Kaelen walked around the place and quickly gathered three Martial Skills. The first one was the 'Twelve Overlord Killing Fists,' a Peak Earth Grade martial skill. The description read: "The overlord strikes twelve times, one to kill the tiger, one to kill the general, one to kill the king, one to kill the emperor, one to crush a mountain, one to part the sea, one to split the clouds, one to crush the earth, one to break the sky, one to kill the demon, one to kill gods, one to slay the immortals."
Taking a deep breath, Kaelen couldn't help thinking this technique was a bit tyrannical, but of course, killing gods and immortals with an Earth rank technique is impossible. However, the technique was still immensely powerful. It consisted of accumulating greater and greater force as you punched, each strike overlapping on the next, dealing more damage.
There was one drawback; accumulating strength you can't withstand would cause your fist to be severely damaged in the best-case scenario or burst in the worst-case scenario. "Hmm, it's interesting but a bit dangerous. It's a 'dish out 1000 take 800' type of method." Keeping it aside, he read the next book.
"The Demon Ape Nine Strikes. High Earth Grade Martial Skill, be as the demonic ape and strike nine times to crush your enemies into a meat paste; the user's skin must be refined into 'Golden Vajra Skin' to use this technique, the might increases as the skin goes from bronze, silver to gold at full mastery. "This one is a bit less overbearing than the other one; it could be a good choice."
Then, he looked at the final book. "The Heaven Overlapping Fist. Low-Grade Heaven method. Use the power of heaven and earth to amplify your strength, unleashing heaven-toppling might." "Hmm, this is a peculiar one. It follows a similar overlapping premise as the others but not using one's strength but the power of heaven and earth. It requires Qi quality of an extremely high level and genius-level comprehension ability. I am confident I could learn this technique, but there's a limit to the amount of heaven and earth power you can use at early stages of cultivation, making its strength hard to scale."
After some deliberation, Kaelen finally chose the Demon Vajra Ape Fists. First of all, it came with a skin-refining technique that further hardened the body, which will increase his defensive power. Secondly, the power of martial arts increased with the skin-hardening level. The High Earth Grade corresponded to bronze skin level only; if one managed to reach higher levels, the might of the skill increased as well. Placing the manual in his spatial ring, he tossed the others back into the air. "Next is the Weapon art."
"Kaelen!"
As he was about to go look for a weapon art, he heard Teacher Long's voice calling him. The tall and valiant man stood near the entrance to the Scripture Pavilion. Kaelen walked towards him, puzzled as to why he would call him now.
"Teacher, why did you call me?" He asked.
"Come with me, I want to ask you something." He turned around, exiting the Scripture pavilion.
Kaelen followed him steadily as the two walked away. The Scripture Pavilion was a giant palace built onto a small floating mountain; its structure took about eighty percent of the mountain. The rest of the space was a circular garden that went around the pavilion, numerous students and teachers could be seen reading or chatting casually. Kaelen and Teacher Long walked towards an empty corner of the garden. Once the two were relatively alone, Teacher Long finally spoke.
"Kaelen, would you like to become my disciple?" The valiant man looked straight into Kaelen's eyes as he asked.
"Become your disciple?" Taken by surprise, Kaelen repeated what he heard.
He knew that after three years, students who were qualified would choose a teacher or elder as a master. He didn't think that would happen so fast.
"Don't I still have a bit more than two years before choosing a master? Why is the teacher asking me now?" He asked the man before he answered.
"That is based on a time limit set for everyone; however, it is not rare that some masters choose outstanding disciples early. In fact, there are already some elders who have an eye on you and your friends." Teacher Long explained.
"Thorin and Raizel, you mean? Who is interested in them?" Kaelen's confusion rose; he never met any elders.
"Well, you guys initially were the most talented bunch in this year's entrance test, plus you guys made a ruckus recently on Culinary Haven Mountain. so a few elders took notice." The man lightly said, as he chuckled a bit.
"Oh, right." Remembering what happened last week, Kaelen thought it made sense. Suddenly, he thought of someone.
"Is Senior Tang Feihu one of the elders who want to take us as disciples?" He probed.
"You're correct. He wants to take Thorin specifically, although he's also interested in you guys; he and Thorin use the same weapon, so he feels more affinity with him." The latter nodded, as he confirmed Kaelen's suspicions.
"So, do you wish to become my disciple?" He asked again.
Kaelen thought for a moment before kneeling down and kowtowing to the man.
"Disciple Kaelen greets master." He acknowledges Teacher Long as his master.
Seeing him accepting, Teacher Long's serene face showed a warm and gratified smile.
"Good, good, good." He said 'good' three times as he nodded repeatedly.
"You can stand." He told the boy.
Standing up, Kaelen was a bit surprised at himself. He didn't think he would agree so readily but thinking back to that one time he sparred with Teacher Long and the foundational True Spear manual, not to mention the classes he had, he already considered Teacher Long as his half-master. So might as well become his student. Besides, he really respected Teacher Long and wanted to learn more spear techniques from him. Though Old Dai could also be considered half a master, he was more like his grandfather than his master. He has many techniques he could teach Kaelen, but he never did; he would always say, "You have your own path to walk; you do not need me to teach you."
Standing back, Kaelen looks at his new master as he thinks for a bit, "Oh, right." he exclaims.
"Teach- Master, look at the books I've chosen." He says as he brings out the two books he chose.
"I didn't have time to choose a weapon Art though." He added.
Long Aotian looked at the two manuals in his hands.
"The Golden Crow's Divine Ascension is a suitable movement art for you, but do not try to learn it too fast; heavenly grade arts are dangerous to train for martial artists of the fundamental stages. You can also look for the rest of the art when you reach full mastery; I will tell you where to find it since I'm the one who brought it here. The Demonic Vajra Ape Fist is also suitable for you; it will help further refine the body, especially the skin, making it harder than stone. Those are good choices." He commented.
"Alright, but what about my weapon art, Teacher? I've already mastered the foundational spear technique; I may need to upgrade soon." Kaelen voiced.
The latter only smiled, "Do not worry, since you're my disciple, I will naturally teach you some skills."
"Oh?" Hearing that, Kaelen's ears pricked up, instantly becoming excited.
The man takes out a golden scroll and hands it to the boy. "Here, you can begin reading this and memorize the Qi circulation path. From tomorrow onward, you will be practicing it with me in my courtyard."
Kaelen catches the scroll and opens it to read. However, he is surprised to see that there were no inscriptions or writings inside it; the scroll was completely empty.
Confused, he looks at his master for answers.
"Snort. It's a dragon clan scroll; only people of dragon bloodline can read it. Just activate a bit of your bloodline and see."
Kaelen's eyebrows raise, and he immediately does so. Closing his eyes, he begins reaching into his blood to draw some dragon might. Soon, a dark crimson aura begins diffusing from his body. He wills the aura into the scroll through his hands.
To his shock, the scroll immediately disappears and turns into a flash of light that rushes straight to his mind.
Intense pain suddenly springs forth as his brain feels like it was suddenly compressed and then shaken violently.
"Arhh!" He growls a bit as his knees cave in, making him kneel on the ground. He begins panting heavily as the pain grew every second.
Finally, after a minute, the pain disappeared. Instead, memories of a martial skill appear in his mind.
"The Nine Stances of the True Dragon: Nine stances of the nine sons of the ancestral Dragon. The martial skill comprised of normal spear skills; however, they were peculiar as each spear strike requires infused dragon might. Then you have the nine martial skills.
First Stance: Heaven Ending Stance: Annihilating Thrust, Descending Earth-Decimating Pierce, Heaven Ending Void Strike; Unleash a barrage of innumerable dragon might-infused spear thrust with destructive power, piercing gaping holes in the heavens.
Second Stance, Life Stealing Stance: Soul-devouring Serpent Sweep, Life Draining Tempest, Death-Reaper Whirlwind, Origin Swallowing Spiral, Life-Stealing Dragons Cascade. Condense dragon might into the blade of the spear and unleash a series of moves, each strike absorbing the life force, spirit qi, blood qi or elemental qi of the enemy and destroying him utterly with tyrannical sweeps and twhirling strikes.
Third Stance, Chaotic dragon Stance: Coiling Pandemonium. Execute a series of twisting and coiling movements, accumulating energies of different nature into a chaotic mix, before unleashing an extremely powerful drill thrust that does terrible damage outside and inside the opponent.
Discordant Dragons Fury, a chain of stabs, sweeps and overhead strikes at lightning-fast speed that disorients and completely destroys the enemy.
Chaos Warding Shield, use Dragon Might to do a spinning guard that propels energy of a different kind.
Entropy Embrace: Maintain a horse stance with the spear in hand and form a dome of Dragon Might around you that swallows all outside energy; you can redirect that energy or gather it into your next strike.
Cataclysmic Spear Barrage: the most powerful attack of the first three stances. Unleash a set of devastating attacks, with world-ending might. Each strike carrying unparalleled speed, precision, and cataclysmic dragon might cause endless destruction tantamount to doomsday arrival.
The information stopped there. By the time Kaelen came back to his senses, he noticed a few hours had passed, and a lot of his classmates, including Thorin and Raizel, were out.
As he reviewed the skills, Kaelen's heart began beating fast and loud.
"Heavens! What a powerful, all-inclusive technique. I cannot wait to start practicing. Seriously, what a gift." Exhilarated Kaelen almost jumps in excitement.
"Thank you so much, Master." He immediately kowtows respectfully with endless gratitude.
"Hm. Make sure you remember the skills; we will begin practice tomorrow." He said lightly, accepting the kid's gratitude.
Now that he had a weapon skill, Kaelen felt satisfied with his trip to the Scripture Pavilion. He saw Thorin and Raizel not too far away and walked towards them.
"Hey, what was that about?" Raizel asked, curious.
"I became Teacher Long's apprentice." Kaelen answered with a huge smile on his face.
"What!? Already?" Raizel exclaimed, surprised by the news. He didn't think someone could choose a master so early.
"Yep. Oh, by the way, Thorin, he said Senior Tang is interested in taking you as a disciple. Maybe we should go see him on the Sundering Tiger Mountain, what do you think?" Kaelen asked Thorin.
"Really!? That would be great actually; we should definitely go." The latter readily agreed, visibly interested in becoming Tang Fei Hu's disciple.
"Damn, what about me? Who wants to take me as a disciple!?" Raizel complained on the side, hoping he'd have a master soon as well.
"Actually, Master said that many elders have their eyes on us since we entered the sect, so you should have a few interested in you already. They will come in due time." Kaelen said, relieving him.
"Alright then."
"Anyways, what did you guys choose? I chose the Demonic Vajra Ape Fists and the Golden Crow's Divine Ascension. A high Earth-Grade technique and mid-Heaven-Grade." Kaelen asked as he stated what he chose first.
"I chose the Purple Leopard Maneuver, the Thunderblaze Hegemonic Fist, and the Twin Thunder Phoenix Dual Blades Art. The first two are mid Earth-Grade; the last one is low Heaven-Grade." Raizel stated.
"I chose the Soaring Mountain Step, The Tyrannical Great Blade Art, and the Battle King's Eighteen Fists. High Earth-Grade, Mid Earth-Grade, and Low Heaven-Grade." Thorin stated what he chose last.