Elder Li gave Wang Feng another energy pill. Energy pills of this low caliber didn't have any side effects. The outer shell was plain food. Inside was a ball of energy that was so mild that it wouldn't harm the body.
After thinking a bit Elder Li gave two dozen of them and put them into a leather bag.
"There you go, these are for you."
Before long they arrived at the scriptures hall. Elder Li gave Wang Feng a stern warning "Don't forget! You can only select one attack method, one cultivation technique, and one footwork technique. "
Then he smiled
"Since you are an inner sect disciple, you can choose from every floor," Elder Li said.
Wang Feng was startled. "I am an inner disciple!?" Elder Li smiled. "That's right."
Elder Li was someone who was very proud of his sect. When a junior was impressed with his sect, he got butterflies in his stomach. However, Wang Feng was not that impressed. In Wang Feng's mind, this was an employment contract.
Normally, tall buildings would impress locals like Wang Feng. A comprehensive martial arts library would further cement the sect's grandness into the youngster's heart. But to Wang Feng, this library was not impressive. In fact, it looked like someone's personal collection. And he lived in an apartment complex far taller than any of the pagodas.
Elder Li noticed that Wang Feng had failed to meet his enthusiasm.
"Hmpfh, you cheeky lad. Go on, get inside! Find Elder Ma. She always loved cheeky children like you. She would help you with what you need," Elder Li said.
Wang Feng walked into the pavilion with a headband on his head intended for the concealment of the dao mark. He lifted it a bit and activated his mark. Among the countless possibilities, there were three auspicious-looking threads. The first one led to a movement art called the "sticky gecko technique." It was a technique that fixed a body part to a surface using spiritual energy, allowing one to climb walls and plant their feet on the ground for an unbreakable stance. Next was the attack method manual. Wang Feng popped an energy pill and then activated the dao mark again. This time, Wang Feng was led to a technique called the "Art of Softness: contortionist fighting," which allowed people to obtain joint flexibility and use it in fighting. The last one was the cultivation technique. Rapidly filling and depleting his spiritual energy reserves tired Wang Feng out. He once again activated his dao mark. This time, it didn't point to any of the books but led right to the lady sitting at the desk near the entrance, the one called Ma Roulan aka Elder Ma.
Wang Feng was intrigued and asked, "Excuse me, are you perhaps Elder Ma?"
Ma Roulan, a fairy with long dark brown hair, was arranging records behind the desk.
"Yes, who is asking...oh!"
Wang Feng felt the sting of being a farm kid with rosy and fat cheeks. His cheeks were pinched.
"You are so cute!"
"Elder Ma?"
"Oh my god! Those cheeks are just..."
"Elder Ma!"
Elder Ma stopped. "What can I help you with?"
Wang Feng rubbed his aching cheeks. "Elder Ma, do you have any cultivation methods on your person? One that isn't in the pagoda?"
Elder Ma replied, "No, I don't. Anything else?"
Wang Feng was sure that something related to Elder Ma was the key to the greatest cultivation technique he could get. Wang Feng cupped his fists. "I implore Elder Ma to guide me in my cultivation!"
Elder Ma gestured towards the chair. She herself sat on the table. "What do you want to know?"
Wang Feng sighed. "I don't know a single thing about it."
Elder Ma smiled. "First things first, you must not let spiritual energy penetrate your flesh. When rogue spiritual energy penetrates one's flesh, it devastates it. Worse yet, it causes uneven distribution of your cultivation level. When the cultivation level is uneven, the flesh with the higher cultivation stabs into the flesh with lower cultivation. When a practitioner is in such a predicament, that means that person lives in constant pain. Constant torment causes irritability, mental instability, and stress. Sometimes spiritual energy directly penetrates the brain. In such cases, one may become a simpleton, suffer from convulsions, become ruthless, or worse, die. Such cases are called Qi deviation. People who cultivate despite having Qi deviation are called demons. Those who tread this path are called demonic cultivators. Sects that teach such unstable techniques are called demonic sects."
"Secondly, when spiritual energy flows through a living being's system, it becomes marked by that living being, transforming into what we call spiritual Qi. Each being has its own unique Qi signature. If Qi with two different signatures mixes, it behaves differently and can cause Qi deviation. This is why only demonic practitioners use devouring methods or shortcuts like taking Qi from an elder. However, there is an exception to this called anima soul cultivation. When a mortal with no spiritual roots kills and eats the heart of a spiritual beast, a lower-quality version of that spiritual beast's spiritual roots is transferred to the hunter. This doesn't work if someone already has a spiritual root, including anima soul cultivators themselves. Anima soul cultivators can only have one beast spiritual root."
"Third, never let your will die under the pressure of the heavens. As you cultivate, you will be tempted to act according to the will of the heavens. That is a mistake. That is a path to ruin. You would become a terrifying being that roams the land, committing random acts, be they cruel or benevolent. Just like nature itself, you would know no mercy. There was a dao entity that ran circles around a rock because there was a loop in the spiritual energy flow of the world in that exact spot. Those things are not living beings."
"Lastly, when your body has its fill of energy, stop absorbing. Any further absorption will be expelled from your body, becoming waste. Wait until your root converts it into qi before cultivating again. You can use the qi to perform techniques, or you can use it to nourish your body. When a body is properly nourished, it undergoes a qualitative change, breaking through cultivation realms, increasing its power, spiritual energy capacity, and qi capacity. It also increases the hunger for spiritual qi. When desolate times come in which spiritual energy is too thin, elders often die by the dozen. To prevent such outcomes, sects seek alliances if and when a desolate time comes. We elders migrate like birds. For the same reason, every sect has a constant stream of foreign cultivators trying to invade their territory. The Shoushan sect has the ability to relocate in its entirety. Sometimes our allies move in with us, other times we move in with them."
Wang Feng figured out what he was supposed to do. He went back inside to randomly select a manual. He read it then and there. These manuals all aim to push spiritual energy to the spiritual root as soon as possible. When spiritual qi is produced, it only circulates in major veins in the body in the form of a controllable pulse. That confirmed it! The cultivation techniques in this world need an engineering overhaul! First of all, there is no need to convert spiritual energy to spiritual qi as long as you prevent it from penetrating your flesh. Both are different forms of the same energy. Raw spiritual energy might even be more nourishing because energy loss from conversion is prevented. Second, the heart already pumps blood to every part of the body. What one might do is either bind the energy to blood cells or coat veins with something that allows access to oxygen and food but denies access to spiritual energy. Installing something that does everything automatically doesn't seem feasible at this point in time. There is not even anything resembling a computer in this world. Therefore, automation is a long shot. A project that must be put on the back burner. Energy conversion capabilities are a must too. However, it's not really urgent unless a desolate season is coming. To resist the shortage of spiritual energy, one might use electricity, light, and heat to obtain spiritual energy.
Wang Feng once again activated his dao marks. Elder Ma was not suspiciously connected to him anymore. Most of the cultivation methods also lost their ominous strings. He could learn them and cultivate them for a time, but he could not depend on them. It turns out he has to invent a new cultivation method. He made a mental list of the cultivation methods that were still ominous.
He went out of the pagoda.
"Elder Li! Elder li! Please vouch for me for this once!