Learn Iron Shirt in Thirty Days

After breakfast and some pleasantries, Li Chu personally drove Gongsun Zhe and his daughter to town.

Along the way, they passed a wide-open space where a large crowd had gathered, making quite a commotion. From their shouts, it sounded like they had discovered the corpse of a giant spider, terrifyingly large.

Some said the Spider Demon had failed its tribulation, but immediately others argued that the wounds were clearly from a sword, and it must have been slain by some Immortal.

Li Chu didn't stop. He even flicked the reins, urging the horse forward.

Gongsun Zhe and his daughter were both intelligent. As they passed, they quickly grasped the situation and guessed that the Eight-Armed Asura Li Chu had killed last night had revealed its true form.

Gongsun Zhe then asked, "Little Daoist Priest, why not stop and announce that you were the one who slew that demon? Wouldn't that enhance the prestige of your Virtuous Cloud Temple?"

"My Master always taught me to eliminate demons and uphold righteousness, not to seek empty fame," Li Chu replied.

Gongsun Zhe paused for a moment, then clasped his hands in genuine admiration. "Your Master and you are truly remarkable individuals."

Li Chu touched his nose with his hand.

The reason he didn't announce it was twofold: firstly, he didn't care about fame, and secondly...

There used to be a pavilion there.

In his haste yesterday, he had been a bit too heavy-handed. Half River Pavilion had been built with money pooled by the villagers. If he had to pay for it, it would be a net loss.

The carriage soon stopped at the entrance of the County Government Office.

The three of them alighted and bid farewell.

"Little Daoist Priest, I will never forget your life-saving grace," Gongsun Zhe bowed deeply.

"It is merely the duty of a cultivator, Mr. Gongsun need not mind," Li Chu said lightly.

Gongsun Rou's beautiful eyes gazed at Li Chu, her lips pursed. "Little Daoist Priest, thank you for your help."

Only the father and daughter knew what a life-saving encounter this was for them, even if it seemed like a trivial matter to Li Chu.

Li Chu smiled calmly and then took his leave.

Gongsun Rou watched his retreating back, her feet rooted to the spot for a long time.

Her old father turned and saw his daughter's expression. He waved his hand in front of her eyes. "Alright, he's already far away. There are so many talented young men and noble sons in Zhao Ge City, so many chivalrous youths in the martial world, yet I've never seen you look at anyone like this."

Gongsun Rou blushed at his words, lowered her head, and shook it. "None of them compare to him."

Gongsun Zhe chuckled mischievously. "None compare to him in what?"

Gongsun Rou pursed her lips again, and after a long moment, finally spoke. "None compare to him in handsomeness."

"Oh?" Gongsun Zhe blinked. "I recall my daughter saying she doesn't judge men by their looks?"

Gongsun Rou's cheeks flushed red, and she ignored him any further.

There has never been anyone in the world who doesn't judge by appearances. If there is, it's only because they haven't encountered a face beautiful enough yet...

What's more, the owner of this face was her savior.

Li Chu wasn't specifically here to see off the Gongsun Father and Daughter. He had some matters of his own to attend to in town.

This morning, in his room, he had asked Yu Qi'an if there were any body-refining methods.

He would never forget the groggy Yu Qi'an, who had just woken up, hadn't washed his face or tied his hair, spat out a mouthful of mouthwash, and then raised his head to the heavens, saying: "The Dao is the origin of all things. Techniques are mere branches of the Great Dao. To abandon the origin and seek the branches, my disciple, you are attached to form."

In that instant, he felt as if Yu Qi'an was enveloped by an indescribable aura. The presence was so commanding that it even made Li Chu, who had asked the question, feel ashamed.

But...

That didn't change the fact that his own body was still fragile.

He understood that he might never reach his Master's realm in his lifetime.

Later, Yu Qi'an told Li Chu to look for something at the Miscellaneous Bookstore in town, saying he might find something there.

The Miscellaneous Bookstore, as the name suggested, was a very eclectic place.

The bookstore's interior was filled with ancient charm, open from north to south, with ample light, and the scent of paper wafting through the air.

Half of the books inside were new, and the other half were second-hand books collected by the shopkeeper. Thus, it was a vast and varied collection, with something for everyone, filling two floors.

Li Chu browsed around, looking at everything. It seemed there was nothing like cultivation manuals.

So he went to the counter.

The shopkeeper of the Miscellaneous Bookstore was an Old Scholar, who at over fifty years old was still diligently studying to pass the Scholar exam, his eyesight failing him.

But despite his poor vision, he knew the exact location of every book in the store, able to find them with his eyes closed.

Li Chu stepped forward and asked, "Shopkeeper, do you have any manuals here?"

"What kind of manuals?" the Old Shopkeeper asked, startled.

"The kind about the body," Li Chu said. "My Master said you might have something here."

The Old Shopkeeper immediately revealed a meaningful smile. "Oh—"

He got up and led Li Chu to look, saying as they walked, "As expected, like father, like son. I wouldn't have thought you, with your honest face, would be interested in such things..."

Li Chu was completely bewildered.

He was led by the old shopkeeper to a hidden cabinet. The shopkeeper opened it, revealing a cabinet stuffed full of picture albums.

Jin Ping Qi Tan, Liao Zhai Feng Yue, White Jade Futon, Guan Ren Wu Yao...

Li Chu looked at these strange titles and fell into thought.

"Old shopkeeper, I think you've misunderstood," he said, shifting his gaze. "I'm looking for cultivation manuals, body tempering manuals! I want to forge my physical body, not look at physical bodies."

"Cultivation?" The old shopkeeper frowned. "You came from a Daoist temple to my bookstore looking for cultivation methods? I really don't have any of those. Hmm, but for tempering the body, I think I have some martial arts manuals. I don't know if any of them will suit you."

As he spoke, the old shopkeeper pondered for a moment, then led him to another side. In a dusty corner, he pulled out a cabinet filled with books, all of them martial arts cultivation methods.

Cultivators, primarily from the Buddhist and Daoist Schools, were also known as Qi Refiners in ancient times.

For them, martial arts were only studied in the introductory stages, when their true qi was not yet formed and they needed self-protection. Once they could refine true qi, they would no longer practice martial arts.

Qi Refiners pursued divine abilities.

However, the threshold for becoming a Qi Refiner was high, requiring spiritual roots to cultivate. Those with innate spiritual roots were one in ten thousand.

Martial arts cultivation had no such restrictions. Anyone could practice martial arts to strengthen their body and improve their strength.

Therefore, in any era, there were more martial arts cultivators than Qi Refiners. Correspondingly, the inheritance of martial arts spread more widely among the populace. Even a bookstore in a small town like this would have a cabinet full of martial arts cultivation manuals.

Of course, such easily obtainable manuals would not be very high-level.

Perhaps due to spiritual roots, Qi Refiners had always looked down on Martial Artists.

Even though a Mortal Warrior who reached the extreme was by no means weaker than a peak Qi Refiner, and even possessed greater pure combat power.

Even though the Twelve Immortal Sects included the Heavenly King Mountain Lineage, which cultivated pure martial arts.

Regardless, they still looked down on them.

Therefore, a legitimate Daoist Cultivator would certainly disdain martial arts cultivation manuals.

But Li Chu was not a Daoist Cultivator at all. He didn't even have spiritual roots, so naturally, he didn't have any place in that hierarchy of disdain.

So he asked, "Excuse me, shopkeeper, do any of these contain body tempering techniques?"

"Yes," the old shopkeeper said. He bent down and rummaged through the cabinet, stirring up clouds of dust. After a moment, he shoved a thin, old, yellow booklet in front of Li Chu's face.

On it were eight large characters.

Learn Iron Shirt in Thirty Days