Paragon of Sin

"The Sacred Library is an amalgamation of tens of thousands of years of effort from experts and scholars within the World Between the Fold. It consists of all types of knowledge, such as the cultivation profundities, and experienced annotations of seniors regarding arts, spells, formations, and arrays, including rare and exclusive legacy methods.

"The Sacred Library can be considered the brain of the City of Guardians, designed for Destined and Seeker alike to expand their horizons and seek insights from cultivators' who lived generations ago. It can be used to serve as a path or a foundation to forge your own. Moreover," Chi Yongyuan slid his index finger gently across the spines of various books and thick tomes on shelves, continuing: "it contains our history."

Wei Wuyin stood to the side, his eyes inspecting each shelf with a respectful light. Liu Suyin had already gone deeper into the Sacred Library, granting Wei Wuyin a full three months of freedom. She made an off-handed comment regarding not being his babysitter and ventured upstairs.

Wei Wuyin could sense the reluctance emanating from her for a brief period, but this later soothed out as if she had decided upon something. She left him alone in the care of Chi Yongyuan. 

"So I can read whatever I want?" Wei Wuyin asked with a hint of disbelief. Regardless of what organization you joined, the restriction of knowledge was always practiced, especially core records of histories and methods unique to the organization. The Scarlet Solaris Sect, Myriad Monarch Sect, and True Element Sect all had this same practice. 

Chi Yongyuan sneaked a few nuts into his mouth, but his chewing was anything but discreet. After a brief swallow, "Unfortunately, no. I've been told that you achieved completion of the Trial of the Three Voyages, receiving the blessing of the Endless Spatial Channel, but you haven't accepted your position as a True Destined Voyager yet. Right?" 

Wei Wuyin nodded, "That's right." 

Inwardly, Chi Yongyuan wasn't surprised. After seeing Wei Wuyin with the Celestial Jade Key in the War Devil Realm, he knew that he was bound to arrive here and become a Destined. And from his impeccable cultivation foundation and stores of ninth-grade alchemical products in his possession, he was certain that Wei Wuyin's origins extended outside the Sealed Regions. 

While he felt that this was a scheme, he wasn't too invested in dealing with it. Furthermore, it was highly unlikely that Liu Yinlan hadn't picked up on Wei Wuyin's abnormality. If so, then this all might be a counterscheme of hers. It was best to play his part and distance himself. 

"Well," Chi Yongyuan pointed at the stairs leading to higher areas of the library, deeper locations: "we're on the ground floor of the library, also the area containing what we librarians called the Free Study. Here, you can read up on all sorts of information, but the arts, spells, and cultivation methods were all at the low Earth-tier or lower. As for the recordings of history, they…leave much to be desired. Scattered droplets of varied historical accounts and confusing terminology."

Wei Wuyin swept his gaze across the different mediums of knowledge. The library's first floor stretched for miles, and beneath the ascending stairs, it was all the same, consisting of numerous books, scrolls, and spiritual jades. He frowned slightly, asking: "What's Earth-tier?" 

Chi Yongyuan didn't hesitate to elaborate, stifling his own suspicions, "The grading system of the cultivation world beyond the Sealed Regions. It consists of Foundational, Earth, World, and Heaven tiers, and each tier is divided into Low, High, Peak, and Pinnacle. Similar to the Alchemic Dao, except Pinnacle grade replaces Transcendent. It's how arts, spells, and cultivation methods are designated."

Wei Wuyin had been exposed to this long ago due to the Soldier's List, but he was always curious if it related to spells and arts individually as well. Surprisingly, it did! In the Sealed Regions, there wasn't a regulated set grading system for methods. It was strange, perhaps deliberately done by the most powerful forces.

"You may be asking yourself: why isn't this part of the Sealed Regions? There's a good reason for this." As if reading Wei Wuyin's thoughts, he gave a faint smile. "There's no specific classification or bracket for these tiers for realms or stages, so it's a little hectic." 

"What?" Stunned, Wei Wuyin was immediately confused. 

"Oh…Uhm, let's see." Clearly, Chi Yongyuan realized where he went wrong. He thought for a while and then said: "For example, Foundational-tier arts isn't a designation that means inferior. Foundational-tier isn't inherently 'lesser' than Earth-tier, simply 'different'. World-tier isn't 'higher' than Earth-tier either. It's solely based on what they are involved in, like different fields of study. The grading system purely divides the depth of that field in whatever category they're in."

This explanation shook Wei Wuyin's heart, descending him into another abyss of confusion. But Chi Yongyuan decided it was best if Wei Wuyin obtained a comprehensive explanation of this through a different medium. He brought Wei Wuyin over to a shelf beneath the stairs, trekking the long halls of various shelves, following an azure line with characters such as 'Cultivation', 'Architects', and 'Methods' etched into them and found a shelf that contained a thick tome that was the six-inch thick with slim pages. 

It was titled: "An Apprentice's Guide to Designing Methods, Vol. 1." With a practiced tug, the thick tome was brought out and placed in Wei Wuyin's arms. Taken aback by its heavy weight, Wei Wuyin gave its dark grey cover another look. 

"This will explain it better than I can," Chi Yongyuan smilingly said. The aspects of cultivation were always difficult to explain. "I'll give you some time to read. When you're done, we can continue the tour." It seemed this was a crucial book to read before continuing forth, especially if Wei Wuyin was ignorant.

"Hm?" Wei Wuyin comfortably placed the thick tome to his side, carrying it easily, but didn't let this ever-eating librarian go so swiftly. "The True Destined Voyager status, does this mean without it I'm restricted from entering the higher levels besides the Free Study?" Liu Suyin had said he was only allowed in the permitted area, but dangling this piece of meat without letting him clench his teeth into it felt insufficient as bait. 

After all, what if those areas beyond were useless to him? 

"Oh right! Yes. The Sacred Library is divided into four areas, including the Free Study. You saw the three towers from outside, right? They are the three other locations containing various degrees of accessible information. The Free Study can be accessed by everyone, but most are limited to acquiring one medium of information at a time, and only once a month. So while 'Free' it's extremely limited.

"This isn't true for Destined and Seekers, however. They can access the Free Study without restriction, read as they want, for however they want, but are unable to take anything with them. They must pick here and read here. As their status rises—for example, Spiritual Destined, Unyielding Destined, and Wandering Destined all have varying degrees of accessing rights. 

"Most of them don't matter, so I won't bore you with the details, but your access has been set to as an Unyielding Destined despite not 'officially' being a Destined. Therefore, you have full access to the Free Study's millions of books, scrolls, and spiritual jades containing boundless knowledge. The three towers are called the Sealed Tower, Voyage Tower, and Guardian Tower, and their importance and quality are as such, from least to greatest.

"If you wanted to enter the Sealed Tower's library and learn what's inside, you'd typically have to pay a hefty fee or achieve some meritorious services for the World Between the Fold. Certain statuses only grant you access into the towers, payment is still required for Destined and Seekers."

"I have to pay?" Wei Wuyin's left eyebrow rose with curiosity, flipping through the pages of the thick tome. 

"Haha, no. You're allowed to read as much as you can in these three months, from the Free Study to the Sealed Tower. That said, you're a little special. You can enter the Voyage Tower too, but the rules of the Free Study for non-Destined and Seekers apply to you—a special exemption. I've never heard of that before." Chi Yongyuan said with a slight shift in tone near the end, and Wei Wuyin instantly picked up on the subtle warning of caution. 

"Oh?" Wei Wuyin realized that this was the bait designed by Liu Yinlan. He could enter a higher level, but only read up to three things within these three months. Free? There was never a thing such as free in this world. 

"If you were a True Destined Voyager, you can enter the Voyage Tower freely, and even pay to visit the Guardian Tower's library." Chi Yongyuan sighed enviously as he sneaked something into his mouth. If it wasn't for the chewing, Eei Wuyin wouldn't have even noticed this action. "Well, when you're done with the book, come back to the front desk and we'll-"

"I'm done," Wei Wuyin bluntly said, closing the thick tome, and handing back the book to a stunned Higheater. Bits of crushed nuts almost escaped from his dropped jaw, hurriedly swallowed. His eyes were completely disbelieving at the moment. Skeptically, he said: "I know you might be in a rush to visit the Voyage Tower, but-"

Wei Wuyin shook his head. "Foundational-tier focuses on independent forms of energies and forces. For example, a Lightning Art that uses pure lightning forces to unleash devastating or a Fire Cultivation Method that refines fire-attributed essences into fire-attributed energies for bodily or spiritual refinement.

"Earth-tier involves the Spirit, Will, and Physique to varying degrees. Such as forming a physique using various external forces or energies, assisting with the inclusion of Intent, or the composition of a Spirit of Cultivation. Creating a unique Astral Physique or converting one's Spirit of Cultivation into a uniquely modified attribute—like the Alchemic Soul or War Soul transition, for example.

"World-" 

"Wow!" Chi Yongyuan interrupted with false praise. He felt that Wei Wuyin was tricking him, so he inwardly rolled his eyes. If you already knew, why ask? "Since you know, what do you want to do? I'm ready to assist you in whatever way you want. I know the Free Study forwards and backward like the back of my hand." 

"..." Wei Wuyin's eyes flickered with a calculating light, deep in thought about his next step. After a long moment, Wei Wuyin's grinned. "I intend to explore a little." 

"Explore?"

"Come back in a week," Wei Wuyin said as he pulled out a book from the shelf. With such a treasure trove before him, he intended to solve his most pressing issue! Knowledge!