Chapter 14: The Sentient Silence of the Lost Library
The West Wing of the Sage Pavilion Headquarters was a place where time didn't just pass—it pooled like stagnant water. While the rest of the Pavilion was a marvel of white jade and glowing formations, the West Wing was built of dark, obsidian-like stone that seemed to drink the very light of the sun. This was the Lost Library, a repository for books so old, so flawed, or so dangerous that they were deemed "Unteachable."
Tian Mo stood before the towering iron-bound doors, his white robes a solitary spark of defiance against the gloom. Behind him, Queen Zhao Yan (Wife 1) gripped the hilt of her crimson blade, her dominating aura flaring instinctively. Princess Ling'er and Li Feng stood close, their Qi suppressed as they felt the heavy, suffocating pressure emanating from the building.
"Master, the air here... it feels like it's full of whispers," Ling'er whispered, her Lightning Lizard, Xiao Lei, hiding deep within her sleeve.
"It is," Tian Mo replied, his eyes tracing the ancient runes on the door. "When a book is filled with enough 'Errors' and left alone for ten thousand years, the flaws gain a life of their own. This isn't a library; it's a cage for the ghosts of failed knowledge."
[System Status: Sleep Mode — Optimization 22%...]
The Divine Library remained silent, its active scanning disabled. Tian Mo was heading into the most dangerous collection of texts in the Sage Continent without his greatest weapon. But his Knowledge Hunger was gnawing at his gut. He didn't just want to see these books; he wanted to devour them.
The Keeper of the Damned
The iron doors groaned open, revealing a hall that stretched upward into an infinite darkness. The shelves were not made of wood, but of a black, bone-like substance that pulsed with a faint, rhythmic vibration.
In the center of the entrance hall sat a man. He was so thin he looked like a skeleton draped in gray parchment. His eyes were milky white, blind to the physical world but staring straight at Tian Mo's soul.
"Another one," the old man rasped, his voice sounding like dry leaves skittering over a grave. "The Pavilion Elders send the 'Geniuses' here to die when their light becomes too bright. I am the Ghost Librarian. Tell me, boy, do you wish to read, or do you wish to become a shelf?"
Tian Mo stepped forward, his footsteps echoing in the unnatural silence. "I am Tian Mo. I am here to correct the silence."
"Correct?" The old man let out a shrill, wheezing laugh. "The books in this hall are 'Sentient Flaws'. They will crawl into your mind and rewrite your heartbeat. If you touch them, they will bleed into your soul."
Tian Mo didn't answer. He walked past the old man, heading for the first row of the Forbidden Tier.
The Attack of the Ink-Wraiths
As Tian Mo reached for a heavy, leather-bound tome titled The Sovereign's Shattered Breath, the library reacted.
The ink on the pages of the surrounding books began to seep out, manifesting as black, shadowy figures—Ink-Wraiths. These were the personifications of "Demon-Cursed Logic," entities born from the contradictions within the texts.
"Master!" Li Feng shouted, raising his spear.
"Do not strike them with physical force!" Tian Mo commanded. "They are made of information. If you hit them with Qi, you are only giving them more 'Data' to consume."
Tian Mo stood still as an Ink-Wraith lunged at his throat. Without his active scan, he had to rely on his 30+ Profession Mastery. He recalled a text on Music Intent he had scanned in the Myriad Kingdom Alliance.
He began to hum. It wasn't a melody, but a specific, dissonant frequency—the "Flaw-Nullifying Tone."
The Ink-Wraith shivered. The black smoke of its form began to stutter and crack.
"Knowledge is a structure," Tian Mo said, his voice carrying the weight of a Sovereign. "An error is a crack in that structure. If I find the frequency of the crack, the whole building falls."
Tian Mo raised his hand and performed a Physician's 'Soul-Seal' Strike in the empty air. The vibration of his strike hit the "Resonance Node" of the Ink-Wraith.
POP—!
The wraith dissolved back into harmless droplets of black ink, splattering across the floor. The surrounding books shivered, their "Sentience" retreating back into the paper in fear.
The Ghost Librarian stood up, his blind eyes widening. "You... you didn't use power. You used Logic to erase a soul? Who taught you the 'Frequency of the Void'?"
"I am a teacher," Tian Mo said, picking up the book. "I am the one who teaches the Void how to be silent."
The Hunger of the Master
For the next six hours, Tian Mo moved through the West Wing. Even with the system in Sleep Mode, he could physically "feel" the flaws. His fingers traced the spines, and he could hear the "Lies" within the text.
He began to read. Not with his eyes, but with his Intent. Every page he turned, he mentally "stored" the data, preparing it for the moment the system would wake up and synthesize it.
[Divine Library Internal Log: Data Dump detected. 4,000 'Lost' Manuals archived. Pending Optimization...]
Tian Mo's handsome face was pale, sweat beading on his forehead. Storing this much "Toxic Data" without the system's filter was agonizing. It was like drinking liquid lead.
"Tian Mo, stop," Queen Zhao Yan said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Her dominating aura was the only thing keeping the deeper shadows of the library at bay. "Your soul is vibrating. If you take in one more 'Flawed' manual, your Dantian might crack."
"The Sage Continent thinks they buried me here," Tian Mo gasped, his eyes glowing with a predatory, golden thirst. "But they've given me a gold mine. These 'Errors' are the secret to understanding the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. Their logic is hidden in these 'Lost' pages."
Suddenly, at the very back of the library, a massive, obsidian pedestal rose from the floor. On it sat a single, pulsing jade slip, guarded by a barrier of Violet Demonic Qi.
[Target: The Origin of the False Heaven.]
Tian Mo walked toward it. But before he could reach it, the Ghost Librarian appeared in his path, his skeletal frame glowing with a terrifying, Saint-level pressure.
"No further, Teacher," the old man said, his voice no longer raspy, but booming with the authority of an era long past. "That jade holds the Primary Flaw of the Sage Continent. If you read it, the Pavilion will know. The Demonic Tribe will know. You will be marked as an 'Enemy of the World'."
Tian Mo looked at the jade, then at the old man. "I have already been called a 'Trash', a 'Fraud', and a 'Monster'. Being an 'Enemy of the World' is just a natural progression."
The Induction Banquet Invitation
Before Tian Mo could touch the jade, the heavy iron doors of the West Wing burst open.
A messenger in gold-and-purple silk—the colors of the Sage Pavilion's Main Hall—stepped in, flanked by two 6-Star Supreme Teachers. He looked at the Ink-Wraiths on the floor and the shaking bookshelves with visible terror.
"Grandmaster Tian Mo!" the messenger shouted, his voice trembling. "The Induction Banquet for the new Saint Teachers is beginning in the Main Hall. The Auction Queen, Madame Shui, has arrived. She specifically requested your presence. She says... she has a 'Gift' that only the man who broke the Alliance Bell can appreciate."
Tian Mo withdrew his hand from the violet jade. He looked at the Ghost Librarian, who was slowly fading back into the shadows.
"The jade will wait," Tian Mo whispered.
He turned to his wives and students. Li Feng was exhausted from fending off the "Wisps of Madness," and Ling'er was pale.
"Let's go," Tian Mo said, his white robes flowing as he turned. "Madame Shui... The Auction Queen. I hear she controls the Market of a Thousand Wonders. If she has a gift, it's likely the 'Spirit Essence' I need to wake up my system."
The Glimpse of the Auction Queen
As they exited the West Wing and headed toward the glowing lights of the Main Hall, the atmosphere shifted. The dark, bone-chilling silence was replaced by the sound of zithers and the laughter of the elite.
At the entrance of the banquet hall stood a woman who seemed to command the very air around her. She was dressed in a gown of midnight blue that sparkled like a galaxy. Her eyes were a deep, intelligent violet, and her smile was both a promise and a threat.
Madame Shui (Wife 3).
She looked at Tian Mo as he approached. Her gaze lingered on his handsome face, then on the 7-Star badge on his chest.
"So, you are the man who turns 'Trash' into Gods," she said, her voice like velvet and honey. She walked toward him, ignoring the bowing 6-Star teachers around her. "I have a 'Broken Artifact' in my vault that has killed three Appraisers. They say you can see the 'Heart of the Flaw'. Tell me, Tian Mo... are you brave enough to dance with a Queen of the Market?"
Tian Mo stood before her, his aura calm, his gaze meeting hers without a flinch.
"I don't dance, Madame," Tian Mo said. "I only Correct. Show me your artifact, and I will show you why your 'Market' is nothing but a collection of beautiful lies."
Madame Shui's eyes sparked with a sudden, intense interest. She leaned in, her perfume—the scent of rare 'Moon-Spirit Lilies'—filling Tian Mo's senses. "A 'Correction', is it? I think we are going to be very good 'Business Partners', Grandmaster."
[DING!]
[System Optimization: 25%... Sleep Mode continuing...]
Tian Mo felt the "Hunger" in his soul flare up. Madame Shui wasn't just a merchant; she was a treasure trove of information. And the banquet was about to become his next "Exam Hall."