The gray-robed elder looked at Li Yan. "Hmm, in the pavilion, the cultivation techniques and immortal arts that are green are free. The other colors need to be exchanged for with spirit stones."
Li Yan was a little confused and looked at Li Wuyi with a blank expression. Li Wuyi smiled and answered for him, "Martial Uncle Gu, I'll explain these things to him in detail in a while."
"Alright then, you can go in," the gray-robed elder said lazily, waving a hand behind him. Instantly, a swirling black hole appeared in the air behind him. The vortex hung quietly in the air, slowly rotating, mysterious and unknown.
Li Yan was somewhat dumbfounded. He could vaguely guess the purpose of this vortex, but looking at the black hole, which was like the giant mouth of a monster, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.
Li Wuyi, however, took a step forward and pulled Li Yan. Before he could react, he had left the ground and flown into the vortex. Li Yan was greatly shocked. He only felt a wave of dizziness, and the next moment, when he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a pavilion. It was about seven or eight zhang in size. He couldn't help but look around.
At this moment, he and Li Wuyi were standing in the middle of this floor of the pavilion. Behind them, a black vortex was still slowly rotating. And in front of them were three staircases leading upwards. It was just as he had thought. This place might be like a storage pouch, another space. Or maybe that black vortex just now was like a teleportation formation, which had teleported them to another place near Little Bamboo Peak. Li Yan guessed in his heart based on his limited experience.
"Little Junior Brother, this is the treasured collection. The staircase on the left in front leads to the Library Pavilion; the one in the middle leads to the Treasure Artifact Pavilion; and the one on the right leads to the Spirit Medicine Pavilion. I imagine you know their purposes from their names."
Li Yan withdrew his gaze, nodded, and looked at the few staircases. The entrance to the staircase on the left was shining with a faint white light. The entrance to the staircase in the middle was shining with a faint yellow light, and the one on the right was shining with a faint blue light.
"Let's go." Li Wuyi stepped towards the staircase on the right. Li Yan also followed with some excitement in his heart. This would be his first formal step into the cultivation world.
When the two of them reached the entrance of the staircase, a white light flashed on Li Wuyi, and he disappeared. But when Li Yan stepped onto the staircase, he suddenly felt himself hit an invisible barrier and was pushed back two steps. Caught off guard, he almost sat on the ground. His expression was one of shock. He had just seen Li Wuyi go in without any obstruction. Could there be a magical formation protecting this place too?
He cautiously took two steps forward again and reached out a finger to press against the faint white light. The moment his finger touched the white light, it was as if he had touched an invisible, transparent thin film. This film was very elastic. Li Yan pressed it a few times with force but didn't pierce it.
Li Yan withdrew his finger, thought for a moment, and then denied the possibility of entering with the waist token. Because just now, he hadn't seen his Eldest Senior Brother take out a token or any other light appear on his body.
After thinking for a moment, he filled his finger with spiritual power and stabbed at the thin film again. After being blocked for a moment, he felt his finger pierce through the thin film. The next moment, that finger disappeared before his eyes, but Li Yan didn't feel any pain. When he slowly pulled his finger out, the finger reappeared in his sight. Now he understood how to enter. So he raised his spiritual power, his whole body flickering with black light, and he stepped onto the staircase.
After the white light in front of him dimmed, he found himself standing in another pavilion. Li Wuyi was standing in front with his hands behind his back, his back to him. He couldn't help but feel ashamed. He had used all his strength to get in, while Li Wuyi had just entered with an air of ease and without any hesitation.
Li Wuyi didn't turn around. He had been standing here waiting for Li Yan to come in. It was also a small test of this junior brother's magical power. At least the third layer of Qi Condensation was required to enter here. Otherwise, one would need to be brought in by someone else. He had heard yesterday that Li Yan's divine sense could leave his body at this realm, so he was curious to see if this junior brother's magical power was also higher than that of cultivators of the same rank. Although with his late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, he could roughly see that Li Yan's magical power was not weak, he couldn't see through the depth of Li Yan's magical power with a single glance like his master and Martial Uncle Gu.
Now seeing Li Yan enter here, he also confirmed in his heart that Li Yan's magical power, like his divine sense, was indeed much higher than that of cultivators of the same rank. The reputation of the Fragmented Poison Body was well-deserved.
After composing himself, Li Yan looked around again. There were ten rows of bookshelves here, filled with jade slips and ancient books.
"These are only the cultivation techniques for the Qi Condensation stage. The green ones are ordinary, and the yellow ones are high-grade," Li Wuyi's gentle voice sounded by his ear.
Li Yan could of course see that both the jade slips and the ancient books were shining with a faint green or yellow light.
"You can choose any of the green ones. The yellow ones need to be purchased with spirit stones. However, most of the yellow ones are high-grade immortal arts, and only a small number of the yellow ones are cultivation techniques. After all, high-grade cultivation techniques are hard to come by in any realm. Little Junior Brother can choose a yellow cultivation technique. As for the spirit stones, I can lend them to you first. You can repay me whenever you have them in the future. As for the immortal arts, it's better to choose some lower-grade green ones. After all, the cultivation of immortal arts needs to be cultivated from the basics, bit by bit. It's not like cultivation techniques, which are judged by their quality. You can have a look first." Li Wuyi turned his head and smiled at Li Yan, then said no more.
Li Yan was still looking around curiously. After hearing his Eldest Senior Brother's words, he said thanks, then took a few steps forward to a bookshelf, picked up a green jade slip, and immersed his divine sense into it. Immediately, a message appeared in his mind: "Cloud-Locking Verdant Wood Art, a low-grade wood-type cultivation technique. Cultivating this technique makes one's spiritual power long and profound. When attacking, it contains the power of clouds and mist, making it often difficult for others to defend against. If one uses woolly leaf grass, cluster grass, and harvest-as-leaf for a medicinal bath to cleanse the marrow and enter the body during cultivation, it can gradually make the physical body as strong as metal..."
After putting down this jade slip, Li Yan looked at a jade slip emitting a yellow light beside it. He released his divine sense: "Great Magnetism Art, a high-grade immortal art. Price: seven low-grade spirit stones. Effect: can create a gravity field of one to ten times within ten zhang. When an enemy is within this range, they will be affected by gravity, their movements will be slowed, or they will be directly crushed to death by the gravity..."
Li Yan took out a few more ancient books from these bookshelves. These ancient books seemed to be made of the skin of some unknown demonic beast. He opened an ancient book shining with a green light: "History of the Desolate Moon Continent..." This was a book that introduced the history of the cultivation world on this continent since ancient times.
He opened another ancient book shining with a yellow light: "Insights on the Art of Sky-Walking, price: seven low-grade spirit stones..." This should be the cultivation insights left by a predecessor.
At first, Li Wuyi just watched Li Yan quietly. Seeing him stop and start, releasing his divine sense from time to time, he was then truly certain that Li Yan, at the second stage of Qi Condensation, really had such an ability. After a while, he also walked over, occasionally explaining things...
An hour later, Li Yan returned to the black vortex of the pavilion where he had come, holding five green jade slips and seven or eight green ancient books. Li Wuyi shook his head helplessly. Just now, he wanted to choose a water-type cultivation technique from the yellow jade slips for Li Yan, "Horizon Flow," but Li Yan shook his head and rejected it after considering for a while. In the end, he chose a cultivation technique called "Myriad Essence Way." This was a non-attribute cultivation technique, which meant that anyone with any spirit root could cultivate it. According to Li Yan, "He is a Miscellaneous Spirit Root holder. If he cultivates a water-attribute cultivation technique, it might not be as fast as cultivating this book." Because the biggest feature of this cultivation technique was its fast advancement and its miraculous effect on breaking through bottlenecks in various realms. That was one word, "fast." But its disadvantage was that its attack power was too weak. For a person who cultivated this technique, their attack power was not worth mentioning compared to cultivators of the same rank. In general, this book was created for those who single-mindedly sought longevity.
Li Wuyi thought about it and didn't insist. He also knew that it was very difficult for a Miscellaneous Spirit Root to cultivate to the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Condensation. Even with the help of a large number of medicinal pills, it was extremely difficult to establish a foundation. In that case, it was better to give this little junior brother a great fortune and let him focus on advancing and obtaining longevity.
This was also why Wei Zhongran hadn't told him the sect's intention. It wasn't that he had forgotten, but that he had deliberately not said it. The sect's original intention was to use a large amount of resources to cultivate a Foundation Establishment stage expert with outstanding combat power. But in the end, Wei Zhongran still wanted Li Yan to walk his own path. The Foundation Establishment stage was only over two hundred years old. If Li Yan had an immortal fate, then maybe he could go one step further.
But Li Wuyi was a very intelligent person. Although his master hadn't explained it, he had vaguely guessed that the reason the sect had accepted a Miscellaneous Spirit Root disciple was to make use of that poison body.
Of course, Li Yan didn't think so. He just wanted to casually find a cultivation technique. Anyway, he wouldn't cultivate it. But the chosen cultivation technique had to be able to cover up the True Scripture of the Nether Water. Later, when he saw the "Myriad Essence Art," his eyes lit up. This book was tailor-made for him. A non-attribute cultivation technique, good at breaking through bottlenecks. In the future, it would not be an exaggeration for him to show advancement or use any kind of attribute spiritual energy. So he decisively chose this cultivation technique. If Li Wuyi had continued to persuade him, he would have found all sorts of reasons to refuse.
The other four green jade slips were the immortal arts he had longed for. He chose "Wind Blade Art," "Fireball Art," "Quicksand Art," and "Cloud and Rain Art." Of course, there were many other ordinary immortal arts, but it was impossible to choose them all at once. He understood the principle of not biting off more than he could chew. As for the seven or eight ancient books shining with green light, they were historical records and introductory books on cultivation, such as "History of the Desolate Moon Continent," "Complete Compendium of Cultivation Types," and so on. He knew that his foundation was too weak and he needed to accumulate a large amount of knowledge. The ancient books he chose, besides historical records, also had some simple knowledge of other types of cultivation, such as introductions to formations, medicinal pills, and so on. He wasn't going to learn these cultivation categories, but it was necessary to have a rough understanding of them.
According to Li Wuyi, after these jade slips and books were taken out, they had to be inspected by the gray-robed elder, who would then seal them into his sea of consciousness with an immortal art. When he needed them, he could undo the seal bit by bit, eventually forming his own memory, until the seal was completely undone and disappeared.
Li Yan looked at the remaining two staircases, then asked Li Wuyi, "Eldest Senior Brother, do these two places also require magical power to enter like the Library Pavilion?"
Li Wuyi didn't answer this question directly, but said with a smile, "The entry to each of the treasured collections here is different. Even the inside of the Library Pavilion we just entered has other restrictions. The floor of the Library Pavilion you entered before was only for the Qi Condensation stage. In fact, there is another staircase in the corner of that floor. I don't know if you saw it. That staircase leads up to the floors with the cultivation techniques and immortal arts for the Foundation Establishment stage."
Li Yan was stunned. He thought back carefully, and it seemed he had this impression. It was just that he hadn't paid attention at the time. There was a corner that seemed to be covered in white light, although it was just a fleeting glimpse.
Li Wuyi continued, "Thus, each floor of the Library Pavilion has a staircase leading up, all the way to the Nascent Soul stage. But you can only enter when your strength is sufficient. Otherwise, you can't step into a higher pavilion at all."
"The other two staircases here are not divided by realm for entry. You must be personally led in by Martial Uncle Gu. Inside are spirit pills and precious artifacts. You can't enter without permission."
At this point, Li Wuyi patted the storage pouch at his waist. A five-colored light flashed, and several items appeared in mid-air. "Hmm, speaking of these resources, I might as well give you some things here. In addition to the items you received when you entered the sect, Little Bamboo Peak also distributes cultivation resources every month. You have three low-grade spirit stones and three Grain Abstinence Pills every month. This is the same as the Qi Condensation disciples of the other four peaks. You can go to the main hall in front to collect them during the hour of the Rabbit on the first three days of each month. In addition, when you succeed in establishing your foundation, these resources will all increase."
Looking at the small porcelain bottle and three crystal-clear jade stones floating in the air, Li Yan's face showed joy. He didn't expect to get spirit stones. He quickly said thanks and put them in his pouch.