Who Was the Sucker?

Even in the vast Five Elements Sect, top-tier cultivation techniques, combat skills, and secret arts were extremely limited in number. If not for the fact that techniques like the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist and the Diamond Skin Refining Fist were only for the First Martial Realm and the Second Martial Realm, people like Qin Dongcheng would never have had access to them.

If techniques, combat skills, and secret arts of this caliber were sold outside the sect, they could easily fetch millions of taels of silver—and still be impossible to buy.

So it went without saying that a top-tier secret art was incredibly valuable. Yet this one was being sold for a mere thousand taels of silver. It was obvious what a bargain that was.

Even though he knew something was off, Qin Dongcheng couldn't help walking over to see what the fuss was about.

The man selling the top-tier secret art, the Heaven Concealment Art, was a short, skinny middle-aged fellow with a shifty face and pinched features. He didn't look like much. Several books lay before him, each bearing the same three ancient seal-script characters: Heaven Concealment Art. They were clearly handwritten copies, not the original.

Qin Dongcheng frowned, unsure whether the thing was genuine. But the people around him soon gave him the answer.

"The Heaven Concealment Art is genuine. It's a top-tier secret art, too. That fellow Shi Xing got it from some ancient tomb. Too bad it's impossibly difficult to comprehend and cultivate. In all these years, nobody's managed to understand it, let alone cultivate it successfully. What good is it, other than sitting on a shelf to look at?"

"The Five Elements Library has a copy of this top-tier secret art. I heard the sect paid Shi Xing a pretty penny for it. But after buying it, they found out nobody could cultivate it. Gradually, people stopped redeeming it, and the sect never even made back its costs. This is probably the only deal the Five Elements Library has ever lost money on."

"Haha, exactly. The Heaven Concealment Art is real, and so is the price. It's just a top-tier secret art that nobody can cultivate. What use is a high rank if it's impossible to learn? Shi Xing's out here scamming people again. He should stick to robbing tombs—instead, he's gone back to swindling folks. If his elders hadn't made great contributions to the sect, he'd have been kicked out of the Five Elements Sect long ago, and they'd never have let him become an Inner Sect Disciple."

"How many people has he cheated over the years? He's an Inner Sect Disciple, yet he's still out here fleecing everyone. What a disgrace. Surely nobody's falling for it anymore. Haven't enough people been burned over the years?"

After listening to the people around him, Qin Dongcheng finally understood what was going on.

The Heaven Concealment Art wasn't a fake. It really was a top-tier secret art, and its power was astonishing. The problem was that it was difficult to comprehend, difficult to master, and difficult to cultivate... Nobody had ever managed to cultivate it successfully, so people had gradually stopped paying it any attention. In everyone's eyes, it had become a scam of a secret art.

Shi Xing used this impossible-to-master secret art to swindle people out of a little silver now and then. Clearly, even he didn't think anyone could learn it—or he wouldn't be selling it so cheaply.

Even in the Myriad Phenomena Library, the contribution required to redeem the Heaven Concealment Art was very low, barely more than what it cost in silver.

Besides, it was merely an auxiliary secret art. Paying a hefty price just to see whether one could cultivate it really wasn't worth it.

But Qin Dongcheng was different. He had the Heaven Rewards Diligence System. As long as he studied it, he would gain something. Once he understood it and started cultivating, he would gain something then, too.

For other people, the Heaven Concealment Art was impossible to comprehend and impossible to cultivate. For him, it would only take a little extra time and effort.

An opportunity to buy a top-tier secret art at a bloodbath price didn't come along every day. Naturally, he had to seize it.

So Qin Dongcheng stepped forward and picked up a copy of the Heaven Concealment Art. "A thousand taels is too much. I'll buy a copy for a hundred taels. If I can't cultivate it, at least it won't break my heart."

"Sure thing. This copy of the Heaven Concealment Art is yours, hero!" Just when Qin Dongcheng thought Shi Xing would haggle with him, Shi Xing simply picked up a copy and placed it in his hands. He was all smiles, and his agreement was lightning-fast.

Qin Dongcheng froze. He'd haggled all the way down to a tenth of the asking price, and the deal had gone through just like that?

The excitement he'd felt moments ago somehow left him with a strange ache in his balls.

Seeing Qin Dongcheng standing there dumbfounded, Shi Xing grew even happier. It was only a handwritten copy of the Heaven Concealment Art, and it had cost him no more than a few dozen copper coins. He'd sold it for a hundred taels of silver—that was a hundred thousand copper coins. What a huge profit!

A top-tier secret art that couldn't be cultivated—could that still be called a top-tier secret art? He wasn't an idiot.

He quickly smiled and tried to reassure him. "Maybe you'll be the one to master it, hero. Then you'll make a fortune! Even if you can't, you can keep it at home as a rare curiosity. You won't lose out."

"Fine." Qin Dongcheng nodded helplessly and turned to leave. Laughter rose behind him.

"Another sucker's fallen for it. How much did that last sucker pay for the Heaven Concealment Art? I think it was fifty taels."

"Fifty taels, exactly. I was watching at the time. I can't believe this guy's even dumber—he haggled it up to a hundred taels. I think one tael would've been plenty."

"Shi Xing's struck it rich today. A hundred and fifty taels of silver! We couldn't earn that in a year."

"Too bad we don't have his thick skin. Otherwise, we'd find a way to buy copies and hawk them everywhere, too. Though we'd probably get beaten to death for it—unless, of course, we had connections like Shi Xing."

Qin Dongcheng felt even more glum. Fortunately, he had the Heaven Rewards Diligence System. He wasn't like those other suckers. He wasn't a sucker—he could cultivate the Heaven Concealment Art.

As soon as he returned home, Qin Dongcheng began trying to comprehend the Heaven Concealment Art. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, but with the Heaven Rewards Diligence System's help, he quickly began to grasp it.

"You have read the Heaven Concealment Art and gained insight into it!"

"You have read the Heaven Concealment Art and gained deeper insight into it!"

The system really came through. The Heaven Concealment Art that nobody else could understand was easy for him to comprehend. Insight after insight flooded into his mind, and Qin Dongcheng was soon completely immersed in it.

The deeper he immersed himself, the more he felt the Heaven Concealment Art's immense depth. No wonder nobody else could comprehend it. Its intricacies far surpassed the advanced mathematics of his previous life.

Its cultivation difficulty was even worse. It was ten or a hundred times harder than the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist. That fist was already so difficult—so just imagine a technique ten or a hundred times harder.

It really wasn't worth spending so much time and effort on an auxiliary secret art.

Even if someone managed to comprehend it, they probably still wouldn't cultivate it.

Without the Heaven Rewards Diligence System, Qin Dongcheng wouldn't have bought it either.

But the experience had given him an idea. Later, he could deliberately look for more techniques, combat skills, and secret arts like the Heaven Concealment Art.

Other people couldn't cultivate them, but with the system's help, he could. He could buy them cheaply, too. And techniques, combat skills, and secret arts like these were often astonishingly powerful. It was a win in every way.