9 Strange Book

Roaring sounds. A wrinkled man lay on the table. The man's beard was as white as clouds, and saliva dripped down from his mouth.

"Is he asleep?" Joshua wondered. It didn't look like the man was even alive.

"He just scanned you with his spiritual sense, so, no," Miranda said.

Joshua's mouth opened wide. Not even a single sensation, despite being scanned by that wrinkled man.

"I betcha his spiritual sense is far superior to mine," he wondered.

The sunlight passed through the library's walls, brightening the ambient. The place needed some remodeling, but it seemed that the sect wouldn't do that any time soon.

"Boiling Spin of the Memories."

"Ancient Snake's Tooth of the Raid."

"Destroyer's Drunken Flip."

Joshua flipped the bookshelves, trying his best to find anything suitable for him.

"What are those things?" Joshua said. Unable to understand the reason behind such outrageous names.

Techniques that promised too much were usually the worse ones. That was what Joshua had learned with his sleepless nights reading novels.

An old book standing on the last shelf caught his attention. Something peculiar happened to Joshua. A feeling of belonging, a call.

"Is this technique suitable for me?" Joshua thought. Miranda, who was inside his mind, quickly cleared any doubts he had.

"I scanned the book already, and it seems it's suitable for you, but..."

"Is there something wrong with the technique? Is it weak?" Joshua said.

"It isn't like that. It's just..."

"Spill it out," Joshua said.

"It seems to be a demonic art of some sort," Miranda said.

"What!?"

That statement caught Joshuas off guard. A demonic art inside a righteous sect. That was already something strange, but being compatible with the technique was the same.

"Why am I compatible with a demonic cultivation art?" Joshua said.

"I don't know. Remember the stone turning black in the entrance test? Perhaps there's something strange within your body," Miranda said.

Joshua had already forgotten that event back in the test. He spent months cultivating nonstop. One goal and only, become strong.

He was worried about his future, not the past. The entrance test had been a success for him, so why should he worry about that?

The words ' The Demonic Ways' were written on the book's cape. The name of it didn't sound friendly in the slightest.

Joshuas shaking hands moved towards the book. Could something terrible happen? He didn't know.

"I'm alive; I'm alive,"

Nothing had happened. It was a strange book so Joshua was uncertain if it was safe to touch it.

The relieving sound of his breath echoed inside the room. He wasn't dead, neither sick. Joshua didn't notice that the wrinkled man watched his every move with curiosity.

"No one picked that book in many years." the man thought.

He was speeding through the book's content as fast as lightning. The book contained a unique way of absorbing the Qi from the atmosphere. It had more than that, of course. Several odd combat martial arts were inside, and some techniques allowed one to absorb its enemies' cultivation.

"I don't want to be the bad guy. I'll only absorb the cultivation of those evil cultivators."

It would still take some time for him to utilize the technique, so every thought of it was all but a daydream.

"Are you done choosing?" the wrinkled man said. That took Joshua off guard, and he unwittingly put his right hand above his heart.

"Don't scare this junior like that."

"Are you choosing that technique?" the wrinkled man said. Pointing towards the wrecked book Joshua held on hands.

"I think so," Joshua said.

"Fine. You can only choose one technique with your low cultivation, so get out of here," the wrinkled man said. He then turned around and went back to his casual sleeping.

"That man is scary," Joshua thought.

He left the library in high spirits. The techniques inside the book looked promising. He knew that his previously cultivation art was lacking quality, and somehow he felt that the book he had just attained contained some secret.

"Maybe my heads just playing games with me. If I was the MC, then perhaps this could be a heavenly technique," Joshua said.

The block he lived wasn't that far, so it only took him half an hour to get back there. The place was rather vivid, as everyone was outside of their cabins, celebrating.

"Hey, Joshua, come here," Marie said.

"What's all the fuss about?" Joshua said.

"Both me and Niels entered the first layer of Qi Condensation. Isn't that awesome?"

Marie was jumping all over the place. The other four who lived there were already at the first layer, so they didn't mind Marie and Niels.

"You did?" Joshua said. He smiled at them, genuinely happy for their achievements. They weren't near his cultivation speed, but still, they had a decent pace. It wasn't like they were slow, but Joshua was the one who was astonishingly fast.

"We will celebrate together when you reach it," Marie said. She wasn't someone that disrespected others. Marie and Niels thought they both had higher cultivation than Joshua, but that didn't change how they treated each other. For Joshua, that was a sign of a true friendship.

"I think I'll reach it quite soon. Wait for me," Joshua said.

The party lasted for about three hours. They ate and chatted happily about almost everything. Marie and Niels tried to give Joshua some points regarding cultivation, and Joshua found that sweet.

Joshua went back to his cabin after everything was over. He stared at the old book silently.

"Is this the right path for me?" Joshua thought.

Perhaps cultivating that art would grant him power above his peers and eventually help him with his plan on becoming the sect leader. Or it could lead to his downfall.

"It's a risk I have to make."

He memorized the first part of the book. Sitting at the center of the cabin, Joshua chanted, getting the Qi nearby.

Something strange happened inside his body. Something that even Miranda couldn't perceive.