Time Flies (3)

Within the forbidden area of the library, dust blankets most corners available. The only available light towards the room would be the one that is peeking through the gaps of the door that separates it from a set of stairs. It isn't considered a secret room, but it has been neglected for many many years.

BANG

Not too far away, on the other side of the stairs the bookshelf completely collapsed. Shen Zhengqiu was given a large fright from this occurrence. She was only interested in some books because recently she hasn't had much to do at all, as she has had no progress within the [Heavenly Lotus Manual] within the past 2 years. She is 12 years old and at the peak of a Gold Martial Artist but in order to progress to Master, rather than finding any random catalyst she has to follow a specific set of instructions. A medicinal bath is required for her but the materials needed are things she had never heard of before. She is required to use these following materials: Grade 8 Spiritual Fruit, Master level Beast Core, Dark Spiritual Lotus and other accompanying materials that are much more basic, like Spirit Grass and Leaves. The things is, nevermind her even getting these materials she had no clue what they even are in the first place.

From this bookshelf, she had read through various books which gave her mostly useless information. Only one book helped her answer these questions and was named [1000 Alchemical Ingredients]. Even though it is a book meant for a budding Alchemist, it was still truly helpful as it has helped her figure out what everything is.

Spiritual Fruits all come in different grades and the higher the grade the more rare each one is. It is number from 1 to 9 but it does not stop there as after a Grade 9 Fruit there are Holy Grade and Ancient Grade. However, the last time a Holy Grade Spiritual Fruit was seen was recorded several millennia ago, nevermind an Ancient Grade Spiritual Fruit. Grade 9 Fruits are found usually once every hundred years and they can be grown but this requires time that Mortal Realm cultivators cannot spare and conditions that are almost impossible.

Beast Cores are somewhat similar to human cultivators. The level of the beast core depends on the level of the Spiritual Beast that is killed, however they only start to get cores when they reach Master level. For the levels before that, the blood of specific level beasts is often used to make Blood Crystals that are separated into Small, Iron and Gold. You can make blood crystals at Master and Grandmaster level as well but they are not very popular.

The ingredients that are listed are explained and Shen Zhengqiu now knows that she will have to rely on fate to even get a single ingredient. Especially the Dark Spiritual Lotus as this is a Grade 9 Spiritual Lotus and is specific and cannot be substituted with anything else. But just after putting the book back into the bookshelf, the bookshelf started to rattle and then it just spat all the books out. Her current situation is trying to break out from under this small mountain of books.

-

Not long after struggling with the books, Shen Zhengqiu emerged from under them. Her robe is virtually different from its original snow-white appearance and instead it is covered in specks of dust that has painted it into the colour of a beggars attire. She was about to return to her room in a fit of cleanliness but noticed a dim light shining from behind the bookcase, or rather through a small hole that has been made after a long time of deterioration. This piqued her curiosity as she did not remember Grandmaster Zhen ever mentioning about this place. There were plenty of places she could go to and places she couldn't go to within this library but not once was this place mentioned. Is this perhaps a room that even Grandmaster Zhen hasn't searched through?

Her eyes sparkled at the thought of this as before Grandmaster Zhen used this as his cultivation home, it seemed to be an Ancient Cultivator's or maybe Sect's home.

She looked around for a good 10 minutes trying to find a way to enter this area behind the bookshelf but she found absolutely nothing. Beginning to grow frustrated Shen Zhengqiu thought of a really smart idea, she started to concentrate and used the first 6 moves of the [12 Shattering Petals]. This is a technique that she comprehended after the [Foundational Lotus Arts] and it offers her some offense and defense as she noticed very early on that the [Foundational Lotus Arts] didn't offer anything focused on attack or defence. This art focuses on accuracy and quick movements, and wherever hit there would be a sharp and powerful burst of power. This technique is at the Gold Level.

Smash

The bookshelf collapsed completely bringing up a cloud of dust and revealing a much brighter light from behind it. She waited till the dust settled down and then noticed a steep staircase leading down, and could hear the sounds of dripping water echoing softly. On the walls there was a glowing material which is known as Sunstone and it is quite rare, especially high quality Sunstone which this seems to be.

Arriving at the end of the staircase there was a door that looks like it has seen better days, the only reason why it has stayed shut throughout the years is because it has been stuck like that. So when opening the door, Shen Zhengqiu had to step backwards really quickly avoiding the door that fell. Peeking through the hole where the door used to be was a very simple room with a skeleton in it.

In some sort of Ancient robe there was a skeleton who is leaning against the chair, head on the table where it's bones glisten a sharp green. In front of it lay a few books with them stacked against each other, the top book has been destroyed to an unreadable state whereas the ones below are just about okay. Behind the skeleton , table and chair was a shelf where a pot could be seen. In this pot was some sort of flower that radiated a purple brilliance and was only surviving through the frequent leaking of water into the soil it is rooted into.

Stepping into the room, Shen Zhengqiu feels an itch deep in her bones. A good itch, one that tells her she is definitely getting something interesting today!