After sending the messages, he did not plan to wait for their replies. Instead, he intended to head to the Transmission Hall and choose a fundamental method.
But before he could put his token away, someone left him a message.
"Could it be Wu Yong?"
Wang Quan's interest stirred, and he checked the token.
To his surprise, the message was not from Wu Yong, but Qian Xiuyue.
"Don't rush into refining dharmic power. Mastering more volumes of Dao scriptures is the true path."
Wang Quan: "Huh?"
Those words sounded familiar.
Qian Xiuyue: "The more Dao scriptures you master, the more efficiently you can refine dharmic power."
"You advised me back then, but I didn't listen."
"Now I regret it."
Wang Quan... answered with silence.
"Have you contacted Wu Yong?"
"I have!"
A second later, Qian Xiuyue left another message. "If you really don't want to improve your mastery of Dao scriptures, choose a fundamental method you like."
"Don't choose the [White Bone Great Strength Demon God Method] Wu Yong tells you to choose."
Wang Quan's interest stirred. "Wu Yong hasn't contacted me yet."
Qian Xiuyue: "Oh. Whether he contacts you or not, don't choose the fundamental method I just mentioned."
"With that fundamental method, you'll charge at the very front in battle. All the dirty, exhausting work falls to cultivators who practice it. It's extremely dangerous."
Wang Quan: "All right, thank you!"
Qian Xiuyue: "It's nothing. Consider it repayment for your kindness in advising me back then."
"Don't tell Zhao Hongyi or Wu Yong that I contacted you."
"Also... try not to join any groups."
"Do lower courtyard assignments first. Later, you can form a small group of your own."
Wang Quan: "Why?"
Qian Xiuyue: "Joining someone else's group isn't good. I'll explain when we meet."
"All right!"
After ending the exchange, Wang Quan pondered for a while, then headed straight to the Transmission Hall.
Inside the Transmission Hall, a Daoist swayed his head as he explained fundamental methods in strange sounds.
Those strange sounds were Dao Language.
It took mastery of at least three thousand Dao scriptures to decipher it. Anyone who lacked that mastery could not understand a single sentence.
Only a few dozen cultivators were listening.
Wang Quan did not stop to listen. Instead, he went to the bookshelves at the side to choose his fundamental methods.
Over the past few years, he had set aside a little time every day to study fundamental methods and spells.
This time, he already knew what he wanted.
[Great Sun Across the Sky Art]
[Bright Moon Shines on Me Method]
[Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method]
Of these three fundamental methods, the [Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method] was one he had to learn.
This fundamental method could only be practiced once a day, when purple qi was born, allowing him to gather thousands upon thousands of its strands.
This purple qi could rightly be called a miraculous cure-all: the [Purple Qi Dharmic Power] refined from it could replace most types of dharmic power to activate spells, and could enhance certain special spells.
Purple qi could also cleanse and refine dharmic power, making it purer.
It was an essential ingredient in pill refinement, too.
And it could be sold for money.
That was why he had to choose it.
Even if it was not his primary fundamental method, he still had to learn it.
Next came the [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method] and the [Great Sun Across the Sky Art].
Both methods gathered sunlight or moonlight to refine dharmic power.
They allowed long hours of cultivation each day, with no special restrictions.
As long as the sun and moon endured, he could refine dharmic power.
If the sun and moon perished, the world would probably be finished anyway. There would be no need to consider changing fundamental methods.
More importantly:
All three fundamental methods could be used from Qi Refining through Foundation Establishment, Purple Mansion, and Golden Core.
Only after reaching perfection in Golden Core and attempting to break into the next realm, the blessed land realm, would he need to consider changing fundamental methods.
The dharmic power from the [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method] can enhance illusions, concealment, healing, recovery, and many escape spells.
It excels at preserving life and belongs to [inner-nature cultivation].
The dharmic power from the [Great Sun Across the Sky Art] increases strength, bolsters blood and qi, and fortifies sinews and bones. It excels at breaking defenses and killing, and belongs to [Life Cultivation].
You can only cultivate immortality if you stay alive.
Besides, among the Drowning Dao's spells, most are [inner-nature cultivation] arts.
I'll focus on the [Bright Moon Shines on Me Scripture] early on. Later, when I need [Life Cultivation] to complement it, I can practice the [Great Sun Across the Sky Art].
Moreover, these three fundamental methods required little in the way of external aids during early cultivation.
As he considered this, he began leafing through the three manuals.
He had read and deciphered all three before.
But reading and deciphering them again now, he found their contents vastly different from before.
Previously, when he had mastered over nine thousand volumes of Dao scriptures, deciphering a cultivation method had yielded twelve thousand words.
Now, deciphering it with the [First-Rank Dao Seal] yielded three thousand words.
There were fewer words, but qi gathering was more efficient, and refining dharmic power worked better.
A few minutes later, he finished deciphering them.
All three fundamental methods were fully imprinted in his mind.
He could now begin cultivating.
Once he refined his first strand of dharmic power, he could register and update the information on his identity token.
After leaving the Transmission Hall, Wang Quan did not rush to refine dharmic power. Instead, he went to choose spells.
The lower courtyard had over ten thousand spells, each with its own wonders.
Wang Quan studied three to five every day, and by now, he already had a plan.
First, he chose [Moonlight Escape] for fleeing.
Then he chose the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art] for death substitution and concealment.
[Moonlight Escape] only required gathering a strand of moonlight, tempering it, and storing it in an aperture inside the mouth, then spitting it out when needed.
Applied to himself, a single strand of dharmic power could carry him ten li away.
Applied to someone else or a spell, it could likewise send the target ten li away.
The [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art] was even more intricate and interesting.
It could cut out paper people, paper horses, and all kinds of paper buildings.
Each had its own wonders.
With enough dharmic power, he could even cut out an empire of paper people.
More interestingly:
He could use the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art] to cut out a paper person, then nourish it with his own dharmic power so it could die in his place.
Although only one death-substitute paper person could exist at a time, that was already quite remarkable.
And if he had enough dharmic power, he could also cut out paper houses, paper beds, paper guards, and more for the Substitute Death Paper Doll.
These things could gather around the Substitute Death Paper Doll and block damage first.
Only when they could no longer block it would the Substitute Death Paper Doll take the damage.
By that reckoning, he would gain another half a life.
With everything ready, night was drawing near.
Wang Quan checked his token. There were no messages.
Then it's time to prepare to gather moonlight and refine the first strand of dharmic power in my life.
Normally, gathering moonlight to refine dharmic power required going outside the lower courtyard.
Outside stood towering mountains and steep ridges. In some places, the moonlight was several times, or even dozens of times, more abundant than in the lower courtyard.
Cultivating there for one night was equivalent to cultivating in the lower courtyard for over ten days.
But Wang Quan did not want to leave the lower courtyard yet.
As long as he remained inside, no one could harm him.
But once he left, even if he only stepped outside the gates, the lower courtyard would not intervene if an outsider hurt him.
So, for safety's sake, he decided to refine a strand of dharmic power in the lower courtyard first and get [Moonlight Escape] and the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art] working before considering venturing outside.
At dusk, Wang Quan went to the shore of an unnamed lake in the lower courtyard.
The unnamed lake covered a hundred mu and had the most abundant moonlight in the lower courtyard.
Some cultivators of modest strength came here to gather moonlight, either to refine dharmic power or to refine essence.
When he arrived, people were everywhere along the shore, standing almost shoulder to shoulder.
At the sight, Wang Quan turned and left.
With so many people crammed into such a small place, how much moonlight can I gather in one night? How much dharmic power can I refine?
I'd better just find somewhere, refine a wisp of dharmic power, then use the techniques in the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art] to help me cultivate!
Before you continue