If martial cultivators can do everything that spell cultivators can, then what's the point of having spell cultivators at all?

Moreover, the path of spell cultivation is arduous, and those who achieve success in it are exceedingly rare.

It is hard to come by a young person like Emily Owen, who is quite gifted in spell arts and willing to devote herself to the path of spells, so the instructors at the Academy of Spellcasters pay special attention to her.

However, Emily Owen had no choice but to postpone the time to condense her ‘spirit seed’.

This was because the inner sect martial examination was imminent, and she had to keep running escort missions to gather the eighty taels of regulation money for Henry Owen, until today when she could delay no longer.

Her spiritual power had already reached its absolute limit, unable to increase any further.

As the saying goes, when the moon is full, it begins to wane—this is not a good thing in spell cultivation.

It was at this moment that Emily Owen suddenly stopped in her tracks, her gaze fixed ahead.

Just ten zhang ahead at the corner of the alley, a large group of men and women in blue disciple robes were passing by, hurrying under umbrellas in the direction of the Sutra Depository.

They should be the newly promoted inner sect members from the North Courtyard of the martial hall, heading to the Sutra Depository to study the classics and select inheritances.

Emily Owen noticed one young man among them.

He looked about seventeen or eighteen years old, and among the inner sect disciples, he seemed a bit older.

He was thin and sallow-faced, appearing to be just an ordinary young man.

But Emily Owen had once cultivated the ‘True Sight Heavenly Eye’, able to see through ninety percent of the illusions in this world.

Under her gaze, this person’s face was as fair as jade, handsome and refined, with lips as red as blood, wearing a red high cap, a few strands of hair loose and draped over his forehead.

At the center of his brow was a three-inch-long blue mark, stretching from his hairline down to the bridge of his nose.

Emily Owen didn’t recognize this person, yet he looked familiar.

The key was that his cultivation was already close to fourth rank.

What was such an expert doing at Zhengyang Martial Hall? And why disguise himself as a newly promoted inner sect disciple?

A trace of coldness flashed in Emily Owen’s eyes.

In her estimation, Henry Owen entering the Sutra Depository to comprehend the ‘Yazi’ totem should have been a matter of course, something that would happen naturally.

But now, an unexpected variable had appeared—

As Emily Owen pondered, she continued walking forward. Not long after, she suddenly felt a stir in her mind and turned toward the main training ground of the martial hall.

On the south side here stood a tall stone wall, covered with all kinds of notices.

There were internal announcements and orders from the martial hall, as well as proclamations from the Xiushui County government office.

What caught Emily Owen’s focused attention was one particular wanted poster.

“Notorious bandit Matthew Thompson, alias ‘Bloodwind Sword’, reward: thirty thousand demon silver—”

So it was him.

※※※※

In front of the library, dozens of baskets filled with steamed buns and roujiamo were quickly snatched up.

The cooks, patting their bulging money pouches, beamed with joy.

Several martial instructors from the East Courtyard were also in high spirits.

William Harris stood on the steps, continuing to instruct the disciples: “Now that you’ve entered, your first priority is to memorize the visualization diagram for Nourishing Essence Technique and the secret medicinal recipes.

Next, you must memorize two of the ten external arts, and fully commit to memory the first two levels of the ‘True Intent Diagram’—this will be the foundation for your future promotion to true disciples.

If you still have time, you may look at other martial classics. If you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of the notes and True Intent Diagrams left behind by Grace Carter in the past.”

A buzz immediately swept through the hundred-plus inner sect disciples at the foot of the steps.

“Grace Carter?”

“You mean King of Overlords, former Great General of Anbei, Grace Carter?”

“The one who swept across thirty thousand li of the Northern Territory, became a first-rank Divine General in just twelve years, undefeated in his life, invincible in the North—Grace Carter?”

Henry Owen couldn’t help but perk up his ears, his mind stirred.

Listening to these people discuss Emily Owen, he felt rather strange.

“That’s impossible. The True Intent Diagrams hand-drawn by Grace Carter are priceless treasures. How could they have ended up here?”

“The instructor is just bragging. Grace Carter was born into the Qin clan of Iron Mountain—what does she have to do with our Wuxiang Divine Sect?”

William Harris was not annoyed by this. She chuckled and said, “The Great General of Anbei, Grace Carter, entered the border army at sixteen to inherit her father’s post, and at twenty-two took command of the Northern ‘Anbei Army’. In six years, she swept through the Northern Territory, invincible wherever she went, achieving unparalleled martial prowess.

Yet few know that, in her childhood at the age of ten, Grace Carter once entered our Wuxiang Divine Sect under an alias.

She started as an outer disciple at our Zhengyang Martial Hall, and in just six years became a direct disciple of our sect. If her father hadn’t died in battle on the northern frontier, Grace Carter might well be an elder of our sect by now.

It’s said that when Grace Carter was at our Zhengyang Martial Hall, she spent seventy-two days reading all seventeen thousand martial arts tomes in this library, leaving behind many annotations and notes, as well as several True Intent Diagrams she copied herself. Not long ago, a disciple was lucky enough to see one of these diagrams and mastered a formidable sword technique—”

Just as William Harris was saying this, she suddenly saw the West Courtyard instructor Samuel Grant leading a large group over.

She pursed her lips, immediately stopped talking, and signaled the gatekeeper to open the doors of the Sutra Depository: “Let them in!”

As the heavy doors of the library slowly opened, the disciples let out a roar and rushed headlong into the first room on the right.