Twenty-two hours after entering the outer sect martial hall, Yu Nianzhen finally found a basic breathing technique that satisfied him.
Jiang Yue sighed in relief and then glared at the other, "you are too choosy."
He had been worried that Yu Nianzhen would run out of time before choosing a breathing technique.
Now that everything had turned out fine, he couldn't help but admonish the other.
He then grabbed the basic breathing technique and looked at it.
The technique was called the Primal Metal basic breathing technique, and it could refine peak-quality metal qi.
"Were you worried?" Yu Nianzhen rubbed his hair, and Jiang Yue rolled his eyes before returning the technique manual.
"Let's go to the first floor."
There were still two hours before they had to leave the outer sect martial hall.
Although two hours was not enough to go through everything on the first floor, it was adequate to have a quick glimpse.
If he could, Yu Nianzhen wanted to borrow some general books to learn more about the Cangxing world and the Sea Cloud Sect.
There weren't many people on the first floor.
This was because many people grew up hearing stories and learning about the world.
However, the lack of people was an advantage because the two could walk around without too many obstructions.
"I will go see if we are allowed to borrow the books." Jiang Yue said.
Yu Nianzhen nodded and walked towards the bookshelves.
He had expected the first floor to be arranged like the second floor.
Fortunately, this was not the case.
The books on the first floor were classified under general categories, which made it easy to look around.
Yu Nianzhen immediately walked to the history section.
This section had hundreds of books that covered the history of the Cangxing world, the Sea Cloud Sect, the sixteen regions, and many other subjects.
When Jiang Yue returned several minutes later, Yu Nianzhen had already found a few books that he wanted to read.
"What did they say?"
"A person can borrow five books at a time. Each book can be borrowed for one month for one gold coin."
Although the borrowing cost was a little expensive, Yu Nianzhen didn't mind it.
They still had a lot of gold coins from the sale of stone milk, and the loss of a few wouldn't make a difference.
Since each person could borrow five books, Yu Nianzhen chose ten books for the two of them.
He chose three history books, two beast compendiums, three herb compendiums, and two geography books.
After two hours, they left the book area and found the martial hall elder to report the books.
The elder looked at them strangely and then sighed.
"It is better to spend the next month preparing for the next test." The elder advised.
He could tell that the two were new disciples, and he kindly advised them.
The test this time was different from usual.
It would be a waste to spend the month reading books instead of getting ready.
"This one understands." Yu Nianzhen gave a hold fist salute, but still insisted on borrowing the books.
The elder didn't continue to advise.
He took their identity jades and used a special method to register the borrowed books and basic breathing manuals that they had taken from the second floor.
After that, he received the borrowing cost of ten gold coins and handed over the body tempering and meridian strengthening pills.
Normally, disciples would need to go to the resource hall for pills.
However, the resource hall elder had given the pills for the new disciples to the martial hall elder so that he could hand them over when the new disciples came for the breathing techniques.
The process was over quickly, and the two left the outer sect martial hall.
"Let's walk around the outer sect." Jiang Yue suggested.
It was morning, and he wanted to explore the outer sect before they returned to their cave.
Yu Nianzhen also had that idea, and he accompanied Jiang Yue to walk around.
"Why does everyone look so excited?"
Jiang Yue noticed that most of the people they passed looked unusually excited.
"They are coming from over there."
Yu Nianzhen pointed to a building about fifty metres from their position.
The building had two floors, and its size was slightly smaller than the martial hall.
"Let's go and check."
A few seconds later, they arrived in front of the building.
Many people were gathered outside, and all of them were whispering excitedly.
"What's going on?" Jiang Yue stopped a random disciple to ask.
The disciple did not expect to be stopped, and he looked at the two cautiously before he answered in a small voice.
"The ten-storey pagoda will open in a month."
Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were confused.
They were new to the sect and didn't know about the pagoda.
The disciple saw their confusion, and he became a little more energetic.
"For five silver coins, I can take you around the outer sect. I can also tell a few important details about the outer sect."
The young boy had accurately identified them as new disciples, and he took the opportunity to earn some silver.
In normal cases, five silvers was a little too much for a tour, but the pagoda was about to open.
If he added the five silvers to the amount that he had already saved, he would have enough for a piece of low-grade body tempering pill.
Outside the sect, a low-grade body tempering pill cost five hundred gold coins.
Fortunately, pills were considerably cheaper in the sect, and such a pill only cost a hundred gold coins.
However, one hundred gold coins were still too much for odd job disciples.
Because of this, the odd job disciples would form groups to pool money.
Once a pill was bought, they would crush it and soak it in water.
After that, the group members would receive a small amount of the ensuing elixir.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were not fools.
They could tell that the boy was overcharging them.
However, he looked a little desperate, and they felt pity for him so they agreed to the business.
A bright smile graced the boy's face and transformed his dull features into a beauty's face.
"The pagoda opens every ten years. When it does, all outer sect and odd job disciples can enter."
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue soon learned why everyone was excited.
According to the boy, the pagoda was a mysterious ancient treasure.
It was open for a month every ten years, and all people who entered would receive rewards depending on the number of floors they managed to clear.
The higher the floors, the greater the rewards.
Most importantly, if an odd job disciple could clear the fifth floor, they would be promoted to an outer sect disciple.
However, the test tower had two restrictions.
The first restriction was that everyone who entered must be in the meridian awakening realm, and the other was an age restriction.
Only those under the age of eighteen could enter the tower.
"The new disciples will also be assessed using the results of the pagoda."
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were shocked.
They had prepared for a martial tournament, but the test had now changed to the pagoda.
"What happens within the tower?" Jiang Yue asked.
The boy frowned and shook his head.
He had entered the sect during the last recruitment, and there was a lot that he didn't know.
His knowledge was limited to knowing what the pagoda was but not what happened within.
The boy was afraid that the two would find him useless, so he hurriedly provided some more information.
"I heard that you can get pills, herbs, weapons, and even cultivation techniques from the tower."
The boy was excited when he said that, and the two were also excited.
In the end, they didn't need to know the origins and history of the test tower. They only needed to do their best to reap as many benefits as they could.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue followed the boy as he introduced the areas in the South part of the outer sect.
The building where they had met the boy was the outer sect mission hall.
Although outer sect disciples were not required to do any sect missions, they could take some to earn contribution points.
These missions were simple and paid very few contribution points.
Because of that, they were not attractive to inner sect disciples and thus trickled down to the outer sect.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang already knew the martial hall, so they passed the area and walked to another region.
"This is the outer sect martial arena. Outer sect disciples can come here to discuss."
"That over there is the resource hall. You can get pills, weapons, and other things from there."
"The restaurant is in the next street over."
The boy led them to the mentioned street as he continued to give information.
"You can eat for free on the first floor of the restaurant. It offers mortal food, and most of the odd job disciples eat there."
He blushed in embarrassment and then continued.
"You can eat on the second floor for one silver. The food is nutritious, but nothing extraordinary. You need one gold coin to eat on the third floor."
The boy then led them to a few more areas in the outer sect.
When the tour was over, it was already past noon.
"Where can we get a bathtub and hot water?" Jiang Yue asked.
"A wooden bathtub can be bought from the resource hall. As for hot water, I am willing to deliver if you are willing to spend some silver."
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue took a few minutes to negotiate with the boy.
The two would pay him one silver coin every day to deliver meals and hot water.
The boy was happy when he heard that.
Sect odd jobs didn't pay much, and it was rare to find disciples who paid so well for such little work.
After coming to an agreement, the two gave him five gold coins to buy two wooden bathtubs and two large meals from the restaurant's third floor.
He promised to do a good job and then rushed away, only to stop after taking a few steps.
A red blush covered his pale face, and he scratched his head in embarrassment.
"I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zhu Bing."