Claiming a Martial Art, Visiting the Brothel

Chapter 5: Claiming a Martial Art, Visiting the Brothel

After collecting the reward money, Bai Yan went to the Scripture Pavilion.

The Scripture Pavilion was also called the Secret Martial Arsenal. It stood in the central area of the Northern Commandery Investigation Bureau and was a nine-story pavilion.

The pavilion housed countless treasures, including but not limited to martial arts manuals, divine weapons, and miraculous pills.

Using these stolen supreme martial arts manuals, the Great Yu Dynasty wantonly cultivated imperial hounds to trample the Martial World beneath their hooves.

The Imperial Guard, Six Doors, and Eastern Depot were the three strongest organizations among them.

Some experts within these organizations were powerful enough to strike fear into the hearts of countless martial heroes. Even many Grandmaster-level Old Ancestors did not dare provoke them.

When Bai Yan arrived at the Scripture Pavilion's entrance, he saw only four Imperial Guard squads patrolling outside, with a total of just over a hundred men.

But Bai Yan knew that these were merely the guards in plain sight. The hidden defensive forces were likely ten times greater.

Over the years, it was not as if no martial experts from the Martial World had come to the Scripture Pavilion to steal supreme martial arts manuals.

But without exception, every one of them had died here. Not a single person had managed to leave alive.

There was a way to learn the martial arts inside, though: sell oneself and join the Imperial Guard, or harden one's heart, castrate oneself, and join the Eastern Depot.

The Eastern Depot also had its own Secret Martial Arsenal. The supreme martial arts manuals within were little different from those of the Imperial Guard, and some unusual techniques could only be learned in the Eastern Depot.

When Bai Yan reached the Scripture Pavilion's entrance, two Imperial Guard soldiers immediately stopped him.

"The Scripture Pavilion is a restricted area. No one may enter without cause."

Bai Yan displayed the Brigade Leader token.

"Newly appointed Brigade Leader Bai Yan, I have come under the orders of Commander Zheng Haihan to claim one third-grade martial art. Sorry for the trouble—please let me pass."

The two Imperial Guard soldiers glanced at the token. After confirming that it was genuine, they clasped their fists and respectfully said,

"My lord, please enter."

One of them even offered an additional reminder:

"The third-grade martial arts are on the third floor. My lord, remember that you must not trespass recklessly onto the floors above the third."

"Thank you."

Bai Yan inclined his head slightly and stepped into the Scripture Pavilion.

Inside the pavilion, rows upon rows of circular bookshelves filled his sight, each shelf holding countless texts.

Martial arts manuals were divided into nine grades, with first-grade being the lowest and ninth-grade the highest. Martial arts above the ninth grade were called Heaven-Walking Martial Arts, and were rare in the world.

This was the first floor. It held only introductory manuals from the Martial World and first-grade martial arts, all common as dirt.

Only newcomers who had just joined the Imperial Guard, or strongmen who had never learned martial arts, would be interested in them.

The first and second floors were unattended. It was only when Bai Yan reached the third floor that he finally saw a Pavilion Guard Elder.

The elder looked like a disheveled old man in his sixties or seventies. He wore a tattered hemp robe, had unkempt hair and a dirty face, and clutched a gourd in his hands. Drunk to the point of stupor, his cheeks and nose were bright red as he lay on a lounge chair, snoring loudly.

On the table before him lay stacks of martial arts catalogs, arranged in complete disarray. It seemed they had not been organized in many years.

Hearing Bai Yan's footsteps, the old Pavilion Guard Elder slowly opened his eyes.

He gave Bai Yan a bleary glance, then closed his eyes again and left him with a sentence:

"The catalogs are on the table. Find whatever manual you want yourself. The introductions are all inside. Once you've chosen, tell... me... hic..."

A loud burp escaped him, filling the air with the stench of alcohol and making Bai Yan frown slightly.

To be honest, Bai Yan knew that this Pavilion Guard Elder was not weak, but his appearance was truly beyond praise. He was far too slovenly.

Shaking his head, Bai Yan picked up a catalog from the table and casually flipped through several pages.

Sword arts, saber arts, palm arts, finger arts, internal arts, hidden weapons...

Every kind of martial art was represented, varied and complete.

There were an astonishing number of them. It would not be an exaggeration to say there were at least eight or nine thousand, if not ten thousand.

Although third-grade martial arts were not peerless divine arts, the fact that they had collected so many showed just how formidable the Great Yu Dynasty was.

Bai Yan had a system of his own, so he was not particularly interested in the martial arts manuals in the Scripture Pavilion.

After taking a brief look, he casually selected a martial art called the Three Gang Saber Art to use with his Spring Embroidered Saber.

He was still using the Eight Gates Golden Lock Saber his father had taught him back then. It was merely a second-grade martial art common as dirt throughout the Martial World, and it focused primarily on defense.

The Three Gang Saber Art was somewhat better than the Eight Gates Golden Lock Saber.

It had only three moves in total.

Heavenly Gang, Earthly Gang, and Roaming Dragon.

The first two were explosive moves. Their saber strikes were fierce and contained tremendous force, emphasizing overwhelming the opponent head-on with sheer strength.

The final move, however, focused on the word "fast." It followed a light and agile path, entirely different from the first two moves.

Bai Yan possessed the thirteenth level of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art, and every move contained unparalleled divine strength. With his max-level Lightning-Fast Movement Steps added in, his speed was even more astonishingly quick.

Although the Three Gang Saber Art was a little low-grade, it suited him quite well in relative terms.

It was more than enough as a transitional technique in the short term. In the future, the system would naturally reward him with high-level saber arts and divine techniques. If all else failed, he could still use the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.

He went to the bookshelf and found the original manual for the Three Gang Saber Art. After copying it down, he had the Pavilion Guard Elder register it.

"You know the rules, right?"

"You may cultivate the manual yourself, but you must not teach it to others. If you violate this, you will be imprisoned at best, and have your martial arts crippled at worst."

The Pavilion Guard Elder spoke with his head lowered, his eyes bleary with sleep.

"I know."

"Let me remind you again. Don't look down on the Three Gang Saber Art just because its grade isn't high. Its fundamentals and movements are upright, and it is a saber art that relies heavily on one's foundation. It is easy to understand but difficult to master, especially the final move, Roaming Dragon. When the saber is drawn, it is accompanied by a dragon's roar, as fast as a bolt of silk. If you want to..."

The Pavilion Guard Elder continued rambling, completely unaware that Bai Yan had already turned around and gone downstairs.

Bai Yan happened to hear him mention the dragon's roar and felt curious.

Bai Yan knew of martial arts that produced a dragon's roar. The Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms in his possession possessed precisely such an extraordinary quality.

But the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms were a supreme-grade martial art, while the Three Gang Saber Art was merely third-grade. Could this third-grade technique have some other special feature?

Bai Yan drew the saber at his waist half an inch and simultaneously tried to activate the Three Gang Saber Art with his True Essence.

The next moment—

"Roar—!"

A dragon's roar truly rang out!

Bai Yan hurriedly sheathed his saber. A brief test was enough; if he really drew his saber here, the nature of the matter would change entirely.

The dragon's roar was extremely short, almost vanishing in the blink of an eye, but it did not escape the Pavilion Guard Elder's ears.

The elder suddenly opened his eyes wide. The drunken haze had vanished completely from them. He stared in the direction Bai Yan had gone downstairs and muttered to himself:

"Could this kid have already reached minor mastery after looking through the manual just once...?"

"Strange. Truly strange."

Bai Yan had just left the Scripture Pavilion.

Coming toward him were Ren Hong and Li Kaiyao.

The two saw Bai Yan and immediately bowed. "Greetings, my lord."

Bai Yan asked with a smile, "Have you collected your reward money?"

The two scratched their heads and smiled. "We have. We must thank you as well for looking after us, my lord."

"By the way, the two of us would like to invite you to Qionghua Pavilion for a gathering. We ask that you grant us permission."

Ren Hong and Li Kaiyao had completely pledged themselves to Bai Yan, so they wanted to use this opportunity to grow closer to him.

Bai Yan smiled and said, "I'll be the one treating. Don't go to Qionghua Pavilion. Let's head straight to Baiwei Tower. I'm hosting tonight."

"Not just you two. Brigade Leader Zhao, Brigade Leader Song, and the others will be going too. We'll all make merry together."