Chapter 5 (continued)

Shen Duheng lifted his chin slightly, signaling for him to get on with it.

Shan Heyuan half rose, twisting around to take a stack of wooden slips from the shelf beside the workbench. He sat back down, cleared the clutter off the workbench, and set the slips on it. With a sweep of his hand, he arranged them in a row for Shen Duheng to see.

Shan Heyuan said, "These are all the cultivation arts I can get my hands on right now. I've looked through them briefly, but I haven't decided which one to learn."

Shen Duheng stared at the old wooden slips, which varied in color from light to dark. "Where did you get these basic cultivation methods?"

"I borrowed them. Senior Brother Ma, the village chief, and Zhong Shuran—the village talisman master-lent them to me."

Shan Heyuan looked up at Shen Duheng expectantly. "Brother Shen, do you have any suggestions?"

"Which one do you want to learn most?" Shen Duheng asked.

Shan Heyuan hesitated, then reached out and pushed the most faded slip out of the row. It was light brown. "The sword manual. I want to learn this one."

"Why?"

"Sword cultivators have the best job prospects? I heard that later on, whether you want to apply to a sect or find a job, more than eighty percent of positions are open to sword cultivators. Brother Shen, is something wrong?"

Shen Duheng flicked the slip back into place, a mocking look on his face. "An uncommitted sword cultivator will never accomplish anything. Your second and third choices?"

Shan Heyuan scratched awkwardly at the table, then picked two more slips from the pile. "Second is talisman cultivation. Zhong Shuran said that if I cultivated talismans, I could ask him about anything I didn't understand. Third is alchemy. Alchemists are pretty wealthy."

By the end, Shan Heyuan felt a little embarrassed.

He could tell that Shen Duheng didn't think much of his attitude toward choosing a profession. Maybe it was because the guy was a sword spirit and didn't care much for cultivators who weren't devoted to the sword.

Shan Heyuan coughed lightly and pressed on. "What do you think?"

Shen Duheng reached over and picked up the battered slip at the far end of the row. "Why not choose to become a grower?"

Shan Heyuan looked at the wooden slip in his hand. "Isn't the grower's path cut off? I heard Senior Brother Ma and the others say that the highest cultivation any grower has ever reached was the Nascent Soul Realm. If I became a grower, wouldn't I run out of suitable cultivation methods once I reached the Nascent Soul Realm?"

"Not every cultivator has to follow the path of those who came before, or rely on their cultivation methods," Shen Duheng said.

Shan Heyuan lowered his voice. "That's true, but I don't look like the sort of person who can create his own cultivation method. If I reach the Nascent Soul Realm and the path ends there, it'll be hard to switch methods."

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Shen Duheng looked at the wooden slips on the table. "If you didn't have to consider anything else, which would you most want to learn?"

Shan Heyuan's gaze swept over the slips, finally settling on the one in Shen Duheng's hand. He pressed his lips together.

Naturally, learning to be a grower would still suit him best.

But if he couldn't cultivate to a high realm, he wouldn't be able to go home.

Shan Heyuan gathered up the wooden slips. "I'll think about it for a few more days."

Shen Duheng watched him take the slip from his hand. "Are you free today? I'll take you into town."

Shan Heyuan's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"These basic cultivation methods are too much of a mess. I'll take you to see some other versions."

"What other versions? I've looked through pretty much all the basic cultivation methods in the public library and the bookshops. They're about the same as these..."

Shen Duheng cut him off. "Are you coming or not?"

Shan Heyuan nodded decisively. "I'm coming!"

Ten minutes later, Shan Heyuan followed Shen Duheng aboard a brine worm bound for town.

The brine worm was empty, with only the two of them inside.

Shan Heyuan sat beside Shen Duheng and glanced around. "You don't go out much either. How come you know the town better than I do?" he asked quietly.

"How do you know I don't go out?"

Shan Heyuan had no answer. He really didn't know whether Shen Duheng was usually home.

But Shen Duheng was a sword spirit and couldn't go too far from his true body, which meant he couldn't go too far from Shan Heyuan. He should usually be home.

Could it be that "not too far" meant they only had to be in the same town?

The brine worm traveled underground and soon delivered them to their destination.

Standing on an unfamiliar street, Shan Heyuan looked around in confusion. For the moment, he couldn't guess where Shen Duheng was taking him.

Shen Duheng glanced at the pedestrians around them and chose a direction. "Let's go."

Shan Heyuan raised a hand to shield his face from the sunlight. "Where to? A general store?!"

Shen Duheng had actually brought him to a chain general store!

Shan Heyuan was very familiar with all kinds of general stores, but he had never been to this one.

The goods at this chain were too expensive. Many were high-end products shipped in from elsewhere.

He couldn't afford them.

So the general store had books on cultivation methods too?

Shan Heyuan followed Shen Duheng into the store, his head full of questions.

Shen Duheng led him straight through row after row of shelves to the farthest corner.

Then Shan Heyuan discovered that there really was a pile of wooden slips on the shelf in the corner. They had even collected some dust, perhaps because no one had touched them in so long!

His eyes widened. He gently picked up a wooden slip and turned to look at Shen Duheng beside him. Seeing no sign of objection, he gently pressed it to his forehead.

As soon as he sent his Divine Sense into it, he read the sample section of the wooden slip.

It was a basic slip on the Dao of Alchemy. In the introduction, the author used just a few words to explain the essence of the Dao of Alchemy, making a profound subject easy to understand. Even Shan Heyuan, who had no foundation in the Dao of Alchemy at all, understood it.

The alchemy cultivation methods he had read before had been like incomprehensible heavenly texts on chemistry!

The basic cultivation methods here were incredibly well written!

Shan Heyuan put down the wooden slip, his eyes shining. He lowered his voice. "The basic cultivation methods here are written so clearly!"

"Take a look at this one too," Shen Duheng said.

Shan Heyuan took the slip and found that it was a basic cultivation method from a sword manual.

Its sample section was just as clearly written. It explained everything: which meridians Spiritual Qi should travel through while practicing the sword, why it should travel through them, what would happen if it traveled through different meridians, and the consequences of sending it down the wrong ones.

One look at the requirements told Shan Heyuan that the sword manual wasn't suitable for him. As a mortal who had grown up in a civilized society, he lacked the qualities needed to cultivate the sword.

If he forced himself to practice it, he definitely wouldn't be able to cultivate beyond the Nascent Soul Realm.

The same went for the alchemy method he had just read. He probably had no talent for the Dao of Alchemy, and if he chose it as his main path, he wouldn't be able to cultivate beyond the Nascent Soul Realm either.

Shen Duheng handed him one basic cultivation method after another, and Shan Heyuan read through them one by one.

As he read, he used up more and more Divine Sense, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Only after seeing these basic cultivation methods did he understand which ones suited him, which didn't, and why, rather than choosing blindly by feel as he had before.

After he had finished sampling the methods one by one, the last one Shen Duheng handed him was a grower's cultivation method called the Spring Transformation Art.

The moment Shan Heyuan swept his Divine Sense over it, the method caught his attention, and he read it in a trance.

This cultivation method for growing was so interesting!

Only when the sample section ended and his reading came to an abrupt halt did Shan Heyuan come back to himself. Holding the method in both hands, he stared at Shen Duheng.

"These are the best texts you can see right now," Shen Duheng said. "Can you see clearly which path to take from here?"

"I have the most talent for growing. I have the best chance of making smooth progress on that path."

Shan Heyuan gripped the wooden slip tightly. "You're right. I should choose to be a grower."

"You can take another couple of days to think about it," Shen Duheng said.

"There's no need. I'll choose to be a grower." Shan Heyuan let out a long breath. "Brother Shen, you're amazing. If you hadn't brought me here, I wouldn't even have known there were basic cultivation methods written this well. They're so good-why are they gathering dust in a corner?"