Thank Lou Yi for sharing her "notes" I accompanied her until the end of her training. The courtyard is divided into small training grounds the size of a basketball court. Invisible shields are erected to make sure no one will be hit by random attacks.

Lou Yi is training with her "ninja weapon," so I needed to observe from afar. Her weapon can be used for short or long-range assault. It's very versatile for any attacking techniques.

I watched as Lou Yi practice her weapon. It's only been two weeks since she started practicing with her martial tool, yet she wields it like a master. I don't know what technique Lou Yi is practicing, but I find it very fascinating. She whirls the chains all around with her with astonishing speed. She does it with ease that she makes it seems so easy.

Of course, it's not as simple as that. Lou Yi doesn't simply twirl it around randomly. The technique started slowly at the beginning; that's why I observed Lou Yi's movements. I'll try describing it the best I can.

She grasped the knife in her right hand while her left hand outstretched at her side. Holding on the chain and the ball bearing dangling on the air. It's fascinating that the chain's length twice Lou Yi's height, yet the ball doesn't touch the ground.

She twirls the chain on her right side, then suddenly it shifted to the left. I think she used her right arm to change the rotation of the chains. She steered the direction of the chain with great precision using different parts of her body. Sometimes I can see it wrap around her neck and un-wrap again, gaining speed and momentum as it spins. To alter the spin's direction, she uses her elbow, and to launch the ball forward, she uses her feet.

It was like I'm watching Raizo (from Ninja Assasin) in action, but faster and more relaxed. The weapon swivels in all directions forming a perfect 5-meter circle around her and an all-around attack. Her weapon spins deadly in the air, producing a whooshing sound like a whip.

It's exciting to watch her practice such a fantastic weapon. It's also amusing that such a cute girl is wielding such a deadly weapon. Her harmless appearance is a considerable contrast to her sharp and severe expression. It's okay; she is not my enemy.

After a few more tries and Lou Yi collapsed from exhaustion. That's my cue that it's safe to get near.

"You're amazing! You only trained for a few weeks, and you're already this good."

"What are you talking about? I can't even do it properly." She said with frustration. Her expression shows how serious she is in her training. I kept quiet; it's funny that I'm scared of such a little girl.

She noticed that I'm not saying anything, so she looks up. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude; I'm just frustrated." Her scary face was finally gone.

"It's okay. Don't worry too much; you'll get better in no time. I'll bet you will master it before I can even reach your level right now. I'm a little curious though, what do you call that training technique?" I asked to change the topic.

"It is called the Nine Section Whip Technique; it's a defensive technique." She responded.

"What a long name...Wait! Did you say it's a defensive technique? Isn't your martial tool an offensive type?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes, it is, and almost all the techniques created for such a weapon are for offense. I wanted to use my martial tool to protect; that's why I choose this technique."

I didn't know she had a profound reason for choosing such a technique. It seems like she knows I'm curious about her technique, so she explained it without me asking.

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"The Nine Section Whip Technique is a defensive combat style. The technique takes advantage of the long reach of the chains. The technique's basic idea is to swing the ball bearing at the end of the chain in nine directions with extreme speed. The rapid spinning somehow forms a circle around me. Which will act as a shield; therefore, it's called a defensive combat style. At the moment, I'm trying to achieve the minimum speed to produce a Qi shield. A shield made of Qi consumes a large amount of Qi as I try to get the rotation faster that's why it's so hard."

So that's why she is frustrated. The technique sounds very hard to master.

"When I was watching you, a circle form all around you. Does it mean the Qi Shield forms a five-meter radius of all-around defense? Don't you think such a technique is overpowered?" I said in excitement.

"That's the intention of the one who created the technique. He intended to have an indestructible defense. However, even he was unable to achieve such mastery of his technique. I think this technique is flawed. That's why it was graded as red technique even though it sounds potent."

"It's flawed? Then why---" Oh, right, she already answered that.

She had meditated to recover some of her Qi before we went to the Gold Pavilion. We have 30 minutes to spare before lunch. The golden pavilion is found in the central courtyard, and it's the highest building of all Gold Peak.

The pavilion is decorated with gold, golden painted columns, golden statues, and many more. Hence the "golden pavilion." It has eight columns making it an octagonal shape if seen from above. The tiled roofs are colored dark red and decorated with bright red paper lanterns at each corner. Near the entrance is a small pavilion (the gazebo type) where the caretaker is housed.

We entered and saw the old caretaker reading a scroll on his desk. Many ancient-looking bamboo scrolls are scattered and piled on his desk. He is too busy reading to notice us.

Elder Song is the caretaker of the Golden Pavilion. As far as I know, he is the most senior elder of all of Gold Peak. Unlike his colleagues, elder Song already has white hair and leathery skin. He is also quite eccentric. He seems to stay in the Golden Pavilion most of the time. I never saw him interacting with the other elders of the sect.

"Hello. Elder Song, we are here to pick up a technique."

Elder Song has his eyes glued at the scroll.

"Elder Song! We are here to pick up a technique!" Lou Yi raised her voice.

"I've heard you the first time. You kids like disturbing me when I'm reading something, don't you?" He grumbled without taking off his eyes from the scroll.

"Just enter. Then tell me after you're done."

Lou Yi and Me shared glances; we left the old man with his reading, then we proceed to enter Golden Pavilion.

The entrance is a magnificent golden arch supporting the thick walls. Again, the arch is with an invisible barrier that only allows sect members to enter. This is where our jade slip comes to use.

We entered a large circular chamber with many shelves containing thousands of techniques written in paper/bamboo scrolls or recorded in a jade slip. The frames are labeled with what weapons or categories the techniques are.

At the center of the chamber are four columns supporting the stairs going up the other floors. Lou Yi told me that we are only allowed on the 1st floor and can only climb up the different floors if we have higher cultivation.

"How do you find things from this place?" This is like finding a needle in a haystack!

"It's easy. We just need to use the Jade Tablet." Did she say tablet? I didn't know they also have tablets here. Maybe they even have android phones; I need to have one.

"What's a Jade Tablet?"

"It's a bigger version of our jade slip. Just like the jade slip, the jade tablet records all the techniques found in this chamber. It has a list of techniques depending on the weapon/martial tool, including its location."

Ahh! I thought they had a real tablet. But it's just an upgraded version of a stone tablet. The disappointment, I'm dying to play games and watch a movie. Dreams shattered T_T

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Let's go; we don't have much time.", I said with a bland smile.

We found the jade tablet floating in the air. Lou Yi Instructed me to send tendrils of my Qi to the tablet. When I did, waves and waves of the information entered my mind. I thought my brain would explode with the amount of information. My mind gains more capacity, one of the advantages of Qi cultivation. The data stored on the jade can be viewed on my brain as memories. All it requires is to think to retrieve the information I need to know.

"You have already known where things are, so why didn't we just proceed and picked a technique for me? We could've saved time."

"I won't always be accompanying you here, so you needed to do it sooner or later. Stop complaining and get on with it." She replied teasingly.

I closed my eyes and scanned my "memories" to find the technique I needed. It's impressive because I just need to think of a word or idea, and information enters my mind. I thought of "training technique" and a list of different weapons like clubs, axes, swords, etc., that appeared on my mind.

Wow, it's like browsing the internet!