When Zhao Wei woke up the next day, he felt refreshed both physically and mentally.
Though he had lost a significant amount of life span, Zhao Wei didn't look withered like a dried-up tree but like someone who brimmed with vitality.
He looked energetic as he briskly walked towards the Treasury Hall.
Clad in white robes, Zhao Wei looked pure and inviolable like a celestial saint.
His mystical air and [event-horizon]-like presence caught the attention of many, due to his attractive and unique appearance.
Zhao Wei didn't seem to bother with the looks he was being given. He was a man that didn't take superficialities to heart. Face? Reputation? Could they amount to the evolution of the self?
Could they enlighten oneself?
How about actualizing the Dharma and delivering him from the cycle of death and eternal samsara?
Superficialities couldn't. The theory of aesthetics was only fleeting unless one was truly immortal and deathless.
Decay overrules life and vitality but boundlessness triumphs over all concepts.
After arriving at the Treasury Hall, Zhao Wei saw that the Guanjun Corps were really not joking around with the security.
There were around four Ninth Rankers stationed at the front of the Martial Arts Hall and similarly, another four were at the Alchemy Hall.
Both the Martial Arts Hall and Alchemy Hall made up the whole Treasury Hall even though they were in separate sections of one enormous building.
The guards stopped him and asked him a few questions while looking through some records to ascertain his identity.
"So you are the one Third Guard talked about? I think you are good to go then." A 2m tall guard smiled at him and allowed him entry to the Martial Arts Hall.
"Alright." Zhao Wei silently nodded at him before entering the Martial Arts Hall.
A peak-ranked martial arts manual was worth 10 battle points while a half-holy martial arts manual was worth about 50 battle points.
Zhao Wei currently has 243 points after receiving the additional reward from Third Guard.
'4 half-holy martial arts are already enough to deplete my points to low levels. This means I can only take three good half-holy martial arts and the rest of the points I should use for earthly treasures.' Zhao Wei planned how to use all of his battle points efficiently in terms of order of priorities.
The elements he had yet to utilize among his lists of techniques were fire, wood, and metal.
Zhao Wei wanted to lay out a firm foundation that would enable him to have a brighter future.
His mind was full of ingenuity and creativity as he thought of the best ways to utilize the elements.
At the moment, he couldn't mobilize any laws of nature at their primal forms but Zhao Wei thought it was better to create an affinity link while he was still in the lower cultivation levels.
'Wait? I think I have missed out on something.' Zhao Wei touched his chin as he looked through the short introductions of the skills recorded on the jade plaques.
'Yes, I have already played with fire.'
Zhao Wei remembered that [Primordial Stellar Energy Body Refining Art] and [Solar Finger] were connected with the fire element.
So he was only left with metal and wood.
After going through the general intro of all the skills in the library, Zhao Wei picked two manuals.
They were [Primeval Azure Wood Art] and [Hell Shadow Death Scythe].
[Primeval Azure Wood Art] was wood-based as the name implied. It enabled the user to communicate with plants and use them to immobilize their enemies. It could also be used in healing others or the user himself. Healing is only limited to broken bones and damaged skin tissues. Healing was done via wood elements extracted from the atmosphere or the plants.
As for [Hell Shadow Death Scythe], it had made Zhao Wei question if it was a half-holy martial arts technique due to its description.
The weapon of choice of the technique was a Scythe. The elements incorporated in the technique were two: Shadow and Metal.
One man, one scythe, and a million lives shall be reaped. Be the reaper from hell, like a shadow from the valley of death. Shadow was for stealth while metal was for extreme sharpness that could cut through any type of defense.
The scythe was quite a versatile weapon if one was proficient in wielding it.
After reading the techniques, Zhao Wei then looked at the large board at the left corner of the library that had all the rules written on it.
The rules stipulated that a physical manual could be borrowed for only a week before being returned. Failure to do so guaranteed that one's cultivation base - gained through blood, sweat, and tears - was going to be wasted!
'Funny. I remember there was a certain MC whose journey of greatness began after he gave his lover a precious technique stolen from his sect, only to be betrayed by the one he trusted and have his cultivation base ruined.'
'Just how stupid was love? Or was love capable of lowering one's IQ and logical reasoning?'
'There was also Yang Qi who got cheated on for a pill. The list was quite long.' Zhao Wei shook his head as he used his eyes to copy-paste everything to his mind.
There was no need to borrow the physical copies.
Just then, other youths began to enter the hall to put their battle points to good use.
The Martial Arts Hall, though it seemed as if it lacked a supervisor or monitoring librarian, had extremely tight security.
Zhao Wei could spot some of the Guanjun Corps hiding at inconspicuous spots in the Hall.
Their presence was completely erased as they oversaw everything from the shadows.
Zhao Wei then left for the Alchemy Hall and used some of the remaining points for medicinal pellets and potent herbs.
Later on, Zhao Wei visited the Weapon Hall to get a weapon, specifically the scythe and a new bow.
After that, he returned to his cultivation abode.
First, Zhao Wei began with the two techniques and only used two days to fully comprehend them.
Understanding was easy, leaving him with only the practical side of things.
For the next four days, Zhao Wei used them to try to increase his cultivation base via herbs and inner strength-increasing pills. He also practiced with the scythe.
Troublemakers came and Zhao Wei used them as training dummies. You see, whatever reasoning there was, some people would always find ways to want to mess with you.
After teaching a lesson to about three NPCs, the others dispersed thoughts of disturbing him off their minds. Only the truly intelligent ones minded their own businesses.
A martial cultivator should always yearn for peace and stability of mind.
***
Enjoy!
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