‘…This feels strange.’

Perhaps because the first meeting was so shocking.

His appearance as a eunuch feels awkward. It feels so awkward that it’s harder to get used to than His Majesty the Emperor in dragon robes.

Jin Cheonhee awkwardly followed behind Han Gwang.

After leaving the palace, they continued through maze-like paths.

Following that path straight, Han Gwang spoke.

“There’s no need to be so tense. The Imperial Palace is just a place where people live too.”

“Uh…”

Unable to say ‘I’m not tense because of the Imperial Palace, but because of you,’ he said something else instead.

“Does the Chief Eunuch Admiral personally run such errands as well?”

“Hahaha, you seem curious why the central figure of power who can ‘make birds fall from the sky’ handles such tasks. Our Imperial Highness Eun…”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant…”

As expected of the Chief Eunuch Admiral. He grinned slyly.

“This old servant does so because His Majesty would be uncomfortable if I didn’t attend to his affairs.”

“You can speak casually to me…”

“Ah, how could this old servant speak casually to His Majesty’s benefactor?”

Ah… he’s harder to deal with than His Imperial Highness Eun, as expected.

Several eunuchs and ministers bowed their heads to the Chief Eunuch Admiral, and Jin Cheonhee had to endure this time of hardship like a borrowed barley sack, wondering when it would pass.

Eventually, they arrived at a palace where no one was passing by.

‘Not even birds can be heard. Is this a formation?’

There’s a reason they say daytime words are heard by birds and nighttime words by mice.

In this era where coal fuel isn’t used, mice and birds are naturally occurring beings like air.

They simply exist.

Rather, this situation where no small living creatures could be seen or heard was extremely bizarre.

Jin Cheonhee carefully followed behind him without showing any reaction.

Inside, an ordinary bookshelf came into view.

A eunuch guarding the place quickly approached and paid his respects.

“Ah, aah…”

Though he awkwardly showed courtesy, his voice couldn’t form proper pronunciations.

Glancing slightly, Jin Cheonhee noticed the eunuch’s tongue had been cut off.

When Jin Cheonhee showed a slightly surprised expression, the Chief Eunuch Admiral spoke matter-of-factly.

“That’s the fate of one who disclosed what shouldn’t be disclosed. Still, His Majesty was merciful and arranged this position in the archives for him.”

The eunuch bowed his head vigorously. The Chief Eunuch Admiral spoke with a kindly grandfather’s smile.

“It’s good fortune for the imperial family, isn’t it?”

Seeing that warm, friendly smile, Jin Cheonhee thought:

‘I… will definitely read quickly in the shortest time possible and get out of here.’

This crazy place.

He knew it was crazy to begin with, but it gets crazier the more he learns about it.

The people living in such a place must certainly be out of their minds.

Clatter.

When the dragon ornament on the wall was reassembled according to a predetermined method, it transformed into a phoenix, and the wall receded inward.

What appeared was a staircase.

Befitting the imperial family, the walls were decorated with night-luminous pearls, so there was no sense of darkness.

Before opening the underground room door past the stairs, the Chief Eunuch Admiral grabbed the doorknob and said:

“From here on, a powerful formation is deployed. You must follow this old servant’s steps exactly.”

At those words, Jin Cheonhee’s mouth set in a straight line.

It was because of his master’s advice before coming here.

-Hee-ya, there’s a very powerful formation made by the ancestors of our main family spread underground in the Imperial Palace. It’s called the Yin-Yang Life-Death Soul-Stealing Formation[1], and it’s quite terrible.

He had asked if there was a method to break it. Of course, he didn’t actually mean to break it.

It was purely a scholar’s innocent curiosity.

-It’s a formation installed precisely because there’s virtually no way to break it. It’s one where entry is possible only by following established rules, and even I don’t know those entry methods. It’s one of the knowledges I haven’t yet received.

‘So this is what Master was talking about.’

Well, he had no intention of trying anything reckless against a formation called the Yin-Yang Life-Death Soul-Stealing Formation, which sounds terrifying just by name.

No motivation either.

‘If I tried to break it, I’d really end up in the emperor’s net or the inner prison. This is serious.’

So Jin Cheonhee began to follow the Chief Eunuch Admiral through the formation in the underground labyrinth.

The night-luminous pearls on the ceiling were brighter than expected, but it was rather strange that there wasn’t an extraordinary feeling when looking at it from the outside.

‘It seems natural, yet it’s a formation impossible to break…’

After passing through the formation and reaching completely inside the archives, the Chief Eunuch Admiral put down his bundle.

“I will come to fetch you in ten days.”

Just leaving me here?

Jin Cheonhee asked in confusion:

“Aren’t there any librarians?”

“Well, in the past, there were librarians in the archives. But… due to some kind of… incident, the emperor three generations ago abolished the librarian position entirely.”

He didn’t feel like asking what that ‘some kind of incident’ was.

It was surely an imperial special fantasy intrigue where blood, flesh, and poison would fly.

Seeing Jin Cheonhee’s stiff expression, the Chief Eunuch Admiral grinned.

“Now there are only people who bring and stack books. Here we have gathered everything from ancient supreme techniques that have been lost in the martial world to the secret ultimate techniques of current generation sects.”

“That’s impressive.”

“Of course, they say the most important supreme techniques are stored separately elsewhere… but the knowledge here alone is enough to shake the martial world.”

There was pride in the Chief Eunuch Admiral’s voice. He added one more thing.

“Well, they’re not originals but copies.”

Then he handed the bundle to Jin Cheonhee.

“The toilet is in the corner of the archives. Please use that… and I’ve prepared exactly ten days’ worth of food in the bundle.”

“I see…”

“Once I leave, no one can enter or exit this place for ten days.”

‘Wow, truly a fantastic imperial palace. A place where common sense doesn’t apply.’

So even if I read quickly, I can’t leave unless I complete the full ten days.

Anyway, the Chief Eunuch Admiral left with a single parting remark, “Then I wish you luck. May you find what you desire, benefactor,” without looking back.

Jin Cheonhee blankly looked around holding the bundle.

The smell of old books.

Endless bookshelves.

The bookshelf height alone seemed to be about two zhang, or approximately 6 meters to the ceiling.

And those tall bookshelves were packed densely with books.

There were even some in the form of bamboo slips, not books.

They looked so ancient that the talk about ancient supreme techniques didn’t seem to be a lie.

‘This isn’t the Library of Babylon… so this is the Imperial Archives. A place that appears at least once in martial arts novels…’

Though he would have to spend ten days here without moving, his heart was racing a bit.

‘Hehe. I’ve always wanted to come here once.’

Excluding the philosophical aspects of martial arts, the essence of martial arts ultimately comes from martial techniques.

This place filled with profound martial knowledge.

Standing in the middle of it all, his heart started beating faster and faster.

‘Whew! What should I read first? Wow, my hands are really trembling.’

What kind of books would be in the Imperial Archives of this king god true martial arts world?

What secret manuals would the Supreme Heavenly Demon author have hidden here!

“The Zhongnan Sect’s super powerful supreme technique, Sword Setting Middle X[2]! Why is this here? But… it seems incomplete. I can’t learn it. Too bad…”

Why does it feel nostalgic somehow?

“Oh! And there’s the Zhongnan Sect’s super ultra powerful supreme technique, Six Harmonies Returning X Divine Technique[3]! A super powerful internal energy cultivation method comparable to the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts, but no one has ever succeeded in learning it… But reading it, is this really impossible to learn? Master six different supreme-level internal energy cultivation methods, fully master them, and then combine them into one? Is this something humans can do? And I’ve already learned something else, so this is impossible for me. Too bad…”

Somehow, he felt he could understand the Supreme Heavenly Demon author’s taste.

‘Hmm, similar to mine.’

It can’t be helped.

The book Jin Cheonhee chose wasn’t ‘SSS-Rank Supreme Heavenly Demon’ nor ‘Becoming a Supreme Heavenly Demon Hunter.’

Today’s youngsters might call it old-fashioned, but he liked this kind of book.

Those books that can never be fully explained by the ‘one-line summary’ trend popular on the web.

There are some essences in this world that can never be summarized.

Just as cutting off arms, legs, and head in an attempt to summarize would no longer leave a living being, Jin Cheonhee liked such books.

“Being cut off from the world for ten days to read only martial arts manuals…”

A place completely isolated from whether massacres occur or people die outside.

There’s food, a place to sleep, and the temperature is kept constant.

It felt strange.

“This is healing.”

When he first heard the explanation, he thought it was crazy in a way befitting the imperial palace, but thinking again, there’s no better healing than this.

“Where should I start reading…”

With the Dual Mind-Intention Technique and the Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique, speed reading isn’t a problem.

Rather than mentally reciting the text, it feels like absorbing the entire image of a book with the eyes.

‘I started by reading diagonally, I think?’

With limited break time and martial arts novels as a hobby, having to read quickly during those breaks meant starting to take in entire sentences just by reading diagonally.

Jin Cheonhee first picked up a martial arts manual from the farthest corner.

Flutter, flutter.

A speed that might seem like merely flipping pages.

But Jin Cheonhee’s expression was serious.

“Wow, this is interesting.”

Thus, in less than one hour, he mastered one martial arts manual and reached for the next.

To an onlooker, it would have seemed like posturing or the behavior of a madman.

***

One shichen (about 2 hours) of sleep per day, and reading.

He relieved some fatigue through breathing exercises and continued to master the martial arts manuals.

‘Such an opportunity won’t come again.’

This opportunity was entirely due to His Imperial Highness Eun’s whim.

While he now shows favor to Jin Cheonhee for saving his life, the favor of those in power is like the wind.

It would be difficult to get a second chance to enter the Imperial Archives.

The third day.

Speed reading through the Profound Origin Heaven and Earth Divine Technique and the Dual Mind-Intention Technique began to get faster and faster.

His proficiency was building up.

‘Indeed, the more excellent the martial arts secrets are, the more similarities they share.’

He began to build up classifications of commonalities and differences between various martial arts in a corner of his mind.

In that sense, the previous match between Cheon Woo and the Demonic Cult master provided considerable inspiration for establishing martial arts theory.

His speed reading continued to accelerate, and he had already read one-tenth of the entire collection.

Flutter-flutter-

He only turned pages quickly with a gesture so light it might seem careless at first glance.

‘Judging by my internal clock and the light coming down from outside… I can now master about 12 books per hour.’

Of course, he couldn’t do this his entire life.

He was just doing his best to intensively “heal” for ten days.

For some unknown reason, there was clearly natural light coming down from the ceiling in the Imperial Archives.

It seemed designed to allow outside air to circulate.

Of course, he didn’t dare try to analyze the principle behind it. Because there was no benefit in doing so.

Better to spend that time dismantling, disassembling, and reassembling all the books in these archives.