Techniques of Choice

The return trip back to Purple Plum Mountain took half a day.

During this time, the outer disciples were once again called upon to prepare tea and snacks for the elder.

And unsurprisingly, Zhao Yunxiao took charge this time as well.

The tea of choice was the same. After all, this had been He Luoxuan's favourite for a long while.

But when it came to the snacks, Zhao Yunxiao decided to change it up a little.

The chilled jade peaches might have elicited a great response from He Luoxuan previously, but it could still get boring if the same thing was served twice in a single trip.

Therefore, Zhao Yunxiao opted for a different selection of fruits this time.

Thankfully, the response from He Luoxuan was still rather positive.

But perhaps because it was not as tasty, or perhaps it was that He Luoxuan's expectations had risen, he was no longer as impressed as before.

This also meant that they did not receive a reward for it this time.

The group could not help but feel slightly disappointed, though none of them dared to voice their complaints.

After all, they were in He Luoxuan's heavenly palace right now.

Who knew if He Luoxuan would be able to sense everything that was happening in there?

***

Upon their return to Purple Plum Mountain, He Luoxuan dropped off the disciples at the same open square where he had picked them up days ago.

He did not say much after, promptly stowing away the Crazy Winter Heavenly Palace and leaving by flying into the air in a suave manner.

After the elder left, Hu Nan properly bade his farewell to the outer disciples while Song Xiaoqiao left after a simple nod.

"Thank you once again for the help this time, Junior Martial Brother Zhao," Zheng Biru said.

"That's right, thank you, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!" Yu Hang added.

While there had been some misunderstandings during the trip, it remained a fact that they had not only been bailed out by Zhao Yunxiao's ample preparations, but they had also received a gift from Zhao Yunxiao.

All things considered, they could not help but feel thankful.

"Don't worry about it," Zhao Yunxiao waved them off with a nonchalant smile. "I will see you guys around then."

With that, the trio parted ways.

As fellow outer disciples, they would have plenty of chances to see each other in the future anyway, so there was naturally no need for any emotional farewells.

After parting ways, Zhao Yunxiao did not immediately return to his residence in the Outer Disciples' Quarters.

Instead, his first destination upon returning was the Sect Library.

Zhao Yunxiao had made quite a bit of progress on this trip with regards to deciding on his personal combat style. By now, he already had a good idea of what he wanted.

But in order to effectively execute the plan in his head, there were still certain aspects that he would have to improve on.

To drag out a fight by taking hits better.

To drag out a fight without having to take as many hits, or any at all.

To be able to reliably strike his opponent despite being spent at the end.

These were the possible areas that he decided to work on for now, and Zhao Yunxiao decided that the first step to doing so would be to check if there were any available techniques that could be suitable.

The sect library was enormous and had an almost countless number of different technique manuals, so someone who was unfamiliar with the place might feel a little overwhelmed by the wide selection provided to them.

But as a sect librarian, Zhao Yunxiao understood just how these techniques were sorted and was able to head straight to the right sections.

His first aim was to find a suitable movement technique.

In order to drag out fights, Zhao Yunxiao had to either be able to take hits better or avoid taking as many hits.

When faced with these two options, most people would choose to avoid taking hits altogether, and Zhao Yunxiao was no exception.

But to accomplish such a feat, movement techniques were paramount.

Zhao Yunxiao was already rather accomplished in his mastery of the Xuanwu Movement Art, so his foundational movements were well taken care of.

Now, he wanted to find something to supplement the Xuanwu Movement Art – something that could be used from time to time to hopefully catch others by surprise.

He slowly walked down the aisle between shelves, picking up every manual available and carefully reading their descriptions.

It was a long and tedious process, but a necessary one as well.

One by one, he picked the manuals up.

One by one, he placed them back onto the shelves.

There was a huge selection of techniques, but none really stood out to him as something that would fit into his plan perfectly.

That was, until he finally picked up this one particular manual.

Earth Burrowing Technique – Allows one to traverse the land by moving underground. Could be used to avoid large area attacks or to catch opponents off guard by striking from underground.

The moment Zhao Yunxiao saw the name of this technique, he immediately recalled that back at the Origin Lake, Cha had briefly mentioned that he was affiliated with the earth element.

Zhao Yunxiao did not know how Cha managed to find that out, but after witnessing how every single member of the Origin Lake Sect had been so thankful to receive its advice, he could not help but think that the usually unreliable Cha might have a good eye when it came to assessing others.

If Cha was right about his element affiliation, him being affiliated with the same element as the technique might just make it easier for him to master this Earth Burrowing Technique.

At the same time, the Earth Burrowing Technique ticked most of his boxes when it came to what he needed as well.

This was it!

Zhao Yunxiao decisively kept away the manual, and went to another section of the library.

The Earth Burrowing Technique was good for both avoiding attacks and sneaking up on others. But for the latter to be more effective, he needed a way to distract his opponents.

Otherwise, if his opponents already knew that he was underground and made the necessary preparations, it would still be difficult for him to land a good hit.

This time, Zhao Yunxiao did not have to slowly browse through the available manuals.

Even before arriving at the Sect Library, Zhao Yunxiao had already decided on a technique that he had wanted.

It was a technique that he had seen before in the past during his course of work as a sect librarian – Earthen Clone Technique.

The moment he decided on his new combat style, Zhao Yunxiao had already thought that he would have to add this technique to his arsenal.

But initially, he only wanted to use his clones to test his opponents, analysing their responses to different forms of attacks so as to come up with the ideal way to take them down.

But now that he had decided on going for the Earth Burrowing Technique, he could also use the Earthen Clone Technique to confuse his opponents, hiding into the ground the moment they were distracted.

Both the Earth Burrowing Technique and the Earthen Clone Technique were rather simple techniques, which could be seen by how their creators did not even bother coming up with a cool name for them.

However, that was precisely what Zhao Yunxiao wanted.

Zhao Yunxiao did not want anything too complicated as that would only make it much harder to master and execute.

Rather than that, his mindset on the selection of techniques was still the same as before – the easier the better!

Even if they might not be as flashy and profound as the higher level techniques, Zhao Yunxiao believed that simple techniques could still exhibit great effectiveness if used in the right circumstances!

After packing away the manual for the two techniques, Zhao Yunxiao did not leave the Sect Library.

Instead, he went on to look for something else to accomplish his final goal here.

Both the Earth Burrowing Technique and the Earthen Clone Technique provided him with methods to drag out the fight, but he still lacked a way to reliably strike his opponent.

That was a gap that he had to fix.

It did not take long for him to pick something suitable either.

Unyielding Stone Bind.

This was yet another technique of the earth element – a technique that allowed one to create chains from mere earth and rocks, using them to hold their opponents in place.

Seeing this technique immediately reminded Zhao Yunxiao of how Cha had used mere water and air to encase him completely, preventing him from moving whatsoever.

Having gone through such an experience, Zhao Yunxiao understood just how potent a restraining technique like that could be!

Zhao Yunxiao had a history of borrowing a myriad of different technique manuals for reference, so the sect librarian on duty was not surprised to see him do so again today.

Yet even though Zhao Yunxiao had already borrowed the three manuals, he did not leave immediately and continued browsing through the other manuals on the shelves instead.

After all, it was always better to consider as many options as possible!

Unfortunately, he did not manage to find anything better that could make him change his mind.

The sun was already almost setting by the time he left the Sect Library.

After stopping by the canteen for a quick dinner, Zhao Yunxiao returned to his residence and excitedly opened up his newly obtained technique manuals.

When learning a new technique, the first step was always to understand the underlying concepts.

If one rushed into practising a technique without fully understanding what it entailed, cultivation deviation could easily occur, and that was no laughing matter.

In less serious cases, all the time and effort that had been put into learning the technique would be completely wasted.

In more serious cases, one could end up damaging their spiritual meridians, or even die from the backlash!

Of course, there were also some genius cultivators who could easily infer the right way to execute various techniques just by skimming through the manuals, but Zhao Yunxiao was definitely not one of those people.

He took his time to slowly peruse the manuals, reading and rereading each part multiple times just to make sure that his understanding was accurate.

Time passed quickly as he dived deep into the three technique manuals.

He had planned to spend the entire night figuring out these techniques, but that plan was eventually disrupted.

Knock-! Knock-!

Zhao Yunxiao did not respond to the knocks on his door, but it did not cease just because of his inaction.

Knock-! Knock-!

Knock-! Knock-! Knock-!

Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes in frustration before letting out a helpless sigh.

Knock-! Knock-! Knock-! Knock-! Knock-!

"Coming!" Zhao Yunxiao called out in irritation as he made his way over to the door.

"What took you so long? Are you doing something sleazy again?" Gu Qiansi snapped the moment he opened the door.

"You are so cold, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!" Lu Zhiying chimed in immediately after. "How can you not come look for us after returning to the sect?"

"It's good that you are here. Take this," Zhao Yunxiao conveniently ignored their complaints and flicked his wrist.

With that, two roots of the Blue Jade Lotus appeared in his open palm.

"Wow, how did you do that?" Lu Zhiying widened her eyes in surprise.

"A spatial pouch!" Gu Qiansi was just as surprised even though she understood what happened.

"That's right!" Zhao Yunxiao said proudly. "See? This is what happens when you work hard. You are bound to be rewarded for your efforts!"

"There is no way that you can get a spatial pouch as a reward for a work trip!" Gu Qiansi said in disbelief. "How did you get that? Did you finally decide to spend all your sect points?"

"When there's a will, there's a way," Zhao Yunxiao said with a meaningful smile.

"Tell us all about what happened during the trip!" Lu Zhiying, on the other hand, was less interested in the spatial pouch.

"Sure," Zhao Yunxiao nodded. "But first, take these."

Zhao Yunxiao gave a root to each of them.

"This... is it a root of the Blue Jade Lotus?!" Gu Qiansi exclaimed in surprise after examining the root in her hands. "Is this real?"

"One hundred percent," Zhao Yunxiao nodded.

At the same time, he could not help but feel surprised himself.

Zhao Yunxiao had always known that Gu Qiansi was knowledgeable and skilled when it came to spiritual herbs and plants, but this much was still beyond his expectations.

After all, even He Luoxuan had failed to identify the root, but Gu Qiansi actually managed to figure out what it was with just a few close looks.

It would appear that after spending almost all of her free time either tending to plants or reading about them, Gu Qiansi had now become quite the expert in this field!