69 Book Collector

After collecting everything from the small houses around, he went to the first bigger building he saw when he entered the Ancestral Site of the Shi Xue Clan. It was much bigger and it looked like a tower. The height of that tower wasn't reaching the ceiling of this cave but it wasn't also too far. This wasn't any tower but rather a pagoda. It had seven floors from what Lucien could see.

He went to the front door and with one push he opened them. Inside space wasn't big, but as it was tower he knew that there were many floors. With one glace, Lucien could tell, that this was the library. There were many books-lined on these shelves. Many more compared with Libary in Aeon House. From what Lucien knew, the Shi Xue Clan was stronger than Aeon House, this was mainly because of fact, that they lacked any kind neighbor here in China. Compared to that Aeon House shared territory and thus even resources with Tepes House since long time ago.

This was the first level of this pagoda. Lucien went through the shelves and looked at book there. All of them were about either history, geography and other things. Common knowledge, maybe several years old. But he still stored them inside his Cross Crest, in the library of Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Lucien also chose to expand a Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory a little more so the estate cover even new areas that appeared after upgrade of rank. He expands mainly library cause he knew that he would need more space to accommodate all these books. One said that knowledge is power, it wasn't far from the truth. Fortunately Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory was something like a living organism so expanding it wasn't hard and new areas were constantly being added due to absorption of energy from the void.

Then he proceeded to the second floor, which was a little bit smaller than the first floor. Many pagodas tended to have smaller floors as they were higher. Again he went through all books and many of them were still useless. He also took them inside Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory. Some were on the third floor.

When he was going to the fourth floor, he encountered a little problem. Doors were closed and he couldn't open them even with the use of force. When he inspected the patterns on the doors, he noticed that something was required to open them and that something was blood. More precisely blood of the Sacred Devourer Ghoul. Then he congealed kagune dagger and cut his hand, and dropped a few drops of blood onto the door and they opened.

On the fourth floor, there were books mainly about crafting various times, as katanas, swords, and other weapons that could kill ghouls. Also, there were books about processing kagune and kakuhou and creating weapons from them. He was very happy with these books as he stored them in the Charles Patricius: Our Transient Glory.

The fifth floor was the same as the fourth floor. Doors required some of his blood to open and he entered the fifth floor with great haste. As the floors were getting smaller and smaller, this was significantly smaller compared to the first floor. There were only a few bookshelves here. This floor had books about the usage of hidden weapons. Even though Lucien himself wasn't a type to use hidden weapons, they would find their use.

Sixt floor had only five bookshelves totally and all of these books were about martial arts, acupuncture points, meridians, and sword arts. He was very eager to go through all those books about sword art right not, but sadly it wasn't right time now.

And finally the last, seventh floor. It was empty. Nothing was there besides one thick book that Lucien couldn't even open. The book itself had an aura of profoundness and wisdom. Besides the book, there was one more thing there. It was the seal, with words 'Shi Xue'. Lucien was shocked to see it because he knew what it represented.

It was key. Key where the most precious thing of two clans was located. Their Sacred Devourer Blood Pond. Lucien didn't know much about Sacred Blood Pond, only one thing. It was found during ancient times, in form of blood crystal. Exactly two crystals were found. One of the crystals was kept by the Shi Xue Clan and another one was kept by the Aeon House. The crystal itself was generating blood, and that blood could be used to boost bloodline of Sacred Devourer Ghoul. It was usually fed to the babies when they were born, to make their bloodline stronger.

"When the seal is here, that means even their Sacred Blood Pond must be also here. Hmm, even if the Washuu Clan found this, without the blood of Sacred Devourer Ghoul, they can't open it even with the key."

Said Lucien in a low voice as he stored both the book and seal of the Shi Xue away. Then he exited the pagoda and continued searching through houses. He found some armory, but there weren't many useful things, besides a few katanas and spears that numbered around a hundred or so. Apparently, all weapons were used during the war and destroyed.

After walking for some time, he finally knew that he was nearing his target. This was because there were several agents of Vasuki guarding the road and preparing attack Lucien, the moment they saw him. He only smiled at this and congealed two kagune spears. Controlled through telekinesis he killed them all in one hit. All of them were pierced without any kind of resistance.

After storing their bodies and looking to the distance he finally found his target. Giant walls were around the entire place, towering into the high. Made from well-sculpted stone and with several guarding towers. The bad thing about that was many people standing at the walls and before the gate.

As Lucien observed the area, there were too many people there. Just on the walls and at the gate, he could count more than one hundred people, from whose majority was from Vasuki and some were members of the Washuu Clan.

'Final battle of this expedition is coming. Hmm, maybe I should you that swords and spears obtained from armory as a long-distance attack to reduce numbers.'

Thought Lucien, as he was planning how to attack.