For the next several days, that faint, elusive presence lingered upstream along Clear River, waiting patiently like a beast lying in ambush.
You neither hurried nor grew restless. Since you could not leave for the time being, you settled down to study the two cultivation texts you had newly acquired.
You read the Three Treasures of Supreme Yin several times over. Though this Heavenly Art pointed straight toward the Great Dao and recorded only the Heaven Gate chapter, its mysteries were already apparent.
Unfortunately, the art was not meant for you. The Vast Cold Palace had always accepted mostly female disciples precisely because it had been created for those born with yin-aligned constitutions.
Though you committed the entire text to memory, it was not suited to your path toward the Great Dao.
Still, your study was not without reward. You gleaned methods for casting several ice spells from it, an unexpected delight.
Zhuang Xiuyin was much the same. Born into Western Kunlun, she had a profound foundation and an inheritance no weaker than the Vast Cold Palace's. For her, this was largely a chance to compare the two and refine what she already knew.
You then opened the Essential Arts of Great Peace with anticipation. A cultivation text personally written by the Great Peace Daoist and bold enough to bear his Daoist title must have something distinctive about it.
As you read deeper, your eyes grew brighter. This was a complete, orthodox cultivation manual!
The book was divided into three parts: upper, middle, and lower.
The upper part dealt with the foundations of cultivation and led straight to the Great Dao Golden Core. Its methods were balanced and gentle, advancing step by step in the orthodox tradition of the Mystic Gate.
You circulated your energy through a full cycle according