The library was so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. Scattered disciples from the Outer Sect were moving between the shelves, trying their best to maintain silence.

Pan Yang was still sitting at the registration desk by the door, his eyes continuously focused on the "Jiuli Travelogue" in his hand. He had no idea how long he’d been reading until a confident young voice sounded in his ear.

"Mr. Pan, how have you been lately?"

Liou Yuan stood straight in front of Pan Yang, smiling at the disciple holding the book behind the counter.

It seemed like he was talking to Pan Yang, but his eyes were intentionally or unintentionally glancing at the book in Pan Yang’s hand.

"Mr. Liou, is your cottage built yet?"

Pan Yang glanced at Liou Yuan with his peripheral vision, put the book down, and bantered familiarly, "You’ve been in the sect for less than a year, and your house has been destroyed three times. Mr. Liou, you are the first in Five Extremes Mountain for decades."

When Liou Yuan compensated for those three books, it was handled by Pan Yang.

He definitely wouldn’t miss the chance to tease him.

"Heh, it’s just a cottage. Destroyed or rebuilt, it doesn’t matter. Back in Yanhe City, my old house was burned to the ground," Liou Yuan wasn’t bothered by Pan Yang’s teasing, instead cheerfully stating his intention, "Today, I plan to borrow a few more books. Mr. Pan, have you finished ’Jiuli Travelogue’?"

The implication was to borrow the "Jiuli Travelogue" as well.

Pan Yang was momentarily stunned by this, hesitated for a moment, then smiled, saying, "No rush, I’m still enjoying it."

"Give it a few more days!"

"There are so many books in this library. You should find something else to read first."

As he spoke, Pan Yang unconsciously tightened his grip on the book, causing slight creases at its corners.

Liou Yuan noticed these details, his eyebrows raised slightly in a way that was hard to discern, then he acted indifferent, responding, "Fine then, whenever Mr. Pan finishes, I’ll borrow it."

With that, Liou Yuan turned elegantly and headed deeper into the library.

During this process, the fake smile froze on Liou Yuan’s face, and he inwardly sighed:

"This Pan Yang must have discovered the secret in ’Jiuli Travelogue.’"

Pan Yang’s reaction was certainly odd.

The subconscious act of grabbing at the book corner was an unconscious behavior, almost like protecting his treasure.

If he only loved the book, he wouldn’t react this way.

This gave Liou Yuan a headache.

"It’s tricky. If he’s aware of the book’s secrets, he won’t let go easily."

"If I push too hard, it might arouse his suspicion."

"But if I don’t push, he’s even less likely to let go." Liou Yuan shook his head.

Pan Yang is an experienced disciple and hasn’t offended me. He surely wouldn’t harbor murderous intentions over this.

Furthermore, who knows if I’d be able to defeat his Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer.

He’s part of the library, and there’s simply no way to deal with him without leaving a trace.

"It seems I’ll have to give up."

"Let ’Jiuli Travelogue’ be his fortune. I have the Fixed Star Compass, and all five Outer Sect mountains have libraries. I don’t lack this one book."

Liou Yuan shook his head, already letting go of any hope for "Jiuli Travelogue."

Nonetheless, the act must be played to the fullest.

Liou Yuan forced himself to remain in the library for another half day.

Just as he was about to pick a book to take back to cover his actions.

A massive and imposing figure suddenly barged in through the library door.

Qiu Ming, carrying the Yellow Jade Axe, had an excited and urgent look on his face. His gaze swept through the library but did not see whom he was looking for.

So he disregarded the sanctity of the library, raising his voice and shouting, "Is Liou Yuan here!" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Being accustomed to shouting on Xiaopei Mountain with a loud voice, his shout immediately attracted the attention of countless disciples in the library, who turned their heads towards him.

Most were unfriendly glances, of course.

"Brother, don’t you know it’s forbidden to shout in the library?"

Pan Yang’s voice also chimed in appropriately as he placed the "Jiuli Travelogue" down slowly, frowning at Qiu Ming with a reprimanding tone.

"Hmph!" Qiu Ming glanced at Pan Yang, seeing his cultivation was only Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer, he wasn’t intimidated, and immediately glared back.

This drew Pan Yang’s expression immediately down, regardless of his normally easy-going appearance due to his role.

A new face dared to challenge him, and Pan Yang immediately stood up from his chair, ready to show this disciple a lesson.

Just as the atmosphere between the two became tense.

Liou Yuan heard Qiu Ming’s call and quickly emerged from the dense library bookcases.

He also saw the confrontation at the door, rubbed his brow, and cursed Qiu Ming as a fool.

The next moment, he put on a smile and spoke in a gentle voice to Pan Yang, "Brother, don’t be angry, this fellow often talks loudly, he’s just got a simple mind."

"Don’t take him seriously."

Pan Yang looked at Liou Yuan, his face losing some of its anger, choosing not to fuss over Qiu Ming on his account.

With a cold snort, he stopped paying attention to Qiu Ming, and returned to his seat.

Qiu Ming was unaware he nearly incited collective anger.

Seeing Liou Yuan appear, he excitedly wanted to speak but was interrupted by Liou Yuan’s waving hand.

"Don’t shout here, later you’ll anger all the library disciples, and you’ll face consequences."

Liou Yuan said softly, leading Qiu Ming away from the library.

Qiu Ming was just carefree and had an agenda on his mind, not caring, quickly following along.

In front of the library, the breeze gently brushed by.

Liou Yuan watched Qiu Ming’s impatient expression, opting not to reprimand his inappropriate behavior earlier.

Because he knew even if he said it, the fool wouldn’t remember it.

Might as well avoid useless work, and leisurely asked, "What’s so urgent?"

"Great news!" Qiu Ming rubbed his palms, eagerly pouring out his thoughts.

"Just now, Shoushan Tower sent a message, calling for a group of disciples to leave Five Extremes Mountain to help the local prefecture in Jin Dynasty resist the Star Evil."

"You also know how strange the celestial phenomena have been this year. The Evil Star has been in shift for five months, and we outer sect disciples haven’t taken on any outside task for five months."

"I think we should sign up. If we miss this opportunity, there won’t be another one. Who knows how long this Evil Star will remain?"

Qiu Ming’s invitation was automatically ignored by Liou Yuan, who accurately captured the information implied behind Qiu Ming’s words, frowning as he listened.

"Has the outside world become so dangerous already?"

"Even the mighty Jin Dynasty needs to seek assistance from Five Extremes Mountain."

Five Extremes Mountain is located at the border of Jin Dynasty and Jiuli State, and normally does not interfere with Jin Dynasty’s affairs.

If it weren’t for Jin Dynasty’s proactive request for help, Five Extremes Mountain certainly wouldn’t have taken this unnecessary step.

This indirectly proved that the situation in Jin Dynasty had reached a point where outside help was necessary.

"You can only imagine how dangerous the outside world is now!"

Liou Yuan’s frown deepened as he thought of his mother, Bai Xin, who was far away in Yanhe City, Jin Dynasty Qingyou Prefecture.

"I wonder how Mother is doing. I need to ask my brother." Liou Yuan calculated silently.

However, with Qiu Ming right in front of him, Liou Yuan knew he had to get rid of him before he could leave.

He immediately replied, "Stop dreaming, this task sounds like a dead end. For us Qi Cultivators, going is no different from seeking death."

In the current situation, quite a few Calamity-level Star Evils might have already emerged.

If a Qi Cultivator encounters a Calamity-level Star Evil, there won’t be enough of them to kill.

So Liou Yuan had no intention of leaving at all.

"Don’t risk your life for some petty gains."

Qiu Ming seemed to already anticipate Liou Yuan’s reaction, and on his rugged face climbed a sense of urgency, saying repeatedly, "I’m not stupid. If they just wanted us Qi Cultivators to go on our own, I wouldn’t be interested either."

"But this time, it’s led by a Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator, it’s quite safe."

"We just need to follow behind him."

"Is there a Foundation Establishment leader!" This was something Liou Yuan hadn’t expected. If there was a Foundation Establishment leader, the safety would undoubtedly be much higher.

In this way, the task seemed more feasible.

After contemplating for a moment, Liou Yuan gave a neutral answer, "If it’s led by a Foundation Establishment, then there’s nothing to worry about."

"Then let’s go." After saying this, Qiu Ming was about to pull Liou Yuan, fearing that if they moved slowly, all the places would be taken.

Liou Yuan shook his head, stepped back to dodge Qiu Ming’s hand, and replied, "You go to Shoushan Tower first, Wei Miaomeng knows us. Tell her to register me first, it shouldn’t be difficult."

"I need to find my brother first."

Then Liou Yuan expressed his concern for his mother.

"That’s true, family should come first." Qiu Ming was reasonable and couldn’t argue against this reason.

After dropping the sentence, he headed straight for Shoushan Tower.

"Alright, you come quickly. I’ll wait for you at Shoushan Tower first."

Only after Qiu Ming’s towering figure walked away did Liou Yuan take out the Jade Scroll of Thousand Mile Ear left to him by Liou Zhen.

Since receiving this Thousand Mile Ear, Liou Yuan had used it twice while practicing the ’Green Tide Pure Water Sword’ to consult Liou Zhen on some issues.

In other times, he almost never used it.

Now that he used it, he was quite adept. Infusing it with Spiritual Power, he transmitted a message, roughly asking about his mother’s situation.

Liou Zhen is an Inner Sect Disciple and a Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator, so he is undoubtedly more informed than himself; asking him was the right choice.

After a short pause, the Jade Scroll of Thousand Mile Ear flickered with white light, and Liou Zhen’s voice echoed from within the scroll.

"Arrangements for Mother have long been in place, you can rest easy."

"As expected, Brother has thought it through." Getting a positive response from Liou Zhen, Liou Yuan also breathed a sigh of relief.

However, since he was already using the Thousand Mile Ear, Liou Yuan simply asked about the operation from Shoushan Tower this time.

And he inquired about the danger level of this task, implying his intention to leave the sect.

Not long after, the Thousand Mile Ear flickered with white light again.

"You can go, the Foundation Establishment leading this task is quite capable."

Soon after, Liou Zhen added another sentence:

"I will be going into seclusion for a period, be cautious in all matters, Little Yuan."

"If Brother says it’s not a problem, it’s definitely not a problem." Liou Yuan responded with a smile.

Regarding Liou Zhen’s mention of going into seclusion, Liou Yuan thought it was perfectly normal.

It’s just that once a Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator goes into seclusion, it takes a long time.

"Seems like I can’t disturb Brother for a while." Thinking this, Liou Yuan put away the Thousand Mile Ear, tucking it into his robe, then looked towards Shoushan Tower.

He did not refuse Qiu Ming’s invitation to leave the mountain for the mission, and he had his reasons.

Lately, his merit points had indeed been depleting a bit quickly, needing one Star Stone every two days, which amounts to fifteen a month, five merit points.

Now he only had ninety-eight merit points left.

"If this keeps going on, future cultivation might become unsustainable."

And this operation was led by a Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator, with guaranteed safety.

Secondly, it was something that’s been on Liou Yuan’s mind for a while.

The subsequent Magic for Talismanic Skill might be in Jin Dynasty.

Coincidentally, the destination of this task is Jin Dynasty, so he could use this opportunity to visit Qiwen Mountain and see if he can find the subsequent part of ’Talismanic Skill.’

He had the Fixed Star Compass; if even he couldn’t find it, no one else would either.

"It’s also been quite a while since I’ve been out!" With this thought, Liou Yuan activated Treading Flowing Waves, transforming into a azure stream of light rippling towards the distance.