Chapter 21 Foundational Arts

"Haa....huh where am I?" Mo Xiaowen questioned as he woke up. He was surrounded by curtains on all sides, and he was laying in a bed that wasn't his own. 'Ah yes I am in the medical bay.' After thinking about it for a moment he realised where he was.

Getting out of bed, Mo Xiaowen moved aside the curtain to find that he was alone in the room. 'Well I've mostly recovered, the fight wasn't all that serious anyway, I am just a bit sore is all.' With that thought Mo Xiaowen left the medical bay before heading to the registration office.

That fight had taken a lot out of him and he wanted his reward. 'Although its not resource collection day, I have to go there since I've reached the 5th Stage, hopefully they'll hand over the Body Tempering Pill as well.'

Soon after Mo Xiaowen entered the registration office. Along with him there were a few other people who had performed well during yesterdays duels. Upon seeing Mo Xiaowen enter, they all looked towards him.

"Howling Demon, quite the name." Chen Fang snorted but Mo Xiaowen wasn't too concerned, he simply lined up and waited for his turn. One by one, they each received their 10 Body Tempering Pills.

In total about 20 disciples across all 3 batches had qualified for the reward. While Batch 899 had performed quite poorly, some of them had still done relatively well. Batch 897 had the most qualifies, as they had matched quite well against the students. On the other hand Batch 898 only had Mo Xiaowen, which was mostly due to his duel with the Crown Prince.

After that fight no one had the guts to follow up which meant that there only one duel in the entirety of the Batch. Naturally this wasn't much of Mo Xiaowen's concern.

Once it was his turn to receive the pills the registration officer looked at him deeply for a moment before handing him both the pills and a book. "The pills are your reward while this book details all your 5th Stage privileges." The officer explained.

Hearing this Mo Xiaowen could barely contain his excitement. He then left the registration office and deposited the pills at his residence. On his way through the Sect he began reading the new book his was given.

There was a lot of information inside it pertaining to how he'd train going forward, food options, the Martial Hall and even missions. All in all his freedom had skyrocketed, which Mo Xiaowen quite liked. He wasn't exactly bothered before, but the new options that had opened up to him were quite nice.

Thinking about it for some time, Mo Xiaowen decided to head to the Martial Hall first. Without acquiring a martial art his training would slowdown, not to mention martial arts were cool. He had wondered for a while how it'd feel to use actual martial arts.

He had heard that when one reached the Qi Gathering Realm they could even produce fire and water with martial arts, so the idea excited him quite a bit.

Arriving at the Martial Hall, a massive building entered Mo Xiaowen's eyes. It had exactly 3 floors, and on its entrance a sign was hung up with the words "Martial Hall" written on it. It was truly a majestic building.

'The difference between the Martial Hall and the library is like the difference between heaven and earth! Considering how grand this place is, you'd think they'd invest a bit more funds into that dingy library. At least it should look presentable.' Mo Xiaowen sighed before entering the building.

In an instant dozens of shelves entered his eyes, with at least 100s of books lining the shelves. Truly this was a paradise for any cultivator.

"You, I've never seen you before, name and stage." An old man behind a desk demanded. Hearing this Mo Xiaowen nodded before approaching him.

"I am Mo Xiaowen, 5th Stage Body Tempering, I was handed this book since I broke through." The boy replied, showing the old man his book.

Seeing this the old man nodded and let him go read the martial arts books. It was really that easy. The old man was also called the Martial Hall Elder. As his name suggested he was in charge of the Martial Hall, and he could remember all disciples' faces and names. Because of this there was no need to have rigorous check ins to enter the Martial Hall.

Anyone who reaches the 5th Stage is allowed to peruse the books on the 1st floor of the Martial Hall for one month for free after that they'd either have to pay for a membership which was 100 Gold Coins a month or 10 Gold Coins on every entry.

'The prices here are quite steep. Back in Black Feather 1 Gold Coin could last an entire family a month, so I need to use my time wisely.' He thought to himself before heading to a specific section of the hall.

This section was called "Foundational Arts", these were basic martial arts which could be used for training from the 5th Stage and higher. Theoretically one could continue with the weights and running around all the way up until the end of Body Tempering, the problem was finding and storing 5 tonne, to 10 tonne weights.

Because of this Foundational Arts were created which complicated the process slightly but simultaneously made it more convenient while keeping the same rate of progress.

'Lets see, Ant's Godly Body Technique, Elephant's Tyrannical Physique, Lizard's Volcanic Body...what are these names.' Once again Mo Xiaowen was amazed at the books the Sect kept. He was starting to think the person who purchased them had quite the odd taste in literature.

After going through a multitude of books, Mo Xiaowen settles on 3 potential options. He had settled on these 3 as, unlike the other techniques these would be impacted by the amount of effort Mo Xiaowen put into them.

Their names were, Internal Rupture Body Technique, Whale's Barbaric Body, and Panda's Puffy Physique. Each of them had their own issues.

Internal Rupture Body Technique, as the name suggested, was extremely painful but the longer one could endure the better the effects provided.

Similarly Whale's Barbaric Body also produced better effects the more one could endure it, when one used the technique they'd be shrouded in a strong bloodlust but that wasn't the issue, the issue was one had to be in a large body of water to train it which was quite the inconvenience.

Last but not least was Panda's Puffy Physique, this also had an increase of effects the longer one could endure, but as one trained the technique and especially after one completed the technique they'd feel an intense fatigue to the point where doing other actions would be a chore.

After going over the techniques, Mo Xiaowen eliminated Whale's Barbaric Body from his choices. If he was out on a mission and there was no water nearby, was he supposed to not train? That was unacceptable so he didn't consider it further.

Next after a long consideration, he eliminated Panda's Puffy Physique. Firstly the fatigue was too debilitating, the only way he could mitigate it was if he trained the technique at night every single time. But if he did that and decided to push ahead, his sleep schedule would be ruined. Not to mention once again if he was out on a mission he wouldn't have a chance to train only during the evenings. Lastly, Mo Xiaowen didn't want a "Puffy Physique".

'If I wanted to be overweight I'd just gorge myself not train a martial art.' He thought to himself before gazing at the Internal Rupture Body Technique, it seemed as though wherever his cultivation took him pain followed.

'At least it has a cool name.' He consoled himself before thoroughly reading the book, soon regretting his decision.