Martial Star Library

Wu Zhen leaped towards the other fighter using the first form of Divine Lightning Strikes. The other fighter just stood there with a cocky grin on his face.

Wu Zhen immediately closed in and began releasing the offensive forms of Divine Lightning Strikes. As the strikes hit the cocky man, his grin was wiped off his face as he realized that Wu Zhen's fists were much more powerful than his own.

There was only one explanation for this: body refining. This seemingly scrawny youth had refined his body to the same level as his cultivation, resulting in his domineering strength against those of the same realm.

He was at least older than Wu Zhen, so he must have a perception advantage, right? Not at all, his martial art technique was only at lesser perfection while Wu Zhen's was already at absolute perfection.

He was inferior to Wu Zhen in all ways except cultivation.

"Lightning strikes from the heavens!", Wu Zhen screamed as loud as he could.

The fighter immediately looked upwards, to see nothing but the clouds. Wu Zhen put all of his energy into his fist and plunged it into his opponent's gut, knocking him out.

"What an idiot. Why would you believe what your opponent says?"

Wu Zhen walked off the stage and the crowd cheered. They were expecting the other fighter to humiliate Wu Zhen, but the opposite happened instead! Those who bet on the other fighter and lost looked dejected and left the arena, but the few that had bet on Wu Zhen were celebrating.

Wu Zhen walked back to the receptionist and started asking about the rewards. The rewards for winning the fight were 1000 gold and a Rising Qi pill. Wu Zhen asked if he could get any other reward instead of the Rising Qi pill, and the receptionist took back the pill and came out with a library card.

"This here is the library card to the 1st floor of the Martial Star Library. Take a right, then a left, and straight forward until you reach the entrance of the library. If you hand over the library card, the elder will let you enter."

Wu Zhen followed the receptionist's directions and got to the library. He passed through after giving the elder his card.

The first floor of the library was huge. It had at least tens of thousands of books.

As he looked around, he found a couple of books that seemed to have useful information. He quickly read through them and discovered that the world he lived in was much larger than it seemed.

The continent he lived on was known as the Crimson Rose Continent. The place he was in, Jinwu city, was an incredibly small city compared to others on the map. It was situated in the extreme north of the continent, where martial arts was still relatively undeveloped. Even the Great Xia Empire, the empire they lived in, was only one of 5 in the northern region. It was also the 2nd weakest empire of all of them.

The ranks of cultivation on Crimson Rose Continent were as such:

Qi Condensation realm. The first level of martial artists, found everywhere and very weak. They make up the servants of a sect.

Qi Ocean realm. The second level of martial artists, rarer than the first realm but still common in almost all places. They make up the disciples of a sect.

Core Formation realm. The third level of martial artists. Though not incredibly rare, it was not very common to see one. They make up the inner disciples of a sect.

Core Shattering realm. The fourth level of martial artists. These were the elite, one would have to be very lucky to encounter one at all. They make up the direct disciples and prodigies of a sect.

Nascent Soul realm. The fifth level of martial artists. These were the cream of the crop, the elite of the elite. One would seldom meet a martial artist at this rank unless they were at Core Shattering realm.

Earthly Soul realm. The sixth level of martial artists. These martial artists were near the pinnacle of power in the Crimson Rose Continent. Usually, martial artists at this realm were sect leaders or supreme elders in a sect.

Those were all of the levels written in a book. After reading it, he felt that he was weak. Incredibly weak. He was far, far away from the peak he promised to reach.

The next book was about the ranks of techniques.

The first rank of techniques was called Origin techniques. The reason was that these techniques were the origin of all other techniques. Gradually, over time, the evolution and combinations of these techniques created the other ranks. Within Origin techniques, there were low-tier origin techniques like Storm Cloud palms, mid-class origin techniques like Divine Lightning Strikes, and high-tier and peak-tier origin techniques.

Beyond peak-tier origin techniques, there existed a second level called Advanced techniques. These techniques were created by experts who combined and evolved Origin techniques. These techniques were significantly more formidable than origin techniques and had the same four tiers as well.

The third level of techniques was Mystic techniques. Mystic techniques were created by experts who had great advancement in the art of sensing the Great Dao. They were able to convey certain profundities of the Great Dao in mystic techniques, making them much stronger than any advanced technique.

The fourth level of techniques as well as the current peak rank of techniques was known as the Earthly rank. There were only 100 or so earthly rank techniques in existence as creating them was almost impossible unless you were a peak Earthly Soul realm martial artist. The name came from the fact that the secrets of the Great Dao concealed inside these techniques could only be truly used by an Earthly Soul martial artist. If one possessed them, they could easily become one of the top 500 strongest existences in the world.

Wu Zhen was quite shocked. He was completely unaware that such terrifying techniques even existed on the continent. Would he in the future come across one of them? He might, after all, the legacy he had stumbled upon was extraordinary.

The same ranks applied to cultivation manuals and body refining manuals as well. Only, cultivation and body refining manuals were much harder to create. While there 100 Earthly martial arts on the continent, there were apparently only 30 cultivation manuals and only 10 body refining manuals at the earthly rank.

Wu Zhen wondered what rank the Great Dao Vortex Art was. It was at least mystic rank, and could even be an earth rank technique. As for his Nine Lightning Body, he estimated it was a peak or high-rank origin technique.

He wondered exactly how strong Freedom God-Emperor was before he died. He thought that Freedom God-Emperor was at least the peak of Earthly Soul, or maybe even the rank beyond.

After reading all the introductory books, he went on to start reading the martial arts in the library. There were at least 2000 martial arts on the first floor of the library alone, and Wu Zhen was determined to read all of them.

He read day and night, as fast as he could. He read almost 100 martial arts per day, memorizing all of their forms. Sometimes, he would pass out on the library floor after reading and wake up a few hours later and continue reading on as if nothing had happened.

20 days later, he put down the last martial arts book back onto its shelf. He was going to leave the library. There were bags around his eyes, and he looked incredibly tired. As he exited the Martial Star Library, the elder outside the gates looked shocked. He had been observing Wu Zhen ever since he started reading martial arts books.

Every time he expected Wu Zhen to give up, he persevered. The elder had never expected that Wu Zhen would actually be able to read all 2000 martial arts books on the first floor.

The Martial Star Arena was an incredibly convenient place. There was an inn and a food court right inside of it so that martial artists could even live inside it if they were willing to pay for it. Every meal cost 2 gold, and a night at the inn cost 10 gold. Still, with the 1000 gold he had, Wu Zhen could stay for a while.

After getting a night's rest and a good hearty meal, Wu Zhen headed to the training center in the Martial Star Arena. There was practically everything any martial artist needed in the Martial Star Arena. It was truly paradise.

He stood in front of a dummy and began practicing the first martial art he learned in the library. It was called Autumn Leaf Art. It was said that it was created by a martial artist who trained himself by pushing a tree in Autumn and trying to catch its leaves. As he became better and better at catching the autumn leaves, the martial art formed within his head. When he finally completed the martial art, he was able to push off and catch every autumn leaf from a tree, perfecting the art.

It didn't seem that impressive, but to know where every leaf was going to fall and catch it required a great deal of practice. It was said that this was one of the first thousand martial arts to be created on the continent. Its style was focused on being swift and powerful. It was a bit stronger than Wu Zhen's self-created Storm Cloud palms.

Even though Storm Cloud palms was technically self-created, he really only copied another expert's martial art, so of course, it would be weaker than an authentic self-created art.

Within a couple of hours, it reached Absolute perfection. Wu Zhen's monstrous perception was allowed a chance to shine.

1 month passed. 5 months left until the return to the legacy.