Bamboo Mound

Ning Chang quickly stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Senior."

The old man in brown smiled and asked, "Are you Ning Chang, the new disciple of that old ghost Duan?"

Ning Chang replied respectfully, "It is indeed this junior. May I ask what business you have with me, senior?"

A hint of admiration flashed in the old man's eyes as he said, "Indeed, a handsome man. Old Duan has really struck gold!"

“My surname is Xie, and I am in charge of this scripture pavilion. You can call me Elder Xie.”

Ning Chang bowed again: "Greetings, Elder Xie."

Elder Xie was overjoyed and laughed heartily, "Good, good! You've come here today to choose a cultivation technique?"

Ning Chang was taken aback, not expecting that he could choose a cultivation technique before he had even reached the seventh level of the Spirit Gathering stage.

Seeing Ning Chang in a daze, Elder Xie asked in confusion, "Didn't your master tell you that when each disciple's cultivation reaches the fifth level of the Spirit Gathering stage, they can choose a martial art to practice in the Scripture Pavilion? Outer disciples can only choose on the first floor, inner disciples can go to the second floor, and as for someone like you, the elders' disciples can choose on the third floor. Of course, if you want to choose the first or second floor, that's fine too."

After hearing this, Ning Chang saw that Elder Xie had no intention of continuing, so he asked, "Elder Xie, I see that this Scripture Pavilion has five floors. Could it be that only elders can enter the floors above the fourth floor?"

Elder Xie was taken aback when he heard this, but then he laughed and said, "Haha, not at all. Those four floors contain all sorts of miscellaneous records, all of which are trivial matters of the sect. They are of no use to cultivation and would only be a waste of your energy to look through them."

He paused, then said, "As for the fifth floor, it contains the unorthodox and demonic techniques that have been captured or obtained through deception."

Ning Chang immediately became interested: "The Demonic Path?"

Elder Xie's eyes became more wary, and he advised in a gentler tone, "Ning Chang, don't get interested in those demonic cultivation techniques. They're not suitable for you!"

Upon hearing this, Ning Chang realized that Elder Xie thought he wanted to cultivate that heretical technique, so he explained:

"Elder, you misunderstand. I just want to learn about the demonic path, not that I'm interested in those cultivation techniques."

Elder Xie breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, I happen to have nothing to do right now, so I'll tell you about it."

"This demonic path is indeed wicked and immoral. It is impossible to understand their initial motives. In this world, as long as one focuses on cultivation, everyone can become an immortal, regardless of what kind of spiritual root they have or the grade of their spiritual root. At worst, it will just take longer."

But they couldn't wait, they couldn't settle down and cultivate diligently, so they took unorthodox paths, like the now-extinct Bloodthirsty Sect.

Their cultivation method involved killing countless mortals, using their blood and sweat for practice. Ultimately, it didn't seem to accelerate their progress much, and they incurred the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people, leading to their destruction by the combined forces of the three sects.

Ning Chang listened and nodded, "It is indeed incomprehensible."

Elder Xie waved his hand and said, "Alright, child, go in and choose your cultivation technique. You can pick any of the three lower levels. Once you've chosen, bring it out and I'll give it to you. However, the sect has a rule that a fifth-level Spirit Gathering cultivator can only choose one technique!"

"This disciple has noted it down." Ning Chang bowed again and pushed open the door to enter the Sutra Repository.

Upon entering the Sutra Repository, one is greeted by rows of neat bookshelves, upon which are densely packed jade tablets!

He looked around; the stairs were to the left of the entrance. Each bookshelf was labeled with the elemental attribute suitable for the cultivation techniques it contained: water, fire, wood, metal, earth, wind, thunder, nothingness...

"Let's start with the first shelf." Having made up his mind, Ning Chang walked into the bookshelves and examined the words engraved on the jade tablets one by one. In each bookshelf, cultivation techniques for different purposes were integrated and divided into different locations.

Each attribute is divided into attack and defense zones, and some attributes are divided into more zones.

Given his own attributes, he only looked at the bookshelves for water, fire, and those with no attributes.

"Fireball...water ball...water shield...these are all low-level martial arts techniques."

After looking around the water and fire areas and finding nothing of interest, I headed to the bookshelf marked with no attributes.

"Phantom Step... Swiftness Talisman... Mountain-Carrying Talisman...."

"They're all auxiliary functions, like footwork, talismans, and energy cultivation."

Ning Chang currently has no need for martial arts, so he did not choose any offensive martial arts techniques. After secretly memorizing the Phantom Step, he began to head towards the second floor.

After all, this Phantom Step is clearly a footwork technique that increases speed. In his view, guarding in place and defending, no matter how strong, will inevitably be broken. But as long as you are fast, you won't get hurt if you are not hit.

Upon reaching the second floor, there were fewer bookshelves than on the first floor, and the jade plaques on them were not as crowded.

After he figured it out, he skipped the water and fire bookshelves and went straight to the bookshelf with no attributes. The first thing he saw was a jade tablet engraved with the "Mirror of Mind".

"A mental cultivation technique? Could it be...?"

As if remembering something, Ning Chang quickly walked towards the fire-attribute bookshelf and searched for a while.

"As expected! The 'Fire Heart Sutra'!" Looking at the jade plaque engraved with the familiar name, Ning Chang confirmed his guess.

"It seems that every inner disciple changes their spiritual energy attribute. Those who don't probably chose other martial arts techniques."

Returning to the bookshelf without attributes, Ning Chang resumed browsing.

“Spirit Veil... Concealment Technique... Wind-Stepping Technique...”

"What should I do? I want several of them. Spirit Veil looks like it's defensive, and it requires a lot of control over spiritual energy; Concealment Technique, for invisibility; Wind Step, it seems pretty fast since it's all about the wind..."

Ning Chang, who was hesitant, decided to look at the third floor first.

On the third floor, there are even fewer bookshelves, and the division of attributes is no longer present.

Ning Chang looked through the pieces one by one, and the martial arts techniques on the third level sounded more impressive than those on the first and second levels, just by looking at their names.

"Moon-Embracing Hand, Cold Light Nail, Azure Cloud Step..."

Before long, Ning Chang finished looking at one side of the bookshelf in front of her and walked to the other side to continue reading when she suddenly froze.

He stared at the small characters on the jade pendant and fell silent.

"So, there's an introduction on the back!" He picked up the jade plaque engraved with the "Qingyun Steps" technique.

"The Azure Cloud Steps is a footwork technique created by the current Azure Cloud Sect Master. After mastering it, one can move with incredible speed, and upon reaching perfection, one can ascend to the Azure Clouds on foot!"

After just one look, Ning Chang decided to choose "Qingyun Steps". After all, it was a stepping technique created by the sect leader. Although the phrase "stepping into the clouds" in his original world meant that it was easy to reach a very high status.

But Ning Chang believes that this word in this world is merely a verb, and that one can soar into the sky with just one step!

A footwork technique focused on speed will undoubtedly be a great asset to his future!