What Young Man Doesn't Cultivate the Sword?

[After breaking through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, the spiritual power in your Dantian grew considerably denser than before.]

[You sat inside the Ding Character No. 13 Cave Abode. The furnace fire had yet to go out.]

[You neither continued cultivating nor fired up the furnace to refine pills.]

[Free from the pressure of debt, you could now spend Spirit Stones and time learning a few Law Techniques.]

[You had come here to cultivate immortality, not to work a job!]

[Besides, knowing how to refine pills but not how to fight made for a high-risk occupation.]

[In the last simulation, the only reason you had been able to injure Han Changqing when he entered the cave abode was that you had pickled it into a den of poison beforehand.]

[You decided to visit the Scripture Repository.]

[The Greenwood Sect's Scripture Repository had three floors in total.]

[Outer Sect Disciples could only enter the first floor.]

[Most of the first floor contained basic Law Techniques for the Qi Refining Stage, miscellaneous studies, and commentaries on Cultivation Methods.]

[Entry was free; borrowing cost money.]

[When you saw the price board at the entrance, thirty percent of your young immortal cultivator's passion was shaved away.]

[Alchemy is cultivation too, right...?]

[The senior disciple guarding the repository sat behind the counter, leafing through an account book without looking up.]

["Identity token."]

[You handed over your Outer Sect wooden token.]

[He pressed the wooden token onto a formation disk.]

["Alchemy Hall, Lu Ping. A First-Rank Alchemist?"]

[He finally raised his head and glanced at you.]

[Workplace People-Pleaser activated.]

[The repository guard's expression visibly softened.]

["Junior Brother Lu, is this your first time here?"]

[You nodded.]

["Sharp eyes, Senior Brother."]

["Sword arts are on the third shelf to the left, fire techniques on the second shelf to the right. Feel free to browse the other Law Techniques yourself, Junior Brother."]

["The basic Law Techniques here cost ten Spirit Stones each, with a seven-day borrowing period."]

["Junior Brother Lu, please take great care of these Jade Slips. If any are damaged, you must pay ten times their value."]

[He paused after speaking, then added another sentence.]

["Alchemists get a ten percent discount."]

[For the first time, you felt that a certificate was somewhat useful after all.]

[Options appeared.]

[A: Exchange for a Fire Element Law Technique and first learn the means best suited to an Alchemist.]

[B: Exchange for the introductory chapter of the Greenwood Sword Art and fulfill your dream of becoming a sword cultivator.]

[C: Ask whether they have "Golden Core Patriarch's Presence Management: A Three-Day Crash Course."]

Lu Ping stared at B for a moment.

Sword cultivation—that's sword cultivation!

I've transmigrated into an immortal cultivation world. Can't I fulfill my dream of becoming a sword cultivator?

White robes, a flying sword, the azure heavens, and a casual swing of the sword to slay demons and banish fiends.

This is a simulation anyway.

Better to have my dream shattered here than lose my life in reality.

Lu Ping chose B.

[You chose B.]

[You spent nine Low-Grade Spirit Stones to borrow the introductory chapter of the Greenwood Sword Art.]

[The senior disciple guarding the repository glanced at you.]

["Junior Brother Lu, do you know why I made a point of telling you where the sword arts were?"]

[You were taken aback. For a moment, you didn't understand what he meant.]

[The senior disciple merely smiled without answering, then pushed a wooden practice sword onto the counter.]

["Now that you have a sword art, you naturally need a sword. You don't look like you have a flying sword of your own, Junior Brother."]

["This wooden sword costs one Spirit Stone a day."]

[You fell silent for two breaths.]

[Another thirty percent of your young immortal cultivator's passion was gone.]

[You rented it anyway. You had already spent nine Spirit Stones, so you might as well count the remaining one as an Alchemist's benefit.]

[You returned to Ding Character No. 13 with the wooden sword and Jade Slip.]

[On the first day, you circulated Qi as described in the Jade Slip.]

[The Greenwood Sword Art emphasized concentrating spiritual power, placing one's steps correctly, and thrusting the sword straight.]

[Artisan Spirit activated.]

[Your movements were perfectly precise.]

[On the second day, you continued practicing the sword.]

[Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement activated.]

[Your spiritual power consumption was very low.]

[On the third day, you made your 137th sword thrust in your cave abode.]

[The tip of the wooden sword tapped lightly against the stone wall, dislodging a little dust.]

[You confirmed one thing.]

[It wasn't that you had no talent for the sword.]

[It was just that, if the Greenwood Sect's wooden swords had sword spirits, yours would only want to report you to the Law Enforcement Hall right now.]

[You refused to believe it.]

[You went to the Greenwood Sect's small practice ground.]

[Several Outer Sect Disciples were practicing Law Techniques there.]

[Qian Dafu was there too.]

[When he saw you carrying a wooden sword, he hurried over.]

["Senior Brother Lu, you know sword arts too?"]

[You ignored him and instead thrust out your sword with icy aloofness.]

[The wooden sword struck a practice dummy, which swayed once.]

[A disciple practicing the Fireball Technique nearby stopped.]

[He looked at the dummy, then at you. He wanted to laugh, but held it in, his face twisting with the effort.]

[After all, the person practicing the sword was Lu Ping, the people-pleaser. No one wanted to offend you for no reason.]

[Qian Dafu forced himself to speak.]

["Everyone knows it, Senior Brother Lu: steady!"]

[He paused.]

["Yes, yes, that's right! Senior Brother Lu, very steady."]

[Still, someone failed to hold it in and laughed aloud, though no one dared say anything.]

[Qian Dafu turned and glared at the person who had laughed.]

[You saw your fellow disciples' reactions and sheathed your sword.]

[You decided to respect reality.]

[Hmph, sword cultivators are all paupers.]

[How could they compare to the noble master Alchemists!]

[Options appeared.]

[A: Give up the sword art and switch to fire techniques, applying your alchemical fire control to combat.]

[B: My fate is mine to decide, not heaven's! Continue practicing the sword, spending ten years to hone one blade and gambling on great success later on.]

[C: Announce that you are taking the path where having no sword surpasses having one. From now on, stop practicing the sword and only rent swords.]

Lu Ping looked at little B and sighed.

Little B, you understand your host.

But you don't understand this world of immortal cultivation.

Little A is more practical after all.

Control fire for alchemy, and turn the furnace fire into fire that kills.

That's value for money.

Lu Ping chose A.

[You chose A.]

[You returned the sword art and the wooden sword.]

[The senior disciple guarding the repository took the wooden sword and inspected it.]

[He made a mark in the account book, then smiled faintly.]

["Junior Brother Lu, do you know why I made a point of telling you where the sword arts were last time?"]

[You froze again. The senior disciple had said those words when you first came.]

[Seeing that you had caught on, the senior disciple laughed heartily and continued,]

["Nine out of ten Alchemy Hall disciples have dreamed of becoming sword cultivators."]

["But in the end, eight of them returned their flying swords and went back to stoking their furnaces."]

["As for the one left, not only did he fail to master the sword, he even ruined his pills."]

[You spent half a quarter of an hour choosing at the fire technique shelf.]

[The Little Flame Art could assist with alchemy.]

[The Red Fire Finger could make up for your lack of close-range killing power.]

[The title page of the Fire Crow Technique bore the words "suspected fragment from High Antiquity."]

[In the end, you borrowed all three.]

[The three Fire Element Law Techniques cost a total of twenty-seven Low-Grade Spirit Stones.]

[You returned to your cave abode.]

[You practiced the Little Flame Art first.]

[Spiritual power flowed from your fingertips and turned into a ball of fire. You pressed it beneath the Pill Furnace, and the temperature inside slowly rose.]

[Artisan Spirit activated.]

[You could precisely control the changes in the fire's intensity with every breath.]

[Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement activated.]

[An ordinary disciple could sustain the same wisp of spiritual power for only thirty breaths.]

[You could sustain it for three hundred.]

[You began refining Qi-Congealing Pills.]

[With the Little Flame Art assisting your fire control, the medicinal liquids fused faster, and impurities were removed more smoothly.]

[The furnace yielded three pills, their medicinal potency twenty percent higher than before.]

[You looked at the Pill Furnace, feeling a little better.]

[A furnace-stoking boy shall never be a slave.]

[On the second day, you practiced the Red Fire Finger.]

[You extended one finger. A line of fire crossed a distance of three zhang and struck the stone wall, scorching a hole in it.]

[You confirmed that your talent for controlling fire far surpassed your swordsmanship.]

[Besides, the memories of five years spent refining pills in the last simulation had not been earned in vain.]

[Heat control, temperature, and spiritual power output had already been etched into your muscle memory.]

[On the third day, you began reading the Fire Crow Technique.]