Chương 97: Chapter 96: BLOOD AND PEACE

Jieyuan stared in barely disguised wonder at the towering marble jadebook cases spread out before him. Row after row of little jade cubes, stretching as far as his eyes could see. He stood at the entrance of the largest jadebook library in the Ardent Light Sect. The hall opened into a grand, massive chamber; a pair of stairways began opposite each other, on the left and right walls, circling upward to a higher floor Jieyuan had a clear view of, where even more jadebook cases stood in orderly fashion.

Tall, towering pillars supported the walls. Crimson and gold etching decorated the walls. Jieyuan wasn't alone in the library; other cultivators moved between the shelves, removing and replacing jadebooks, all of them dressed in the trim white-and-gold robes of core disciples and elders of the sect. But given the sheer size of the library, he might as well have been alone in it.

Most eye-catching of all was the massive golden cube that sat at the midway point between the entrance and the foremost of the jadebook cases. It was as tall as the average person and seemed to almost shine under the glowing golden lines that ran through the ceiling that served as lighting. Extending from this massive gold cube, spread out on the ground, was what looked like a massive network of golden veins.

They were unlike the light-lines on the ceiling; they were much thinner, finer, and there were far more of them. Some of these golden veins were glowing, but only a few dozen out of what were easily hundreds of thousands of lines. The veins reached further into the hall, toward the bookcases, but also sideways, toward the stairway. Some of the golden veins ended upon contact with jadebook cases; others crawled onto the marble furniture, coming to a stop directly underneath a specific jadebook.

Jieyuan returned his attention to the giant golden cube. That'd be the book-finder, then, as Feihuan had called it. Whether that was the artifact's actual name, he had no idea, but it seemed fitting enough. She was the one who'd given him the directions to the library, as well as a little golden token in the form of a slip she'd said was needed to get inside the library.

He hadn't actually had to present the token to anyone—there hadn't been anyone outside, and looking around Jieyuan couldn't see anyone who seemed to be in charge of the library, either—so he suspected there was some inscribed field that barred anyone without it from entry. He couldn't sense any inscribed fields right now, but that didn't mean there weren't any. Rather, he wouldn't be surprised if the library was packed full of them. But they'd be Yellowrealm ones, which he couldn't detect.

Jieyuan approached the book-finder. Some of the passing cultivators glanced his way, and some of the gazes lingered. Jieyuan wasn't too bothered, nor too surprised that the novelty of him hadn't worn off yet. It was only his third day in the Ardent Light Sect, after all. Ever since he'd learned of Feihuan's legendary status in the sect from Lushan, he'd known it'd be a good while before he stopped drawing attention wherever he went. Maybe it's a good thing Meiyao and Daojue opted not to come.

He'd invited both of them, but Meiyao had been too busy growing new Viridescence Ruin and Bastion seeds, whereas Daojue had just said he was occupied with something else. Actually said it. What that something else, Daojue hadn't told him. Jieyuan wasn't sure what was up with his friend. Daojue was more talkative than ever these days, but also, paradoxically, more distant. Stopping in front of the book-finder, Jieyuan reached forward and pressed his left palm against it.

Physical contact wasn't actually required here; Feihuan had said he only had to connect his chroma to it, and that could easily be done from a distance. But it was kind of like he didn't need to breathe anymore; some actions were simply too natural, too instinctive. Also, now that he'd gotten his arm back, he was admittedly taking every opportunity he could to use his regrown hand. He pulled a string of chroma from his soul and channeled it down his left arm, connecting it to the book-finder.

He couldn't sense its spirit; it was obviously a Yellowrealm artifact, like probably everything in this place, except maybe some of the jadebooks. But according to Feihuan the book-finder worked like a jadebook, so the difference in their realms shouldn't be an issue. Unlike with a jadebook, nothing appeared in his mind's eye when he chroma-bonded it. But that was expected. All right, Feihuan had said I just had to think of a topic… Immaculate Blood Cult? Now the text appeared.

Line after line of it, seemingly without end. Jieyuan quickly skimmed the top of the list: IMMACULATE BLOOD CULT ANECDOTES, IMMACULATE BLOOD CULT ANNALS, IMMACULATE BLOOD CULT ANALYSES … Were the topics sorted alphabetically? Jieyuan couldn't help but wonder how an artifact like the book-finder worked. It reminded him of the computers he'd used back on Earth. Now, what to pick?

He wasn't looking for anything specific on the Immaculate Blood Cult; he just wanted to understand it better, considering he'd definitely be getting caught up with that particular sect in the near future, given Meiyao's and Daojue's interest in it. He'd also be lying if he said he didn't have his own reasons for looking into the cult. As far as he could tell, the Immaculate Blood Cult was dedicated to chromal bloodlines.

They researched chromal bloodlines, more precisely, or at least that was the impression he'd gotten from Taishou. And Jieyuan would really like to get his hands on that research. Even if it hadn't been for Meiyao and Daojue, he would've still been planning on paying the cult a visit at some point.

Between the Immaculate Blood Cult's research on chromal bloodlines, his Blood affinity, and his tenth-order heavenly affinity—which would let him raise his Blood affinity even higher—he reckoned he could figure out a way to get himself a chromal bloodline. And there was very little he wanted more than a chromal bloodline. Analysis seems like a good starting point, he decided, before focusing on IMMACULATE BLOOD CULT ANALYSES. The book-finder pulsed, and the text disappeared from his mind's eye.

One of the golden veins on the floor lit up; there were too many of the veins to count, but the lit ones shone bright enough there was no missing them. Jieyuan stepped away from the book-finder and followed the glowing golden vein deeper into the first floor of the library. On the floor between the rows of jadebook cases were plush crimson meditation cushions, evenly spaced from each other.

Feihuan had mentioned you couldn't normally take them outside the library; he hadn't seen any other dedicated reading spaces, so the cushions seemed to be where you were supposed to read the jadebooks. He walked by case after case of jadebooks, curiously looking around, scanning the titles and authors listed on the little gold plaques under each little jade cube. He wondered what kind of library classification system they used here. He couldn't see any clear patterns.

Maeva had been rather opinionated about library classification systems. She'd been very much the kind of person who preferred the feel of the paper in her hands, and Jieyuan couldn't count the times she'd dragged him—dragged Amyas —to a library. The glowing golden vein ended at the bottom of a jadebook case like any other. Marble, with ten stacked rows of shelves, each with exactly twenty jadebooks.

He could sense the spirit of all the jadebooks in this specific case, and most of them were red, only a few being orange. Jieyuan scanned the golden plaques under the nearest jadebooks. One caught his attention: Analysis of the Local Hegemony of the Immaculate Blood Cult. The author was a Yaojianhui clansman. Local hegemony? Jieyuan narrowed his eyes at the little jade cube.

He recalled Feihuan mentioning, on their way to the banquet, how the Immaculate Blood Cult was the strongest of the four Yellowrealm sects, but she hadn't elaborated on the subject. This was just the kind of information he'd been looking for. Jieyuan grabbed the jadebook and walked over to one of the cushions in front of the marble case. He plopped down on top of it, closed his eyes, and connected his chroma to the jadebook and began reading.

The jadebook wasn't particularly long; line after line of text flashed past his mind's eye. A short while later, Jieyuan opened his eyes, a slightly troubled look on his face. Feihuan hadn't been exaggerating when she'd said the Immaculate Blood Cult was the strongest local power by far. The power of the local Yellowrealm sects was mostly determined by how many Yellowsouls they had. The numbers fluctuated over time, but they'd supposedly been rather stable for the last few thousand years now.

The jadebook had been written roughly three centuries ago; at the time, the Immaculate Blood Cult had supposedly held the overwhelming lead with nearly three hundred and fifteen Yellowsouls. The Incandescent Serenity Sect had come next, with just one hundred and thirty; then the Ardent Light Sect with one hundred and twelve; and finally the Obscuring Shadows Sect with a hundred and two. The author had made it clear that those numbers were admittedly only estimates, but very educated estimates.

The Immaculate Blood Cult has, on its own, almost as many as the other three sects together, Jieyuan thought grimly. The Cult was far more powerful than he'd originally assumed. He'd been thinking that he, Meiyao, and Daojue should wait until they were Yellowsouls before they got involved with it, but Yellowsoul didn't seem like enough anymore. They were better off waiting until they were at Greenrealm at least. Only, he didn't think Meiyao and Daojue would take that suggestion well.

To start with, he wasn't sure what exactly their plans for the Immaculate Blood Cult were. He wasn't sure if they even had plans, anyway, beyond Meiyao intending to search for her mother and Daojue for the captured Tianzijun that Taishou had mentioned. Yeah, that's a talk we really need to have. And soon. He stood back up and returned the jadebook to the case. He'd already found out plenty, but if he was going to try and convince Daojue and Meiyao to bide their time, he'd need as much ammunition as he could get.

And the clearer grasp he had on the Immaculate Blood Cult, the better, anyway. After a brief scan of the titles, he grabbed another jadebook— Theories, Conjectures, and Facts Pertaining to the Miwanxue Bloodline —and returned to his cushion. It didn't take him long after he started on this new jadebook before something caught his attention: The Immaculate Blood Cult's ability to grant others the Miwanxue Bloodline remains their greatest, most guarded secret.

Reading that sentence had the same effect as fire shooting up his veins. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Grant others the Miwanxue Bloodline. Those words echoed in his head. Thundered. Jieyuan had known for a while now it was possible to grant someone a bloodline.

One of the Violetsouls he'd met back in the Absolute Sword Trials had mentioned she'd been adopted into the Jiandaozhi Clan, and she'd had the steel-gray eyes that marked the Jiandaozhi Bloodline. The echo of Juechen he'd met in Blood's challenge had also said he'd created the Tianzijun Bloodline. But he had been under the impression that this kind of thing was the domain of the Violetsouls.

He'd known that the Immaculate Blood Cult was far more advanced bloodlines-wise than other Yellowrealm sects, but he hadn't imagined they were that far along. Jieyuan devoured the rest of the text. He quickly found that while nobody knew how the Immaculate Blood Cult granted others chromal bloodlines, the fact that it could be done—that it was done—was no secret despite the cult's best efforts. And that was because all the Yellowsouls of the Immaculate Blood Cult bore the Miwanxue Bloodline.

That included individuals who'd been recruited from the cult's vassal sects and who'd most definitely been born without the Miwanxue Bloodline. The Immaculate Blood Cult was very secretive, but it was impossible to keep information of that magnitude from everyone else for thousands of years. Supposedly, the Immaculate Blood Cult's outstanding disciples—anyone who made it to Yellowsoul, at least—would be adopted by the Miwanxue Clan and granted its bloodline.

The Immaculate Blood Cult also didn't have any noble clans, unlike just about every other sect Jieyuan knew of. There was only the Miwanxue, and everybody else. A specific passage caught his attention next: Albeit merely a conjecture, I strongly believe there is a strong correlation between the presence of a chromal bloodline and high heavenly affinity, which should explain their exaggerated number of Yellowsouls, despite boasting no more cultivators under them, in total, than the other three sects.

Jieyuan found that theory easy enough to accept. The Miwanxue aside, it'd also explain why so many Liangshibai were born with high heavenly affinity. He wasn't sure how exactly this relation between bloodline and heavenly affinity was supposed to work, but he felt there was some truth to this theory. It was also the only explanation the author could find for how many Yellowsouls the Immaculate Blood Cult had; it was either that or the Heavens favoring the Miwanxue a lot.

Reaching the end of the jadebook, Jieyuan took a deep breath as he put his thoughts together. Overall, he'd learned plenty. He had a much clearer idea of the bigger picture of the Immaculate Blood Cult and the Miwanxue Clan. There was something that he wasn't so sure about, though. Taishou had been rather careful back in the Gleaming Stone Sect. Avoided drawing attention. Even the Miwanxue who'd supposedly kidnapped Meiyao's mother had been sneaky about it.

If the Immaculate Blood Cult was so much more powerful than everyone else, why didn't its members throw their weight around? By all rights, they should've long since simply kidnapped all the Liangshibai, Linzushen, and even all the Tianzijun in Incandescent Serenity Island. Also, Feihuan had said it was the Immaculate Blood Cult that had found out about the Divine Star Trials and shared it with the other sects. They had kept half of all the trial slots to themselves, sure.

But they were powerful enough they could've claimed far more than that. Something wasn't adding up there. Maybe it's got something to do with the Coexistence Accord? It was something else Feihuan had mentioned on their way to the banquet, three days ago.

She'd said it'd been proposed by the Immaculate Blood Cult, and that the whole point of it was to maintain the peace in the region, and ensure the Silent Saber Sect, the Greenrealm suzerain of the four local Yellowrealm sects, didn't have a reason to turn their attention to them. Jieyuan frowned thoughtfully. The Accord had come up a few times in the first jadebook, but it hadn't really gone into too much detail. He'd have to look into it to get a better idea of the situation.

There was also one other piece of information he'd been looking for that hadn't come up: the specific abilities of the Miwanxue Bloodline. Its bloodgifts. All the jadebook's author had said on the subject was that the other three sects should thank the Heavens that the Miwanxue were so obsessed with researching chromal bloodlines, because the Miwanxue Bloodline granted its holders physiques that'd have made them peerless martial artists.

It was to the point that even with how little the Miwanxue cared for combat, their bloodline ensured any given one of them was more of a match for your average Yellowsoul from the other sects. While the rare Miwanxue who did dedicate themselves to combat were known to take down multiple Yellowsouls on their own.

Jieyuan's formal master, Feihuan, was famous in the Ardent Light Sect precisely because of her combat prowess, and apparently all the Yellowsouls of the Immaculate Blood Cult had the potential to be as good as her if only they could be bothered to properly train. As if having three times more Yellowsouls than the other Yellowrealm sects hadn't been enough of an advantage already. He got back on his feet and put the jadebook away.

He considered the remaining jadebooks on the case for a moment before returning to the entrance of the library. He already had a general idea; now it was time for more targeted research. He wanted to see just what the library had specifically on the Miwanxue bloodgifts. He was especially interested in the more recent jadebooks. Zixuan, the Orangesoul who'd tortured him, had mistaken Meiyao for a Miwanxue because of how she'd resonated with Xiaohu.

She'd said she'd seen a core disciple of the Immaculate Blood Cult use that ability in the past, and that there was no mistaking it. Meiyao would definitely ask him what he'd managed to find out about that. Especially if it was a recent ability the Miwanxue had started showing, or if it'd been around for a while. Because depending on the answer, he'd have an idea of just how much the abduction of Meiyao's mother, Lianhua, had to do with the Miwanxue using what looked like Linzushen bloodgifts.

Jieyuan was also interested in the Miwanxue bloodgifts for his own reasons. Ever since he'd found out that the Immaculate Blood Cult could grant the Miwanxue Bloodline to others, he'd found himself wondering if, instead of trying to get his hands on the cult's research, he shouldn't try to go straight for the Miwanxue Bloodline itself. He was well aware that chromal bloodlines came with drawbacks.

What he'd seen of Yunzhu certainly hadn't inspired him with confidence, but Yunzhu had also held the Liangshibai Bloodline; Jieyuan didn't reckon she was a good point of reference. But her father, Taishou, had seemed stable enough. If nothing else, the man had managed to pretend to be a mere Redsoul and fooled Wanxin and the other Liangshibai for decades.

Jieyuan would make sure to look into just what the drawbacks of the Miwanxue Bloodline were—he strongly suspected the Miwanxue's obsession with bloodlines wasn't just cultural—but he would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted. Very, very tempted.

Jieyuan slowly made his way back to the entrance of the library, thoughts swirling in his head. He'd spent the last few hours going back and forth between different topics. After looking into the Immaculate Blood Cult and the Coexistence Accord, he'd also spent some time browsing the sections on the region's other two sects. Especially the Obscuring Shadows Sect, which he'd already gotten into some conflict with. Jieyuan had learned much, but he was left with nearly as many questions as answers.

He hadn't had much luck regarding the bloodgifts of the Immaculate Blood Cult; he wasn't sure if the Ardent Light Sect just didn't know much about them, or if that kind of information was restricted. It was something he'd be asking Feihuan about, later. On the other hand, he'd found plenty on the Coexistence Accord, and he was now all but certain of his earlier assumptions. All three separate treaties he'd read on the subject had made explicit the Immaculate Blood Cult's rationale for it.

Clearly, he wasn't the first to have found their passivity odd. The Immaculate Blood Cult, he'd learned, was nicknamed by some scholars of the Ardent Light Sect as the Peacekeeper. Because they were really, really determined to maintain the peace in the region. Even before their proposal of the Accord, they'd mediate conflicts between sects and stop them from escalating.

And those same scholars all seemed to agree that the primary motivator for that was ensuring that the Silent Saber Sect wasn't given a reason to send an envoy over. It was theorized that if a war broke out between the Immaculate Blood Cult and the other three sects, the Cult might very well come out on top, even if they'd have to pay a significant price. But that'd draw the attention of the Silent Saber Sect, and that was apparently the Immaculate Blood Cult's greatest fear.

Why they feared the Silent Saber Sect so much wasn't clear, though. Walking through the golden-veined library, Jieyuan was having a hard time wrapping his head around the notion of the Immaculate Blood Cult as a force of peace. He understood the logic behind it, but he couldn't help but think back to Miwanxue Taishou and what the man had done to the Liangshibai. Decades of scheming, abductions, and human experimentation.

Conciliating that with the Immaculate Blood Cult's reputation as the peacekeeper of the region was proving to be quite the challenge. I wonder what Meiyao and Daojue will make of that. Arriving back at the entrance of the library, Jieyuan didn't leave but instead made his way to the book-finder. There was still one last thing he wanted to look up. Concept pursuit. He knew too little about the subject, and if he wanted to make proper use of his tenth-order heavenly affinity, he needed to find out more.

He was especially interested in whether the Ardent Light Sect might have any methods for pursuing Death and Space, specifically. He wasn't really counting on it—one thing he'd already determined was that the sect was mostly preoccupied with Fire and Light—but he had to at least check. Pressing his hand to the golden surface of the book-finder, Jieyuan connected his chroma to it and thought: Concept pursuit.

He was already getting the hang of the artifact, and as the list of related topics flowed into his head, he quickly found a close match for what he had in mind: CONCEPT PURSUIT METHODS. Jieyuan picked it, stepped back, and then began following the glowing vein that had lit up. He'd start with Concept pursuit in general, and then go back to the book-finder and see if he couldn't restrict his research to Death and Space. The glow led him to a jadebook case rather close to the entrance.

But that wasn't the only case the glowing vein touched; it split up and also connected to three other nearby cases. It didn't end there, either, the golden line stretching even farther beyond. It wasn't the first time this happened; there were only so many jadebooks you could fit in a single case, and whoever had designed the library had accounted for that. Jieyuan scanned the plaques of the first jadebook case.

He was really only looking for a more general primer on Concept pursuit, but one of the titles caught his eye: An Informal Overview of the Usages of the Sect's Pursuit Chambers.

"Pursuit chambers?" he murmured, picking up the little jade cube and connected his chroma to it, intending to just give its contents a quick skim. But he'd barely read the first two paragraphs before his eyes widened. He'd struck gold. He hurriedly moved over to the nearest cushion and began reading the jadebook in earnest. It was one of the longest jadebooks he'd come across yet—but that was because it had a lot of content to cover.

As it turned out, the Ardent Light Sect had something similar to the Heavenly Rooms from the Sword Towers. Jieyuan doubted they'd be anywhere near as good, but these pursuit chambers were still specific rooms, in a place called the Ardent Pursuit Hall, set with inscribed fields designed to facilitate the pursuit of specific Concepts. And over thousands of years, the Ardent Light Sect had built pursuit chambers for all sorts of Concepts. Dozens of them. In the jadebook, the author described each of the chambers.

Jieyuan started skimming again—and soon found what he was looking for. A Death pursuit chamber. He kept going. And then he found it also: Space. Heavens. He'd expected that as a Yellowrealm sect, the Ardent Light Sect might have a lot more on Concept pursuit, but this was far better than anything he'd hoped for. Only core disciples had access to the pursuit chambers normally—inner disciples only under special circumstances—but that was no problem for him.

He'd talk with Feihuan and see about visiting the Ardent Pursuit Hall. He was sure she'd be able to get Daojue and Meiyao permission to use them, as well. He returned to the description of Death's pursuit chamber; he'd only confirmed it was there, and he wanted to know just what to expect. But just as he resumed reading, he heard a voice.

"Oh? Jieyuan?" Opening his eyes, he found a woman in an outer disciple's white-and-crimson robes walking over. A woman with short hair and a confident swagger at odds with her decidedly mundane features. Lushan. Jieyuan immediately focused on her. If there was someone who demanded his full attention, it was Lushan. He stood back up and gave her a polite nod in greeting.

"Lushan. It's nice to meet you again."

"Likewise," Lushan said, coming to a stop in front of him. There was a glint to her dark eyes. She gave him a sly smile.

"My, what a coincidence it is, coming across you here." The way she said coincidence made it abundantly clear to Jieyuan that it was no coincidence at all, and she clearly wanted him to know that. They'd barely met again, and the games had already begun. Jieyuan matched her sly smile with a smirk of his own. When they'd faced each other at the banquet, he'd been caught off-guard, but he was more than ready for Lushan and her antics now. Bring it on.