Chapter 7

"On the day of the grand competition, it will be the time for us to see who is better!"

Ling Xiao threw out these words and turned to enter the library.

Even if he could speak like a silver-tongued devil, if he lost the grand competition, it would be meaningless.

So he didn't want to argue; instead, he wanted to focus on enhancing his strength. Defeating Ling Feng in the grand competition would be more glorious than winning an argument now.

"Hehe, Brother Ling Feng, that little beggar seems to look down on you."

Ling Yu said with a smile, her words tinged with a hint of provocation.

"Don't worry, on the day of the grand competition, I'll take care of him."

Ling Feng actually held Ling Xiao in very low regard.

In his mind, Ling Xiao was just an appetizer, good for a warm-up but not worthy of being his opponent.

In just half a month, could Ling Xiao really advance to the third level of the martial pulse?

Even if he did, there would be no fewer than sixty to seventy disciples at the third level of the martial pulse in the Elite Hall. Ling Feng could only rank tenth in the Elite Hall.

Not to mention, above the Elite Hall was the Genius Hall, where the disciples were even more exceptional.

Ling Feng's opponents were the top ten in the Elite Hall and the monsters in the Genius Hall. His goal was to enter the Genius Hall from the Elite Hall!

Not to compete with a third-rate disciple who couldn't even enter the Elite Hall.

"Hehe, perhaps it won't be Brother Ling Feng's turn. When the time comes, I'll make him beg for mercy on his knees."

Ling Yu laughed, and the two of them left the library amidst the envious and jealous gazes of the crowd.

...

Ling Xiao had already entered the library, but he was somewhat nervous.

After all, it was his first time.

On the first floor of the library, there was only one room, with no books.

This was where the library guards lived.

The guards were usually top-notch experts of the family, or elders, or the sons of the family head.

The guard on duty today was a middle-aged man around thirty-five.

"Ling Xiao? Hehe, you're quite good. No wonder you could injure my son; you must have broken through."

Indeed, the guard on duty today was Ling Chong's father, the ninth son of the old family head, known as Lord Ninth.

"Lord Ninth, I am here today to study martial arts!"

Ling Xiao knew that Lord Ninth was extremely powerful, absolutely above the fourth level of the martial pulse!

The martial soul of the mountains and rivers showed that Lord Ninth, though without detailed data, was marked in red, indicating a huge gap in strength, with no chance of victory.

However, he remained composed, knowing that as long as he was still a member of the Ling family, Lord Ninth wouldn't dare to kill him easily.

But if he were expelled, he would surely die a miserable death.

So he had to work hard to stay, which was the only way to survive.

"Good boy, you have some guts."

Lord Ninth sneered, "I won't hide it; I won't let you off for injuring my son. Since you're still a member of the Ling family, I can't act, but you'd better not be expelled, or you'll surely die."

This was an outright threat.

"I understand." Ling Xiao nodded, knowing the implications.

"Good to know. You're an external disciple who passed the examination, so your treatment is naturally not as good as that of the family members. I need to tell you this in advance to prevent you from breaking the rules."

Lord Ninth found that he couldn't intimidate Ling Xiao, and a playful smile appeared on his face as he continued.

Ling Xiao felt a surge of anger; there were no such rules in the family, and Lord Ninth was clearly seeking personal revenge!

But he had no choice; with insufficient strength, he could only endure. Bargaining would be meaningless and only invite ridicule.

"Please speak, Lord Ninth." He said calmly.

Lord Ninth chuckled, "As an external disciple, you can only enter the second floor and choose up to two martial arts, either intermediate or low level. Whether you can choose an intermediate martial art depends on your discernment and fortune. You have one hour to choose, and you can keep the chosen martial arts for twenty days. Do you understand?"

Ling Xiao was seething with anger.

He had already heard that any Ling family member, whether external or internal, could choose at least four martial arts, with three hours to choose and four months to practice outside.

The difference was too great.

But despite his anger, he had no choice. He gritted his teeth and nodded, "I understand."

He knew that the injustice he suffered today would be repaid tenfold or even a hundredfold in the future!

"Good to know, hurry up and go."

A hint of disdain appeared at the corner of Lord Ninth's mouth. Even dogs have their masters; you dared to injure my son, and though I can't kill you because of the family rules, I can force you out of the Ling family and deal with you as I please.

Ling Xiao took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and stepped onto the stairs, heading to the second floor.

The library was the repository of martial arts classics of the Ling family, a place of great importance!

It represented the accumulation and glory of a large family!

Ordinary small families didn't have such places; this was the difference. The larger and more profound a family, the more martial arts classics they possessed, and the higher the quality.

The library of the Ling family was divided into four floors.

The first floor was where the guards lived.

The second floor housed basic, low-level, and intermediate martial arts. Low-level martial arts were the majority, and there were also many basic martial arts. It was said that there were only about twenty intermediate martial arts, making the chances of selecting one very low.

The third floor had a large number of intermediate martial arts, a certain number of high-level martial arts, and a few top-level martial arts.

To enter the third floor, one had to be at least a fourth-level martial pulse practitioner.

The fourth floor was said to be mostly top-level martial arts, along with some confidential documents of the Ling family and a few martial arts classics that had transcended the secular world.

Of course, these were just rumors among the disciples, and it was hard to say if they were true.

Naturally, rules were made by people. If you were a family member with a powerful background or exceptional talent, many rules could be bent for you.

This was why Ling Chong could learn high-level martial arts, while Ling Xiao could only learn basic ones.

For Ling Xiao, this opportunity was truly rare, and he had to choose carefully, aiming to select intermediate martial arts.

When he entered the second floor, he found that someone was already there.

However, no one even glanced at him. Although these people had three hours to choose, selecting intermediate martial arts from thousands of books was not an easy task.

No one wanted to waste time.

Ling Xiao, of course, didn't want to either, as his time was even more precious, only one hour.

So he just paused for a moment and then focused his gaze on the bookshelves.

As one of the four major families of Tianfeng City, the Ling family indeed had a deep foundation. It would take at least three to four hours to go through these thousands of martial arts books.

Lord Ninth was clearly trying to make things difficult for him!

"《Kaibizhang》, 《Liefuquan》, 《Tianfeng Thirteen Swords》, 《Jifeng Zhuye Step》, 《Chiyang Gong》..."

Starting from the first book on the first shelf, Ling Xiao's eyes were dazzled. It was hard to determine the level of these martial arts just by looking at a few pages.

It was too difficult!

Was there some trick to it?