Chapter 43 Knowledge is Power Again?

Elder John had been rushing from the middle district to the inner district and immediately reported what he saw to the clan leader. Looking at the horrid appearance of his son and grandson, he could not help but feel pain and anguish for his loss. The others just watched from the sidelines and did not feel sympathy for the duo. Killboy, on the other hand, was gritting his teeth, he wanted to investigate immediately but was stopped again by his father.

Zander tried to wake Joey up but failed which made him furrow his brows.

“The one who made them unconscious made some sort of a seal on their consciousness and would eventually wake up in due time. Forcefully waking them up would end up destroying their consciousness. It is for the best if we wait for the meantime. Experts that could do this should be at least at the Dao Formation Realm.”

Everyone sucked in cold air when they heard Zander’s assessment.

“Clan Leader, was it them?” The Grand Elder asked.

“I doubt that but there is a high chance that this was an attack by a highly skilled assassin, what confuses me is that why are the wounds like this?”

Zander was wracking his brain as to why would the perpetrator would do this kind of killing. Was he some sort of a masochist? Or did the father and son offended another behemoth?

“Let’s just wait and see after Joey wakes up. Father’s breakthrough is our priority for us to maintain our standing inside the city. Seal the news as much as possible, our next move would be decided by father,”

Everyone agreed and nodded in response, Elder John was dismissed and went back to his assigned duty.

.....

Eznho woke up with great enthusiasm and was ready to go to the public library to obtain more information. He did not have anyone to teach him so he had to rely on himself to learn the things he needed to know. He did not want to burden Budoy so he decided to do the task himself.

The library was a massive building that had three floors which was located in the inner part of the middle district. Eznho reached the place after walking for two hours and people were going in and out of the building, some were scholars while others looked like they came from a noble background.

He entered without delay and his eyes widened with what he saw inside. Five-meter tall bookshelves were aligned inside a wide hall filled with countless books. Tables and chairs were arranged at the side for the reader to use. He took a deep breath and his nose was assaulted by the smell of wood and books. People were inside doing different things, some were reading while others were discussing things about the book they were reading.

He went to the reception to inquire, the receptionist was an old lady with gray hair. Her face was wrinkled and had a grumpy look.

“What do you want?” She asked in a hoarse voice.

“Uhmm, I would like to read books,” Eznho nervously asked.

“Are you a member?” The old lady asked while looking Eznho up and down.

“No ma’am, this is my first time here,” He replied honestly.

“You can pay an entrance fee and you could use the library until closing or you could be a member and can come here everytime you want without paying an entrance fee.” She spoke blandly as if she had been saying this a thousand times.

“How much do I have to pay?” Eznho curiously asked.

“Entrance is a hundred gold coins per day, that is just only on the first floor. The second floor is five hundred whilst the third is a thousand.” She answered.

That much?

Eznho was once again shocked by this absurd amount. If he came here every day, then his money would only last him for a couple of months at most.

“What about membership?”

“For the first floor, five thousand quarterly, thirty thousand for the second and fifty thousand for the third. Lastly, you can pay a million gold coins for a lifetime fee.” The old lady answered with a proud tone.

The heck? What kind of library is this? A million? That might as well be the reason for my death.

Eznho nearly fainted due to shock, he did not expect this kind of amount was needed for him to obtain information. He calmed himself down and asked another question.

“What kind of information does the first, second and third floor contain?”

“The first floor contains the basics about almost everything, the second one is more advanced while the third holds some important information. Now kid, hurry and decide,”

The old lady started to get annoyed and answered vaguely.

“Okay, I’ll pay for the first floor just for this day,”

His heart was filled with pain as he paid the fee. He finally entered and the room which felt much wider than before. There were too many books and he had to choose what he really needed due to the time limit. The bookshelves were divided accordingly, some were for alchemy, geography, cultivation, politics, history and many others. He thought for a moment and decided to pick the topics about geography, history and cultivation. At the moment, this were the things he thought he needed the most.

Time to start!

He calmed his mind and decided to open the book about history and geography which is related to each other. The more he read, the more he was amazed. There were so many things he learned, he even forgot about time and finally finished after five hours of non-stop reading.

So that’s how it is,

Too many information entered his mind and it took him time to digest and organize it. According to what he read, a great change happened roughly a thousand years ago. Apparently, the continent they live in is named Crescent Moon Continent due to its shape. The size is so massive that only strong cultivators could travel a large part of it. The continent was divided into various parts which were controlled by different powers.

Approximately a thousand years ago, the continent was only divided between two empires, the Thunder Clap Empire ruled the north while the Ripple Empire controlled the southern part of the continent. But a great change happened when the heavens turned dark for seven days. As for the cause, it was not written in the book which piqued Eznho’s interest. The book called it the Dark Days, the sun disappeared and the only thing that illuminated the world was the moon and the stars.

On the eighth day, the sun rose again but chaos spread throughout the continent like a wildfire. Everyone fought for something, treasures, land, inheritance and the like. It lasted for hundreds of years. The war only stopped roughly a hundred years ago when the division of territories stabilized and the population dropped by a large degree.

As of date, the Crescent Moon Continent was now divided differently. The northernmost part, the tundra region, became the territory of the beast race. Below it was the Thunder Clap Empire but its territory was reduced greatly and the power it holds was far weaker than before.

The middle part of the continent was divided among myriads of sects and independent groups. After that, the territory is divided between the weakened Ripple Empire and the Alliance of Sixty Kingdoms. Below them was the Barbaric Land and the most southern part was the Southern Forest controlled again by the beast race.

This was just the general division and as for the specifics, it was not mentioned. Eznho sucked in a deep breath when he learned about this. He could only imagine the carnage that happened when people fought and died for power. Millions or even billions of people must have died for the territories to be split like that which originally belonged to the two great empires.

Eznho meditated for half an hour to calm himself down and started to read about cultivation. To his disappointment, most of the information he read were things he already knew. Only a small amount was added to his knowledge. He could not help but shiver when he remembered the pain he felt when he acquired such information.

I wonder if what the second floor holds, maybe it has information about the Halo Realm.

He looked at the stairs and decided to come back tomorrow and go to the second floor for more information. After reading other miscellaneous things, the day came to an end and he was forced to leave.

.....

The next day, he came back with great vigor and was ready to learn more about a lot of things. Despite the pain he felt when he paid the fee, he comforted himself by thinking about the important information he would obtain. Wasting no time, he went directly towards the second floor. To him, every second wasted was equivalent to wasting money.

The second floor had the same size as the first floor but looked more spacious due to the lesser amount of bookshelves it contained. There were no people here aside from Eznho, he immediately looked for the same topic as before and immersed himself with it. His eyes were sparkling the whole time, he thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about the continent and the world.

Whoah!

After reading for a couple of hours, he finally finished and his eyes contained more wisdom and knowledge than before. Just like before, he calmed himself down and organized the new information he obtained.

The tundra region was ruled by the Ice Queen and her underlings which were mostly composed of beasts with the ice attribute or other elements related to it. As for the Thunder Clap Empire, it was ruled by the current emperor, Kidlat. Although weakened, the empire still has some power but was constantly on battle with the tundra region for resources.

As for the middle part of the continent, it was divided into five parts. Northwest is being led by the Alchemy Hall, Southwest is dominated by the Blood Tavern, Northeast’s leading sect is the White Tiger Sect, Southeast is the location of Mercenary City. Lastly, the central most part was considered a neutral ground and the headquarters of the Hand of Midas.

Hand of Midas?

It was the first time Eznho heard this name, according to the information on the book the Hand of Midas was a bank. It is being backed by an unknown force and is the number one bank on the continent. Most of the other banks are affiliated with it.

Going south, the Alliance of Sixty Kingdoms was formed after countless battles and the Ripple Empire was its neighbor. The Ripple Empire survived but it was much weaker than the Thunder Clap Empire so its territory was of course smaller.

The Great Wall was constructed to separate them from the barbaric lands which was south of them. The Barbaric Land was formed by wandering cultivators or people who lost everything during the chaos. It is a chaotic place and people who dominated it changed from time to time. Most people go there to temper themselves and also was a place one has to cross if one wants to go hunt in the Southern Forest or the Green Pine Mountain range which was the border between the Barbaric Lands and the Southern Forest.

The Southern Forest is located at the very south of the continent and is being dominated by the Jungle King. As for what type beast it is, the book did not mention anything about it.

Phew!

Eznho let out a breath after organizing everything.

Never would have I thought that the place I live in is so vast and has a complicated history. Would I be able to visit all these places in my lifetime?

Enzho mused for a moment and imagined himself traveling to distant places, braving dangers and making friends.

Sigh, let’s not think about it for now, I can only visit places once I have enough strength.

He let go of those thoughts and picked a book that contained information about cultivation, specifically, the Halo Realm.

.....

Inside a room at the territory of the River Clan, Joey started to slowly open his eyes. It was blurry at first but it gradually cleared. He was inside a simply decorated room with no one around.

Where am I?

Looking at the unfamiliar environment, he got confused and tried to focus himself and slowly got up. He scanned himself and let out a breath of relief when he saw that nothing was wrong. The last thing he remembered was his consciousness suddenly fading away without any warning. This made him furrow his brows.

He was jolted back to reality when the door opened and an old man in a gray robe entered.

“Elder John?”

He was familiar with this old man due to him being the personal guard of Butchog so he knew almost every person in the upper ranks.

“Good you are now awake Joey, just rest here for the meantime and wait for the summon of the clan leader,” Elder John forced a smile and answered.

Joey could not help but get nervous, his instincts told him that something was amiss.

“Elder John, may I know what this is all about?”

“You don’t have to know for now. Just rest and wait for the summon,”

Elder John went out of the room leaving that sentence lingering on Joey’s mind.

What the hell happened?

Joey tried to figure things out when suddenly a horrific thought came to his mind.

Don’t tell me?

His body shivered and just prayed to the heavens that nothing happened to the father and son he was supposed to look after.

At the same time, inside the secret grounds of the River Clan, the clan leader and the others were still waiting for the clan ancestor’s breakthrough. Everyone waited with great anticipation coupled with nervousness.

Suddenly, the door slowly opened and a vast amount of heavenly energy poured out making everyone feel comfortable. There were even traces of the dao of water with it. After a while, the energy dissipated and an old man came out with a satisfactory smile plastered on his wrinkled face.