Tales of the Teal Mountain Sect

Year 663 of the Stable Era,

Thirtieth day of the tenth month

Chao Ren's mind whirled as he read through the pages of the green manual that his Shifu had prepared for him, eyes devouring every word of his mentor's precise handwriting with the hunger of a man that had finally escaped the desert. His Twin Minds technique sprang to the fore of his mind with practiced ease, allowing his mind to keep up with the overambition of its own appetite.

It had been the right decision to stick with the cultivation technique, as it had benefited him quite a bit in the long run.

Five years ago he had struggled to maintain the Twin Minds technique for long periods of time, torn between the choice to stick with his original method of mental cultivation or to adopt the Teal Jade Mind technique proposed by the Teal Mountain Sect. Shifu Yeung Lin had helped teach him a method for reconciling the two techniques, in both his letter and in several subsequent lessons.

After two years he had become able to cultivate the two techniques in harmony. After three he became able to use the technique in motion, and after four and a half years he had finally been able to reach the point of mastery where it no longer took a conscious effort begin using the technique.

He was still a ways from true mastery of the first stage of the Twin Minds Technique, as he could only sustain it for about an hour at a time before his head felt like it was going to physically split in two. But, after a few more years of practice, he should become able to sustain the full state of double focus indefinitely. Then he could move on to the next stage of the Twin Minds Technique.

But that was for the future.

Right now Chao Ren needed to focus on picking his technique. To pick the perfect one, to ensure his smooth progress in his cultivation and to show his Shifu that he was a worthy disciple.

The only problem was that there were so many to choose from. The tables were piled high, and a quick count revealed that there were at least two hundred to choose from.

But for as many options as there were to consider, there were an equal number he could easily ignore.

Fist techniques, for example, were a dead end for him. Chao Ren had learnt long ago at the hands of Shou Chengtai that he would never be a martial arts prodigy. He simply lacked the combat instincts for it. His improvisation was abysmal, and his technique rusted fast even with constant practice.

For those reasons, as well as numerous others, he had made the transition to weapon techniques. He'd quickly learnt that his affinity for the jian rivaled his potential with the fist, matched only by his aptitude for all other forms of sword.

He had also rejected both axes and maces, as they better suited a cultivator with a heavy focus on body cultivation like Bailong Shen or Bao. They took a certain level of might to wield effectively, and at this stage of his cultivation it would be better to strengthen his strengths before shoring up his weaknesses.

He had eventually settled on the staff as his weapon of choice, for both its adaptability and reach. It was effective at a multitude of distances and could be wielded in harmony with a wide assortment of other techniques.

Some might consider it a basic weapon, the tool of a mortal rather than a cultivator, but their gossip was merely air. The staff was the Grandfather of Weapons—the first tool of civilization, and the weapon with the longest history and most myriad arts. And it was incredibly affordable as well, as Chao Ren's had only cost him a single spirit stone.

A staff art could theoretically be the right choice for his first technique.

Shifu Yeung Lin used staff techniques when wielding his formation flag in close quarters, so it would certainly be a sign of respect to learn a technique so close to his mentor's. The abundance of staff techniques on display was certainly an indication that his Shifu had dedicated significant time to practicing the weapon, if his insinuation of having studied all of books he was presenting was true.

There was the Bamboo Barrage technique, which grew one's staff at speeds that put all but the fastest varieties of its namesake to shame.

The Rising Geyser technique, which used bursts of water to propel one forwards at great speed.

The Single Tree, Shadowed Forest Art, which combined speed and illusions to conceal one's true staff amongst dozens of fakes. According to the manual, at higher levels those dozen would eventually grow to become hundreds, the bounds between real and fake only blurring the more the forest expanded.

And so many others, their capabilities ranging from the subtle to the fantastical. Each had their own applications: some purely for violence, others serving as a lens to understand some other aspect of cultivation. So many to choose from, to find the one that would impress Shifu the most.

But…no. That would be the opposite of the lesson's goal, wouldn't it?

Shifu had said to learn a technique that interested him. It would be simple to say that he was interested in pursuing the same path as his mentor, but the most dangerous traps were the easiest to fall into. He knew his Shifu's abhorrence to blind sycophancy well.

'The paths of cultivation are myriad, not singular,' he had said. 'Each cultivator learns different lessons from the same teachings, subtle as they may be. Single steps, different in cadence and stride, subtly diverge from each other as every step in the right direction moves each towards inevitably different truths. Imitation may lead to understanding, but it will be limited if one chooses to shackle themselves by treating such practices as a path rather than a lesson.'

He had said those words when Chao Ren had asked him why they only practiced the Teal Mountain Cultivation Techniques, rather than learning his cultivation method. After all, as direct disciples, surely they should learn such methods from him personally. High-grade techniques to ensure that his students succeeded.

But rather than teach such things, Shifu Yeung Lin had insisted that they only practice the basic cultivation techniques of the sect. To refine a stronger core, apparently in the inevitable service of this very lesson.

And if the point of it all was simply for Chao Ren to pick a technique that he himself already mastered, just to have his disciple show a greater respect towards him…well, that just wasn't something Shifu would do. He simply cared far too little about such things.

No, if Chao Ren wanted to impress him, he would have to consider the lesson that Shifu Yeung Lin was trying to teach with this lesson. To pick a technique, that appealed to him as the first way to truly use his cultivation.

Perhaps what he wanted to know what Chao Ren thought would be the best technique to teach himself, to see what his goal was?

That could be it.

But if that was the purpose of the test, what would his answer to that question actually be?

It couldn't be a martial technique, as both he and Shifu knew that he had little interest in such things. Mental techniques as well were out of the question. Chao Ren's mental cultivation was far from lacking, but he had little interest in expanding the nuances of it anytime soon. Even with the array of them before him, he struggled to find any of them that really interested him.

The Fortress of Thought Technique would allow him to strengthen his mind against the influence of others, but such a technique was reflexive, not proactive. A measure taught to protect himself rather than move his own cultivation forwards. The Shield of Thought and Mountain of Solitude Techniques were more of the same, as apparently his Shifu had spent quite a lot of time researching such techniques.

There was always the Invisible Hand, but he could just as easily learn that from Lee Han any other time, as the tiger guai always seemed more than willing to talk about the technique and his progress with it.

Supposedly, the Profound Jade Imbuement Method would allow him to store his memories into jade. It bragged about being able to let a cultivator produce jade slips at the Mind Refining stage, but the materials to do so were quite costly, and upon reading the manual in full he realized that it entailed an arduous process that would take weeks for even a simple recording, as it substituted time and painstaking detail for the power a stronger cultivator could employ.

But Chao Ren had little interest in becoming an immortal craftsman, even if it promised to be something lucrative after only a century of practice.

No, a cultivator was more than a menial worker. They were beings of great might, immense qi, the strength to change the world as easily as they lifted a chopstick or turned over their hand.

Perhaps his first technique should be something like that. A qi technique that would allow him to do…something. What, he wasn't quite sure. Even narrowed down this far, there were still so many techniques to choose from.

The Pyroclastic Pheonix Arts, which channeled the powers of earth and fire to recreate the might of a volcano. Dangerous with practice, but it would only be able to produce a small coating of lava with its first move.

The Pillars of the Heavens Technique, which could raise the earth around him for protection. A simple technique, which fully lived up to its name.

The Striding Gale Step Technique, a movement technique that would allow him to move with the speed and freedom of its namesake.

The Ringing River Technique, to throw razor-sharp discs of water to cut through metal and bone alike.

The Leaping Deer Technique, which could allow him to clear small buildings in a great stride or two.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The Indomitable Body of Divine Metal Perfection, which would render his skin impervious to mortal weapons. Not the most impressive of feats, but it could also resist attacks from other cultivators as well, with enough practice.

The Crescent of the Moon's Shadow. A strange technique that, after a long and careful rereading that required Chao Ren to put his minds together, seemed to involve conjuring beams of light that strengthened in relation to the state of the night sky.

But that was far from the strangest of the techniques that Shifu Yeung Lin had put on display. There were some truly odd techniques amongst the rest, with grand names to match. From techniques to make stone as soft as pillows to ones for locating the matching cups of tea sets, the variety was truly staggering even at a glance.

It made Chao Ren grateful that his Shifu had taken the time to prepare the manuals cataloguing all of them. It would have been truly hellish to sort through all of these manuals in a library, navigating the stacks of time-worn tomes only to discover that the book he'd been reading didn't match the expectations set by its title.

Like the Blazing Fists of Fury and Destruction technique which, despite its name, was neither a martial technique nor one that produced flames of any sort. It was actually a mental technique for inciting emotions, subtly goading opponents into overextending themselves in fights with physical slaps to one's own face. Its creator certainly had strange taste, as even the manual's cover spoke of grandiose feats, featuring a muscular cultivator striking a fist forwards, surrounded by flames painted in seven shades of red and orange.

He made mental notes of the techniques that appealed to him, but even after his second readthrough of the catalogue he had only managed to narrow the two-hundred odd techniques down to eighteen. The summaries were not enough, and so Chao Ren finally turned to the full texts themselves to weigh their benefits.

And as he did, minds racing as he skimmed through characters both elaborate and crude, he began to notice a pattern. Each text described a technique in full, but each technique was not identical to its fellows. Not just in terms of power or potency, but in terms of the nature of their, well…nature.

Some manuals only described how to perform a single action or move, while others contained multitudes. The Pillars of the Heavens, for example, described only how to raise pillars from the earth around its user, but its pages contained a multitude of different applications and arrangements, as well as ways of precisely manipulating the size and shape of what it produced.

The Pyroclastic Pheonix Arts, on the other hand, contained a multitude of techniques that differed from each other in tremendous ways. They were all related to recreating the natural strength of a volcano with a cultivator's body, but they were so varied that you could almost consider some of its different moves to be entire techniques of their own if one dedicated enough time to refining them.

The move 'Pyroclastic Pheonix Arts: Crack the Egg', for example, would allow a cultivator to convert their qi to molten stone that would burst from their body. On the other hand, 'Pyroclastic Pheonix Arts: Obsidian Edge' allowed a cultivator to form stone blades sharper than any razor's edge. Both were different moves of the same technique, but were so different that they seemed more like individual techniques rather than parts of a whole.

A few other manuals seemed to be even vaguer than that, referencing theories about how to reach outcomes through using the techniques they described despite the connection between the start and end being almost impossible to follow at times.

As Chao Ren considered how lost he truly was, he took a careful peek around, curious to see how far in the rest of his fellow disciples were. If he was the last one still looking through techniques it would mean that he would be responsible for holding them back from the rest of the lesson, and he didn't want his hesitation to end up doing that again.

Fortunately, most of the others were still reading through the texts alongside him. Lee Han and Bailong Shen seemed to be the only two that had finished, as the two were comparing the size of a thick length of carved bone against a set of thin stone slabs, probably engaging in some sort of argument about whose technique was bigger or something to that effect. Min Huan was doing a series of exercises at the end of the field as he glanced at a slender tome, apparently testing it before he decided if it was the one for him.

Only Bao was still at the table. Well, Bao and Li Lee.

The thin cultivator was busy contemplating a bronze disc with thin characters hammered into it, nodding to himself as he gently tapped its edge with the nail of his index finger. Chao Ren still wasn't quite sure how he felt about the newcomer, despite how long they'd been passing acquaintances. They shared few conversations, interacting more in general discussions amongst the disciples than on a personal level.

Chao Ren knew that he had some interest in music (although he couldn't remember if it lay in playing or listening to it), specialized in qi cultivation, and liked taking the last dumplings from plates without asking if anyone else wanted them at group meals. As fellow disciples they had shared more than a few of those, even if their fellowship was as vague a thing as it was.

Bao was intently reading a bamboo scroll, the thin slats gently sliding against each other as he made his way through it. Chao Ren considered asking him what he thought about the different techniques, but decided against it after another moment's contemplation. He seemed to be quite focused on the scroll before him, and the last thing he wanted to do was disturb his friend while he was so focused.

Better to focus on himself for now and inquire about it later.

Perhaps at breakfast.

But that was for later.

Not now.

Now he needed to focus, and to figure out what he wanted from his technique.

After reading through a few more of the techniques he had been considering, Chao Ren eventually realized that one thing about his choice was clear: he wanted a technique that allowed him options. Something flexible. Something that could be used for a multitude of things, rather than something simple like the Pillars of the Heavens.

With that in mind, he went through his list again and realized that he only really had three options. Rubbing his temples to alleviate a bit of the headache he was starting to get from overusing his Twin Minds technique, he released it as he considered his options.

His first was the Pyroclastic Pheonix Arts, which could make good use of fire and earth. The pages of the manual described a series of moves that it could be used for, each channeling a different aspect of those great mountains of molten stone.

He could ooze lava from his skin for protection, as well as expel it as an attack or to heat up objects as delicate as a teapot. The molten stone could also be hardened to take the form of simple constructs and armor, and even sharp blades of black glass with a move that the manual called Obsidian's Edge. It was a strong balance of offense and defense, even if its elemental focus leaned heavily towards only two of the five.

The Ancients' Bones Medium Technique also stuck out to Chao Ren, mostly in terms of how varied it seemed to be.

It made use of a strange material called fossils; the remains of ancient spirit beasts so old that they had turned from bone to stone within the earth. By carving them free of the stone they were trapped in, a cultivator could form pacts with the lingering consciousness still tied to their remains, sharing qi so that they could draw upon the spirit's aid in combat and cultivation.

That was one of the interesting aspects of the technique, as the manual claimed that the technique made no use of ghosts, but rather the echoes of the mind. Ghosts, it asserted, were the remnants of qi and will, held together by the strong emotions held in death. Consciousness, on the other hand, was the crystallization of the mind, and nothing more.

Part of the properties of the transformation from bone to stone caused the memories and cultivation of the mind to take residence in the remains, in a reaction that the writer likened to a string absorbing lantern oil. A sponge might have been a better analogy, but he supposed that the author had written it that way to ensure that the reader wouldn't be impeded by a lack of familiarity with coastal goods.

The book went into great detail describing the different methods for communicating with these creatures of the ancient past, describing methods for quelling their anger and developing relationships.

It read a bit like a manual for forming friendships in some sections, albeit with a lot more focus on acquiescence than such manuals typically included. It made sense, though, considering the cost of failing to form an amicable relationship.

The Ancient's Bones Medium technique was immensely flexible, capable of allowing a cultivator to easily reshape their cultivation by attuning it to that of ancient beasts. It could even allow the wielder to develop new techniques of their own, based on the insights gained from experiencing the memories contained within the fossils, even altering their qi to new aspects and elements.

But only if the consciousness within was willing.

Only the hardest of wills endured to become a fossilized consciousness, and if a bone decided to rebuff a cultivator there was little they could do to force it to change its mind. They would have to find another bone to use or spend decades slowly placating it. And that was a problem for Chao Ren, as the expense of acquiring even a single bone posed quite the problem.

His wallet was quite incredibly light at the moment, and not just because of his breakthrough in body cultivation. Pills and other training resources weren't cheap, and most of the time Chao Ren spent outside of training was occupied with a series of odd jobs and tasks around the sect to balance his expenditures. He had a small stipend from the sect, as well as the occasional allocation from his clan, but if he tried to rely on that alone his cultivation would be far slower than it already was.

The cheapest bone that he could use for the technique would cost at least a thousand spirit stones, and that was assuming that they hadn't gotten more expensive since whenever the manual was written. It would take years for him to save that amount, and only if he forsook all other cultivation aids while he did.

And Chao Ren already had other long-term goals that he was saving towards.

A better staff.

A spatial pouch that could compensate for his current storage ring's miniscule capacity.

A defensive artifact, like Bao's mail shirt, and a nicer set of robes—for ceremonies and other special occasions.

It would be foolish to put all of that aside for a technique that he wasn't even sure he had an affinity for.

He was sure that Shifu Yeung Lin would understand. Financially crippling himself for the sake of a single lesson would only show that he had much to learn.

That just left the last technique that he was considering: The Five Elements Unification Technique.

Unlike the other techniques, it was a bit vaguer with its teachings, focusing more on guidance for how to properly attune one's qi with that of the five elements than any specific moves. Chao Ren had been drawn to the way that it described utilizing one's qi to follow the cycle of the world. Using the technique, he would be able to freely shape the elements to his will, converting them between each other and conjuring each with ease as he improved his cultivation.

It would also serve as a good base technique that could strengthen other elemental techniques, as its broad understanding of the nature of the elements meant that it was incredibly compatible with them.

The Pyroclastic Pheonix Arts would allow him great insights into the nature of stone and fire, but not metal, wood, and water. It would be easy to learn later once he had mastered the Five Elements Unification Technique, but he doubted that he would be able to do the same if he attempted to learn it first. One encompassed the other, while the other was simply encompassed by its competitor.

The Five Elements Unification Technique was also perfectly suited for his Five Elements spirit root. His meridians were already predisposed towards handling all of the five elements and, if his breakthrough to the Qi Refining stage was any indication, he had a natural affinity for cultivating it. It was even contained within a bright red cover, which was surely an auspicious sign. He had often heard senior cultivators mention the karma between them and a technique, so perhaps this was a form of that?

In every way it seemed the perfect technique for him.

But perhaps too perfect.

Was choosing a technique that matched himself so well an innovative enough choice?

A five elements technique with a Five Elements spirit root? It seemed such an easy choice that it was almost laughable that he'd taken so long to consider it. About an hour and a half, all to realize that…what? That the obvious solution was the best?

Was he being too complacent?

Was it right for him to simply choose it, despite how lazy the decision seemed?

As Chao Ren wracked his minds over the decision, Li Lee made his choice, making his way over to the other waiting disciples with the engraved bronze disc. Min Huan also seemed to have made his decision, as he was showing one of the forms of his manual to Bailong Shen, who nodded contemplatively as he watched him strike a pose.

No, this isn't the time to second guess myself, Chao Ren thought, his hands tightening around the red cover of the manual in his hand as he took a step forwards.

The Five Elements Unification Technique was the right technique.

It suited his cultivation well, and it would allow him a wealth of options later on, once he had mastered it. And that was the most important part of a first technique, wasn't it? To serve as the base for the next techniques that he would learn?

It would have to be.