Chapter 30: New Techniques?

Exploring this entire city could take years or even decades if they searched everything one by one, so they had to be strategic about this. If Jun's knowledge of novels served him well, such precious items would be either stored at the city lord's mansion.

Jun glanced at Yinling, who was deep in thought. 

"If we narrow it down... our best option should be the city lord's residence" suggested Jun.

Yinling snapping out of her daze turned to Jun, her eyes reflecting a hint of agreement.

"That makes sense... back in my home... they also stored the precious techniques similarly so let's give it a try"

Jun and Yinling agreeing went back to the place they were previously in and entered the giant residence again. Although they weren't sure if this was the exact place the city lord resided in, what other giant mansion in the dead center of the city would there be?

"How about we split up, you search the ground floor while I search the first floor" Jun proposed, ready to dive into the search.

Yinling nodded, a flicker of excitement lighting up her eyes at the thought of discovering heaven-level techniques, or perhaps even divine level. Although these were just her wishful thinking, it doesn't hurt to dream.

At Jun's end, we find him going upstairs to the first floor, bypassing some servant's clothes with tea trays spilled nearby. Some even retained the warmth from being recently made which cemented the idea of the explosion being the cause in Jun's mind.

Reaching the first floor, Jun was met with a sight that made his eyes widen in astonishment – a sprawling library, several stories high, filled with endless rows of books and a thick scent of broken-down paper.

"Damn... am I lucky or what"

Jun remembered Yinling went to search the entire ground floor without knowing there was nothing there made him pity her, but mostly laugh. 

Should he call her? But then, how would he do that if they can't communicate? That makes another thing he needs to invent.

Approaching a bookshelf, Jun's hand reached for a conspicuously placed red hardcover book in the corner of a bookshelf.

"101 ways to satisfy your Dao companion...?"

'What the heck?! What is this doing here in the city lords collection?!' 

Jun turned his eyes left and then right.

Suddenly, the book disappeared from his hands, not returning to its original place.

"Although not the thing I was looking for..." Jun made a mental note to never speak to another soul about this.

Picking up another book, he read the title. 'So You've Ascended... Now What?'

"???"

Who in the fuck could possibly know this? There may be people who have ascended but... but...

"Never mind" thought Jun making the book disappear like the other one.

Time passed quickly as Jun sifted through the titles, each more bizarre and questionable than the last. Frustration mounting, he slumped onto a couch, his fists clenched.

"Damn this city lord! Why the hell did you collect so many useless books, you'd think he'd just put a sign telling everyone where his core techniques are with his level of stupidity"

And as if in response, he noticed a bookshelf near the entrance he came through, in the middle of that room was a sign "Top Secret Cultivation Techniques – Yes, Right Here! No, Seriously."

"..."

Silently approaching the bookshelf, Jun with trembling hands picked up a book at random "Eternal Phoenix Rebirth, elementary Emperor Grade"

Picking up another "Blade of the Dancing Phoenix... Emperor intermediate Grade"

Closing his eyes, Jun took a deep breath to steady his emotions

Jun grabbed all the books on this shelf and headed downstairs towards Yinling. He didn't want to stay here another moment for his sanity.

"Yinling!" he called out upon reaching the ground floor. Her response echoed from afar. Following the sound of her voice, within seconds, he had reached her, bypassing a set of steel-reinforced doors to another library.

Yinling, noticing his arrival turned and ran up to him while clutching a few books of her own smiling ever so happily. 

"Jun! You're not going to believe this! The entire place is filled with Heaven and King-Grade techniques!" 

Yinling herself did not expect the whole place to be filled with so many techniques high-level techniques. Back home, her father would never have let her enter their pavilion to choose her own techniques, only ever given techniques to practice. 

The highest technique she has practiced was their family's Double Moon Dragon technique and their Soul Dragon Steps technique which she both had high achievements in.

Unfortunately, her father didn't see it that way since her cultivation was so pitifully low. In his eyes, she was weak and not worthy of cultivating.

"Who's laughing now! Hmph!" 

Yinling lingered in front of Jun, her posture akin to a hopeful, lost puppy eagerly awaiting praise. The glow of her recent discovery painted her face with an air of childlike anticipation.

Jun watched her, the anticipation and sparkle in her eyes eroding the remnants of his irritation.

He reached out, his hand gently brushing her hair in a soft pat.

"Good work, Yinling! I knew I could trust you," he said, his voice imbued with warmth and affection.

A flush of embarrassment rose to Yinling's cheeks, turning them a delicate shade of pink. She averted her gaze, shifting awkwardly on her feet before diverting her attention to the bookshelves.

Her voice, laced with a hint of eagerness to escape the spotlight, broke the silence.

"So now that we have all these techniques, which one should we practice?" 

Jun's lips curled into an understanding smile, amused by her quick change of topic. He held out the two emperor-grade techniques he had found, his eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Actually... the books you are holding may be good, but I found something even better."

Yinling's eyes snapped to the books in Jun's hands, widening in sheer astonishment. She stood abruptly, her body language reflecting her shock

"What! Doesn't that mean this city was a 9-star city!"

Jun hearing her concerns also thought about this while coming down. There were many possibilities, for starters, like in almost all the cultivation novels he has read, most never truly master the technique so their cultivation never reaches the peak of what the technique is capable of. 

He himself has no idea what realms lie beyond the True Core Realm, but maybe this library will have some knowledge about it.

Second, Jun wondered if they had such a high-level technique and were only a level 6, 7, or 8-star city, why wouldn't they be directly destroyed by other higher-level greedy cities, but then he remembered that rule, ruling that out.

So in response to her yell, Jun shook his head.

"Not necessarily, maybe they were once glorious in the past, and this here is their legacy passed from generation to generation" suggested Jun.

Yinling, absorbing his words, sat back down slowly. She leaned against the bookshelf, her shoulders slumping slightly under the weight of this new understanding

"Even so..."

"As I stated earlier Yinling, let's not overthink things we can't change."

As if to illustrate his intention, he sat down next to her and put his hand over her shoulder.

"How about I show you something truly magical Yinling!" smiled Jun.