Lu Qing steadied his state of mind, then felt a trace of strength within his body that was greater than before.
"This is cultivation."
He prepared to head to the Library Tower.
The Library Tower stood nine stories high, each floor vast enough to cover several cities.
There was no legendary sweeping monk at the entrance. Every disciple passed through a thin spell formation to enter the Library Tower.
The moment he entered, Lu Qing was stunned by the enormous expanse of the first floor.
Before this, he had not had much of a tangible impression.
But this Library Pavilion could no longer be considered a building, could it?
From the entrance onward, countless rows of bookshelves stood in immaculate order. An immeasurable number of spell jade slips gave off a soft, lustrous glow, while disciples in purple and green robes came and went. The sight was truly magnificent.
"There's a whole cosmos within."
Lu Qing was mildly surprised.
Having entered by swiping his Jade Token, he now needed to find cultivation spells for himself.
He would also have to see whether he had enough Spirit Stones.
One hundred Spirit Stones.
He wondered what spells that could exchange for.
Because he had dripped blood onto the Jade Token to acknowledge it as his master, after entering cultivation, he could use his spiritual awareness to actively establish that faint connection.
This place was simply too vast, too broad, and there were far too many types of spells in jade slips.
Who knew how long it would take to examine them one by one?
Thus, before entering the Library Tower, there was a dedicated notice board erected before its spell formation, reminding newly inducted disciples of the matters requiring attention within the Library Tower.
There were not many points, and Lu Qing had already committed them to memory.
Among them was this search-and-filter function.
He mobilized that thread of spiritual awareness. With Meridian Opening Realm cultivation, one could cast off mortal filth from the body.
"Meridian Opening Realm; new disciple; under one hundred Spirit Stones; foundational; capable of transitioning into other cultivation methods."
For the moment, that was all Lu Qing considered.
After entering several combined criteria, there was a boom, and the scenery before Lu Qing shifted. The vast sea of spell jade slips, immense as a starry sky, vanished from before his eyes.
Looking again, Lu Qing realized they had not disappeared. At his feet, indistinct patterns were operating one after another.
Looking back in the direction he had come from, he found himself already far from the entrance.
It had moved him without form or trace.
Lu Qing suddenly felt that he had still underestimated this Dao Academy he had joined.
Looking ahead again, the original sights had vanished, replaced by clusters of light containing jade slips.
Even after filtering, there were at least several hundred of them by Lu Qing's estimate.
He caught a ball of light. Pop—like water flowing over his palm, an icy sensation entered his hand, and a method called Carefree Formula entered his brow.
The method naturally had Restrictions, allowing him to view only a small portion at the beginning. What appeared in greater number were the messages left upon this jade-slip method.
They were words left behind by seniors who had cultivated this spell throughout the ages.
They counted as both warnings and guidance.
"This method cultivates movement techniques. Upon reaching minor accomplishment, one's movement technique takes shape. Yet great accomplishment tests one's comprehension. Those lacking comprehension, do not lead yourselves astray."
"!!A garbage spell—it wasted a full ten years of my youth! Never choose it!"
"Are you a genius? A Heavenly Prodigy? A monster? If not, stay far away from it."
"You can still achieve minor accomplishment through bitter cultivation, but this Carefree Formula is incomplete. If you wish to cultivate it, you must bear the consequences."
Three consecutive comments were warnings—grave warnings.
Lu Qing was not afraid of taking a long time, but neither was he stubbornly determined to walk a path different from everyone else's.
There were plenty of complete paths here. There was no need for Lu Qing to challenge himself with an incomplete cultivation method.
He selected several more balls of light and examined their methods one by one. Even though Lu Qing felt his mental state was excellent and his energy abundant, the repeated deliberation among so many options still left him feeling that his energy was far from enough.
That was how he felt, but in the eyes of others, his selection speed was already quite fast.
Lu Qing knew his own circumstances. With his cheat, he did not need to worry about anything else, nor did he have to fear the despair of an insufficient lifespan.
Movement cultivation methods, offensive spells, everyday cultivation methods.
One hundred Spirit Stones were nowhere near enough, so he could only choose a Life-Bound Cultivation Method first.
He chose Profound Heaven Origin Scripture.
"Not bad. Among the superior Dao methods available to newly inducted disciples, there are only a dozen or so like this one. Of course, that is another matter for those with plentiful Spirit Stones."
"The only flaw is that it is somewhat slow. I replaced it after cultivating to the Origin Core Realm. I still prefer leaving the mountain to fight and kill."
"I like the Spirit Essence Sword Transformation within it, but it's so difficult to cultivate."
"Not bad, not bad. Those who cultivate this Profound Heaven Origin Scripture after us, remember this: this cultivation method is quite good. As for claims that it takes too long to cultivate, that is purely due to insufficient aptitude and comprehension. We cultivators must still proceed one footprint at a time."
"It combines escape techniques, protective means, and cultivation into one. This is the one."
Its reviews were also quite good—steady and unremarkable, with no hidden disaster. It was another superior Dao method. Its only flaw was likely that reaching a profound state of complete perfection required quite a long time.
Even the original Ancestor who created this Profound Heaven Origin Scripture had only sorted through it from top to bottom after becoming powerful, viewing it from a lofty height.
Did this Origin Core Realm senior not bid it farewell as well?
Someone who could cultivate to the Origin Core Realm surely understood this cultivation method far better than most disciples.
However, the other party had abandoned it because it did not suit him, and that could not be generalized.
After making his choice, Lu Qing confirmed it. The jade slip re-formed into a ball of light. Lu Qing took out Spirit Stones and placed them into the ball of light, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished without a trace.
At the same time, the disciple Jade Token in his hand hummed. He sent his spiritual awareness inside and discovered that a jade-slip imprint had appeared within the misty blank cultivation space of his token.
Lu Qing had chosen quickly. He had also looked over other superior cultivation methods, but the Spirit Stone prices listed beneath them were beyond what a newly inducted disciple could afford.
Lu Qing guessed that quite a few people were probably in the same situation.
However, disciples born into cultivation Lineages likely did not have this concern.
After his earlier cultivation, he had not spoken with anyone else either. There was no need. Lu Qing had already determined his cultivation path, and forming ties with others would likewise mean forming enmities someday.
Even after activating his Calamity Avoidance Talent, Lu Qing was completely unable to predict the course of the Calming Hexagram.
At present, he was very satisfied with the Profound Heaven Dao Academy. It was neither like a sect nor like a mortal school, but rather seemed like a fusion of the two.
Within the disciple Jade Token, he had heard that once one entered the Qi Nourishment Realm, the various sect sections would be unlocked. Right now, all Lu Qing could see was that white space containing the imprinted cultivation method.
After he left this Dao Peak, the White Crane Boy came over as invited.
Earlier, there had been a bridge spanning the mountain chasm between the two Dao Peaks, so the distance between them had not been great.
Now, this place was the central region of the Dao Academy, while Lu Qing's Dao Peak lay beyond Endless Dao Peak, far away.
White Crane Boy said, "Your Dao Peak is rather far."
"Yes, but it's very quiet," Lu Qing did not deny.
"Eh, you've begun cultivating. I wanted to keep carrying you around. You're quite an interesting disciple."
The White Crane Boy praised him, his fluffy feathers smoothing in the wind.
"Right, what was your name again?"
"My name is Lu Qing."
"Oh, Lu Qing. I'll remember it. The next time you come, if it's inconvenient, you can call for me."
"We'll talk about next time, Boy. I'm almost out of Spirit Stones."
"Eh, then... then we'll talk about it next time." Hearing that he had no Spirit Stones, the White Crane Boy hesitated before replying.
A quarter of an hour later, Lu Qing returned to his Nameless Dao Peak. He opened the cultivation chamber, sat upon a cushion that aided disciples' Spirit Condensation, and began cultivating.
Compared with other trivial matters, cultivation was still more interesting.
Before you continue