Chao Yue Hall, the main entrance is an octagonal tower with exquisitely carved beams and painted rafters, though appearing old, it remains wide and grand, its aura still present after the passage of time.

Behind the octagonal tower is a three-courtyard complex of pavilions and towers.

This complex, situated in the bustling area of Dazhi City, should have been a place to gather wealth, but it is actually a rather aged bookstore and a Book Collection Pavilion, frequently visited by literary figures engaging in discussions, or in eloquent conversation, with an air of literary charm.

Scholars and well-bred ladies who love literature and art in Dazhi City all enjoy coming here to sit, as the environment and atmosphere are both excellent.

The bookstore was built by the parents of the owner, Dong Wenshu, with family collections accumulated over generations, and its name signifies reading from morning to night.

From the old appearance of the gatehouse, it is clear this is not a profit-making place. Ten coins for a whole day's reading with tea provided, and fifteen coins include a snack substantial enough to be lunch. Borrowing a book is two coins per day.

A piece of sandalwood gold can be exchanged for a hundred coins, so this revenue barely covers expenses for such a large place, leaving little room for profit.

Shi Chun, dressed as a servant in blue, reclines in the corner by a rare unoccupied desk, resting his chin on his hands, with a book beside him, although his gaze often wanders to admire the figures of young ladies.

Whenever someone raises a hand to signal, he immediately gets up to fetch a hot water kettle from one of several stoves, hurrying to pour tea, fetch ink, and so on.

After closing time, the task of collecting and categorizing books for the second floor is not his concern, as Dong Liangyu, the second daughter of the owner, is responsible for the upstairs collection.

The owner, Dong Wenshu, has three daughters and one son.

Their mother passed away early, so the eldest daughter, Dong Liangyi, had to take on a maternal role, managing the family's meals and daily needs in the back courtyard.

The third daughter manages the bookstore's front desk, handling accounts and such.

The son, Dong Liangze, is the youngest, skilled in both writing and martial arts, taking on tasks more suited to men, such as making public appearances.

Overall, the family's upbringing is quite good. By comparison, the father, Dong Wenshu, appears more old-fashioned and conservative, at least in Shi Chun's eyes. How could this family earn any money just by guarding this Book Collection Pavilion? It would be better to rent it out.

Shi Chun himself did not expect that one day he would come to the Book Collection Pavilion to act as a handyman.

And the reason he ended up here is because he previously thought Young Master Nan made sense. With first place in the Sky Rain Meteor Conference and winning the Divine Fire Covenant, and with so many deaths and injuries in the struggle for interests, making a big payoff and facing the elements was bound to cause trouble, so it was necessary to hide and lay low for a while to avoid the limelight.

This hiding lasted two years.

Two years later, he fully refined the Demonic Qi he had absorbed in the Divine Fire Domain, just enough to pass the critical threshold, allowing his cultivation to step into the High Martial Great Success Realm.

His cultivation technique was different from others', without Demonic Qi there was no need for cultivation, so he naturally turned his thoughts to other matters.

What he was most concerned about was the pile of magical treasures gathered in the Divine Fire Domain, which couldn't be left as waste, and certainly needed to be repaired. Whatever their utility, they would at least be valuable.

But after Tong Mingshan researched the damaged magical treasures, he said they were basically beyond repair, with little possibility of restoration.

He explained that if the material body of the magical treasures was damaged, that could be handled, but the problem was that the Artifact Spirits within the treasures had all passed away.

And these magical treasures were essentially forged to match their Artifact Spirits, meaning replacing them with different Artifact Spirits would render the treasures completely useless.

Unless you could find Artifact Spirits with the same form, function, or cultivation technique during their previous life, and similar cultivation level, to replace the Artifact Spirits within the magical treasures, there was a possibility of repair.

Matching such conditions is extremely difficult; just finding Artifact Spirits of this level is no easy feat.

A fifth-grade magical treasure requires at least an Earth Immortal Upper Realm level of cultivation for the Artifact Spirit in its previous life. Once forged into an Artifact Spirit, it certainly cannot measure up to its past life; the realm it wields would downgrade, with Great Success falling to Upper Realm, Upper Realm to Lesser Success, and Lesser Success downgrading further.

This is if the expertise of the one who forged the Artifact Spirit is superb, potentially only downgrading by one level; lesser skill may result in multiple levels of downgrade.

Of course, there seemingly exists the simplest repair method: directly awakening the Artifact Spirit.

It is said to require a treasure called "Death Refusing Incense," a kind of incense whose fragrance is said to awaken the dead. Provided the corpse is intact and death hasn't surpassed three months, those who smell this fragrance can be brought back to life.

Though Tong Mingshan specifically researched this, Shi Chun was still a bit worried about his proficiency, having witnessed awkward moments during the Divine Fire Covenant contest; as to how Tong Mingshan won the crown, Shi Chun later learned it was through sudden enlightenment.

Because of this, he took a broken magical treasure to find Young Master Nan, hoping he could find a restoration method.

In the end, Young Master Nan's experts gave the same answer as Tong Mingshan: the magical treasure is essentially in ruins and can be abandoned.

Abandon it? For Shi Chun, no way. He was counting on these treasures to make a name for himself. If there were no chance, that would be one thing, but with a chance, how could he give up?

If it's necessary to repair, there are only two methods: either find a similar Artifact Spirit for replacement or find the 'Death Refusing Incense' to awaken the slumbering Artifact Spirit.

The first method is basically impossible, so there's only the second method, to search for the 'Death Refusing Incense'.

However, this item had some quantity in ancient times, but now it's extremely rare, and according to records, it seems the Heavenly Court has a collection of it. But how could Shi Chun covet the treasures of the Heavenly Court?

The reason it is so rare nowadays is due to it being derived from a unique type of tree, named the 'Reversing Soul Tree'. The 'Death Refusing Incense' is refined from this tree.

Because of its miraculous effects, this tree was completely logged long, long ago.

Crucially, this tree cannot be cultivated. It's a truly naturally grown object. Before maturing, this tree exists in a soul-like state, invisible, only manifesting once it grows up.

But as soon as it manifests, it gets discovered and cut down quickly.

Because the fragrance released by this tree can drift a hundred miles away, how could it stay hidden? Rather than waiting for others to take it, it's better to take it oneself.

This is probably the reason for this tree's extinction.

By rights, facing such conditions, normal people should know to retreat.

But Shi Chun's right eye is not normal. Upon hearing that this tree is invisible while in a soul-like state, he immediately got excited, feeling he had a unique opportunity, as if heaven gifted it to him.

Since he was already in a dormant state, he could lie low at home just as well as outside.

So he at once asked Young Master Nan to help him investigate the growth location of the 'Reversing Soul Tree'.

The large regions were quite easy to check. A check revealed its original place was in Juku State of Xihe, at a place called Divine Bird Mountain. It's said that mountain was full of those Reversing Soul Trees with fragrance spreading for hundreds of miles. But these records were found in ancient books, and being so long ago, those iconic trees have long since been cut down. Plus, with land changes over the ages, even the terrain has undergone several changes.

The problem is, there is no place with the name 'Divine Bird Mountain' in current Juku State. Those legends only exist in ancient books, with no certainty of truth.

Without a specific location, or even a general location, how is Shi Chun to search that vast land?

Of course, not finding it immediately doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Maybe someone knows. Young Master Nan said he'd help search slowly.

Later, one day, Young Master Nan suddenly told him that, while chatting with a friend from Juku State about the 'Reversing Soul Tree', that friend mentioned an event from a few years back. In a place called Dazhi City, a strange fragrance suddenly drifted from outside the city, persisting for a long time.

More bizarrely, some graves outside the city started to undergo abnormalities. Some corpses revived and crawled out. For a time, some zombie-like creatures wandered outside the city, disgustingly causing them to be entirely slain and reburied.

Initially, it was thought someone was casting some evil magic, but upon further investigation, it was found that the revived corpses all shared a commonality. They had all died within three months, coupled with the incident's location in Juku State, raising suspicion that someone was refining or using the 'Death Refusing Incense'.

Shi Chun learned from this that even the 'Death Refusing Incense' couldn't revive corpses that died two or three months ago. The bodies would be decayed, only resurrecting something akin to the soul of the corpse.

He didn't care about that, as long as it could resurrect the Artifact Spirit of the Magical Treasure.

Since there were traces of 'Death Refusing Incense' in Dazhi City of Juku State, who could guarantee no traces were left? It might have just been a passing event, but that doesn't stop him from searching for possible clues. He believes things happen for reasons, and every trace is left by something passing by.

As mentioned, lying low at home or in Dazhi City is the same, so why not investigate? Who knows, he might just find it.

That was why he ended up doing odd jobs in 'Chao Yue Hall' of present-day Dazhi City.

After arriving in Dazhi City, he heard of a famous library here. Considering himself a cultured person, a scholar, he naturally visits often, flipping through books during leisure, hoping to find geographic answers from ancient books, such as 'Divine Bird Mountain', along with some others.

He came very low-key. Even though he's quite wealthy now, even powerful, he dresses quite humbly, not wanting to appear wealthy and attract trouble, contrary to his intent to remain low-profile.

Yet, this drew the attention of Miss Dong Liangyu, the second young lady overseeing the second floor library.

Not in a romantic way, but she noticed how fond he was of reading, genuinely spending a long time each visit, unlike some others.

The Dong Family has girls, each like flowers and jade, graceful ladies whom gentlemen pursue. Many visitors have ulterior motives, and the Dong Family's children are aware of it.

Dong Liangyu found Shi Chun was different from those men with hidden agendas, genuinely coming to read, and saw him in a different light.

Upon careful observation, she also noticed that sometimes Shi Chun just observed others reading poetry matches on the first floor. Amid the buzz, he simply enjoyed from the side, not participating. Though plainly dressed, he had manners, not a disgrace to his love for reading.

In fact, Shi Chun also thought of joining others in poetry matches, but he found himself unable to, spending a long time and achieving nothing. When it came to written communication, his handwriting was embarrassing. What was he to do?

He had no choice but to be a quiet, refined man on the side.

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