Seeing the giant purple gate in front of him, Liu Xing smiled.

In the last two years, the sect was a miserable place. At first, Liu Xing was bullied relentlessly. He was robbed, ridiculed, and almost lost his dignity. But a year ago, after the worst bully became an inner disciple and the rest went missing on a failed mission, the place became bearable. After that, Liu Xing saw the sect as a place to quietly cultivate.

Now, with newfound power, Liu Xing felt like the Purple Moon Sect was his home, his main base for whatever would happen in the future.

Greeting the two guarding disciples who regarded his greeting lazily, Liu Xing stood at the crossroads. The straight path led to the Outer Hall, the left went to the dorms and housing area, and to the right was the library and training ground.

Looking down, Liu Xing realized his clothes were dirty. Mud clung to his inner pants, and blood, grime, and dirt speckled his purple robe. He needed to change his clothes, but it could wait.

Since he discovered his gun's ability to convert techniques into bullets, he's been eager to expand his repertoire. He aims to master two new techniques, and now is the perfect time. He can wash and change after acquiring them.

Liu Xing walked to a large pagoda. The pagoda stood tall and wide, almost as high as a skyscraper from Earth. This library wasn't the only one in the sect; there was also a library in the inner sect and a hidden library for the most important people in the sect. However, this was the only one he had access to.

After a while, Liu Xing arrived in front of the building. The giant double gate was open. Inside, disciples young and old mingled.

The young ones still had prospects and came here to find new techniques that suited them, while the older disciples, who had no chance of advancing to inner disciples, worked as librarians, cleaners, clerks, and in other jobs. They were paid in points, which they could exchange for daily necessities or pursue their crafts. Some old people use the points to acquire different types of alcohol, some gather funds to study their interests, such as writing a bestiary or creating talismans,etc.

In the past, Liu Xing had decided that after reaching the Core Splitting realm, he would go to a backwater city and spend his old life there, but working in the sect was also an option.

Liu Xing stepped inside and started looking around. He had around two hundred sect points. It should be enough to get two techniques. Since his affinity was lightning, he decided to lean into it and learn lightning-based techniques.

As he walked, he passed hundreds of shelves filled with books and scrolls. Some contained fist techniques, like Mountain Shattering Fist, Dragon Fist, and Demon Tiger Fist. He passed some interesting shelves about poison techniques, ranging from the intriguing Moss Blood Technique to the downright terrifying Skull Melting Poison Technique. Liu Xing passed some generic cultivation scriptures, one of which he knew by heart: The Lightning Scripture. This scripture absorbed qi and converted it to lightning qi.

Liu Xing soon arrived at his destination. In this corner, there were dozens of shelves brimming with lightning techniques.

Smiling, Liu Xing began to browse for two suitable techniques. He sought a movement technique and a highly destructive attack technique. He believed these were the most essential for him: a movement technique to escape if he encountered a too-strong enemy, and a destructive technique to defeat an enemy with a single shot.

Liu Xing found many interesting movement techniques and successfully narrowed his choice to three. Finding a chair and a table, he sat and spread two books and one scroll on top of the table.

The leftmost one was called Lightning Steps Technique, the scroll in the center described the Rolling Cloud Flashing Lightning Technique, and the last one detailed the Lightning Cloak Technique.

Opening the book about Lightning Steps, he read the introductory chapter. In summary, this technique coated the user’s feet with lightning qi, creating explosive bursts of speed and flashing like lightning. He tries to open the next chapter, but the characters move like a busy ant colony. He wasn't surprised; all the techniques in this library were encrypted so no one could read them without paying sect points.

This Lightning Steps technique was amazing. He had seen it in action last year, in the Outer Disciple Tournament. Liu Xing didn’t know who used it, but he had successfully thrown their opponent from the arena. Every step he took made him move so fast, and each step created a loud thunder sound. The crater left behind indicated that this technique relied on strong steps, like kicking the ground to launch oneself like a cannonball.

"Interesting technique. With this, I can run away if someone stronger attacks me up close. The drawback is it’s loud and creates a huge mark. I can’t use it with invisibility."

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What he needed was a silent and flexible movement technique.

Moving to the second technique, Liu Xing read the introductory chapter of the Rolling Cloud Flashing Lightning Technique. In summary, this technique created a literal cloud at the user’s feet, allowing them to attack opponents with lightning. The higher the user’s mastery, the faster the cloud and the stronger the lightning. At its highest mastery, this technique enabled the user to fly.

"Amazing, and such a cool technique too. It's a shame it combines water and lightning techniques."

Since he practiced the Lightning Scripture, while he could still learn and use techniques from different affinities, their effectiveness would decrease. Techniques from different elements would be inefficient and hard to master.

Liu Xing moved to the last technique, the most promising one.

The Lightning Cloak Technique encased the user in a lightning cloak. The introductory chapter stated that the user would coat their entire body with lightning, enhancing their body. While this technique made the user stronger, its main function was to increase speed.

"The drawback is this technique needs a large amount of qi to maintain. It’s not as fast as Lightning Steps, nor does it enable flight. Its main selling point is overall speed enhancement."

Liu Xing was sure this technique was created as a supplementary technique for martial arts, perhaps for sword or saber techniques.

"Hmm, which one do I choose?" Liu Xing pinched his chin. His eyes went from Lightning Steps to Rolling Cloud Flashing Lightning, and then to Lightning Cloak. All had pros and cons, but the most balanced one was the Lightning Cloak technique.

Liu Xing closed his eyes and thought for several moments, then nodded and reached for the third technique, the Lightning Cloak.

"Hopefully, this technique is more impressive than it seems."

Returning the two techniques he didn't choose to their respective shelves, Liu Xing began to browse again. Now, he needed to choose his destructive technique. He wanted the most powerful and impressive lightning technique he could find.

The search took longer than expected. Dozens of techniques fulfilled his one criterion: strong effects. Techniques that created explosions or wide-area attacks were his goal. After all, this technique would be his ace in the sleeve. The choice was hard, but he successfully narrowed it down to three.

On the table now lay three books containing three awesome techniques. The first, and the coolest, was called Dragon Breath Lightning Attack. This attack created a dragon head from lightning in the user’s hand. When the user willed it, the dragon head shot a lightning beam so dense it looked like dragon’s breath or, more aptly, a laser as big as a pillar.

Liu Xing almost chose the Dragon Breath Lightning Attack on impulse. He imagined creating a massive dragon in the sky to destroy everything below it. But Liu Xing calmed his racing heart and found another interesting technique.

The second technique was called Golden Lightning. This attack was quite simple. The user gathered electricity in their palm and shot it. While simple, this technique was unique. In the introduction chapter, the creator mentioned that this technique was inspired by heavenly tribulation lightning. Hence, its golden color and destructive ability.

Glancing at the book on the far right, Liu Xing read the title: Exploding Fist Technique. This was not exactly a lightning technique. The introduction explained that this technique could be used with any type of qi: fire, lightning, wind, or even water. The creator noted that this technique worked best with fire but also matched well with lightning qi.

The effect of this technique was simple. When activated, a ball of energy would form in front of the knuckle. The smaller the ball, the stronger its effect. Upon contact, the ball would explode. If he were learning it just for the sake of mastering a fist technique, he might not choose this one. However, since its effect would be powerful if converted to a bullet, he decided to consider it.

"Now, which one do I choose?"

The pros of the Dragon Breath Lightning Attack were its destructive power. Since he could hold the technique longer, Liu Xing would essentially have a laser attack that could slice through anything. The cons were the large amount of qi required and the long charging time. Also, converting this technique into a bullet would essentially give him a laser gun. Cool, but not very effective. It would be useful for penetrating defensive barriers or heavily armored opponents, but he would need to stay still for a moment.

Glancing at the second book, Liu Xing thought that Golden Lightning would be perfect as a bullet. He imagined vaporizing his enemies entirely. This would be wasteful if Liu Xing were an alchemist since spirit beast parts are ingredients for creating pills. But Liu Xing was not an alchemist, and his gun took care of the beast core inside spiritual beasts. The drawback was the requirement to witness or experience heavenly tribulation lightning. All cultivators, if they advance enough, would experience heavenly tribulation, but usually only when reaching the Sun Collapsing realm. There was a way to artificially summon lightning tribulation, but it required resources Liu Xing didn't have.

The third technique, Exploding Fist, was the plainest technique. Normally, it had one fatal drawback: creating an exploding energy ball in front of the knuckle would cause backlash to the user. It was like exploding a bomb in front of you and your enemy. But combined with his gun, that drawback was gone since he could shoot the energy ball. The creator mentioned that the smaller the energy ball, the stronger the explosion, and since bullets were small, Liu Xing expected a big explosion. The drawback was this technique was big and loud, unlike the laser and Golden Lightning.

Pinching his chin, Liu Xing weighed the pros and cons. These three techniques were really good. Ideally, he wanted to learn all of them and use them in the right circumstances, but with his sect points, he could only choose one.

"Let's see, Golden Lightning has troublesome requirements to learn. Not impossible, but certainly time-consuming. The Dragon Breath Lightning Attack is strong and cool, but not great for bullets. This leaves the third technique."

Liu Xing hesitated for a moment, then chose the third technique.

Like with the Lightning Cloak Technique, he hoped this technique was more impressive than it seemed.

"Alright, let's buy it."