The weaponry pavilion was a large and intimidating palace built halfway on the Steel Searing Heaven mountain peak. It was as heavily guarded as the sect's treasury, and the guards looked much scarier than the senior disciples who usually take up such duties.

Han Xuhan and Mu Ran were not the only ones who were planning to buy weapons from there. This particular pavilion wasn't always open to public, and now that most of the disciples had settled in comfortably after a month in the sect, it was high time to take up special tasks issued by the sect that usually came with pints of danger.
For example, wiping off powerful demon beasts from the vicinity of the sect, apprehending sinister criminals with a bit of cultivation, investigating supernatural incidents that plagued the mortal world etcetera.

Xuhan had initially been confused about why anyone would be stupid enough to take up such dangerous tasks. But once he saw the remuneration for the tasks...
The amount of spirit stones for each task was counted in tens! There were even a few with hundreds of spirit stones as reward!

Needless to say, Han Xuhan was extremely interested in these tasks. Earning money without risk was nearly impossible anyway. At least he wouldn't have to come up with bizarre scams too frequently anymore.

"I assume all of you are here to buy weapons, yes? Line up and follow me. Don't wander off or I'll give you a beating that you'll remember for the rest of your life, even if you live till the end of the world. "

The rumbling voice of the elder made the disciples who heard him quake as they scrambled to follow the order. Perfectly in line, they followed the owner of the voice, a burly middle aged man with arms thicker than their waists.

The elder led them inside the weaponry pavillion. It was spacious inside, filled with all sorts of weapons on the walls or elegantly displayed on tables.

"Now, let me see..."

The elder carefully assessed each of them, walking by the line slowly. Occasionally, he seperated disciples into forming another line. After he was finished, there were three lines of nervous disciples.

The elder pointed at one of the lines and spoke thoughtfully,
"You lot, you should wield heavy weapons. Your physical structure and dispositions are very suitable for such weapons."

Then he moved his finger toward another line. Mu Ran was the last guy in this line.
"You guys on the other hand, should try out both lightweight and heavy weapons. Pick whichever you prefer."

Then his sight moved to the last line, the line where Xuhan stood nervously.
"You, don't you all eat? Did you starve yourself while cultivating? Where are your muscles? Bunch of sissies...Just pick lightweight swords, throwing knives or bows. See if there's anything you can actually lift..."

Xuhan felt extremely offended. This elder was body-shaming! Who wanted to be a muscle-headed brute like him? Being slim and elegant was in the vogue these days, hmph!

"Brothers, the elder is right! Look at you, all skin and bones. How do you expect yourselves to find a daoist partner if you don't look as impressive as me!"

Mu Ran dealt fatal damage to Xuhan and his fellow disciples with his casual comment, something that earned him many murderous glares. But he seemed used to such glares by now.

The elder looked at Mu Ran extremely approvingly, like he had finally found a candidate to be his soulmate. Mu Ran shivered suddenly and shut his mouth, afraid that the elder's affection meter might go up again if he added another pint of salt on the other disciples' wounds.
Xuhan sneakily gave him a thumbs-up and a knowing smile, as if to express 'I-ship-it', further darkening his expression.

"As I've just evaluated, each of you try out the weapons suitable for yourselves. Don't touch anything you shouldn't. Chop chop!"

The disciples immediately spread all over the hall, looking for weapons.

Mu Ran clasped his hands behind his back and surveyed the weapons that were on display with a somber expression.

"Underling, keep an eye out for the biggest and most impressive weapon in here."

"Yes, boss. I'll get right to it!"

Xuhan walked around, eyeing the weapons he found cool. His eyes got stuck on a longsword soon. But when he tried to swing it around, his arm nearly came out of its socket. The weapons were unusually heavy. Xuhan suspected that in the mortal world, no one would be able to wield them properly.

He strolled through the spacious hall full of disciples swinging swords and spears elegantly. Suddenly, he remembered how protagonists in novels chose their weapons.

It was always the same few tropes. Either the protagonist would feel a "spiritual attraction" toward a particularly infamous weapon that no one wanted, or he would scour the whole room and finally find an ordinary looking one that was actually a REALLY powerful weapon no one knew about.

Chuckling to himself, Xuhan strode to a less populated corner of the room and started examining the weapons there.
The weapons here were either out of fashion or unorthodox. This was the ideal place for a protagonist to throw a stone in the dark.
Xuhan suddenly noticed a long spear with a cracked blade. His eyes immediately lit up. Just as his hands were about to stretch toward the weapon, another pair of hands picked it up before he could react.

"Boss?"

"Good choice underling! This spear...I like it!"

Xuhan nodded, swallowing the torrent of verbal abuse down his throat. Since this was a weapon the protagonist wanted, he wasn't idiotic enough to make a complaint.

In the end, Xuhan ended up as one of the five disciples who couldn't find a weapon they liked. The elder in charge was fawning over Mu Ran's choice in weapons when he finally noticed them. Mu Ran looked immensely relived as the elder left him and strolled toward Xuhan and his fellow unfortunate disciples.

"Did you forget what I told you? Just find something that you can lift, or come back later when you've become stronger. Just look at your martial brother Mu Ran from the same mountain peak as you. Mu Ran, tell him how you picked your weapon."

Mu Ran cleared his throat.
"As soon as I laid my eyes upon this spear, I felt an attraction on spiritual level. As soon as I touched it, I felt that this spear was made to be wielded by my hands! As soon as I swung it for the first time, I promised to myself that this spear would be mine, no matter what!"

"See? That's the way, kid! You must feel the rhythm in your soul, must feel the steel's intent, must find the resonance that stems from within yourself!"

Xuhan scrunched up his face and looked at Mu Ran and the spear on his hand while the elder gleefully gave him the vague instructions.

All he wanted was a weapon to swing around and look cool. These talks about soulful resonance was fitting only for battle maniacs.
Xuhan made up his mind and whipped around with determination laced in his stride.

'I'm weak compared to normal cultivators. So I should choose something light and long ranged.'

Xuhan picked up a seven feet long glaive. It was a popular weapon in rpg games with players who preferred cool looking monks. Xuhan didn't feel any "resonance " or "intent" while handling it. But it looked cool and intimidating, while not being overly heavy; and that was enough.

'Wait, what if I face an enemy who is an expert at dodging and close combat?'

Striding forward, Xuhan picked up a set of half meter long axes. They were another pair of badass weapons that he saw in a movie named Abraham Lincoln: the Vampire Hunter. Imagining himself posing with each axe in hand when an unsuspecting enemy got too close, Xuhan snickered. He'd look so badass!

'What if the enemy is an archer or a spell casting type? There are so many sorts of cultivation techniques out there...'

Xuhan went further and picked up a set of throwing knives imbued with explosive spells. He didn't need to learn to throw these perfectly. The explosion will do its job. As a certain wizard had quoted once, "explosion is the best weapon!"

'Wait, what if the enemy is so good at fighting that they beat all my strategies and disarm me in close combat?'

Xuhan didn't think much. He looked for spell based weapons in the hall, a specific scene from his past life playing in his mind.

"Soon, he found a...pair of shoes. The description of the weapon said-

"This cursed shoes are the result of a failed experiment conducted by an inner court disciple. While the specific intent of the experiment is unclear since said disciple was drunk while he created this, the shoes explode at the interval of every ten seconds. The explosion is mostly a ripple of gravitational force and doesnt harm the enemy but the owners themselves. The explosion angles are unpredictable and the force is different each time, leading to a chaotic experience."

Xuhan chuckled and carefully picked the box that held the shoes. It wasn't a particularly popular defensive weapon, but it would do the job to give him a "push" if he encountered enemies who were experts at close quarter combat or muscle freaks like the elder.

Upon seeing him return, many disciples were shocked open mouthed. He looked like he was heading to an all you can kill battlefield. It wasn't that they didn't want to copy him but the expenditure of so many weapons was unimaginable to most disciples.

But Xuhan was a tycoon now! He still had over a thousand spirit stones. He could afford this!

Under the incredulous gaze of the elder and all the disciples present, Xuhan paid six hundred spirit stones in total for the weapons and left the pavilion with a dumbfounded Mu Ran.