.
.
.
Tian Ye, who was finally able to breath, looked at Zhao Meng and asked, "Young lady Zhao, is there a library around here?"
"A library?" Zhao Meng processed Tian Ye's words for a moment then answered, "Yes, my lord. There's a library in each district. As for their contents they are more or less the same but the one in the Zhao clan's territory… to be exact the one in the Zhao clan's manor has the richest collection."
"I see, show me the way."
"Understood, please follow me… ah!" Zhao Meng couldn't even finish her words before Tian Ye carried her away in his arms.
"You're too slow, just point in the direction where the Zhao clan is." Tian Ye chuckled in reply, looking at her eyes with a smile as he jumped from one roof to another.
Zhao Meng, staring at Tian Ye's handsome face that was smiling, she couldn't help but blush but then, she remembered the earlier sight of Tian Ye being so casual after he exterminated a clan… brutally at that… the manor filled with the clan's blood everywhere.
She couldn't help but feel goosebumps all over her body.
She shook her head to compose herself then pointed in the direction of the Zhao clan's manor as they rapidly approached the 1st District whilst being carried in Tian Ye's arms.
"It's over there, my lord."
Tian Ye didn't say anything and simply went in the direction in which Zhao Meng pointed at.
After a few minutes, with the speed the Zhao Meng's mortal body could endure, they arrived at the Zhao clan's gates.
"Who's there?!" One of the two guards at the entrance of the gates, wearing white robes with the insignia of the Zhao clan on their chest and armed with a spear, shouted warily.
Although they said it in a rush, when they saw Zhao Meng, they hurriedly bowed and the one who shouted, apologized, "I apologize for my rudeness, Second Young Lady." Then looked towards Tian Ye who was putting Zhao Meng down on her feet, asking, "This individual…?"
Zhao Meng just straightened her clothes and coughed before speaking, "Be more respectful, this individual is Lord Tian Ye!"
"Lord Tian Ye…?" The two guards processed for a moment, then their faces paled, dropping the spears they had in their hands and hurriedly kowtowed to apologize. "W-We apologize, Lord Tian! We didn't know it was you, please forgive us!"
Tian Ye then complained, "Young Lady Zhao, what are you telling them about me? If people see this scene, they might think I'm some kind of crazy individual who gets offended at every turn."
Hearing his words, Zhao Meng's lips twitched with the thought, 'Isn't that the case?' But didn't voice it out and said with a helpless laugh, "My lord, I just educated them to not be rude towards you."
"Hm…" Tian Ye just looked at them meaningfully then asked in interest, "So? Where's the library?"
"It's this way, my lord, please follow me." Zhao Meng led the way, entering the Zhao clan's gates.
The two guards who were kowtowing stood up, then looked over at the backs of Tian Ye and Zhao Meng.
They then heaved a sigh of relief.
"We didn't offend him, did we?" One of the guards spoke while the other guard nodded in reply, "It seems so. The lord seems reasonable and kind, maybe the second young lady was exaggerating?"
Zhao Meng led Tian Ye inside a 3-story pavilion and inside it, the smell of paper instantly permeated through his nose.
Meanwhile, his sight was filled with books, as the walls were filled with bookshelves and each bookshelf was filled with books. There were also a couple of bookshelves in the middle.
"This is the Zhao clan's library, my lord."
"I see… This is indeed quite the collection. You can leave me alone for now and if possible, can you get me several jars of wine from Owner Li, preferably a hundred?"
Zhao Meng was a little surprised, but she agreed, slightly bowing her head, "Yes, my lord, I'll be back in 1 hour at most."
Tian Ye who had his back turned to Zhao Meng, then exclaimed, "Oh, and bring Owner Li here too. I have some things to discuss with her."
Zhao Meng just agreed without asking and slowly backed away, "Then, I'll excuse myself first, my lord."
Tian Ye didn't pay any more attention to her and started looking through the first floor of the Zhao clan's library and began to count in his mind.
'One… Two… Seven… Nineteen… Twenty-Five… Thirty-Eight… Fifty…?!' Tian Ye was slightly taken aback but nodded in satisfaction and started on the first bookshelf on the left, he planned to go through all the books on the first floor in a clockwise rotation.
After grabbing a few books, his brows furrowed as he read through the titles.
[Introduction to Sword Arts]
[Medicinal Herbs Volume 1]
[Introduction to Money]
In one book shelf, he had found 3 different categories! As someone with a mild OCD, Tian Ye was a little annoyed so he began grabbing books at every turn and throwing them down to the ground, one part for sword arts, one part for medicine, one part for money, and for others.
Since these people didn't feel his pain, he arranged them himself.
For a little over ten minutes, the sounds of books falling into the wooden floor continuously sounded within the Zhao clan's library.
There were a little over twenty topics, but he focused more on the history of Yellow Leaf City, Medicinal Books, Geography.
Overall, there were 84 books about these things combined, so he put them all in one of the eight tables within the Zhao clan's library and sat down, reading about the history of Yellow Leaf City.
The history of the Yellow Leaf City was the one with less books after all so he started with this one, there were only two.
With his elbow on top of the table, his fist on his cheek, he lazily turned the pages and began to read silently.
'100 years ago, a group of people, specifically, the Zhao Clan decided to reside in one place. In this place, there was a landmark of a tree with yellow leaves despite being fully healthy, marking the Yellow Leaf City of today. At first, there were only dozens of people but as time went on, people who arrived, decided to stay…'
Tian Ye then thought in interest, 'Why did they decide to stay? And where did they come from? Were they driven away or could it be… They're nomads?'
'10 years later, the Fang Clan arrived…'
'Then five years later, the Duan Clan arrived.'
Tian Ye tilted his head with the question, 'Honestly, where are they coming from?'
The history then reached its climax after another 5 years, 'The great disaster. The clans were originally continuously growing in people, each of the three clans having at least a hundred people and intermarriage in between clans but it was put to a halt when a 3rd Order Beast leading lower orders to attack during the pre-formation of Yellow Leaf City caused the clans to suffer losses setting them back to only about a hundred people combined.'
'This time, the clans are more prepared and sent people to venture into the woods and scout the area to see if there were beasts in the area or are there nearby cities but to no avail, only 2 years later that they encounter merchants from another city called Crimson Cloud City and enhanced their connections. From then on, the settlement became a village in the next 20 years with influx of people coming in… and another clan arrived, the Xiong clan... After 30 more years, the village rapidly expanded in population and became a small city…'
"The Xiong Clan was from another city? That's unexpected, do they have a Xiong Clan in Crimson Cloud City too? Maybe I'll exterminate it too when I have time…" Tian Ye muttered, talking to himself casually but then the sound of glass smashing into the ground was heard from his side.
He turned his attention to the direction and he saw Li Hua and Zhao Meng behind her with similar pale faces.
He looked down and found out that it was a wine jar that broke and the liquid inside all flew out of the wine jar and he said with a bit of regret, "How wasteful, Owner Li."
Li Hua, despite hearing such cruel words earlier from Tian Ye, immediately composed herself and replied calmly, bowing her head, "My apologies for wasting wine, Lord Tian. I've brought my servants with me and we have cleaned out the storage and brought exactly 100 like you've asked. Since I've wasted one jar, we'll immediately prepare another wine for you as soon as we get more from the Liquor Store."
Tian Ye scolded, "Owner Li, it's not about the amount of wine but about wasting wine."
"Yes, Lord Tian, I apologize once again."
"Ha… Forget it and just bring it all here."
Li Hua heaved a sigh of relief then nodded towards the servants outside signaling for them to bring the wine over.
Meanwhile, Zhao Meng was also relieved but asked about the messy books on the ground of the first floor of the Zhao clan's library, "My lord, These books…"
Tian Ye just continued to read the books in his hands and replied nonchalantly, "Oh that? I arranged it by topic for your clan, put it back into the book shelves together. Your library is quite messy, why do you put knowledge swords, money, and medicine randomly in the same bookshelves? Do you like wasting time that much looking for books? Does it make you look busy and productive when you spend time looking for the books you want? In any case, arrange it for me, Young Lady Zhao."
.
.
.