In what felt like the blink of an eye, a year passed mundanely. There had been no interesting events or occurrences, simply a normal and constant life.
As he was eating lunch with the old man, the old man suddenly spoke.
"Did you hear about the war?" He asked Zhou Fan.
"No." Zhou Fan said as he shook his head.
"Apparently, tensions between our kingdom and the neighboring kingdom, one from a different empire, have been rising, and war is expected to break out at any time." The old man said.
Zhou Fan felt that this was familiar.
'Isn't this like what happened back in Yang Lang city?' He thought to himself.
"Our city wouldn't happen to be on the border of the kingdom, right?" Zhou Fan asked.
"It is indeed. If war breaks out, our city will be the first to be attacked." The old man said.
Suddenly, the ground shook and the earth was overturned. Zhou Fan and the old man nearly fell out of their chairs.
The old man looked out of one of the library's windows, but the city wall blocked his view of the outside.
Zhou Fan could tell what was going on. War broke out.
With cultivators, an entire army could be transported underground without anyone noticing.
Outside of the city walls was a huge army, numbering in the millions. Among the army were many cultivators. In particular, three were floating in the skies. They were at the core formation realm, and one seemed to be at the peak of that realm.
Any core formation cultivator could easily destroy the city. Even the city lord was only at the foundation establishment realm. In the entire kingdom, only the king would be at the nascent soul realm. The emperor himself was only at the peak of the nascent soul realm.
The old man looked at the towering walls and sighed. "War never ceases, no matter how many countless years pass. Humans kill humans constantly. It never ends." He said sadly.
"Luckily, there are those who are not interested in political power or authority. Those who are truly kind and worthy of being called humans." The old man said.
As he spoke, his hand formed two fingers under the table. If Zhou Fan was a mortal, he would not notice it.
The old man swiped his two fingers, and outside of the walls, a giant crescent of sword Qi descended.
The army was instantly obliterated, down to the last cultivator. A giant ravine was all that remained.
Zhou Fan was not surprised. The old man was a soul formation cultivator who lived as a mortal.
"I was born and grew up in this city, rarely ever leaving. I've never even been to another kingdom before. Even then, I am satisfied. I cannot understand what some people think." The old man shook his head.
"It seems it was just an earthquake." Zhou Fan commented.
The old man nodded. "Indeed, it must have been an earthquake. I was worried for a moment. This old heart can't handle so much excitement."
As the old man walked down the stairs, Zhou Fan could not help but admire him.
The old man was insanely talented. If he had joined a sect, he would have reached the space shattering realm at least. On this small planet, he would have been the strongest by a lot.
However, he had always hidden his power and cultivation, simply living, never exploring, never showing off.
Few could even understand how the old man could live in such a way.
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Although a commotion was caused by the arrival and destruction of the army, the city soon fell into its normal habits again. The only difference was a large ravine outside and the legends of a hidden sword king within the city.
Every time the old man heard mention of this, he warmly smiled before quickly regaining calmness.
Another year passed quietly and normally. Occasionally, a few powerful cultivators would enter the city, likely searching for the "hidden sword king", but the old man had created a cultivation hiding technique so well made that only a peak void traversing cultivator would be able to sense it.
Those who had that cultivation were just below the absolute peak of the planet's power, as the world ruler was a 1st level space shattering cultivator, according to the old man.
They would not bother with such a small thing themselves.
"You know, you don't seem to age much." The old man commented one day.
"I suppose I aged a lot when I was younger due to my lifestyle. My face will likely only change in my 50's." Zhou Fan said.
"I see. That makes sense." The old man nodded.
He was not suspicious of Zhou Fan. He had not even considered that Zhou Fan was also a hidden cultivator.
Also, he had developed a good impression of Zhou Fan and saw him as a true fellow librarian. The girl from long ago had quit and moved on to bigger pursuits. In fact, aside from Zhou Fan and the old man, every other person who had worked in the library had changed.
The years seemed to always pass by in an instant to Zhou Fan. Before he had realized it, 3 more years had passed. Although he had not aged a day, neither had the old man.
The old man was not suspicious even now. He would only begin to feel like something was wrong in around 20 years or so.
An exciting thing happened this day. The old man had not come to work even when it was opening time. Zhou Fan opened the library, and the old man came in 2 hours later with a solemn look on his face.
"It happened again." He said when he saw Zhou Fan at the front desk.
"What?" Zhou Fan asked curiously.
"I woke up late, and no more hot buns are being sold. My streak has ended again." He said, sadness apparent in his voice.
"Truly a pity." Zhou Fan said as he left the front desk and went to the second floor.