Divine Pounce, Ghost-Fall!

"I had to comprehend Hidden Force as soon as possible and strengthen my abilities."

A greater sense of urgency rose in Chen Jichuan's heart.

He steadied himself.

Then his gaze shifted to the bundle Chen Shaohe had carried back.

He stepped forward, opened it, and found the rest of today's gains within, aside from the Spirit Jujubes and the Spirit Jujube Tree.

Chen Shaohe had sharp eyes.

At once, he spotted a rather exquisite brocade pouch inside and snatched it up. "Such a pretty pouch. Whatever's inside must be valuable."

Chen Jichuan watched.

He recognized the pouch as something taken from Xu Lang, the only Fourth Rank expert among the six Flying Eagle Hall members of the Li River Gang he had killed today. He had casually squeezed it earlier and felt two beads inside, each about the size of a cherry.

"Maybe they're pearls."

Chen Jichuan smiled.

"Pearls?"

Chen Shaohe's eyes lit up. He tipped them into his palm and saw two round, watery, misty pearls roll out. They felt icy cool to the touch and gave off a faint fragrance that refreshed the heart and delighted the mind.

"They really are pearls!"

Chen Shaohe's eyes brightened even further. "These should sell for quite a bit, right?"

He knew that these past few days, his fourth brother had been working hard for rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. Every day after practicing martial arts, he still had to hunt in the mountains and fish in the water.

With these two pearls, things should become much easier.

"But—"

"Pearls are too conspicuous. They'd be hard to sell, and if we exposed ourselves and aroused suspicion, that would be bad."

Chen Shaohe handed the two pearls to his fourth brother, brows slightly furrowed as he pondered how to sell them safely.

"Sell them?"

Chen Jichuan took the pearls, smiling as well, but shook his head at Chen Shaohe. "You can't buy something this good even with money. Why would we sell it?"

He held the pearls in his hand.

Joy rose in his heart, and the lingering doubts from before vanished completely.

[Li River Clam Pearl: Produced by river clams in the Li River Water Palace, it possesses immense medicinal value. It contains spiritual energy; carrying it while cultivating can increase inner breath and inner force. Ground into powder and scattered over farmland, it can improve the soil's properties, increase soil fertility, raise crop yields, and make Medicinal Herbs grow faster.]

A month ago.

On the road to Yangshuo County, Chen Jichuan had encountered a grain merchant named Bao Zhongliang, who had mentioned that the Li River Gang possessed a secret formula capable of increasing grain yields by seventy to eighty percent.

Chen Jichuan had remembered it then.

He had even wondered whether he could get his hands on that formula, but he had never encountered it.

Now that he thought about it.

This so-called secret method for increasing yields was these Li River Clam Pearls.

"Li River Water Palace."

"Li River Clam Pearls."

The Wusheng Sect had Black Prison, and Black Prison contained Yantie Ore and Spirit Stones.

The Golden Sun Sect had Peach Haven, where grain yields were exceptionally high.

And the Li River Gang had a Water Mansion, which produced Clam Pearls that could be used both for cultivation and for increasing grain yields.

Each possessed its own marvels.

No wonder the three sects could carve up Shian Commandery and stand in a three-legged balance.

"I just wonder—"

"Whether Peach Haven and the Water Mansion contain Spirit Stones."

Chen Jichuan pondered this as he put the two Clam Pearls away again.

The Clam Pearls were useful for cultivation.

He could save them for when he taught Chen Shaohe to cultivate.

"Cultivation?"

"Didn't you say my body still hadn't recovered, Fourth Brother?"

At the mention of cultivation, Chen Shaohe's spirits lifted, and he hurriedly looked at his fourth brother.

"It hasn't recovered."

"I meant I'd save them for you. Once your body has recovered and you can practice martial arts, I'll give them to you."

Chen Jichuan could neither laugh nor cry.

This fifth brother of his had martial arts on his mind all day, to the point of obsession. If not for the fact that he had always listened to Chen Jichuan and was terribly afraid of death, he would probably have long since pestered him without restraint to teach him.

But it made sense.

His Altered Ability had made no progress at all, and he could not find the slightest clue.

No matter how Chen Shaohe practiced every day, he saw no improvement. That only made him crave martial arts more deeply.

Name: Chen Shaohe

Age: 16

Level: 4

Talent: Fire Control

"Haste makes waste."

"Get your body back in shape first. Only then will practicing martial arts yield twice the result with half the effort."

Chen Jichuan soothed him.

Chen Shaohe had spent too long in Black Prison, and his physical condition was worrying.

After coming out, he had eaten well, drunk well, exercised consistently, and recuperated for a month before making up for much of the damage. But Chen Jichuan's hard martial arts were still beyond what Chen Shaohe could learn in a short time.

"I know, I know."

"Sharpening the knife does not delay the cutting of firewood!"

Chen Shaohe was merely a little impatient. He understood all the reasoning.

In this regard, his fourth brother was the expert. He only had to listen to him.

As he spoke, he picked up a booklet from the bundle and casually flipped through it.

The moment he looked.

He became annoyed. "Why is it martial arts again?!"

He had only just managed to stop thinking about practicing martial arts, yet he ran straight into it again. Naturally, he was irritated.

"Martial arts?"

Chen Jichuan ignored him and picked up the booklet to examine it.

Sure enough.

On the first page were three bold characters, dancing like dragons and flying like phoenixes: Divine Pounce Blade.

Delight appeared on his face.

He hurriedly flipped through the other booklets and discovered another martial art. "Ghost-Fall Sword!"

"Divine Pounce Blade."

"Ghost-Fall Sword."

The smile on Chen Jichuan's face grew broader and broader.

He picked up Divine Pounce Blade and read through it.

It truly was a legendary martial arts manual, recording a martial art called Divine Pounce Blade. It contained both illustrations and text, including not only a blade technique but also a matching inner cultivation method.

Kill someone.

And manuals exploded out.

It sounded strange.

But after Chen Jichuan read a little, he understood that it was perfectly normal. The manual was packed with countless tiny, crooked notes, all of them insights into cultivating the blade technique and inner cultivation method.

Presumably, its owner had carried the manual with him so that whenever he gained some insight while practicing, he could record it at once.

The palest ink was better than the best memory.

This spirit of study was equally applicable to martial artists.

And it happened to benefit Chen Jichuan.

"I wonder which is stronger, these or the martial arts Fourth Brother practices."

When Chen Shaohe saw his fourth brother repeatedly reading the little booklet, his gloom immediately dissipated. He looked at the manuals, and anticipation suddenly appeared on his face as well.

Though he could not practice martial arts for now, these two manuals might be of great use to his fourth brother.

"They aren't from the same system."

"My martial arts temper the body and strengthen physical power. These two Cultivation Methods require one to first find Qi Sensation, then circulate it according to the inner cultivation method and make it grow, gradually nourishing the body without one realizing it. When fighting others, inner breath and inner force can bolster one's strength and unleash formidable combat power."

Chen Jichuan flipped through the pages casually.

Naturally, he could not make out anything profound at a glance, but he could tell that this was an entirely different martial arts system from the hard martial arts he had learned before.

"Though it can't be called entirely different."

"When I cultivate the Iron Bull Technique, Body-Striking Technique, and Crouching Tiger Technique, I also have to exhale and inhale according to a specific rhythm."

"Perhaps that counts as internal cultivation too."

After thinking it over, Chen Jichuan put away all four booklets and told Chen Shaohe, "The manuals say that cultivating an internal method requires supervision and instruction from an elder or teacher. Otherwise, if something goes wrong while circulating qi, it's easy to suffer deviation and ruin your body. I'll take these two martial arts to the Great Yan World first and find someone to test them on. Once I'm certain there's no danger, I'll come back and teach you."

Chen Shaohe was still young.

Having obtained martial arts manuals, if he could not resist practicing blindly according to them and something went wrong, it would be disastrous.

As his guardian, Chen Jichuan had no choice but to be cautious.

"Fourth Brother."

"I know. I'm terrified of dying."

Chen Shaohe understood what his fourth brother meant. He grinned, his heart full of anticipation. "Once you've mastered them in there, you can teach me. Using a sword is too girly—I want to practice Divine Pounce Blade."

Chen Shaohe gripped the Ghost-Head Saber and gave it two swift swings, looking full of spirit.

He did not want his fourth brother to worry.

"Alright."

Chen Jichuan smiled too.

He planned to go to the Great Yan World shortly and find someone to test the techniques on.

He put the booklets away, not bothering to memorize them by rote in reality. He could enter and leave freely, copy the two martial arts and the four sets of cultivation insights into the Great Yan World, then use the four-hundredfold difference in time to commit them to memory.

That way.

In just a few minutes in reality, Chen Jichuan would be able to memorize nearly all of it.

These past few days.

These past few years.

Besides practicing martial arts in the Great Yan World, Chen Jichuan had truly read and memorized quite a few books.

With so much time on his hands.

Using it solely to practice martial arts would have been a terrible waste of heaven's gifts.

Knowledge was priceless.

Whether it proved useful or not, there was never any harm in learning and remembering more.