There were two main types of cultivation paths in this era, Internal cultivation, and External cultivation. Internal cultivation involves the absorption of Qi within a person’s Dantian, while External cultivation involves the strengthening of the physical body.

Cultivation methods of the Internal Cultivation path in the Four Physical Realms were split into Low-tier, Mid-tier, High-tier, and Peak-tier Techniques. One should also note that Internal cultivation methods allow someone to cultivate by adsorbing one of the Six Elemental Qi in the surroundings.

As for External Cultivation methods, those are usually martial arts techniques that tamper with the physical body. Those that were used in the Four Physical Realms were separated into levels from weakest to strongest, Black Grade, Bronze Grade, Silver Grade, and Gold Grade. And they can further be subdivided into Low-class, Mid-class, and High-class.

On the second floor of the Techniques Library, both Xi Shen and Yang Su were walking around inspecting the various cultivation methods and martial arts techniques.

The second floor of the Techniques Library was different from the first floor. Up here instead of hardcover books the shelves were lined with jade slips that had the description of the technique and the requirements needed to cultivate them.

After choosing a jade slip one would need to hand it over to the front desk to get a copy of the original.

This was done so as to prevent disciples from secretly pocketing a technique they're not supposed to. The first floor didn’t have this setup since the information in those books was general knowledge about the cultivation realms, techniques, Spirit Artifacts, etc.

As Xi Shen looked through the techniques, specifically the internal cultivation methods, he saw that they all involved cultivating one of the Six Qi Elements.

Xi Shen took up another jade slip and placed it on his forehead to inspect its contents. With his Divine Will he didn’t have to do this, he could have just sent it out and read every technique on the second floor at the same time. He could even go as far as to read the ones on the third and fourth floor, but he didn’t, since other disciples were on the second floor too, and who to Xi Shen's annoyance, would throw curious looks at him from time to time. And more importantly, that seemingly simple old man at the entrance isn’t so simple.

With Xi Shen’s perception which was nearly as strong as someone in the Nascent Soul Realm, he couldn’t tell what level of cultivation that old man had.

So going around using his Divine Will was out of the question.

After reading the texts that appeared in his mind, Xi Shen found another Internal cultivation method that allows a person to cultivate one of the six elements.

After removing the jade from his forehead, Xi Shen placed it back down with a sigh. Though it was a powerful Mid-tier water-element cultivation method, it wasn’t what Xi Shen was looking for.

Stolen novel; please report.

Well, he didn’t know what he expected to find other than those types of cultivation methods. He knew from searching through the techniques in his Clan's Ancestral Treasury that the cultivation of Incorporeal Elements in the lower stages of Spiritual Qi cultivation was practically non-existent.

Incorprial Elements were, for example, Karma, Space, and what Li Shen was currently cultivating, Time. There was no cultivation method involving those Laws.

Xi Shen was even contemplating whether people in this era knew it was even possible. Though he should think about it from their perspective, even if they knew, someone in this era’s natural comprehension talent would have to be similar to someone who had received the Heaven’s Blessings to comprehend an Incorporeal Law.

That was why Xi Shen constructed Yang Su’s Dao Foundation using the Six Qi Elements which contain the six elemental Corporeal Laws.

Even though Yang Su had the ability to transform the Fire Qi inside of him into actual fire instead of reaching a higher realm to do so, he would have to work extra hard to actually comprehend it and the others if he truly wanted to master all six elements.

If Xi Shen had constructed Yang Su’s Dao Foundation from an Incorporeal Law with his comprehension level he would find it hard to move forward in his cultivation. Xi Shen only made his from the Time Laws because he had the Heaven’s Blessings, which gave him a natural ability to comprehend them.

Maybe Xi Shen’s standards of cultivation were just too high for people in this era. After all, he had spent an entire lifetime in an era where cultivators were gods who commanded the myriad laws in the universe.

In that era, he had felt like a fish who was in shark-infested waters, but after being reborn into this era he felt like he was a hidden shark in the body of a fish, surrounded by other smaller fishes. Well, that was merely in terms of the knowledge he held, Xi Shen was still a weakling compared to the already-established powerhouses on the Continent.

It just took a while for Xi Shen to try and adapt to the power standards of this era, like what constitutes being powerful and what wasn’t. As the person responsible for this type of cultivation system coming into existence, Xi Shen felt like he should have a full grasp on Qi Cultivation. He does, probably more than all those powerhouses on the continent, but at the same time, he couldn't just understand a system that went through thousands of years of development in only thirteen years.

Xi Shen was intelligence was on the gifted spectrum but he wasn't that gifted to pull something like that off.

Xi Shen’s steps suddenly paused as he saw a rather colorful jade slip displayed on the shelf. Intrigued he took it up and pressed it against his forehead, the following words that appeared in his mind were.

“Golden Fire Serpent absorption technique. A Peak-tier cultivation method that allows someone to cultivate like a legendary Divine Fire Serpent that could absorb and refine all types of fire under heaven. Reaching the fourth level of this technique one would gain a Divine Ability that allows one to summon a projection of a Divine Fire Serpent. Warning, this technique is only to be cultivated by someone with a pure Yang Physique and has a natural affinity with the fire element. Someone who cultivates the Smoldering Furnace body cultivation technique is also qualified.”

As Xi Shen read the description of this technique, his eyebrows couldn’t help but lift upon seeing the mention of a Divine Ability.

Divine Abilities were inherently different from Daoist magic and martial arts skills, they were a product of the cultivation method someone cultivates and were seen as a technique someone could naturally use without any prior activation method. While Daoist magic on the other hand was executed by weaving hand seals.

One should also note that Divine techniques most of the time were a lot more powerful than Daoist magic of the same level.

With that said, what made Xi Shen surprised was the fact that a cultivation method meant for someone in the Four Physical Realms allows a person to obtain a Divine Ability. Usually, only cultivation methods in the Five Soul Realms would allow someone to gain a Divine Ability, that's where truly powerful and profound Divine Abilities and Doasit Magic are welded by cultivators.

After removing the jade slip from his forehead, Xi Shen handed it to Yang Su while saying, “Here, this is a suitable internal cultivation method for you. As for your external cultivation method go choose the one suggested in this jade slip. Oh, you should also find a sword skill from the martial art techniques section that you fancy as well.”

Yang Su took the jade slip from Xi Shen and said, “Yes young master.”

After that Yang Su left to search for the body cultivation method in the external cultivation section, which was several rows of shelves down from where they were.

Now all alone, Xi Shen walked casually with his hands behind his back towards a separate area in the Internal cultivation section.