Chapter 72: Secret Manual Phobia

A Ku enjoyed the food at one side, while Wu Chengyu opened the wooden box Lao Dengtou had given him and took out all the secret manuals inside.

The wooden box was not small; more than half of it was filled with over two hundred secret manuals, as if they were wholesale goods. Pity that back then, besides Bibo Palm Technique and Yan Qing Fist, Wu Chengyu had only relied on bamboo slips to gradually fuse and improve the Zizhu Heart Technique—no, it was the Bilang Heart Technique.

Now it was fine: over two hundred secret manuals, averaging a few thousand characters each, totaling at least seven or eight hundred thousand characters—almost as many as a slightly shorter web novel. Just reading without thinking, commenting, or cursing would still take several days.

Unless one read without practicing like Wang Yuyan, otherwise it would be like Murong Fu, practicing everything but mastering nothing, ultimately neglecting his own family's supreme art.

The key was that the secret manuals before him were what remained after Murong Yuan had destroyed more than half. For example, the Shaolin supreme arts—the compiled volume of the Shaolin Seventy-Two Supreme Skills that Murong Bo had given to Jiumozhi—was not among them.

Of course, the Seventy-Two Supreme Skills were pure boasting and had never been fully collected; several top-tier Shaolin divine arts like the Yi Jin Jing were missing, but it was still exaggerated enough.

When Wu Chengyu heard that the secret manuals with origins had been destroyed, he felt a bit disappointed, but now seeing these before him, he felt lucky that fewer remained—just looking at them was enough to satisfy him.

However, different martial arts were different. Originally, the Huanfushuge had almost no top supreme arts from other sects. Now, after more than half were destroyed, besides the Murong Family's martial arts, whether these remaining ones had any real quality was uncertain.

Wu Chengyu first set aside the three supreme-level manuals: Dou Zhuan Xing Yi, Canhe Finger, and Longcheng Sword Technique. Together with them were the Murong Family's exclusive internal art, Longcheng Heart Method, and the martial arts of the four Family Stewards.

The rest were like opening blind boxes.

Wu Chengyu first classified these secret manuals by type: Internal Energy Heart Techniques, External Body-Tempering Arts, Fist/Palm/Finger/Claw/Leg Techniques, Weapons, Hidden Weapons, Lightness Skill/Footwork, and Special.

Among them, Internal Energy Heart Techniques were the fewest, only a dozen or so.

Pity that the vast majority of martial artists practiced external arts, like the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan.

A few profound ones, or those possessing top external arts who generated inner force from external to internal, like Hong Qigong.

The rest had at most the lowest-level breathing exercises, never even seeing a heart technique manual in their lifetime, like the Wu Family disciples.

But Wu Chengyu now had over a dozen right before him. The Internal Energy Heart Techniques that could be placed in the Huanfushuge all had their unique aspects, but absolutely none were at the Divine Skill Grade.

There were those leaning toward the Five Elements attributes: Qingmu Changchun Gong, Big Event Houtu Jue, Yanyan Dafa, Rui Jin Zhan Qi, and Yanbo Haomiao Jue.

There were those imitating animals: Hu Sha Shen Gong, Songhe Changsheng Fa, Gui Xi Gong, and Mang Niu Da Li Jue.

There were also the Zifu Dan Jing and Jiu Xuan Dafa, unknown which Taoist sect they came from; the Da Luo Han Zhen Jing, from the Buddhist sect but not a Shaolin supreme art; the Zombie Gong, which sounded like it should be practiced by someone surnamed Yan; and the Su Nu Gong, practiced exclusively by women, and so on.

None were top internal arts, but their names were truly well-chosen. Compared to Ox-Horse Stake and Turtle Grandson Method, they were simply low-to-mid configurations with top-tier packaging.

Only one internal art caught Wu Chengyu's attention. Practicing it well would count as a top internal art, at least not much inferior to the Murong Family's Longcheng Heart Method. Its name also seemed familiar: Heart-Intent-Qi Hunyuan Gong.

There were not a few internal arts called Hunyuan Gong; for example, during the Smiling Proud Wanderer period, Huashan Nine Techniques included one called Hunyuan Gong, second only to the Zixia Divine Art in the Huashan Sect.

And this Heart-Intent-Qi Hunyuan Gong seemed to be Cheng Kun's supreme art of Hunyuan Pilihand from Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber. Unexpectedly, this internal art already existed during The Legend of the Condor Heroes period and had been collected by the Murong Family into the Huanfushuge.

Wu Chengyu definitely would not cultivate these internal arts, but could use them as resources to fuse into the heart technique he was currently cultivating. Leaving others aside, most of these internal arts had one or two hidden meridians; some were repeated, but added together they were not few.

External Body-Tempering Arts numbered over forty, with levels dropping significantly. Just Iron Cloth Shirt, Golden Bell Cover, and Thirteen Taibao Cross-Training each had three or four versions. The others included Pan Shi Gong, You Chui Guan Ding, Tie Bi Gong, Tie Tou Gong, Tie Tui Gong, Tie Xiong Gong, and so on.

The Murong Family had somehow also collected Longxiang Banruo Gong, but only the first five layers of the technique. Longxiang Banruo Gong was widely spread in Xi Yu, and secret manuals of the first five layers were easy to find, so they were not included in the destruction list.

Fist/Palm/Finger/Claw/Leg Techniques were the most numerous, directly over a hundred kinds. Wu Chengyu even saw the family-heirloom Yan Qing Fist, and its contents were even more complete than what he had learned, with an extra set of killing moves. He did not know whether the Wu Family's learning had been lost, or they had never learned it from the beginning.

Hidden Weapons totaled over twenty kinds, with various flying darts, Sangmen Nails, and various techniques that opened Wu Chengyu's eyes.

Lightness Skill/Footwork had over fifty kinds. The most common were Cao Shang Fei, Fei Yan Zou Bi, Ba Bu Zhao Chan, Mei Hua Zhuang, Dao Cai Qi Xing Bu, Lingyuan Bu, etc. The most superior was called He Ying Liu Guang, suspected to be the lightness skill mastered by Cloud Crane among the Four Great Evils.

Special category had over thirty kinds, not all martial arts: Suo Gu Gong, Bi You You Qiang Gong, Bi Qi Gong, Yi Zhu Shu, Yin Bo Gong, Yin Yang He He Gong, E'nu Yin Gong, and one very famous one, Seven-String Formless Sword.

After organizing all these martial arts, Wu Chengyu finally exhaled. Just organizing them once had already tired him out mentally.

For internal arts, he would temporarily continue cultivating his own technique. Only after fusing the five hidden meridians of the Huanxing Shenshen Fa into the internal art would this technique be considered complete.

The internal arts before him could only serve as resources; even those hidden meridians might not be directly fused into the heart technique. There had to be selection and rejection—seeking perfection often meant flaws.

Among the remaining techniques, the only one that temporarily interested Wu Chengyu was the lightness skill He Ying Liu Guang. No matter when, the skill to escape for one's life had to be learned and mastered.

The first five layers of Longxiang Banruo Gong definitely were not as good as Ox-Horse Stake; he temporarily had no energy to cultivate both. The remaining techniques could only be considered later when he had spare energy.

Right now, besides basic techniques and internal arts, the first things he needed to cultivate were Dou Zhuan Xing Yi and Canhe Finger.

But leaving so many martial arts unused was also a waste. Wu Chengyu had plans to enhance the family's strength, but definitely not now. Rashly bringing out these martial arts would only arouse others' covetousness. Even if the family atmosphere was good, one grain feeds a hundred kinds of people; those with envy need not be many—just one could spoil the pot of soup.

So he dared not gamble on human nature anymore, nor could he afford to. Enhancing the family's strength was necessary, but the premise was that his own martial arts could suppress the whole clan. Only after having absolute self-protection ability and the right to speak could he begin to build the family's martial arts system.

The only thing he could give the family right now was this complete version of Yan Qing Fist. It merely added a breathing method compared to what the family practiced, not counting as internal art, plus that set of killing moves.

The people in the family all practiced Yan Qing Fist. Even if occasionally someone used a few scattered-hand killing moves, outsiders would not notice. Moreover, these few moves had some power and could somewhat enhance the family's combat strength.

Thinking this, Wu Chengyu already had a plan in mind. But seeing so many martial arts with no time to cultivate, he always felt a sense that wasting resources was shameful. At this moment, he turned his gaze toward A Ku, who was still shaking her head and swaying her brain.

This little fat girl had gotten even fatter recently. How could this continue? As a responsible older brother, Wu Chengyu felt he had the responsibility to plan a path of a martial arts heroine for A Ku.

(Chapter End)