Bab 7: Chapter 7 Intentional Difficulty_1
"On the day of the grand competition, that will be the time when you and I will see who is superior!"
Ling Xiao dropped those words and turned to enter the Book Collection Pavilion.
No matter how eloquent one is, if you lose in the grand competition, it all means nothing.
Therefore, he didn't want to argue. It was better to concentrate on strengthening his own power. To defeat Ling Feng in the grand competition would be far more glorious than any verbal advantage he could gain now.
"Hehe, Brother Feng, that little beggar seems to look down on you, oh."
Ling Yu said teasingly, her words clearly meant to stir up trouble.
"Don't worry, on the day of the grand competition, I will take care of him along the way."
Ling Feng actually had very little regard for Ling Xiao's words.
In his heart, Ling Xiao was nothing more than an appetizer, good enough to warm up but certainly not worthy of being his opponent.
It was at most half a month away, could Ling Xiao really advance to the Martial Veins Third Layer?
Even if he could, there would be no fewer than sixty or seventy disciples at the Martial Veins Third Layer in the Elite Hall alone, and he, Ling Feng, would only rank tenth at best.
Not to mention, above the Elite Hall was the Genius Hall, where the disciples were even more monstrous.
His opponents were the top ten in the Elite Hall, as well as those monsters in the Genius Hall. His goal was to move from the Elite Hall into the Genius Hall!
Not to have a showdown with a nobody who couldn't even enter the Elite Hall.
"Hehe, maybe Brother Feng won't have to step in. By then, I will make him kneel and beg for mercy."
Ling Yu giggled, and then the handsome man and beautiful woman left, drawing envious and jealous stares from the crowd, heading for the Book Collection Pavilion.
...
Ling Xiao had already entered the Book Collection Pavilion, but he felt somewhat nervous.
After all, it was his first time.
On the first floor of the Book Collection Pavilion, there was only one room, and no books.
This was where the guards of the Book Collection Pavilion lived.
Typically, these guards were the top experts of the clan, or elders, or sons of the Family Master, and so on.
The guard on duty today was a middle-aged man of about thirty-five.
"Ling Xiao? Hehe, you're mighty impressive, no wonder you could hurt my son, so it turns out you've made a breakthrough."
Indeed, the person on duty today was Ling Chong's father, the ninth son of Old Patriarch Ling, known as Ninth Master.
"Ninth Master, I came today to observe Martial Arts!"
Ling Xiao knew Ninth Master was very strong, terrifyingly strong, definitely above the Martial Vein Quadruple Layer!
Because the Mountain and River Martial Soul showed Ninth Master, although there weren't any detailed stats, still presented a red warning.
It meant the gap in strength was too vast, there was no chance of victory.
Still, he remained neither servile nor overbearing, because he knew as long as he was still a member of the Ling Family, Ninth Master wouldn't dare to kill him easily.
But if he really were to be expelled, he would indeed die a miserable death.
Thus, he must strive, strive to stay. This was the way to save his life.
"Good lad, you do have guts," said Ninth Master with a cold laugh. "I won't mince words; I won't let the matter of you injuring my son pass. Right now, you're still a member of the Ling Family, and I can't take action against you. But you'd best not be expelled, otherwise you will surely die."
This was an unequivocal threat.
"Disciple understands," Ling Xiao nodded and answered; he clearly understood this principle.
"Good that you understand. You are a foreign disciple who entered through assessment, so naturally, you won't receive the same treatment as a Clan disciple. I need to tell you somethings in advance, lest you breach the etiquette."
Ninth Master couldn't help but reveal a playful smile when he realized he hadn't intimidated Ling Xiao, then spoke.
Ling Xiao felt a flare of anger in his heart upon hearing those words. There was no such rule in the clan; Ninth Master was clearly using his authority for personal revenge!
But Ling Xiao had no choice. With insufficient strength, he could only tolerate it. Bargaining was utterly meaningless and would only invite ridicule.
"Ninth Master, please speak." He said indifferently.
Ninth Master chuckled and said, "As an external disciple, you can only enter the second floor and choose at most two martial arts, whether they be intermediate or basic level. Whether you can select intermediate martial arts depends entirely on your own eyesight and destiny. You have one shichen to choose, and once you have made your selection, you can hold onto it for twenty days. Did you get that?"
Hearing this, Ling Xiao was filled with rage.
He had inquired beforehand and knew that all descendants of the Ling Family, whether from within the clan or from outside, could select at least four kinds of martial arts, had three hours to choose, and could take them to practice for up to four months!
The disparity was just too large.
Despite his irritation, he was helpless and could only grind his teeth and nod, saying, "The disciple understands."
Of course, he understood. He would return the injustice he suffered today tenfold, a hundredfold in the future!
"Good that you understand. Now hurry up and go."
Ninth Master's mouth curled into a scornful smile. Even when beating a dog, one must look at the owner. Although the clan rules prevent me from killing you for harming my son, driving you out of the Ling Family so that I can deal with you as I please is an entirely different matter.
Ling Xiao took a deep breath to suppress the malice in his heart and stepped onto the staircase, heading towards the second floor.
The Book Collection Pavilion was where the Ling Clan's martial arts classics were kept—a heavily guarded place of the Ling Clan!
It represented the accumulation and glory of a great family!
Ordinary small families didn't have such a place. This was the difference; the larger and deeper the family's foundation, the more numerous and higher quality the martial arts classics they possessed.
The Ling Clan's Book Collection Pavilion was divided into four levels.
The first floor was where the guards lived.
The second floor housed basic, low-level, and intermediate-level martial arts; of course, the majority were low-level, with a significant number of basic ones, and it was said that there were only a scant twenty intermediate-level martial arts, making the chance of selecting them extremely low.
The third floor contained a large number of intermediate-level martial arts, a certain amount of advanced martial arts, and a few top-tier martial arts.
To enter the third floor of the Book Collection Pavilion, you had to be at least a Wu Tu with Martial Veins at the Fourth Layer.
The fourth floor was rumored to hold mostly top-tier martial arts, some of the Ling Clan's confidential documents, and a handful of martial arts classics that were said to be detached from the mundane world.
Of course, these were only rumors among the disciples; whether they were true or not was hard to say.
Naturally, rules are made by people. If you are a member of the clan, if you have backers or patrons, or if you possess exceptional talent, then many rules can actually be bent for you.
This is why Ling Chong was able to learn advanced martial arts while Ling Xiao could only access basic ones.
For Ling Xiao, this opportunity was truly hard to come by, and he had to make a sound selection to try and choose intermediate-level martial arts.
When he entered the second floor, Ling Xiao found that there were already others inside.
However, no one even lifted their head to glance at him; although these people had three hours to choose, picking out intermediate martial arts from thousands of books was no easy task.
Nobody wanted to waste time.
Ling Xiao naturally didn't want to either, as his time was even more precious with only one shichen.
So he just paused briefly, then his gaze shifted to the shelves.
As one of the Four Great Families of Tianfeng City, the Ling Family indeed had a profound foundation. To flip through these thousands of books one by one, it would probably take three or four shichen, which was unlikely.
That Ling Jiu, he was clearly trying to make things difficult for me!
"Tablet Breaking Palm, Blazing Fire Fist, Thirteen Heavenly Peak Swords, Gale Chasing Leaf Steps, Crimson Sun Technique…"
Starting from the first book of the first row, Ling Xiao's eyes were blurred from looking, and it was really hard to discern the levels of these martial arts classics based on just a few pages of content.
This is too hard!
Is there some kind of trick to it?
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