After cleaning her up and laying her on the bed, Zhong looked down at Hui Lian. His eyes held nothing. No warmth, no victory, not even cruelty. Just a blank gaze, as if he were studying a pebble on the ground.
She was a good person. That didn't stop him from turning her into a slave, the same way he had done to Haoyu.
"Emotions make things messy," he muttered.
He stepped out and left the place under Mei's watch. By tomorrow, half the town would be lining up for the miracle doctor. If he stayed, things would only get sticky. Slipping away in the night was the wiser choice.
And on top of that, he had no reason to visit Hui Lian again. Her use was finished. She would become the center point of this town's downfall, whether she knew it or not.
He rounded a corner and settled outside for the night. To avoid wasting time, he wove an illusion around himself and began practicing martial arts.
Stealing that Flaming Cloud Sect disciple's memories had given him far more than he expected. He finally had enough reference material instead of the pathetic scraps he'd had before.
"Channeling martial arts… you don't think and cast like a spell. You move first, or you die."
Inside Wu Han's identity, he pieced together the reason his martial ability was garbage. The path of martial arts didn't overlap with magic at all.
Martial arts were simple in theory and brutal in practice. The goal was to carve the technique into your flesh and spirit until it happened without thought. True second nature.
Magic worked the opposite way. Understanding was the hard part, but once you grasped the principles, the steps were predictable. Martial arts were the reverse. Learning the basics was easy. Mastering them was the wall no one got over without years of grinding experience.
Memory theft helped. Experience theft didn't exist.
Still, he practiced the Snake Spear until dawn and squeezed out a few basic insights about the weapon.
When the sun rose, he headed back to Luo Clan. His destination was their library tower.
If he wanted to master new techniques, he needed to read more.
Simple.
"Greetings, young one. You're a new face," an elderly grandmother greeted him at the entrance.
The Luo Clan's three library towers each held a different category: martial techniques for battle, martial arts for training the body, and miscellaneous texts about the cultivation world.
He planned to visit all three.
"Yes. I'm here on my master's behalf. You may have heard of me." Wu Han produced Luo Chen's jade slip.
The old woman's eyes widened. "Oh—oh, it's you! Come in, come in. Take whatever you like." She stood up at once and personally led him inside, earning confused stares.
"The elder is guiding him herself? Who is he?"
"Don't you know? The miracle doctor's disciple. It must be him."
Inside, countless techniques lined the shelves. With a sweep of his divine sense, he read the lingering traces on each scroll. Popular ones held more usage; rare ones had faint energy signatures. Each scroll's residual aura revealed its element and grade.
He narrowed it down to three.
"May I borrow these?"
The elder hadn't even opened her mouth before Wu Han plucked three scrolls from the shelf.
"The Invisible Hand," she chuckled. "As expected, But are you sure you only want the ones from here? There are stronger ones above."
"If you would be so kind, please lead the way."
She laughed and brought him to the second floor—normally reserved for inner disciples and a tiny handful of exceptional outer members.
The moment he stepped in, his senses tingled. The amount of spiritual energy on this floor surpassed the entire Wu Clan's archive.
The difference made him quietly thankful that he fell in with the Wu Clan. If he'd ended up at Luo Clan, his growth would have been stunted.
The opportunity here might be bigger, but it was also harder to grasp. He had learned long ago that chasing the "big strike" usually ended with a broken neck.
Picking off weaker prey and climbing step by step was safer and far more reliable.
That was why stealing from the Wu Clan was perfect.
They were rich enough to make it worth his time, but unstable enough that he didn't need to work too hard for it.
Exactly the kind of target he preferred.
The Wu Clan had only one peak-level technique, and only the clan head could access it. Luo Clan had four on this floor alone.
"No wonder the miracle doctor picked you," the elder said with interest. "A mind that memorizes everything at a glance."
Wu Han moved through scrolls like water, reading one, discarding it, and picking up another in seconds. He devoured a hundred scrolls in half a day and began forming new ideas for techniques.
"You're finished already?" The elder asked as he set down the last scroll.
"Yes. Thank you. I'll let my master know of your kindness."
"Haha. In that case, would you like to see the third floor?"
He paused.
Something felt off.
Tong and Luo Chen had only granted him access to facilities—not valuable techniques. Facilities could be repaired if damaged. Lost techniques were another matter entirely. And with the backing he had, no one could pin the blame on him even if he did steal something.
More than that… he noticed there were no disciples. Not one had come up to the second floor the entire half day he'd been here. The most prized level of the library, and yet empty?
Suspicious...
But who was he rejecting an opportunity?
The second floor held only Qi Condensation techniques. If his guess was right, Foundation Establishment techniques had to be stored on the third floor.
"If you offer, this junior has no reason to refuse."
His eyes gleamed with excitement, but his mind sharpened as he followed her up the stairs.
Getting access to the second floor was within the permission he'd been given.
But the third?
That meant something else was happening behind the scenes—and he intended to find out.