me, I'm going to slap your father in the face." He said before turning around.
The princess stood stunned for a second, before laughing loudly. She then shot another icicle at Zhou Fans back.
Zhou Fan instantly grabbed her by the neck and disappeared. He and the princess appeared in a nearly empty throne room. Only a single middle aged man was sitting on a throne.
Chapter 393: City by City - 393
The man sitting on the throne only reacted after a moment.
"What the h–" He started before stopping.
"Esteemed cultivator? Is something wrong?" He asked.
He did not know who Zhou Fan was, but could at least understand that he was a powerful cultivator.
"Raise your daughter better. She may offend someone that she cannot afford to." Zhou Fan said.
The king flew into the side wall with a red mark on his face as his daughter watched. She hadn't spoken a word since Zhou Fan had grabbed her. She was still in shock, and only fell into deeper shock as she saw her father slapped.
Zhou Fan disappeared, leaving the princess behind. He really couldn't stand such arrogant brats.
He did not want to use his powers, but he was already technically doing so as the icicles were hitting him.
If he was a mortal, he would have been killed by the princess. She did not care about the lives of others, and Zhou Fan decided to educate her.
As for what would happen as a result, it was not his problem at all. If the emperor dared to make a fuss, the problems would simply be dealt with.
A week later, to the surprise of many, the neighboring empire, one of the strongest empires around, declared its support for the city. Nobody could understand the decision, not even the emperor of the empire that Zhou Fan and the old man were in.
The neighboring empire also directly funded more upgrades for the library, as well as donated some techniques and martial arts. As a result, 10 more floors were added to the library and it became even more popular.
10 years later, everything had calmed down. Zhou Fan and the old man did not need to do too much work, the same as in the old library.
There were only a few visitors that would reach the 25th floor where they were staying. Zhou Fan and the old man even had rooms in the library.
Zhou Fan looked out of the window and saw a group of nearly 1,000 young cultivators being taught a martial art. They came once a day and were taught by one of the library's hired instructors.
Although nothing had changed for Zhou Fan besides having more books to read, everything around him had changed greatly in a short period of time.
To his surprise, time still passed quietly. Until 50 years later, when the strongest cultivator in the world visited the library. He was at the 1st level of the space shattering realm according to rumors.
To say that people were surprised by his visit was an understatement. Many wanted to come and greet him, whether they were emperors or peasants, yet he said that he wanted to visit while it operated as usual.
He walked around the library while seemingly looking for something. As he reached the 25th floor and saw Zhou Fan reading a book, he turned around without a word and left.
Zhou Fan chuckled when he saw the panic hidden on the cultivator's face. It seemed that the emperor that he had slapped had made a request for the cultivator to check it out.
The rest did not need to be explained. He had seen that he could not see through Zhou Fan and decisively left.
There was no point in him taking a risk for a mere emperor. He was the owner of a world.
100 years of peace and quiet later, Lu Wei joined one of the three sects of the tri-sect alliance. He had reached the soul formation realm, and was valuable to even the three sects.
He celebrated with Zhou Fan and the old man that day. The entire library, as a matter of fact, threw a big party that day.
It was around this time that Zhou Fan felt that it was time for a change of scenery.
He went to the old man.
"I want to retire from the library." He said simply.
The old man was stunned and did not speak.
"Fear not, we will meet again someday, probably. Maybe. Perhaps not." Zhou Fan said as he realized that his seclusion lasted a very long time.
"Regardless, here. Open it when Lu Wei receives a mysterious letter." Zhou Fan said as he handed the old man a letter.
It was a letter to the cosmic sect. Though Zhou Fan did not know if he would see the old man ever again, he was confident that Lu Wei would survive.
Although the old man could be considered a friend, he was just a passer-by in Zhou Fan's infinite life.
Zhou Fan had one last chat and hot bun with the old man before leaving. He did not bother trying to find Lu Wei since they would naturally meet again.
He wandered around and settled in the city next to the city he had been staying in. As he walked around, he found a job as a waiter.
He worked there for a few years before becoming a manager of the restaurant.
The job remained stable and constant for nearly 30 years before the restaurant closed down.
Zhou Fan decided to move to the next city over. He worked as a metalworker. The next city over, he worked as a gardener for some rich people.
He met a lot of people as the years passed.
He was a janitor, a carriage driver, a clerk, a seller, and many other jobs. He slowly moved around, city by city, as the years stacked onto each other.
Many events happened. Some of them even caused the city he was staying in to be destroyed. He had encountered many demonic cultivators, and weathered many natural disasters, though the natural disasters seemed to naturally avoid him for the most part.
By the time Zhou Fan realized it, he was on the other side of the world. It was hard to estimate just how much time had passed. He had averaged 100 years in each city he stayed in, with his longest lasting a thousand years.
He had slowly moved, city by city, to the other side of the planet. The planet was unspeakably huge as well, though nowhere near the size of the Zhou World.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
stone 
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