After Chen Shaojie and Li Luoyun walked through the portal, they found themselves in another space surrounded by white mist, but the space was a little bigger than the one before.
They waited for a while before another portal opened on one of the white mist walls, and out walked a woman from it.
After the woman walked out of the portal, the white mist wall quickly returned to its original state.
"You're both newly initiated disciples?"
The woman took a quick glance at the two. Her gaze finally rested on Chen Shaojie's face, her eyes glowing faintly.
When the woman was sizing him up, Chen Shaojie was also sizing up the woman.
She had an ordinary face and was slightly chubby. Besides having pretty fair skin....there was nothing much of note.
The woman, while looking at Chen Shaojie's face, asked, "Shouldn't you still be in the Hall of Learning? How come you already have merit points? Never mind, show me your merit points and let's see what you can actually redeem."
After thinking about it, Chen Shaojie reached into his pants and took out the jade token that recorded merit points. He handed it to the woman while saying, "Senior, I work in the Jing Yun Hall and managed to acquire some merit points because the hall master appreciates my work. I should have enough to redeem some techniques."
The woman took the jade token and scanned it with her divine sense. "Wow, not bad, you actually have 200 merit points. Senior Guoyun sure is generous. It seemes like he really likes you."
The woman returned the jade token to Chen Shaojie and nodded. "200 merit points should be more than enough for the two of you to trade for a technique to build foundation and consume Qi."
Chen Shaojie took the jade token and stuffed it back into his pants.
Li Luoyun was secretly a little surprised.
Although she knew that Chen Shaojie had earned some merit points, she did not expect him to have as much as 200 merit points.
Like the woman said, for the hall master of the Jing Yun Hall to be so generous, Chen Shaojie must be valued very highly there.
Now that the woman had inspected their wallet, it was time to see the goods.
"Okay, in that case, you can start selecting your technique. I will run the test for you to see which of our sect's foundation-building and Qi-consumption technique suits you."
With a gentle wave of the woman's hand, a disturbance occured in the white mist on one of the walls. Something seemed to be slowly appearing from the inside.
Chen Shaojie quickly saluted the woman. "Thank you, Senior!"
The woman waved her hand dismissively. "No need to be so formal. Just call me Senior Sister Xiqing."
After a momentary pause, she smiled and asked Chen Shaojie, "And you? What's your name, Junior Brother?"
"Chen Shaojie."
Seeing the Senior Sister's innocent smile, Chen Shaojie tried his best to look proper.
Li Luoyun also saw the Senior Sister's innocent smile. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
After the white mist settled, nine pictures appeared from the mist, hanging in mid-air.
Sister Xiqing said, "There are nine techniques for foundation-building and Qi-consumption in our sect. Each of the picture above corresponds to one.
"Now, I want you to concentrate and imagine that you are the object depicted in each of the picture, then imitate it.
"I'll use this jade talisman in my hand to test which technique suits you best."
Chen Shaojie and Li Luoyun inspected the objects depicted in the nine pictures: dragon, white tiger, bird, turtle, large tree, flower, grass, water well...
Chen Shaojie frowned and asked, "But Sister Xiqing, how do we even imitate these things?"
Senior Sister Xiqing posed like a tiger brandishing its claws and said, "Like this, but you have to really concentrate and imagine that you're a white tiger. Only then can the jade talisman measure how compatible you are with the corresponding technique."
So, an imitiation session like the one taught in performing classes...
Chen Shaojie had never been a reserved person. He used to do a lot of roleplaying, such as the big bad wolf and the wild little kitten, the bandit and the officer, the demon hunter and the vampire and so on. He was always very immersed in his role.
So, after watching Sister Xiqing's demonstration, he already felt like he knew what to do.
He quietly imagined himself as a dragon. After adjusting his mentality, he struck a dragon pose.
"Okay, next."
Senior Sister Xiqing aimed the jade talisman at Chen Shaojie and asked him to roleplay each picture.
After he had roleplayed all nine pictures, Chen Shaojie personally felt the most satisfied with his imitation of a dragon and a tiger.
When he roleplayed those two, he felt like he had actually become a dragon and a tiger for an instant, filled with a desire to pounce forward.
But to his surprise, Senior Sister Xiqing told him, "The most suitable technique for you is the Grass and Wood Technique. It's the cheapest one. It costs only 20 merit points."
The result instantly dampened Chen Shaojie's spirit.
The one most compatible with him was actually the grass. The Grass and Wood Technique corresponding to it seemed really inferior and unimpressive to him.
Moreover, it was the cheapest one too. Chen Shaojie was determined not to select the Grass and Wood Technique no matter what.
After thinking for a moment, he asked a little tentatively, "Can I not choose the Grass and Wood Technique, Senior Sister Xiqing? I'd like to choose the Green Dragon Technique or the White Tiger Technique instead... Personally, I prefer the White Tiger, so I think I'll just choose the White Tiger Technique."
Senior sister Xiqing shook her head. She pointed to the jade talisman and told him, "New disciples must choose the technique corresponding to the picture they're most compatible with. It's a rule of the Scripture Depository.
"Junior brother, the one that suits you the most is the Grass and Wood Technique. You can only redeem this technique."
So there was no room for negotiation...
Chen Shaojie was slightly demoralized. He could not wrap his head around it... Was his spirit animal really a grass or something?
He soon went from slightly demoralized to majorly demoralized after Li Luoyun's test.
His personal favorite, the white tiger, actually suited Li Luoyun best, so Li Luoyun chose the White Tiger Technique.
What made him even more demoralized was that the White Tiger Technique required 80 merit points to redeem, four times as much as what was needed for the Grass and Wood Technique.
Li Luoyun did not even own a single merit point, so besides the 50 merit points Chen Shaojie had agreed to give her, he had to further lend her 30 merit points.
100 merit points were gone just like that.
They left the Scripture Depository.
Holding the jade talisman containing the Grass and Wood Technique, Chen Shaojie felt a little dejected.
Li Luoyun, on the other hand, was very happy. Her cold face had a little flush of excitement on it. "Thank you, Senior Brother. I promise I'll pay you back as soon as I earn enough merit points."
Chen Shaojie thought about it and said, "Now that we've redeemed the cutivation techniques, Junior Sister, let's start cultivating together tonight, shall we?"
Li Luoyun hesitated a little, but after taking a glance at Chen Shaojie, she nodded. "Erm...okay."
"Great. I'll come to your room to look for you after dinner," Chen Shaojie immediately confirmed the time.
To make up for today's loss, he decided to start feeloading on her WiFi as soon as possible.
He was ready to spend every night with Li Luoyun from now on. He would not waste a minute of it. Nothing and no one could stop him from freeloading on his white tiger Junior Sister's WiFi.