Hidden Weapon = Throwing Pebbles?

Obviously, the masked man did not expect Lin Changsheng to be sitting in the courtyard at this late hour.

As soon as the masked man reacted, he clawed straight for Lin Changsheng's throat with a fierce claw-wind!

Lin Changsheng noticed that the masked man was wearing a pair of gloves, their fingertips dyed a vivid, bluish hue that gleamed ominously in the moonlight.

Moreover, the internal energy surging through this person's body abruptly marked him as a second-rate expert.

"Who are you?"

Seeing that the masked man's gloves were laced with poison and that he intended to kill from the start, Lin Changsheng felt a jolt of alarm. He snatched up the bamboo pole by his side and executed the Flying Eaves Lightness Skill, soaring onto the rooftop in an instant like a swallow.

"A second-rate expert!"

"You've hidden your strength deep!"

Seeing Lin Changsheng's exceptional movement technique, the masked man was clearly taken aback. His gaze turned fierce, and with a flick of his wrists, three points of cold light shot toward Lin Changsheng's upper, middle, and lower targets.

They were aimed respectively at his eyes, throat, and groin!

"Azure Snake Sword Technique!"

Channeling his surging internal energy into the bamboo pole in his hand, Lin Changsheng executed the consummated Azure Snake Sword Technique, instantly knocking the three incoming hidden weapons back with a deflection that sent them whistling in reverse.

With a form resembling a giant bird, Lin Changsheng lunged toward the masked man. The bamboo pole in his hand executed the Azure Snake Sword Technique with angles as tricky and venomous as a viper, thrusting straight for the masked man's throat!

By this time, Lin Changsheng's cultivation had already reached the second-class peak, needing just a sliver of experience value to advance to the first-class realm.

Although this middle-aged man was a second-rate expert, he was nowhere near Lin Changsheng's peak realm. In a flash, Lin Changsheng pierced him in three places—the chest, the thigh, and another spot—leaving three bloody holes!

Fresh blood poured out.

"You!"

Staring at Lin Changsheng, the masked man's eyes betrayed sheer horror. He never expected that the youthful, seemingly harmless teenager before him would be so formidable.

Furthermore.

His cultivation was hidden so deeply that he hadn't been able to tell at all!

Relying on his lightness skill, the masked man instantly fell back and bolted toward the outside of the courtyard.

"Now that you've come, do you really think you can just leave?"

Seeing that the masked man actually wanted to run, Lin Changsheng's gaze flashed. He retrieved a heavy bow from behind the door, drew it, and loosed an arrow in a single fluid motion.

"Whoosh!"

The bamboo-shaved feathered arrow, infused with Lin Changsheng's second-class peak internal energy, pierced straight through the masked man's body from behind like a shooting star!

"Urgh!"

The masked man let out a muffled groan. The powerful impact drove him forward for a few running steps before he collapsed onto the ground.

"It's him?"

Lin Changsheng walked forward and used a stick to flip the masked man over. Pulling off his mask, he discovered that this masked man was none other than Ling Ziyu, the person who had come earlier that day to ask whether he had buried Gao Yang.

"For the sake of that token, this Ling Ziyu is utterly relentless. It seems that token truly is extraordinary."

Lin Changsheng thought of the token engraved with a white cloud that he had obtained from Gao Yang's bundle.

When Ling Ziyu had come asking about it earlier today and offered one hundred taels of silver, Lin Changsheng's refusal had proven entirely correct.

"It seems I won't need to use this hairpin after all."

Inside her room, Yu Wenjing stood by the window, watching Lin Changsheng holding his bow in the distance. Her pretty eyes held a look of surprise, and in her hand, she held a jade-green hairpin whose glow was gradually fading.

The light dissipated completely.

Yu Wenjing reinserted the hairpin back into her glossy hair.

This hairpin was her protective talisman, diminishing in utility with every single use. She would not resort to it unless absolutely necessary. Of course, had Lin Changsheng run into mortal danger, she certainly would have used it—after all, Lin Changsheng was the one who had saved her life.

"One hundred and thirty taels of silver, and the hidden weapon manual Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers (Fragmentary)?"

Lin Changsheng carefully searched the masked man, finding some silver notes and loose silver pieces inside his tunic that totaled one hundred and thirty taels.

On top of that, there was an animal-skin scroll.

The animal-skin scroll was incomplete, recording a hidden-weapon technique called Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers. It only detailed three moves, namely One Stone, Three Birds, Parting Swallows, and Life-Taking Meteor.

"I never expected such a harvest."

Gazing at the spoils he had acquired today, a hint of joy surfaced in Lin Changsheng's eyes.

He put on his gloves, hoisted the masked man's corpse, and took advantage of the dark, moonless night to run toward the spot where he had slain Tie Yang days ago.

Before long, he tossed the masked man Ling Ziyu straight into the Grand Canal.

"Changsheng, are you alright?"

Yu Wenjing walked up to him, worry flickering in her lovely eyes.

"I'm fine, perfectly fine. Go back to sleep, I'm getting ready for bed too."

Lin Changsheng clapped his hands together and spoke.

His mood was excellent. Tonight's harvest was bountiful—five taels of silver were enough to sustain a family of three with food and drink for a whole year, yet he had secured one hundred and thirty taels in a single stroke, along with a hidden-weapon manual.

"Mmh!"

Yu Wenjing nodded and returned to her room.

Lin Changsheng, however, felt no sleepiness. He lay down by the window, bathed in the moonlight, and pulled out the Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers manual to read it closely.

The Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers manual.

It contained three moves: One Stone, Three Birds, Parting Swallows, and Life-Taking Meteor, detailing the methods of exerting force for all three techniques.

Lin Changsheng walked out the door, picked up a few pebbles, and tossed them according to the exertion techniques described in the manual.

The pebbles clattered outside his palm with a snap!

[Detected hidden weapon technique: Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers (Fragmentary). Consume ten taels of silver to simplify it?]

Right at that moment, a red prompt message popped up on the panel before Lin Changsheng's eyes.

"Simplify."

Lin Changsheng mentally confirmed it immediately.

Scarcely a moment after Lin Changsheng gave his mental confirmation, the panel popped up with another red prompt.

"The Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers hidden weapon (Fragmentary) simplified into throwing pebbles?"

Seeing the prompt on the panel, Lin Changsheng could not help widening his eyes in surprise.

For a hidden-weapon technique to be simplified into throwing pebbles meant that practicing it would become vastly faster.

With a flick of his consciousness, Lin Changsheng opened the panel.

[Great Dao is Simple: Level 1]
[Lin Changsheng: 16/55]
[Cultivation: Second-Class (2499/2500)]
[Technique: Sun-Moon Breathing Method (Proficient 13278/25000)]
[Martial Arts: Archery (Grand Consummation), Iron Sand Palm (Grand Consummation), Flying Eaves Lightness Skill (Grand Consummation), Azure Snake Sword Technique (Great Accomplishment 6223/12500), Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers (Fragmentary) (Initiation 0/500)]
[Consuming a certain amount of silver allows simplification of techniques, martial skills, etc.]
[Status: Yin Qi invading the body (Weakened)]

"Even this can increase experience points."

Lin Changsheng picked up some pebbles and started tossing them. He discovered that playing the childhood game of stacking pebbles from his past life could also increase experience points.

Simply tossing the pebbles onto the back of his hand and then catching them in his palm netted him a point of experience.

Lin Changsheng instantly lost all sleepiness. He spent a full half-hour tossing pebbles, and by the time he stopped, the Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers (Fragmentary) hidden weapon manual had already reached the proficient stage.

To bathe in the moonlight, he simply hauled a chair over and sat down in the courtyard to rest. That way, the moonlight could shine directly upon him, allowing him to cultivate and sleep at the same time.

Three days later.

Hundred Herbs Hall.

"You want to start the pharmacist's apprentice examination?"

"You've finished reading the Hundred Herbs Pharmacopoeia? You've memorized all the various medicinal herbs inside and out?"

Pharmacist Chen of Hundred Herbs Hall looked at Lin Changsheng, a look of doubt crossing his face.

Pharmacist Chen was the examiner for Hundred Herbs Hall. Having served as a pharmacist for his entire life, he was over sixty years old with graying hair, yet he possessed exceptional vitality. However, lacking any talent for alchemy, he knew how to brew nothing more than Blood-Qi Decoction and Qi-Blood Paste to this day.