Xiao Fei took a piece of dry ration biscuit from his space, gnawing on it as he walked among the bookshelves.
He had taken a general look at the second floor earlier. The second floor was filled with content on various immortal cultivation arts, such as artifacts, formations, elixirs, and talismans, and even included techniques for raising spirit beasts, cultivating spirit herbs, and culinary arts.
Although this content was very useful to him, he could only suppress his thirst for knowledge for the time being and head to the third floor.
On the third floor of the library, he finally found various cultivation techniques.
The Dan Xin Sect had been established for tens of thousands of years, and its accumulated foundation was not superficial. The sheer variety of cultivation techniques available dazzled Xiao Fei, making it difficult for him to choose.
He found dozens of body-refining techniques suitable for his current cultivation.
However, starting from the second floor, many precious books were under restrictions, allowing only a small portion of their content to be viewed.
To see the complete text, a large number of contribution points had to be paid.
At least half of the dozens of body-refining techniques required over 500 contribution points to exchange.
Some more expensive techniques even required tens of thousands of contribution points, which were currently beyond his reach.
He was a practical person. Since he couldn't earn a large number of contribution points in a short period, he might as well exchange for a decent technique to cultivate first.
When he earned enough contribution points later, he could come back for a better one.
Therefore, after reviewing them, he selected "Duan Ti Jue" (Body Tempering Art), which required 450 contribution points to exchange.
After choosing this body-refining technique, Xiao Fei casually browsed through rows of other cultivation techniques.
The "Qing Mu Chang Sheng Jue" (Green Wood Longevity Art) that Green Bean Eye had given him to cultivate could only be practiced during the Qi Condensation stage, with no follow-up techniques for Foundation Establishment.
Although Foundation Establishment was difficult, he had his space, which should give him a high chance of success. He needed to pay more attention to this matter in advance.
These cultivation techniques also varied in price, with some even being exchangeable without contribution points. He didn't fully understand this.
However, after tens of thousands of years of the sect's existence, the techniques that sold for higher prices were likely to be better.
They must have been recognized by the disciples within the sect, otherwise, they wouldn't sell.
For his main cultivation technique, he intended to get it right the first time and choose a good one to practice.
Therefore, he specifically looked at books with higher prices.
He had already looked through more than thirty cultivation techniques but still couldn't decide which one to choose.
During the Qi Condensation stage, all cultivators were at the starting phase, with little difference in strength. To enhance combat power, they mainly relied on external items.
After cultivators reached Foundation Establishment, their strength was closely related to the cultivation techniques they practiced, and this gap would only widen with time.
Furthermore, cultivation techniques were divided into five attributes: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, as well as the mutated ice, wind, and lightning.
Each attribute had its own characteristics.
Especially the techniques of the five elements, which could restrain each other in combat.
For example, wood restrains earth, fire restrains metal, earth restrains water, metal restrains wood, and water restrains fire.
In combat, if an attribute was restrained, combat power would be greatly reduced, by at least twenty percent, which had a significant impact.
Xiao Fei could cultivate all five attributes, and each was the same, which made it difficult for him to choose.
Just then, he suddenly noticed a book placed at the top of a bookshelf, covered in dust.
Curious, Xiao Fei took the book down.
This book was bound with some kind of leather, giving it an ancient appearance.
The cover was inscribed with the large characters "Hun Yuan Wu Xing Gong" (Primordial Five Elements Art).
After opening the cover and reading the introductory section about the technique, he finally understood why this cultivation technique was left gathering dust here.
This technique had extremely harsh requirements for the cultivator's aptitude, only a peerless prodigy who appeared once in tens of thousands of years could cultivate it.
It was difficult to find such a cultivator in the entire immortal cultivation world.
Coincidentally, Xiao Fei was precisely such a prodigy who appeared once in tens of thousands of years.
This "Hun Yuan Wu Xing Gong" required the cultivator to possess all five elemental spiritual roots simultaneously to practice.
A cultivator's total spiritual root aptitude points could not exceed 100. The threshold for cultivating each spiritual root was at least 20 points.
This required the cultivator's total aptitude points to reach the maximum, and they must be evenly distributed among the five spiritual roots.
An aptitude of 20 was considered a waste in the immortal cultivation world. If not for his fortuitous encounters and the assistance of his space, Xiao Fei wouldn't even have the qualification to enter the immortal cultivation world.
Xiao Fei happily held the cultivation technique and flipped through it repeatedly. Unfortunately, the later content was restricted and could not be viewed.
A line of text floated above the restriction: "Exchange for 100,000 contribution points."
Xiao Fei almost threw the book to the ground. A cultivation technique that couldn't be sold for tens of thousands of years dared to ask for 100,000 contribution points.
There were techniques in the library that sold for over 100,000 contribution points, but those were top-tier techniques that could actually be sold.
Who else would buy this "Hun Yuan Wu Xing Gong" besides himself? It was priced so high, they should offer a discount.
It was truly a case of "no business for thirty thousand years, but when it comes, it lasts for thirty thousand years."
In reality, the main reason was his lack of funds; he couldn't afford so many contribution points.
Xiao Fei looked at "Hun Yuan Wu Xing Gong" again and again, and could only temporarily put it down.
By then, he had lost the mood to continue browsing. He took "Duan Ti Jue" and went downstairs towards the entrance.
"'Duan Ti Jue' is 450 contribution points. Plus, you exceeded the time limit by two days in the library, so you need to pay an additional 20 contribution points. A total of 470 contribution points."
Xiao Fei handed over his identity token. The Foundation Establishment cultivator stationed there unsealed the restriction on the book and copied it onto a jade slip for him.
After walking out of the library and passing by the five stone tablets in the center of the plaza again, Xiao Fei looked at the numbers behind the names on the stone tablets with a burning gaze.
Even the disciples ranked at the bottom of the five major rankings, from 91st to 100th place, received an additional reward of 100 contribution points each month.
Over a year, that amounted to over 1,000 contribution points.
He had only accumulated 500 contribution points in over a year since joining the sect, including his recent desperate efforts in alchemy within his space.
As for the first position on the rankings, the reward was 1,000 contribution points per month, which meant over 10,000 a year.
Coupled with his regular earnings, he could earn 100,000 contribution points in a few years.
Xiao Fei stood with his hands behind his back, gazing up at the first position on the Alchemy Ranking, murmuring to himself:
"I shall take his place!"
At this moment, his heart was filled with fighting spirit and confidence.
From that day on, Xiao Fei became even busier after returning to his small courtyard.
Every morning, he still attended classes at the Dao Transmission Academy, then immediately returned to his small courtyard to cultivate, primarily practicing the newly acquired "Duan Ti Jue."
In the evenings, he would dedicate two hours to enter his space and study alchemy.
Two hours in his space equated to 26 hours, which was more than two days.
Each time he emerged from his space, he was as exhausted as a dead dog, too tired to move once he lay on his bed.
He also used contribution points to exchange for several books related to alchemy from the library to study and research.
While putting in hard work, his gains were also substantial.
His spiritual sense, while refining elixirs in his space, saw its success rate gradually increase from the initial two percent to four percent.
Furthermore, his spiritual sense became stronger and more resilient through constant tempering.