Chapter 349: Jingshen Finger

Inferior Earth-stage—Jingshen Finger. This line of words etched itself on the stone plaque.

It was indeed one of the Earth-stage warrior techniques.

“T-This… It’s…” The man in charge of the recording stared at Elder Mo Cang, dumbfounded.

According to the academy’s regulations, they had to record Earth-stage warrior techniques separately when someone read it. On top of that, they had to inform the director and all the elders.

Wrath welled in Elder Mo Cang’s heart like hot lava. With nowhere to vent his anger, he barked at the two men, “Record it down! Quickly!”

“Y-yes!” The man in charge of the recording took out another booklet immediately. His hands shook as he wrote.

The man standing behind the elder began to panic. He stayed silent and held his breath to minimize his presence.

Anyone could tell that Elder Mo Cang was on the verge of lashing out. Whoever was in his sight was in danger of incurring his wrath.

Suddenly, Elder Mo Cang looked up at the second floor of the library. Although the collection in the library is vast, there are only a handful of Earth-stage warrior technique books, which are also well-hidden. How did she find them?

The elder wanted to storm upstairs and chase Chu Liuyue out of the library, but he couldn’t.

All Chu Liuyue did was read and nothing else. She might be reading at breakneck speed, but they couldn’t find fault with that.

They could only wait and see.

If the situation persisted, they just had to wait for her to come out once her time was up.

“Elder Mo Cang, it’s not a bad thing for Chu Liuyue to start reading an Earth-stage warrior technique book. See, she has been reading the same book for a while, and she hasn’t opened another. I think she’s studying it in detail. According to the agreement, she can only read the books in the library. Since she can’t take the books out, she’s likely to spend more time on this one,” explained the man doing the records seriously.

The elder’s expression became solemn. This thought had crossed my mind, but she is reading an Earth-stage warrior technique book.

He felt indignant that Chu Liuyue had found it so effortlessly. When one of their students won first place at the Qing Jiao Competition last year, he didn’t find any Earth-stage warrior technique books!

“Stay here! I will inform the director right away!”

“Yes, sir!”

…

It was dark when Elder Mo Cang arrived at Cheng Han’s residence.

The former could see light seeping out of the windows. As he stood at the door, he could hear voices coming from several people.

The conversation stopped when he knocked.

Cheng Han opened the door himself.

The candlelight shone on the director’s frame; he didn’t look pleased to see the elder. “Mo Cang, what are you doing here? What’s wrong?”

The elder peered into the house and saw two men—they were investigators sent by the other two academies to look into Heng Jingchuo’s and Yang Jianqing’s matters.

The discussion didn’t seem to go well for the three men.

Elder Mo Cang said quickly, “Director, I have to inform you about something immediately. It’s urgent.”

Cheng Han had the perfect excuse! He racked his brains on how to dismiss the other two men.

He looked at Mo Cang and hinted. “Is it urgent?”

The elder understood his meaning instantly and nodded without hesitation.

Cheng Han turned and looked at the two men in his house. “Gentlemen, I’m sorry, but that’s all the time I have for today.”

They knew, without a doubt, that Cheng Han was evading them. However, they had no choice except to leave.

Once they were gone, Cheng Han finally sighed with relief as he invited Mo Cang into his residence.

The elder asked tentatively, “Director, things didn’t go as smoothly as you thought?”

Cheng Han was beyond frustrated. “Yang Jianqing and Heng Jingchuo are already dead! How am I supposed to search for clues when we can’t even find their corpses? The investigators are here, yet they couldn’t find anything. They even have the gall to accuse me of harboring the culprit!”

Cheng Han felt aggrieved. Everyone knew about the investigators’ presence, and it was a major incident. He couldn’t just send the two men packing without a valid reason.

The director massaged his temple. “Let’s not talk about this anymore. Tell me, why have you come?”

The long walk had diminished Elder Mo Cang’s wrath and turned it into unease and frustration. On his way here, he came up with a speech to break the news to Cheng Han.

Chu Liuyue had caused the director and Tai Yan Academy a great deal of embarrassment. This matter was the last straw.

After careful deliberation, Mo Cang decided to come clean to the director. “Chu Liuyue is currently reading an Earth-stage warrior technique book in the library.”

Cheng Han’s face froze instantly.

His reaction was within Mo Cang’s expectations. “Director, please don’t worry yourself about this.”

“Which book was it?” Cheng Han was anxious to know.

Mo Cang took a moment to recall the title. “I think… it’s Jingshen Finger. The inferior—”

Bang!

Cheng Han stood up so abruptly that he toppled his chair. He then grabbed Mo Cang at the collar. “What did you say?”

The elder repeated his words with much difficulty. “The… i-inferior book. Fortunately, she has stopped browsing the rest and is concentrating on this one.”

Hong!

Cheng Han pushed him away with a shove.

Mo Cang staggered and hit the wall.

The tremendous impact almost dislocated the elder’s shoulder. Nevertheless, he showed no sign of displeasure.

After he rubbed his shoulder, he saw Cheng Han stride away furiously.

“Director!” Stunned, Mo Cang followed quickly.

As he ran, he recalled the director’s earlier reaction. Cheng Han seems to take this matter very seriously. Chu Liuyue’s perusal of an Earth-stage warrior technique book shouldn’t warrant such a huge reaction from him.

The elder frowned and ran after the director.

…

Chu Liuyue sat cross-legged in the library.

A book floated in mid-air before her, the pages flipping slowly.

Her eyes were trained on the lines of words and the drawings while she memorized the book.

Jingshen Finger—although it was inferior Earth-stage, the book was considered a treasure in this library.

It touched on the technicalities of fingering.

Nobody could master this skill in a short time. Chu Liuyue planned to memorize the book before she started practicing it when she had more time.

For an ordinary warrior, one might have to read the book 100 times in order to understand the content before they started practicing.

But Chu Liuyue was different. She had read various warrior technique books that were far more advanced than this one. It shouldn’t take her long to finish.

Suddenly, she sensed something amiss when she was one-third into the book—the contents of Jingshen Finger were more complicated and obscure than the other books that she had read.