With elder Mei Yue walking ahead, Sofie and the other new disciples slowly made their way in through the entrance of the martial hall pagoda.
…
The inside of the pagoda was filled with rows and rows of scrolls, books and even beast hide. Pretty much anything that could be written on or even engraved into, was there.
The rows of what Sofie expected to be cultivation manuals, was spilt into several different rows.
One row of scrolls had the word "water" written above it, while another had the word "sky" written above it.
Wondering what these different things were supposed to mean, Sofie quietly stood in the entrance of the martial hall pagoda with most of the other new disciples. Though there were some more curious disciples, who had already made their way over to the rows of scrolls.
The little boy also by the name of little dumpling was one of them, as he stood in front of a row with the word "earth" written in front of it. Holding up a scroll and thoroughly inspecting every single inch of it.
"Ahem, everyone please gather at the entrance of the martial hall pagoda and stop touching the cultivation manuals without permission!" A slight angry voice could be heard, as the disciples who went ahead and started inspecting the cultivation manuals without permission felt a slight chill going down their spine.
"Never mind… Place the cultivation manuals back and come here. The rest of you, come over here as well." Mei Yue let a sigh escape, as she called for the new disciples to come forwards and listen.
The new disciples, who picked up the cultivation manuals looked ashamed at their own behaviour, while they quickly moved back to the rest of the new disciples.
Together, the new disciple, Sofie included, moved into what looked like the centre of the martial hall pagoda.
A spiral stair in the middle was going up into what was most likely the next floor of the pagoda. There were even a few disciples moving up and down from time to time. All of them politely greeted elder Mei Yue, before moving on to whatever they were doing beforehand.
"Okay, children, you are now going to choose a cultivation manual. There will not be any help from me, so you can think of finding a suiting cultivation manual being the first task after arriving at the sect." Mei Yue explained to the new disciples what they were going to be doing and most of them started looking around in disarray, with a slight panic.
Sofie was not that different.
Choosing a cultivation manual without any help? I don't even know what is good or bad for me, how am I supposed to find a suiting cultivation manual with no help?
Thinking this, Sofie, together with many of the other disciples looked towards elder Mei Yue for an explanation.
"Haha, just look at all of you. No need to look so downtrodden. Cultivation is all about cultivating yourself, so you have to at least make your own decision on what path you want to walk." Mei Yue said while looking at the panicked new disciples in amusement.
"Want to absorb water qi? Wind qi? Or maybe fire qi? The cultivation manual you choose determines what qi you use to refine your body and what kind of martial arts you can use. Other than things belonging to unique elements like space, time, light and so on, we have martial arts and cultivation manuals for all of them here at the martial hall pagoda. Fell inside yourself, what do you want to do? What path do you want to follow? Knowing yourself and your own path is important for cultivation. Only with a clear goal in mind can you progress!"
Not clearly answering the question and saying some weird things (at least according to Sofie), Mei Yue turned around and slowly left the martial hall pagoda.
"Ah, I almost forgot to say this. You have 1 hour to find a cultivation manual and seeing that 10 minutes already passed, you brats only have 50 minutes left. Good luck~" Leaving behind that sentences, Mei Yue disappeared out of the entrance to the martial hall pagoda.
Sofie and the new disciples all froze for a moment, as the gears inside their mind slowly sat into motion. Waking up, everyone either ran or sprinted in between the rows of scrolls and books.
…
Sofie was slower than the other disciples and only returned back to her sense when someone called out to her.
"little girl! Are you there? We only have 50 minutes to choose a cultivation manual, it's a bad idea to just stand there spaced out."
"I-I'm not girl! My name is Sofie!" Sofie woke up and rebuked the rude person beside her, for some reason she was really irritated when she was called little girl.
Was she really that small? Back in river village, most of the villages always praised her and said she was definitely going to grow higher in the future… Wait…? Something feels wrong…
"Sofie? What weird name… My name is Yang Meng! Ah, you are spacing out again, Sofie!" Before her thoughts could wander any further, Sofie got interrupted by the boy named Yang Meng.
Looking closer, Sofie found out Yang Meng was the little boy from before. Little dumpling Yang Meng?
"Pft!" letting out a slight laugh inside while looking away from Yang Meng, Sofie thought Yang Meng was definitely an interesting person.
…
"W-well, seeing that you are fine, I will go and pick a cultivation manual…" Feeling a slight chill going down his spine.
Did Grandma Mei Yue not leave yet? Is she still after me? W-what should I do?
Thinking this to himself, Yang Meng quickly disappeared into the row of cultivation manuals with the word "Earth" written above it. It almost looked like he fled from something…
…
Sofie looked at the disappearing back of Yang Meng and turned to the different rows of cultivation manuals.
"Earth, Sky, Fire, Water, Wind, Space, Wind, Heaven? What is that? Hmm… Ice?" Looking over the different rows of cultivation manuals, Sofie had no clue on what she should choose.
So, like the genius she is, Sofie closed her eyes and started spinning around in circles on the spot she was standing at. Soon enough, she started feeling like throwing up, so she stopped spinning in circles.
Opening her eyes, Sofie looked at the row in front of her and walked towards it. With her genius plan, nothing could be safer and guide her towards a greater future!
With all that, Sofie looked up at the words engraved on top of the row of cultivation manuals.
"Fire… Huh… Sounds fun~ I wonder if I would be able to throw around fire later on? Senior sister Ling Yue could make a giant ball of fire… I really hope I can make giant balls of fire in the future. They will definitely be fun to play with!"
Smiling widely, Sofie made her way into the row filled with fire qi-based cultivation manuals.
…
Several people inside the sect felt a great sense of danger that moment, but they soon shrugged it off as their imagination.