4 Spiritual Arts Selection

After having checked their talent, the twins followed the Sect leader and daoist Li to the Jiandan Hall. The Jiandan Hall of the Heavenly Sword Gate, like the name implies, is where all things related to medicine are located within the entire sect. In charge of the Jiandan Hall is one of the elders who Mo Fan had seen before during the sect meeting.

Arriving at the Jiandan Hall, Daoist Li walked in front followed behind by the Sect leader as they walked towards the very end of the hallway. The Jiandan Hall appeared like any of the other structures within the sect, the only difference was that the entire sign is made out of pure gold.

The inside of the hall is much bigger than how it appeared on the inside. The spaciousness made Mo Fan feel as though he had entered the wrong building. When they stepped foot inside the hall, all of the surrounding disciples turned to greet the Sect Leader and Daoist Li "Greetings Sect leader, Grand elder"

The two old men waved their hands as they walked towards the end of the hall. Mo Fan and Mo Yingyue looked around the Jiandan Hall, on each side were large shelves filled with either scrolls and books on medicine or dried medicine were stored.

As the two looked around, the men in charge smiled at them causing them to be slightly embarrassed. When they finally reached the end of the hallway, the Sect leader spoke "Here's a list of things I need." as he threw a scroll into the hands of one of the clerks.

The clerk read the list and raised an eyebrow as he looked at Mo Fan and nodded before closing the scroll and gathered the required items. After a while, the clerk handed over the items as the four of them left the Jiandan Hall.

As they left the Jiandan Hall, the four of them headed towards a tall tower over five stories high. The black tower seemed small from far but when one was close enough, they would see that it was over twenty meters in diameter.

Walking around the sect by feet, the disciples all greeted the Sect leader and daoist Li as they whispered amongst themselves when the two leaders brush past them. "I heard the Grand dlder brought back two disciples, it must be them.'' One of the disciples muttered with a hand covering half his face.

"They must be something for the Sect leader himself to follow after the Grand elder despite not being his own disciples". Another disciple replied. One of the disciples glared at them to stop their gossip.

Standing in front of the black tower, Mo Fan noticed a small wooden sign on the side that read 'Spiritual Arts Hall'. He thought it was strange considering that they called a tower a hall as daoist Li opened the door and stepped inside.

Inside the Spiritual Arts Hall, a large staircase stood on the side of the tower that went up to the tallest floor. To their left, a desk is filled with scrolls, and books of various Spiritual Arts lied on the desk filling up most of the space. Behind it, an old man with white hair and a long white beard is sound asleep with a bubble seeping out from his nostrils.

The inside of the large tower seemed ordinary with black walls and shelves stacked full of scrolls and books neatly placed together filling them completely. Over the years, the Heavenly Sword Gate brought back many Spiritual Arts from various places and have even had geniuses create their own Spiritual Arts to store inside the tower.

The nearby disciples greeted the Sect leader and daoist Li making the old man's bubble pop as he woke up and greeted them with beads of sweat dripping down the side of his head. "Old Bao, looks like you still haven't fixed your bad habit of lazing around." daoist Li laughed.

Daoist Li then walked towards the staircase bringing the twins to the next floor. As they took more and more steps up the staircase, Mo Fan realized that at a certain point there would be a barrier that prevented those who weren't strong enough to reach the next floor if they haven't got permission.

The Sect leader waved his hand as all of the barriers on the staircase were disabled as they reach the second floor of the Spiritual Arts Hall. Walking up the staircase, daoist Li explained to the twins, "Each floor of the Spiritual Arts Hall requires a certain amount of strength before one is able to move up to the next floor, though as you can tell we can disable it at any time to allow you to go up even without meeting the requirement"

"The first floor contains Spiritual Arts of the Yellow level ranging from Low to Middle with only a few being at the Middle level. The second floor contains Spiritual Arts of the Yellow level starting from the Middle level and having a few at the Peak Yellow level and so on. We the Heavenly Sword Gate have Spiritual Arts up to the Low Royal Level"

"Oh, but you must not know what the levels are. They are starting from the lowest to the highest being, Yellow, Black, Royal, Mystic, Earth, Heaven, and God levels, they are then separated into the lower, middle, and peak levels within each level. On the Tianhai continent, the Earth level is considered to be the peak with only the other realms and the strongest sects on the continent having the Heaven level techniques"

"As for the God level, it is considered to be a myth just like a God level physique". daoist Li explained for the twins to understand. Hearing this, Mo Fan and Mo Yingyue nodded as their knowledge of the cultivation world grew by a bit.

Arriving on the second floor of the Spiritual Arts Hall, daoist Li waved his hands as scrolls flew towards him from every direction. Floating in mid-air, daoist Li sorted the techniques that were for Mo Fan and those that are for Mo Yingyue. He then put the rest back as he opened them all and let the twins pick which Spiritual Art they wanted.

Looking at the scrolls floating above him that his master had picked out for him, Mo Fan carefully read them before making his decision. Inside his mind, a voice spoke to him from within the Beast Monument. "Do you want to pick for yourself, or would you prefer that we recommend the ones you should practice?"

Mo Fan pondered for a few moments before replying "I'll leave it up to you"

"Alright, then I recommend you pick the Animal Mimicry technique as well as the Fleeting Cloud Steps." the voice transmitted to him. Mo Fan nodded as he spoke, "Master, I would like to practice the Animal Mimicry technique as well as the Fleeting Cloud Steps"

"Alright, you made a pretty good choice." Daoist Li laughed as he waved his hand making the remaining scrolls fly back to their original positions. As for the two that Mo Fan had picked, they flew into his hands as he found a seat to begin reading through the scrolls nearby.

Animal Mimicry, practicing this technique that was formed after the careful observation of animals and turned into a Spiritual Art allows one to mimic the movements of wild animals to both attack and defend. The twelve animals being the Bear, the Mantis, the Monkey, The Crane, the Tiger, the Pig, the Rooster, the Mouse, the Snake, the Horse, the Rabbit, and the Ox.

To reach Minor Completion of the Animal Mimicry technique, one would be able to mimic the movements of the Mantis, the Pig, the Snake, and the Horse. Reaching Great Completion, one would be able to mimic the Bear, the Monkey, the Crane, and the Mouse. Upon reaching Perfection, they would be able to mimic all twelve beasts to a perfect degree.

On the Tianhai Continent, Spiritual Arts mastery is sorted in three stages being Minor Completion, Great Completion, and Perfection. Only upon touching the doors of Perfection will one be able to bring out the fullest potential of the Spiritual Arts. Naturally, every step forward is incredibly hard to achieve with each step being many times more difficult to achieve.

Mo Fan read the Animal Mimicry technique with care as if it were a precious jewel. After properly memorizing all the content in the scroll, the closed it before moving on to the Fleeting Cloud Steps. Opening the scroll, he read the information with care. The Fleeting Cloud Steps upon reaching Perfection allows one to move like a fleeting cloud with each step that travels at a distance of over one and a half li.

With each step, one would be like a fleeting cloud and disappear shortly after leaving behind a trail of afterimages. Each step is wild and unpredictable making it perfect for traveling as well as escaping. At Minor Completion, one step will cover a distance of half a Li with Greater Completion covering a distance of one li whilst the Perfection stage covers one and a half li.

Mo Fan's eyes sparkled as he read the scroll. He imagined himself traveling great distances with a single step which was unimaginable before. Though he became interested for a moment, his excitement quickly died down since he himself never had the intention to cultivate and become an immortal in the first place. The only reason he is starting now is to find his village's murderer and get them to pay back in blood.

With his eyes displaying great determination, Mo Fan shouted internally "Once I have become strong enough, I will find the murderer and pay him back a hundredfold!!"

As he closed the scroll of the Fleeting Cloud Steps, Mo Yingyue had finished selecting her Spiritual Arts. Mo Fan heard Daoist Li and the Sect Leader laughing as the scrolls landed in her arms.

Looking at his sister, he realized she had picked four Spiritual Arts at once! Knowing that his sister was talented he didn't say anything at the time as he returned the scrolls back to where they had come from. Daoist Li slightly frowned and asked him "Mo Fan, do the techniques not suit you?"

Mo Fan nodded his head in disagreement "Of course not, I've memorized the content and can begin practicing at any time." he replied. The Sect leader and daoist Li's expressions changed slightly as they began whispering to each other before looking at Mo Fan and said: "It seems you have a good memory after Yingyue reads over the scrolls and brings them back with her, we will bring to you your living quarters." daoist Li said.

Mo Fan nodded as he stood by their side and focused his mind into the Beast Monument where he could project himself into at any time.

As Mo Yingyue briefly read over the scrolls, she nodded her head as she rolled them up and took them with her. The four of them left the second floor and proceeded to leave the Spiritual Arts Hall with the scrolls in hand.

Since it was getting dark, daoist Li brought out his flying sword as he jumped onto it with the twins in front of him. The Sect Leader excused himself as he flew off to his own quarters whilst the three of them headed off to the back mountain where daoist Li lived.