Chapter 2: Selecting Cultivation Techniques!

Two quarters of an hour later.  The second round of incense burning came to an end.  The disciples standing behind the Valley Master had already reached the ninth row, with nearly five hundred people successfully drawing Qi into their bodies!  More than five hundred others still hadn’t succeeded in drawing Qi and could only remain in place, waiting for the third attempt.  At this moment, the Valley Master summoned a young disciple and handed him twelve Spirit Drawing Incense sticks to oversee the third round of Qi drawing.  Then, the Valley Master smiled with satisfaction at the disciples who had succeeded in drawing Qi and said, “Now, I will lead you all to the Scripture Pavilion to select your entry-level cultivation techniques!”  As the Valley Master waved his hand, a wave of green light fell over everyone.  Su Yuan immediately felt as light as a swallow, and the hunger that had been gnawing at his stomach vanished instantly. His spirit was replenished and revitalized.  “Tch, cultivating immortality sure is convenient!” Su Yuan thought to himself.  The old man soared into the air, flying toward a building several hundred meters away.  The more than five hundred disciples naturally followed on foot, quickly arriving before the building. Sure enough, the plaque above the door bore the words “Scripture Pavilion.”  “The disciples in the first row, please enter first!” the old man waved to the crowd.  Thus, the fifty disciples in the first row walked in calmly.  The remaining disciples showed envious expressions.  Once the old man also entered, quiet whispers finally broke out among the crowd.  “Tsk tsk, I heard that among our batch of Immortal Seeds, there are two with supreme Spirit Roots?”  “One has a supreme dual Spirit Root named Ye Bufan, and the other has a supreme triple Spirit Root named Liu Muwan. Unfortunately, neither is a single Spirit Root, so breaking through to Nascent Soul will be difficult!”  “Pfft, you care about others? You with your mid-grade quadruple Spirit Root can’t even break through Foundation Establishment!”  “Heh, at least that’s way stronger than a low-grade Spirit Root!”  Someone muttered to themselves, “I must enter the outer sect. Otherwise, breaking through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining will take eight or nine years; entering the outer sect shortens it to only three years!”  “One step ahead, step by step ahead—please let me pick a profound-grade cultivation technique!” someone prayed anxiously about the upcoming selection.  Su Yuan listened silently, sensing the intense tension among the disciples, especially in his own sixth row and the fifth row ahead. Each person was brimming with determination, aiming to break into the top two hundred by the end of March’s assessment. Su Yuan couldn’t help but feel that even before starting cultivation, the competition was already fierce.  It wasn’t surprising to see such behavior from the disciples.  The gap between outer sect disciples and miscellaneous duties disciples was outrageously huge!  In every aspect—task load, resource richness, diversity of Daoist techniques, and guidance from seniors—there were massive differences!  Even Su Yuan was eager to enter the outer sect.  After a while, the fifty disciples of the first row gradually emerged.  Noises of excitement came from the front.  “Hiss, Ye Bufan obtained an earth-rank supreme cultivation technique!”  “So strong! The other supreme Spirit Root disciple also got an earth-rank high-grade technique! Jealous!”  The crowd kept exclaiming as the two supreme Spirit Root disciples stood proudly at the front. The male disciple named Ye Bufan naturally radiated an unparalleled prodigy aura.  Besides the supreme Spirit Roots, among the high-grade Spirit Root disciples, several also received earth-rank low-grade techniques, attracting envious gazes. Most high-grade Spirit Roots only got profound-grade supreme techniques.  Although all these techniques were only for the Qi Refining stage and seemed similar, the higher grade techniques meant a higher ceiling. More importantly, the early cultivation effects had huge boosts—some sped up cultivation several times, others condensed spiritual energy, sparing the grueling refining process, making them incomparable to ordinary techniques.  “The disciples in the second row, please enter!” the old man’s voice came from inside the building.  The second-row disciples immediately walked in with nervous hearts.  As Su Yuan gazed at the Scripture Pavilion, someone nudged him from the side.  He turned to see a youth in splendid robes.  “Hey, kid, what’s your name?” the youth asked, tilting his head arrogantly.  “Su Yuan. You?” Su Yuan replied.  “I’m Zhang Wei, the sixth young master of the Zhang family. My family specializes in magical artifact business!” The youth’s face showed pride.  Su Yuan waited a moment with no follow-up, then scratched his head and asked, “And?”  Zhang Wei was stunned. Why was Su Yuan’s reaction different from his older brother’s? Shouldn’t he have flattered him immediately?  “My family’s business is huge, with daily revenues over ten thousand spirit stones!” Zhang Wei insisted.  “How many spirit stones do you have on you right now?” Su Yuan’s eyes brightened as he asked.  “...None!”  “Tch! Liar!” Su Yuan rolled his eyes.  Zhang Wei panicked, “No, it’s the rule of Immortal Seed Valley—you can’t bring outside goods in!”  “Fine, I’ll believe you for now. So, what’s the point of all this?” Su Yuan cut to the chase.  Zhang Wei hesitated, then leaned in and whispered, “Immortal Seed Valley issues fragment spirit stones daily. I want you to give me your fragments, and after leaving, I’ll return a thousandfold!”  Seeing no reaction from Su Yuan, he continued, “You’re too far from qualifying as an outer sect disciple anyway. Since you can only become a miscellaneous disciple, giving me some low-value fragment spirit stones in exchange for precious low-grade spirit stones—wouldn’t that be great?”  Fragment spirit stones were broken pieces of spirit stones, containing less spiritual energy and extremely low value. One hundred fragments equaled one complete stone. Zhang Wei usually didn’t even glance at them, but in Immortal Seed Valley, they were the most precious cultivation resource.  Su Yuan was surprised, “Isn’t that forbidden?”  “Officially yes, but unofficially, it’s turning a blind eye. It’s actually giving those with low talent a chance to get spirit stones to survive early cultivation—a disguised form of disciple support! So it’s tacitly approved by the higher-ups. It also tests a disciple’s social skills, adaptability, and future planning.”  “Who told you this?”  “My brother!” Zhang Wei blurted out but quickly corrected himself, “No, I figured it out myself!”  Su Yuan looked at him skeptically.  Zhang Wei’s face flushed slightly.  “You alone can’t manage this. There are over eight hundred miscellaneous disciples!” Su Yuan said.  “On average, pulling in four or five is enough! To be safe, twenty is about right!” Zhang Wei said seriously.  This competition was really intense?  Su Yuan was speechless inside.  He thought deeply. The situation was tougher than he imagined. He wanted to enter the outer sect; resources wouldn’t be given away easily. Before, he thought talent and comprehension were all that mattered, but now it seemed much more complicated. He had neither background nor talent to attract early investment.  ‘This cultivation world is really harsh. I can only hope my attributes have some effect!’ Su Yuan thought silently.  He shook his head at Zhang Wei, “Sorry, I want to enter the outer sect!”  Zhang Wei looked at Su Yuan in surprise, clearly doubting him.  “I’m a low-grade dual Spirit Root; I still have a chance. You?” Zhang Wei shook his head.  Was that such an insult?  Su Yuan glanced at his system panel.  [Name]: Su Yuan  [Region]: Green Vine Continent  [Rank]: Unknown (1/100)  [Realm]: Qi Refining Stage Level One (0/100)  [Attribute 1]: Work Hard, Rest Hard: You are good at balancing work and rest. The longer the rest, the better the cultivation effect. Current rest time: 0.8 shichen  [Attribute 2]: To be unlocked  Su Yuan immediately calmed down. With the system, becoming an outer sect disciple would be a breeze. If he pushed a bit, entering the inner sect wasn’t impossible!  That was his confidence.  Zhang Wei looked at Su Yuan in confusion and then resumed talking with others.  After communicating with Su Yuan, Zhang Wei seemed smoother and, after talking with several around him, appeared to make a deal.  Su Yuan clearly saw the proud smile on Zhang Wei’s face.  Was this the cultivation world’s version of a rich second generation?  Besides Zhang Wei, some others operated the same way. There really were many wealthy people!  Before he knew it, it was finally the sixth row’s turn.  Su Yuan followed the crowd into the Scripture Pavilion!  Unlike what he imagined, inside were many dim light spheres. At a glance, there were over a thousand light spheres!  The Valley Master said, “You may try touching the light spheres according to your Spirit Root quality and quantity. If the sphere lights up, it proves you qualify to cultivate that technique. The brighter the light, the better the cultivation effect. You may begin selecting!”  Su Yuan was stunned. So this was… cultivation?  He saw some disciples already touching the spheres, which emitted points of light.  Zhang Wei walked forward calmly to the Gold-Water Spirit Root area, passing by the spheres and touching each quickly.  Su Yuan came to the area for Fire, Metal, and Wood triple Spirit Roots. He saw introductions beneath the spheres.  Some were techniques with solely fire attribute spiritual energy; others had fire-wood dual attributes, and some had triple attributes.  Su Yuan touched them one by one.  Some spheres lit up, some dimmed, but generally the brightness gradually increased. Upon reaching about one-fifth of the area, the brightness peaked, then gradually declined as he moved forward.  Su Yuan understood: the techniques later on demanded higher aptitude, so compatibility naturally decreased.  Logically, as a time traveler, Su Yuan should have gone further to pick a high-level technique, then draw elders’ disapproval, attract attention, boost his fame, unlock the second attribute through the system, speed up cultivation, continue shocking everyone, rise within the sect, and then… die!  Su Yuan took a deep look toward the depths of the Scripture Pavilion and turned to walk back!  Returning near the brightest area, he found three of the brightest spheres. They corresponded to a single Wood attribute technique called “Burning Wood Technique,” a dual Metal-Fire attribute technique called “Spirit Tempering Technique,” and a triple Wood-Metal-Fire attribute technique called “Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique.”  Su Yuan looked curiously at the names of these three techniques. Why were there split versions?  He definitely wanted the complete version!  Su Yuan stood before the “Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique” and pressed his forehead against it.  The next moment, a vast amount of knowledge flooded into his mind, causing some head pressure. Fortunately, it was only simple memorization, and cultivation techniques were powerful enough to let him remember everything instantly!  “Yellow-rank supreme technique ‘Burning Wood Spirit Tempering Technique’?”  The technique was only yellow rank, but fortunately supreme! He had seen many mid-grade Spirit Roots receive yellow-rank techniques.  “Once you’ve chosen, you may leave!”  The Valley Master’s voice came to Su Yuan’s ears.  Su Yuan hurried out, bowed to the Valley Master, and exited the Scripture Pavilion. Just outside, he saw Zhang Wei.  Zhang Wei’s eyes brightened immediately, asking, “What rank technique did you pick?”  “Yellow-rank supreme!” Su Yuan smiled.  “I picked a profound-grade low technique. Didn’t expect the best fit for me to be profound-grade low! Now my position as outer sect disciple is even more secure!” Zhang Wei said with a smug smile.  Su Yuan’s smile vanished as he turned to leave.  “Hey, wait for me!”