Chapter 128: Choosing Skill Books

When Yi Chen entered the Flying Dragon Hall, a familiar scent of old texts and ink entered his nostrils. The next moment, it was followed by books, rows and rows of books.

Bookshelves four times the height of a regular person stretched several meters deep into the hall. Seeing this scene, Yi Chen couldn’t help but feel small.

The message the architecture conveyed was very obvious to understand. No one is above knowledge, and if one seeks to gain it, they need to be humble enough to accept that they know nothing.

Yi Chen’s gaze soon fell on a table where a few stacks of books were placed, next to it, an incense stick was burning, and behind the table, an aged man was going through some texts.

Seeing Yi Chen’s gaze towards him, he raised his eye from the texts on the table and gestured Yi Chen towards him with his words.

"Come,"

The old man was only at the Third Level of Qi Absorption Stage, but seeing his age, which was almost reaching three hundred years, Yi Chen didn’t dare to act rudely and obediently walked towards him.

Before he could state his reason for coming here, the Elder’s voice rang in his ears.

"Your medallion,"

"???"

Momentarily, a clueless expression appeared on Yi Chen’s face, but as his eyes fell on the Elder’s stretched out hand, he soon realised what he meant and handed over the medallion to him.

After observing the medallion for a few seconds, he gave it back to Yi Chen with a subtle nod and asked while opening a register on his table.

"State your name and cultivation level," the Elder said as he dipped his feather quill in the ink pot.

"Yi Chen, Fifth Level Meridian Refinement Stage," Yi Chen answered the next moment.

"Mhm," The Elder wrote the details on the paper and finally looked towards Yi Chen and stated, "Since you’re only at the Fifth Level, you’re only allowed to stay on this floor and can choose only two skill books.

There are thousands of skill books available just on this floor. Take your time and make a final decision. You may go,"

With that said, the Elder busied himself with his texts, no longer bothering with Yi Chen.

"Yes, Elder..." Seeing this, Yi Chen could only nod as he turned towards the shelves and made his way inward.

Although this was his first time choosing a skill book, he had heard a few things from Qin Yao earlier, so he wasn’t exactly clueless.

In general, cultivators relied on a combination of three things while fighting: Qi Absorption Arts, Fighting Techniques and finally Martial Techniques.

The Qi Absorption arts were the toughest to master, but once one was able to master them, they gained the ability to conjure elements out of thin air and use them in their attacks.

Although it posed an enormous load on one’s mind, with no dependence on one’s innate Qi, the attacks so done could hold devastating power if done skillfully.

Fighting Techniques were what Qin Yao had once demonstrated to Yi Chen. They rely on lacing one’s innate Qi onto different weapons or just any body part and causing considerable damage to the target by attacking them with it.

It consumed a lot of one’s innate Qi and required a lot of training, both in terms of mental control and weapon handling proficiency.

Martial Techniques are what these skill books are designed for. After going through these texts, one is able to utilise their innate Qi in ways they had never thought were possible.

And this gave several offensive, defensive and auxiliary techniques which would otherwise enable a cultivator to have a deep understanding of one’s absorption art and innate Qi’s element.

These Martial Techniques are created based on the five elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Space. Therefore, it was recommended to choose a skill book that matched the nature of one’s qi.

If there is a mismatch, then the said martial technique won’t even be able to utilize 25% of its power.

With all these things going on in his mind, Yi Chen had walked by several dozen books by now.

’Thank god there’s no time limit, I would be at a loss if there was a time limit to select these skill books,’ Yi Chen thought to himself as he took out a few skill books from the shelves to flip through them.

Mountain Decimating Stomp: Earth Nature, Tier 3, Low Rank, one foot devastates the land. Easy to learn and suitable for earth-type cultivators...

Yi Chen placed it back, seeing that it wasn’t something he was interested in.

River Overturning Fist: Water Nature, Tier 3, Mid Rank, one punch inundates the opponent. A little difficult to comprehend, but it holds enormous power. If you’re looking...

Towering Blaze Storm: Fire Nature, Tier 3, High Rank, One’s Qi give rise to a storm and burns the heavens...

’Oh, that’s interesting,’ Yi Chen thought to himself and remembered the skill book in his mind before placing it back. It was still too early to make a decision since there were several dozen he had not yet touched.

Time passed slowly, and it was soon time for lunch. However, too engrossed in choosing an appropriate skill book for himself, Yi Chen didn’t bother with it and kept himself buried under several skill books.

Currently, he was sitting beside a table with several different skill books placed on it. These were all the skill books that had caught his attention and matched his Qi’s nature.

"I like them all..." Yi Chen couldn’t help but mutter bitterly as he glanced at the stack of skill books on top of the table.

With an exasperated sigh, he soon began going through all of them in more detail, as in the end, he could only choose two skill books.

Another couple of hours passed, and Yi Chen’s eyes had started to burn from reading so intensely during this period.

Tightly blinking a few times, he finally got up from the chair. Keeping two skill books inside his robe, he kept the other ones back at their spot before moving to the reception table.

The Elder was still busy reading the texts from the scroll, which was unfurled on his table. If not for the incense beside the table, which was of a different length, it would seem as if no time had passed since Yi Chen had left.

Walking towards the reception table, Yi Chen brought out the two skill books from within his robes and said, "Elder, I’ve decided to choose these two skill books."

Glancing at the titles of the two books in Yi Chen’s hands, the Elder said, "Are you sure you want to take these? The Myriad Fire Swords is indeed a very powerful Tier 3 skill book, but it is quite complex to master and drains a lot of one’s Qi, so I don’t understand why you chose this one.

As for your other skill book, Bursting Fire Steps, it’s a low-rank movement technique and is easier to master for a Fifth Level Expert like you.

Although it isn’t good for stealth, it has a much greater acceleration compared to other movement skills under this tier. A good choice, however, that couldn’t be said about your earlier skill book.

"Well..." Yi Chen just showed an uncomfortable smile and said, "I would still like to give it a try. I always dreamed of doing something like that...if I find it too difficult later, then I’ll exchange it later with something else,"

Hearing Yi Chen’s tone, which was filled with both embarrassment and deep-rooted passion, the Elder understood that it wasn’t possible to convince him.

With a nod, he said, "Alright, do as you please. However, if you find it too difficult, then don’t continue to push yourself and exchange the skill book with something easier.

You’re a talented young cultivator, so you shouldn’t waste too much of your time if things don’t go your way, understand?"

Feeling the goodwill in those words, Yi Chen nodded while bowing, "I’ll keep the Elder’s words in my mind."

"Mhm," The Elder nodded and soon noted down the two-skill book in his register.

With this done, Yi Chen once again bowed at the Elder and left the Flying Dragon Hall the next moment.

Seeing Yi Chen’s back, the Eelder sighed to himself, "He’s a good crop. Hopefully, he won’t waste away his time on experimenting too much."

The next moment, he went back to analysing the scroll on his table.

As for Yi Chen, wanting to start practising the skill books, he was walking at quite a fast pace through the streets of the Feng Clan. If he could, he would have loved to run all the way back to the residence, but he didn’t.

’God...why are there so many people on the street, if not for them, I wouldn’t be embarrassed to bolt towards the residence...’ Yi Chen thought bitterly to himself while walking as fast as possible towards Elder Lei’s residence.

By the time he reached the residence, it was nearing five in the evening.