Immortal Cultivation and Life-Saving Guide

Chapter 497 Seeking the Path 7
After calming down for a few days, Wei Xi finally realized that he only had one pair of eyes, and could probably only see one side of life.

"But this is also a reminder," Wei Xi comforted himself, "things can't be investigated too deeply, who knows what shocking secrets are behind them."

“But…” Wei Xi, lying on the kang with a deathly pale face, turned over, “What role did the seniors of the Qingcheng Sect play in this matter?”

"Judging from her words, she seems to know the founder of the Qingcheng Sect, but she has a rather low opinion of her own grandmaster."

Wei Xi held a different view: First, people have different temperaments, and one cannot judge a person solely based on their courage; second, when listening to someone, one should not only listen to the words but also consider who is speaking. A cultivator whom a person with exceptional strength looks down upon may not be a villain; third, judging from the outcome, the Qingcheng Sect has continued to this day, and if one counts it carefully, its history is probably comparable to that of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

Qin Feng interrupted Wei Xi's thoughts. She brought lunch back to the room and invited the person and cat who were holed up in the room to eat.

"Why have you been so lazy these past few days? You haven't even gone to Bailu Pavilion?"

Lingyin had already been brought back by Wei Xi and was now warily stepping on her master's head, exchanging fierce glances with the glaring rat-catching general.

“It’s cold, I’m too lazy to go out,” Wei Xi yawned, his tone slightly distorted by the bird’s beak, clearly still in the adjustment period. “Bai Lu Pavilion doesn’t even have a charcoal brazier, going there would just be torture.”

“That place is full of books, so it makes sense that there are no open flames.” Qin Feng looked relaxed, put down his chopsticks, moistened his lips with a handkerchief, and then picked up his teacup, saying, “I heard that senior brother… is he the one who assisted Senior Sister Xie?”

"Senior Brother Yan."

“Yes, Senior Brother Yan!” Qin Feng took a sip of tea. “He said that many of the books and materials in Bailu Pavilion are quite old. Not to mention the Ten Thousand Swords Sect and the Ten Thousand Laws Sect, even those eccentric fellow Daoists from the Heaven and Earth Gate come to borrow them.”

"Senior brother also said that those protective formations and magical artifacts alone cost hundreds of thousands of spirit stones every year. No wonder the Qingcheng Sect is so poor. If you ask me, these ancient books are indeed precious, but we don't need so much protection! Saving some spirit stones to properly train our disciples is the more important thing!"

Wei Xi dared not utter a word, after all, Qin Feng was always stubborn but soft-hearted, and even if he acknowledged the Qingcheng Sect in his heart, he would still occasionally make sarcastic remarks.

Of course, Wei Xi dared not say that Bailu Pavilion lent the materials free of charge, but rather that the fellow Daoist wrote a note and the Qingcheng Sect people checked it. If there was something, that was fine; if not, they would be sent away.

These words were certainly not spoken by someone as upright as Senior Brother Yan, but rather information that Lian Gouyan had inquired about and was casually shared with Wei Xi behind his back.

With Lian Gouhan still hiding in Baoxiang City, Wei Xi felt at ease keeping his mouth shut.

"Logically speaking," Wei Xi paused slightly as he picked up some food, thinking to himself, "these ancient books are very precious, and it's a rare opportunity for the Qingcheng Sect to lend them out. Why is this matter causing such a stir in the cultivation world?"

Wei Xi felt a little strange and suddenly stood up, attracting Qin Feng's attention.

"Xiao west, are you done eating? Where are you rushing off to?"

"It's nothing!" Wei Xi replied, barely managing to put it off. "I just remembered I left something at Bailu Pavilion. I'll clean up the dishes when I get back!"

Before he could finish speaking, Wei Xi lifted the curtain and walked outside, leaving Qin Feng completely bewildered.

Wei Xi disregarded all of that and stormed into Bailu Pavilion with a fierce aura.

"Wei Xi! Didn't I tell you to calm down for two days? Why are you back today?"

As luck would have it, the person on duty today was the same fellow disciple who had "driven" Wei Xi out that day. He had been cultivating immortality for over twenty years and was still stuck at the Foundation Establishment stage, spending eight and a half out of ten days a year at Bailu Pavilion.

Knowing how to prescribe the right medicine, Wei Xi forced a smile, scratched his head and said, "I was eating just now when I suddenly remembered a sentence from that book, but it vanished in an instant and I couldn't remember it no matter what I did, so I came over."

Hearing this, the fellow disciple's expression softened, and he said with relief, "You shouldn't have rushed over like that. Even though it's not snowing today, the roads are still slippery. Falling down is easy to treat, but it'll still hurt. Not to mention Senior Sister Xie's concern; you should try to make her worry less!"

"I'll never dare to do it again!" Wei Xi's eyes crinkled into a smile as she softened her voice. "But all my inspiration has been blown away by the northwest wind while I was running here! If you talk to me, maybe I'll remember it!"

Wei Xi was young, but she spoke in a strange tone. No one in the sect could do anything about it, so her fellow disciples could only go along with her.

After exchanging a few casual words, Wei Xi casually asked, "You've been here the longest, have you seen people from other sects come to borrow books? Are they powerful? I heard that our sect and a few other sects are going to Baoxiang City in the spring, have you seen any of them?" "I'm not going, how would I know?" His fellow disciple scoffed, "Many things are just rumors. Everyone needs to eat and drink, how can we Qingcheng Sect disciples always be inferior to others?"

"As for borrowing books... I only started managing the affairs of Bailu Pavilion in the last few years. There were a few times when that senior brother was alive, but not anymore."

Wei Xi listened attentively as they finally got to the point, but then the conversation suddenly stopped.

Then Wei Xi got a sharp rap on the head, and she covered her forehead without saying a word.

"You little rascal," his fellow disciple glanced at Wei Xi, "came here to try and trick me into talking?"

"Why are you being so secretive within your own sect? If you want to know something, just ask. Which of your senior brothers and sisters would lie to you?"

After thinking for a moment, his fellow disciple added, "That doesn't count. This kid is unreliable; he might just be making something up to fool you!"

Wei Xi immediately became honest and apologized to his fellow disciple. Then he asked, "...But our Bailu Pavilion has so many ancient books, why haven't we seen many fellow Daoists come to borrow them?"

“This is very strange,” the fellow disciple said, sitting upright in his chair. “Do you know how many books Bailu Pavilion has?”

Wei Xi, who had searched Bailu Pavilion a while ago, replied without hesitation: "18,573 books, plus 3,612 boxes of notes, travelogues, and articles from past generations of fellow disciples."

"You...you're quite concerned..." The fellow disciple was somewhat shocked, then said, "But the numbers are wrong."

“That’s definitely not right,” Wei Xi said frankly. “Because I just said it casually. The formations inside keep changing, so it’s impossible to count them.”

Fellow disciples: ...

“That’s not what I meant,” the fellow disciple shook his head. “The arrays and magical artifacts set up in Bailu Pavilion are very complex. It’s safe to say that the books exposed to the outside every day are probably only a portion of the information kept by Bailu Pavilion.”

"Logically speaking, the number of books in Bailu Pavilion should be fixed, but in reality, this number has been increasing."

Wei Xi's brow relaxed, and seeing this, his fellow disciple asked, "You already knew?"

“Lending books isn’t without conditions,” Wei Xi said firmly. “Is it an exchange? Only in this way can Bailu Pavilion’s collection continue to grow?”

"That's roughly the idea," Wei Xi's fellow disciple said approvingly, "but it's more subtle. Let me put it this way: anyone who enters Bailu Pavilion, unless they are a disciple of the Qingcheng Sect, will leave behind a book."

“But not all fellow Daoists have the opportunity to enter,” the fellow disciple added. “You have to pass through the array numbered Jia 7 at the entrance. The judgment of this thing is very strange, even absurd. In the last thirty or forty years, not many fellow Daoists have come here.”

"Thinking about it now, our sect's behavior..." The fellow disciple shook his head regretfully, then suddenly became excited and said, "But I'm here! Once I break the formation here, I can expand the sect's business!"

Wei Xi: ?

"This is a vast blue ocean!" Fellow disciple Wu Chongjing exclaimed, "The secrets of our thousand-year-old sect are unlocked for you! Wander through the sea of ​​secret manuals and purchase all your cultivation techniques in one place! Then our Qingcheng Sect will have plenty of spirit stones! The revitalization of our sect will be just around the corner!"

Wei Xi: ...As expected, it's still the familiar Qingcheng Sect...

Wei Xi didn't think his fellow disciple could succeed in starting a business, mainly because his abilities wouldn't allow it.

However, out of camaraderie among fellow disciples, Wei Xi cautioned, "...Isn't this a bit inappropriate? Isn't this undermining the other sects? Putting aside everything else, can our sect leader withstand a single sword strike from Sect Leader Gao?"

The fellow disciple argued righteously, "Then let's sell the Ten Thousand Swords Sect's secret manuals to the Huai Xin Sect! Let's retaliate severely! Besides, these books are just sitting here anyway; knowledge only has value when it circulates!"

Wei Xi knew, however, that these books were not just sitting there unused.

"No wonder," Wei Xi thought to himself with admiration, "the death of a person can ensure the growth of the Golden House! This is its granary!"