The sky over the Great Origin Universe was an oppressive shroud of charcoal clouds, weeping a relentless, cold rain that hammered against the jagged tiles of the Heavensward Institute. Once, this place was the pulsating heart of wisdom for a thousand realms, a sanctuary where even Emperors knelt to beg for a single lecture. Now, it was a skeletal remain of its former glory—a graveyard of forgotten scrolls and crumbling pagodas.
Inside the Central Library, the air was thick with the scent of aged parchment and damp stone. Gaurav sat motionless behind a heavy mahogany desk that had seen better centuries. At twenty years old, his frame was lean, his robes a faded scholar's grey, and his long black hair tied loosely with a simple hemp string. To the passing world, he was the "Trash Librarian," the last pathetic remnant of a dying lineage, possessing not a single spark of Qi in his Dantian.
His fingers traced the spine of a dusty ledger, his expression as calm as a stagnant pond. But beneath that calm lay a soul that had endured years of ridicule from the surrounding Sects and the Imperial Court.
"Gaurav! Are you deaf as well as useless?!"
The roar shattered the silence, followed by the heat of a thousand suns. The library doors didn't just open; they were incinerated.
A woman strode in, her presence so domineering that the very shadows fled. She wore a gown of crimson silk that seemed to be woven from living magma. Her eyes were golden slits, burning with a temper that could level mountains. This was Zhu Feng, the Matriarch of the Divine Flame, a woman whose name sent shivers down the spines of Level 9 experts. And she was Gaurav's wife.
She marched toward him, her footsteps cracking the stone floor. Before Gaurav could speak, her slender, porcelain hand reached out and gripped his ear with practiced precision.
"Ow! Feng'er, please... the books are sensitive to heat," Gaurav winced, though his voice remained strangely steady.
"To hell with the books!" Zhu Feng hissed, pulling his ear until he was forced to stand. "The Third Prince of the Crimson Empire is at the gates with a battalion of Heavy Cavalry. He says he wants to turn our Ancestral Hall into a stable for his Spirit Horses! And you? You are sitting here dusting scrolls like a senile old man!"
Gaurav looked into her eyes. He saw the fury, yes, but deep down, he saw the flickering pain of a proud woman who had married a man the world called a 'cripple.' She stayed with him not out of duty, but a fierce, possessive love that manifested as dominance.
"I told you," Gaurav said softly, "the Heavensward Institute will not fall while I draw breath."
"With what?! Your dust cloth?!" Zhu Feng snapped, her grip tightening. "If you don't go out there and show even a spark of dignity, I will burn that Prince to cinders myself, consequences be damned!"
Just as Gaurav was about to respond, his vision blurred. A sound, sharper than a sword's edge, vibrated through the very fabric of his soul.
[DING!]
[Genetic Lock Detected: 100% Match with the Sovereign Bloodline.]
[Emergency Protocol Initialized... Sovereign Archive Binding...]
[10%... 50%... 100%!]
[Binding Successful. Welcome, Master Gaurav, to the Eternal Library of the Multiverse.]
A translucent, golden screen materialized in his mind's eye. It was complex, elegant, and pulsed with a power that made the 'Holy Energy' of this world look like flickering candles.
[Host Status: Gaurav]
[Title: Untainted Librarian (Level 0)]
[Techniques: None]
[Inventory: 10 God-Binding Leaves (Rank: Supreme)]
[Passive Skill: Eye of the Sovereign (Active) — All flaws within the Multiverse are now visible to the Host.]
Gaurav froze. The "Eye of the Sovereign" flickered, and suddenly, the world changed. He looked at Zhu Feng.
[Target: Zhu Feng (Wife)]
[Cultivation: Level 8 (Holy Saint)]
[Flaw: 1,024 flaws detected. Critical Flaw: The 'Solar Vein' in her left lung is constricted, causing her Divine Flame to backfire every full moon.]
Gaurav's heart hammered. He could see it—the jagged flow of her energy, the points where her power stagnated. He realized in that moment that everything the world knew about cultivation was a lie. It was all full of holes.
"Gaurav? Why are you staring at me like a fool?" Zhu Feng'er's voice softened slightly, her anger replaced by confusion.
"Feng'er," Gaurav said, his voice now carrying a strange, resonant authority that made her heart skip a beat. "Release my ear. The 'Master' of this Academy has finally arrived."
Before she could retort, a thunderous crash echoed from the courtyard. The Prince had broken through.
Gaurav stepped past his stunned wife, his gait no longer that of a weary scholar, but of a King returning to his throne.
The Courtyard: The Arrogance of the Crimson Prince
Outside, the rain had turned into a drizzle. Prince Zhao, draped in gold-leafed armor, sat atop a massive, two-headed Spirit Lion. Behind him stood fifty soldiers, their Qi radiating like a suffocating fog.
"Librarian! Get out here and kowtow!" Zhao laughed, his voice amplified by Qi. "I've decided your library has too much paper. It'll make excellent bedding for my beasts!"
Gaurav stepped out onto the balcony, Zhu Feng following closely behind, her hands already glowing with a lethal orange flame.
"Third Prince Zhao," Gaurav called out, his voice not loud, yet it carried to every ear in the courtyard, silencing the soldiers. "You have trespassed on the Sovereign's domain. Your cultivation is a mess of 457 errors, your breathing is shallow, and your 'Crimson Sun' technique is currently eating away at your kidneys. If I were you, I wouldn't be worried about stables. I'd be worried about the fact that you will be a cripple by sunset."
The courtyard went deathly silent. The soldiers gasped. To insult a Prince's cultivation was a death sentence.
Prince Zhao's face turned a shade of purple. "You... you trash! How dare you speak of my cultivation?! Kill him! Bring me his head!"
As the soldiers charged, Gaurav didn't flinch. He reached into the void of his mind and pulled.
A single, shimmering golden leaf appeared between his fingers. It looked fragile, like a fallen autumn leaf, but the moment it appeared, the clouds above stopped moving. The wind died. The very laws of physics seemed to bow.
[God-Binding Leaf: Deployment Authorized.]
"First Lesson: Adab (Manners)," Gaurav whispered.
He flicked the leaf.
It didn't fly fast. It drifted, lazily, through the air. But as it moved, the Level 3 soldiers charging at him suddenly felt as if the weight of the entire sky had dropped onto their shoulders. One by one, they crashed to the mud, unable to lift even a finger.
Prince Zhao tried to scream, but the golden leaf hovered inches from his forehead. A terrifying pressure surged. Zhao's Spirit Lion whimpered and collapsed, turning into a puddle of terrified fur.
"Kneel," Gaurav commanded.
CRACK.
Zhao's knees shattered the stone tiles as he was forced down. He looked up at Gaurav, not with anger anymore, but with a primal, soul-deep terror.
Zhu Feng stood behind Gaurav, her flames flickering out in pure shock. She looked at her husband's back. The man she thought she had to protect was currently suppressing an entire battalion with a single leaf.
Gaurav looked down at the Prince. "You wanted to turn this place into a stable? Since you like animals so much, you shall be the first 'beast' to serve the Academy. System, bind him."
[God-Binding Leaf Consumed. Target: Zhao (Third Prince) is now bound as 'Junior Janitor Slave'.]
A golden seal appeared on Zhao's forehead before sinking into his skin. His eyes went blank for a second before filling with a fanatical, terrifying loyalty.
"Master... forgive this servant's ignorance," Zhao sobbed, his head slamming into the mud in a kowtow. "I am ready to clean the latrines."
Gaurav turned back toward the library, ignoring the shocked gasps of the remaining soldiers. He looked at Zhu Feng, who was staring at him as if he were a ghost.
"Feng'er," Gaurav said with a playful glint in his eyes. "I believe the library is still a bit dusty. Since we have a new janitor, perhaps you and I can discuss your 'Solar Vein' in private?"
Zhu Feng's face flushed a deep red. For the first time in years, the dominant Matriarch felt a flutter of genuine submission in her chest.
Gaurav smiled. The Sovereign Archive was open, and the world was about to learn that the Librarian was the most dangerous man in existence.