Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Outside the Secret Yuan Pavilion, Daoist Tai Hua suddenly thought of something.

He looked at Su Changyu and asked, “Changyu, are your Second Junior Brother and Third Junior Brother going to sit for the alchemy and array formation examinations at the end of the year?”

Su Changyu was suddenly reminded of that.

“It seems to be so. Fourth Junior Brother seems to be participating in the talismans examination too.”

Su Changyu answered.

“That’s right. We have to buy them some secret manuals.”

When Daoist Tai Hua spoke, he suddenly thought of the other disciples too.

“Let’s go in again then.”

Su Changyu was not bothered.

“Where?”

Daoist Tai Hua was a little curious.

“Secret Yuan Pavilion.”

Su Changyu was also a little confused. Since he wanted to buy some secret manuals, of course he had to go to the Secret Yuan Pavilion.

“Why would we go there again? Even if we have a lot of money, we can’t spend it like that.”

Daoist Tai Hua shook his head, and then led Su Changyu outside.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn out, they reached the Cultivators’ Bazaar in Baiguo City.

Apart from several stores, there were numerous stalls lined up outside. There was a huge plethora of unique and bizarre things. It was truly a dazzling lineup.

Standing in front of a stall, Daoist Tai Hua looked at the various secret manuals being sold there.

“How much do these things cost?”

Daoist Tai Hua pointed at the scattered secret manuals on the ground which all looked old and tattered. They were sold at a very cheap price.

“They’re sold by mass. Exalted Immortals, they cost 10 taels of gold per 500 grams.”

The stall owner was a middle-aged man who immediately smiled courteously when he saw a customer.

“10 taels of gold per 500 grams? Is this robbery?”

Hearing the price, Daoist Tai Hua’s face suddenly became sullen. It was not his first time buying such secret manuals.

The content of the secret manuals sold at that stall was not entirely true and most of them were copies of original works. In other words, they were not exactly secret manuals, but rather, theoretical knowledge.

To put it bluntly, they were all written by theorists.

Although the effect was not great, they still served a certain purpose.

After all, handwritten notes by powerhouses were precious.

Why would they appear in such a place?

“Exalted Immortal, these are all proper ancient volumes that will easily allow one to gain an epiphany. Look at this one, it’s about condensing the True Dragon body. This one’s about activating 3,600 spiritual acupuncture points. These are all superior-class treasures.”

The stall owner hurriedly spoke up and pulled Daoist Tai Hua to stop him from leaving.

Clenching his teeth, he continued, “How about this? I’ll charge you a cheaper price. 10 taels of gold per kilogram.”

The stall owner offered.

“10 taels of gold per five kilograms. Take it or leave it. Condensing the True Dragon body? Who are you trying to fool?”

Daoist Tai Hua didn’t bother to pay attention to the stall owner at all. He knew that those things were meant for fooling others. Although they seemed impressive on the surface, they could not be considered actual theories at all.

If anyone could have an epiphany after reading those secret manuals, Daoist Tai Hua would eat up all the books.

“Five kilograms? Exalted Immortal, quit pulling my leg. 2.5 kilograms is the limit.”

The stall owner seemed dismayed.

“Changyu, let’s go.”

Daoist Tai Hua ignored the stall owner and wanted to leave.

“Okay, okay, deal. I’ll take it as a discount on the account of a friendship we’ve forged. Exalted Immortal, do you want me to pick the secret manuals or do you want to do it yourself?”

The stall owner had nothing more to say.

“I want everything.”

Daoist Tai Hua said that he wanted everything.

He did not really intend to buy all the secret manuals for the disciples. He mainly wanted to use them for decorative purposes.

There was a library in the Qingyun Dao Sect, but it did not contain any secret manuals. Hence, Daoist Tai Hua intended to decorate it with a few hundred secret manuals.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to buy them.

“Sure! Exalted Immortal, please wait a moment.”

Without further ado, the stall owner immediately began packing the books. He had four to five hundred of such books which spanned across genres like alchemy, array formations, talismans and some other miscellaneous ones.

Examples included, ‘Perfect Development of the Supreme Vision’, ‘Ten Dragons Ten Elephants Primordial Spirit Technique’, ‘Immortal Dao Pupil Activation Technique’ and ‘Master’s Wife Knocks On My Door Late At Night’.

In short, all kinds of peculiar books were available at the store, but they were all made-up stories that were expanded from a single point. They seemed to make a lot of sense, but in fact, they could not result in success and were only meant for fooling those who had just started immortal cultivation.

Most people bought such secret manuals for the sake of adding to the existing collections in the libraries of the sects. Major sects might have hundreds of secret manuals, but how could the same apply to the smaller sects? Hence, the smaller sects had to fill their libraries up with such items.

The hundreds of secret manuals were packed into a box that weighed about 50 kilograms or so, which amounted to 100 taels of gold.

Daoist Tai Hua also went to several stores and bought some proper guidebooks about alchemy, array formations, refinement, and talismans.

He also tailor-made a lot of clothes, which he intended to give to the members of the sect, and bought a lot of superior-class spiritual rice and spiritual beast meat, all of which were delivered back to the sect according to his orders.

Meanwhile, he did not buy anything for himself as he spent everything on items for his disciples.

He only had about 200 of the 6,600 taels of gold left.

Daoist Tai Hua felt an inexplicable heartache.

However, it couldn’t be helped. Since he wanted to develop the sect, he had to spend a lot of money on it. The person who painted that painting was Ye Ping who was extremely talented too. Hence, he spent most of the money on Ye Ping and allowed the other disciples to benefit a little from it.

After everything was taken care of, Daoist Tai Hua did not continue to stay in Baiguo City. Instead, he brought Su Changyu back to the Qingyun Dao Sect.

The secret manuals, superior-class spiritual rice, and bespoke clothing were all delivered to the sect by the professional deliverymen.

On the way back to the sect, Daoist Tai Hua handed the Chuanhe Swordsmanship manual to Su Changyu.

“Changyu, the manual can only be read once. Comprehend well and get an epiphany. After you’ve acquired it, impart it to Ye Ping.”

Daoist’s words caught Su Changyu off guard.

“Are you giving it to me?”

Su Changyu was indeed a little surprised.

He had the self-awareness to know where he stood. He wondered, ‘Isn’t this meant for Ye Ping? Why is he giving it to me?’

Su Changyu was curious.

Sensing Su Changyu’s doubts, Daoist Tai Hua couldn’t help but explain it to him immediately.

“Silly, if we give the secret manual directly to that little Junior Brother of yours, what would he need us for? Imparting sword techniques has to be done personally as far as possible. This secret manual is enriched with secret sword techniques. You just have to read it once to understand part of the sword technique, and then you can teach it to your little Junior Brother.”

“With his talent, he will definitely outshine you, but he will think that you were the one who imparted it to him. Anyone can give the secret manual directly to him, but not everyone can teach it to him.”

Daoist Tai Hua was extremely conscientious and decided not to give the secret manual directly to Ye Ping. Instead, he wanted Su Changyu to learn it well before imparting it to Ye Ping.

Su Changyu suddenly became enlightened after hearing his words.

“Sect Leader, you are so smart.”

Su Changyu said with a smile.

“Otherwise, why do you think I went to the Secret Yuan Pavilion to buy secret manuals? If I wasn’t afraid that you wouldn’t be able to comprehend the sword techniques even after a year, why would I buy such a secret manual? I would have just bought the simplified edition.”

Daoist Tai Hua said with some dissatisfaction.

He purposely went to the Secret Yuan Pavilion to buy the sword manual, mainly because the ones sold at the Secret Yuan Pavilion were enriched with the Dao and would allow readers to quickly grasp the basic sword techniques after just reading it.

Otherwise, if Su Changyu was made to learn slowly on his own, it would probably take him donkey’s years to have an epiphany.

“However, I still need some time to have an epiphany, what do I do during this period of time?”

Su Changyu continued.

“Well, I’ve bought so many secret manuals. Let him read through them before teaching him the next sword technique.”

Daoist Tai Hua pointed to the box behind him as he said that.

“These books?”

Su Changyu’s expression was a little peculiar. He knew that those books were random books that were more like novels than secret manuals.

However, after thinking about it, Su Changyu nevertheless nodded.

However, Daoist Tai Hua spoke again.

“Changyu, there is one more thing that I want you to do.”

Daoist Tai Hua lowered his voice.

“What is it?”

Su Changyu’s eyes were filled with some curiosity.

“Get some paintings.”