Chapter 74

"Miss Ning, I have some questions about divine literature that I would like to discuss with you in private. I wonder if I have the honor to do so." The speaker was a young divine literature scholar from the Lingxiao Holy Land, also Chu Lingfeng's nephew: Chu Qiuyang.

Although he is referred to as a member of the younger generation, Chu Qiuyang is actually in his forties. By secular standards, his age is enough to be Ning Jie's father. However, for people in the Holy Land, as long as their cultivation potential is not too poor, they can mostly reach the Heavenly Wheel realm, so an age under fifty can still be considered "young."

The Chu family of the Lingxiao Holy Land has excellent genes. Both Chu Lingfeng and Chu Qiuyang are handsome and outstanding, and their talents in divine literature and cultivation are also exceptional.

However, this seemingly perfect and excellent man has remained single and unmarried. He has devoted his life to the study of ancient divine literature, feeling that all women in the world are vulgar and unworthy of being his lifelong companion.

At this divine literature seminar among the five Holy Lands, he was deeply impressed by Ning Jie's extraordinary beauty and profound knowledge of divine literature, experiencing a feeling of infatuation for the first time.

If he could spend his life with her, discussing knowledge every day, it would be a truly happy thing!

With this thought, Chu Qiuyang could not resist using the pretext of "discussing knowledge" to start a conversation with Ning Jie.

"Unfortunately, I also have some questions and would like to seek guidance from Miss Ning. Please do not refuse." A soft voice came from beside him, belonging to the young divine literature prodigy of the Seven Stars Pavilion, "Little Zhuge" Zhu Cong.

Although the Divine Calculator somewhat looked down on the Wen Dao Academy, he did not stop Zhu Cong from showing his affection for Ning Jie. This young woman in her early twenties has shown an astonishing mastery of ancient divine literature. If she could be married into the Seven Stars Pavilion, it would be a great help to the future of the Holy Land.

"It was I who spoke first, Brother Zhu. Don't you understand the principle of first come, first served?" Chu Qiuyang, a proud man, has always found Zhu Cong to be devious and has no good feelings towards him. How could he tolerate such an interruption?

"Brother Chu, you are mistaken. Miss Ning has not yet agreed to your request, so there is no question of who came first." Zhu Cong, who is exactly fifty, is a bit older than Chu Qiuyang, just barely qualifying as "young." Relying on his age advantage, his mastery of divine literature is slightly better than Chu Qiuyang's, which is why he was chosen to represent the younger generation in the exchange, showing the Seven Stars Pavilion's shrewdness.

"Brother Zhu, you are already over fifty and still want to learn from a woman in her twenties. Your dedication to learning is truly admirable." Chu Qiuyang mocked him, deliberately exaggerating Zhu Cong's age to Ning Jie.

"As the saying goes, the knowledgeable are the teachers. There is no age limit for learning. Brother Chu, you are falling behind." Zhu Cong, understanding his intentions, retorted, "Besides, we are not that many years apart."

Seeing these two outstanding young men of the Holy Land openly competing for attention, the young scholar from Sidian Cliff could not help but be tempted, but was deterred by a glare from Elder Yan: "Do you know your own worth?"

Elder Yan and Master Ning have a good relationship. He knows that the young man he brought has several wives at home and would not want him to harm his friend's granddaughter.

"Today's gathering is to discuss ancient divine literature. Why don't you both share your doubts and discuss them together?" Ning Jie, focused on learning, is rather slow in matters of love, "Pooling our ideas is better than working in isolation."

"Indeed." Zhu Cong, realizing he cannot have a private conversation with the goddess for now, quickly changed his strategy.

If he can suppress Chu Qiuyang in divine literature in front of Miss Ning, it would be a good approach.

Chu Qiuyang quickly understood Zhu Cong's intentions. Being a proud man, he would not back down in front of his beloved: "It is also an honor for me to learn from Brother Zhu. Please!"

"Elder Yan." The young man behind Elder Yan looked pitifully at his elder.

"Go ahead, but put away those ulterior motives." Elder Yan sighed, "Learn from the young lady properly."

A moment later, the young talents from Sidian Cliff and Bingchi Island also joined the discussion with Ning Jie and Chu Qiuyang. The young scholars from the five Holy Lands gathered together, chatting enthusiastically.

"Old Ning, does your granddaughter have a boyfriend?" Elder Yan, looking at the enthusiastic young people in the distance, asked casually.

"Not yet." Master Ning, hearing this, felt a bit bitter and looked worried, "This child is only interested in ancient divine literature. None of the matchmakers' candidates have met her approval. I don't know when I will be able to hold my great-grandchild."

"No wonder. With such beauty and knowledge, how could ordinary men match her?" Elder Yan nodded in agreement.

By "ordinary men," he meant the young talents from the Holy Lands.

"However, on the way here, she did get along well with a young man." Master Ning stroked his beard, "The one I told you about, the young man who can understand animal language."

"Oh?" Elder Yan, though fierce in appearance, is quite gossipy, "Outside the Holy Lands, someone could catch the eye of Little Master Ning?"

Ning Jie's title "Little Master" has already spread throughout the Holy Lands due to her remarkable mastery of divine literature.

"Indeed, this young man not only understands animal language but is also skilled in cooking and proficient in ancient divine literature." Master Ning did not hide his admiration for Zhong Wen, "He is only sixteen or seventeen years old but already has Earth Wheel cultivation. I saw him easily defeat three young talents from the Great Qian Heroes List. He is truly outstanding."

"Is the Great Qian Heroes List similar to our country's Tianyu List?"

"Pretty much."

"An outstanding young man in the secular world?" Elder Yan was surprised, "Even in the Holy Lands, he would be considered a genius."

"Indeed, he is exceptionally outstanding." Master Ning's face showed a hint of worry, "However..."

"What? Does this young man not have feelings for your granddaughter?" Elder Yan was curious, "With Little Master Ning's beauty, is he blind?"

"I don't know if he has feelings." Master Ning expressed his concerns, "But he is surrounded by beautiful women. If Xiao Jie marries him, she might suffer in the future."

"You are being too greedy. If this young man is as outstanding as you say, how could he marry only one? Little Master Ning must do this and that to monopolize his affection..."

The two Holy Land elders, world-renowned experts at the Spirit Venerable level, discussing their grandchildren, were no different from old grandfathers and grandmothers in the secular world.

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Exploring the "Leiyin Valley" was a completely different experience from the "Yaowang Valley," almost monotonous and boring.

The entire valley had only one tower, though it was tall and had many floors. The structure of each floor was extremely similar, with rooms arranged on both sides of each floor, most doors unmarked, making it impossible to distinguish their contents from the outside. With the vast number of rooms across dozens of floors, Shen Dachui and his companions had to split up to explore.

Opening door after door, Zhong Wen found the rooms to be uniformly arranged. In the center of each room was a high-quality forging platform, sturdy and complex, made of a black material similar to the tower walls, far more professional than the crude one he had in his room.

Could this Leiyin Valley be a school dedicated to blacksmithing?

Zhong Wen searched several floors but found nothing except numerous forging platforms and a few idle pieces of ore. He felt somewhat discouraged.

After aimlessly wandering for the entire morning, he finally reached the second-to-last floor of the tower, where the interior decoration changed significantly.

On each side, there was only one large room, with huge plaques hanging above the doors.

The plaque on the eastern room read "Spirit Crystal Repository" in golden letters.

The plaque on the western room read "Material Repository."

Zhong Wen's eyes lit up, knowing he had found the core of Leiyin Valley.

He gently pushed open the door to the "Spirit Crystal Repository," and a dense mist of spiritual energy greeted him. The air was so fresh that it made him momentarily dizzy.

As expected, in a room of about 200 square meters, spirit crystals were piled up, occupying more than two-thirds of the space. Although not as rich as the Yaowang Valley, it still demonstrated the impressive strength of Leiyin Valley.

However, Zhong Wen did not see any spirit crystal cores.

Doctors are indeed much richer than blacksmiths.

Zhong Wen deeply understood this timeless truth.

Gently closing the door to the spirit crystal repository, he moved to the opposite material repository.

Opening the door, he saw rows of shelves neatly arranged in a room of similar size to the spirit crystal repository. The shelves were filled with various ores and forging materials in black, white, red, and golden colors, emitting different levels of light. The light reflected off the black tower walls and mixed with the sunlight from the skylights, creating a rainbow of colors in the air, a beautiful and enchanting scene.

Zhong Wen, with limited knowledge of forging, recognized only a few of the materials. Without a smartphone in this world, he could not take pictures to share on social media, so he sighed and briefly browsed the room before quietly leaving and closing the door.

Since they had an agreement, all discoveries in the ruins belonged to Shen Dachui. Zhong Wen suppressed his greed and headed for the top floor of the tower.

Climbing the stairs and turning around, he saw the only room on the entire floor.

The two large characters above the door made him excited, and he clenched his right fist and swung it in the air.

Library!