Chief Ash held back from revealing anything valuable even after realizing that Noah was above average newly ascended cultivators in terms of talent.
Of course, Noah didn't reveal the truth about his growth speed either. Her reactions had told him that his talent was a currency he could use once he found a suitable environment. Yet, her lack of cooperation had eventually forced him to leave the library.
Noah didn't want to remain entangled in organizations. He would consider them only after learning more about the environment of the Immortal Lands, but he would rather avoid them all if he had the chance.
Still, it became clear that he needed money to obtain the information he needed to decide how to behave in the higher plane. Earning Soul Stones seemed hard for cultivators that didn't belong to organizations, but he had a few ideas on how to solve that issue already.