Cultivation was difficult, and no one could deny that statement. But what Su Yan felt after going through each art piece was that the statement was a huge understatement. He had been hoping to find something that could let him advance at a brisk pace all the while forging a solid foundation. As it turned out, there was no shortcut to the path of power. He either did it well and slowly or rushed in without a care for the future.
Leaning against the cave wall, he sighed. This was a conundrum that he could mull over for hours, yet it all boiled down to what he wished to achieve. If Su Yan wanted power enough to establish a force that rivaled or exceeded the Yang clan, then he could choose anything from countless other cultivation methods and ascend as swiftly as an Immortal's Sword. But if he hoped to transcend this realm and strive for the true peak of cultivation, then he had to take a more sturdy route.
"What do I want?" For all intents and purposes, Su Yan was just a simple human being who, like many others, only wanted to outgrow his clan and savor the sights of the world. He had no grand desires, even if his childhood would beg to differ. So when presented with such a choice, he simply felt overwhelmed.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes to clear his thoughts. He had been granted an opportunity, one so great that he had given up on trying to fathom the scale of its creator. Choosing anything less than perfection somehow felt like an insult to the fate and his pride. But any choice he made was going to stick with him for the rest of his life, so he wanted to be completely sure.
"Who are you, Su Yan?" A simple question that demanded his true essence. Did that celestial spark still burn within his chest? Did he still wish to stand upon that illusive peak and overlook the entirety of creation? To understand the truths of the world and the essence of cultivation? Did Su Yan want to cultivate?
A soft laugh escaped his throat as he realized the answer to his question. In the end, wasn't cultivation a journey through life? Giving up for the sake of wealth and power felt like tainting that pure and unadulterated pursuit.
"A never-ending journey." He recalled the words he had read from the informational wisp. "To succeed in immortality or find failure in death."
A decision was made. A will reaffirmed. Heart of Martial Dao forged. In a deceptively mundane cave, a desire was born. One that was going to have far-reaching consequences.
Having resolved the conflict, he finally moved on to the choices among the twelve wisps. Since he had resolved to reach the apex, he couldn't settle for third-rate manuals. After much debate he had chosen three—one in each category.
For Qi cultivation, he decided to go with the wisp that shifted in color and shape with each passing moment, never retaining a form longer than a single breath. The cultivation manual was called 'Ninefold Genesis Ascension Art,' and it focused on the creation of Primal Genesis Energy, said to be the origin of all Qi in the world. That was all he gleaned from the surface-level information.
'True Primordial Essence Art' was what he chose for body cultivation. This cultivation method focused on forging the cultivator's body using Primordial Essence. The exact process wasn't detailed, but one thing that did stick out was that the Primordial Essence was superior to Mystic Dragon Essence that a divine dragon used in forging its body. The exact nuance was lost on him, but his gut told him choosing anything else would be a mistake.
The last was the one he felt most troubled over. Both because he had no prior experience with spirit cultivation and also because the cultivation method he found was, let's just say, not subtle. It was called 'Imperial Soul Scripture' and required him to act in a manner befitting royalty. Just the cultivation of it would grant him an imperialistic aura, and that was what he found most troubling.
One of the rules he was taught in the clan was that a cultivator needed to keep low as much as possible, to keep their own cards hidden. In the end this world was a ruthless one, and the law of the jungle prevailed every which way.
In the end, Su Yan sighed and finalized his choices.
"That aside, each of these will require a horrendous amount of effort. What do I do about that?" That one problem still persisted.
"I wonder if there's anything that can help me?" As the thought flashed through his mind, he slapped his head in irritation. Since he was sitting on a treasure trove of information, the only reason he hadn't figured a solution to his problem was only because he hadn't looked enough.
Shaking his head, he once more found himself concentrating. A multitude of wisps started to gather all around him, and as he opened his eyes to behold the cluster of multicolored wisps, an expression of surprise washed over him.
"Hmm." He looked thoughtfully for a moment. "Which one should I assess first?"
Since there were hundreds upon hundreds of wisps, possibly into thousands, he couldn't just go through each one. Already he was pushing limits by staying at one place for such a long time. He decided to arbitrarily choose whichever he found appealing.
"Red one first, then." The wisp turned out to be an aura cultivation method, but it was evil to the extreme. This supplementary method required one to slaughter beings; the higher the body count, the fiercer the aura.
Imperial Soul Scripture was already pushing limits; he didn't want to go around committing manslaughter while he still lacked strength.
Next wisp turned out to be a weird one, and he paid it no heed, moving onto another. It was on this fifth wisp, a pink cloud-shaped wisp that held a supplementary cultivation method called 'Yin-Yang Unification Art.'.
"This might just work."