Choosing a Cultivation Method

Sigh, choosing a secret manual—whether this carp can leap over the dragon gate or not, it all hinges on this one moment.

The day after the initiation, several youths in brocade robes, aged fifteen or sixteen, led the forty-plus children into the "Library Pavilion," a standalone three-story building within the Herb Gathering Hall compound.

The first floor of the Library Pavilion housed numerous books on herbs, medicinal materials, and pharmaceuticals, which disciples of the hall were permitted to borrow. The second floor served as a guard post, manned by eleven young experts from the hall's current generation. The third floor was the Secret Manual Chamber, where over a thousand volumes of blade techniques, sword styles, external arts, and internal cultivation methods were strictly guarded.

The Medicine King Gang was a highly prestigious organization within the jianghu of Ping Province, boasting a history of several hundred years. It had always positioned itself as a neutral faction, striving to avoid entanglement in jianghu conflicts. Furthermore, from its very inception, the gang possessed no martial arts manuals or incantations of its own; it was purely a medicinal herb organization.

Because the Medicine King Gang's primary business was gathering and refining herbs, it had built its foundation on medicinal materials. It often used rare medicines to trade with other small jianghu factions for their internal cultivation methods and martial arts techniques.

Caught between the need for life-saving medicine and the value of their manuals, those small factions were forced to trade their secret texts for drugs. Although most of these manuals were low-level techniques and not particularly precious, over the course of several hundred years, the Medicine King Gang had accumulated a collection of martial arts manuals that could almost form a small mountain; they lacked nothing in terms of martial arts knowledge.

In the Herb Gathering Hall of Zhuqi County alone, there were hundreds of introductory manuals available for the Herb Gathering Apprentices to choose from, along with hundreds of intermediate and advanced manuals—the sheer volume was staggering.

One must realize that for other small factions, possessing even a few or a dozen manuals would be considered fortunate. Even the large sects and major factions within Ping Province rarely exceeded a few hundred manuals; they were nowhere near as absurdly well-stocked as the Medicine King Gang.

However, the Medicine King Gang having many manuals did not mean it was powerful.

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of large and small factions in Ping Province. The Medicine King Gang had long been ranked as the fifth-largest, never once breaking into the top three. The reason was simple: the gang's collection was too chaotic. It was so disorganized that masters often didn't know what their disciples were practicing, and disciples often didn't know what their masters were practicing. Masters could not guide their disciples' martial arts, leaving the disciples to rely mostly on self-study.

Take Herbalist Wang, for example. He practiced an external martial art called the Eagle Claw Technique, and his hand-to-hand skills were exceptional. Yet, Ye Qin and the other four needed to choose a technique for themselves in the Secret Manual Chamber, and it wouldn't necessarily be the same one Herbalist Wang practiced. If they chose an external art, Herbalist Wang could offer a few pointers on the techniques, but if they chose an internal art, he would be completely unable to provide in-depth guidance.

Fortunately, the Medicine King Gang's main focus was gathering and preparing medicine, and it maintained extensive connections and a vast network with the vast majority of jianghu factions in Ping Province. Being slightly weaker in martial arts did not hinder its status as a major faction. In the jianghu of Ping Province, the Medicine King Gang was known for the sheer variety of its techniques. Other factions could never predict what a disciple of the Medicine King Gang might be capable of, and they dared not provoke them lightly.

The second floor of the Herb Gathering Hall's Library Pavilion.

The youths in brocade robes led the children into the building and ascended to the second floor.

They found the spacious second-floor hall empty. Within a radius of several hundred feet, there were only eleven cushions. On each cushion sat a cold-faced young man, legs crossed, eyes closed, practicing internal energy. In front of each of them lay a sharp weapon—either a sword or a blade.

The arrival of the youths in brocade robes and the large group of children startled them.

The youths in brocade robes looked at the eleven young men with a mix of envy and fear. These men, aged between twenty and thirty, all wore icy expressions. They were senior brothers who had joined the Herb Gathering Hall long ago and were core disciples—direct disciples of the Hall Master, Vice Hall Masters, or elders. They were here in the Library Pavilion for secluded cultivation, and their status was far beyond that of ordinary disciples. The leader among them, in particular, was a direct disciple of Hall Master Li and possessed extremely high martial aptitude.

Ye Qin looked around curiously, examining the empty second floor. He didn't know who the eleven young men guarding the place were, so he felt no fear in his heart. However, the stifling, murderous atmosphere of the place made him afraid to speak.

One of the youths in brocade robes stepped forward respectfully and bowed to the leading young man: "Senior Brother Xie Yun, the forty-plus newly initiated Herb Gathering Apprentices and Medicine Preparation Apprentices are all here. Vice Hall Master Ji has instructed us to bring them here. We ask that Senior Brother Xie Yun please assist them in selecting their secret manuals and martial arts." After speaking, he stepped back.

In the center of the hall, the slender leading youth finally opened his eyes and nodded at the youth in brocade robes. He then stood up, scanned the children, and said indifferently: "My name is Xie Yun; you may call me Senior Brother from now on. According to the rules of our Herb Gathering Hall, each Herb Gathering Apprentice is permitted to select only one low-level martial arts manual to take out of the chamber; you may not choose more. Medicine Preparation Apprentices may choose two low-level manuals. Every apprentice must practice only their own manual; if anyone is discovered practicing another's manual without permission, they will be severely punished."

Ye Qin was slightly stunned. How could the Medicine Preparation Apprentices from the inner hall get to choose one more technique than them, the Herb Gathering Apprentices from the outer hall? Wasn't this a huge disadvantage?

The children in green robes couldn't help but glare at the five children in white robes. The five in white were not afraid in the slightest, holding their heads high with arrogance. We just get to learn one more technique than you, so what? Want to fight? Come on then, who's afraid of whom!

If not for the presence of the youths in brocade robes and the young guards, the two sides would likely have started fighting on the spot.

Yang Yicheng, Feng Xiao, and the others also curled their lips in secret, cursing under their breath. They were deeply dissatisfied and began whispering with other Herb Gathering Apprentices who weren't afraid of trouble, plotting to beat these arrogant fellows up at some point to vent their frustration.

After the leading guard announced the rules, he led them to the third floor and opened the doors to the Secret Manual Chamber.

Ye Qin had already quietly squeezed to the front, grabbing a good spot. As soon as the door opened, he and the other children rushed inside.

The other children, too, stopped arguing and scrambled in after them. After all, getting a manual in their hands was the priority; they didn't want the good ones to be snatched up by others.

The Secret Manual Chamber on the third floor was very large, with three rows of bookshelves placed across the room. The shelves were packed with books, many of which were covered in dust. The first row contained low-level manuals, the second row intermediate, and the third row advanced. Unique or peerless manuals were not kept in a place like this.

Ye Qin searched the first row of shelves rapidly, hoping to pick a decent manual. However, when he picked up a low-level manual, he was left dumbfounded. He couldn't read the characters on it at all. Flipping the book open, he was completely lost—how was he supposed to know if the manual was good or bad, or what he would be practicing in the future?

Ye Qin grew anxious and looked back to see how the other children were faring.

The vast majority of the green-robed apprentices were in the same boat as him, holding one or two low-level manuals and looking blankly at them. Most of them came from farming families and had never been to school, so they couldn't read.

The five children in white robes were reading the text on their manuals with smug satisfaction. They either came from backgrounds with connections, which was how they entered the inner hall, so they had naturally learned to read and write. Even if it wasn't much, it was enough to understand what was written in the manuals.

The young guard had already anticipated this situation. Aside from guarding the chamber, one of his purposes here was to help these ignorant, newly initiated apprentices select their manuals.

The young man walked in, his face cold, and pointed at the bookshelves, explaining in an indifferent tone what kind of manuals were on each shelf.

"All the manuals here have been categorized. Blade techniques, sword styles, spear techniques, archery manuals... weapon-based, movement arts, external arts, internal arts, and those that combine both. Most types of manuals found in the jianghu are available here. Whatever type of technique you wish to learn, just tell me, and I can recommend specific manuals to you."

He spoke in great detail, appearing to know the vast majority of the manuals here like the back of his hand.