Eighth-Rank True Art: "Water-Drop Swordsmanship"

Returning to his bedroom, he lit a candle.

He opened the small wooden chest.

The five bottles were completely intact, their mouths even sealed with a full layer of wax. Outside the wax seals, each was wrapped in red paper bearing the words "Bone-Forging Pills."

The paper was brightly colored and the ink crisp. They should have been freshly made goods that had only recently come out of the furnace.

Since he had known about them already, he was not overly excited. Besides, he would not need them anytime soon, so he could only set them aside for now.

Afraid they would get damp, he did not open them for inspection and simply returned them to the small wooden chest. He casually took out the wallet as well, but a thought suddenly struck him.

What had Lü Chenggong called the owner of this wallet just now?

Manager Liu!

Could it be someone with the same name? It could not be such a coincidence, could it?

He subconsciously glanced at his own little courtyard.

Last time, he had paid two years' rent at once. That seemed like a bit of a loss now.

Shaking his head, he pulled open the pouch and gently gave it an upside-down shake.

Several banknotes and two silver ingots fell out, along with a brightly polished metal token.

So he really was a retainer of the Lu Family...

He weighed it in his hand, saw that it was merely a copper plate, and set it aside.

Five hundred-tael banknotes stamped with "Zhou Wu Banknotes," along with two large silver ingots of roughly two taels each. This Steward Liu truly was wealthy.

It seemed the money he had spent renting that little courtyard had come back to him, principal and interest included...

Next came Lü Chenggong's purse, which was rather heavy.

Undoing the cord, he saw 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 characters and several illustrations.

Leaning closer, he saw that it was actually a Ninth Rank true art called the Crouching Tiger Stance.

"I wonder if this is the only copy. Otherwise, the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall is finished!"

"It does not even have a signature. Most likely, it is some random street-stall copy."

After reading through the art, Su Xinghe thought to himself.

However, he had no intention of learning it. First, its rank 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 Upper Ninth Rank. Starting another art of the same rank from scratch would only waste time and vital energy.

He rolled up the parchment and put it away in the wooden chest, then took the small wooden case from the purse.

Gently lifting the lid, he found two porcelain bottles lying inside.

"That guy looked so simple-minded, but he actually had quite a few tricks up his sleeve..."

Recalling Lü Chenggong's final 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 and found that there were still seven pills inside.

Bringing them close to smell, he caught a pungent, fishy-spicy odor.

He then picked up the unopened bottle and weighed it, discovering that each bottle probably contained only ten pills.

After putting them away, he looked at the purse again.

Two more Zhou Wu Banknotes came into view. One was marked five hundred, the other two hundred.

He could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.

It seemed the eight thousand taels in banknotes really had been a lie. This fellow was just a pauper.

The moment that thought arose, a trace of shame appeared on Su Xinghe's face.

Once upon a time, 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 pauper?

After reining in his inflated mindset, he calmed down and continued examining the contents.

He took out the banknotes. Beneath them was a ring of copper keys and two metal tokens engraved with the seal of the Martial Dao Bureau.

One was Lü Chenggong's Martial Warrior identity token, while the other was the registration token of the Fierce Tiger Martial Hall.

A finger-sized porcelain bottle rolled out from the side with a clatter.

"What is this?"

Su Xinghe pinched it between his fingertips and shook it, sensing that it contained some kind of medicinal powder.

Su Xinghe did not dare open such a thing carelessly.

The medicine carried by Martial Warriors either saved lives or harmed people.

He put away the banknotes in the small wooden chest, then returned the keys, identity tokens, and other such items to the purse.

He only needed to find an opportunity to throw them into the Clearwater River.

Once he had finished all that, Su Xinghe finally took out the scroll said to contain an Eighth Rank true art, his face full of delight.

The pale blue scroll was one 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 tug.

As the scroll unfurled, the four large characters "Water-Drop Swordsmanship" slowly appeared at its top.

Then came the preface.

"An entry-level sword art for first-class disciples of Watermist Pavilion in Eastern Yue Prefecture, copied by inner disciple Shuang Feizi in the 528th year of the Great Zhou 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 stunning. The figures' expressions were lifelike, and every move and stance seemed ready to leap from the page. The artist was not only a sword-dao expert, but also a master of ink painting.

Seeing this, Su Xinghe knew that the Eighth Rank 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 about how he could not harm those Bone Forging Martial Warriors with their thick hides and tough flesh. Unexpectedly, just as sleepiness came, someone brought him a pillow.

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 methods, and one set of combat methods. Spread out, they stretched a full three meters.

And that was not all.

This Eighth Rank true art also came with two combat skills.

One was called Mountain-Piercing, and the other was called "Torrential Rain."

Driven by Eighth Rank internal force, Mountain-Piercing was swift as lightning. It was a speed-based assassination combat skill for short-range assaults.

Torrential Rain, meanwhile, split internal force into rays of light that transformed into swords, forming a dense fan-shaped attack. The precise number of divisions depended on proficiency in the art, while its range depended on how much internal force was infused into it.

In theory, it was limitless.

But a Martial Warrior's dantian capacity was limited.

At a single glance, he became utterly engrossed.

By the time he came back to his senses 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.

"An Eighth Rank true art..."

Su Xinghe rubbed his aching eyes and straightened his somewhat stiff back.

Sure enough, it was many times more difficult than the Ninth Rank Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art.

After studying for more than half the night, he had only managed to understand the basic theory.

He paced 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, nor did he know where Watermist Pavilion was.

And the 528th year of the Great Zhou calendar...

More than a hundred years had passed since then, all right?

Yet none of those things were flaws in this true art. On the contrary, they were advantages that money could not buy.

Without a clear inheritance, it would not be easy for anyone to trace its origins. Even if he secretly learned it, the original owners would not catch him.

The only flaw of this Eighth Rank true art was that it focused too heavily on speed, pursuing the utmost swiftness. It lacked the stability of the Golden Ape Earth-Splitting Art and the immense force of vital energy and blood that came with it.

One resembled the path of an assassin; the other was a heavily armored tank.

Besides, for him right now, learning it was equivalent to starting from zero.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he looked at 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: Grains of Sand Build into a Tower, When Water Flows, a Channel Forms"

"Water-Drop 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 rush to practice swordsmanship.

Without Qi-Replenishing Pill, his Body Tempering progress would become extremely slow. He did not want to delay his breakthrough in Martial Dao cultivation because of switching arts.

He had the Fate Panel.

He could cultivate it when he had time in the future.

However, he could pass this swordsmanship on to his family.

At that thought, the figure of a girl with twin ponytails surfaced in his mind again.

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 Steward Liu of the Lu Family, the trouble would be enormous.