Chapter 108: Three Secret Manuals

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The shelves were arranged in three tiers. From top to bottom, they held cultivation arts, cultivation manuals, and secret techniques.

There were the most cultivation arts, fewer cultivation manuals, and the fewest secret techniques. Even in a great clan like the Yuan family, only a scattered handful could be seen at a glance.

What he urgently needed was a cultivation manual capable of circulating Violet Palace energy, so he began by selecting one.

“The Purple Mountain Scripture draws upon the qi of mountains and rivers. Once cultivated to its peak, one’s blood and qi become as沉重 as mountains and rivers, while one’s magical power becomes as weighty as a thousand jun. One may even borrow the strength of the mountains and rivers. Lower Profound Grade.”

“The Purple Lightning Art draws upon the power of thunder. Its magical power carries the attribute of lightning, making it overwhelmingly domineering. Uppermost Yellow Grade.”

After making a circuit of the shelves, Tu Lu ultimately found himself hesitating between these two secret manuals.

They were the two highest-grade manuals available to him under his current authority. Although the Purple Mountain Scripture was of a slightly higher grade, it did not interest him greatly. The Purple Lightning Art was quite good, but it required one to absorb the power of thunder, making it extremely difficult to cultivate. As for the others…

“There is also this Great Nature Scripture…”

He set down the Purple Mountain Scripture and the Purple Lightning Art, then picked up another book.

He had noticed it the moment he entered. It was merely lower Yellow Grade, the lowest level among the cultivation manuals, yet it was exceptionally “unique.”

That was because it combined a cultivation art and a cultivation manual into one.

It drew upon the natural power that existed everywhere in the world. Apart from certain dead lands and desperate realms, one could cultivate it almost anywhere and at any time.

Once cultivated to its utmost extreme, every flower and blade of grass, every stone and tree, could become a weapon of attack. With a flick of the fingers, mountains and rivers could be shattered; with a sweep of the hand, stars could be cut down. Its power was unimaginable—more exaggerated even than the Heaven Grade cultivation arts of legend.

Yet being cultivable at all times also meant that its cultivation efficiency was pitifully low.

The power of nature was everywhere, but precisely because of that, it was exceedingly diffuse.

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Whether it was the Purple Mountain Art or the Purple Lightning Art, both could be cultivated in certain special regions. Mountains, great rivers, seas of lightning, and thunder domains could all accelerate one’s progress and allow one’s cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. The Great Nature Scripture, however, could not.

The introduction to the manual stated it plainly: those who cultivated it would find it nearly impossible to achieve even minor mastery. In all known records, no one had ever relied on it to break through to the Deity Transformation Realm. That was why it had been rated lower Yellow Grade.

“I possess a Sacred Physique and am closer to nature than ordinary people. I have a greater advantage in cultivating this scripture. Besides, what does the record prove? In the entire Nanyun Kingdom, a Sacred Physique appears only once in a hundred years. Even if one does appear, there is no chance they would happen to cultivate this very manual. It is not that the cultivation art is inadequate—it is that those people were inadequate. Once I cultivate it, every blade of grass and every tree will become a weapon of attack. I will no longer need to spend time selecting another cultivation art, and I can save one opportunity for another choice. Then I can select two more secret techniques!”

Gritting his teeth, he ultimately chose the Great Nature Scripture.

Compared with cultivation arts and manuals, the secret techniques in the treasury were far fewer. A rough count revealed only several dozen, and he was not qualified to take most of them.

Yet that was precisely what made secret techniques so precious.

Such things were exceedingly rare even at large-scale auctions. Whenever a secret technique appeared, bidders would fight over it until its price reached the heavens.

He naturally could not afford to pass up the chance to take another one.

“Still, this leaves me very little room to choose,” he sighed.

Of the nine secret techniques he was permitted to select, he ultimately chose Ghost Corpse False Life and Brilliant Strike.

The former was a life-preserving art. In battle, it could create a false body to die in one’s place. It was essentially a weakened version of the Life-Substitution Fruit, but it could only withstand a single irresistible attack. It was ineffective against curses and similar methods, and each use required a long period of recovery.

That, however, was not its most enticing feature. Once Ghost Corpse False Life was cultivated to its utmost extreme, it could place its practitioner into a state of true suspended death, erasing his existence from the world so thoroughly that even a mighty expert could not investigate it. So long as the corpse remained intact, he could be reborn decades later…

Rebirth, however, consumed a tremendous amount of one’s lifespan, and the probability of success was exceedingly low. One might truly perish, or one might lose all one’s memories and become an entirely different person possessing the same personality and physical body.

By comparison, the latter was much simpler. It was merely an explosive technique that transformed one’s magical power into a single, most powerful strike. It might hold little value to an ordinary person, but if combined with the red orb of light, he was confident that he could even threaten a Deity Transformation Venerable.

After delivering that single blow, however, he would fall into his weakest possible state.

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“These two secret techniques both have their flaws. The former has severe drawbacks and is difficult to cultivate to its utmost extreme, while the latter grants power for only a single strike. No wonder they were willing to let me choose.”

He smiled faintly.

Regardless, both secret techniques would be immensely useful to him.

When necessary, they would both serve as means of preserving his life.

Once he had made his decision, he used the token Yuan Tong had given him to remove the original copies of the three manuals from the shelves. A mass of white light then enveloped him and teleported him away.

When he reappeared, he was already outside the treasury.

The treasury’s doors had closed once more.

“Thank you, Senior.”

Tu Lu glanced around, then cupped his fist toward the stone beast before leaving the treasury.

Yet not long after he departed, he encountered a long-browed old man—Xu Bin.

“Judging by Guest Retainer Tu’s radiant expression, you must have gained quite a bit from the treasury,” Xu Bin said sarcastically.