Chapter 90: Cao Youqian's Baffling Behavior
"Why does this kid's dough-kneading technique feel so similar to the Taiji Sword style that Chu Feng demonstrated this morning?"
Elder Bing watched Wang Baole's set of fluid motions in the kitchen and couldn't help but mutter with emotion.
What a pity the kid hadn't realized the essence of that martial art from those movements. Otherwise, she could've picked up a few tricks from observing.
Ptui!
How could a dignified elder of the Heaven Spirit Institute stoop to "stealing techniques"? This was called drawing insight through comparison.
Elder Bing gave up observing Wang Baole's training and turned her attention to see if any other disciples were cultivating.
Unfortunately, everyone had already finished their training and returned to their quarters.
These brats were way too slack in their cultivation!
Chu Feng had passed such a profound technique on to them, and yet they weren't practicing it more diligently?
None of them knew what Elder Bing was thinking.
Meanwhile, Cao Youqian had left Wendao Academy alone. He planned to head to Wendao City to purchase a batch of basic fist techniques.
An hour later—
He arrived at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion in Wendao City.
"Young Master Cao, you've arrived."
As soon as Cao Youqian stepped through the door, a young attendant greeted him warmly.
This was one of their top customers. Every time he visited, he would buy a lot of pills.
Cao Youqian smiled at the young man in front of him. "Zhang San, you haven't changed a bit."
Zhang San forced a professional smile. "I'm just a lowly errand boy in the pavilion—how could I compare to you, Young Master Cao? I heard you're now an inner disciple at Wendao Academy, and even defeated a top expert recently!"
"Ah, just a minor matter, nothing worth mentioning."
Of course, Cao Youqian knew he was referring to the time he defeated Lin Fan.
"Are you here for the usual today, Young Master?" Zhang San asked with a grin.
"I'm here to buy some fist techniques and hard-body training skills today."
The moment Cao Youqian said this, many customers in the pavilion turned to look at him.
Even Zhang San had a baffled look. In his impression, Cao Youqian was a relative of some bigwig at Wendao Academy.
Now he was coming here to buy fist techniques? What was going on?
Did something happen to him at the academy?
Or had there been some internal upheaval?
Seeing Zhang San standing there dumbfounded, Cao Youqian snapped impatiently, "What, you don't want to show me the way?"
Zhang San quickly came back to his senses and smiled. "Right this way, Young Master. May I ask what kind of hard-body techniques you're looking for?"
"Bring me everything you have—Golden Bell Shield, Iron Shirt, Vajra Fist, Arhat Fist, all of them. The more basic, the more brute-force oriented, the better."
Cao Youqian ignored the strange looks around him and stated his request to Zhang San clearly.
???
Everyone in the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, including the shopkeeper, had big question marks on their faces.
The techniques Cao Youqian mentioned were the most common and low-level martial arts.
And they were particularly easy to learn.
Even if you practiced them to perfection—or even to the great perfection stage—at most they could take a cultivator to the True Fate Realm. More commonly, they would only help someone reach the Dao Foundation Realm.
Anyone who came to Wendao City to make a living or try to enter Wendao Academy wouldn't even glance at these techniques.
Yet no one could figure out what Cao Youqian was thinking, no matter how hard they tried.
As the shop fell silent again, Cao Youqian scowled and said,
"Come on, really? You guys call yourselves the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion, and you're telling me you don't even have the most basic techniques?"
If Cao Youqian had said something like this on a normal day, everyone would've thought he was mocking the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.
But now, they were all simply confused.
The shopkeeper chuckled. "Young Master Cao must be joking. Our pavilion holds treasures from the Body Tempering to Nirvana realms—we naturally have these techniques too."
"It's just that these manuals have been sitting in our warehouse gathering dust. Please give us a moment while we go retrieve them."
"Go on, go on," Cao Youqian waved his hand, then found a quiet place to sit, ignoring all the stares aimed at him.
The shopkeeper whispered something into Zhang San's ear.
The latter immediately headed toward the inner courtyard.
Before long—
Zhang San returned carrying a large bamboo basket filled with worn, low-quality jade slips.
"Young Master Cao, all the techniques you requested are here. If you don't believe me, you may inspect them with your divine sense."
Under normal circumstances, customers weren't allowed to directly examine technique contents.
But considering Cao Youqian had specifically asked for this pile of junk—
These things had been gathering dust in storage for years.
If he hadn't brought it up today, they might've forgotten the pavilion even had them.
Cao Youqian swept his divine sense through the basket. They were exactly the kind of techniques he wanted.
"How much?" he asked.
The shopkeeper smiled. "There are a total of eighty-one manuals here. If you want them all, just give me four low-grade spirit stones. That should cover the copying fee for my staff."
Cao Youqian found the price reasonable. After all, these techniques were usually sold for silver coins.
"Alright."
He casually pulled four low-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch and tossed them to the shopkeeper, then swept all the tattered jade slips into his pouch.
Everyone watched his departing figure in silence, completely unable to process what had just happened.
Zhang San looked at the shopkeeper and asked, "Boss, you've seen a lot—do you know what Young Master Cao wants with these things?"
The shopkeeper shook his head. "If I knew that, would I still be a shopkeeper? I'd be an elder at Wendao Academy by now."
Zhang San: "..."
On the way back to Wendao Academy, word had already spread throughout Wendao City about Cao Youqian buying a pile of trash-tier techniques.
But this time, no one dared to mock him.
They were just curious—
What exactly was Young Master Cao planning?
Inside Wendao Academy—
Liu Yu'er had returned to the Heaven Spirit Institute.
The first thing she did was seek out the Free Sword King.
"Granddaughter greets Ancestor."
The Free Sword King gave a faint smile. "No need for formality. What did Elder Bing say?"
Liu Yu'er didn't hold anything back. "Today, when I visited the Miscellaneous Dao Institute, I met Elder Bing and conveyed your intention to her."
"But Elder Bing told me to return first. From the looks of it, she intends to stay at the Miscellaneous Dao Institute for a while."
The Free Sword King squinted, his expression turning somewhat unreadable.
"Go bring one of Elder Bing's disciples to me. I want to ask what instructions she left for them."
"Yes."
A short while later—
Liu Yu'er returned with Wang Xi, Elder Bing's third disciple.
"Disciple greets the Head Elder."
"Rise."
The Free Sword King turned to Wang Xi. "Did your master leave you any instructions?"
"Reporting to the Head Elder, before she left she sent a message…"
Wang Xi didn't dare hide anything and truthfully recounted everything Elder Bing had said.
After hearing it all, the Free Sword King's brows finally relaxed. "Since Elder Bing has made her own decision, I won't interfere further. You may go."
"Yes." Wang Xi quietly took her leave.
The Free Sword King then turned his gaze to his descendant. "Yu'er, what do you think Elder Bing's goal is in staying at the Miscellaneous Dao Institute?"
Liu Yu'er didn't answer immediately. She hesitated, then said,
"Ancestor, I have a bold idea… but I'm not sure if I should say it."
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