From a very far distance, Xu Zimo could already see the other party.

But he didn’t pay her any attention and instead continued stepping through the air straight ahead.

With a metallic clang, the sound of a sword’s cry rang through the surroundings.

An immensely powerful sword intent, like a torrential flood, slashed down just one meter in front of Xu Zimo.

The rumbling explosions followed.

It was as if the heavens themselves had been torn apart, a short-lived chasm appearing ahead.

It blocked Xu Zimo’s path forward.

Xu Zimo looked up at the other party.

“Fight me,” the woman said proudly, chest held high.

“Not interested. Are we that close?” Xu Zimo replied.

“Shouldn’t the strong challenge even stronger opponents, and by doing so climb all the way up to the clouds to become even stronger?”

This woman was Ji Ruobing.

Her eyes burned as she looked at Xu Zimo. “The way you’re acting, you seem a bit afraid of death.”

“I just think you’re too weak,” Xu Zimo shook his head with a helpless laugh.

“If I accidentally kill you, your Immortal Extinction Sacred Ground will come bother me. And I hate trouble the most.”

“Don’t worry, my sect won’t interfere in my matters,” Ji Ruobing said lightly.

“Fight me. If you win, I’ll unconditionally agree to do one thing for you. If I win, you don’t have to give me anything in return. How about it?”

“You’re that confident?” Xu Zimo smiled faintly.

From the way she was acting, she clearly wouldn’t give up until she had fought him.

And she was very confident in her own strength, so confident it bordered on arrogance, otherwise she wouldn’t dare say such words.

“This is my style,” Ji Ruobing said.

“You dare or not? I won’t even make you sign a life-and-death contract, just a normal spar.

Of course, if you can kill me, I’ll have no complaints.”

“You say you want to challenge me, and I have to agree? Wouldn’t that make me look bad?” Xu Zimo said with a smile.

“Then what do you want?” Ji Ruobing asked seriously, without getting angry.

“Do you know Mo Tianming?” Xu Zimo asked.

“I do,” Ji Ruobing nodded without hesitation. “He was the one who, along with you, passed the tenth floor of the Heavenly Dao Tower.”

“Go challenge him. If you can beat him, then you’ll qualify to fight me,” Xu Zimo said.

“You said it,” Ji Ruobing snorted coldly. “That was my intention anyway.”

With her status as the Saintess of the Immortal Extinction Sacred Ground, she had already challenged the Holy Sons and Saintesses of other imperial lineages in the Overlord Region.

These people were not unfamiliar to her.

It was instead Xu Zimo and Mo Tianming, these two newly emerged prodigies, that had caught her interest.

“A martial fanatic,” Xu Zimo muttered as he watched her stepping into the air and leaving.

“She’s really easy to trick. I guess Mo Tianming will have to take the trouble for me.”

He stepped into the air and went straight into the Heavenly Dao Academy.

Inside the academy there was a library, a place dedicated to storing books.

These so-called books naturally included cultivation methods, meridian techniques, secret arts, as well as miscellaneous records and strange tales…

In short, every book the Heavenly Dao Academy possessed was stored here.

As the largest academy of the human race, the books it recorded were vast beyond measure.

No other power, not even an imperial lineage, could compare.

Xu Zimo needed to prepare some things, but there were certain matters he had to investigate beforehand.

He had tried looking them up in the True Martial Sacred Ground before, but unfortunately, even that sect didn’t have these records.

So Xu Zimo could only search in the Heavenly Dao Academy.

Entering the library, he found it extremely vast.

Dozens of grand halls rose high from the ground, towering majestically. Each hall had a unique style.

Some halls had giant dragons coiled above them, green lions roaring, and the wind whistling in unison.

Some halls depicted scholars holding scrolls, ten thousand volumes read, ten thousand miles traveled, the sea of learning without end.

Some halls were shrouded in mist, and in that hazy illusion, immortals seemed to ascend, or supreme beings descended.

In short, each hall had its own unique design.

The library bustled with activity, with many students coming and going, talking in groups of three or five.

At the entrance to the library sat a reclining chair.

On it lay an old man wearing a brown-green robe, a book covering his face.

Xu Zimo tapped the armrest of the chair.

The old man sat up, yawned, and looked at Xu Zimo.

“What is it?”

“I’m looking for some books and wanted to ask you,” Xu Zimo said.

“What topic?” the old man asked.

“The Emperor’s Fall,” Xu Zimo said.

The Emperor’s Fall was something Xu Zimo was familiar with, it was the war concerning the God Emperor.

The God Emperor had attempted to rule the entire Primordial Heartlands, going so far as to destroy several imperial lineages.

In the end, he angered others, and on that day, three Grand Emperors forcibly descended upon the Primordial Heartlands and destroyed the God Emperor’s Heaven’s Will.

This was the first recorded time in Primordial Heartlands’s history that a Grand Emperor had fallen.

It was also the first recorded time that Grand Emperors had descended from the Outer Heavens.

There were some matters that perhaps even the God Emperor himself did not know.

What Xu Zimo wanted to investigate were the lesser-known aspects of that battle.

These details were important and would directly affect his future plans.

“The Emperor’s Fall?” the old man was momentarily stunned.

He then looked at Xu Zimo strangely.

“Do you have the principal’s token?”

“I can’t read it without one?” Xu Zimo asked.

“Ordinary students naturally don’t have permission to read that,” the old man shook his head slightly.

“You can only access the first five halls’ books. The Emperor’s Fall battle records are in the eighteenth hall. You’re new here, aren’t you?”

Hearing this, Xu Zimo frowned slightly.

He left the library and headed to Vermilion Bird Island to find Venerable Nu for a solution.

This was something he hadn’t considered before.

But halfway there, that white-dressed woman from before appeared again, haunting him like a ghost.

“I’m not in the mood to make a deal with you right now,” Xu Zimo said flatly. “Don’t provoke me.”

“I never said I wanted to make a deal,” the white-dressed woman smiled. “I was originally going to help you get into the library, but it seems you don’t need me anymore.”

“You have a way?” Xu Zimo frowned.

He began to suspect that her status in the Heavenly Dao Academy was quite high.

The woman extended her arm, and on her pale wrist, a white token swayed gently.

“Here, the principal’s token,” she said with a proud smile.

“How do you have that?” Xu Zimo asked in puzzlement.

“That’s not something you need to know,” the woman smiled. “Just say whether you want it or not.”

“If you’re giving it for free, I’ll take it,” Xu Zimo said. “I don’t accept any conditional deals.”

Hearing that, the woman froze for a moment.

She then looked at Xu Zimo very seriously from head to toe.

“What?” Xu Zimo asked curiously.

“I know I’m very handsome,” he said. “You don’t have to keep staring at me.”