C7 - The Art of Arts

Yin Kai spent the rest of his sentence in the cell as promised. Head Elder Mo took care of things in the interim.

At the end, Elder Mo came to pick him up personally. "Yin Kai! Your time is up. The sect has agreed to reimburse your herbs. The rest of your possessions were untouched."

"In addition, Elder Gu was involved on behalf of his nephew, Gu Ding. As such, we have banished both of them from our sect."

"More importantly, your innate constitution is… problematic to the ways of the sect. We do, however, believe in your capabilities and attitude as a member of the sect. As such, we will simply be removing the right to participate in future sect challenges."

A few more minutes passed as papers were set and Yin Kai was fully released.

Finally, he was out. Picking up his head, he swaggered straight to the library, and absolutely nothing held him up.

He could obtain two technique arts and one Qi Opening art. He poked around the floor, but didn't find much calling his name. He did find a technique, but nothing else that called to him.

The technique was called, "Seven Fists of Fury," and the idea was that, using Qi, you could launch seven full-powered fists that all struck their opponent at the same time.

Within the Martial Fist Temple, the legalities of such a technique made it a great starting option.

He considered obtaining a long-range technique instead for true martial battles, but his Poison Spit technique already did that for him.

He continued wandering around the library. He needed to find something useful.

He considered a movement technique, but they were only useful to those who didn't practice them.

He decided to skip that and moved on the the primary cultivation arts section. It was right next to the Library Pavilion Elder's desk.

The Ancestral Origin Transformation Art was indeed the only primary cultivation art he needed. However, it allowed him a special opportunity.

Most primary cultivation arts did not allow for any other arts to be simulated at the same time, hence the name.

But Yin Kai's Ancestral Origin Transformation Art was non-influential to his cultivation. Thus, he could practice a second primary cultivation art.

This wasn't that useful to him in the long run as, once you practice a primary cultivation art, you become resigned to its lineage.

Unless it was a primary cultivation art that didn't conflict with any other arts, like the one he was currently practicing…

The truth was that once you practice a primary cultivation art, it would begin to subtly influence changes in your spiritual body.

In the Qi Opening stage, this was especially important as the spiritual meridians were yet to be opened.

However, primary cultivation arts could change the quality of your qi- for example, Yin Kai's qi type was currently considered as Ancestral Qi.

As Yin Kai looked through the arts, he found two primary cultivation arts that were compatible, 'Three Shadows Art' and the 'Boundless Method.'

The three shadows art allowed him to push beyond his boundaries by creating 'shadows' at every small stage.

While he was in that small stage, he could then 'use up' a shadow to gain an immediate surge of Qi.

While this was beneficial to most cultivators, it was fairly subpar to him. The return was high, but the use case was low. If he could only use it three times, what was the point?

He might as well find a method that would make his qi more robust, lengthening the use of his stamina in large, drawn out battles.

He was aiming for the martial peak- what use were life-saving treasures beside overwhelming power?

The Boundless Method was one such technique. However, it only gave a small return of an eventual six percent- far below what Yin Kai knew to be possible.

He continued searching the shelf. As he read the introductions, one by one, he found himself nonplussed. None of the cultivation methods were what he was looking for.

He continued his search. He was working through the second to last shelf when a small scroll caught his eye.

"Poison Rebirth Art. Requires a Poison-related body constitution. Once reaching the end of a large realm, the Poison Rebirth Art can allow a cultivator to return to the bottom of their realm."

"Once they cultivate to the top of their realm, they can add an extra small stage before performing the Poison Rebirth again."

"This can be done to a maximum of three times. As a result, the cultivator will reach the 12th small stage before advancing, allowing them a total of 13 stages before advancing to the next realm."

'What the heck is this doing here?' Yin Kai thought. This type of cultivation method belonged far away from the Martial Fist Temple.

Shrugging his shoulders, he added it to the "Seven Fists of Fury" in his arm and walked over to another section he had spotted earlier.

Reaching, he pulled out a book and read the introduction. "Sapping Method. Can be used to safely reduce the realm of a cultivator."

'I might as well start from the beginning.' He thought to himself. 'After all, I can now cultivate much faster than my peers. Foundation is everything.'

Smiling, he carried the three books to the Library Pavilion's Elder.