As these thoughts flitted across his mind, he had arrived in front of the Hidden Book Pavilion. At the same time, his mood gradually settled down.
There were numerous magic formations in this place, and their complexities far surpa.s.sed Li Xuan’s imagination.
In his past world, Li Xuan had previously researched the *Yin Yang five elements eight divinatory trigrams of the *Book of Changes, so he had some methods in the aspect of divination. But in truth, those things really did not have any significant effects. One could faintly read a person or mislead someone, but it was still too excessive to apply these teachings to the magic formations and their degree of complexity.
(*TL: as mentioned in Ch. 37. Book of Changes, aka I Ching = ancient Chinese divination text)
According to the explanation of the universal eight divinatory diagrams, it was in fact possible to divide elemental energy into the Yin Yang five elements. The lightning element was clearly part of the metal system, and the wind element was probably linked to the water system.
As Li Xuan speculated, he spread his spiritual perception and completely enveloped the complex magic formations to observe and sense them. By accompanying these observations with his knowledge of the Yin Yang five elements universal eight divinatory diagrams, he immediately and unexpectedly discovered that it wasn’t too difficult to understand these things.
For now, Li Xuan continued sensing it, then promptly retracted his sensing gaze.
In the following moments, he instantly activated ‘unification of nature and man’, that state of comprehension. As an emperor-level soul, Li Xuan was remarkably proficient with this method of entry. Particularly after he had gotten rid of that disruptive soul, he became even more confident and grounded under his state of unification.
Once he entered this state, Li Xuan felt that the magic formations beside him had suddenly simplified by a large extent. This sort of feeling was the sudden feeling of a near-sighted man putting on a pair of the most fitting gla.s.ses and being able to see the arrangements of things clearly, the veins and their thicknesses.
Although Li Xuan had faith that he could rely on himself to understand the reasoning behind these magic formations, he did not hastily accept it at face value and take action. After all, he realized and deeply understood in his past world that if one recklessly took action before understanding the true reason, the consequences he would have to suffer would be toilsome calamity in exchange for the smallest harvest. Only by understanding the fundamental nature of something and then making his own inferences to deduce even deeper concepts could he truly branch out well. By doing so, the difficulty of magic formations would no longer be a problem.
Li Xuan took out the Hidden Book Pavilion entry token. It had a s.h.i.+elding light that could guarantee one’s entry into the first three levels of the Hidden Book Pavilion without disturbing the magic formations.
However, for the fourth floor, one needed to undergo the inspections of the Hidden Book Pavilion elders and grand elders. Li Xuan understood this point.
“En, you’ve come. Properly study when you read the books. Although you have no restrictions in this place, all disciples besides you have immense restrictions. You must not take things for granted!” The grand elder was an old lady, and with just a sizing look, one could tell that she was around fifty years old. However, she still appeared graceful and elegant.
Of course, Li Xuan believed without a doubt that her true age surpa.s.sed fifty.
He was obviously still in the state of unification. However, even if he wasn’t in this state, he still would not place much importance on an expert around the 5th Xing 1st layer.
He only calmly swept a glance over the old lady with a gaze that was not profound, severe, ruthless, nor disdainful. It was only full of tranquility and indifference.
However, when this gaze landed in the old lady’s eyes, her heart couldn’t help but feel a chill.
What kind of gaze was this that it seemed as though it stood on the highest peak, looking down on the ants. It seemed incomparably piercing as it directly looked through her eyes and her mind, all the way into her soul.
In an instant, the old lady collected herself with a cold s.h.i.+ver. Thinking about that innate meditative talent that nearly reached the 8th Fa king realm, she suddenly understood.
Before this youth, she truly did not have any sort of status. This was because his position was not only accounted to him by means of strength, but more so by his status within the great clan.
If both sides were given the same amount of time, the old lady couldn’t help but think that under equal circ.u.mstances, the progress that Li Xuan’s innate talent would bring him would definitely deal her a withering blow. It was just like how there was only a tiny gap between her and Huyan Weike’s innate talent, but her status before him was equivalent to a disciple.
This, was disparity!
What then, if this youth’s innate talent exceeded her by leaps and bounds in realms? Would not an imposing air simply evoke discomfort with this youth in the future?
Thinking like this, the old lady suddenly understood. She immediately gave a slight nod and adjusted her att.i.tude.
“Li Xuan, en. On this floor, the books are very detailed about the fundamentals. On the second, third, and fourth level, they contain the more advanced levels. There are not too many books, but they are the inheritance of the clan’s several millennia of history…”
The old woman’s att.i.tude turned much more cordial and friendly. At the same time, her gaze towards Li Xuan undoubtedly filled with a more reverent gaze.
The more glorious and powerful the clan was, naturally, the more benefits she would receive.
“Many thanks, Elder.” Li Xuan slightly cupped his fists, then pa.s.sed through the openings in the magic formation that the old lady had opened towards the Hidden Book Pavilion.
After entering, Li Xuan simply ignored the magic and spiritual perceptions of other people and began looking around the Hidden Book Pavilion.
All the books of this world used the bone of a certain type of beast as a cover. The pages, on the other hand, were made of some higher quality magical beast skins that had gone through special compression processes to turn into sheets. The degree of their toughness was sufficient to preserve the books for at least ten thousand years.
Li Xuan silently swept his eyes over the books in the first level of the Hidden Book Pavilion. Unexpectedly, he was not too surprised by the environment. Compared to the enormous and complicated book systems of the modern era, the environment here was much simpler. Besides magic, there were only subjects concerning magic battle skills and theories on magic research. According to continental legends, biographical books were available, but they were probably only available in inst.i.tutions. Most clans would only keep unconventional items rather than having a comprehensive collection that could cater to many people.
But Li Xuan didn’t think much about it. Instead, he took up books that focused on the foundations of magic to look at.
Under his state of unification, Li Xuan’s memorization capabilities had clearly become even more terrifying. Furthermore, under the support of his spirit force, his ability to memorize was even more monstrous and abnormal. As such, the speed at which he read also drastically shot up. Even after looking over it just once, although it couldn’t be said that he knew it by heart, completely lodging the information into his brain wasn’t any problem.
Like this, Li Xuan stayed in this Hidden Book Pavilion for the time being. Additionally, because he could divide his mind, part of his mind focused on keeping the circulation of his inner jin at the most optimum state, while the other was used to concentrate on reading.
Over this time period, with the accompaniment of his state of unification, Li Xuan could be said to have made ferocious progress.