“How long has Soloman been in the library?” Eighth Elder Yuro asked, finishing today’s lesson.
He looked towards his wife, Fourth Elder Brynn, who was pouring them some pale spirit tea in the meeting hall. The room was bathed in the soft glow of lantern light, casting warm shadows on the ancient wooden walls adorned with intricate tapestries.
“Here you go, Dear. Several weeks, since his return. He only ever comes out when he eats or is kicked out.” Fourth Elder Brynn had an exasperated look, placing her hand on her head and rubbing her temples.
Elder Yuro, noticing his wife’s distress, walked over to her side to massage her shoulders, simultaneously using his Qi to improve her blood flow. The scent of the pale spirit tea mingled with the earthy aroma of the wooden hall, creating a calming atmosphere.
“Kick out?” Elder Yuro asked in a caring voice, looking confused at his wife’s wording.
“YES! He is piling all the books he reads in mounds, and once he is finished, he throws them all back on the shelves.” Elder Brynn quickly became animated, recalling the sight of century-old books and scrolls scattered haphazardly on the ground. Her voice echoed slightly in the spacious hall, filled with the quiet hum of distant conversations.
“Terrible, awfully terrible.”
“Right! He then goes and organizes the books in alphabetical order, by author’s name and topic. He even had the audacity to separate scrolls from manuals and journals.” Elder Brynn jolted up from her chair, nearly kicking it back, making her husband pull back. The flickering lantern light caught the glint of frustration in her eyes.
“Uhmm.”
“Huh?” Elder Brynn looked back at her husband, angrily red-faced.
“Isn’t that good etiquette?” Elder Yuro was taken aback by his wife’s mood, whose demeanor was usually reminiscent of an untouched calm lake surface. Seeing her act out of the norm caused him to worry but also want to laugh, while feeling a tinge of jealousy.
“But I can’t find anything anymore!”
“Huh?”
“Do you know how embarrassed I was when an inner disciple asked for the second volume of ‘Transcending Thunder Step’ only to accidentally grab the wrong book with my Qi over and over again? They eventually said they would come back another day." She whimpered
"I’m not a combatant elder like the others; I’m only a librarian. The only thing I can do to act cool is to grab books with my back turned at my desk.” She turned to her husband with large tears in her eyes and started to stomp on the ground like a child, causing her husband’s heart to skip a beat. The soft glow of the lanterns highlighted the tears glistening on her cheeks.
“God, I love you.” Elder Yuro hugged his teary-eyed wife in the largest embrace he could muster, feeling the warmth of her body against his.
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“S-Stupid. I’m very angry right now, let go. I-It’s still b-bright out.” She didn’t resist despite her words and looked up at her husband, who was a head taller than her, with rose-colored cheeks.
The sight in each other’s eyes caused time to slow down, the sense of warmth radiating through their clothes, the sounds of their breath as their lips slowly got closer together, they could almost tas-
COUGH!
“I didn’t mean to interrupt, but…I wasn’t expecting to come across this in the meeting hall, you see.” Elder Mùchén looked to the side awkwardly with his fist covering his mouth.
The sudden interruption caused the couple to jolt in shock as they quickly tried to separate and adjust their clothing.
“What is it you need, Elder Bachel-Mùchén?”
“Yes, Eternal Virg-cough Elder Mùchén?”
Elder Mùchén, a practitioner of the Severed Path, noticed their rude remarks but chose to ignore them due to the awkward encounter. He walked over to his chair at the end of the hall and started to brew himself his favorite ‘Plum Scent Qi Tea’.
The two embarrassed elders went about their business in the hall with spritely speed to end their daily duties and avoid the stare of their forever single peer. The rich aroma of the tea filled the air thicker than smoke from incense.
“How is our guest doing?”
“He has been loitering around in my library for weeks before I heard him say he would be sitting in Twelfth Elder Brutus’s ‘Dao’ lectures.” Elder Brynn left a biting remark towards the man who violated her sanctuary.
“Dao lectures, eh? That is a bit advanced for a commoner from another world with no Qi to take, isn’t it?” Elder Mùchén gave an inquisitive look at Elder Brynn, who bore a venomous look on her face.
“Hmph. I don’t know, maybe all the reading turned his brain to water.”
“O-Okay. I’ll just go to him myself and witness his efforts. How much did he read in the time he was there with you?” Elder Mùchén slowly got up from his chair while cleaning his tea stand away.
“Somewhere around the third level, I believe.” Elder Brynn placed her finger on her chin in a thinking manner to remember his last spot he organized before she left the library in a violent fashion.
“Quite commendable to have read three rows of complex material, with his disability.” He stroked his beard while admiring how another worlder put in efforts he wished all the disciples had.
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
“Not shelf. Floor." The two listeners stopped dead in their tracks hearing the absurdity.
“I last saw him finish his bibliobibuli fashion of consumption and his intrusive organization on the third floor of the sect’s library. The only level he has not touched yet is the restricted area, only you and Sect Master Aria are allowed.” Her statement caused Elder Mùchén to tear his beard in half from shock. The sight almost caused the couple to break their bearing and snicker.
“The third floor?”
“Indeed.”
“In seven weeks?”
“Yes, begrudgingly.” She clicked her tongue in annoyance, her eyes narrowing as she recalled the disruption.
“And he understood the content?” Elder Mùchén was baffled at the testimony of a mortal understanding his sect’s prized library, second only to the imperial archive.
“How could we ever know, since he can never practice the content?” She mockingly sneered at the question, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“R-Right. I shall attend the lecture as well, and find him.” He started levitating in the hall, eager to leave quickly.
“Why are you in a hurry to find him anyway? Is it for a proper sheath for your sword? Having your bare blade floating around you all the time is quite uncouth.”
Elder Yuro gave a quick retort, recalling the sight of his peer’s new heaven-grade sword being laughed at by their Sect Master when she saw its rot wood sheath.
“Hmph That too, but we just received an invitation to attend the tournament at ‘Iron Tortoise Saber Sect’ in three months. The reward for any who wins is one Earth-grade treasure, and twelve bone vein condensing pills.” He answered unabashedly, his desire for a proper sheath that fit his stature as the eldest elder of the most prominent sects in the ‘Gold Peaks Continent’ clear in his tone.
