Sage Monarch

Thus, Yang Qi and Hu Latu stepped into the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

The place had a total of three levels, with the second containing books and records penned by Godmyth patriarchs. Such works had been labored over so intensively that they were essentially magical treasures! Some of the books had gained spirits, making them book-demons who could absorb the quintessence energy of people who read them and use it for their cultivation purposes.

The second floor was so much larger than the first floor that it was hard to compare, and its energy was vastly grander.

Upon looking around, Yang Qi noticed some enormous books that were larger than planetary systems hanging within the depths of space, kingdoms of their own that gave birth to hosts of minor book-demons.

This second floor of the Scripture Pavilion was like its own universe of books. Shockingly, some of them had divine abilities that were no weaker than those of the children of Brahma.

Obviously, some of the books were intelligent and could communicate with each other. When children of Brahma came to this location to peruse them, they would often have to subjugate the books first, or make deals to convince them to share their contents.

WHIZZZ!

As Yang Qi began walking through the second floor, he could sense numerous streams of will conversing with each other.

"These children of Brahma are strong!"

"Brahma Erudite is considered to be in the top hundred children of Brahma. He's incredibly strong, with five lineaments on his dao fruit, and just on the verge of a sixth. And he has three godly-class energy arts."

"Ah, what a pity that Brahma Erudite hasn't awoken the Heaven Moving One power within him, otherwise it would have been an amazing fight. The Scripture Pavilion is such a boring place! I wish we had top experts coming here to duel all the time."

"Well, these two new children of Brahma want to read our contents. How should we deal with them?"

"It depends on how strong they are. Regardless, they have to pay the price of quintessence-blood and vital energy. Those are the rules. If they don't pay, they don't get access."

Of course, this interchange was going on between the most powerful of the books, the book-demons and book-immortals.

"Exactly. We want to break through and become patriarchs on the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion. Most of the books up there were left behind by the legion of gods, although some were written by Godmyth patriarchs. If we can get enough quintessence-blood from the children of Brahma, we would have a chance to move up."

As Yang Qi scanned the area with his own divine will, he noticed some particularly powerful energy fluctuations. They were coming from a marvelous book that looked like a huge ship, which was barely being held in restraint by the bookshelf. Apparently, it had been authored by a Godmyth patriarch.

Looking at it closer, Yang Qi saw that the title of the book was Secrets of the Mechanical Civilization!

'Nice! I think I'll take a look at that one!' Thanks to the memories of the young man in yellow, Yang Qi was much more familiar with how mechanical civilizations worked. But if he could learn some of their secrets, then maybe he could start making his own mechas and battleships.

Without any hesitation, he reached out toward the book.

However, before he could reach it, a shield of light flared and blocked his way. At the same time, an ancient voice spoke to him: "Young child of Brahma, if you wish to gain access to my knowledge, you must first pay the price. I want precious materials of heaven and earth, as well as quintessence-blood and power for a breakthrough. Here is a list of what I want. Leave, find it, and when you return you can learn all about the ancient mechanical civilization. I was written by a Godmyth patriarch who acquired some of the ancient records of that civilization, so there's no way I'll give up what I know for free."

Yang Qi snorted coldly. "So, you old fogies lock up your knowledge and sell it for a price? Despicable. I'm a child of Brahma and this is the Scripture Pavilion. Don't think that because you're strong, you can blackmail me. Get over here!"

RUMBLE!

Light flared, and the enormous ship trembled. Warding magics crumbled and Yang Qi laid hands on the book, then slowly dragged it out into the open.

In the blink of an eye, knowledge flooded into his mind.

He saw the creations of the ancient mechanical civilization, the building materials, the theories, and countless other facets of their culture. The book was strong, but compared to Yang Qi it was weaker than a child.

"Impossible! How could you be so strong? It's like I'm powerless!" The book-immortal transformed into what looked like a burly man, yet no amount of struggle could free him from Yang Qi's grip.

Realizing that struggle was useless, he called out, "Hey everyone, don't let this guy break our rules! Draw on your power to kick him out!"

"That's right! We can't let him break our rules. If you want to benefit from our knowledge, you have to make it worth it for us. That's the rule of the Scripture Pavilion. Anyone who defies that rule makes an enemy of all book-immortals!"

"Kick him out!"

"Attack!"

RUMBLE!

Waves of energy shot toward Yang Qi, pulsing with the power of the Godmyth level.

Yet Yang Qi didn't even move. He summoned the God Legion Paradise and the entire second floor turned into a crystalline, holy kingdom. The attacking streams of energy collapsed, then his own divine will swept through the bookshelves, seeking out whatever information he pleased.

"What's going on!? How did he neutralize our attacks?"

"Impossible! How could he be so strong? Even the strongest of all the children of Brahma, the supreme Brahma Echo-Silk, isn't this strong!"

"Who is this guy? He must be some new expert. How did he get so powerful?"

"Crap, none of my attacks are strong enough to do anything to him! He's taking away all of my knowledge!"

Chuckling coldly, Yang Qi said, "I'm not just going to take your knowledge, you book-immortals. I'm going to extrapolate the fates of the people who wrote you." He suddenly radiated an immensely powerful aura as the Wheel of Fate appeared above him, spinning endlessly. Within moments, figures appeared on the wheel, who were none other than the experts that had written the various books on the second floor.

The author of Secrets of the Mechanical Civilization appeared, and as Yang Qi examined his fate he learned all sorts of scattered information.

One by one, he went through countless books, learning about the Godmyth patriarchs that had written them. As he benefited from the knowledge and experience of thousands of Godmyths, his psychic level increased and his sea of consciousness burned with psychic fire.

At a certain point, Hu Latu said, "Milord, look, up ahead. There's an ancient painting depicting the five phases. That must be the Cardinal Grand Brahma Five Phases Energy Arts. It's not a book-immortal, which means any of the children of Brahma can study it."

He looked over at the painting, which featured five glowing beams of light that seemed to contain all things, even worlds.

"Alright, the time has come to complete the five phases and succeed with eighty-one cycles of reincarnation!"

Within the five beams of light were countless magical symbols, which were a cultivation technique of the most profound and mysterious nature. Although ordinary people might not understand the text, Yang Qi had the God Legion Seal and the countless memories that came with it. In the blink of an eye, he clearly saw all of the secrets of the five phases energy arts.

Streams of true energy gathered behind him, connecting his nascent divinity to the image and imparting the details to him.

The God Legion Seal almost seemed to breathe, and with each inhalation it connected to the high-level universal plane that contained preheaven five phases vital energy.

Slowly but surely, five entire worlds appeared behind him, filled with the four tribulations of Success, Steadiness, Destruction, and the Void, rotating in cycles of eighty-one.

He had successfully cultivated the full technique!