Chapter 14 - Choosing Arts

Many disciples were crowding the courtyard, going in and out from the pavilion. As soon as they saw the trio they respectfully bowed their head to greet Roaring Lion and Gentle Waters. Ranked in the top 100 and direct disciples of a core elder their status was very high. Although their young age, there were many disciples who considered them future stars of the sect and looked up to them.

“This Pavilion is structured in circles. The closer to the innermost ring more the more precious and high level the manuals you can find are” Gentle Waters explained and Roaring Lion chimed in “Make sure to go to the innermost circle, you’ll find the manuals that only core disciples can consult”.

The duo followed Falven who took his time to look at the manuals in the first ring, before going to the second, third and finally the fourth one, the innermost circle.

“Thunderous Slaying Art, what a marvellous and brutal technique!” Roaring Lion exclaimed in high spirits, looking at the manual he desired the most. After having observed the available arts and techniques, Falven was quite disappointed “Is there any other inner circle where the most ancient arts are stored? Can core disciples go in there?”.

Gentle waters readily answered “Yes, there’s the ancient tower, the pillar the pavilion had been built around. Legends say it originates from the era before the Heaven’s Punishment, it’s the place where the ancient arts and manuals are stored. Unfortunately they’re not complete and therefore very hard to grasp. Furthermore none of the elders has successfully cultivated them, thus even the core disciples can’t receive feedbacks from them regarding these arts”. “Very well, it’s just perfect, lead me there please”.

Although their looks were a bit confused the two lead the way for Falven, bringing him inside the ancient tower. The insides here gave a completely different vibe, primordial, solemn, as time had stopped.

Falven started pondering the available arts here, feeling nostalgic. Differently from the more modern arts he had previously analysed, conserved in clean scrolls or in glowing orbs, these ones were carved in ancient stone plates.

One of the oldest stone plates captivated the youth “3 Primordial Steps movement technique” he whispered in admiration, before storing it inside the spatial ring.

“That’s the origin of our movement techniques. There’s a new revised version, easier to understand, but it’s a vary basic movement technique. An ancestor had used it to create a more performing movement technique, the 3 + 1 step, it’s commonly believed to be a better version to practice” Roaring Lions stated, clearly implying it was a mistake to choose this movement technique.

“I thank Roaring Lion martial brother, your advice is appreciated. I have always nurtured a keen interest in the ancient arts of the Devil Slaying Sect, legends say back in the days they elicited admiration from all the seven races, I cannot miss this opportunity”.

After taking his time, Falven firmly took another ancient scroll, whose information were partially erased because of the passing of time “Dao Slaying Manual, the best slaying technique this continent has to offer” he whisepered in awe. The youth rembered the power of this attack technique, a strength capable of slaying the heavens and to frighten the Dao laws. “Let’s go”.

“Senior brother, don’t you want to pick a Core cultivation art to practice in?” Gentle Waters asked. “No need, I already have a suitable core cultivation art, a movement and an offensive one are already enough”.

The group went to the check out, where a protector was in charge of keeping track of all the art manuals. “He’s the new core disciple Fate Destroyer, brought in by elder Devil Destroyer!” Roaring Lion announced introduced him in front of the crowd, implying what status the new disciple had and what he could take from the pavilion.

Falven became all of a sudden the focus of all the attention. From a tagalong of a famous duo, ignored by the crowd, his status had skyrocketed. Among the astonished ones for this sudden revelation and the curious who wanted to know more about him, there were the skeptical and malicious.

Many whispers started spreading about how a so low grade cultivator ended up being a core disciple. He didn’t seem that young, in his 20s, and he was still at the soldier rank. This could only happen with an utterly shit talent, he shouldn’t even have the qualification to enter the sect.

From that moment many whispers and theories started spreading about elder Devil Destroyer being corrupted or forced by external forces. Rumors about her leveraging her position to waste the sect’s resources on her relative kept circulating, increasing the diffamy passing from a person to another. Many even thought the new core disciple had somewhat managed to trick the elder into some kind of dirty business and he was threatening her high reputation.

The competition for resources was extreme, none was willing to see a new guy, with poor talents at that, getting the profits. Decreasing his reputation and the one of elder Devil Destroyer faction would be beneficial to other forces insie the sect and many disciples started planning how to gain benefits from this. Obviously at that moment nobody dared to voice his dissent or skepticism, afraid of offending the impulsive Roaring Lion.

Aware of all the whispering surrounding him, Falven nonchalantly showed the protector the two manuals he picked. “3 Primordial Steps and Dao Slaying Manual, are you sure of your choice? It’s good to choose a basic movement technique and an advanced fighting skill, but these are incomplete manuals, very difficult to study and develop. There are better movement techniques to practice and in the innermost circle there are amazing slaying manuals, may you be interested in checking them?” The protector had a very professional attitude, making sure that every disciple coming to the pavilion would make the right choices.

“Thank you senior for your advice, please don’t mind my choice, I’ve always wanted to study the ancient techniques of the Devil Slaying Sect, this is my dream coming true”. The protector couldn’t help but accept the youth’s choice and sigh, he had seen many young disciples losing time and energies on manuals they couldn’t learn. This could be considered a lesson as well for them, leetting them learn from their mistakes.

“What a fool, here I thought he was some kind of genius to become a core disciple, but he’s just a fool! Choosing an incomplete manual and the most basic of the movement techniques instead of the best manuals of the school, such a waste of resources!” a disciple murmured, in disdain and jealousy, while many others seemed approving his words.

Falven stopped Roaring Lion before he could take action “Don’t mind them, here comes my promise to you: I’ll make sure that elder Devil Destroyer's reputation isn’t damaged. Instead, it will soar with my raise and all the ones who’ve blamed her shall hide their face in shame”.

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Gentle Waters accompanied Falven to his new place while Roaring Lion went to collect his allotted cultivation resources.The girl was very talkative, she merrily described anything they saw during their walk and the inner situation of the sect.

Before Falven’s arrival there were just two core disciple, his coming would stir the waters for sure. One of the two core disciples was a youth who was being groomed to become a future pillar of the sect, while the second one was the Unbroken Princess, groomed to wisely govern the kingdom.

The top 100 ranks were highly coveted, not only for status but for resources as well. A far greater competition concerned the first 10 positions, given the generous treatments these disciples would receive. The first ranked disciple, in particular, was treated as a substitute core disciple. The current one was the direct disciple of elder Thunder Evil, the only elder at the middle commander stage.

The young girl showed her worries “Troubles may come to you. Soaring hill was previously intended for Thunder Evil's direct disciple, Ryuji Sark. I fear he will be disappointed by this sudden change”.