Outside the Mystic Origin Pavilion.
Daoist Taihua suddenly thought of something.
He looked at Su Changyu and said,
“Changyu, are your second and third junior brothers taking the alchemist and array master examinations at the end of the year?”
Daoist Taihua had just remembered.
“I think so. Fourth is taking the talisman examination too.”
Su Changyu answered as such.
“Then that’s perfect. Let’s buy them some manuals too.”
Daoist Taihua spoke, suddenly thinking of the other disciples.
“Then let’s go back in.”
Su Changyu said nonchalantly.
“Back in where?”
Daoist Taihua was a little curious.
“Into the Mystic Origin Pavilion.”
Su Changyu was also a little confused. Weren’t they buying manuals? Then they should buy them at the Mystic Origin Pavilion.
“We’re buying for them and still going there? No matter how much money we have, we can’t spend it like that.”
Daoist Taihua shook his head, then led Su Changyu outside.
An incense stick’s time later.
At the cultivator market in Baiguo City.
Aside from the rows of shops, stalls were set up outside in a long line like a dragon. All sorts of strange and curious items were on display, a dazzling array to behold.
Before one of the stalls, Daoist Taihua looked at the scattered manuals laid out on it.
“How are these sold?”
Daoist Taihua pointed at the disorderly manuals on the ground. They all looked very old and worn, the sort of extremely cheap manuals.
“By weight, two Exalted Immortals. Ten taels of gold per jin.”
The stall owner was a middle-aged man. Seeing that customers had arrived, he immediately smiled solicitously.
“Ten taels of gold per jin? Are you robbing people?”
Hearing the price, Daoist Taihua’s expression changed at once. It wasn’t as if he had never bought this sort of manual before.
The manuals on this stall were half genuine and half fake, and most of them were copied works. In other words, they weren’t some secret manuals or mental arts at all, but merely theoretical knowledge.
To put it plainly, they were things written by theoretical types.
They weren’t of much use, though they still had a little value.
After all, the handwritten notes of a true expert—wasn’t every word worth a thousand gold?
Would such things appear in a place like this?
“Exalted Immortal, these are all proper ancient manuscripts. Just casually flipping through them might grant sudden enlightenment. Look at this one, How to Condense the True Dragon Treasure Body. And this one, How to Open the Three Thousand Six Hundred Spirit Acupoints. They’re all first-rate treasures.”
The stall owner hurriedly spoke, stopping Daoist Taihua.
Then, gritting his teeth, he continued, “How about this? I’ll make it cheaper for you. Ten taels of gold for two jin. How’s that?”
The stall owner said.
“Ten taels of gold for ten jin. Sell it or don’t. Condense the True Dragon Treasure Body? Who are you trying to fool?”
Daoist Taihua was too lazy to bother with him. This sort of thing was purely meant to scam people. It looked impressive, but in truth, it didn’t even count as theory.
If anyone could gain enlightenment from reading these manuals, he, Daoist Taihua, would eat every single one of these books, cleanly and completely.
“Ten jin for one ingot? Exalted Immortal, please don’t joke with me. Five jin at most.”
The stall owner wore a bitter expression.
“Changyu, let’s go.”
Daoist Taihua ignored the stall owner and wanted to leave directly.
“Fine, fine, fine. Let’s just say we’re making friends. Exalted Immortal, will you choose them yourself, or shall I choose for you?”
The stall owner had nothing more to say.
“Pack them all up.”
Daoist Taihua spoke. He wanted all of them.
Buying so many manuals wasn’t because he truly intended to give them to the disciples to read. They were mainly for decoration.
The Qingyun Dao Sect had a library, but there wasn’t a single manual inside it. Thus, Daoist Taihua planned to buy several hundred manuals to decorate the place.
Otherwise, why would he buy these things for no reason?
“Very well! Exalted Immortal, please wait a moment.”
The stall owner wasted no words and immediately began packing them into a crate. There were four or five hundred such books on his stall: alchemy, arrays, talismans, and a pile of extremely strange and bizarre ones.
Things like Perfectly Developing Supreme Phenomena.
Things like Ten Dragons and Ten Elephants Primordial Spirit Art.
Things like Method to Awaken Immortal Dao Double Pupils.
And even Late at Night, Master’s Wife Knocked on My Door.
In short, there were all kinds of strange and bizarre books, but they were all fabricated works. They borrowed a premise and expanded it into methods that seemed very reasonable, but in reality could never possibly succeed, specifically to deceive those who had only just begun cultivating.
Most people who bought these sorts of manuals did so to pad out their Scripture Pavilion. A major sect’s Scripture Pavilion might have several hundred manuals, but how could a small sect possibly have several hundred manuals? So they could only buy such things to put on appearances.
Several hundred manuals filled one crate, weighing around a hundred jin. That was one hundred taels of gold.
Daoist Taihua also went to a few shops and bought some proper supplementary books on alchemy, arrays, artifact refining, talismans, and the like.
Along the way, he also had quite a few sets of clothes made. He intended to outfit everyone in the sect, and also bought a great deal of superior spirit rice and demonic beast meat, arranging for them to be delivered to the sect later.
As for himself, he bought nothing at all. Everything was spent on these disciples.
Just like that, of the six hundred taels of gold, only around two hundred remained.
Daoist Taihua inexplicably felt his heart ache.
But there was nothing to be done about it. If he wanted the sect to develop, he had to pour money into it. The painting was Ye Ping’s, and Ye Ping had good talent, so the bulk of the spending went toward Ye Ping. The other disciples simply got to share in the blessing. This was Daoist Taihua’s thinking.
After everything was settled, Daoist Taihua did not continue lingering in Baiguo City. He brought Su Changyu directly back toward the Qingyun Dao Sect.
The manuals, superior spirit rice, and custom-made clothes were all entrusted to hired men to be delivered to the sect together.
On the way back to the sect.
Daoist Taihua handed the Chuanhe Sword Art to Su Changyu.
“Changyu, the sword art can only be viewed once. Comprehend it well. After you learn it properly, teach it to Ye Ping.”
Daoist Taihua spoke, leaving Su Changyu somewhat astonished.
“For me?”
Su Changyu was indeed rather surprised.
He knew very well what he was worth. Wasn’t this bought for Ye Ping? Why give it to him?
Su Changyu was somewhat curious.
Sensing Su Changyu’s confusion, Daoist Taihua could not help but explain at once.
“Are you stupid? If we hand the manual directly to that little junior brother of yours, then what use are we? When it comes to teaching sword arts, of course we have to do it personally. This manual has a secret art imbued within it. You only need to look through it once, and you’ll be able to comprehend part of the sword art. After that, you can teach it to your little junior brother.”
“With his talent, he’ll surpass his master, but he’ll think it was taught to him by you. If we just give him a manual, who couldn’t do that?”
Daoist Taihua’s mind was extremely meticulous. He did not hand the manual directly to Ye Ping, but instead had Su Changyu learn it first. Once Su Changyu learned it, he would then teach it to Ye Ping.
With that explanation, Su Changyu immediately came to a sudden realization.
“Sect Master, you really are clever.”
Su Changyu smiled.
“Otherwise, why do you think I went to the Mystic Origin Pavilion to buy a manual? If I weren’t afraid you wouldn’t be able to comprehend the sword art even after a year, why would I need to buy this kind of manual? Wouldn’t buying a simplified version have been better?”
Daoist Taihua said somewhat irritably.
He had specially gone to the Mystic Origin Pavilion to buy a sword manual mainly because the Mystic Origin Pavilion’s sword manuals were imbued with Daoist arts. As long as one flipped through and read them, one could receive enlightenment like divine wisdom poured over the head, quickly grasping the basic sword moves.
Otherwise, if Su Changyu were made to slowly practice on his own, who knew how long it would take before he could comprehend the Chuanhe Sword Art.
“But even with sudden enlightenment, I’ll still need some time. What do we do during that period?”
Su Changyu continued asking.
“There. Didn’t your master buy so many manuals? Have him read them in turns. Before you teach him the next sword art, let him read those.”
Daoist Taihua pointed at the crate behind them as he said this.
“Those books?”
Su Changyu’s expression turned a little strange. He also knew what those books were. They were all sorts of random nonsense, not manuals at all. They were more suited to being read as novels.
But after thinking about it, Su Changyu still nodded.
However, at the very end, Daoist Taihua’s voice sounded.
“Changyu, there’s one more thing your master needs you to do.”
Daoist Taihua lowered his voice.
“What is it?”
Curiosity appeared in Su Changyu’s eyes.
“Get paintings.”