Chapter 596: Book Pavilion
Although it couldn't be said that the Dragon Phoenix Academy's Book Pavilion contained all the books in the world, it definitely had a massive collection of books that ordinary organizations couldn't compare with.
Xiang Shaoyun was a well-read person, but the Ziling Sect was a relatively young organization despite being tier-7. Thus, the collection of books it had was slightly lacking compared to older tier-7 organizations even though they had a better collection than most tier-5 and tier-6 organizations.
It had been a few years since Xiang Shaoyun had gotten the chance to properly read some books. Thus, he wanted to make use of the free time he had to stuff his brain with more knowledge.
As he grew in strength, he found that his understanding of the dominion was still incredibly shallow. He believed that the Dragon Phoenix Academy would be able to make up for his lack of knowledge.
When he arrived at the Book Pavilion, he found an old man seated on a lounge chair with his eyes shut in rest, his hand slowly waving a feather-fan, looking incomparably relaxed and carefree.
Xiang Shaoyun saluted the old man as he said, "Lord, this kid wishes to enter the Book Pavilion and read some books."
Without bothering to open his eyes, the old man said, "Read the instructions beside me."
Only then did Xiang Shaoyun see the notice hanging on the side of the door. He started reading the contents of the notice. A look of astonishment covered his face as he cursed inwardly, This is too much of a scam!
The contents of the notice were quite simple. For two hours of reading on the first floor, 500 contribution points were required. For an entire day of reading, 6,000 contribution points were required. The second floor was even more expensive. Two hours required 2,000 contribution points. On the third floor, two hours required 10,000 contribution points. On the fourth floor, two hours required 100,000 contribution points. As for the fifth floor, the price tags listed were in the millions...
If the price listed was for an entire day of reading, it would be much more acceptable. It was excessively expensive for only two hours of reading. One ought to know that just to finish reading a simple book or a battle technique, a long period of time was required even for geniuses.
Since the Dragon Phoenix Academy set their prices in accordance to reading time, things could get very expensive. After winning five battles in a row, Xiang Shaoyun's contribution points had increased from 10,000 to 320,000. That was quite a large sum of wealth for many disciples. However, that was only enough for six hours of reading on the fourth floor.
Xiang Shaoyun said to the old man, "Lord, I understand. This is my jade plate. Please take it."
He then placed his jade plate on the table before entering the Book Pavilion. The moment he entered, he sensed that he had arrived within a unique space completely isolated from the outside world.
He was dazed when he saw the rows upon rows of neatly arranged books. There were probably at least 100,000 books. The Dragon Phoenix Academy indeed lived up to the name of being one of the Four Great Ancient Academies. No ordinary organization would have such an abundant collection.
Xiang Shaoyun gulped as he quickly started browsing through the bookshelves. He found that each shelf was clearly labeled, such as historical records, general records, battle techniques, cultivation methods, and so on. Each shelf was its own category.
However, the battle techniques and cultivation methods weren't of a high tier. All of them were tier-5 books. For the academy's genius disciples, such battle techniques and cultivation methods didn't mean much. Their only value was to serve as a reference during cultivation.
After all, the different battle techniques were akin to different routes to the same destination. Those high-tier battle techniques were mostly a product of improving the low-tier battle techniques. That was why these low-tier battle techniques were even collected here.
Xiang Shaoyun understood that very well, but he really wasn't very interested in them. He cared more about the historical records, the general records, and the books containing information of the numerous races in existence. He calmed down, took one of the books, and started reading it with rapt attention.
It was unknown if Xiang Shaoyun simply did not care about the contents of the book in his hands or if he was trying to save time, but his reading speed was extremely fast. He looked like he was simply flipping through the pages in a rush instead of properly reading the book.
In truth, Xiang Shaoyun possessed a photographic memory. It was an ability he had since young. He suspected it was one of the talents that the Nether Soul Domain had granted him. Despite his rapid browsing, after a day, he was only able to memorize a tiny portion of the books available.
Even so, he still felt the price he had paid was worth it. That was because the collection was very well-rounded. Regardless of whether it was an event from ancient times or recent times, detailed records were available, allowing him to understand the things he never had a chance to know before. More importantly, he had also finally found the records concerning the Imperial Nether Clan.
About 500,000 years ago, a massive war erupted between the humans and the devils. During that war, the Imperial Nether Clan broke through humanity's defensive line, resulting in a portion of the Imperial Nether Clan members settling down on the surface world, snatching a piece of territory for themselves in the dominion.
However, after snatching the territory, the Imperial Nether Clan lived peacefully and didn't clash too much with the humans. Even though the humans tried to encircle and destroy them many times, the Imperial Nether Clan focused on defense and did not launch any intense counterattacks.
In fact, the repeated clashes taught the humans how strong the Imperial Nether Clan was, and they eventually lost their courage to keep attacking. Instead, they reached an agreement to coexist in peace.
In truth, the humans had a different plan in mind for the Imperial Nether Clan. They hoped to obtain the bloodline of the Imperial Nether Clan, stealing their unique talents. Unfortunately, the Imperial Nether Clan prohibited marriage with a different race. Thus, the humans failed at their scheme.
After learning all that, Xiang Shaoyun felt himself grow calmer. All along, he had been worried that others would discover his devil bloodline, but it seemed the grudge between the humans and the Imperial Nether Clan wasn't as bad as he had believed. Things would be much more flexible then.
However, he was still puzzled about his mother's identity. Was she a member of the surface Imperial Nether Clan or the Devil Domain's Imperial Nether Clan? His father was probably the only person that could answer the question.
Apart from that, Xiang Shaoyun also learned that the bloodlines of the Undying Devil Clan and the Imperial Nether Clan were among the strongest bloodlines in the world. The unique undying trait was one of the strongest and most mysterious bloodlines in existence.
During one of the many wars between the dominion and the Devil Domain, some Undying Devil Clan members appeared and slaughtered a massive number of human experts. If it wasn't for the fact that the humans also had their own super experts, the dominion would have been conquered by the devils long ago.
Of course, the so-called dominion and Devil Domain was merely a part of the world, not the entirety of the world. Beneath the vast starry sky, there were many other habitable places and numerous other races in existence.