11 Preparation is Key

A nightspirit rat was a monster capable of challenging Essence Physique realm cultivators.

With his cultivation level at the Essence Gathering realm, Zhao Yunxiao was not nearly delusional enough to believe that he would be able to beat a nightspirit rat in direct combat.

However, there was no law dictating that he had to resolve this matter through direct combat either!

One did not always need to possess overwhelming strength to defeat their opponents.

Sometimes, making thorough preparations for the opponents could more than make up for the difference in strength, allowing one to defeat opponents much stronger than oneself.

And in order to make sufficient preparations, gathering information on the opponents was key.

Zhao Yunxiao might have come across nightspirit rats in the past, but he was no expert on these monsters by any measure.

In order to find out more about them, as well as to confirm if a nightspirit rat was indeed the culprit responsible for the wreckage in Gu Qiansi's garden, Zhao Yunxiao arrived at his first stop of the day after leaving Gu Qiansi's garden plot.

This was the one-stop venue for static information in the Black Tortoise Sect – the Sect Library.

The books and scrolls here were kept in an extremely organised manner, housed on rows of shelves that were conveniently arranged according to their respective categories.

However, no matter how well the library was designed, or how neatly the items were arranged, the sheer volume of books meant that most disciples would still take a long time just to locate the corner where they could find information belonging to the topics that they wanted to learn about.

Fortunately, this problem did not apply to Zhao Yunxiao – a frequent at the Sect Library.

After greeting a few of the duty disciples upon entering, Zhao Yunxiao moved through the familiar aisles of the huge library and headed straight for the section on monsters and beasts.

It did not take long before he managed to pick out multiple books and scrolls that contained bits and pieces of information that he was looking for.

"Claw marks look like this..."

"Bite marks look like this..."

"Their habits include..."

Zhao Yunxiao muttered under his breath while reading through these resources related to nightspirit rats.

Physical traits, habits, diet, and so on...

There was an almost endless amount of information to go through in order to fully understand a monster's weaknesses and strengths. Even someone who had studied a monster for years would not dare claim to know everything there was to learn about it.

To make things worse, Zhao Yunxiao did not have the luxury of time, and he understood that clearly as well.

Therefore, instead of meticulously going through every bit of information like how he would have usually done, Zhao Yunxiao was quickly skimming through the information this time as he focused only on the key points.

All he needed to do here was to confirm that the culprit was indeed a nightspirit rat, as well as learn the basic traits of the monster.

Zhao Yunxiao spent around an hour in the Sect Library before leaving, bringing with him a few books that he deemed to be of greater use.

Upon exiting the Sect Library, Zhao Yunxiao looked up at the sky.

The sun was already about to set – he did not have much time left.

Realising that, Zhao Yunxiao picked up the pace as he headed towards his second destination – the Beastiary.

Spirit beasts and monsters did not always have to be the enemies of cultivators.

In fact, there were many spirit beasts and monsters that were aggressive by nature, but ended up being tamed by cultivators into standing on their side instead.

At the Black Tortoise Sect, there were many who had chosen this path of beast taming as well, and the Beastiary was the main gathering point for them.

These were people who truly studied spirit beasts and monsters as part of their cultivation path.

Thus when it came to understanding spirit beasts and monsters, few would dare claim to be more knowledgeable than them.

If Zhao Yunxiao wanted to learn more about the strengths and weaknesses of nightspirit rats, books and scrolls might be able to provide him a basic understanding, but these experts would be able to confirm and expand on this understanding!

"Disciple Zhao Yunxiao greets Senior Lou!"

Lou Quping – an administrative deacon at the Beastiary.

Everyone working at the Beastiary specialised in different types of spirit beasts and monsters. To save time in finding the right person to ask, Zhao Yunxiao decided to go straight to the administrative deacon, hoping that Lou Quping would be able to enlighten him, or at least point him to the right person.

However, upon seeing Zhao Yunxiao, the man seated behind the desk did not respond immediately.

Instead, Lou Quping only narrowed his eyes towards Zhao Yunxiao, not saying a word as he started tapping his fingers on the tabletop.

"Aren't you going to respond to my greeting, Senior Lou?" Zhao Yunxiao asked bitterly.

Lou Quping remained silent for another few moments before finally speaking. "What are you here for this time, little Zhao?"

"Why are you acting as if we are strangers, Senior Lou? You are going to hurt my feelings." Zhao Yunxiao sighed.

Lou Quping continued to narrow his eyes at Zhao Yunxiao. "What are you here for?"

"All right, it's really nothing important," Zhao Yunxiao smilingly reached into his backpack and retrieved a small cloth pouch. "Just that I managed to snag a few good quality pears when I was at the market a few days ago, and thought of sharing them with you. Take a look at this!"

Zhao Yunxiao placed the cloth pouch on the desk and opened it up to reveal a pair of fresh pears.

"Don't they look beautiful? I've tried one myself, and they are extremely sweet!" Zhao Yunxiao added. "Have a taste. I'm sure you will love it too!"

Lou Quping took a quick glance at the pears.

They were indeed fresh looking, but that alone was not enough to distract him.

"Just cut to the chase. What are you here for?" Lou Quping continued to probe.

"Hahaha, Senior Lou is indeed amazing, nothing can get past your eyes," Zhao Yunxiao laughed in embarrassment. "The thing is this... do you have any information on how to trap or hunt nightspirit rats?"

"Nightspirit rats?" Lou Quping frowned. "Why do you want to know this?"

"To know how to hunt nightspirit rats?" Zhao Yunxiao answered.

"Do you think I am an idiot? If not for that, then could this information be used to plant trees?" Lou Quping felt his veins about to pop. "I'm asking why you suddenly want to hunt nightspirit rats! I'd tell you this first – they are not exactly easy targets for someone at the Intermediate Essence Gathering realm."

"It's a long story..." Zhao Yunxiao sighed helplessly. "Basically, I suspect that Gu Qiansi's garden plot is being threatened by nightspirit rats. Speaking of which, would Senior Lou be willing to lend your beloved fellow disciples a hand, personally making a visit there to get rid of the menace?"

"Gu Qiansi? Is it that lass you are always with?" Lou Quping thought out loud. "No wonder you are so concerned."

"Does that mean Senior Lou is willing to lend us a hand?" Zhao Yunxiao's eyes lit up.

"No," Lou Quping rejected immediately. "But as for the information you want, I can provide it to you."

"That's good enough, I never expected Senior Lou to be so chivalrous anyway," Zhao Yunxiao shrugged.

"You brat... do you still want the information?"

"Yes! Yes! Please provide me the information, oh great Senior Lou!" Zhao Yunxiao nodded his head profusely.

"Sure, but there is no free meal in this world," Lou Quping smirked.

"The two pears are yours to keep," Zhao Yunxiao offered with a smile. "If you want more, I have another pair here."

With that, Zhao Yunxiao brought out another two pears from his backpack.

"I'm not talking about the pears, but things of greater value!" Lou Quping snapped at Zhao Yunxiao while reaching out to keep away the pears.

"What could Senior Lou be referring to?" Zhao Yunxiao hurriedly moved to keep away the pears before Lou Quping could reach them. "My apologies. I just remembered that I promised a few of my junior martial brothers and sisters to keep a few pears for them, so I will be bringing these back with me."

"Are you really going to be like this, little Zhao?" Lou Quping felt the corner of his lips twitch, as his outstretched hand remained frozen in place.

"Different items are weighed differently by different people. It is best to bring things to where they are most valued," Zhao Yunxiao said while storing the pears back into his backpack. "Unless Senior Lou is willing to increase your valuation of the pears?"

"Ahem!" Lou Quping brought back his hand and cleared his throat. "How can essential information about spirit beasts and monsters be only worth a few pears? If word of it gets out, won't it affect my business in the future?"

"How many sect points then?" Zhao Yunxiao got to the point.

"Do I look like I care for your puny amount of sect points?" Lou Quping scoffed. "You are the one who needs the information, so you need to be the one offering something of equivalent value. If you have nothing I want, then the deal is off."

"Other than sect points, how can I have anything that interests Senior Lou?" Zhao Yunxiao asked bitterly.

Lou Quping was a sect deacon while he was merely an outer disciple.

The difference in their level of wealth was far too great!

"Don't be too hasty to come to such a conclusion," Lou Quping said with a smile. "For example, I see that you are wearing quite an exquisite bangle?"

"As expected of Senior Lou. You truly have good eyesight," Zhao Yunxiao brought up his right hand to eye level. "I spent a long time and lots of effort in order to obta-"

"Stop pretending," Lou Quping cut Zhao Yunxiao off impatiently. "I mean the other one."

Zhao Yunxiao's gaze fell upon his left wrist, where he was wearing a jade bangle.

"Not this one," Zhao Yunxiao shook his head.

"Well, I won't force you into it," Lou Quping did not insist. "You already know what I like so why don't you go look for something similar before coming back for the information you need? I'm not going anywhere after all."

Zhao Yunxiao fell silent.

For Lou Quping to like the jade bangle that he was wearing, it was already a huge coincidence that arose from Lou Quping's innate interest in jade accessories, coupled with how Zhao Yunxiao had managed to chance upon this particular piece of jade bangle in the past.

Otherwise, how would an outer disciple like him possibly come up with anything that Lou Quping would be interested in?

Even if he were to gather all the treasures that his peers currently possessed, it was almost impossible for there to be anything else that could catch Lou Quping's eye!

While Zhao Yunxiao quite cherished this jade bangle, the image of Gu Qiansi silently and indignantly salvaging the wrecked herbs in her garden plot was still fresh in his head.

Thinking up to this point, Zhao Yunxiao finally let out a helpless sigh before removing his jade bangle.

"Don't regret this. I don't want to hear anyone saying that I robbed you of it," Lou Quping cautioned before receiving the jade bangle.

"If you really care about your reputation that much, why don't you just give me the information for free?" Zhao Yunxiao asked. "I will make sure to spread the news of your great generosity!"

"Don't even think about it. And don't you even think? How am I supposed to do business in the future if you really spread such news?" Lou Quping gestured for the jade bangle. "Give it to me already if you want to proceed with the trade. If you are unwilling, then stop wasting my time."

"I know, I know..." Zhao Yunxiao placed the jade bangle on Lou Quping's outstretched palm. "To think that a sect deacon will place so much more emphasis on material gains than on helping out fellow sect disciples, even resorting to bargaining with an outer disciple like me..."

"If you are going to keep complaining then let's just call off the deal. I'd rather that than have you go around spreading nonsense!"

"Don't worry, Senior Lou. I am just saying it because I am here," Zhao Yunxiao said. "Do I really look like someone who will spread such rumours?"

"You definitely look like the grudgeful type," Lou Quping remarked while keeping away the jade bangle with a smile. "I have to say that you do have pretty good taste – this jade bangle does look quite exquisite. Too bad it is mine now."

Zhao Yunxiao: "..."

Senior, is it not enough to take my precious jade bangle?

Do you really have to break my heart as well?