After calming his excitement, Gu Feng began copying the books.
The Gu Family rules dictated that original martial arts manuals and secret techniques could not be removed from the Library Pavilion. Anyone who wanted to take a manual out had to hand-copy a duplicate.
The copying took the better part of the day. It was not until dusk that Gu Feng finally put down his brush, secretly lamenting to himself that copying books was truly backbreaking work.
Fortunately, back in his childhood in his past life, he had been frequently punished by teachers with writing lines, so he was already used to it; otherwise, his hand would have certainly suffered severe cramps. He silently thanked nine-year compulsory education.
After finishing the books, Gu Feng did not leave immediately, instead walking over to the veranda outside the fourth floor.
The height here far exceeded that of the surrounding buildings. Looking out, Gu Feng could see rows of white-walled, grey-tiled houses extending endlessly along the winding river all the way to the horizon.
As the sun set, casting a red glow everywhere, the brilliant orange-red sun was about to dip below the horizon.
In the distance, a few white cranes flew past from time to time, leaving graceful silhouettes in the sky before fading into the distance.
Standing atop the tall pavilion, Gu Feng enjoyed the cool sensation of the gentle breeze brushing past.
Suddenly, Gu Feng felt that this world was actually quite wonderful. Although many things from his past life did not exist here, there were also many things here that his past life had lacked.
As the last trace of orange afterglow at the edge of the sky was swallowed by the darkness, night officially arrived.
Gu Feng picked up the three copied volumes on alchemy, tucked them securely inside his robe against his chest, and headed downstairs.
The reason Gu Feng had only copied three books was that the Complete Compendium of Spirit Herbs was simply too thick, and the pages were densely covered with marginal notes in tiny text.
With just a single glance, Gu Feng had put on a mask of pure agony and completely abandoned the idea of copying it out.
Seeing Gu Feng come downstairs empty-handed, Zhuo Li simply assumed that Gu Feng had spent the better part of the day browsing martial arts techniques in the Library Pavilion without actually copying any manuals.
He never imagined that Gu Feng would secretly conceal duplicate manuals to take them out.
Given Gu Feng's status as a direct descendant, he could easily have registered them and taken the duplicates out fair and square.
The guards of the Library Pavilion did not search direct descendants for stolen manuals.
According to the family rules of the Gu Family, direct descendants were free to enter and leave the Library Pavilion to consult martial arts techniques.
Therefore, even strict inspections were meaningless; if someone intended to smuggle a manual out, they could simply choose to memorize the chants by heart.
Moreover, every floor of the Library Pavilion was isolated by barrier arrays, meaning that anyone who managed to obtain a manual possessed the qualification to practice it.
Only when servants of the Gu Estate rendered great service and were rewarded with entry into the Library Pavilion would there be dedicated personnel monitoring them throughout the process, keeping detailed records of which techniques they studied.
Furthermore, there were extremely rigorous checks when leaving the Library Pavilion.
Anyone who learned a technique in the Library Pavilion needed to have it recorded in a ledger to facilitate family statistics and management.
Anyone caught secretly learning without reporting it would face severe punishments, and even direct descendants of the family were no exception.
However, because the heritage of alchemy was far too precious, Gu Feng naturally did not want to casually let a few guards know that the Gu Family possessed an alchemical legacy.
With Gu Feng's current standing in the Gu Estate, secretly taking a few duplicate copies out of the Library Pavilion did not amount to any great matter.
Several days had passed since Gu Feng copied the alchemy techniques. During this time, he had been carefully studying these books on the Dao of pills, focusing primarily on the Flame Manipulation Art.
After several days of study, Gu Feng gained a much deeper understanding of the profession of an alchemist, and his inner resolve to walk the path of an alchemist grew even firmer.
Alchemists were currently roughly divided into two schools. The first school used one's own true qi to refine pills.
This school required the practitioner's true qi to possess the fire attribute, with fire and wood dual attributes being the absolute best—fire as the primary, and wood as the secondary.
This school was also the path taken by the vast majority of alchemists and was the mainstream school across the continent.
The second school utilized earth fire or fire-attribute formations to refine pills.
Because external forces were used to refine pills, controlling the heat was far more difficult, making this path much harder to walk. It was a choice of last resort taken by only a very small minority.
Regardless of the school, anyone wishing to become an alchemist had to possess exceptional soul perception.
Only in this way could one execute the minute operations that ordinary people could not manage, greatly increasing the success rate of pill concoction.
It was precisely because of this point that Gu Feng felt even more confident in his ability to become a true alchemist.
When it came to soul power, having lived two lives, he feared no one.
Having made up his mind, Gu Feng did not immediately choose to go out and buy medicinal ingredients for refinement.
He intended to first go to the Library Pavilion and thoroughly study the spiritual herbs recorded in the Complete Compendium of Spirit Herbs.
If an alchemist was unfamiliar with the medicinal properties of the ingredients he wanted to refine, how could he possibly succeed in concocting pills?
All of this theoretical knowledge was mandatory reading before becoming an alchemist.
The Dao of alchemy was likewise a supreme heavenly road; it was by no means that simple.
Arriving at the Library Pavilion once again, Gu Feng picked up the thick Complete Compendium of Spirit Herbs and began to read.
The Complete Compendium of Spirit Herbs recorded a vast array of medicinal introductions complete with illustrations, and the blank spaces beside the text were filled with vigorous and extraordinary handwriting.
It was evident that the person who made the notes was extremely well-versed in the properties of various medicinal ingredients, otherwise they could never have written such detailed annotations. These detailed notes alone were likely worth a small fortune.
The Gu Family surely did not possess such a capable person, did they?
Gu Feng thought to himself inwardly, suddenly feeling a great wave of curiosity as to where the Old Master had actually acquired the alchemy heritage.
However, Gu Feng did not dare to ask the Old Master directly. If the Old Master learned that he was planning to secretly study the art of alchemy, he would undoubtedly face obstruction.
Having high talent in martial arts cultivation did not mean one had high talent in alchemy; the two had no great connection.
The Old Master would never risk allowing him to waste a large amount of time studying alchemy.
Given the talent Gu Feng had currently displayed, he had a very high probability of advancing to become a Grandmaster in the future.
The status of an alchemist was indeed noble, but before a Grandmaster, it was not worth mentioning—unless one was a Grandmaster alchemist.
Gu Feng had secretly inquired for a few years, and only ever heard that the royal families of every nation possessed Grandmaster-level powerhouses.
As for an alchemist Grandmaster, he had never even heard of one, nor did he know if such an existence could be found in the Desolate Sea Domain.
Therefore, Gu Feng could only practice alchemy in secret first. Once he achieved certain results and proved that he truly possessed a talent for alchemy, persuading the Old Master would become much simpler.
More than ten days later, Gu Feng gently closed the thick compendium of pill formulas and let out a soft sigh, finally memorizing the contents of this book. He silently thanked test-oriented education.
"Third Young Master, why are you coming down so early today?"
Zhuo Li stood at the entrance of the Library Pavilion, looking puzzled as he saw Gu Feng walk out from inside.
For the past ten days or so, Gu Feng had come to the Library Pavilion punctually every day, staying for the entire day.
Seeing him suddenly leave early today, Zhuo Li could not help feeling a bit surprised.
"The martial arts techniques I needed to study are pretty much finished, so I plan to go back and practice them," Gu Feng said with a smile.
"Indeed, martial arts techniques are meant to be practiced in the end," Zhuo Li nodded in agreement.
After leaving the Library Pavilion, Gu Feng planned to first go find Xiaolan and ask where he could purchase medicinal ingredients and a pill furnace.
He had spent the past few years keeping his head down and practicing hard at home, knowing very little about the situation in Anshuang County.
Gu Feng seriously doubted that if he didn't ask clearly first and just went wandering around blindly tomorrow, he would likely have a hard time finding his way back home. After all, this world lacked such divine artifacts as GPS navigation.