Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

It was night again.

The Cold Flame Sect's Scripture Depository.

Since the Heavenly Talisman Hall incident not long ago, the number of patrolling guards here had doubled compared to usual.

In a dense forest hundreds of feet away from the pavilion, a faint silver, blurry figure slowly emerged. Concealed by the night, its face was unclear, and only its eyebrows and eyes could be faintly seen.

The figure raised its head to look at the octagonal pavilion with its pointed roof, which appeared somewhat mysterious in the night. After a long while, it turned its hand over and took out a faint purple talisman, sticking it to its body.

The purple talisman instantly shattered silently, turning into several blurry tadpole-like runes that flew up and down around the blurry figure, before merging into its body.

A purple mist suddenly appeared around the blurry figure, instantly engulfing it, causing it to disappear into thin air.

The figure had not really disappeared, but had transformed into a formless existence, drifting directly towards the Scripture Depository, completely ignoring the patrolling guards around it.

Although the guards' eyes constantly scanned in all directions, and their spiritual senses swept across every corner, they were completely unable to detect the existence of that figure.

Before long, the figure drifted to the entrance of the Scripture Depository.

It was already late at night, and the Scripture Depository had long been closed. Faint glimmers of light emerged from the wide stone doors, indicating the presence of restrictions.

The figure muttered to itself, forming hand seals, and spat out a cloud of almost invisible azure gas, striking the doors.

If the azure gas were magnified a hundred times, one could see that it was composed of countless tiny runes. As soon as it touched the restrictions on the doors, these tiny runes merged into them.

The restriction light screen appeared to be corroded, and a large hole appeared. The figure immediately flew in silently.

The stone doors without restrictions were mere formalities, and the figure disappeared into them.

The faint light of the restrictions on the doors flickered slightly, and they immediately returned to normal.

All of this happened in a flash of lightning, and the patrolling guards outside noticed nothing unusual.

The figure entered the Scripture Depository, and a circular hall appeared before it.

The hall was extremely large, about twenty or thirty zhang across, with more than a dozen paths extending from it, leading to unknown destinations.

Deepest within, was a dark black staircase, winding upwards.

The figure's eyes scanned the surroundings, and it silently flew towards one of the passages.

The passage was not long, and it soon reached its end. In front of it was a tightly closed stone chamber.

The stone chamber door, like the exterior, was covered with a layer of white restrictions.

Above the door was a white jade plaque, with the words "Gong Fa" (Cultivation Methods) carved on it.

A look of joy flashed in the figure's eyes. It spat out a mouthful of azure gas, and as before, the white restrictions were corroded by the azure gas, creating a large hole. The figure immediately flew inside.

Behind the stone doors was a large stone chamber, filled with hundreds of bookshelves, all shrouded in a layer of faint red light.

Each bookshelf was divided into several compartments, and each compartment contained a jade slip.

Next to each compartment was a label, introducing the type of cultivation method recorded in the jade slips within.

The figure casually walked to a bookshelf, spat out a stream of azure gas, corroding a hole in the faint red light surrounding the bookshelf. It waved its hand, emitting a suction force, pulling several jade slips into its hand, and plunged its spiritual sense into them.

After a moment, it frowned slightly, and casually threw the jade slips back onto the bookshelf.

The cultivation methods in the jade slips were some Core Formation and even Nascent Soul stage techniques, but they did not seem to be of interest to this person.

The figure moved around the stone chamber, and before long, it had roughly examined the jade slips on all the bookshelves. It shook its head, appearing very disappointed.

Without hesitation, the figure turned around and flew out, quickly passing through the stone doors, and returning to the hall a moment later.

It immediately entered another passage next to it, and at the end of the passage was another stone chamber.

Above the stone chamber was also a white stone plaque, with the words "Shu Fa" (Techniques) written on it.

The figure used the same method as before, quickly breaking the restrictions on the door again, and entering the chamber once more.

Before long, the figure returned again, and entered the third passage.

In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed, and the figure had explored all of these dozen or so passages. Its brows were tightly furrowed, indicating that it had not found what it was looking for.

The figure slowly floated to the dark black staircase at the deepest part of the hall, glanced upwards, and slowly flew up.

The staircase was not long, and it soon reached its end. In front of it was a huge stone door several zhang wide.

On either side of the door sat a person cross-legged.

The person on the left was fair and plump, with a round face and large ears, wearing a purple kasaya, appearing to be a monk. The person on the right was tall and thin, with a sallow complexion, looking sickly.

However, both of them had faint halos above their heads, and the aura emanating from their bodies was vast and deep, indicating that they were both Void Refinement stage experts!

The two of them sat in silent meditation, unaware of what was happening below.

The figure glanced at the two of them, and its gaze quickly shifted to the stone door behind them.

The surface of the stone door shimmered with water-like light, refracting iridescent colors, clearly indicating that the restrictions here were much stronger than those in the stone chambers below.

If it guessed correctly, behind this stone door was likely the inner sanctum of the Cold Flame Sect's Scripture Depository, containing the most exquisite scriptures of the Cold Flame Sect. It seemed that breaking the restrictions here would not be easy.

The figure's eyes narrowed slightly, and after a moment of hesitation, it advanced again, landing in front of the door as light as a feather, less than a zhang away from the two Void Refinement cultivators.

At this moment, the plump monk on the left raised his eyebrows slightly, and couldn't help but open his eyes, looking around.

"What's wrong, Brother Lingxi?" The tall, thin man on the right also opened his eyes, and asked.

"Nothing." The plump monk glanced back at the inner sanctum door, and muttered to himself.

He hadn't really discovered anything. It was just a faint premonition from the depths of his heart, triggered by a secret technique he had once practiced. However, the success rate of this technique was not very high. Moreover, considering the layers of restrictions here, coupled with the fact that the two of them were guarding this place day and night, even a Combination stage cultivator, let alone a Mahayana stage expert, would never be able to covet this place without making a sound.

With this thought, the monk slowly closed his eyes again.

Seeing this, the tall, thin man didn't pay much attention, and resumed his meditation.

The figure stood motionless in place the entire time. Only after the two Void Refinement cultivators closed their eyes and resumed their cultivation did its brow flicker slightly. A powerful surge of spiritual sense emanated from it, quickly covering the entire door, faintly condensing into a protective barrier.

Then, it spat out a stream of azure gas, which landed on the water-like restrictions on the door.

The water-like restrictions immediately shimmered with light, seemingly resisting the intrusion of the azure gas, and inevitably emitting fluctuations of mana. However, the two Void Refinement cultivators outside the spiritual sense barrier were completely unaware.

The figure's hand seals changed, and the azure gas alternately swelled and shrank, changing in countless ways, contending with the water-like restrictions, causing a half-zhang area in the center to become slightly fainter.

Without saying a word, the figure flickered and disappeared into the door.

All of this seemed complex, but from the moment it attacked and broke the door's restrictions to the moment it disappeared into the door, only a breath or two had passed. At this time, the spiritual sense barrier silently dissipated.

"Eh?"

The plump monk raised his eyebrows and opened his eyes again, suddenly turning around to look at the inner sanctum door behind him.

The water-like restrictions on the surface of the door were shimmering and iridescent, showing no abnormalities.

However, he had clearly felt a sense of unease in his heart just now. Although it was fleeting, it made him suspicious.

"Brother Qingtao, have you noticed anything amiss?" The plump monk walked to the inner sanctum door, examined it carefully for a moment, and asked.

"Unless… someone can fly out of the Scripture Depository's perimeter of several hundred li within two or three breaths, or break the Glazed Profound Water Array personally set up by Old Ancestor Cold Flame, and enter the inner sanctum." The tall, thin man had now opened his eyes, shook his head, and said slowly.

Clearly, his previous search with his spiritual sense had also yielded nothing.

"How is that possible? It seems like it was just my imagination." Hearing this, the plump monk couldn't help but smile wryly and shake his head.

To silently break the Glazed Profound Water Array within two or three breaths and restore it to normal, even the Mahayana stage Supreme Elder in the sect today might not be able to do it.

(This month, Wang Yu will try to give everyone more free chapters!)