"Was he not aware of the power gap? If that girl had possessed a slightly more vicious temper... if she had been truly arrogant... she could have ordered the elder beside her to wipe out the Xiao Clan right there."
The Misty Cloud Sect could crush the Xiao Clan like a bug. A single Dou Ling Elder would be enough to massacre everyone in Wu Tan City.
"And for what? Reputation?" Yoriichi flipped a page, his face emotionless. "Who cares about face in a ruthless world? Pride? You need to be alive to feel pride."
He wasn't criticizing Xiao Yan's spirit; he admired the will. But he criticized the method.
"In the Sengoku Era, if a weak lord insulted a Shogun, his entire village burned. Xiao Yan gambled the lives of thousands of clan members—including his father, including Xiao Yu, including me—on the bet that the Sect wouldn't retaliate immediately."
Yoriichi sighed. "Having hot blood is the signature of youth. But one must control it. I lost precious things because I was too late, not because I was too proud. I will not let this clan burn because of a teenager's ego."
He deduced his theory: The Misty Cloud Sect is an absolute existential threat.
The Three Year Agreement was a ticking clock. If Xiao Yan won, the Sect might retaliate out of shame. If Xiao Yan lost, the Xiao Clan would be humiliated and likely purged.
"I need to be ready for that day."
He put the book back.
He picked up a final history text about the surrounding empires—The Chu Yun Empire (Poison Masters), the Gama Empire's neighbors.
He finished with history. He had the political map in his head. Now he needed the physical map.
He turned and began walking toward the Geography section, located in the far corner near the windows.
The library was quiet. The sun had shifted, casting longer shadows between the aisles.
Yoriichi walked calmly, his footsteps barely making a sound. As he rounded the corner of Aisle 8, he saw someone.
Sitting on a small wooden stool near the window, bathed in a shaft of sunlight, was a girl.
She wore a pale violet dress that seemed to shimmer in the light. A book was open on her lap, but her posture was elegant, refined, and completely out of place in this dusty corner of the world.
Xiao Xun'er.
She radiated a quiet, scholarly aura. Unlike the other disciples who radiated sweat and aggression, she radiated grace. But beneath that grace, Yoriichi's keen instincts—honed by the Selfless State—sensed a terrifying, dormant heat.
"A Strong Flame," he noted.
He didn't stop. He didn't flinch. He continued walking toward his destination, which happened to be past her.
Xun'er was reading a complex text on Dou Qi theory. She sensed someone approaching and looked up.
Her calm, beautiful eyes landed on Yoriichi.
She didn't look at his face first. Her gaze dropped instantly to his hands.
They were wrapped in fresh white bandages, but faint spots of red were already seeping through the layers from his earlier "tree forging" session.
Xun'er's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. She recalled the report from Ling Ying just an hour ago: "He is a wolf cub sharpening his claws on stone. He destroyed the ironwood tree with raw physical force."
She had dismissed Ling Ying's praise as him being overly cautious. But seeing the blood on his knuckles now... seeing the absolute stillness in his gait...
"He really is different," she thought. "The air around him... it is so still."
Yoriichi walked past her. He didn't intend to stop, but ignoring her completely would be rude and might invite suspicion of "arrogance."
He paused, nodded slightly, and spoke in his usual calm, flat tone.
"Good afternoon, Cousin Xun'er."
Xun'er blinked, snapping out of her analysis. She put on her polite, mask-like smile—the one she used for everyone except Xiao Yan.
"Good afternoon, Cousin Xiao Ning," she replied, her voice melodious and soft. "How are you? Are your injuries healing well? Did you also come here for knowledge?"
Yoriichi stopped fully. He turned his body slightly towards her, but kept his distance.
"I am good, as you can see," he said, lifting his bandaged hand slightly as if to say 'alive enough'. "And yes, I am looking for something."
He looked at the shelf she was sitting next to.
"You come here often," Yoriichi noted. "If you can, could you tell me where I might find detailed maps? specifically of the Empire and the Magic Beast Mountain Range."
Xun'er was surprised.
Xiao Ning asking for maps? Not technique scrolls? Not money? Not trying to ask her out on a date?
"Maps of the Mountain Range..." she thought. "Does he intend to go there? With his cultivation?"
She hid her surprise quickly and nodded.
"It is right there," she pointed a slender finger to the shelf directly behind her. "The third row contains the older topographical charts. The current political maps are in the red binders on the right. However..."
She paused, tilting her head. "The detailed maps of the Magic Beast Mountains are rare. The ones here are fragmented. You will have to piece them together."
Yoriichi nodded, accepting the information.
"Fragmented is fine," he said. "Thank you, Cousin."
He didn't linger. He didn't try to extend the conversation. He didn't ask about Xiao Yan. He simply bowed his head once in thanks and walked past her to the shelf she indicated.
"If you would excuse me," he murmured.
Xun'er sat there, holding her book, but her eyes weren't reading. She turned her head slightly, watching Yoriichi's back as he pulled a heavy red binder from the shelf.
He stood there, immersed in the map instantly, his focus absolute. He seemed to have forgotten she existed the moment he turned away.
"He put up the conversation just to be polite," Xun'er realized, a strange feeling swirling in her chest. "He wanted to normalize his presence. He knew I was looking at his hands."
It was calculating. It was mature. It was... interesting.
"Cousin Xiao Ning..." Xun'er thought, her golden eyes flashing with a hint of dangerous curiosity. "What exactly are you planning with those broken hands of yours?"
She watched him for another moment, then shook her head and resumed her reading. But the tranquility of her afternoon had been disturbed by the ripple of a dragon waking up in the same room.
Yoriichi, meanwhile, had already memorized the eastern pass of the mountains.
"Found it," he thought, his finger tracing a jagged, crimson-marked depression deep within the inner circle of the mountains.
The map labeled it simply as the 'Basin of the Fallen Star', annotated with a stern warning of high-level beast activity and frequent volcanic tremors.
"The topography is unique," Yoriichi analyzed, his eyes narrowing as he studied the contour lines. "These four peaks act as a natural funnel, channeling the wind and the ambient Dou Qi into this single, crushing point. It is a crucible."
He didn't know for certain what was there, but his instincts—honed by a lifetime of hunting in the wildest places—told him the truth.
"Places where nature concentrates its power so violently are where the rarest treasures are born. High pressure, intense heat, and dense energy... If I am to find a spiritual ore capable of bearing the heat of the Sun, I will not find it in a safe mine. I must look here, where the earth is most alive and dangerous."
The library was silent again, save for the turning of pages, but the air between the two cousins hummed with unspoken secrets, each planning a future that would shake the very foundations of the empire.