85 Technique Depository - Cultivator's Way.

Shu He steadily made his way down the spiral staircase, unlike the tunnel leading into the Forging Division the walls here were properly pathed with smooth white bricks and brightstone lamps, very similar to the area he had entered when he first headed towards the sect exam area.

He had walked for about three minutes at a brisk pace, so it was deeper than he thought, but before long he came to a pair of double doors that seemed to be made of a white wood that matched the bricks, he looked around and saw a sign that said 'Technique Depository' on a plaque above the doors telling him he was in the right place.

He pushed one of the doors open to enter, not taking the dramatic approach of bursting both doors open despite the intrusive thoughts telling him to do so.

As he entered he felt the atmosphere around him change, literally; It was like he had suddenly moved to a different climate as the air felt much dryer but also cooler, he could feel a gentle breeze roll up his legs, he looked around and saw that it seemed to be coming from a gap beneath some shelves.

'Some sort of air conditioning?' He felt a bit nostalgic; the feeling reminded him of the times when you'd enter a convenience store or supermarket and they'd have air conditioning blowing on the entrance, he remembered the feeling of cool air blasting the heat away from him on those boiling summer days; Though he only remembered the few times he could experience it at least.

He took a look around, the room was about 10 meters in size squared, the walls were covered in shelves as were there standing shelves in the middle of the room making up isles and each and every space on the shelves were littered with one thing-

Scrolls.

'I wasn't expecting so many to just be sitting here like this, it's basically a market of techniques here'

He glanced at the closest few near him, he could tell that while their colours were dull, there were six types that he could distinguish.

Red, Yellow, Gray, Blue, Green, and White.

He quickly worked out what they represented, it would be the five elements and their respective colours; He remembered them clearly due to coming across other disciples who had dyed their core flame with a single element.

For the white, he assumed it just meant that there was no element tied to the technique.

As he looked around he locked eyes with an elder that was standing behind a counter not too far from him, he seemed stone faced and uninterested as he looked Shu He's way clearly waiting for this new disciple to approach him, he reminded Shu He of the Sect Protectors that had attended the examination and watched in the background.

He walked over without much hurry, taking peeks at the scrolls along the way before he arrived in front of the man.

"…" Clearly, he didn't seem to want to initiate the conversation, so Shu He took the lead.

He bowed wit his hands clasped before speaking "Junior greets the Elder, I have come to obtain my first two techniques as a new disciple" he explained.

The stone face elder was silent for a second before his lips finally cracked open "Please present proof that you have reached Meridian Awakening" he spoke with a deep voice that sounded like an echoing chasm.

'Proof?' Shu He paused for a second as he stopped to think 'It could only be that right?'

He held out his hand with his palm facing upwards, he cycled the Qi inside his body and expelled it through his palm, mentally moulding it in the shape of a ball until it did so; The process wasn't strenuous, but it required his attention.

He looked towards the elder after the ball had formed in his palm, the elders eyes were drawn towards it as well; Clearly he could see it.

The Elder nodded as he signalled towards a machine near him, it was a familiar shape with a metal plate on so Shu He was very familiar with what he needed to do at this point.

He reabsorbed the Qi he expelled and then reached in to his robes and pulled out his sect token, tapping it on the metal plate and watching the lines of light flash for a moment before going dark, the Elder stared at a separate metal plate that was facing him as he read the lights that popped up.

He then turned around heading towards the shelf behind him without even a whisper.

'Everything's fine right? Why isn't he talking at all?' Shu He began worrying as he experienced the silent treatment.

When the elder returned he held a white scroll that he placed on the counter, he looked at Shu He and Shu He looked the scroll, then back at him hoping for an explanation.

"…"

'What's with this elder?!'

"This is?" He asked in the end.

"Essentials for a new cultivator" He explained.

Shu He looked at the scroll once more.

'It certainly says 'Essentials' on it, but that doesn't explain anything!'

He looked up nervously and asked "This doesn't cost anything right? It doesn't count as one of my two techniques?" He was scared of getting scammed.

"No" A one word answer, but Shu He was satisfied as he sighed with relief and placed the scroll in his robe, he had acquired another piece of reading material, though he had no idea what this one was about.

He looked around and saw that there was a staircase in the corner of the room.

'So there's more floors…' He turned back to the Elder.

"I can pick my two techniques now right?"

"Yes"

"Are there any restrictions?"

"You may only choose techniques from this floor" The elder finally explained in more than one word.

'Like I thought, this place looked a bit too plain for an area that stored the sect techniques' He stared at the walls and walls of plain coloured scrolls.

"Are these all copies?" Shu He asked out of curiosity.

"…Yes" The elder replied, but it seemed he was a little less happy about answering the question.

'Guess he just wants to do his job' Shu He shook his head internally; he couldn't really blame him honestly.

He turned around and walked to the beginning of the room, he decided he would comb the whole room to make an informed decision.

'Well, I'll take a look at the names at least' He figured he would get a base understanding of what the technique did from the name.

He could tell that the room was divided in to three areas that Na Xue had described to him before, combat techniques, cultivation techniques and extraneous techniques.

He had decided to go with her suggestion to take one combat technique and one cultivation technique, while he was an archer he had been working on his weakness- close combat over the past 3 and a bit years now, so much so that he thinks covering the weakness of his archery might actually be the best way to progress right now.

"Wood, High Heaven; Water, High Earth; Fire, High Earth; Metal, Low Heaven; Earth, Low Heaven".

He whispered the results of his 5 elements examination to himself, ideally he would pick a wood technique since that was his strongest element and thus be easier to learn, but water or fire wouldn't be bad either.

'I was the odd one out in the examination in that I had no low mortal or low earth compatibilities, I think it might have been due to the golden flame so I should play safe and not attempt to learn anything of those two elements.' He thought to himself.

One thing he had learned over the past month, especially from his talk with Na Xue was how elemental Qi worked, you don't need the correct elemental Qi in order to perform a technique, the technique itself can handle the conversion of qi so it's not a problem.

But if you have a specialised core flame, it would be problematic to use a technique of another element since you would have taken extra steps to convert, the efficiency will go down.

'If I had a fire core flame my efficiency for fire techniques would be 150%, whereas using a water technique would make my efficiency 50%, at least to my understanding'.

Unfortunately, he likely wouldn't be able to obtain a core flame conversion technique here; They're usually kept secret by those that make them or obtain them, or so he's told, there definitely weren't any on the first level here at least.

'Not sure I'd use one either way, locking myself to one element without knowing what could come up in the future seems like a mistake to me' He thought as he began picking up scrolls one by one, glancing at them.

The largest number of scrolls seems to be of the Metal element besides element-less scrolls which is a given, considering that this sect is specialised for it; unfortunately for Shu He it wasn't his strength.

'I kind of envy Gang Bo…' He thought of his bald friend that had been whisked away due to his amazing innate talent for the Metal element, he hadn't managed to contact him since, but he had heard rumours about the gruelling training he was being put through by the sect master.

'On second thoughts, I'm fine with taking my own pace' He nodded to himself.

"Thorn Bind" He read out the name on the scroll and opened it slightly, he realised there was a weirdly shaped lock on the scroll that made it so he couldn't open it fully so he could only read a description.

'Channel your Qi into nearby flora, propagating them into thick thorny vines that can bind an enemy, digging into their skin with razor sharp thorns'.

He frowned slightly.

'It seems useful, but the need to have nearby flora seems like it can be restrictive, in a forest It would be great but in a more desolate area it would be next to useless, plus if it was a sealed room there would be no plants' He thought of the situations it could be useful before putting it back, he would keep it in the back of his mind.

He kept searching the Wood section, he found many techniques of a similar nature that were to do with binding or growth, he could see uses for all the techniques, but nothing quite stood out to him.

'Forest's Protection'

'Create a thick wall of wood to protect yourself'.

'Vernal Growth'

'Propagate and shape fauna with your Qi, strengthening its innate qualities'.

"This is a combat technique?" He spoke with confusion.

"You seem lost" A deep voice came from behind him causing him to jump in fright, turning to the source.

It seems the Elder behind the counter had walked up to him without realising, his stone face filled with a questioning stare.

'Why do I keep getting snuck up on?! Do I really need to have my sight active 24/7?' He lamented; sure he had greatly reduced the usage of his Qi from his sight over the years, but he would still get drained by having it run constantly.

Shu He cleared his throat as he looked up at the elder "I'm not too sure which technique to pick, from what I can see these techniques would be useful with lots of plants around but largely limited by location… this one here, I don't see how it's useful in combat" He showed the scroll to the Elder.

"Hmph" A pitiful gaze filled the elder's eyes as he stared as Shu He.

'What? Am I wrong?' Shu He felt confused as the Elder took the scroll out of his hands.

"This technique is incredibly strong in the right hands; you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how cultivators should fight".

"What do you mean?" Shu He asked, doubtfully.

"It's normal to play towards one strengths, but cultivators can do what normal people can't, they can create conditions that give them their advantage" He stated before staring at Shu He, clearly waiting for him to respond.

Shu He felt a slight sense of panic as he began thinking.

'These wood techniques have a prerequisite on needing plants near me, so my advantage would be a place like a forest; So I need to make any area into a forest? No I'm thinking too big…'

He glanced at the elder who was waiting in silence for him to speak.

'Right, the prerequisite is flora specifically, so I just need plants…' He began speaking, slightly uncertain still.

"So, I should carry plants with me all the time?" He asked, slightly uncertain, sure it would work but it would be inconvenient.

The elder let out a 'Cheh' before speaking with slight annoyance "Fool, smaller".

"Smaller?" Shu He looked at him with wide eyes "Wait, that's possible?" He had realised what the Elder meant.

"We're cultivators, we make the impossible possible" The elder said with a firm voice, a hint of power flickering deep in his pupils.

Shu He looked back at the mountain of Wood element scrolls, his views broadened.

He was now looking at a treasure trove of possibilities.

The question was, which one would he choose?