Chapter 19

The next day, early in the morning, Lu Zhangsheng rushed to the Demon-Suppressing Division Yamen.

Along the bluestone road, he walked west and soon arrived at the entrance of the Cangjing Ge.

He walked in with big strides.

He looked around; the space was not large but very tidy, and a staircase in the corner led directly to the second floor.

An old man with white hair was sitting at the desk in the back, dozing off.

Sensing someone coming, the old man opened his sleepy eyes and glanced at Lu Zhangsheng casually.

"Apprentice Demon-Suppressing Envoys choose techniques on the second floor. Newcomers can only copy two secret manuals and can take out at most five to choose from..."

After speaking, the old man leaned back on his chair and ignored Lu Zhangsheng.

"Thank you for the guidance, Senior."

Lu Zhangsheng cupped his hands, being very polite.

Although the other party looked harmless like a farmer, he wouldn't believe that such an important place would really send an ordinary person to guard it.

Then, Lu Zhangsheng passed the old man and walked upstairs.

"Tap, tap..."

A crisp sound of footsteps rang out.

Soon, Lu Zhangsheng arrived at the second floor.

The second floor was very spacious, about several tens of meters in radius, and rows of bookshelves were filled with various martial arts secret manuals.

The air also emitted a musty smell.

These martial arts techniques had clearly been placed here for some years.

At this time, a middle-aged man came up to greet him.

"You only have half an hour to choose. After choosing, take them to Old Yuan to copy..."

"Hmm... I understand."

Lu Zhangsheng nodded gently, then turned his head to look at the dense secret manuals, feeling somewhat dazzled.

For a moment, he actually didn't know how to choose; the number of techniques in front of him was simply too vast.

"I don't know how to address you, Brother. Could you give me some guidance?"

While speaking, he immediately took out a silver ingot from his bosom and handed it over quietly.

"Just call me Old Xing."

The middle-aged man weighed the silver in his hand, a smile squeezing out on his face.

He was very satisfied with Lu Zhangsheng's sensible performance.

"Although there are many of these techniques and manuals, they are roughly divided into three types. The bookshelves on the west side are all low-level martial arts techniques, most of the middle bookshelves are martial skills, including spear techniques, blade techniques, sword techniques... and so on. As for the east bookshelves, they are some body technique manuals and a small amount of incomplete secret techniques..."

The man began to introduce them to Lu Zhangsheng carefully, his tone quite kind.

Seeing this, Lu Zhangsheng smiled slightly.

Sure enough, money makes the world go round. Fortunately, he was quite well-versed in social etiquette; if he had to choose by himself, let alone half an hour, he probably wouldn't be able to find a suitable technique even in a few days.

However, newcomers could only copy two secret manuals at most, which was completely insufficient.

Thinking of his own Attribute Modifier, a different idea arose in his heart.

"I am here for the first time and don't quite understand which martial arts techniques I need. Could I flip through all five secret manuals before choosing two of them..."

Lu Zhangsheng said softly.

"This... I'm afraid that's a bit difficult to handle."

A trace of struggle appeared on the middle-aged man's face.

This situation had never happened before.

Although it didn't explicitly violate the regulations, it was testing the edge of the rules.

Although he wouldn't believe that the other party could memorize five secret manuals in a short time.

"Please make an exception, Brother Xing. Another day, I will definitely treat you to a meal at Yuanyang Lou..."

After speaking, Lu Zhangsheng took out another silver ingot and handed it over.

"This... it's not impossible. Brother, try to be as fast as possible, and don't talk about this outside."

The middle-aged man put the silver into his sleeve quickly with a calm expression.

It was just flipping through them for a moment, and no one would pursue it. For the sake of the silver, he agreed.

"I understand, Brother."

Lu Zhangsheng cupped his hands, giving the other party enough face.

Then he began to carefully consider the techniques and manuals he needed.

With his current state, the Iron Cloth Shirt must definitely be his fundamental martial art.

After all, the realm is the foundation of everything; practicing martial skills in vain would be putting the cart before the horse.

His head and arm skin membranes had not yet transformed, so these two techniques must be obtained.

He was very much looking forward to the changes after adding points to the Iron Cloth Shirt again.

That moment would be when he completely distanced himself from ordinary martial artists.

What kind of power an Iron Cloth Shirt beyond perfection had, even he didn't know.

According to past guesses, perhaps only when the head and both arms were completely transformed could the final sublimation be carried out.

As for the technique fusion option, that was still after this.

He also quickly had plans for the remaining three technique choices.

Blade technique manuals must also be practiced; after all, basic blade techniques were never as powerful as advanced blade techniques.

With a realm, coupled with powerful martial skills, one could perfectly exert one's own strength.

And the method of dodging and moving was also extremely critical.

If you can't beat them, run; that is always the best strategy. As for the last technique, he chose a desperate method.

If one day he couldn't run away, he would have to fight hard.

It would be best if it were a secret technique that burns essence blood and lifespan, raising his strength to the limit. With the recovery power of his own Attribute Modifier, as long as he wasn't dead and had enough Source Energy Points, he could still turn the tables.

A moment later, Lu Zhangsheng told the middle-aged man his requirements.

Xing Zhaolin considered it slightly and then walked directly to the bookshelf in front.

He saw him shuttling through the bookshelves quickly, and before long, five secret manuals appeared in his hand.

He came to Lu Zhangsheng with a self-satisfied look.

"Brother, take a look at these techniques. Although these are all low-level techniques this time, there are differences in strength. Brother, I am taking good care of you; I chose the ones with great power..."

"Thank you, Brother Xing."

Lu Zhangsheng smiled slightly, naturally understanding the other party's subtext.

"I am taking good care of you" — this sentence was the key point.

Pay up!

He didn't hesitate, reached into his bosom again, took out a silver ingot, and handed it over.

He cursed inwardly: "Money-grubber."

He directly labeled the other party as greedy.

However, small people are hard to deal with, and he didn't want to offend this person. It was nothing but Zhao Erhu's silver anyway, so he didn't feel bad spending it.

Plus, medicinal herbs were everywhere deep in the mountains, and things like silver were far less important than strength.

The other party had been in the Cangjing Ge for a long time, so presumably, his eye for things was still quite good.

"Haha... Brother is indeed generous."

Xing Zhaolin quickly put away the silver, his face full of smiles.

His face was almost squeezed into the shape of a chrysanthemum.

Then, he immediately handed the secret manuals to Lu Zhangsheng.

"Brother, choose carefully, don't rush, there is still half an hour left."

He even thoughtfully reported the time to Lu Zhangsheng.

Lu Zhangsheng smiled slightly and spread all the secret manuals in his hands.

"Iron Arm Skill."

"Iron Head Skill."

"Floating Light and Shadow."

"Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade."

"Blood Burning Secret Art."

The five secret manuals suddenly revealed their true appearance.

Lu Zhangsheng couldn't wait to start flipping through them.

"Swish, swish..."

The entire Cangjing Ge was very quiet, with only the sound of slight page-turning remaining.

After a cup of tea's time.

"Detected Iron Head Skill, Iron Arm Skill, Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade... five martial arts secret manuals. Do you want to collect them?"

Just as Lu Zhangsheng finished flipping through them all, a crisp prompt sounded deep in his mind.

This made him happy, but his face remained calm.

"Sure enough."

Seeing his guess come true, all five techniques could be collected, and coupled with the Source Energy Points in his hand, it was enough to raise his strength by a large margin again.

This made Lu Zhangsheng quite excited.

"Collect."

He nodded inwardly.

As a ray of light flashed, five technique manuals appeared on the panel.

It's just that they were all in an uninitiated state.

"Brother Xing, I have chosen. I will choose this blade technique and the step technique."

Lu Zhangsheng didn't drag his feet and spoke immediately.

"Brother's choice is correct. Skin Refining techniques are difficult to merge with each other. I was afraid you didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth and chose both the Iron Arm Skill and the Iron Head Skill at the same time. Many people in the past thought they could practice several Skin Refining techniques, but the result was that it was difficult to break through to Flesh Refining, and they ended up crippling themselves."

Xing Zhaolin breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

He didn't want this generous person to go down the wrong path.

"Thank you for the reminder, Brother."

Lu Zhangsheng didn't explain and thanked him.

Then the two exchanged a few pleasantries, and he said goodbye and left.

After arriving at the first floor, he pretended to finish copying the two secret manuals and returned the originals to the old man.

"Techniques and martial skills must not be passed on to outsiders; otherwise, you will be hunted down by the Demon-Suppressing Division with all its might."

The old man warned in a stern tone.

Lu Zhangsheng's expression tightened, and he nodded.

He also knew that these techniques were one of the Imperial Court's reverse scales. To attract a large number of martial artists to join the Demon-Suppressing Division, if they were spread to everyone, the attractiveness of the Demon-Suppressing Division would greatly decrease.

After all, the mission casualty rate of the Demon-Suppressing Division was still extremely high, and those demons and Guaiyi were not easy to deal with.

(End of chapter)