"Was Luo Dongsheng doing it deliberately, or was it an accident?"
Lu Sui sat at his desk, holding the jade cicada and examining it closely.
Of the three major conditions for the Turtle-Snake Stance's transformation, he had thought Calamity Qi would be the hardest to obtain.
He had never expected it to come knocking of its own accord.
"Yihe Workshop lost five whole cartloads of goods, and Luo Dongsheng handed this hot potato to me. No matter how I look at it, he's harboring evil intentions."
Lu Sui lowered his eyelids, concealing the coldness in his eyes.
Once someone had died once, they would cherish their life all the more.
They would not willingly endure the slightest threat again, or put themselves in danger.
"Should I tell Uncle Wen, or take this straight to my bargain father?"
Lu Sui pondered in silence.
The Lu Family was in troubled times right now. To ask Lu Yulin to deal with the head shopkeeper under him and his son over a single jade cicada...
"Too rash."
Lu Sui shook his head.
Leaving aside how he could prove the existence of something like Calamity Qi, a single jade cicada could not establish Luo Dongsheng's intent to harm him.
Besides...
"I still need to keep the Calamity Qi to feed the Turtle-Snake Stance, so it can transform into the Panwu Great Strength True Art."
Lu Sui abandoned the idea of reporting it, lest he make the situation even messier.
"Yihe Workshop, Shopkeeper Luo, and his son Luo Dongsheng..."
Lu Sui put the jade cicada back into its brocade box and closed the lid.
"I'll mark this down against you two for now."
Lu Sui had Xiaotang put the brocade box in the storeroom.
He specifically instructed her to add a few more locks and let no one else touch it.
"All that's left is the condition of 'Qi and Blood reaching all four limbs.'"
Suddenly feeling pressed for time, Lu Sui returned to his bed and began his breathing exercises.
The Qi that had settled three inches below his navel, originally a good two fingers wide, had already gathered into a mass the size of a baby's fist.
Whenever Lu Sui practiced his stance, this mass of warm, gentle Qi would slowly revolve, coursing along with his blood into his sinews and bones, merging into his body.
"Build up enough Qi, convert it into Qi and Blood, and open up both arms... That's the second step of Internal Nourishment."
Lu Sui silently estimated that, at this rate, he would probably need another half year of slow, painstaking work before his Qi and Blood could reach all four limbs.
Too slow!
And that was with the substantial nourishment of medicinal meals and tireless practice of the Turtle-Snake Stance.
The conversation between Zhao Langyuan, Xu Xiuxiu, and the others in the side hall that day still echoed in his ears.
With demon disasters and evil disasters upon them, human lives were worth no more than wild grass!
"Since Uncle Wen has already been shocked by my martial talent, I might as well go see him again and ask for some other martial arts!
"If I find a suitable [Art], record it in the ancient temple, and place it in a shrine, I'll have another means of dealing with things."
The next day, Lu Sui rose bright and early.
As usual, he ate breakfast, then circulated his Qi and practiced his breathing.
Once he had finished his morning exercises, he took Xiaotang straight to the outer courtyard.
Dappled sunlight passed through the old pagoda tree's branches and leaves, spilling over the ground.
Heiwa was practicing a handstand alone in the courtyard. Hearing footsteps, he immediately raised his head to look.
"Eldest Young Master, you've come to visit Master Dou so early!"
Heiwa hurriedly rubbed his hands against his trousers. These days, he treated Lu Sui with greater respect than anyone.
"Is Uncle Wen up?"
"Master Dou always rises early. He's drinking tea inside."
Heiwa spoke with a cheerful smile, his gaze passing over Lu Sui as a little surprise stirred within him.
It had only been a few days since he had seen him. How had the eldest young master grown another size sturdier, his broad shoulders and back filling out his clothes?
His eyes in particular were startlingly bright, shining brilliantly and full of spirit so early in the morning.
Heiwa remembered Master Dou mentioning in passing that Qi and Blood nourished the body; when one's essence was complete and spirit abundant, one's eyes would shine.
Wasn't the eldest young master the very picture of plentiful Qi and Blood and abundant vigor right now?
"It hasn't been long since the eldest young master last came. How has he gotten stronger again?"
Heiwa inwardly clicked his tongue. Master Dou often said practicing martial arts meant enduring hardship, and it could not be rushed or hurried in the slightest.
With the eldest young master progressing so fiercely, who knew how much hardship he had endured behind the scenes!
"Looks like I still haven't been working hard enough!"
Heiwa privately examined himself and decided that, starting today, he would sleep only four hours a night and follow the young master's example by doubling his diligence.
"I've brought Uncle Wen something nice."
Naturally, Lu Sui knew nothing of Heiwa's train of thought. He gave Xiaotang, who had accompanied him, a look.
Understanding, Xiaotang offered an oilpaper package with both hands.
Lu Sui took it and addressed Dou Xiaowen, who was lifting the door curtain.
"Uncle Wen, this is top-grade shredded tobacco from inside the pass. When my aunt was checking the storeroom yesterday, she turned up this package.
"I thought of your fondness for it, so I asked for it to offer the Buddha borrowed flowers."
Dou Xiaowen's drooping eyelids twitched. He took the oilpaper package, peeled back a corner, and brought it beneath his nose.
"Good tobacco. The real thing."
Dou Xiaowen stood on no ceremony, tucking it straight into his robes before speaking leisurely.
"I imagine you haven't come just for the tobacco today, Eldest Young Master?"
Dealing with an old hand of the jianghu saved trouble. There was no need to talk in circles.
Lu Sui smiled.
"There really is something I'd like to ask your help with, Uncle Wen. Shall we talk inside?"
Dou Xiaowen fiddled with his tobacco pipe. From his first visit to the courtyard to this easy familiarity now, the eldest young master was treating him less and less like an outsider.
The eldest young master was growing increasingly familiar with him.
But that was a good thing!
If the body-hardening arts he practiced had not been so damaging to one's vital foundation, making one prone to injuries and illness,
Dou Xiaowen would have dearly loved to take Lu Sui as his disciple and teach him everything he knew.
In martial circles, a good teacher was hard to come by, but a fine disciple was no easier to find.
A talented seedling was no easier to find than a great, thick ginseng root.
Dou Xiaowen led them into the room and said with a smile,
"If these old bones can help you in any way, Young Master, just say the word."
Lu Sui cleared his throat.
"Uncle Wen, I reckon I've figured out seventy or eighty percent of the Turtle-Snake Stance you taught me.
"You've seen and learned so much, so I was wondering whether you had any other martial arts. Good or bad, I'd like to take a look."
"Other martial arts?"
Dou Xiaowen seemed surprised.
"What do you want those for, Eldest Young Master?"
As an old hand who had braved Shaqing Pass, Dou Xiaowen had accumulated plenty of just two things in his life.
Enemies and grudges.
Precisely because of that, countless people had died at his hands or fallen to his fists, and he had accumulated quite a few martial arts manuals over time.
Seeing Uncle Wen's reaction, Lu Sui rejoiced inwardly. He had come to the right place.
He had prepared his explanation beforehand and spoke unhurriedly.
"When I attended school, the teacher often said that if you read a book a hundred times, its meaning would reveal itself.
"I imagine the same principle applies to martial arts."
"Yesterday, Father said he would choose a martial arts school for me, so I could formally enroll.
"If I go in without any foundation, completely in the dark, won't people laugh at me?
"So I wanted to use these next few days to look through the martial arts of different schools, consider their training methods, and broaden my knowledge."
Dou Xiaowen took a puff of his pipe without a word.
The explanation was coherent and offered nothing to fault.
But he felt that the eldest young master might not have told the truth.
"In this respect, he takes after the master. Likes watering down his words-nine parts falsehood to one part truth."
In the end, Dou Xiaowen did not expose him. Who did not have a few private thoughts of their own?
The eldest young master's willingness to improve was a good thing, after all.
"Bite off too much, and you won't be able to chew it."
Dou Xiaowen extinguished his pipe and rose to enter the inner room.
A short while later, he dragged out a large wooden chest, the same one that had held the blood-activating ointment last time.
Dou Xiaowen lifted its lid. Oilpaper packages, thread-bound books, and assorted bottles and jars filled it to the brim.
He patted the chest.
"They're all here. Choose for yourself, Eldest Young Master. Take whichever book catches your eye."
Only one?
Lu Sui licked his lips, still wanting to sweet-talk him into giving him more.
As though seeing through Lu Sui's thoughts, Dou Xiaowen spoke solemnly.
"Eldest Young Master, practicing more martial arts isn't necessarily better. Learning broadly from a hundred schools is no match for mastering one.
"So many people spend their whole lives being greedy for more, only to end up knowing a little of everything and mastering nothing, never amounting to anything."
"You're right to admonish me, Uncle Wen."
Lu Sui nodded repeatedly, quitting while he was ahead.
He crouched down and carefully touched each martial arts manual, like a wealthy old landlord caressing gold, silver, and precious treasures.
Why's he more excited than a virgin touching a woman's tits for the first time...?
Dou Xiaowen could not help grumbling inwardly at the sight.
Before, the eldest young master had been so obsessed with opera that he had wished he could dress up and take the stage himself;
now that he had taken to martial arts, he hungered and thirsted for them even more.
"Could this be what the founding master called 'a born martial talent with a pure heart'?"
Dou Xiaowen could not quite fathom it.
Hung Family Iron Wire Fist, Great Sage Pigua Palm, Seventy-Two Routines of Tan Tui, Five Tigers Breaking the Gate Saber...
Lu Sui flipped through them one by one, flickering words rising before his eyes in succession.
[Available for recording...] [Available for recording...] [Available for recording...]
The tiny, tadpole-like characters came surging forth in a bewildering array, making Lu Sui's brows gradually knit together.
"It's bad enough that they're all 'Mortal' grade. Why are even their imprints so lousy?"
[Hung Family Iron Wire Fist (Mortal)] [Aptitude: Low-grade] [Imprint: Rigid] [Appraisal: More than enough steadfast simplicity, not enough adaptability]
[Great Sage Pigua Palm (Mortal)] [Aptitude: Low-grade] [Imprint: Sly] [Appraisal: Its nature approaches a monkey's, its cunning approaches a thief's]
[Seventy-Two Routines of Tan Tui (Mortal)] [Aptitude: Low-grade] [Imprint: Lax] [Appraisal: More than enough cleverness, not enough diligence and steadiness]
"Martial arts with low-grade aptitude really aren't fit for use. Recording them in the ancient temple and placing them in shrines would be a waste."
Lu Sui tossed aside each book after looking through it. Only when he reached the bottom did a gleam of blue-green light finally rise before his eyes.
[Fragment of the Great Art of Heaven's Sight and Earth's Hearing (Rare)] [Aptitude: Mid-grade] [Imprints: Keen observation, Listening] [Appraisal: Eyes watch the six directions, discerning human hearts; ears hear the eight quarters, stealing a hundred secrets]
"Huh..."
Holding the thread-bound volume, Lu Sui turned to its last page. It was actually incomplete.
"Uncle Wen, why's the rest of this martial art missing?"