Chương 30: My Precious Brain That's Worth 1.000 Points.

000 Points.

As Xiao Cai said, it took the group eleven days to reach the capital. That's already thanks to the fact that Burning Sky City is near the capital. Between the Burning Sky City and the Capital City, there's only another city under the imperial family's control, which Ren Qingquan's group used as a place to restock their rations. The journey was uneventful, well, I wanted to say that. But actually, the trip was fucking chaotic.

There weren't any robbery or saving a damsel in distress plot that the usual novel main character encounters. Instead, there were a lot of assassins attacking the carriage. I must repeat it - A Lot! In the first two days, everything goes as normal. It's so dull that Ren Qingquan and I thought Fatty Zhang was exaggerating too much. But when the third day arrived, the convoys met two assassination attacks. Both of them targeted Fatty while ignoring the rest.

At most, the assassins only attacked those who blocked their path. Fortunately, the assassins were limited to a few Martial Masters and some Martial Apprentices. One of the Martial Grandmaster guards led a small team of Martial Master guards and easily repelled the attack. With each victory, the team slowly proceeded towards the capital short rest. As for what happens to those assassins? Well, let's say I gained a few points. On the fourth day, another assassin group targeted Fatty.

This time, there are even two Martial Grandmasters in the group. Just like before, the guards easily handled them. Then, there's another assassin attack at night as the day's finale. When meeting the fourth assassin group, even Ren Qingquan has become speechless. He decided to ask Fatty something I am curious about as well.

"Fatty, how come so many people has been trying to assassinate you?!"

"Ah? Well, that's because I am the first elder's only grandson. Except for me, my grandpa only has granddaughters that can't inherit the patriarchy Zhang family. In terms of competing for the patriarch position, my status actually brought me to be among the top three people, next to the current patriarch's two sons. That's why many people who have bet on them feel extremely threatened by the prospects of my return.

Also people trying to get lucky to inherit the patriarch position don't want to see an additional competitor in the capital. Especially me, because I am too big of a threat."

"Then, why don't you just try to fight back and join the competition for that patriarch position? Also, shouldn't you have a lot of backers as the first elder's only grandson? Why didn't I see them sending any help?" Like a broken dam, Fatty Zhang's complaint endlessly flows.

"I've tried it before, but those times still haunt me in my nightmares. The number of tricks those people used is simply endless. As for the people sent by my grandfather, except for a few guards I've asked to enter the capital separately as decoys, most are being held back in the capital. The patriarch said the older generation shouldn't get too involved in the younger generation's struggle and similar bullshit like that."

While Fatty Zhang complained, I somehow felt he looked like a wronged wife in an evening soap opera. Fatty Zhang only paused when they reached the capital. He pointed in a direction and told the coachman the road to the Zhang family's residence. Even though the land price in the capital must've been even higher than in the Burning Sky City, the Zhang family residence is also as big as the Ren Family's. When they reached the residence's gate, Fatty Zhang showed his token to the guard before being allowed inside.

After parking the carriage, Fatty Zhang seems in a hurry to go somewhere. Fortunately, before Fatty left, Ren Qingquan remembered to ask for a favor from Fatty.

"Fatty, I've recently developed an interest in books and would like to visit your family's library, and if possible, other families' libraries too. I don't need to access the core sections, just the parts with basic knowledge will suffice for me." Fatty Zhang immediately understood, "Then, please wait in a guest room. I'll go and ask a servant to give you some documents.

You should be able to use them as a pass for the Zhang family library, royal library, and a few other families that's allied with the Zhang family." Ren Qingquan nodded. Along with Xiao Cai, they watched Fatty Zhang leave. As promised, Ren Qingquan also told a few guards to follow Fatty Zhang and protect him. Soon after, a servant came to lead them into a guest room. Ren Qingquan and Xiao Cai hadn't sat for a long time before an old servant with high status arrived.

I knew the servant held a higher status because his uniform was much more luxurious than the other servants. Most servants I've seen in the Zhang residence typically wear pale blue robes, with only a few donning black outer vests. In contrast, this servant is dressed in a blue robe and a black outer vest adorned with gold. Additionally, he wears a black cap that looks very luxurious.

If I hadn't overheard Fatty Zhang mention that the blue robe and black vest are the standard servant uniform for the Zhang family, I would've thought this guy was the patriarch or some high-ranking elder. Aside from his fancy clothes, there's another thing that makes me certain the old man is a high-ranking servant. It's the fact that he has reached the realm of Martial Saint. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Ren Qingquan might've killed a lot of Martial Saint-level ferocious beasts in the endless mountain. But that doesn't change the fact that Martial Saint and above martial artists are exceedingly rare. On that old servant's hand, there's a bamboo case stamped with a fancy wax seal. Inside the bamboo case, I saw a paper. Probably the documents Fatty Zhang mentioned before. As I guessed, the old servant said a few unimportant things and handed the bamboo case to Ren Qingquan.

Once Ren Qingquan held the document, the servant said, "Young master Ren may show this document stamped with the Zhang family's seal to enter the Zhang family's library, the royal library, Fu family library, and Jing family library. As for how deep you can enter the library, the librarians there will explain in more detail." Once the servant left, Ren Qingquan struck a strange pose and raised the bamboo case in his hand.

"Dun du dun! Key item obtained! Let's continue with the main quest!" It seems he forgot Xiao Cai was still nearby. Watching Ren Qingquan acting weirdly, I saw Xiao Cai's eyes twitch slightly. Not only that, but I also heard her murmur, "As expected, did he really enter qi deviation while cultivating using an unorthodox method? Back in the carriage, he was also laughing while staring at thin air. Perhaps I should emphasize this in my report."

(→⁠_⁠→) Well, the reason Ren Qingquan is laughing while staring into thin air is that he's reading a novel through the system library's screen. But I won't tell her that. After gaining the so-called key item, Ren Qingquan and Xiao Cai left the guest room. Outside, a servant has been waiting for them, "Young Master Ren, are you planning to go out or travel around the Zhang Family residence? Do you need any guide to accompany you?" Ren Qingquan nodded, "Bring me to the library."

Guided by the servant, Ren Qingquan and Xiao Cai went to the library. Unlike the Ren family's pagoda-shaped library, the Zhang family's library is built like a temple. It's only two storeys tall, yet extremely wide. After showing his bamboo case to a middle-aged librarian sitting near the entrance, Ren Qingquan obtained the right to browse any book on the first floor. Well, Ren Qingquan may only have the right to browse the first floor. But there's no way he'll be honest and won't peek at the second floor.

As I expected. After he picked a random book with an interesting title, Ren Qingquan immediately spoke to me, 'System, use [Scan] and check every book title, including those on the second floor. Then sort them out based on their type.' [Alright. Please wait a moment, it might take a long time.] Ren Qingquan subtly nods his head. At the same time, I also got to work. I immediately used [Scan] and checked every book title within a hundred radius of Ren Qingquan.

As the library is only about 150 meters long and less than 40 meters wide, I simply need Ren Qingquan to sit at its center. Because I only needed to scan and sort the titles based on a brief portion of their synopses, it took me less than two hours to finish. Once I am done, I will notify Ren Qingquan. [Title Scanning completed. Here are the results.] I sent him tens of thousands of book titles, sorted into types such as novels, general books, cultivation methods, cultivation techniques, martial arts methods, and many others. Thankfully, I have [Calculate]. Otherwise, just sorting those books might take God knows how long. Ren Qingquan read the lists of books I've prepared, and together we chose suitable books to [Scan] so he wouldn't waste his time there.

While deciding which books to choose, I am not idle; I have been using [Scan] to find and collect a few hidden books. Based on my experience in the Ren Family library, there's a ninety-nine percent chance those books are porn books. But who knows, I might accidentally find another book that's as powerful as the Soul Swallowing Technique. It took half an hour to choose which books to [Scan]. Basically, I demanded to [Scan] every cultivation-related book, while Ren Qingquan wanted to [Scan] every novel.

Apart from those two types, we chose only a few martial arts books with interesting titles, as well as encyclopedias on plants and beasts, maps, and historical books. [Please wait, System has started scanning those books.] I activated [Scan] at maximum strength and concentrated on the chosen books. Afterwards, I started storing their knowledge in my memory. While waiting, Ren Qingquan had read several books and became impatient.

'The chair in this library is so uncomfortable. I wanna return to my bed and laze around.' After complaining, Ren Qingquan suddenly changed the topic and asked me, 'System, I just realized something.' [What?]'You have many upgrade paths right? Can't you upgrade your scanning speed so we'll be done faster?' Ren Qingquan's sudden genius question surprised me. [Please wait a moment, System is checking for possible upgrades.] What limited my scanning speed isn't actually the [Scan], but my speed of receiving information from [Scan]. That's why, after some thought, I decided to check the upgrade for [Calculate] instead of [Scan]. After fiddling around, I spent 10 points trying to upgrade my calculation power. After spending 10 points, I indeed felt my scanning speed increase slightly. It's probably only increased by 1%. It's not much, but it's still better than nothing.

The only thing I am curious about is why 10 points of calculation power only increase my calculation speed by 1%? Does that mean I initially have 1000 points worth of calculation power? Ignoring my confusion, I shared my findings with Ren Qingquan. [Host, you can upgrade [Calculate] to increase the Scanning speed.]'System, are you sure? Why do I need to upgrade [Calculate] to increase my [Scan] speed?' [What limits the book scanning speed is System's speed at receiving information. That's why upgrading [Calculate] can increase the book scanning speed.]'I am not the expert in this whole system thingy, so I'll just believe in you.'

'Let's first spend 100 points to upgrade [Calculate].' After Ren Qingquan thought so, I sent him another screen. [Do you wish to spend 100 points to upgrade [Calculate]'s calculation power?]'Yes.' [Calculation power has been upgraded.] After spending Ren Qingquan's points, I checked my scanning speed and found out it has risen by another 10%. With my faster scanning speed, I kept focusing on storing those books in my memory.