Systemless Villain

Chapter 19: Soul Bonding

Long Tian continued his way to the third floor. He was already on the second floor, just one more level to go.

But at that moment, he suddenly stopped. He had spotted a familiar figure; a girl about his age, wearing glasses and still in her school uniform.

Despite never meeting her before, he recognized her in an instant. It was Han Yifei, one of the heroines.

Long Tian did not immediately approach her, instead, he stroked his chin thoughtfully. His eyes focused on her, but his mind was elsewhere.

In the original plot, Qin Chen met Han Yifei on the third floor while searching for an alchemy recipe.

Yet, he, Long Tian, had no particular reason to meet Han Yifei. She was indeed one of the heroines, but nothing more than an ordinary human who couldn't cultivate.

While she may be ordinary, she was still a heroine and certainly had her uses.

However, at this moment, Long Tian did not feel the need to make Han Yifei's acquaintance.

"Maybe another time," he murmured, his feet moving again, propelling him towards the third floor.

************

As Ling Han was leisurely exploring the first floor, Long Tian was engrossed in examining books from the shelves.

It wasn't explained in detail where Qin Chen found the technique, only that he obtained it on the third floor.

Long Tian removed the jade necklace from around his neck. "Shen Yulan, I need your assistance," he said.

"What is it?" Shen Yulan inquired.

"I want to search for a scroll. It's titled 'Soul Bonding'," Long Tian replied.

"Sounds like a commonplace technique, is it strong?" Shen Yulan asked curiously.

"In this world, yes. I don't know how it fares in your world," Long Tian replied evenly.

Shen Yulan's eyes narrowed at his words, "You know about my world?"

"It's a higher realm, correct? There's no need to veil it from me, I'm well aware," Long Tian returned, an indifferent note creeping into his voice.

A flicker of surprise passed over Shen Yulan's face. She couldn't deny Long Tian's knowledge as it stood accurate.

"How did you know?" She questioned.

"Did you forget? I once mentioned my lineage originates from one of the ancient families. Knowledge about higher realms is common for me," Long Tian answered.

Shen Yulan exhaled deeply. It seemed she had underestimated Long Tian, "Well, you're correct, I do come from a higher realm," she admitted.

"Then, do you know anything about the Long family in there?" Long Tian asked earnestly.

"As far as I recall, there isn't a family bearing the name Long amongst the eminent clans there. I mean, the upper world is immensely vast. Perhaps your family exists in some distant land. I used to reside in Zhongzhou, one of the 6 continents in the upper realm, so, they might be in one of those continents," Shen Yulan conjectured.

"I see," Long Tian nodded, absorbing her words.

He actually didn't know anything about this. The original storyline didn't explain whether his family was from the upper world or not. All of this was his speculation.

And he was definitely lying about his family's common knowledge of the upper realm. Truthfully, the elders and his father had never discussed it.

"So, will you help me find that technique?" Long Tian asked.

"Let's see what I can do," Shen Yulan answered.

After that, the jade detached from the necklace and hovered, seemingly scanning the entire room.

After a while, the jade returned to Long Tian's necklace.

However, Long Tian's expression was not good. Shen Yulan smiled, "Don't worry, I won't run away. I'm a person of my word. One month is indeed one month," she said.

"Well, that's comforting," Long Tian responded, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. "So, did you locate the technique?" he inquired further.

"Indeed, it resides in shelf number 120," Shen Yulan confirmed.

"That's a good thing we partnered up," Long Tian smirked.

With that, he walked toward shelf number 120.

"Where exactly?" he asked again.

"Beside the tome on alchemy, it should be concealed there," Shen Yulan advised.

Upon her guidance, Long Tian set about searching the vicinity of the alchemical books.

Soon enough, he located several tomes on alchemy and, in a burst of realization, he saw one titled: Alchemy for Greatness.

A grin spread across his face. This was the alchemy book that Qin Chen was supposed to find.

Without a moment's hesitation, he picked it up.

As he did so, a scroll was revealed nestled beside it.

"Damn, this is like hitting two birds with one stone," he mused, his smirk growing as he picked up the scroll.

Intricate ancient Chinese scripts decorated the scroll's exterior, but next to it was a rather ominous inscription - Cursed Technique: Soul Bonding.

"You've got what you wanted, what now?" Shen Yulan asked.

Long Tian flashed a knowing grin, "Head to Wudang Sect."