After the brief introduction, most of the lecture was just about the basics of cultivation.

Mei was interested at first but started to get bored after a while. Still, she tried her best to focus. Cultivation had always been her dream, after all.

"Alright, you are dismissed. As for the new disciples, meet me outside the hall."

The disciples bowed respectfully and slowly streamed out of the hall. Mei and her group met up with the old man outside.

The old man handed each of them a coin and a pamphlet. The token was made of white metal and had 天 on one side, and a picture of a grandiose building rising out of clouds on the other side.

"I know you might be concerned about going home, but don't worry. I put a few markers where I found you all. In a few days when it's ready, you can head to the teleportation array if you want to visit your parents and friends."

Mei felt a bit of relief.

"As for the pamphlet, there's a list of all the dao courses we offer."

"Ooooo."

Mei and the other disciples showed interest.

"Well, I recommend focusing on a non-combat route. A lot of youngsters think combat is the most important part of cultivation, but that won't make you money unless you're planning to be a bandit or a bodyguard."

"But- but sometimes, there are bad cultivators, right? Don't we still need to learn combat techniques?" Mei asked, a bit concerned. She really didn't want to re-enact the monk novel.

"I didn't say you don't need to learn combat techniques." the sect leader shook his head. "But the main path you focus on shouldn't be combat."

Mei pouted.

"I thought girls don't like fighting and stuff?" Liu Qiang said.

"Maybe she read too much xianxia." Yingyi snickered.

"Shut up," she grumbled.

"Ahem." the old man coughed. "Anyway, tell me which ones you're interested in and I'll give you some insight on it."

Mei looked through the list enthusiastically.

Horticulture, smithing, beasts taming, sewing, cooking... even carpentry.

The list was fairly long, but Mei wasn't really interested in any of them.

As she glossed across the list, the words 'array making' caught her eye. Her eyes lit up.

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In some books she read, the main characters fought amazingly with arrays!

"I want to be an array master!" she said.

Wang Wei suddenly looked up, interested as well.

The old man looked exasperated.

"Just so you know, most arrays aren't even used for combat. And unless you're inhumanly good, there's no way you can set up one mid-combat. And because of the difficulty, most people don't advance that far in array making."

But from the look in her eyes, that didn't seem to discourage her at all. Wang Wei, however, seemed to lose interest and went back to looking at the list.

"You also won't get consistent pay because it's not very often someone needs a formation set up for them. Plus, they'd probably hire better people for it. You should probably pick horticulture or alchemy."

"I still want to give it a try." she insisted.

The old man sighed.

In the end, Liu Qiang decided to go with smithing, while Wang Wei and Yingyi decided on alchemy. Xiuying went for horticulture, much to Mei's surprise. Wasn't that basically just a nicer label for 'farming'?

"When you've decided on what dao you want to try out, you can look for a sect elder to teach you. If you don't know where they teach, just flip to the map page."

The disciples waved to each other before heading in different directions, except for Wang Wei and Yingyi.

----------------------------------------

Mei stood before a surprisingly simple building. It was basically just a white block with windows. Right now, according to the pamphlet, it wasn't class time, so she could talk to the elder, Qiao Shun.

She reached out and pressed the formation on the wall. A little ball of golden flame flew out.

"Hello! What are you here for?" it cheerfully said in a childish voice. "I am Xiao Huo!"

Mei had read in the pamphlet that this would happen, but she was still surprised.

"I'm here to learn how to make arrays! Is Qiao Shun here?"

"Oh! By the way, you should call him master, not by name." the flame flickered. "I'll go fetch him!"

It sank back into the formation.

Shouldn't that be after she actually became his disciple? Well, whatever.

Soon, a man who looked around his thirties came out, which surprised her. Mei figured he was probably actually a few hundred since cultivation slowed ageing. The little flame excitedly spun in circles around him, almost like a hyperactive kid.

"You are here to learn about formations?" he asked.

"Uh... isn't that the same thing as arrays?" she asked. "I mean, yes, master!"

Qiao Shun laughed dryly.

"They're pretty similar, but people usually call bigger formations arrays. You won't be making any formations big enough to be considered arrays as a beginner."

"Oh."

"I'll need to assess your meridians. Give me your hand."

"Uh, okay."

The man grabbed her hand and held it tightly, making her slightly nervous. She felt a strange energy flow throughout her.

"What happened to your meridians?" he asked, frowning.

Mei gave him a brief explanation based on what she remembered the sect leader said. He pondered for a moment.

"Well, it's not something I've heard much of but if the leader says it, it must be true." Qiao Shun said. "In any case, don't think you're going to have an easy time with formations."

"Ehh? Why?"

"Formation masters need a very keen sense of qi flow. And more often than not, they need to have a good balance of elemental affinities to make good formations."

"And?"

"Because your meridians are heavily damaged, it's very unlikely that you can sense or control qi precisely. With so much damage, it's unlikely you'd be able to control all elements precisely either. I don't have a way to test what your control of elemental affinities actually are, but most likely-"

"You don't know then?"

"I don't have a direct way to test it, but what I said is the most likely-"

"I still want to try it then!"

Qiao Shun looked extremely annoyed.

"It's better to know when to quit."

Then, he shut the door. Mei was really angry but she continued to sit outside.

From books she read, sometimes the main characters would do that until they were accepted as a disciple!