Ok, I very vaguely remember that part so if I get something wrong please correct me. If you read this part I don't know what you misunderstood, but the novel was pretty clear, in any case his Master said that there were three types of cultivation techniques; first type that has remarkable/strong abilities and rather fast cultivation technique, but you need a very good aptitude to cultivate that as they are ofter rather profound; second type unremarkable or even sometimes rather weak techniques and abilities but fast cultivation speed and they have the advantage of being easy to cultivate so the opposite of the first type which needs good aptitude (spiritual roots); and last type that has some pretty good and strong techniques but very slow cultivation speed, you do not need good aptitude to cultivate that type. The second type is for people who strive to reach greater heights in the Dao, meaning go further on the path of cultivation which is very hard in the southern region of the mortal world, especially for Han Li since he has false spiritual root (4 elements) meaning pretty terrible aptitude, so the only way for him to go is the second type as the third is for people who don't put much hope on advancing and going further on the path of cultivation, as it is very slow to cultivate with that type while they have limited lifespans in the early stages, so they go for strong abilities in their own realm and do not focus as much on the Dao. As for the first type as I said Han Li's aptitude is said to be bad and picking the first type would have been biting off more than he can chew, and him still trying and ending up with some miracle where the cultivation art is perfect for him, mostly isn't the style of the author who likes to keep things realistic (as much as possible in a cultivation novel/fantastical world), and so the author, to keep things realistic and show us more struggle and difficulties in order to make his achievements feel more deserved, makes Han Li choose the second type. Somewhat ironically the golden paper he chooses ends up getting him quite the miracle cultivation technique while the situation still stays quite realistic, but enough of that as I shouldn't be spoiling here. I said all that because I'm guessing that you mostly understood but you just had trouble accepting his seemingly mediocre choice, and you found that disappointing so you wanted to find another reason for his choice that you missed maybe. Going around assumptions here, if that isn't the case then never mind, it's just that I too had trouble getting into the novel at the start, and now it's one of favorite novels, you just have to stick with it as it often pays off. BTW wasn't trying to be pretentious when I said my memory was hazy about that part, I just gradually remembered stuff and found it pretty enjoyable to reminisce about all those early events, that's why I wrote all that. Hope my answer was accurate and satisfactory.

Awesome. Thanks heaps.

_/\_