He returned to his bedroom and lit a candle.
He opened the small wooden chest.
The five bottles were intact, their mouths even sealed with a complete layer of wax. Outside the wax seal was a sheet of red paper, bearing the words "Bone-Forging Pills."
The paper was brightly colored and the ink clear. They should have been freshly made goods, only recently taken from the furnace.
Since he had known about them already, he was not overly excited. Besides, he had no use for them for the time being and could only set them aside first.
Fearing moisture, he did not open them for inspection and simply put them back in the small wooden chest. He casually took out the purse as well, but a thought suddenly stirred in his heart.
What had Lü Chenggong called the owner of this purse just now?
Manager Liu!
Could they have merely shared the same name? It could not be such a coincidence, could it?
Subconsciously, he glanced at the small courtyard of his home.
Last time, he had paid two years' rent in advance. That seemed like a bit of a loss.
Shaking his head, he pulled open the mouth of the pouch and gently turned it upside down with a shake.
Several banknotes and two silver ingots fell out, along with a gleaming metal token that had clearly been handled often.
So he really was a guest retainer of the Lu Family...
Su Xinghe weighed it in his hand. Seeing that it was merely a copper plate, he set it aside.
Five hundred-tael banknotes bearing the words "Zhou Wu Banknotes," along with two large silver ingots of roughly two taels each. This Manager Liu was indeed wealthy.
It seemed the money he had spent renting that little courtyard had been returned, principal and interest included...
Next came Lü Chenggong's money pouch, which was rather heavy.
Undoing the cord, he found a half-foot-long roll of parchment and a palm-sized wooden case.
Su Xinghe's heart heated up.
Could it be...
When he unrolled the parchment, it was covered in densely packed tiny writing and several illustrations.
Leaning closer for a look, he discovered that it was a Ninth Rank True Art called the Crouching Tiger Stance.
"I wonder whether it's a sole copy. Otherwise, the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall is finished!"
"Since there's no signature, it was most likely some random copy from a street stall."
After reading through the art, Su Xinghe thought to himself.
However, he had no intention of learning it. First, its grade was too low, and second, it would be easy to expose himself.
Besides, his White Ape Earth-Splitting Art was already close to breaking through to the Upper Ninth Rank. Starting over with another art of the same rank would only waste time and qi-blood.
He rolled up the parchment and put it away in the wooden chest, then took the small wooden case from the pouch.
Gently opening the lid, he found two porcelain bottles lying inside.
"This fellow looked simple-minded, but he actually had quite a few schemes..."
Recalling Lü Chenggong's dying words, he had claimed there were eight thousand taels in banknotes and fifty bottles of Bone-Forging Pills at home.
It seemed that had merely been a delaying tactic.
Of the two bottles of Bone-Forging Pills, one still had its wax seal intact, while the other had had its red paper and wax seal removed.
Su Xinghe poured it out for a look. There were still seven pills inside.
He brought them close and sniffed them, catching a pungent, fishy-spicy smell.
He then picked up the unopened bottle and weighed it. It appeared that each bottle held only around ten pills.
After putting them away, he looked at the pouch again.
Two more Zhou Wu Banknotes came into view. One was for five hundred taels, the other for two hundred.
He could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.
So the eight thousand taels in banknotes had indeed been a lie. This fellow was just a poor ghost.
The moment the thought arose, a trace of shame appeared on Su Xinghe's face.
Not long ago, he had risked life and limb for a hundred taels of silver. Who would have thought that after only a few days, he would dare call someone else a poor ghost?
After reining in his inflated mindset, he calmed down and continued examining the contents.
He took out the banknotes. Beneath them was a string of copper keys and two metal tokens engraved with the insignia of the Martial Dao Bureau.
One was Lü Chenggong's martial artist identification token, while the other was the registration token of the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall.
A finger-sized porcelain bottle beside them rolled out with a clatter.
"What is this?"
Pinching it between his fingers, Su Xinghe gave it a shake and felt that it contained some kind of medicinal powder.
He did not dare casually open such a thing.
The medicine carried by martial artists was either for saving lives or harming people.
He put away the banknotes in the small wooden chest, then placed the keys, identification tokens, and other miscellaneous items back into the pouch.
Once he found an opportunity, he could simply toss them into the Clearwater River.
Only after finishing all that did Su Xinghe happily take out the scroll said to contain a Grade-Eight True Art.
The pale blue scroll was a foot long and as thick as a thermos.
A dark silk ribbon woven from metal wire was wrapped around it. He gave it a light pull.
As the scroll unfurled, the four large characters "Dripping Water Swordsmanship" slowly appeared at its top.
What followed was the preface.
"Entry-level swordsmanship for first-class disciples of Watermist Pavilion in Eastern Yue Prefecture. Copied by inner disciple Shuang Feizi in the year 528 of the Zhou Martial Sage Dynasty calendar."
The handwriting was clean and elegant, every row and column neat and uniform. At a glance, it was clearly the work of a master.
The demonstration illustrations within were even more astonishing. The figures' expressions were lifelike, and every move and stance seemed ready to leap from the page. The artist was not only a powerful swordsman, but also a master of ink painting.
At this point, Su Xinghe knew that the Grade-Eight True Art in his hands was genuine.
Moreover, it was a weapon-type True Art, which perfectly suited Su Xinghe's current wishes.
He had been worrying over his inability to break through the thick hides and tough flesh of Bone Forging martial artists. Just as sleepiness came, a pillow arrived.
After roughly checking that the True Art was complete, he began studying it patiently.
Qi Circulation, Force Infusion, Inner Tempering.
Body Tempering, Bone Forging.
Qi Nourishment, Aperture Opening, Meridian Opening.
There was one set of training methods, one set of mental techniques, and one set of combat methods, stretching out a full three meters when spread open.
And that was not all.
This Grade-Eight True Art also came with two combat techniques.
One was called "Mountain-Piercing," while the other was called "Rainstorm."
Driven by Grade-Eight Internal Force, Mountain-Piercing was as swift as lightning—a speed-based assassination combat technique for short-range charges.
Rainstorm, on the other hand, split Internal Force into sword-like rays, forming a dense fan-shaped attack. The exact number of divisions depended on proficiency in the art, while its range depended on how much Internal Force was infused.
In theory, there was no limit.
But a martial artist's dantian capacity was limited.
At first glance, he became utterly engrossed.
By the time he came back to himself from studying the swordsmanship, the candle flame was barely holding on above a puddle of melted wax.
Seeing that dawn was still far away, he replaced it with another candle.
"A Grade-Eight True Art..."
Su Xinghe rubbed his sore eyes and straightened his somewhat stiff back.
As expected, it was many times more difficult than the Ninth Rank Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art.
After reading for more than half the night, he had only managed to grasp the basic theory.
He paced over to the window and gently pushed it open. A gust of crisp autumn wind blew into the room, carrying away the night's stale air.
He had never heard of Eastern Yue Prefecture in his memories, much less knew where Watermist Pavilion was.
And the year 528 of the Zhou Martial Sage Dynasty calendar...
That was already more than a century ago.
Yet those were not flaws of this True Art. On the contrary, they were advantages money could not buy.
Without a clear lineage, it would not be easy for others to trace its origins. Even if he secretly learned it, the original owners would not catch him.
The sole drawback of this Grade-Eight True Art was its excessive focus on speed, its pursuit of ultimate swiftness. It lacked the steadiness of the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art, along with the heavy and powerful force of qi-blood that came with it.
One was like the path of an assassin, while the other was a high-defense tank.
And for him at present, learning it was equivalent to starting from scratch.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, he looked toward the Fate Panel in his mind.
"Su Xinghe: White Ape Martial Academy (Outer Disciple)"
"Martial Dao: Ninth Grade Realm (Body Tempering 51%)"
"Fate: Diligence Makes Up for Dullness"
"Trait 1: Water-Tight, Unyielding"
"Trait 2: Many Grains Make a Tower, Success Follows Naturally"
"Dripping Water Swordsmanship (First Glimpse of the Path) 0/100"
"Listening to Tides Art (Transcendent Mastery) 1330/100000"
"Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art (Perfect Mastery) 3221/10000"
"Ascending Dragon Stance (Hall-Entering) 566/1000"
"Incomplete Red Lotus Treasure Vase Qi 0/10000"
The art had already been recorded, but there was no need to rush into sword practice.
Without the Qi-Replenishing Pills, his subsequent Body Tempering progress would be extremely slow. He also did not want to delay his breakthrough in martial cultivation because of changing to a new art.
He had the Fate Panel.
He could cultivate it once he had time in the future.
Still, he could pass this swordsmanship on to his family.
At that thought, the image of a back with twin ponytails surfaced in his mind once more.
Before he figured out his younger brother's wife's identity, he still could not act rashly. Killing Lü Chenggong of the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall was one thing, but if it were discovered that he had killed Manager Liu of the Lu Family, the trouble would be enormous.
Before you continue