Chapter 16: The Tower of All Methods

“Master, I don’t know why either. Perhaps it’s because of the celestial medicinal herbs I took; the residual power in my body allowed me to reach the early stage of Qi Guidance in one go,” Qu Yi said calmly.
Huai Qing blinked, recalling the moment he first met Qu Yi. It indeed seemed just as Qu Yi described. How could a boy from a mountain village possess an innate physique from the start? Only if he had taken some innate medicinal herb could that make sense.
“Oh, then what kind of celestial medicinal herb did you take?” Huai Qing asked with a smile.
Qu Yi thought for a while before answering, “Master, I wonder if you’ve ever seen this kind of innate medicinal herb. It’s a five-colored lotus—its stem is purple, with five lotus leaves in gold, green, blue, red, and yellow. The lotus root bears five seeds, also in those five colors.”
The purple-stemmed five-colored lotus—Qu Yi didn’t want to hide it; there was no need to conceal this secret.
Huai Qing’s eyes lit up as he laughed loudly, “So it’s the purple-stemmed five-colored lotus! Your fortune is truly great—having come across such an innate medicinal herb. No wonder your body has an innate Five Spirit Root constitution. It must be because you consumed those five seeds.”
At this point, Huai Qing was relieved and stopped probing further into Qu Yi’s secrets.
Seeing Huai Qing’s expression soften, Qu Yi knew he wouldn’t ask more questions and relaxed, smiling, “Master, it seems your aura has grown even stronger than three months ago. Have you made progress in cultivation?”
Huai Qing was taken aback. He had indeed improved slightly in his cultivation, but strangely, how could this disciple who had just entered the path of cultivation detect such changes in his own aura at the early Yuan Ying stage?
“Yes, I have made some progress. I’m almost ready to advance to the middle stage of Yuan Ying,” Huai Qing said with joy.
The Xianyun Sect had two cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage—one in the middle stage and one in the early stage. If Huai Qing reached the middle stage, there would be two in that level, strengthening the sect’s power on Cui Mu Star even further.
“Congratulations, Master! It’s an honor to have such a powerful master like you,” Qu Yi said generously, flattering him.
Huai Qing froze for a moment before forming a hand seal. A green fist appeared and struck Qu Yi’s head hard.
“Disciple, don’t speak flattery in front of me. This time it’s just a fist, but next time, I’ll expel you from the sect,” Huai Qing said calmly.

Qu Yi touched his head; it really hurt. His master was ruthless in his training, using real strength. He lamented, “Master, you’ve misunderstood me. I truly hope you grow stronger and stronger.” After saying that, Qu Yi pretended to be in extreme pain again.

Huai Qing glanced at him and smiled. “Enough, stop touching it. Don’t you think I understand your thoughts? You’re only at the early stage of Qi cultivation. The Green Python Sword I gave you last time is sufficient for now. I can’t just give you other treasures casually.”

Qu Yi lowered his head in defeat, but soon straightened it up and said bitterly, “Master is wise. You see through my thoughts completely. I have no secrets from you. Life is really boring.”

Huai Qing pretended to strike him again, but seeing Qu Yi stand so straight, he decided not to proceed. He laughed and said, “Enough, stop being smooth-talking. Let me inform you that once you reach the early stage of Qi cultivation, you’ll have the chance to go to the Misty Demon Mountains for training. Use this time to choose a spell and practice hard, so you won’t embarrass me when you go there.”

Cui Mu Xing had only one continent with four major mountain ranges. The Xian Yun Sect occupied the Zui Wu Mountains in the west. The Misty Demon Mountains were a branch of the Zui Wu Mountains, home to various low-level demon beasts, and had always been a place for the sect’s lower-ranked disciples to gain experience.

To cultivate in the path of cultivation, it wasn’t enough to train only within the sect; real combat experience was necessary to better understand and progress.

Qu Yi had read “Xian Yun Da Lan” and knew about this rule within the sect, so he wasn’t too surprised upon hearing it now.

“Don’t worry, Master. How could I embarrass you? I’ll surely shine during this training and satisfy you,” Qu Yi said, patting his chest with a smile.

Huai Qing nodded, stared thoughtfully for a moment, and said, “In three months, your senior brother Kang Feng will lead the group from Zui Yun Peak. Your safety will be ensured. Go and train without worry.”

Qu Yi was shocked. This senior brother had a great reputation in the Xian Yun Sect and was likely to inherit its leadership in the future. The fact that he was chosen to lead Qu Yi showed how important Huai Qing considered this training.

“Yes, Master,” Qu Yi replied calmly.

…

After leaving Zui Yun Tower, Qu Yi pondered. The only spell he knew was the “Softwood Ten Styles,” but since his cultivation level wasn’t at the Foundation Establishment stage, his Qi energy wasn’t strong enough to maximize its offensive power. It seemed he needed to go to the library and find more spells to practice.

With only true energy and magic power but no accompanying spells, the attack strength is far too weak. Especially since he is about to go out for training, it’s even more necessary to have spells at his disposal. Of course, there are some spells in the “Five Energies and Three Flowers” as well, but Qu Yi doesn’t want to reveal his secrets, so he still needs to learn a few spells from the Immortal Cloud Sect to conceal his strength and secrets. In the library, the Five Cloud Towers—Gold Cloud Tower, Wood Cloud Tower, Water Cloud Tower, Fire Cloud Tower, and Earth Cloud Tower—hide the techniques of the five elements, along with the All Spells Tower, where Fang is located. At this moment, Qu Yi has arrived at the All Spells Tower. The All Spells Tower has nine floors in total, symbolizing the nine heavens. The first floor houses the most basic spells, and disciples at the Qi Guidance stage all come here. As soon as Qu Yi entered the first floor, he immediately caught the attention of hundreds of disciples inside. It was their first time seeing him, but they already knew some of his background information. “This must be Qu Yi, the sect master’s newly recruited direct disciple.” “Is he really Qu Yi? His aura seems quite steady, but why would he dare challenge Senior Liu Qingfeng? Doesn’t he know that Senior Liu Qingfeng is the strongest among the lower-level disciples?” “Qu Yi? Great, I finally get to see him in person. Senior Mu Qiushui said that if I could teach Qu Yi a lesson, I could spend a day with her. I must find an opportunity to teach him a lesson.” … Hundreds of disciples stared at Qu Yi, chatting noisily among themselves. Qu Yi maintained a smiling expression, calmly walking past the stone tables and heading under the bookshelves to choose spells suitable for himself. “Hey, are you Qu Yi? I’m Wang Jian. I heard you want to challenge Senior Liu Qingfeng. You really have guts!” A young man with a long face and a straight nose walked over, arms crossed over his chest, head held high, looking down on Qu Yi with contempt. Qu Yi glanced at him briefly before calmly continuing to browse the spell books on the shelf. No reply! “You… why don’t you answer me? Are you looking down on me?” The man with the long face spread his arms wide and shouted angrily. Qu Yi held a book in his hand, studying it intently, while saying, “You’re not even worthy of being my opponent!” The man’s face turned red with anger, and he quickly took out a long sword from his storage bag, raising it high in the air, ready to strike. Qu Yi still didn’t even glance at him. The man held the sword high for a long time, eyes almost popping out, but he didn’t dare lower it. In a fit of rage, he ran out of the All Spells Tower. The Immortal Cloud Sect has a rule: private fights are strictly prohibited in the library. Those who violate this rule will have their cultivation revoked and be expelled from the sect.

Qu Yi made good use of this rule. As for offending another disciple, he didn’t care about it at all. Since he even challenged Liu Qingfeng, why should he worry about the others?
The other disciples, seeing the awkward situation of the tall man just now, immediately gave up the idea of criticizing Qu Yi. Suppressing their curiosity, they went back to reading.
Unperturbed by what had happened, Qu Yi was now holding a book and reading it with great interest.
*Cloud Sword Eight Styles* was a book on sword techniques, containing eight different styles that could be practiced from the Qi Gathering stage. Mastering the eighth and strongest style, *Eight Clouds Converging into a Dragon*, could even kill those at the early Foundation Building stage.
Qu Yi only had one treasure with him—the Green Python Sword—so naturally, he wanted to practice sword techniques. He definitely had to learn *Cloud Sword Eight Styles*.
After spending some time on it, Qu Yi moved on to other books. On the first shelf, there were fifty magic books. He picked them up one by one, flipping through them quickly before finishing scanning them.
Thanks to the Dimensional Ball, Qu Yi had an almost photographic memory, allowing him to scan any book instantly. As for comprehension, that depended on himself.
The hundred disciples, though also reading, kept an eye on Qu Yi. Seeing his unusual way of reading, they were all puzzled and shocked, finding him even more mysterious.
After finishing all the magic books, Qu Yi smiled at all the disciples before calmly leaving the Tower of All Arts.
“Heh, did you see that? Qu Yi just flipped through the pages; it seemed like he wasn’t really reading.”
“That Qu Yi is really weird. He came to the Tower of All Arts without reading. Is flipping through books just for fun?”
“Could he be a spy from another sect? Unlikely. He was personally taken in by the sect leader, so his background must be clean.”
After Qu Yi left, the hundred disciples started discussing again.
A few disciples at the Qi Gathering stage, seeing Qu Yi leave the Tower of All Arts, quickly left as well and went to Dragon Yao Peak.
Dragon Yao Peak was the cultivation site of Liu Qingfeng’s grandfather, Elder Huaijin.
Obviously, these disciples at the Qi Gathering stage were spies placed by Liu Qingfeng on Cloud Chasing Peak to monitor Qu Yi’s movements and report back to him.
Liu Qingfeng was fully aware of every move Qu Yi made.
Unaware of all this, Qu Yi had already returned to Wind Listening Residence and began communicating with the spirit of his weapon to choose the magic techniques he wanted to practice.