Outside Secret Origin Pavilion.
Grand Hua Daoist suddenly thought of something.
He looked at Su Changyu and said,
"Changyu, your Second Junior Brother and Third Junior Brother are taking the Alchemist and Array Master examinations at the end of the year, aren't they?"
Grand Hua Daoist suddenly recalled,
"It seems Fourth Junior Brother is taking the Talisman Examination too."
Su Changyu answered.
"Then that settles it. Let's buy them some more manuals too."
Grand Hua Daoist spoke, suddenly thinking of his other disciples.
"Then let's go back inside."
Su Changyu said indifferently.
"Go inside where?"
Grand Hua Daoist was a little curious.
"Secret Origin Pavilion."
Su Changyu was also slightly bewildered. Weren't they buying manuals? They should buy them at Secret Origin Pavilion.
"We're buying for them and still coming here? No matter how much money we have, we can't spend it like that."
Grand Hua Daoist shook his head, then led Su Changyu outside.
One incense stick later.
At the Baiguo City Cultivator Market.
Besides the shops lining the streets, stalls outside stretched into a long dragon. All manner of strange and exotic things filled the eye.
Before one stall, Grand Hua Daoist looked at the scattered manuals laid out there.
"How much are these?"
Grand Hua Daoist pointed at the disorderly manuals on the ground. They looked ancient and worn, the sort of extremely cheap manuals.
"Sold by weight, esteemed immortals. Ten taels of gold per jin."
The stall owner was a middle-aged man. Seeing customers approach, he immediately greeted them with an eager smile.
"Ten taels of gold per jin? Are you robbing people?"
Hearing the price, Grand Hua Daoist's expression instantly changed. It was not as though he had never bought such manuals before.
The manuals on this stall were half real and half fake, and most were copied works. Put plainly, they were not cultivation manuals or mental arts at all, but merely theoretical knowledge.
To put it bluntly, they were things written by armchair theorists.
They were not very useful, though they had some use.
After all, which powerhouse's handwritten notes were not a word worth a thousand gold?
Would they appear in a place like this?
"Esteemed Immortal, these are all genuine ancient texts. Just flipping through them could bring enlightenment. Look at this one—How to Condense the True Dragon Divine Body. And this one—How to Open Three Thousand Six Hundred Spirit Acupoints. They're all first-rate treasures!"
The stall owner hurriedly spoke, holding Grand Hua Daoist back.
Then, gritting his teeth, he continued, "How about this? I'll give you a discount. Ten taels of gold for two jin. What do you say?"
The stall owner said this.
"Ten taels of gold for ten jin. Take it or leave it. Condense the True Dragon Divine Body? Who are you trying to fool?"
Grand Hua Daoist could not be bothered with him at all. These things were purely meant to deceive people. They looked impressive, but in truth did not even count as theories.
If anyone could gain enlightenment from reading such manuals, Grand Hua Daoist would eat every last one of these books, clean as a whistle.
"One tael for ten jin? Esteemed Immortal, please don't joke around. At most, one tael for five jin."
The stall owner wore a mournful expression.
"Changyu, let's go."
Grand Hua Daoist ignored the stall owner and prepared to leave directly.
"Fine, fine, let's consider it making friends. Esteemed Immortal, would you like to choose them yourself, or shall I do it?"
The stall owner had nothing more to say.
"Pack them all up."
Grand Hua Daoist spoke. He wanted all of them.
He was not truly buying so many manuals for his disciples to read. They were mainly for decoration.
The Qingyun Dao Sect had a Scripture Repository, but there were not any manuals inside at all. Thus, Grand Hua Daoist planned to buy several hundred manuals to decorate it.
Otherwise, why would he buy this stuff with nothing better to do?
"Alright! Esteemed Immortal, please wait."
The stall owner did not waste words and immediately began packing them into boxes. He had four or five hundred such books at his stall—on alchemy, arrays, talismans, and a whole pile of exceedingly strange subjects.
Things like "Perfect Development of Supreme Phenomenon."
Things like "Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Primordial Spirit Art."
Things like "Method for Opening Immortal Dao Twin Pupils."
And even things like "Late at Night, Master's Wife Knocked on My Door."
In short, there were all kinds of bizarre books. Yet they were all fabricated, borrowing a single premise to spin out methods that sounded perfectly reasonable but could never possibly succeed, aimed precisely at those new to cultivation.
Most people bought these manuals merely to fill out their Scripture Repositories. The Scripture Repositories of great sects might have several hundred manuals, but how could small sects possess several hundred manuals? They could only buy things like these to put on a show.
Several hundred manuals filled one box, weighing around a hundred jin, which came to one hundred taels of gold.
Grand Hua Daoist also visited several shops and bought some genuine supplementary books on alchemy, arrays, artifact refinement, talismans, and the like.
He also had quite a few sets of clothes made, intending to outfit everyone in the sect, and bought plenty of high-grade spirit rice and demon beast meat, arranging for them to be delivered to the sect together later.
Yet he bought nothing for himself. He spent it all on his disciples.
Just like that, of the six hundred taels of gold, only around two hundred remained.
It made Grand Hua Daoist's heart ache for no reason.
But there was no helping it. If he wanted the sect to develop, he had to pour money into it. Ye Ping was the painting, and his talent was excellent, so the lion's share would be spent on Ye Ping. The other disciples could bask in his blessings. That was Grand Hua Daoist's thinking.
After everything was settled, Grand Hua Daoist did not linger any longer in Baiguo City. He took Su Changyu and headed straight back to the Qingyun Dao Sect.
The manuals, high-grade spirit rice, and custom-made clothes were all arranged to be delivered to the sect by designated laborers.
On the road back to the sect.
Grand Hua Daoist handed the River Sword Technique to Su Changyu.
"Changyu, you can only read this sword technique once. Comprehend it properly. Once you have learned it, pass it on to Ye Ping."
Grand Hua Daoist spoke, leaving Su Changyu somewhat astonished.
"For me?"
Su Changyu truly was a little surprised.
He knew his own limits. Hadn't this been bought for Ye Ping? Why was it being given to him?
Su Changyu was somewhat puzzled.
Sensing Su Changyu's confusion, Grand Hua Daoist immediately explained,
"Are you stupid? If we just handed the manual directly to your little junior brother, then what would we be needed for? Teaching sword techniques is something we must do personally. This manual has secret arts imbued into it. You only need to read it once to gain enlightenment into part of the sword technique. Then you can teach it to your little junior brother."
"With his talent, the green would surpass the blue. But he would think you were the one who taught him. If we just gave him a manual, who couldn't do that?"
Grand Hua Daoist's thoughts were exceptionally meticulous. Rather than hand the manual directly to Ye Ping, he had Su Changyu learn it first, then teach it to Ye Ping after mastering it.
With that explanation, Su Changyu immediately understood.
"Sect Leader, you're still the clever one."
Su Changyu smiled.
"Otherwise, why do you think I went to Secret Origin Pavilion to buy a manual? If I weren't afraid you wouldn't comprehend the sword technique even after a year, why would I need to buy this sort of manual? Wouldn't it be better to buy a simplified version directly?"
Grand Hua Daoist said irritably.
He had specifically gone to Secret Origin Pavilion to buy a sword manual because the sword manuals there were imbued with Dao arts. As long as one flipped through and read them, it would be like a bucket of cold water poured over one's head, allowing one to quickly grasp the basic Sword Moves.
Otherwise, if Su Changyu had to practice slowly on his own, who knew what year or month it would be before he gained enlightenment into the River Sword Technique.
"But even with enlightenment, I'll still need some time. What should we do during that time?"
Su Changyu continued asking.
"See? Didn't your master buy so many manuals? Have him read them in rotation. Before you teach him the next sword art, let him read those."
Grand Hua Daoist pointed at the box behind them as he spoke.
"These books?"
Su Changyu's expression became somewhat strange. He knew what those books were—random nonsense that was not manuals at all. They would be more suitable as novels.
But after thinking it over, Su Changyu still nodded.
Yet at the end, Grand Hua Daoist's voice sounded again.
"Changyu, there's one more thing I need you to do."
Grand Hua Daoist lowered his voice.
"What is it?"
Curiosity appeared in Su Changyu's eyes.
"Get paintings."
Before you continue