Secret Origin Pavilion [New Book, Please Support]

Baiguo City, Chengjin Trading Company.

Ten Taels of Gold carefully concealed the scroll in his hands.

He was excited, thrilled.

Qinglian Hermit's painting was worth far more than a mere six thousand six hundred sixty-six taels of gold; in his hands, this scroll could sell for at least ten thousand taels of gold.

Doubling the price was entirely possible.

If he ran into a die-hard fan of Qinglian Hermit, the price might go even higher—either way, no loss at all.

As for Grand Hua Daoist and Su Changyu.

The two of them walked out of the pawnshop, holding banknotes, their expressions dazed.

Six thousand six hundred sixty-six taels of gold.

That was a fortune for Qingyun Dao Sect.

To put it in perspective, the entire Qingyun Dao Sect would need several hundred years to earn that much.

This sudden windfall left Grand Hua Daoist and Su Changyu at a loss.

They didn't even know what to do next.

"Sect Leader, what do we do now?"

Su Changyu was a bit stunned.

"First, repay the debt, then make a trip to the Secret Origin Pavilion."

Grand Hua Daoist snapped back to his senses and quickly sorted out his thoughts.

"Secret Origin Pavilion?"

Su Changyu was somewhat surprised.

The Secret Origin Pavilion was a famous shop in Baiguo City, specializing in selling secret manuals and magic artifacts. Generally speaking, even Third-rank Sects rarely visited it.

"This money was earned for our Qingyun Dao Sect by Little Junior Brother. I plan to buy him some secret manuals and some good things to nourish his body. Since he's a genius, we'll do our utmost to nurture him. After all, he's now the hope of our Qingyun Dao Sect."

"In the future, advancing to Third-rank, Second-rank, or even First-rank Sect might all depend on him."

Grand Hua Daoist said this, earning Su Changyu's admiration for his resourcefulness.

Soon, Grand Hua Daoist made a trip to the Sect Office, reluctantly paid a hundred taels of gold, and then led Su Changyu toward the Secret Origin Pavilion.

An incense stick's time later.

Grand Hua Daoist and Su Changyu arrived outside the Secret Origin Pavilion.

The Secret Origin Pavilion was lavishly decorated; even outside the entrance, there were two jade-carved stone lions, constantly flaunting an air of immense wealth.

"Esteemed Immortals, please enter."

From within the Secret Origin Pavilion, a Green-clad Maid stepped out. She had a pleasant face and greeted Grand Hua Daoist and Su Changyu with a smile, showing no snobbery—her service attitude was quite good.

Grand Hua Daoist walked in, with Su Changyu following behind.

"Is this the first time the two Esteemed Immortals have visited the Secret Origin Pavilion?"

The Green-clad Maid had someone serve tea, walked alongside them, and asked with a light smile.

"Yes, first time."

Grand Hua Daoist was a shrewd man who had seen all kinds of situations, his demeanor steady. Though Su Changyu was a bit nervous inside, he remained calm on the surface.

"Then, Esteemed Immortals, are you looking to buy magic artifacts or secret manuals?"

The Green-clad Maid continued asking.

"Secret manuals."

Grand Hua Daoist replied directly.

Weapons and magic artifacts weren't needed for now; the priority was secret manuals.

After all, with Su Changyu's limited knowledge, trying to fool Ye Ping would easily fall apart.

"Very well, then please follow me to the second floor, Esteemed Immortals."

The Green-clad Maid led the two upstairs.

"What type of secret manual or cultivation technique do the Esteemed Immortals require?"

The Green-clad Maid asked.

"Sword technique manuals, First-rank ones."

Grand Hua Daoist said with great boldness.

Hearing "First-rank," the Green-clad Maid's eyes lit up.

Cultivation technique manuals were detailed as Unranked, Third-rank, Second-rank, First-rank, and Super-rank. Above Super-rank were manuals of another level entirely, not cultivable without the Nascent Soul Realm.

A single First-rank sword technique manual was worth at least a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones—this was truly a big deal.

"Bring the Esteemed Immortals some premium tea."

The green-clad maid gave a few servant girls a look, signaling them to switch to a different type of tea.

But soon, Grand Hua Daoist continued speaking, "Just the Introductory Chapter."

He certainly couldn't afford a First-grade Complete Sword Manual, but the Introductory Chapter was enough. Since Ye Ping could comprehend the complete Four Thunder Sword Technique from a single Sword Mark, it proved his talent was unmatched—so why bother with the full version?

"No need to change."

The green-clad maid paused, then gave another look, telling the servant girls to stop.

An Introductory Chapter sword manual, even a first-grade one, wouldn't sell for many spirit stones. An Introductory Chapter might only contain a dozen or so Sword Moves.

But a guest was a guest, and the green-clad maid didn't treat them poorly because of it.

Soon, the green-clad maid led Grand Hua Daoist to the Book Pavilion and began selecting sword manuals.

There weren't many first-grade sword manuals—the entire Secret Origin Pavilion only had three sets.

"Esteemed Immortal, these three sword manuals are the Three Yuan Golden Sun Sword Technique, the River Sword Technique, and the Seven Star Sword Technique. Each is priced at Five Hundred Spirit Stones," the green-clad maid said.

"Five Hundred Spirit Stones?"

Grand Hua Daoist was a bit taken aback.

"The Four Thunder Sword Technique's Introductory Chapter isn't this expensive, is it?" Grand Hua Daoist frowned. It wasn't that he couldn't spare the spirit stones, but he wanted to save some to buy other things for Ye Ping—just buying a sword manual wouldn't do.

"Esteemed Immortal, you misunderstand. The Four Thunder Sword Technique is widely circulated in Qingzhou, and these four sword techniques are all enhanced with secret methods, allowing the viewer to quickly comprehend the swordplay. So five hundred spirit stones per manual isn't expensive," the latter said with a light laugh.

For a moment, Grand Hua Daoist fell silent.

He had thought sword techniques would be cheap—the Four Thunder Sword Technique hadn't been that costly back then—but he never expected the starting price to be five hundred low-grade spirit stones, equivalent to five thousand taels of gold.

"Of course, we're currently running a Promotional Event, so we can knock off fifty low-grade spirit stones," the other said with a smile.

Yet Grand Hua Daoist remained silent.

He hesitated for a long time.

Finally, gritting his teeth, he looked at the green-clad maid and asked, "Which one is the strongest?"

"Esteemed Immortal, among these three sword manuals, the one with the greatest power is the River Sword Technique. Its Sword Momentum flows like a great river, quite formidable. If your disciple has excellent talent, he might even comprehend a higher-level sword technique, the Spirit Sea Sword Technique," the green-clad maid said.

"He can comprehend the higher-level Spirit Sea Sword Technique too?"

Grand Hua Daoist was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, the River Sword Technique is itself a superior-grade sword manual, a simplified version of the Spirit Sea Sword Technique. If one's talent is exceptional, they might comprehend the Spirit Sea Sword Technique—one of the three great sword techniques of the Jin Kingdom Spirit Sword Sect," the other said.

For a moment, Grand Hua Daoist was astonished.

"In that case, I'll take this one. By the way, do you have Qi Cultivation Pills and Qi Replenishing Pills here?" Grand Hua Daoist asked.

"Yes, high-grade Qi Cultivation Pills are one spirit stone each, Qi Replenishing Pills are four for one spirit stone, mid-grade Qi Cultivation Pills are two for one spirit stone, and low-grade Qi Cultivation Pills are five for one spirit stone. Which would you like, Esteemed Immortal?" the green-clad maid continued.

"High-grade. Fifty Qi Cultivation Pills and two hundred Qi Replenishing Pills."

Grand Hua Daoist didn't overthink it. Since he had money in his pocket, he didn't want to buy inferior products for Ye Ping to consume.

After all, medicine had its toxicity; the better the quality, the lower the toxicity. High-grade pills wouldn't have much of an impact and could help Ye Ping step onto the path of cultivation sooner.

Ye Ping's talent in the sword was strong, but his cultivation talent was poor—Grand Hua Daoist understood this well.

Strong sword talent was a good thing, but cultivation had to keep pace. Even if it was poor, he should at least reach the peak of the Qi Refining Realm.

Against Qi Refining Realm cultivators, his sword mastery could hold its own, but if he ran into a Foundation Establishment Realm expert, he might as well wait for death—even condensing Sword Intent wouldn't help much.

"Very well, Esteemed Immortal, please wait a moment."

The green-clad maid didn't waste words. In less than a moment, she had everything prepared.

The total came to five hundred and fifty spirit stones, which in banknotes was five thousand five hundred taels of gold.

As they were leaving, Grand Hua Daoist gritted his teeth and bought two Cold Iron Swords on the side. They weren't Magic Artifacts, just top-tier mortal weapons, priced at five hundred taels of gold, which Grand Hua Daoist haggled down to four hundred and sixty-six taels.

At that moment, Grand Hua Daoist had only six hundred taels of gold left in hand.

But just as he stepped out of the Secret Origin Pavilion, Grand Hua Daoist suddenly remembered something.