Chapter 9

"Grandfather. Yangde," Gu Chenggang greeted the two as soon as they entered the study. The man pinched his nose without looking directly at them.

"What did the Su Family boy want?" Gu Haoran asked, his voice stern in a manner hinting at his past as the former Gu Family patriarch.

Gu Chenggang glanced toward his son briefly, but then pinched the bridge of his nose even harder than before. A moment later, he subtly waved for the guards to leave and glared at Cyrus out of the corner of his eye.

"That bastard came to threaten our joint business venture because of Yangde bothering his daughter again. With how straight-laced that guy is, arranging a marriage between you and his daughter will be completely impossible at this point, anyway. So, Yangde, don't bother that girl anymore, or I'll lock you in seclusion for three years"

With a helpless expression on his face, Cyrus thought, 'Why you gotta look at me like that? I don't mind fixing some problems, but hell if I'm going to accept such an annoying punishment because of this kid's mistakes.'

Noticing Cyrus' expression, Gu Haoran sighed and said, "Little Yangde probably doesn't have memory of the Su girl right now, so warning him is rather meaningless."

"Ah, right, that slipped my mind," Gu Chenggang grumbled. "When you get your memories back, you better still remember what I told you."

"...Sure, I guess."

An awkward silence fell in the room for a few moments until Chenggang looked at the two and asked, "Are you just going to dawdle around here, or are you going to continue cultivating?"

Raising a brow, Cyrus replied, "I'm done fixing my cultivation base, so I want to borrow some history books or other materials to help me learn more about the current state of things."

Gu Chenggang basically did a double-take with an unbelieving gaze. Then, he looked at Gu Haoran for assurance.

"The boy is telling the truth regarding his cultivation. Didn't seem to trouble him much. You're still too biased because of how he used to act before obtaining this memory inheritance, little Chenggang."

Frowning, Gu Chenggang sighed and shook his head. He stepped around his desk, plopped down in his chair, and said, "Take whatever books you want, Yangde. Just make sure to bring them back or send a servant to do so when you're done."

"No problem."

"Since little Yangde is alright for now, I'll be heading back into seclusion. You know where to find me if you need help with anything, Chengang."

"Understood, grandfather. Hopefully you get a chance to break through."

The older man shrugged before disappearing from the room. Cyrus briefly glanced at the now empty space and inwardly grumbled, 'Movements of a Golden Core level cultivator used to look so slow. Gonna be a pain to reach the level I used to have in the game.'

After that, Cyrus looked through all the books in his new father's library, though Chenggang eventually pointed out where most of the history books were and shooed him away with a stack of more than twenty books of varying thickness. The one that interested him the most focused on the 'Age of Upheaval' that Gu Haoran had previously mentioned.

Satisfied with the obtained research materials, Cyrus left the library and asked a servant to lead him to his room. While following the servant through the halls, he spun the spatial ring on his finger using his thumb to entertain himself.

'Man, spatial tools are such a life-changer. Too bad we didn't have something like this irl.'

Eventually, the servant led Cyrus to a doorway in the residential wing reserved for the Gu Family's direct family members. Cyrus immediately realized that his room was directly adjacent to the room belonging to Yangde's mother, though her door was nearly as far away as a full basketball court. Since he had seen plenty of large bedrooms throughout his time in Seventh Heaven, not to mention all the time he spent 'cultivating' in even larger bedrooms, he merely made a mental note of it before entering his room.

The moment he stepped inside, his nose wrinkled, and he instinctively recoiled due to a lingering aura he least expected to find in the room.

"...The hell is this? Was the kid trying to channel a Se'irim or something?"

Before doing anything else, he waved his hand, causing a small wave of translucent blue energy to fly across the room. A moment later, he frowned.

"This isn't enough to get rid of it even though it's just a weak lingering aura. Don't think I'll be strong enough to get rid of it for a while, and I doubt anyone in these lower Heavens would recognize this aura enough to help me erase it, either. What is this kind of aura even doing down here in the first place? I smell a conspiracy…"

Lips curling into a smirk, his eyes squinted while showing a gleam of interest and curiosity.