Young Master Chu Can't Help You Copy It, Can He? (Seeking Follows, Seeking Votes)

"Stop looking around. Do you really think Chu Ming could transcribe this for you? Look at me, kid Hou. As long as you tell me where you obtained this technique, I, Shao Pengshu, will take you as my disciple."

"Really?" Hou Wuchun was instantly overcome with excitement. "To be able to apprentice under Lord Shao... if my mother knew... Master, please wait."

Shao Pengshu grabbed Hou Wuchun by the arm. "Why are you running toward Chu Ming? Can't you write? Are you asking Chu Ming to transcribe it for you?"

"Although Chu Ming knows how to write, he is not a martial artist. The technique he transcribes would lack the essence; it would have the form but not the intent."

"Tell your master where it was transcribed, and I shall go myself."

Hou Wuchun shook his head vigorously. "I know how to write, Master. Please let go of me; I need to go beg Brother Chu."

"If you know how to write, then transcribe it yourself! Why are you begging Chu Ming for anything? You're babbling nonsense!"

Hou Wuchun was sweating with anxiety. "Master, Brother Chu—it's Brother Chu."

"Kid Hou, don't get worked up. Take a deep breath, calm down, and speak properly. Young Master Chu Ming really can't transcribe this," Tan Hong added from the side.

Hou Wuchun took a deep breath, steadied his nerves, and pointed toward Chu Ming's carriage. "I bought the technique from Brother Chu. Brother Chu is the expert Master mentioned. If I want the subsequent parts of the technique, I have to buy them from Brother Chu."

He spoke every word clearly and with great seriousness.

Chu Ming? An expert?

"Kid Hou, look me in the eyes. I'll give you one more chance. If you keep spouting nonsense, you can just go back to Willow Town."

Shao Pengshu's face was stern and his tone was soft, but the anger behind it was palpable.

"Is your father forbidding you from speaking?" Tan Hong also tightened his face, his voice chilling. "Lord Shao is your master. A day as a master is a lifetime as a father; he is your father, too."

"..." Hou Wuchun hunched his shoulders, looking at the two men in fear. With a voice on the verge of tears, he said, "Master, Lord Tan, Brother Chu really is the one who sold me the technique."

"Fine. Go find Chu Ming. If you can't bring out the rest of the technique, I won't just send you back to Willow Town—I'll have you thrown into the Ministry of Justice Dungeon to deliver meals to those heinous criminals every single day."

"Then... then what if I do bring out the technique..." Hou Wuchun muttered under his breath.

Shao Pengshu's face remained rigid as he said, "If Chu Ming can transcribe even five parts of the martial intent into the technique you hold, I will cover your medicinal costs for three years of martial training at the Criminal Defense Division, as well as all of Chu Ming's expenses at the Baiyuan Academy for three years."

"And if you manage to get the subsequent technique from Chu Ming, I will call you—no, I will call Young Master Chu Ming 'Master'!"

"Tan Hong will call him that too!"

Tan Hong: "..."

Three years of medicinal costs?!

Hou Wuchun's eyes lit up, and he lunged toward the carriage.

Shao Pengshu's voice had been loud, and Chu Ming, inside the carriage, had heard every word. He was seen calmly taking out brush, ink, and paper from a nearby bundle, beginning to write.

Hou Wuchun ran to the front of the carriage and impatiently reached out to lift the curtain, but the moment his hand touched the fabric, he paused.

If I call Lord Shao 'Master', and Lord Shao calls Brother Chu 'Master', then the master of my master... what should I call Brother Chu?

Grandmaster?

He blinked, unable to fully grasp the logic of the relationship, but he lifted the curtain anyway. A familiar scent of ink wafted out from within.

"Chu... Brother, there is something I need to discuss with you."

"Come in." Chu Ming did not look up; he dipped his brush in ink and continued to write.

"The subsequent parts of the Optimized Tiger Python Force..." Hou Wuchun fished out the ten taels of silver he had just traded for the book, separating them into two piles: three taels in his left hand and seven in his right.

He extended his right hand, a smile plastered on his face. "Could Brother Chu write a bit more?"

At this moment, Hou Wuchun suddenly felt a wave of insecurity; he wasn't entirely sure if Chu Ming was truly capable of producing the rest of the technique.

"Leave it there." Chu Ming glanced at the silver and returned his gaze to the paper. "I'm writing it."

The Optimized Tiger Python Force was only the first stage of the Body Forging Technique. It was quite useful for someone like Hou Wuchun who was just starting his martial journey, but for a martial artist like Shao Pengshu, who was already in the middle-to-late stages of the Blood Activation Realm, its utility was limited.

What he was transcribing was the earliest version he had deduced, one that had long since been discarded. It was perfect for trading for some silver.

"You really can?"

"Mm."

Outside, Shao Pengshu and Tan Hong stood shoulder to shoulder, looking toward the carriage with disdain.

"Chu Ming didn't even dare to demonstrate the Tiger Python Force in front of us. And yet, Hou Wuchun expects this young master to save him."

In his view, Hou Wuchun ducking into Chu Ming's carriage was just a way to hide from them.

"Lord Shao, that technique is of great importance. Should we report it and have Hou Ping brought to the... Criminal Defense Division for questioning?" Tan Hong whispered.

"Report it? Arrest Hou Ping?" Shao Pengshu turned his cold gaze toward him. "Are you a fool or an idiot?"

"Obtain a good technique and then report it? Even if we report it, we should at least learn it ourselves first and climb to a higher position, shouldn't we?"

"If we report it now, they'll just toss us a few taels of silver and send us packing."

"And as for that Hou Ping, if you aren't afraid of angering Instructor Fang and Chief Instructor Lin, then go ahead and arrest him."

Shao Pengshu weighed the technique in his hand, reached out, and said coldly, "This technique, though we have seen little of it so far, has extraordinary potential. If we could obtain the complete Body Forging Technique... this technique is known only to you, me, and the kid Hou. Chu Ming only understands it half-heartedly."

Tan Hong nodded. "Rest assured, my Lord. I won't tell a soul."

"Hmm," Shao Pengshu closed the manual and patted his chest, feeling a bit empty. "If you want to keep reading, bring me twenty taels of silver."

"Ah?" Tan Hong was stunned. "Lord Shao, didn't you just say ten taels..."

"What ten taels? You didn't hear the Hou kid say twenty?"

"Lord Shao, I still think the Tiger Python Body-Forging Technique is better. I won't learn this one."

Although the technique was good, it was only a small part of the Tiger Python Force. At most, it made his blood and qi more solid, but it wouldn't allow him to condense new blood and qi in a short time; its utility was limited.

The key was... Tan Hong glanced at the carriage behind them. Since the Hou kid said he had copied several versions, why should he spend twenty taels?

"For the rest of the journey, I will take Hou Wuchun, and you will take Chu Ming." Shao Pengshu seemed to see through Tan Hong's thoughts and spoke coldly.

"...Isn't that inappropriate?"

"What's inappropriate about it? I am his master." Shao Pengshu stuffed the manual into his robes. "The time is about right. That kid won't be able to run away. Let's head back to the Criminal Defense Division first."

"Yes."

The two walked side by side toward the carriage. Just then, Hou Wuchun crawled out, carefully holding a piece of paper in his hands.

"Copied it so fast? Although Young Master Chu isn't good at martial arts, he has a bit of talent when it comes to reading and writing." Shao Pengshu reached out nonchalantly. "Bring it here. Let me see how much martial intent it has."

"Master, the ink isn't dry yet, be careful." "What's this about dry or not? Isn't it just a copy... hmm?" Shao Pengshu snatched the paper, his gaze falling upon it. He had expected a transcription of the three pages Hou Wuchun had, but the content on the paper...

With just one glance, he saw its extraordinary nature.

Furthermore, it was a direct continuation of the previous movements!

He jerked his head up and looked into the carriage. "Young Master Chu wrote this just now?"

The martial intent was lacking, but the movements depicted shocked him.

"Yeah, the ink isn't dry yet." Hou Wuchun pointed at the paper. "Master, if you don't hold it properly, those diagrams are going to smudge."

Shao Pengshu was startled and immediately snapped back to reality, staring intently at the paper.

Beside him, Tan Hong looked at the moves and stances on the page with a face full of astonishment.

Chu Ming's voice drifted from inside the carriage: "Steward Fang said this technique is only to be passed on to those one trusts..."

The origin of the technique naturally had to be pushed onto Fang Xiao.

"Rest assured, Young Master Chu, we are trustworthy!" Shao Pengshu hurriedly replied.

It matched, it all matched!

The two men once again transformed into fanatics, practicing the moves depicted on the paper.

With the moves on this sheet, it was a complete, optimized set of the Tiger Python Force.

"Um, Master, what you said just now..." Hou Wuchun squatted on the carriage, keeping a straight face as he whispered a reminder. "Does it still count?"

"It counts, it counts. Tan Hong will cover all your medicinal costs." Shao Pengshu's attention was entirely on the Tiger Python Force, and he answered subconsciously.

"Right, covered. I'll cover it all." Tan Hong was in much the same state.

"And what else?" Hou Wuchun added.