Only by stepping into the Scripture Depository could one understand just how terrifying Qi Yun Sect's thousand-year legacy was, and why countless lineages across the land would send their descendants into Qi Yun Sect even to serve as laboring menials.
Nearly ten thousand individual volumes recording introductions to cultivation manuals were neatly arranged across hundreds of bookshelves. Every shelf was made from costly sandalwood, filling the entire Scripture Depository with its rich fragrance.
After casually making a round through the first floor of the Scripture Depository, Ye Zhen somewhat understood why the sect stipulated that no disciple could remain inside for longer than half an hour.
There were simply too many cultivation manuals—so many that they dazzled the eyes.
Every cultivation art had its own benefits and strengths. If no time limit were imposed, many disciples who entered the Scripture Depository would be overwhelmed by choice and might not emerge even after a day or two.
The cultivation manuals collected within the Scripture Depository were categorized by bookshelf, and their grades were divided with great precision, making it convenient for disciples to choose quickly.
There were cultivation arts, sword techniques, fist techniques, saber techniques, offensive and defensive techniques, speed manuals, movement manuals, and so on.
Before long, Ye Zhen had selected several cultivation manuals as possible choices.
"White Crane Divine Claw, Mortal-tier High Grade martial skill, primarily offensive!"
"Heavenly Thunder Palm, Mortal-tier High Grade martial skill, primarily offensive."
"Five Peaks Divine Fist, Mortal-tier High Grade martial skill, primarily offensive."
"Turtle Crane Evasion Fist, Mortal-tier Middle Grade martial skill, primarily defensive."
"Grasshopper Step, Mortal-tier High Grade movement martial skill."
"Snake-Wandering Steps, Mortal-tier High Grade movement martial skill."
"Seven Star Sword Finger, Mortal-tier High Grade martial skill, primarily offensive!"
Very quickly, Ye Zhen chose seven martial skills he felt suited him. In Ye Zhen's view, there were no strongest martial skills—only the most suitable ones.
For example, asking Wang Qi, an Outer Disciple born with immense strength but clumsy in build, to cultivate Snake-Wandering Steps would be a terrible move. In contrast, someone like Wang Qi, blessed with natural strength, was suited to powerful, heavy-hitting fist techniques like the Great Strength Tiger King Fist.
Naturally, Ye Zhen chose martial skills that suited his own traits.
Ye Zhen had a well-proportioned build and strong explosive power. He belonged to the rather ordinary sort, so many martial skills here suited him. However, the cultivation art he practiced, the Essence Blood Origin Body Art, was quite distinctive.
His battle with Li Xuelong today had given Ye Zhen an even deeper understanding of the Essence Blood Origin Body Art's tyranny. Once the Qi Gang formed, it truly could cut gold and sever jade.
As far as Ye Zhen knew, martial artists could only possibly cultivate Qi Gang after condensing True Essence. Yet the Essence Blood Origin Body Art had allowed Ye Zhen to cultivate Qi Gang at such an early stage. Ye Zhen estimated that this art was, at the very least, a Human-tier Low Grade cultivation art—perhaps even higher.
Mortal-tier Low Grade and even Mortal-tier Middle Grade cultivation arts were the standard benefits of Inner Disciples. Ye Zhen was rather curious about the identity of Instructor Liao, who seemed somewhat prone to violence.
Since Ye Zhen possessed such a sharp weapon as Qi Gang, his choice of martial skills had to revolve entirely around whether they could bring out the greatest possible power of Qi Gang.
Based on this principle, Ye Zhen chose these seven candidate manuals.
White Crane Divine Claw emphasized flexibility and ever-changing variations, famed for its strange transformations. Once mastered, it could leave an opponent unable to guard against it. Heavenly Thunder Palm, on the other hand, followed a fierce and forceful path, which also suited Ye Zhen.
However, Ye Zhen ultimately chose Five Peaks Divine Fist. It too followed a fierce and forceful path. Strictly speaking, it was slightly inferior to Heavenly Thunder Palm, but once Five Peaks Divine Fist was cultivated to mastery, its fist force could extend three feet beyond the body!
The fact that its fist force could leave the body by three feet was the reason Ye Zhen ultimately chose Five Peaks Divine Fist.
As for movement manuals, Ye Zhen ultimately chose Snake-Wandering Steps.
Grasshopper Step was the superior movement art, faster than Snake-Wandering Steps, but it lacked variation. By comparison, Snake-Wandering Steps possessed more intricate and bizarre changes, making it more suitable for Ye Zhen's use of Qi Gang.
With Snake-Wandering Steps beneath his feet, if Ye Zhen suddenly threw a punch and blasted out Qi Gang, it might have the marvelous effect of defeating an enemy and securing victory. More importantly, Snake-Wandering Steps had explosive power over short distances.
Snake-Wandering Steps had a movement technique called Snake Springing Grass, which could cross distances of ten or several dozen meters in an instant. It might prove extraordinarily effective at a critical moment, making it more suitable than Grasshopper Step, which excelled in speed.
As for cultivation arts, Ye Zhen also looked through quite a few. Yet even after flipping through over a hundred Mortal-tier High Grade cultivation arts, he did not find a single one capable of cultivating Qi Gang in the Blood Refining Realm.
This made Ye Zhen look forward even more to discovering the grade of the Essence Blood Origin Body Art.
What Ye Zhen had selected on the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion were merely introductions to the cultivation manuals. To obtain the actual manuals, he still had to exchange for them with the Scripture Depository deacon.
It was said that Qi Yun Sect had established this rule to prevent disciples from memorizing the formulas. Yet its ultimate purpose was to prevent disciples from learning countless arts without restraint, only to end up accomplishing nothing in any one of them.
Because there were so many Outer Disciples, quite a few disciples came to the Scripture Depository every day to select cultivation manuals. Yet there was only one Sect Deacon stationed here. Thus, selecting manual introductions was quick, but when it came time to exchange them for actual cultivation manuals, a long line formed.
Moreover, the old Sect Deacon at the Scripture Pavilion would sometimes offer Outer Disciples a few words of guidance on whether their chosen arts were suitable, so the process was rather slow.
Ye Zhen obediently stood in line as well. After waiting for around half an hour, only one Outer Disciple remained ahead of him.
The old Sect Deacon gave a few pointers to the black-robed Outer Disciple in front of Ye Zhen, then entered the inner room to fetch the cultivation manuals. At that very moment, an arrogant and overbearing voice suddenly rang out behind Ye Zhen.
"Move aside, move aside! Let me go first!" A black-robed Outer Disciple with a black wart beside his brow charged forward from the very end of the line, shoving his way through. The black-robed Outer Disciples waiting behind were knocked stumbling left and right by him.
"Are you all blind? Move aside for me, now! I've got business to attend to!" He cursed as he walked. With every curse, his triangular eyes tugged at the black wart beside his brow, making him look especially vicious.
"Damn it, Hong Bao's here! Move!" Several black-robed Outer Disciples behind Ye Zhen saw his manner and hurriedly stepped aside in fear, leaving only Ye Zhen standing there.
Upon hearing that name, Ye Zhen's brow furrowed slightly. The name seemed familiar, as though he had seen it somewhere before.
"Hey, you up front! Are you deaf? Why aren't you moving aside for me?" Seeing that Ye Zhen did not react, Hong Bao began to curse.
Ye Zhen acted as though he had heard nothing. He stood there without moving an inch.
Seeing that his shouting had no effect, Hong Bao's brows suddenly drew together, tugging the black wart as his vicious expression emerged. "Damn it, are you deaf? Get out of my way!"
As he roared, the wind suddenly whistled. Hong Bao actually struck a palm at Ye Zhen, intending to smack him aside.
"Get lost. What the hell are you, and why should I?"
At the instant Hong Bao's palm landed on Ye Zhen's shoulder, Ye Zhen's shoulder gave a sharp shake, and a surge of force arose from within.
Bang!
Hong Bao's palm was flung high into the air, and even his body was forced back a step.
Hiss!
The sound of sharp breaths being drawn rang out in unison. The many Outer Disciples who had yielded the way earlier were utterly shocked. Someone actually dared to clash head-on with Hong Bao?
After being forced back by Ye Zhen, Hong Bao's face first reddened, then a savage expression abruptly appeared. "Good! You dare extend your claws against me! Why should I?
Because I'm second on the Earth Ranking! Kid, get out of here!"
"Second on the Earth Ranking?" Ye Zhen instantly understood where his sense of familiarity had come from. He had seen this man's name on the Earth Ranking.
With an explosive roar, Hong Bao's hands suddenly transformed into countless palm shadows, about to crash down upon Ye Zhen's head.
"Hong Bao, violate the sect rules one more time, and you'll be expelled from the sect!" The cold voice of the old Scripture Pavilion deacon, who had returned carrying the manuals, rang out. Hong Bao, who had been about to attack Ye Zhen, froze on the spot as if struck by magic.
"Heh, how would I dare?" Hong Bao forced a smile onto his face and stood with his hands lowered behind Ye Zhen. Yet his gaze looked as though he wanted to swallow Ye Zhen whole.
Ye Zhen showed no weakness. He coldly stared Hong Bao down, refusing to yield in the slightest.
The experiences of these past days had gradually made Ye Zhen understand one thing: as a martial artist, he absolutely could not swallow his anger, much less be cowardly and retreat.
Before brutally beating Wu Jian, Ye Zhen had swallowed his anger every day. Though he cultivated, even the circulation of his blood and qi felt somewhat obstructed each day.
But after his strength surged, after he brutally beat Wu Jian and defeated Ma Yuanwu, Ye Zhen clearly felt that the circulation of his blood and qi had become exceptionally smooth during cultivation. His cultivation results had even improved by several degrees.
After comparing the two, Ye Zhen grasped such a principle. He understood it in his heart, yet could not quite put it into words.
After sending away the Outer Disciple in front of Ye Zhen, the Sect Deacon took the manual introductions Ye Zhen had selected and casually said, "Bring out your Identity Jade Token. Five Peaks Divine Fist costs one hundred Sect Contribution Points, and Snake-Wandering Steps costs one hundred and fifty Sect Contribution Points."
"They require Sect Contribution Points? Sir Deacon, isn't every newly admitted Outer Disciple allowed to choose one cultivation art, one martial skill, and one movement art for free?" Ye Zhen asked doubtfully.
"The batch from a few days ago? You still haven't chosen yours? Bring out your Identity Jade Token." The old Sect Deacon was rather surprised.
Not only that, the Outer Disciples behind him were even more shocked. They had never imagined that someone who dared challenge Hong Bao, second on the Earth Ranking, was actually a newly admitted Outer Disciple who had not even selected his cultivation manuals yet.
Hong Bao's eyes suddenly widened. Pointing at Ye Zhen, he angrily cursed, "Damn it, a newly admitted Outer Disciple dares give me, second on the Earth Ranking, such an attitude? You don't want to live? Just wait and see how I'll play you to death in the future..."
The old Sect Deacon glared, immediately cutting Hong Bao's curses short. "That's right. You indeed have not used your one free opportunity. You may take these two manuals directly, but as for Snake-Wandering Steps, I advise you to choose another one."
"Why?" Ye Zhen asked doubtfully.
"It is very difficult to cultivate. This old man has guarded the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion for more than ten years, and I have never seen any disciple completely master Snake-Wandering Steps."
Ye Zhen was somewhat unwilling to believe it. "I want to try."
The old Sect Deacon revealed an expression that said he had expected this response. He turned and fetched the two manuals, then handed them to Ye Zhen. "Every disciple who chose Snake-Wandering Steps and was advised against it by this old man reacted exactly as you do now. The price of one hundred and fifty Sect Contribution Points for Snake-Wandering Steps, though it is also a Mortal-tier High Grade manual, was not named for nothing."
"Thank you for the reminder, Sir Deacon, but I still wish to give it a try," Ye Zhen insisted.
"Next!" Since his advice had been ineffective, the Sect Deacon said no more. Ye Zhen then turned and left.
As Ye Zhen turned to leave and passed Hong Bao, Hong Bao's vicious voice sounded beside his ear. "Kid, just you wait. I'll play you to death..."
"I'll be waiting anytime!"
Ye Zhen's single sentence nearly made Hong Bao's triangular eyes burst with rage. A newcomer was actually this arrogant. Just as Hong Bao was about to roar something else, Ye Zhen had already drifted away.
P.S. Brothers, there are favorites and clicks, so why are there no recommendation votes? With tears streaming down my face, I beg for recommendation votes!
Let me mention this: to make things more comfortable for everyone to read, Old Pig will try to update at fixed times from now on. During the new-book period, there will be two updates daily—the first around 2:30 in the afternoon, and the second around 9:30 at night!
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