Jun Li flipped the Jade Slip over in her hands, trying to understand how it ended up in a bin otherwise filled with mundane paper Manuals.

  Jun Li knew Jade Slips were only used to store truly valuable information, the likes of which couldn’t be faithfully translated into words.

  So, to see a Jade Slip on this unrestricted floor of the Repository, she knew something had surely gone wrong.

  Pushing Qi into the Jade Slip, information flowed into Jun Li’s mind. The name of the Martial Technique, ‘Sparking Thorn,’ the name of the author, one ‘Yao Lifen,’ and countless concepts defining the Techniques described within.

  All the knowledge contained within seeped into Jun Li’s mind with a clarity unachievable through words.

  Still, knowledge alone was worthless without comprehension, and so too was comprehension worthless without means. Both would come with practice.

  With the Jade Slip in hand, Jun Li could only think of one thing. This was an advantage; one she couldn’t let slip past.

  But even if Jun Li wanted to use this Jade Slip and learn the Martial Technique contained within, she knew it would be reckless in the extreme to simply take it from the Repository like some common manual.

  If Jun Li were to make use of the Techniques contained within the Jade Slip, it would be during an Outer Sect Trial, under the watchful eye of a Sect Elder.

  And if one of those Elders recognized the Techniques she used as coming from a missing Jade Slip, Jun Li doubted she would be able to make a convincing excuse as to why it had come into her possession.

  Jun Li looked at the Jade Slip in her hands, and though she was conflicted, not once did she consider giving up on using it for herself. The thoughts she had instead were of how she could use this Jade Slip without restriction.

  Jun Li considered simply taking the Jade Slip downstairs and asking for permission to take it, as she had found it on the unrestricted fourth floor, but doubted she would be allowed, as the Jade Slip was surely placed there by mistake.

  Jun Li considered taking the Jade Slip from the building without asking, but realized that would surely result in some sort of punishment if the Sect were ever to find out.

  Instead, Jun Li held onto the Jade Slip and found a bookshelf out of the stairs’ line of sight.

  She stepped up onto the shelves and slowly climbed to the top.

  At the top, Jun Li set the Jade Slip down atop the bookshelf and dropped down to the floor.

  Walking around the bookshelf, Jun Li looked up to where she had placed the Jade Slip, making sure she was unable to see it from any angle.

  Stepping forward, she grabbed the bookshelf by its side and tried to budge it, pushing and pulling.

  The bookshelf itself stood stoically against her efforts, a reassuring thing to Jun Li, now sure the Jade Slip would not fall from the bookshelf from anything but the most violent accident.

  As long as the Jade Slip didn’t leave the fourth floor of the Repository, Jun Li could learn from it whenever she wanted without breaking any rules, and as long as it was out of sight, nobody would take it away from Jun Li’s reach.

  ‘That’s probably good enough… Though the hiding spot is a bit suspicious, if someone found it...’ Despite her doubts, Jun Li was happy enough with her solution to let the Jade Slip rest there.

  With the matter of finding a new Martial Technique resolved, Jun Li turned her attention to another matter, obtaining some manner of Alchemical vessel to refine the Lingzhi mushroom with.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Heading back downstairs, Jun Li maintained a steady pace out of the building, stopping only to give Elder Shao a polite bow.

  Outside, the sun was still on the rise, Jun Li having woken up as early in the morning as she did, and the Plaza was still as quiet as she had left it.

  It had been slightly over a month since Jun Li came to the Sect, yet to her it felt like half a year, she barely remembered where the carriage she had arrived in was driven from.

  Slowly pacing through the plaza, Jun Li found the path leading out of the Sect. At the far end of the plaza from the Repository, one path led up into a forest where the Outer Sect was located, another, however, led down the mountain.

  The path wasn’t very defined, partially obscured by undisturbed foliage, having built up from lack of use.

  Walking down the uneven path, Jun Li felt the fatigue of yesterday’s Trial start to catch up to her and began using her Movement Technique to reduce the strain of walking.

  As she began to slide down the path on her Technique, Jun Li began to realize just how comfortable she had become with it.

  After uncontrollably flying down the mountain during the Trial, gliding down this path felt entirely comfortable, despite the fact that she could steer her movement no better.

  It took less time than Jun Li expected to reach the bottom of the path, not even half an hour having passed since she left the Repository.

  Now coming into sight of the city, Jun Li found herself taken aback. For all the social grandeur associated with the Sect, Jun Li found its sights paled in comparison to those of the city.

  Ahead, the evenly paved stones of the city roads lay unblemished, with not a single errant weed or crack marring their surface.

  Bordering the sides of the street leading into the city, vermilion red walls towered above Jun Li, opulent, yellow-tiled eaves shading the walls from the elements.

  In fact, it seemed almost unnaturally immaculate, to an extent that it contrasted with Jun Li’s memories of the city.

  Having only seen so much of the city in her previous visit, Jun Li was somewhat surprised to find a street such as this, with not a single building in sight.

  Curiosity getting the better of her, Jun Li jumped up onto the wall to her left, effortlessly leaping to a height far greater than she could have during her last visit to the city.

  Atop the wall, Jun Li saw the reason for the unnaturally immaculate streets and lack of surrounding buildings.

  Between the city and the Glass Cloud Sect's mountain, the royal palace of the Zhao Kingdom stood proud and serene, its grounds vast and immaculate, with well-kept gardens drawing borders around the many paths connecting the four pagodas at the corners of the grounds with the central palace.

  Though the pagodas were grand in their own right, Jun Li’s eyes did not rest on them for even a moment; the sight of the palace had an iron grip on Jun Li’s attention.

  The building stood higher than any other she had seen before. At the base of the building, a wide stretch of stairs led up to the grand foundation the palace laid on, the base of the palace so wide that Jun Li was certain a dozen of the orphanages she grew up in could rest on the foundation without crowding.

  The entrance to the palace was so wide, Jun Li would have thought it designed to let carriages through if not for the flight of stairs below.

  The bright red walls were adorned with intricate paper windows embedded in artistic wooden frames.

  Each floor standing prouder than the last, the base of the palace stretched up three floors, each supported by solid pillars, the likes of which were thicker even than any tree Jun Li had ever seen.

  In the center of the palace, thinner by half, six more floors rose higher into the sky, the highest floors adorned with brilliant golden patterns, gazing out imperiously to the city.

  Seeing the grandeur of the palace, Jun Li did not feel a sense of wonder as one might expect, nor even a sense of admiration.

  Looking at the palace, Jun Li could only feel her heart sink. The sight before her could only have been achieved through years, perhaps over a decade of work by an incredible number of people.

  To Jun Li, gazing at this palace only caused her discomfort; it was a symbol of power, wealth, glory, and respect, everything Jun Li lacked by nature.

  The distance between Jun Li and the palace felt vaster than could be crossed in a lifetime.

  Thinking that someone must have been born in that palace, Jun Li felt that her inheriting an old Immortal’s memories was a cruel joke. She felt that she was inferior, in a way that could never be redressed.

  Averting her gaze, Jun Li stepped down from the wall, able only to look down on herself.

  ‘To be so affected by the trappings of a mortal kingdom… I’m not cut out to be a cultivator…’

  Even as wretched as Jun Li considered herself, she had no choice but to press on and put forth her best efforts, even if she believed they would result in shame and mediocrity.

  For the sake of her family, she wouldn’t let her own self-pity get in the way. And so, Jun Li continued on her path, head bowed in deference to her misery.