Treasure Library

Three days later.

The so-called final assessment had gone exactly as Ling Wuyuan—and everyone else in his class—had expected. He passed it with effortless ease.

Everything had unfolded naturally. Every teacher and every student felt that Ling Wuyuan ought to pass the assessment with ease. Even when he took first place, no one found the outcome the least bit surprising. At most, they thought he had performed quite well this time.

That was simply how things should be.

The situation could be described exactly that way.

Next, just as Ling Wuyuan had expected.

Together with the other people who had passed the assessment, he once again met Feng Shuyun, the man in charge of the training grounds—Elder Feng of the White Crow Gang.

Although they had not met for some time, Ling Wuyuan could not sense any sign of aging from the man. It was as though only a month or two had passed.

"Very good. You newcomers have not wasted the White Crow Gang's cultivation. Having successfully passed the most basic knowledge assessment, you will next enter the Treasure Library and freely choose one low-grade Cultivation Method."

"Of course, as a reward for excellence, according to the gang's Rules, the top three among you may additionally choose one low-grade martial skill and one ordinary weapon."

For a time.

Amid their delight, everyone looked at Ling Wuyuan and the other two with a touch of envy.

If cultivation techniques were methods for tempering the body, then low-grade martial skills were methods for fighting and killing. Ordinarily, one could only qualify to learn them after cultivating to a certain level of strength.

As for choosing an ordinary weapon, that was likewise quite a good reward, allowing them to save a sum of money.

Still, envy was envy. Everyone understood that these were rewards the three deserved.

Treasure Library.

Unlike the Library Tower, which anyone could enter.

This place stood directly behind the Library Tower, near the summit of White Crow Mountain. It was one of the gang's most crucial areas. At all times, more than a hundred gang members armed with all manner of weapons, along with no fewer than three elders, were specifically assigned to patrol and guard it.

Should anything go wrong, virtually all of the gang's main forces would rush here at top speed.

Therefore, to truly break into this place, one would basically have to carve a path through the entire White Crow Gang.

Normally.

Only members attempting to exchange merit points for secret manuals would come here.

As for a large crowd arriving together, that only happened when newcomers came to choose their foundational manuals.

At this very moment.

Led by Elder Feng, Ling Wuyuan and the others smoothly arrived in this area, a place they ordinarily had no qualifications even to approach.

By visual estimation, he judged the Treasure Library to be around thirty meters tall. It had four floors and was not especially tall overall.

However, its outer structure was filled with metal frameworks and stone materials, with barely any wood to be seen.

Moreover, there were few windows throughout the building.

Even those windows meant to provide basic ventilation and light were all tiny and packed with iron bars.

This showed that the building possessed extraordinary defensive and fireproofing capabilities, like a fortress.

Even if someone deliberately set a fire, it probably would not burn at all.

To damage this place, there was basically only one option: a frontal assault.

It fully demonstrated just how much the White Crow Gang valued this place.

The moment he walked inside.

Ling Wuyuan immediately sensed that the entire Treasure Library was steeped in a kind of gloom.

Because there were too few windows, even though bonfires and candles were kept burning within day and night, the interior remained unavoidably dim, constantly giving people an inexplicable sense of oppression and isolation.

Then, Ling Wuyuan saw a group of people bow to Feng Shuyun. The middle-aged woman at their head warmly took the initiative to greet him.

"Welcome, Elder Feng!"

"These are this batch's newcomers, yes?"

"Just leave them to us."

"Elder Zhao is having tea on the second floor. You may go accompany him for a game of chess..."

Feng Shuyun naturally did not refuse such an arrangement.

There was nothing worth watching in newcomers choosing cultivation techniques. Drinking tea and playing chess with an old friend was much more interesting.

"Fine."

"Then I'll leave these newcomers to you. I'll come back down in a while."

Having said that, he turned to Ling Wuyuan and the others. "You heard her, yes?"

"Just follow Manager Li. She'll take care of everything for you."

Once he finished speaking.

He directly headed toward the second floor under the guidance of two attendants.

After his figure completely vanished around the stairway corner, the middle-aged woman called Manager Li slowly withdrew her smile. With a face as stern as an exterminating nun, she said:

"Come."

"You will have two hours to choose your entry-level Cultivation Method."

"Although these are all very basic things, the entry-level Cultivation Method you choose will still largely determine the general path of the rest of your life. So you had best choose carefully..."

Though there was little expression on her face, Manager Li still dutifully gave the newcomers behind her all sorts of basic explanations.

Before long, everyone arrived at a room, where they saw Manager Li take out catalog after catalog and distribute them among the group.

"Here. Choose carefully."

"Once you have made your choice, someone will bring out a copied version of the secret manual for you."

"You may only read those copied versions yourselves. You may not privately lend them to others. If you are discovered privately lending them out or spreading them beyond the gang, then at best your limbs will be broken; at worst, your family will be implicated."

Ignoring her warning, Ling Wuyuan immediately began carefully flipping through the cultivation technique catalog in his hands.

[Savage Bull Strength], [Bone Strengthening Body Refinement Method], [Tiger Bone Body Strengthening Technique]...

As his gaze swept over one cultivation method after another, Ling Wuyuan discovered that while newcomers were supposedly only allowed to choose low-grade Cultivation Methods, they could actually choose mid-grade Cultivation Methods as well.

However, if they chose a mid-grade Cultivation Method, they would not receive the complete secret manual, only a portion of it.

Furthermore, mid-grade Cultivation Methods often required certain relatively precious materials to assist with cultivation.

For example, the introduction to the mid-grade Cultivation Method known as [Tiger Bone Body Strengthening Technique] clearly stated that, to complete its cultivation, a practitioner had to use up the bones, flesh, and blood of at least several tigers.

Even merely getting started required freshly drawn Tiger Blood and a great quantity of precious medicinal ingredients as catalysts.

Those basic requirements immediately made Ling Wuyuan realize that he was simply too poor. He truly could not afford to cultivate it.

Compared with such a cultivation method, which he could not afford even if he sold pots and pans alike.

He needed a Cultivation Method with a more commoner-friendly method of practice.

For example, [Savage Bull Strength], which sounded quite ordinary.

Also a mid-grade Cultivation Method, its entry requirements were merely cattle bones, cattle hide, and some medicinal ingredients that were not particularly valuable.

Of course, if one wanted to cultivate it to mastery, the annotations stated that one would need at least the bones and hides of hundreds of savage bulls. Moreover, it was far more difficult to cultivate than [Tiger Bone Body Strengthening Technique], which was likewise a mid-grade Cultivation Method but was, in truth, a cultivation path for the wealthy.

[Savage Bull Strength] = Even commoners could get started with it, but it was difficult to cultivate, and the actual total cost of reaching mastery would not be much lower than [Tiger Bone Body Strengthening Technique]. Furthermore, its actual effects after completion would probably be slightly inferior to [Tiger Bone Body Strengthening Technique]. It was the ideal choice for ordinary people unwilling to resign themselves to fate.

[Tiger Bone Body Strengthening Technique] = Only those with money qualified to get started with it, and its cultivation difficulty was relatively ordinary. After completing it, its actual effects were very good among cultivation methods of the same grade. Its greatest flaw was that if your family had no money, you could not even enter through the door. It was the ideal choice for the wealthy.

In short, depending on the actual wealth possessed by the practitioner, each had its own advantages.

Overall assessment.

Poor scholars, rich warriors.

Without money, cultivate my ass.