Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts! Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Arts!

Clear light spilled over the edge of the table and spread to either side.

Xiao Yan reached for it, but his fingertips passed straight through. The next moment, ancient characters rose into view. Though he had never learned them, he somehow understood their meaning as he looked at them.

"In cultivation, establish your foundations before discussing their use."

Bodhi moved his teacup aside.

"Today, I shall first show you the paths available. Once you have chosen, you will have the appropriate lessons."

The curtain of light on the left rose, revealing two lines of text.

Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts.

Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Arts.

At the sight, Xiao Yan's back instantly straightened.

Here they were!

What he had thought about most the night before was finally laid out before him. This was not some random Xuan-tier cultivation method to practice, but divine abilities and transformations personally presented by Patriarch Bodhi for him to choose from!

"These two paths each have their own marvelous uses."

With a light tap of the Grandmaster's fingertip, the list of Heavenly Dipper Arts slowly unfolded.

Reverse Creation, Invert Yin and Yang, Shift Stars and Dipper, Turn Back Heaven and Sun, Summon Rain and Wind, Shake Mountains and Earth.

Ride Mist and Clouds, Part Rivers and Make Land, Golden Light Across the Earth, Churn Rivers and Seas, Turn Earth to Steel, Five Elements Grand Escape.

Six Jia Hidden Gates, Foresee the Future, Whip Mountains and Move Stones, Resurrect the Dead, Leave One's Body and Shadow, Nine Breaths of Qi.

Gather Primordial Yang, Subdue Dragons and Tame Tigers, Mend Heaven and Bathe the Sun, Push Mountains and Fill Seas, Turn Stone to Gold, Stand Upright Without a Shadow.

Transform Through the Womb, Size at Will, Blooming in an Instant, Wander Spirit and Command Qi, See Through Walls, Wind-Returning, Flame-Reversing.

Command the Five Thunders, Dive into Depths and Shrink the Earth, Fly Sand and Hurl Stones, Carry Mountains Across Seas, Scatter Beans to Make Soldiers, Seven Arrows at the Nailhead.

Xiao Yan read through them line by line, scarcely able to look away.

He had barely spotted Resurrect the Dead before Scatter Beans to Make Soldiers caught his attention. By the time his gaze reached Command the Five Thunders, he was already picturing himself wielding a sword to draw down lightning.

The Grandmaster did not snap him out of his reverie, merely pushing the other curtain of light toward him.

Commune with the Underworld, Command Spirits, Shoulder Mountains, Control Water, Borrow Wind, Spread Mist, Pray for Clear Skies, Pray for Rain.

Sit in Fire, Enter Water, Conceal the Sun, Ride the Wind, Boil Stones, Spit Flame, Swallow Blades, Heaven in a Pot.

Spirit Travel, Walk on Water, Staff Release, Clone, Invisibility, Reattach Head, Immobilization, Slay Monsters.

Invite Immortals, Pursue Souls, Capture Souls, Summon Clouds, Seize the Moon, Transport Objects, Dream Transference, Disassemble the Body.

Transfer a Staff's Blows, Part Water, Avert Calamity, Dispel Misfortune, Alchemy of Gold and Silver, Swordsmanship, Divine Hidden Objects, Earth Travel.

Astrology, Formation Arrangement, False Form, Transform by Spraying, Transform by Pointing, Corpse Release, Shift Scenery, Summon.

Drive Away, Gather Beasts, Command Birds, Qi Restriction, Great Strength, Pass Through Stone, Generate Light, Blind the Eye.

Guided Breathing, Elixir Ingestion, Open Walls, Leap Across Rocks, Sprout a Head, Ascend to the Treetops, Drink Water, Lie in Snow.

Expose to the Sun, Manipulate Pills, Talisman Water, Medicine, Know the Time, Know the Land, Fasting, Nightmare Prayer.

The names of seventy-two arts hovered before him, linked by clear light as fine as drifting silk.

Xiao Yan suddenly felt a little regret. He should not have acted so resolute earlier.

Clone, Invisibility, Immobilization, Swordsmanship...

He wanted every last one.

"Master, could your disciple perhaps..."

"Master one first."

"I haven't even said it yet."

"Your eyes already have."

Xiao Yan gave a couple of awkward chuckles and turned his gaze back to the Heavenly Dipper Arts. Hesitant though he was, the explanations of myths he had read in his previous life still carried some weight in his heart.

"Your disciple chooses the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts."

Grandmaster Bodhi looked somewhat puzzled.

"Why?"

Xiao Yan explained.

"The thirty-six great divine abilities should be more powerful than the seventy-two lesser arts."

Bodhi did not nod.

He pinched a tea leaf from his cup and blew gently on it. As the leaf fell to the ground, it transformed into a little green bird, flew halfway around Xiao Yan, then settled securely beside the window.

Xiao Yan stared into its lively eyes. He could even make out the fine patterns on its feathers.

Bodhi suddenly spoke.

"If a child holds a sword, and a sword immortal holds that same sword, are they the same?"

"Of course not..."

Halfway through his reply, Xiao Yan stopped.

The Grandmaster raised his hand, and the green bird flew back, landed on the rim of the cup, and turned once more into a tea leaf beaded with water. “Arts have their strengths and weaknesses; cultivation has its depths and shallows. Having learned a few names, you presume to rank all the methods beneath heaven?”

Xiao Yan's ears grew warm.

"Your disciple made an unfounded assumption."

Bodhi continued.

"If you are to choose, first tell me what you wish to do with them."

Xiao Yan did not answer immediately. As he looked at the two lists of arts, that initial excitement—the urge to reach out the instant he saw a treasure vault—finally began to settle. His father's prescription lay beneath his hand, a corner of the paper peeking out from his sleeve. After putting it away properly, he first turned his gaze to Six Jia Hidden Gates among the Heavenly Dipper Arts.

"Your disciple wants to protect his family. If enemies come from several directions at once someday, I fear one man with two hands won't be able to handle them all."

"If I learned this, things would probably be different."

Bodhi nodded slightly.

Xiao Yan then pointed to Five Elements Grand Escape among the Heavenly Dipper Arts.

"When I can't win a fight, I have to survive first. If I cultivate it deeply enough in the future, then when enemies invade, I could take my family away from here to somewhere else."

Bodhi smiled.

"Heh, escape? When you first begin, you may not even be able to travel steadily yourself. Nor does an escape art mean no restriction can stop you."

Xiao Yan nodded slightly.

"Your disciple will remember."

Next, his gaze lingered between See Through Walls and Command the Five Thunders as he thought of the Soul Hall, which had yet to appear.

“Teacher, if someone specializes in seizing souls, is there a Divine Ability that can counter them?”

Hearing this, Bodhi did not even pause with his teacup in hand. He merely replied offhandedly.

“Command the Five Thunders will suffice.”

Xiao Yan was pleasantly surprised.

"That one art is enough?"

"More than enough."

The Grandmaster extended his index finger, and a spark of lightning slowly lit at its tip, as slender as a lampwick. Xiao Yan took just one look, and the space between his brows suddenly tightened. Even deep within his soul, an instinctive shudder arose.

"Seizing souls and capturing spirits, refining souls and nurturing baleful energies—these are nothing more than sinister methods."

The old man's tone was calm. The lightning at his fingertip casually turned, with five colors faintly flowing within it.

"The Righteous Five Thunder Method is their greatest bane. However strange and treacherous their wicked arts may be, before this lightning, they are no more than frost and snow beneath a blazing sun."

He curled his finger, and the spark of lightning vanished.

"Once you have mastered it, lightning will follow your thoughts, expressly shattering wicked arts. Whether chains that bind souls or restrictions that conceal them, simply break them all."

With that, the Grandmaster lowered his head and took a sip of tea, as though he had merely picked out a cultivation method for him in passing.

Xiao Yan looked at the old man, then at the words Command the Five Thunders. His Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily. The Soul Hall he had worried about for so long was worth no more than “this one art will suffice” to the Grandmaster?

"There's also pill refining."

Xiao Yan took the prescription from his sleeve. "Can Wind-Returning, Flame-Reversing be used to control the heat? Could Blooming in an Instant help medicinal herbs grow faster?"

Bodhi said.

"They can, but you must understand how to use them. Forcing a plant to grow does not grant it a hundred years of medicinal potency. Once you have drained all the nutrients from the soil, where will you plant the next crop?"

Xiao Yan looked at the thin sheet of paper in his hand and nodded. "Then I'll learn to nourish the soil and identify medicinal herbs as well. At least I can save my family some money on medicine."

At this, a little more amusement appeared in Bodhi's eyes.

"When others see Blooming in an Instant, their first thought is to display their divinity before an audience. Yet your first concern is saving money."

Xiao Yan smiled.

"I just looked over the accounts today. They left quite an impression."

Grandmaster pointed to the two lists of arts.

"Among the Earthly Fiend Arts, there are also Formation Arrangement, Capture Souls, and Slay Monsters. Do not look down on one path simply because you have chosen the other."

Xiao Yan nodded and began comparing them seriously again.

He explained that he wanted to learn the sword, that he liked the clean decisiveness of a sword in his hand, and that he also wanted methods capable of covering an entire battlefield. If he linked the workings of the five elements, lightning arts, and formations, they seemed to form a coherent path.

After listening to his thoughts, Bodhi swept his sleeve across the curtain of light. Several points of radiance separated into five colors and roamed over the tabletop, sometimes nourishing one another, sometimes restraining one another, before finally converging into a slender sword silhouette.

"Our school's path of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts is cultivated in accordance with the way of heaven and earth. At the first level, one regulates qi; at the middle level, one commands objects; at the highest level, one unites the five elements within oneself with the power of heaven and earth."

"If you wish to learn these arts, you must first understand how the five elements generate and overcome one another!"

Warmth surged in Xiao Yan's heart at these words, and he continued asking.

"The Earthly Fiend Arts include Swordsmanship, but the Heavenly Dipper Arts don't. Can your disciple still learn to use a sword if he chooses the Heavenly Dipper Arts?"

Bodhi explained.

"The name of one art does not encompass every sword beneath heaven."

Xiao Yan could not help smiling. He glanced again at Foresee the Future, and something stirred in his heart. With that Divine Ability, could he eventually see even the things the original book had never revealed?

Following his gaze, Bodhi understood what was on his mind and cautioned him.

"Is the future a sheet of paper laid upon a table? Whatever you do today will bring new causes and consequences tomorrow. You cannot even see yourself clearly, yet you wish to calculate the entire world's future?"

Xiao Yan rubbed his ring, finding it difficult to argue for a moment.

By his original reckoning, he should have been worrying about his Dou Qi being drained right now. How could he have been sitting here choosing immortal arts? He had already experienced one immense change in the future himself.

This time, he stood and solemnly cupped his hands.

"Your disciple chooses the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts. I'll first learn what I can use for the matters before me, then slowly climb higher."

Grandmaster put away the curtain of light on the right, leaving thirty-six inscriptions that transformed into a point of coolness and gently sank into the space between Xiao Yan's brows.

Xiao Yan's eyes lit up. He closed them and absorbed the sensation for a moment, then raised his hand, formed a seal like the one he had just seen, and pointed at the nearby teacup.

"Transform!"

Yet the cup did not move an inch.

He changed his finger positions and tried again. Not even the tea leaves in the cup turned over.

Bodhi picked up the teacup to drink, leaving Xiao Yan to watch helplessly as the object of his spell was taken away.

"Master, did you forget to impart something?"

Bodhi smiled.

"I gave you the list of arts so you would remember what you are to learn in the future, not so you would think that receiving the table of contents meant you had understood the entire book."

Only then did Xiao Yan silently retract his outstretched fingers.

"Then which art will your disciple learn first?"

"Five Elements Grand Escape? Or Command the Five Thunders?"

Bodhi raised his hand and tapped Xiao Yan on the head.

"First, learn to breathe."