Chapter Eight: The Bone-Gold Formula!

At that moment, Ye Chen suddenly asked Elder Hao Bo, “Elder, could you tell us about the Sword Techniques Pavilion? I’d like to learn a little.”

“Yeah, yeah, Elder, please introduce it to us,” Liu Jinshui quickly chimed in upon hearing Ye Chen’s question.

Seeing Ye Chen’s earnest attitude, Elder Hao Bo nodded. “The Sword Techniques Pavilion is where our Sword Sect stores its sword techniques. It has five floors, divided from the fourth floor downward into four ranks: Earth, Heaven, Mysterious, and Yellow. I will now take you to the second floor to retrieve some Mysterious-ranked techniques.” Having said this, he headed toward the pavilion.

As Elder Hao Bo’s words fell, he moved gracefully, stepping toward the ancient and solemn Sword Techniques Pavilion.

Sunlight filtered through sparse clouds, casting mottled shadows on the bluestone tiles before the pavilion. The door opened slowly, as if gently pushing open the gate of history, and a profound aura steeped with the passage of time and sword intent wafted out.

Witnessing this scene, Ye Chen and Liu Jinshui followed closely inside, their eyes widening in astonishment at the myriad sword manuals arranged around them.

At that moment, Liu Jinshui asked, “By the way, Elder, what’s on the fifth floor?”

Hearing this, Elder Hao Bo’s expression turned serious. “That is a sect secret. You can know about it once you become a direct disciple.”

“Also, Liu Shaoying, Xiao Wu Jie, you two may each select one Yellow-ranked sword technique from the first floor for free, but remember to return it afterward.” After this, Elder Hao Bo led Ye Chen and Liu Jinshui to the second floor.

The second floor was noticeably smaller than the first, with fewer Mysterious techniques, but all were of the Mysterious rank. Ye Chen and Liu Jinshui glanced at one manual after another.

Elder Hao Bo watched them silently for a moment before speaking, “Isn’t it classified up above? If you want a certain type, why not look there?”

At his words, Ye Chen and Liu Jinshui finally looked up and saw the words above. Liu Jinshui sighed, “Oh, I see now. Brother Ye, I’m fast, so I’ll look for a manual to increase speed. You work hard.”

“All right, go ahead.” Ye Chen replied, then fell into thought. “As for powerful sword techniques, I have the sword qi like threads given by that senior. For speed, I have sword intent to suppress their velocity.”

Thinking this over, Ye Chen frowned deeply. “What should I choose? Something to cultivate the body? But that will be very painful.”

His brows almost formed a ‘川’ shape as he muttered to himself, “Forget it, body cultivation it is. I just have to persevere. I believe in myself.”

Saying this, Ye Chen clenched his right fist. “I’m all in, damn it.”

With that, he walked toward the pavilion marked with the three large characters “Body Refinement Area.”

He glanced left and right: Stone Condensing Body Technique, Destruction Shattered Gold Technique, Destruction Vajra Technique.

In the end, Ye Chen shook his head...

Suddenly!

He noticed a book lying sideways nearby, covered in dust. Ye Chen’s heart stirred. He slowly approached and gently blew off the dust, revealing an ancient cover—“Bone Gold Manual.”

The characters on the cover were somewhat faded but still showed vigorous brushstrokes, exuding an extraordinary aura. Ye Chen lightly flipped through the yellowed, slightly curled pages.

His gaze grew intense as he read word by word, feeling that each character contained profound body refinement methods, drawing him deeply in.

It read: “Bone Gold Manual: Using sword intent to repeatedly strike various parts of the body to train the bones and strengthen the flesh. When perfected, one’s body becomes like a top-tier Mysterious-ranked sword, incredibly hard.”

Upon reading this, a smile and solemnity appeared on Ye Chen’s face. “This is a good thing. If I master this, wouldn’t I essentially become a sword myself?”

With this thought, he picked up the manual and approached Elder Hao Bo. “Elder, I want to take this one.”

Seeing the Mysterious technique in Ye Chen’s hand, Elder Hao Bo frowned.

“Kid, if you want to change now, I can give you one chance. This body refinement method is very painful. Originally an Earth-ranked Mysterious technique, but because it requires sword intent to cultivate faster, it’s placed here among the Mysterious rank. Trust me, pick another.”

Ye Chen felt a warmth in his heart but respectfully saluted.

“No, Elder. How about this: if I can’t master it, I’ll complete tasks to exchange it later?”

Hearing Ye Chen’s determination, Elder Hao Bo shook his head. “Fine, fine. Since you’ve decided, I won’t stop you. Let’s go; I’ll check the first floor.”

After Elder Hao Bo left, Ye Chen called to Liu Jinshui beside him.

“Hey, what did you pick? Let me see.” He reached out to grab the manual.

Liu Jinshui quickly dodged. “What are you doing? Don’t snatch it. It’s not like I’m not telling you.”

“Then hurry up and tell me!” Ye Chen urged.

Seeing Ye Chen’s eagerness, Liu Jinshui leisurely said, “My technique lets me create clones to confuse opponents. When perfected, I can split into nine sword qi clones just like me. How about that? Impressive, right?”

After speaking, Liu Jinshui raised an eyebrow mischievously at Ye Chen.

Ye Chen gave a thumbs-up. “Impressive! Ten attacks at once. No one could beat you with that, not even me.”

Hearing this, Liu Jinshui lowered his head gloomily. “Too bad the clones don’t deal damage. If they did, I’d basically be invincible. Heh heh.”

Ye Chen immediately flipped his thumb down. “Tch~ You didn’t say that part. I thought it was amazing.”

Liu Jinshui didn’t reply, just gave an awkward laugh and scratched his head.

As they chatted, the two had already stepped out of the Sword Techniques Pavilion, seeing Elder Hao Bo and two other disciples.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the sky: “You may now return to report to your families. Remember to come back early; there will be more tasks for you then!”

“Yes!” they replied in unison, then slowly departed.

Elder Hao Bo bowed to the sky. “Senior Brother, what did the sect say?”

The voice answered, “The elders have decided to let them train outside the inner sect first, to see how their temperaments are. If suitable, someone will take them as direct disciples. Take care of them for a while.”

“Understood, Senior Brother!” Hao Bo replied, then bowed again before leaving.

At this moment, Ye Chen found Old Shi and the coachman sleeping on the carriage, both dozing at the entrance of Fragrant Full Tower. Seeing Old Shi so sound asleep, Ye Chen felt a wave of speechlessness. “He can sleep anywhere… he really doesn’t care about me.”

After a moment of silence, Ye Chen loudly sang beside them: “Rise up! Those unwilling to be slaves...”

Just as he was about to sing the third line, a shoe flew at him. Ye Chen raised his hand to block it. “Hey! Stinky Pang! Old Shi, how long has it been since you washed your feet?”

“None of your business,” Old Shi grumbled impatiently. “Purple talent, quite strong.”

Ye Chen smiled. “Heh heh, just so-so.”

At that moment, Old Shi suddenly looked toward a corner—a shadowy figure appeared!

The figure laughed heartily. “Hahaha, looks like Old Shi has found me after all. You know I mean no harm. I just wanted to see how the young brother with purple talent compares to my disciple.”

Old Shi asked, “What do you mean?” Raising his wine gourd for a drink, he found it empty. Irritated, he stuffed it away.

The man replied calmly, “I suggest a fight between your junior and mine. How about that?”

“Of course, no problem.”

Upon hearing this, the man said, “Then go!”

“Yes!”

“Come on!”