Immortal Kingdoms



In his scholar attire, the Military Advisor calmly made his way through the bottom floors of the pagoda, stopping below the staircase and advancing to the 4th floor, not daring to proceed further. 

From the looks of it, he didn't seem afraid but rather reluctant to climb the staircase unauthorized. As he looked up into the upper floors obscured in mist and clouds that shifted about despite the lack of wind, this young scholar sighed to himself and bowed reverently. 

"It has been seven days already," a voice borderline ethereal descended from the higher floors, laced with a lazy undertone that would melt the bones of many young men were they not prepared. 

"Attendant Ye hadn't budged from the first level of the library ever since he was led inside by that maid, Your Eminence," responded the Military Advisor. "I can't recklessly investigate with my spiritual sense, it might alarm the magical avians." 

Leonardo hadn't moved at all after entering the first floor of the library, and he had been shuffling through the information chips consistently. However, from the perspective of everyone else, he was merely sweeping them once to skim through them before advancing to the following chip. 

Although this would provide him with an outline, this kind of behavior wasn't suitable for a future advisor. Even Sivan, who accompanied him for three days as per her duty, felt like this wasn't right. 

"Do you think he noticed something?" 

The lazy voice of the Commanding General sounded after a brief silence, though there wasn't a hint of discontent in her tone, there was a bit of curiosity. 

To say she had no selfish motives in bringing Leonardo to her sector after his display during the private auction would be a lie. In fact, she quite admired his brains, but she had no estimate of his capabilities. 

The Military Advisor paused for a moment and shook his head. "I'm not sure. His actions surely elude one into thinking so, but at the same time, they testify against it… If he did notice the peculiarity, that's the more reason he should stay put, but that doesn't mean he could see through the jigsaw puzzle you constructed merely by skimming through. I don't believe a Tier 1 cultivator has that ability." 

There was no response from the higher floors. The Commanding General was lost in thoughts, it seems. As for the Military Advisor, he left himself an opening in his response by answering positively and negatively at the same time, while placing Leonardo's cultivation base as a criterion for his answer. 

Only the Commanding General would be aware of this new attendant's background and hence his advice was as follows: it wasn't impossible for him to put the jigsaw together if his cultivation was high enough. 

"Hm… I understand," after a bit of silence, that lazy voice sounded again. 

"Do you have any instructions, Your Ememenince?" 

"Gather the Left Wing and Right Wing and the high-ranking officers, it's about time our Qing Sector joined the fray." 

The Military Advisor was shocked, albeit not too much. He had already guessed as much from the arrival of this mysterious attendant, but he hadn't expected the Commanding General to move so quickly. Nonetheless, he was mentally prepared and didn't lag behind with his thoughts. 

"As you wish!" 

He bowed and turned around to leave. Just then, the lazy voice echoed behind him once more. "Don't bother involving Attendant Ye with the meeting, have him come meet me directly." 

The Military Advisor's steps faltered for a split second, but he voiced out an affirmation with respect before fading into the lower floors. 

… 

Something bizarre took place on the bottom floor of the library for the past few days. 

In the sea of clouds, a young man in fresh scholarly attire with a bronze medallion hung by his waist sat lotus style, motionless. If he wasn't surrounded by a thousand avians, he would be surrounded by hundreds of them. 

It was an intricate net as though his mere presence was a limited commodity for these magical avians to contest. After he learned the method to communicate with the birds from Sivan, Leonardo improvised and braved the technique with tidbits of modifications, creating a path for these avians to follow as they darted all around him. 

While these birds committed to this pattern, tendrils of spiritual threads extended from Leonardo's mind and flashed through the information slips in a blink. At first, the execution was crude and Leonardo was stuck reading one chip at a time. 

As he progressed, however, he was now capable of viewing tens and hundreds with a thought, and his brain easily proceeded with this information. In a little over a week, he was sure to have browsed through every piece of information this place had to offer, even as he noticed some lacking corners. 

"These must be available on the second floor of the library," murmured Leonardo. 

"Attendant Ye!" 

His medallion blinked as Sivan's voice echoed in his mind. Intrigued, Leonardo connected to the medallion and responded with a common signal of inquiry. 

"Please leave the library building, you've been summoned by Her Eminence, the Commanding General!" 

Sivan's voice was very anxious with a sliver of worry and excitement. She was worried that Leonardo might have offended the highest chain of command by spending an entire week occupying the first level of the library, while she was excited to have the opportunity of stepping foot into the Commander's Pagoda. 

"I'm on my way." 

Leonardo's response shocked Sivan. At the very least, the lack of enthusiasm in his voice caught her off guard. Then again, a fresh Tier 1 cultivator wouldn't know how terrifying a Tier 7 existence was, hence she attributed this blatant disregard to the young man's ignorance. 

The moment Leonardo left the library, he was greeted by Sivan who was pacing circles in front of the building, nails between her teeth, suffering from an unreasonable assault. 

"Let's go!" Sivan dragged him by the sleeve of his robes, this time careful not to dislocate his bones by accident.