"Greetings senior," Duncan greeted the old man politely.
"Who might you be young man? I have never seen your face before here. I remember each and every one of the faces that walked into this pavilion. I can assure you that I haven't seen you here," the old man said softly, but there was an underlying layer of firm conviction in his speech.
"My name is Duncan, senior. I recently joined the sect. I have been sent here to obtain martial arts techniques to cultivate," Duncan replied.
"There weren't any sect entrance examinations lately. And that is the only time we take in mortals. Moreover, you look too old to participate in it. So, I ask you once again, who are you? Why are you here?" the old man said looking at Duncan suspiciously.
"Like I said senior, my name is Duncan. I was just enrolled in the sect. I am the sixth direct disciple of Master Tianye," Duncan introduced himself with his master's name this time.
"You say you are that brat Tianye's sixth disciple, huh? Give me your identity token, let me confirm it," the old man said looking at Duncan sharply.
Duncan fumbled a bit but eventually handed him the token that he was given when he was registered. The old man took the token in his hands and looked at it hard for a few moments, before nodding his head.
"It seems you are indeed speaking the truth," the old man said looking at Duncan appraisingly. "I wonder what made you special enough for Tianye to take you in as his disciple despite your mortal status."
Duncan didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't want to tell everyone about his circumstances. He believed that the fewer people who knew about it, the better it would be for him.
"Nevermind, it is not my place to ask such questions. Consider it an old man's gaffe born out of his nosiness. You will begin to realize that as you get old very few things interests you. And a mortal becoming a direct disciple is interesting enough to pique my curiosity," the old man said waving off.
"You said you wanted to pick martial arts techniques. Not a cultivation technique?" the old man asked looking at Duncan doubtfully.
"My master has chosen a cultivation technique for myself. He told me that it is the most compatible technique for me to cultivate in," Duncan replied without giving away much.
"Fair enough," the old man nodded. "Anyone below Spirit Sea realm is only allowed to take two techniques from the pavilion. You can choose any two techniques from the shelves on the first floor and bring them to me. But beware to stay on the first floor. If you get too greedy and tried to step into the second floor, you wouldn't even know how you died."
Duncan gulped upon hearing that warning. As much as he was curious about the other floors, he didn't want to die for that curiosity. Duncan nodded in understanding to that warning causing the old man to sigh and wave his hands.
Duncan felt as if the wind brushed past him, but there were no visible changes he could see. He looked around curiously but wasn't able to see what had changed after the old man waved his hands.
"You can enter," the old man said waving Duncan in.
"Senior, do you have any advice on what kind of techniques I should choose?" Duncan asked respectfully.
"Didn't your master advice you on that?" the old man said arching his eyebrows.
Duncan shook his head to indicate his answer to that question.
"Always choose something that you need and have an affinity with. No matter the cultivation technique, what matters the most while choosing martial arts technique is what they could bring to you personally."
"A same martial arts technique can be used by different cultivators for different purposes. So, the most important thing is what you gain from it, not what is suited for your cultivation technique."
The old man replied in a slow tone. Duncan took in his words and nodded gratefully.
"Enter," the old man didn't say much after that.
Duncan watched the old man once more doze off, before entering the pavilion proper. As soon as he stepped foot inside the cordoned-off section, he felt something brush past him. Duncan looked around to see what it was and once more found nothing.
Steeling his heart a bit, Duncan took another step tentatively. He let out a heavy sigh when nothing happened. Once he confirmed that he was safe, Duncan began to stroll amongst the bookshelves aimlessly.
Wherever he turned, there were a bunch of books on one topic or the other. There were cultivation manuals, martial arts techniques, and books on varied topics like plants, wild beasts, weapons, pills, furnaces, and whatnot.
He truly felt lost in there.
For a few moments, Duncan stood there in a daze looking at the myriad books that were surrounding him. Each and every one of these books contained something that he couldn't normally get his hands on. Right now everything that happened to him looked like a dream.
Taking a deep breath, Duncan snapped out of his daze and started browsing the shelves for something he could practice. He already knew what one of his choices was going to be.
He had a thing for swords. It was clear to him by now. He had learned the sword fast. Not that he had experience in handling any other weapon. But, if the only thing he knew was how to fight with a sword, then it only made sense to Duncan to choose a martial art that focused on swords.
So, Duncan searched the shelves trying to find out where sword-based martial arts were located in. During his browsing, Duncan had already figured out that books on the same weapon or subject were grouped together. That meant, there was a section dedicated to martial arts based on swords.
Duncan's search soon found purchase as he located the shelves dedicated to martial arts based on swords. Once he found the shelves, Duncan started pursuing the manuals one by one trying to figure out which one best suited him.
<Mountain Breaking Sword> - ideal for body refiners and cultivators with a powerful physique.
<Cloud Chasing Sword Art> - ideal for cultivators who pursue speed and unpredictability.
<Wave Breaking Sword Technique> - ideal for cultivators who pursue flexibility.
As Duncan began pursuing, he came across a myriad of martial arts focused on swords. They ranged from something that could sunder the mountain into two to something that was quick and flexible like a snake.
Duncan truly felt lost reading all the descriptions. He felt as if all these martial arts had something to offer and had a really hard time trying to decide which one to choose from.
Not only that, he also came across various books detailing the process of forging a sword or what kind of materials a good sword contained. The sheer amount of information present there truly boggled Duncan's mind.
And it was just shelves dedicated to martial arts based on swords.
There were even some truly disturbing sword techniques that made Duncan feel a shiver down his spine. One particular sword technique required the cultivator to impale females in their private parts to nurture the sword.
Duncan almost felt repulsed seeing that technique.
In the end, he decided to set aside sword techniques that he actually had a liking for and decide on one among them later. He didn't know what he should look for in a sword technique, to be honest. He could only choose something that he liked.
Thus Duncan started piling up a few books that liked better than others onto a side. Once done, Duncan didn't immediately choose one amongst them. Rather he decided to choose his second martial arts technique so that he could complement it with his sword technique.
Instead of choosing two techniques with the same attributes, Duncan decided to diversify his techniques to spread out the advantages they offered to him. Duncan didn't know if doing something like that was right or not. But, since no one gave him any advice, he decided to go with what his gut told him to do.
However, it was at this exact moment that Duncan hit a snag.
While he knew that he wanted a sword technique as one of his martial arts techniques, he didn't know what he wanted the other one to be. As he recalled the various techniques he had come across, Duncan realized that he had seen way too many varieties to easily choose from.
There were fist techniques, palm techniques, finger techniques, and even claw techniques. To round up the other end, there were leg techniques, axe techniques, saber techniques, body techniques, agility techniques, and a lot more.
Not to mention the books on alchemy, weapon making, pill making, artificing, formations, talismans, and a whole bunch of other varieties as well.
Duncan felt truly dizzy just thinking about them. He almost gave up on choosing a second category and simply choose two sword techniques and be done with it. However, he knew that doing so would be foolish.
So, reluctantly Duncan tried to come up with a way to choose the second category. Since he had already chosen his weapon of choice, Duncan decided that it didn't make much sense to choose other weapon techniques.
So, he omitted them from consideration first.
That still left him with a lot of choices. So, Duncan once more narrowed down the categories by excluding auxiliary professions like an alchemist, talisman master, weapon forger, and so on.
He figured that if he needed to pick up a profession later, he could choose one among them later. Right now, he needed to concentrate on increasing his power and not being crushed under the boot by someone else like how Little Wan beat up Rattie.
So, he omitted them from consideration as well.
He repeated the process a few more times before settling upon a movement technique for his second martial arts. A movement technique or agility technique helped the cultivator to move faster and in an unpredictable manner during a battle. There were different types among them as well.
The first was what is called a movement technique. It helped a cultivator to travel a longer distance with the assistance of qi in their body. Duncan felt that such a technique would have come in handy when he was escaping from the bandits and running away from the wild beasts.
The second type was called the agility technique. An agility technique helped the cultivator to move in a mysterious pattern while in battle thus avoiding hits and surprising the opponents with a sudden attack from their blind spots. They also helped in evading attacks.
The drawback of this technique was that these could only be used within a limited distance. They could never be used outside of battle for travel or other purposes. This was a huge bummer for Duncan.
Duncan realized that he usually preferred to engage his opponent in a direct manner. Which, in turn, meant that techniques of this variety were next to useless to him.
His style was such that either he fought head-on or he booked it without looking back. So, Duncan felt adding a movement technique to his arsenal was the ideal thing to do now.
He knew that he was not very powerful. That meant, he would most likely be running away from powerful people for the foreseeable future. So, a technique that could aid him to do that would be a great thing to have up his sleeve.
Once he sorted out his priorities, Duncan was able to pick up a movement technique that truly suited his needs just like the old man in the front said. Then, he walked over to the pile he had picked out earlier and tried to select a sword technique that complimented the movement technique he had chosen.
After going back and forth for a few minutes, Duncan finally settled on his sword technique as well. Duncan took the two booklets and put the other away, before making his way to the old man at the front.
The moment Duncan neared him, the old man's eyes opened and he looked down at the books that Duncan presented him.
"<Wind Chasing Steps> and <Absolute Cut Sword Art>, interesting combination. Take note that these are merely the first levels of these martial arts techniques. You can obtain the next levels once your cultivation reaches the next stage," the old man said looking at the books Duncan presented him.
"I have to say that you have truly chosen a unique combination. I have never seen such a combination before. It is clear that you have spent some considerable time choosing these. If you think these fit you well, who am I to gainsay that? However, make sure you are open to switching to other techniques as well if these didn't fit you as well as you have hoped," the old man nodded as he made note of it on the paper in front of him.
"You must return these booklets in fifteen days. Make sure to memorize their contents by then," the old man said dismissing Duncan.
Duncan bowed to the old man and walked out of the scripture pavilion, putting the two booklets into the same bag as the one containing his cultivation technique as well.
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
Make sure to add this book to your collection and vote with your power stones to show your appreciation for this work.
You can also check out my other book [Booking Glory] and see if it is to your liking.
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