Chapter 172: Qianyuan Technique

"So it wasn't taken away after all. That makes sense."

"It wasn't that it wasn't taken, but that there was simply no one there."

Lu Yu said slowly, "When my elder reached that place, Room 601 was empty. Even the front door had been dismantled, and the walls on both sides of the entrance and inside the room were covered in debt-collection demands and curses."

The old man looked as if he had been struck by lightning, and his voice trembled as he asked, "Are you saying, they, they met with misfortune?"

"I'm not sure." Lu Yu shook his head expressionlessly. "According to the neighbors, that family moved away two or three years ago. They probably moved to another city long ago."

"Do you know which city they moved to?" the old man asked anxiously.

"I don't know," Lu Yu glanced at him. "Why, are you still planning to go look for them?"

"No, no." The old man shook his head desperately like a rattle-drum. "I was just asking casually, nothing else meant by it."

Lu Yu placed the box on the table to the side and said, "I have already handled the matter for you. Next, shouldn't you keep your promise and give me the two martial arts you agreed to?"

The old man smiled bitterly and said, "That goes without saying. I was even worrying about what to do if you came and couldn't find me. Fortunately, those two Secret Manuals are in that cabinet, on the second shelf. You'll see them as soon as you open it."

Lu Yu followed the direction of the old man's finger, walked to a cabinet, crouched down, and opened the second shelf. Sure enough, he saw two ancient-looking Secret Manuals lying quietly inside.

He took out the Secret Manuals and said, "These are the two, right?"

"Yes, the first one is an Internal Energy heart method; I've heard it can strengthen the True Qi within a Martial Artist's body. The second one is an Arrow Technique, which might be quite suitable for you. You can study the specifics yourself; I don't know much about it," the old man said listlessly.

Lu Yu fixed his gaze on the cover of the first Secret Manual.

【Qianyuan Technique】

Three vigorous and powerful characters came into view.

He flipped to the first page. The pages were slightly yellowed, and the handwriting was neat; it looked highly likely to be genuine.

Lu Yu began to read carefully.

According to what was written in the book, the 【Qianyuan Technique】 is a Cultivation Method that trains the body through nourishing Qi. Long-term practice not only strengthens the True Qi within the body, but the recovery speed also far exceeds that of Martial Artists at the same Realm.

After a quick browse, Lu Yu looked at the Skill bar.

【Qianyuan Technique: Not Even a Clue (0%), Unlocked: No, Unlock Condition: Vein Refining Realm】

Lu Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed the old man was still keeping his word and had given him a real Secret Manual.

Although one had to reach the Vein Refining Realm to practice this technique, this condition was easy enough for him. He felt that once he went back tonight, he could break through to the Hua-Jin stage, leaving him only one step away from the Vein Refining Realm.

He closed the Secret Manual, his heart full of anticipation for the second one. After all, the old man had said the second one was an Arrow Technique.

Lu Yu gently opened the first page of the 【Cloud-Piercing Arrow Technique】, and a glow of undisguised joy burst forth in his eyes.

As it turned out, this Cloud-Piercing Arrow Technique was extremely exquisite and required True Qi to drive it. Once cultivated to the Great Success realm, the arrows shot would possess the astonishing power of Piercing Clouds and Splitting Rocks.

After quickly browsing the contents of the Secret Manual, Lu Yu immediately looked at the Skill bar.

Sure enough, unlocking this technique not only required the Realm to reach Vein Refining, but it also set a threshold for Basic Archery, requiring it to reach Level 10.

Fortunately, Lu Yu's current attainment in Basic Archery was far beyond Level 10, so he naturally had no need to worry about this.

Satisfied, he put away the 【Cloud-Piercing Arrow Technique】 along with the previous Internal Energy heart method. Lu Yu looked at the old man and said sincerely, "Old man, our cooperation this time was quite pleasant. If you have anything you need my help with in the future, just speak up."

"Mm." The old man only responded faintly, his eyes dull and devoid of luster.

Lu Yu's heart sank abruptly. He pondered to himself, could this old man have heard that news, to the point of being so disheartened that he had thoughts of life being meaningless?

Thinking about it carefully, all of this could actually be considered his own doing.

If he hadn't been blinded by greed in the beginning and gone to sell those deceptive fake Secret Manuals, he would surely be enjoying his old age with his family in Yongan City right now, instead of living in such a terrible environment and having a broken leg.

However, things had reached this point, and Lu Yu did not want to spend any more effort pondering the rights and wrongs of it all; after all, it was a foregone conclusion, and saying more would be of no use.

But without a doubt, this old man was crucial to him at the moment.

One must know that within the Association, a Cultivation Method for In-Jin Martial Artists is worth over a hundred thousand Contribution Points, and a superior Cultivation Method like this one that can utilize True Qi is worth several hundred thousand Contribution Points.

Yet here with the old man, one could purchase them for a mere few dozen yuan.

Lu Yu could even use this unique channel to earn Contribution Points from other Martial Artists in the Association.

"Old man, look on the bright side." Lu Yu comforted him softly. "Perhaps they are living very well now; you don't need to worry too much. It's just that your leg is broken, and continuing to live here must be very inconvenient. How about..."

"It's fine, I can still hold on." The old man waved his hand and said, "Little brother, you should go first. I just want to be alone for a while."

"Alright." Lu Yu sighed helplessly, walked slowly to the door, and gently closed it for the old man.

Not far away, countless eyes were watching the movement here closely.

Among them, two or three gazes hurriedly turned away when Lu Yu looked over, pretending to look elsewhere.

Lu Yu frowned slightly and turned to leave along the path he had come.

Inside the room, the old man sighed deeply, and tears of regret flowed uncontrollably from his eye sockets.

If he had known it would end up like this, he never should have harmed others for that insignificant bit of petty profit.

Now look at him; his family is nowhere to be found, and he is living a precarious life.

He had finally managed to encounter a customer like Lu Yu and earned some money, but before the money was even warm in his hands, it had been snatched away by those few insane bastards!

Not only that, they had cruelly broken one of his legs!

That bunch of bastards, they were simply animals! He was an old man, lonely and helpless, and now that his leg was broken, how was he supposed to live his life from here on out?

It would be better to just die and save himself from continuing to suffer and endure misery.

As the old man thought this, his gaze fell involuntarily on the kitchen knife to the side, and he felt a chill rise up his neck.

Just then, with a loud "Bang!", the front door was kicked open violently.

"!" The old man was already full of resentment, and at this moment, his anger burned even hotter.

"Your grandfather is here!"

Three burly men stood aggressively at the door. The leader had a face full of flesh and a fierce, menacing look.

"So it's Hong Laoda." The old man subconsciously shrank his neck, a flash of deep hatred appearing in the depths of his eyes.

It was this group of people who had broken into the room without warning last night, forcing him to hand over the two or three hundred yuan he had earned during the day.