Empathy

In the study, Zheng Fa opened the cover page of the Crane Body Technique. Instructor Xu's final words, spoken with an unreadable emotion, seemed to still echo in his ears:

"Don't learn from me."

Actually, even if Instructor Xu hadn't recounted his experiences, Zheng Fa felt he wouldn't have wasted half his life on this Crane Body Technique.

Because to enter the Immortal Sect, he already had a better choice: becoming a Talisman Master.

For Instructor Xu, the Crane Body Technique was his only chance for transcendence, so it was naturally difficult for him to give up.

But according to the Seventh Young Master, becoming a Talisman Master also offered an opportunity to enter the Immortal Sect.

The bigger reason Zheng Fa didn't value the Crane Body Technique as much as Instructor Xu was Madam's actions—after he showed a sliver of his talent as a Talisman Master, even deciphering two of the simplest Origin Talismans, Madam bestowed the Crane Body Technique upon him. This implicitly showed that in Madam's heart, the Crane Body Technique, which followed the martial path to enlightenment, was far inferior to Zheng Fa's talent as a Talisman Master, and even inferior to those two simple Origin Talismans.

Another thought made Zheng Fa increasingly doubt the supposed path of martial arts to enlightenment:

If cultivating the Crane Body Technique allowed one to enter the Immortal Sect, why was the Seventh Young Master painstakingly studying Talisman Diagrams?

There must be some issues here that even Instructor Xu didn't know about.

But these thoughts didn't diminish Zheng Fa's interest in the Crane Body Technique itself, a legendary martial art in the jianghu.

Beside him, the Seventh Young Master leaned in, flipping through the Crane Body Technique manual with Zheng Fa.

After a quick glance, the Seventh Young Master frowned: "This guy talks too much."

Zheng Fa nodded. He hadn't yet grasped the martial art's power, but he had certainly understood the author's narcissism.

The Crane Body Technique consisted of four volumes. Zheng Fa had assumed they would all detail martial arts, but the first, and thickest, volume was entirely the author's preface!

The author rambled on, writing about his entire life in meticulous detail in the preface.

He wrote about how he was originally a martial artist, later joined the Immortal Sect but still loved martial arts, so he created this Crane Body Technique, hoping future generations would carry it forward and develop it, and so on.

A large portion was dedicated to bragging about how skilled he was in martial arts, how highly regarded he was in the Immortal Sect, and how exquisite the techniques he created were...

"Did he create this technique just so people would listen to him brag?" the Seventh Young Master mused, stroking his chin.

Zheng Fa actually found this idea—getting martial arts by listening to bragging—to be somewhat plausible...

He flipped through the subsequent books. To his surprise, the second volume recorded the martial art Zheng Fa had already begun practicing, the Crane Pine Stance. So that was why Madam had asked him to study the Crane Body Technique?

Because he had shown some talent in the Crane Pine Stance?

He skipped the second volume and looked at the third and fourth.

The fourth book was a martial skill, the Crane Piercing Cloud Hand. According to the book, its power was immense, but it wasn't the core of the Crane Body Technique.

Only the third volume, titled Crane Heart Sutra on its cover, was the essence of this technique.

But when Zheng Fa opened the third volume, he couldn't help but frown. The Seventh Young Master beside him also looked utterly bewildered, muttering, "What on earth is this drawing?"

On the page was a creature with a human head and body, but with two wings growing from its shoulder blades and a pair of crane legs for its lower body. This unclear creature, covered in feathers, was striking poses that were impossible to decipher, with no explanations or annotations.

Zheng Fa stared at it for a long time, unable to grasp anything. He wasn't discouraged; it was normal that he couldn't figure out a martial art that Instructor Xu hadn't understood for twenty years.

In Madam's small building, the Seventh Young Master pushed aside the curtain and strode in.

"Oh? Look who it is?" Madam asked with a mocking smile. "A rare visitor!"

The Seventh Young Master blushed: "It's only right that I visit my mother."

"Right? For the past few years, who has been avoiding me?"

"I wasn't..."

"Enough. You never come to my place without a reason. Just say what you need."

"I've been wanting to learn the Crane Body Technique these past few days, but I can't understand this thing at all. Mother, do you know any secrets?"

"You want to learn?" Madam raised an eyebrow, looking at her son. "Didn't I give the Crane Body Technique to Zheng Fa?"

"I'm the Young Master. If I want to look at it or learn it, can he stop me?" the Seventh Young Master said arrogantly.

"Is that so?"

"I was thinking that that fool Zheng Fa wouldn't be able to learn it no matter how he tried. If there's a secret, and I learn it, I can infuriate him to death!" the Seventh Young Master coughed and said.

"Is that so..." Madam nodded, seemingly convinced.

"Mother? What's the secret?"

"The secret?" Madam patted her forehead and said, "I think I heard someone say that the creator of this technique once stated that the secret to mastering the Crane Body Technique lies entirely in the first volume."

"Really?"

"Would Mother lie to you?"

"Mother, I have something else to do, I'm leaving now!" The Seventh Young Master turned and ran. Madam watched his retreating back, a half-smile on her face.

"Zheng Fa! My mother said that to master the Crane Body Technique, one must look at the first volume of the manual!"

The Seventh Young Master burst in, saying impatiently.

"Did you go ask Madam, Young Master?" Zheng Fa asked, a little surprised.

"We were just chatting, and it came up," the Seventh Young Master waved his hand. "Quick, bring out the first volume, let's study it properly."

Zheng Fa glanced at the Seventh Young Master and took out the first volume of the Crane Body Technique.

Gao Yuan stood far away, consciously not looking at the Crane Body Technique, but his gaze was still curiously directed this way.

Zheng Fa and the Seventh Young Master carefully flipped through the first volume, both frowning.

It was just an ordinary autobiography. Moreover, because the author was a martial artist by origin and likely never received a proper education, the plot was written in a vulgar and boring manner.

"Could there be some kind of code?"

The Seventh Young Master guessed.

Zheng Fa shook his head. "It's not impossible, but with codes, we need to know the pattern, right?"

Upon hearing this, the Seventh Young Master didn't give up. He pulled Zheng Fa and flipped the book back and forth, trying to find some pattern.

After a long while, the Seventh Young Master slammed the book down angrily and began to personally attack the author of the Crane Body Technique:

"What a piece of crap book! Not even as good as a third-rate novel!"

"I'm so sick of reading it!"

"Is this person bored out of their mind? Claiming to have attained supreme skills after climbing a thousand mountains and observing a thousand birds. With that kind of time, why didn't they just go to school and learn how to write a book!"

Zheng Fa shook his head, laid the book flat on the desk, but inwardly had to admit—he couldn't see any cultivation secrets in this book.

Gao Yuan, seeing their dejected expressions, couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.

The Seventh Young Master saw his expression and asked, "What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing," Gao Yuan shook his head.

"You think it makes you happy that even I, the Young Master, and Zheng Fa, who is more talented than you, can't understand it?"

Gao Yuan blushed and quietly admitted, "My martial arts practice hasn't been going smoothly lately. Now it seems like everyone is pretty much in the same boat..."

"Same boat?" The Seventh Young Master glanced at Gao Yuan. "Have you even gotten the basics of the Crane Pine Stance down yet?"

"Almost."

"You haven't mastered the Crane Pine Stance, and he hasn't mastered the Crane Body Technique. It's like one person failed to become a child scholar, and the other failed to become the top scholar. You... feel the same way?"

The smile slowly disappeared from Gao Yuan's face and reappeared on the Seventh Young Master's smug face.