Chapter 40: Search for Hidden Techniques!

Chapter 40: Search for Hidden Techniques! "I appreciate the offer, Elder, and I will make sure to seek your guidance." Ken replied this time with another respectful bow before the elder decided that he had said enough and disappeared. Only then did Ken head towards the stairs. It was his first time heading up to the second floor of the two pagodas, even while working in one of them, as it was a prohibited area, and he had nothing to do on the second floor when he had yet to fully absorb the benefits of the first. But, the second his foot stepped on the first stair, Ken found himself in the 2nd floor’s gate as if he warped directly to it. "State your purpose, junior." There, in front of the gate, were two mean-looking seniors who looked tense, but Ken could feel the kindness underneath the one who spoke. "I’d like to get to the 3rd floor, senior." Ken brought up the pass and showed it to the senior, who looked at it and then him for quite a while before he sighed. "Do you have something in mind, senior?" Ken tucked his token back into his ring, which didn’t make the seniors as surprised as when they saw the pass. Hearing the question, the seniors looked at each other. They both were wearing their slightly yellow robes, signifying they were from the previous batch, not Adam’s. Ken, by now having interacted with this batch a lot, knew that he just had to be direct with them even though they were much older and more experienced as cultivators. They weren’t like Adam, who seemed more outlandish and solitary, and Ken had yet to figure out if it was his unique trait or something all seniors shared. "Haah, well you see, junior..." "Ken, my name is Ken." "Ken, we’ve been here for a few years now... And we have yet to land a step on the 3rd floor." They both looked at each other with side eyes and smiled. "We don’t know how you did it, but make sure you take your time." One said. "There are a lot of techniques there, but don’t take things that easily come by... Look for the more obscure stuff, things that might give you an unfair advantage against other cultivators your age." The other one got closer to Ken, and even though they were isolated in this place, he still spoke in a softer, hushed tone. Ken just smiled. These seniors didn’t know that he had enough unfair advantages over other disciples. "I will certainly keep that in mind." Ken nodded towards the seniors, acknowledging their help. "Good. Now, Ken. Even if we won’t see each other often, we hope you make a good choice." The same disciple who spoke in a hushed tone smiled at Ken while opening the gate towards the second floor. "Thank you, seniors." Ken once again expressed his gratitude and got in. Taking a quick glance, he noticed that the second floor had much in common with the first and thus headed straight towards the 3rd floor. "Halt!" This time, he wasn’t quite lucky, meeting a seriously grumpy senior from head to toe. "Pass." The senior directly asked. He was the only one here, but Ken knew that he was more than enough as a guard. Taking out his pass, the grumpy senior from Adam’s batch squinted his eye and opened the door. "Take your time in there; don’t make a dumb choice." With these words, the senior closed the door, not waiting for Ken’s thanks. Once inside, Ken noticed that even the 3rd floor didn’t have a lot of differences from the previous floors, not even in quantity. But this much was expected from the Spirit Mountain Sect’s Mountain Scrolls Pagoda. Ten thousand years weren’t spent idling by. Many geniuses come and go, and it wasn’t a golden rule that one could only create a single technique throughout their lives. One could derive many a technique in a single sitting. Providing they had the capability. A second passed by, and then another, before Ken’s face brightened with a smile. [Take a look here.] [Or rather here.] [Hey! Check this out!] [No no, check this out!] [You seriously don’t want to miss this.] [Forget all that and get your ahh over here!] Hint after hint covered his vision, making the entire floor drown in them as Ken struggled to keep up, not knowing where to start from their sheer number. But he prioritized those that showed up first, trying to start an elimination game. Walking towards a bookshelf, he looked at the category and noticed that all the techniques here were ones that required a lot of control over spiritual energy. [Control] Yeah, that was obvious. This was the 3rd floor, so if anything, it wouldn’t have techniques for 1st realm disciples. Each floor had techniques for higher and higher realms; thus, Ken could easily figure out that the techniques here were all for late-qi refining realm seniors. Not newbies like him. The level of complexity the techniques in here have won’t be understood by him even if he spent a decade. That was what he expected. But he had a cheat, and he wasn’t complaining. Even if it took a week for him to barely get his understanding of whatever technique he chose to the required level for his idle training to work, he wouldn’t mind. [If you’re here, you might as well check this book out. Forget everything else.] What Ken liked about his hints was that it knew what he needed and him well enough. So if something didn’t quite follow his plans, it would tell him to not waste his time. On the other hand, it made him slightly wary that there was something that had a solid understanding of his way of thinking. But he wasn’t going to rack his head over something that was far beyond his control, which he also benefitted from. The same way he loved gathering knowledge and the control over his life and that of those around him that came with it, he knew how wise it was to sometimes just accept what life throws at you. Years of living provide you this much wisdom. Taking a look at the hinted-at book. He widened his eyes. The title read... -----End-----