Bi Tong stepped inside Luo Manor’s study. Her gaze was straight and though her lips arced slightly, her eyes remained sharp.

Sun Ming and Guo Yi stood behind the sitting Luo Yizuan while Lo Fuzhe watched uneasily from the side. They were all strangely silent, waiting for her to speak the entire time.

Luo Yizuan watched the young woman walk across the study and glanced towards his other student who stood too close to him. "Sun Ming, let me go. I have somewhere to visit," he said tonelessly.

Bi Tong huffed. "That’s impossible. Everyone in this room knows that you don’t go anywhere besides this manor and the Outer Palace."

Sun Ming loosened his stoic persona. "I apologize Teacher, but you know how Bi Tong is when she’s angry."

Bi Tong finally arrived before the desk. "Yes, she is officially a student of Thousand Thought now. Her surname is already out there, so there’s no contradiction between you two now. You need to fix this."

"Then, we can speak when she returns to the manor," Luo Yizuan answered.

Sun Ming sighed. The girl completely blindsided him. Causing trouble was the first she did, yet- "Teacher, I believe you were in the wrong. Although my cultivation is low, I still understand one’s name is important to their heart. Even before she passed the exam, she was already expected to begin cultivating in Four Gates."

Bi Tong clenched her teeth. "The difference between you two is that you're an adult and she’s a child. You don’t get to act stubborn. If you don’t meet her, she will stay at Thousand Thought for the next six years."

"Since she has joined an Institute, she has officially left the secular world. She can take care of herself," Luo Yizuan said.

Bi Tong smiled and her eyes formed crescents. "Repeat. That. Again. Please. Teacher."

Sun Ming and Guo Yi both shivered.

A silence began as she waited for an answer. For a long while, the sitting man gazed on his desk.

On his expressionless face, his neutral lips thinned and his detached brows creased. Luo Yizuan let out a breath. "I can’t be a father," he whispered.

She curled her hands into fists. "You are one!"

Sun Ming immediately stepped forward in the direction of Bi Tong. He recognized those dangerous eyes.

She simply pointed a finger down. "Failure!"

Both Guo Yi and Lo Fuzhe hand’s rose, but they didn’t know how to react.

"Failure!" Bi Tong repeated. "With Guo Yi and Sun Ming both away for longer than a month, I finally understand how hard Guo Yi and Lo Fuzhe have had it. You refuse to get more servants but you can’t do anything. You literally can’t do anything! You can’t cook. You can’t start a fire. You can’t maintain the lighting. You can’t draw water. You can’t boil water. You can’t make tea. You can’t clean. You can’t organize the study. You can’t organize your room. You can’t answer the grocers. Do you even understand time? You can’t wash on a routine. You can’t sleep on a routine. You treat the study as a bedroom. How many times did I have to remind you to leave for work? You can’t even return from work at the right time. I can walk around the Outer Palace to find you, but Lo Fuzhe can’t. You are a failure as a person! You can’t even take care of yourself. How could I have ever thought that you could take care of a child? Of course, you would be a failure as a father!"

No one in the room could even blink.

Bi Tong smacked down onto the table with both palms. "But I don’t care! Repair- no, not repair. Form a relationship!"

The man’s straight posture slouched. Luo Yizuan closed his eyes. "Tomorrow, I will meet my daughter in the morning."

Bi Tong stood back up. She left the study as she came.

Everyone let out a breath.

The man stood up next. "I am stepping out for air."

The two servants and the student all exchanged glances. As far as what they expected, things had gone well.

Luo Yizuan exited the room and circled around the building to the other side and stood outside a certain room in the west hall. "Jingyue," he muttered.

The room was empty and the door had not completely slid closed. He opened the door completely to a view of the garden. No one bothered to tend to it, so the greenery couldn’t be called a garden, however, the koi ponds were taken care of.

A cry broke his thoughts. He spun his head and saw a hawk perched on top of a tree branch. The brown and white feathered hawk grabbed the end of a cloth bag in one of its talons.

Luo Yizuan felt that the hawk was extremely familiar, but he could not remember why.

The hawk looked at him right in the eyes. It arrogantly turned its head to the side and upwards to open its great wings.

The hawk flew.

...

In front of Ruidie, Kui swerved down and landed on the balcony railing.

Although everyone had planned to visit the library yesterday, their visit to the administrative building took the entire morning. Afterward, the Ashina siblings needed to retrieve their belongings from the property that their clan owned in the city, not returning until this morning.

Ruidie encountered a similar issue. She also needed her belongings, but, at this point, she wasn’t going to take one step in Luo Manor. To her, her father could speak with her when he leaves the manor.

The plan was simple enough to concoct. Shibara’s hawk, Isitin, was able to find her Kui as he was leaving the manor to hunt for prey outside the city.

After buying meat in the city, she spent the rest of the afternoon training the hawk to open the sliding door of her balcony and grab a cloth bundle from inside her dorm room.

Eventually, the hawk got an idea of what she wanted.

At such a scene, she could only grin. The girl took the travel bag and fed the hawk a strip of meat. "Good Kui."

...

Ruidie, Shibara, and Israk all stood outside the five-story stone building decorated by chiseled arches. From the west entrance, the building was sufficiently large and had two large wings, north and south, attached to it.

"Finally," Ruidie said.

"At least we’re here now," Shibara said.

Israk shook his head.

They entered the library. Shelves of books surrounded a center of tables. Above, a balcony well extended upwards to the fifth floor. In the middle of their path was a reception desk manned by a Thousand Thought student.

"New students? I can tell. Just let me know what texts and I’ll write for you where they are," he said.

They each handed over a scroll with everything they needed, something Shibara recommended to prepare.

The student raised his brows. "I’m impressed." He took up a nearby brush. "I’ll write the section and shelf number on your scrolls. Miss Ran will just tear at me for wasting paper."

"Ran Qiang?" Ruidie said.

"Oh, of course even the new students know her," he whispered. "She convinced all nine schools to have their writing materials be supplied by the Ran Family. I don’t understand how this happened either, or why she complains when using more materials means buying more from her family." He finished and returned the scrolls. "The cultivation methods are all kept on the fourth floor. You’ll make a better impression if you can enter cultivation before classes start."

"How long does it take?"

"Most students take a week to enter by studying a suitable method. If you're somewhat talented, it might just take several days."

"Thank you. Senior is truly knowledgeable," Ruidie replied before walking further into the library.

The student touched his chin. Was it just him or has his ego been on the rise ever since he switched to the receptionist position?

Shibara opened her scroll. "Second Floor. Section Shou. Shelf Fourteen." She looked at the nearby shelf labels and turned to Israk with a smile. "Let's get everything and meet again on the fourth floor. Brother, you should be able to find everything on your own. The shelves are all ordered based on the Thousand Character Classic. We can tell you’re an expert on the subject."

Israk thinned his lips. "Just laugh it all up. I’ll get what I need." He opened his scroll. "Third Floor. Section Xuan. Easy enough." He began walking but was stopped.

Israk turned and found the shorter Ruidie pulling on the backcloth of his pale green uniform.

"What are you doing?'' he asked.

"You're doing it wrong."

"I never do things wrong."

"What’s wrong is wrong. Saying you're not wrong doesn't make you right."

"What are you talking about?"

Ruidie tilted her head. "Unless all your books are stored on the third floor and above, it’ll be quicker if you go in order starting with books on the first floor and the beginning sections. We’ll all finish around the same time as well."

Israk closed his mouth. "I know what I’m doing." He proceeded in the direction of the stairwell.

"So, what is he doing?" Ruidie asked Shibara.

The other girl was grinning the entire time. "Obviously he's wrong, but that just means he’ll continue to prove himself right.”

It made no sense, but Ruidie took her word.

…

Ruidie found the books she needed for her classes and tied them all together with string to carry as a stack. When she reached the middle balcony area of the fourth floor, Shibara appeared from the other side, finished herself.

Israk sat at one of the tables with his stack already gathered. "It seems like I got everything first."

There was only one way he could have gotten everything first. Ruidie leaned closer. "Were you sweating?"

Israk smirked. "Perhaps you would, but I didn’t. Do you admit that I’m right?"

"Why would I do that? Just because you proved that you're fast enough?"

"Of course. I fulfilled the condition, therefore I’m not wrong. If I’m not wrong, am I not right? Forget tricks, I have the ability and the result."

Shibara arrived. "Isn’t this argument too petty to take seriously?" She placed down her stack on the table. "Watch our books, Brother."

Israk hummed and slouched further on his chair.

"Don’t you need a cultivation method?" Ruidie said.

"I’m already practicing martial arts, but I guess I’ll also start cultivating a method. I’ll cultivate whatever my sister finds for me."

Ruidie turned towards Shibara who began walking towards the shelves. "Is he also going to cultivate two Paths then?"

Shibara nodded. "I have been told that the Martial Path can complement other Paths so it's not difficult to integrate them. The hunters at home once offered to teach me some martial arts as well but I decided to focus on the Ashina legacy. I don’t think I’ll choose the Martial Path now either."

"Which means it is normally difficult to integrate two Paths, and you already decided to focus on your Primal Path as well, so then why do you need to cultivate another Path?"

Shibara turned to face Ruidie. Her smile was a bit weary. "The Ashina legacy has already been cut. What people in Zhao know as the North’s Grandshaman died during the Grasslands’ wars with Taizong. This was long before my birth, so although the Grandshaman was declared my teacher posthumously, I was instead taught orally by his students, the Old Qams of the Crescent Valley. Can you see the problem here?"

"They all died."

Shibara nodded and glanced at the nearby book filled shelf. "They all died, so how can I continue to learn? So practically, I won’t be cultivating two Paths, I’ll be focusing all my effort on a new one that is compatible with my old one. If I don’t, based on what I was already taught and the embroidered concepts they left behind, perhaps I could achieve the second or third realm. But there’s no point if I can’t reach the peak.”

Ruidie thought she noticed her voice grow heavier.

Shibara continued. “For the great masters, let alone a Path, even a new cultivation method is near impossible to create. No matter how talented I am, I won’t be able to recreate the Ashina’s Path. There’s no point either. Like Senior Ran said, Primal Paths rely too heavily on bloodline and will eventually perish. I am the only Ashina Clan member in the last two generations to even have the potential to cultivate our legacy, so I’m probably the last as well."

Ruidie no longer moved when she felt that it appropriate to shift the topic. "I think that when Ran Qiang spoke about cultivation, she was specifically focusing on The Way and how it developed. Since people practice martial arts in the Grasslands, there must be other types of cultivation you could have chosen there."

Shibara let out a small laugh. "When the surrounding tribes visit, they always want to prop up their shamans, but my teachers wouldn’t even let them inside. I usually had to be the one to shoo them away and what they displayed wasn’t impressive. Since I’m now enrolled in a school, obviously I chose to come to Zhao to learn from the ones who won." She randomly took a nearby book and flipped it open. After a quick glance at the summary and the next few pages, she passed it over to Ruidie. "These cultivation methods don’t tell a lot, do they? I am a picky person and I believe you are as well. This might take too long in this case."

Ruidie took a view of the surrounding shelves. "I have an idea."

She began pacing and Shibara followed along without doubts. After a circle around the fourth floor, they reach a section that contains shelves filled with many copies of the same books.

"Let’s see what’s so popular that they need to print so many," Ruidie said as she took a single book from each shelf and handed them over to Shibara.

Shibara read the titles. Fundamental Orthodox Study. Fundamental Dao Heart. Fundamental Worldly Energy. Fundamental Object Union. "Going by the names, they’re each one of The Way’s four Paths. So I’m guessing these cultivation methods are Thousand Thought’s most basic interpretation of how The Way can be cultivated."

"We aren't choosing these, but by using these to choose a Path, we can narrow down the possibilities to a quarter."

Shibara touched her chin. "Actually, it doesn't matter for now. We are only trying to enter cultivation, so these work well. After we comprehend one of these cultivation methods to open the door, we can look through the library again, hopefully with a better idea of what is suitable." She read the summary and flipped the pages. "These are only for entering and cultivating the first realm, but they do explain expectations for the second and third realms. Their pure nature might be positive if you did want to use them to cultivate the entire first realm. They will likely integrate with any second realm cultivate method you pick."

"Then?"

"I’ll just look at these today, and see the differences."

Ruidie stared at the four texts and then at the shelves of the other books. I know too little. Not enough to choose the correct choices or optimize my actions. After sighing, she decided that Shibara had the right approach and took another two copies of each text without looking back.

The two returned to the table.

"Are we done?" Israk said.

Shibara placed two of the texts in front of him. Fundamental Worldly Energy and Fundamental Object Union. "You do remember the teachers talking about how cultivators fight right? It is the southerners who are more offensively focused, so you’ll probably want to choose between the Worldly Path and the Union Path."

The corners or Israk’s lips stretched back as he reluctantly opened the first book.

Ruidie skimmed her own copy while wondering how well he would do in Grand Heart with such aversion to studying.

She read over the short summary and expectations.

After entering the Worldly Path, an individual should gain new senses of the inside of their bodies. When the individual breathed or ate, they should be able to feel the moment that the air or food changed from belonging to the world to belonging to the individual. The practice of the Condensation realm used your new senses to gain greater control of how your body used these energies. Instead of consuming all the energy, the body should naturally leave a sliver behind to saturate the body. Energy naturally gathered somewhere called the elixir fields.

For the next two realms, there was little information. Foundation Establishment was supposedly achieved by safety circulating energy through folds in the body called meridians. Core Formation was supposedly achieved by rotating energy at a single point called a golden core.

The beginning classes the book recommended were Internal Alchemy, Natural Sciences, Anatomy, and The Way.

Israk tossed Fundamental Worldly Energy aside. "I don't think this will work."

"Well, the description does make it sound- what's the phrase? -extremely dangerous to cultivate." Shibara, who was already reading Fundamental Object Union, pushed that forward. "Then how about the Union Path? Many accomplished swordsmen cultivate this one."

"If I’m not using my bow, I’m using a saber. I would even prefer a spear over a sword for its use on horseback."

"No one says you have to use a sword. The Union Path’s first realm is Spirituality, the end result of which is building a connection with a personal object so that it's perceived as an extension of your body. You can just constantly think about the object's qualities, think about the object's relation to you, and hold onto it every day to naturally integrate the natural flow of energy in your body to match your item. In the Object Will realm, as an innate control method, you will be able to naturally levitate the object from a distance using your intent. People prefer flying swords to fight because they’re straight, but the object can be anything."

"Flying swords?" Ruidie whispered.

Israk leaned forward. "The object can be anything?" He pointed at the back of his pale-green uniform. "What about my bow and arrows?"

Shibara grinned. "Since it’s unlikely that you could ever come up with an original idea, I’m sure such a control method already exists."

Israk didn’t take offense but stood up instead. "Amazing!"

The exclamation echoed throughout the five floors of the library. Many studying students turned their heads towards the fourth-floor balcony.

Both Ruidie and Shibara immediately climbed forward over the table and shot out their hands. They each grasped Israk’s uniform with one hand and pulled him back into his seat.

"Bad!" Shibara just said.

Ruidie nodded in rapid succession. "You’re already lucky the staff didn’t catch you running past the shelves like a madman."

Israk snorted. "Who cares what these people think. I’ll be able to shoot the moon and back."

Shibara sighed.