Chapter 18: Chapter Eighteen: Choice

"Forget it, just focus on what's right in front of me…"

Mo Hua thought to himself, then quietly flipped through the mid-low grade cultivation techniques.

《Small Five Elements Scripture》: mid-low grade technique, suitable for cultivators with Five Elements spiritual roots, can cultivate seventy Zhou Tian of spiritual power; at least one thousand spirit stones required to reach the peak of Qi Refining stage; requires heavenly treasures: hundred-year soil, etc.

《Spring Revival Scripture》: mid-low grade technique, suitable for Wood-element spiritual roots, can cultivate seventy-five Zhou Tian of spiritual power; at least eleven hundred spirit stones required to reach the peak of Qi Refining stage; requires heavenly treasures: evergreen wood or ten-year-or-older evergreen leaves, etc.

《Hundred Flames Scripture》: mid-low grade technique, suitable for Fire-element spiritual roots, can cultivate sixty Zhou Tian of spiritual power; at least nine hundred spirit stones required to reach the peak of Qi Refining stage; requires heavenly treasures: molten fire stone, etc.

……

Mid-low grade techniques require no small amount of spirit stones, but are still far better than high-grade ones.

But there's a trade-off: mid-low grade techniques consume fewer spirit stones, but also generate less spiritual power.

With a mid-low grade spiritual root, Mo Hua, when cultivating a mid-low grade technique, would produce only slightly more than half the spiritual power of a cultivator with a high-low grade spiritual root at the same realm.

This is only for high-low grade; high-medium and high-grade techniques would naturally generate even denser spiritual power. The greater the cultivation depth, the wider the gap in spiritual power caused by spiritual root differences—like heaven and earth apart.

Moreover, spiritual roots are predetermined at birth and cannot be changed.

"Truly, some people are born blessed by heaven…"

Mo Hua shook his head, but since his spiritual root couldn't be altered, dwelling on it was pointless.

Mo Hua flipped the 《Technique Catalog》 to the last page, saw a line of small text below, and froze completely.

"Technique inheritance fee… what's that?"

Mo Hua saw the footnote below:

The techniques in Tongxian Gate were painstakingly collected, studied, and meticulously refined by generations of sect leaders and elders—they are the accumulated心血 of past masters.

Disciples must pay a certain number of spirit stones to qualify for inheritance.

Below were listed the exact inheritance fees.

For a high-low grade technique, the inheritance fee is eleven hundred spirit stones; since high-grade spiritual roots are rare, the discounted price is nine hundred and ninety-eight spirit stones.

The inheritance fee for mid-grade techniques is slightly lower, and for mid-low grade even lower—but still two hundred spirit stones.

Mo Hua was stunned.

Why is there an inheritance fee?

He'd never heard of this before.

How can the sect charge so recklessly? This is way too exploitative!!

Mo Hua, with only eight spirit stones on him, sighed helplessly.

This cultivation world is too real, too harsh…

"Once you've chosen your technique and paid the inheritance fee, the sect will transmit it to you. Techniques are of great importance—best discuss with your parents or elders before deciding. Don't chase after overly lofty techniques, nor let your narrow vision cause you to miss your future in cultivation."

Instructor Yan finished speaking and left; his expression suggested he wasn't particularly eager to do this task.

After Instructor Yan left, the disciples began chatting in small groups—some excited, others gloomy; the room quickly grew noisy:

"What's this inheritance fee? I never heard of it…"

"Who knows? The sect demands it—we can't refuse."

"《Heaven-Earth-Xuan-Huang Scripture》—just the inheritance fee is over a thousand spirit stones, wow…"

"If you really learn that, you'll probably have to sell yourself to the sect."

"Thanks, my spiritual root isn't worthy."

"My parents both have mid-grade spiritual roots—why do I only have low-grade? There's hardly any technique worth choosing…"

"Go read 《On the Evolution of Cultivator Spiritual Roots》—you'll understand why mid-grade spiritual root parents give birth to a child with low-grade roots…"

"By the way, can we even have high-grade spiritual roots here?"

"There are some—I have a distant cousin with a high-grade spiritual root, but his father gambles, his mother is lazy, their family is destitute, and he only picked a low-mid grade technique, wasting a perfect root—truly tragic…"

"Then even if I had a high-grade root, I couldn't afford to cultivate."

"You could become a son-in-law…"

"No way!"

……

The disciples chattered endlessly; Mo Hua sat with his chin propped on his hand, lost in thought.

This sect inheritance fee exceeded his expectations.

The 《Technique Catalog》 did list techniques Mo Hua could choose, but his parents had just scraped together his tuition; they couldn't possibly gather so many spirit stones so soon. Even if he borrowed from every corner, it would burden his family heavily.

"If so, I'll just delay choosing a technique—for now, stick with 《Breathing Technique〉. Once I've saved enough spirit stones by drawing arrays, I'll pick one from above to cultivate. After all, I've only just reached Qi Refining Third Layer; there's still time before I reach Fourth Layer."

Mo Hua tossed the 《Technique Catalog》 into his storage pouch—he had no intention of showing it to his parents anytime soon. His immediate priority was drawing arrays and earning spirit stones.

Mo Hua's days from then on were just as before: daily cultivation, classes, and drawing arrays in his spare time.

Life at the sect was monotonous, yet still comfortable.

Tongling Peak was picturesque, shaded by green trees, lightly veiled in mist, with birds circling overhead and fragrant flowers everywhere.

After class, outer disciples often wandered the mountains; female disciples, lovely in appearance, strolled together admiring flowers.

Male disciples chased spirit beasts across the hills; young cultivators with budding romance whispered secrets in flower-filled ravines, while others fought over jealous rivalries.

But none of this concerned Mo Hua—he devoted all his focus to arrays. Except for meals and classes, every moment went into studying arrays—even at night, while sleeping, he practiced drawing array inscriptions on the stone tablet.

Among familiar fellow disciples, Brother Da Hu was at Qi Refining Fifth Layer; both Shuang Hu and Xiao Hu had already reached Qi Refining Fourth Layer; all trained on Tongxuan Peak. Though the two peaks were close, they knew Mo Hua was deeply focused on arrays and rarely disturbed him unless necessary.

Mo Hua had a sweet, intelligent face, an innocent appearance, and treated others kindly; his reputation on Tongling Peak was decent, and no one thought of bullying him.

Moreover, Mo Hua excelled in arrays and was highly regarded by Instructor Yan—if anyone dared to bully him and Instructor Yan found out, the consequences would be severe. Instructor Yan despised disciples causing trouble and neglecting cultivation; once caught, punishment was extremely harsh.

Besides, Brother Da Hu and the others always looked out for Mo Hua—they were tall, followed the body cultivation path, and planned to join Great Heishan as demon hunters.

On ordinary days, they'd find ways to spar and fight. If anything happened to Mo Hua, they'd immediately roll up their sleeves and rush over from Tongxuan Peak, panting.

Mo Hua trained with unwavering focus; the only time he had any interaction with other disciples was with Young Master An.

Mo Hua returned the ten spirit stones he had borrowed from An Xiaopang before the new year.

When Mo Hua handed the spirit stones to him, An Xiaopang froze, clearly having forgotten all about it; it took him a long while before he finally remembered.

The An family was a great clan in Tongxian City, so he really did not care much about these ten spirit stones—though it was also possible his memory was simply bad.

An Xiaopang frowned and thought back for a while, then his expression turned somewhat complicated as he said, "In all my years, you're the first person who borrowed spirit stones and still remembered to pay me back."

Mo Hua sighed inwardly. This must be what they call the silly son of a rich landlord.

Some of the spirit stones he lent out, he might have forgotten himself; others might have been deliberately not returned by the borrower. He really did not lack spirit stones, so over time he had simply gotten used to it.

"You're so silly… I mean, kind-hearted—be careful not to get tricked by others."

Mo Hua had only said half the word "silly" before swapping it out on the fly, patting An Xiaopang on the shoulder as he spoke tactfully.

An Xiaopang's expression grew even more complicated, even tinged with a hint of gratitude:

"Little Brother Mo, everyone else calls me stupid—only you know I'm actually good-hearted. Of all the disciples I've met, you're the smartest by far. No wonder your array formations are so good!"

For a moment, Mo Hua did not know what to say.

Over a month passed. The sect had its ten-day rest, granting two days off.

Mo Hua left the sect and headed to Youyuan Studio on North Street, where he handed the finished Bright Fire Array to Steward Wang, then asked:

"Do you have any arrays a bit harder than the Bright Fire Array, ones that pay more spirit stones?"

Steward Wang glanced sidelong at Mo Hua. "Did your brother tell you to ask?"

"Yes!" Mo Hua nodded.

"There are, as it happens," Steward Wang said, ducking down to rummage behind the desk, then pulling out an array diagram covered in several unfamiliar array glyphs.

"The Earth-Solidifying Array can solidify soil and stone. Ordinary cultivators use it when building houses and cave dwellings, or reinforcing doors and windows. The Earth-Solidifying Array is a bit harder than the Bright Fire Array, and the payment for each one is two spirit stones."

Two spirit stones… that was double the Bright Fire Array.

"Could I look at the array diagram and explanation first?"

Steward Wang shot Mo Hua a look. "What's the point of you looking? It needs to be your brother who looks."

Still, even though that was what he said, he handed the diagram and explanation to Mo Hua anyway. These basic array diagrams and explanations were not particularly scarce items to begin with, so letting someone take a look did no harm.

Mo Hua flipped through the diagram and explanation and found that many of the array glyphs were ones he had never seen before, and that the sect's instructors had never taught either.

"I wonder how long it'll take to learn this array…"

The inheritance fee for the sect's cultivation methods was too expensive, and earning spirit stones through the Bright Fire Array meant saving up for quite a while.

Mo Hua wanted to draw a new array, but he hesitated. If he drew it poorly, he might lose spirit stones; if he failed to learn it and did not finish within the deadline, the Array Pavilion would deduct the entire deposit.

"Forget it—nothing ventured, nothing gained!"

Mo Hua made up his mind. Even if he failed to learn it within the deadline and all twenty spirit stones were deducted, he could just go back to drawing Bright Fire Arrays and earn them back.

To become an array master, the arrays he would have to draw in the future would likely be far harder than this. He could not possibly draw just one Bright Fire Array for the rest of his life.