Yuanbao Town was merely a small town, yet it was quite prosperous. Because the surrounding small paths provided quick access to several prefectures in northern Wei Commandery, a large number of merchants passed through. After the carriage arrived in Yuanbao Town, Chu Xiu arranged accommodations at an inn, then took Yue'er and a dozen or so Chu family servants to stroll leisurely through the town. Chu Xiu looked around in both directions. Yuer, however, was somewhat bored—Tongzhou Prefecture was a major city in Wei Commandery, far more prosperous than this small town. What was there to see here?
Just then, Chu Xiu suddenly noticed something and walked straight to a shop selling secret chests. These so-called secret chests were one of the major features of the Great Jianghu world. In the Great Jianghu world, the martial path flourished, but ten thousand years ago it had experienced a great heavenly calamity. Natural disasters descended, and countless martial sects were destroyed in this apocalypse. Before the great calamity began, a grandmaster of formations had developed something called the secret chest to store sect treasures, canonical texts, and other items, preventing them from being damaged in the natural disasters.
The core of the secret chest lay in its formation array, which could reinforce and seal the chest, multiplying its effects. Unfortunately, this technique had now been lost. The materials for secret chests were arbitrary—metal, iron, stone, even wood would suffice. In any case, the stronger the chest's material, the greater the power the formation could exert. The size and shape of secret chests were also arbitrary, as the formations were all the same. The dimensions depended entirely on what the sect that manufactured them intended to store inside. Thus, after the ancient great calamity, survivors excavated countless sect ruins and found large numbers of these secret chests.
Some opened chests and found peerless miraculous techniques; others found rare treasures. Of course, not all secret chests contained valuables. Most were empty or contained useless items.
The empty chests were those sects had prepared in advance, with formations already inscribed, ready to be filled at any time. Externally, they were virtually indistinguishable from those containing items.
Some chests contained items of great sentimental significance to martial artists but little actual value—a sword used in youth by some powerful expert, a handkerchief from a beloved, and so on. Thus, the contents of secret chests varied between good and bad. Moreover, due to the special nature of the formations, no one in the current jianghu could probe their interiors from the outside. Purchasing secret chests therefore depended entirely on one's experience and luck. Experienced individuals could analyze a chest's origin and contents from its material, size, shape, even its decorative patterns. Of course, most people still relied on luck.
The shop selling secret chests in this small town was tiny. Only a dozen or so modest chests sat on the table before it, varying in shape and material. But their sole commonality was that they all appeared cheap, made of ordinary metal, iron, and stone—hence why they were being sold in a small town like Yuanbao Town.
Chu Xiu asked the shopkeeper:
Chu Xiu: "Is this the only shop in Yuanbao Town that sells secret chests?"
The shopkeeper didn't even raise his head, just nodded lazily:
Shopkeeper: "Of course there's only my shop. Even the worst secret chest costs at least ten taels of silver. Ninety-nine percent of the martial folks passing through Yuanbao Town are escorts working for others—a bunch of poor devils! They can't earn ten taels from a single escort job, so how could they spare ten taels to gamble on luck?"
Then the shopkeeper looked up. Seeing the brocade robes Chu Xiu wore and the servant girl and attendants beside him, his fat face couldn't help but show a fawning smile:
Shopkeeper: "Those poor devils can't afford secret chests, but you certainly can, young master. These chests were all found a year ago in ruins in the Southern Barbarian Mountains. The prices are absolutely fair and reasonable."
Hearing the shopkeeper say this, a sharp light flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes.
If he remembered correctly, around this time, a fellow of servant origins bought an ordinary-looking secret chest in Yuanbao Town, never expecting it to contain a supreme cultivation technique. Relying on this technique, that man dominated the jianghu, establishing a considerable reputation and even founding his own sect, becoming a grandmaster who established a school.
Chu Xiu had just arrived in this world. What he urgently needed now was a sufficiently powerful cultivation technique.
As a major clan in Tongzhou Prefecture, the Chu family naturally had inherited techniques, called the Vast Sea Heart Method. Upon great mastery, one's foundation would be profound, internal power as mighty as the vast sea. But as an illegitimate son, Chu Xiu had been neglected since childhood. Without medicinal resources, without elders' guidance, despite cultivating for many years, he could barely achieve entry-level proficiency in this technique. His martial cultivation was pitifully low—he hadn't even stepped into the Blood Coagulation Realm.
To enter the martial path, one first had to experience the Three Realms of Body Tempering. The first step of the Three Realms of Body Tempering was forging bones and tendons. This realm was called the Body Tempering Realm—tempering the physical body to make bones and tendons strong, strength surpassing ordinary. Ninety-nine percent of martial artists in the jianghu were in the Body Tempering Realm, as this was the simplest level. Some people didn't even know internal techniques, training only in crude external hard skills to reach this realm. Above Body Tempering was the Blood Coagulation Realm. This realm went from external to internal—after tempering bones and tendons, one refined their own blood and qi, making thin blood and qi become thick, finally as dense as lead and mercury, to achieve great mastery of Blood Coagulation.
This realm was considerably more difficult. Without internal heart methods, without cultivating internal power, martial artists could hardly reach the Blood Coagulation Realm.
As Chu Xiu was thinking these things, a plain-looking young man entered and said:
Li Jing: "Shopkeeper, give me two secret chests."
Ordinarily, the shopkeeper would be happy when someone came to buy secret chests. But seeing this young man, he shook his head:
Shopkeeper: "Li Jing, you've thrown all the money you earned working as a servant in the Li family of Tongzhou Prefecture into these secret chests. Take my advice—this isn't something you can afford to play with. You're clever; you've only been in the Li family a few years and already earned Third Young Master Li's favor. He gave you the Li surname and transferred you from the kitchen to the merchant caravan. Better to use this money to build connections with Li family stewards. Maybe someday you can become a steward yourself."
Li Jing smiled:
Li Jing: "Even if I become a steward, I'd still just be a servant of the Li family. Maybe I really can open some peerless divine technique from a secret chest and rise to prosperity."
The shopkeeper shook his head. Open a peerless divine technique? How could it be so easy?
There were indeed many legends in the jianghu of people opening peerless treasures from seemingly insignificant secret chests, but those were always the minority. More common was wasting money for nothing—the odds were pitifully low. But since he sold secret chests himself, and he saw Li Jing as a pitiful fellow, he had reminded him out of kindness. But since the other insisted on buying, how could he refuse to sell?
Just as he was about to get the chests, Chu Xiu suddenly said:
Chu Xiu: "Wait, shopkeeper. I'll take all these secret chests."
When the shopkeeper called out Li Jing's name and identity just now, Chu Xiu had realized who he was. He was precisely that martial artist who had once obtained a great opportunity in Yuanbao Town—of servant origins, yet relying on the divine technique opened from a secret chest to dominate the jianghu and become a regional overlord. Moreover, listening to Li Jing's words, he was indeed the type unwilling to remain ordinary. Otherwise, a worthless waste without ambition could never have reached that stage even with a divine technique—his final fate would likely be getting killed and having his technique stolen. Thinking this, Chu Xiu secretly thought himself lucky. He had arrived just in time. He only knew this event had occurred, not the precise timing. If he had arrived a step later, the opportunity would have been lost.
Li Jing frowned:
Li Jing: "This young master, I was the one who said I wanted to buy first."
Chu Xiu glanced at him:
Chu Xiu: "Now I'm saying I want them all. You have a problem with that?"
A hint of anger appeared on Li Jing's face. He snorted coldly:
Li Jing: "Does this young master think Li Jing is easy to bully just because I'm a servant? I am from the Li family of Tongzhou Prefecture!"
Tongzhou Prefecture was a major city in Wei Commandery, and the Li family was one of the three great families of Tongzhou Prefecture.
Before the prime minister's gate, even a seventh-rank official—though he was merely a servant of the Li family, some minor families in small places truly couldn't compare to him. Even people from small families had to bow and scrape before Li family stewards.
Chu Xiu looked at him with a cold smile:
Chu Xiu: "Just now you said you didn't want to be a servant for life, but when trouble comes, you still use the Li family to bully others with borrowed power? A servant wants to use the Li family to pressure me? How absurd!"
As Chu Xiu's words fell, several servants behind him immediately surrounded Li Jing, eyeing him tigerishly.
Because he had earned Third Young Master Li's favor, he had learned martial arts, but he was still a servant. What he learned were crude techniques, and his strength was only at the Body Tempering Realm. Fighting many with few, he naturally couldn't overcome so many people.
So he could only watch helplessly as Chu Xiu took all dozen or so secret chests from the shop. For some reason, besides feeling humiliated, he felt more heartache, as if something important had been taken from him.
After Chu Xiu left, Li Jing gritted his teeth hatefully. This matter was definitely not over! He had been in the Li family for so many years. Though only a servant, he was Third Young Master Li's man. The important people he had befriended were numerous!
Meanwhile, after obtaining the secret chests, Chu Xiu returned to the inn, drove everyone out, and examined the chests one by one.
Because these secret chests were only for storing items, opening them was simple—drip fresh blood on the chest, and the formation would naturally unlock. Of course, once opened, since the sealing formation was lost, the secret chest would be completely ruined and could no longer be used. This also prevented people from using empty chests to deceive others.
Seventeen chests total. Chu Xiu opened eight in succession, but seven were empty. One contained a booklet, long since decayed, and not a cultivation technique—just a ledger recording a sect's property, useless. Until Chu Xiu opened the ninth chest. This chest was made of brown stone, only palm-sized, without any decorative patterns, looking very plain. But upon opening, inside was an ancient jade, emitting a faint warm glow. In ancient times, some powerful experts, to better preserve techniques, wouldn't write them on paper but would use spiritual imprints to carve them into high-quality jade. Unless accidents occurred, they would remain undamaged for millions of years.
Chu Xiu: "This is it!"
With an excited heart, Chu Xiu grasped the jade slip. Instantly, large sections of text flooded into his mind.
Chu Xiu: "Daoist secret canon, Primordial Skill!"
The Primordial Skill Chu Xiu obtained was a branch of the Daoist lineage from ancient times—the inherited technique of the Complete Perfection sect. It cultivated primordial true qi, repelling all diseases, regulating deficiency and excess, nourishing the foundation, with true qi endlessly generating. Daoist techniques emphasized foundation above all and were the most balanced and peaceful. Though this Primordial Skill appeared unremarkable at first glance, in the original storyline's technique evaluation it was rated four rotations.
People had strengths and weaknesses; techniques had strengths and weaknesses. Though technique strength related to the practitioner—some peerless talents could dominate the jianghu with low-level techniques—that was after all the minority. So the jianghu roughly classified techniques into several grades. Normal techniques had nine rotations, one being lowest and nine highest.
Techniques of the first three rotations could basically serve as inherited techniques for small sects. Ordinary jianghu people practiced what could only be considered moves and forms, not even qualifying as first rotation techniques. Middle three rotation techniques were treasures throughout the jianghu, sufficient to establish schools and found sects.
As for the final three rotations, they were basically in the hands of major jianghu sects, rarely held by individuals. Above the nine rotations were two more levels. One was supreme techniques—obtaining them could dominate the jianghu and become martial supreme.
The other was peerless techniques. As the name suggested, they crowned the age, unparalleled in the world—legendary existences.
Besides these levels, there were also some miraculous techniques in the jianghu that couldn't be measured by grades. Some were weak when some people cultivated them but strong when others did. Some miraculous techniques had strange effects that couldn't simply be calculated by power. That this Primordial Skill was rated four rotations by later generations, sufficient to establish a school, naturally had its reasons.
The characteristic of Daoist techniques nourishing foundations was brought to extremes by the Primordial Skill. Ordinary martial artists needed to lay foundations from childhood; the older they grew, the slower their progress. But the Primordial Skill was different—it could quickly purify a martial artist's body. No matter one's age, it could reshape one's foundation. In the original storyline, Li Jing obtained the Primordial Skill, but he was already of considerable age, past the optimal stage for learning martial arts. It was precisely because of the Primordial Skill that he could reshape his foundation, advancing a thousand li in a day, with a foundation even stronger than those aristocratic disciples who had trained from childhood.
And Chu Xiu's current situation was similar to Li Jing's original circumstances. Though he was from the Chu family, he hadn't actually had dedicated instruction in childhood. Foundation-building medicines were basically nonexistent, so his foundation was also terribly poor. But now with this Primordial Skill, Chu Xiu could make up for this, even making his martial path start from a higher point than martial artists of the same rank.
Looking at the remaining chests before him, Chu Xiu opened them as well. Unexpectedly, he discovered another technique—one that hadn't appeared in the original storyline. Of course, it might have appeared, but Chu Xiu didn't know of it. This technique wasn't internal power, but a strange blade technique called Azure Dragon in the Sleeve.
Chu Xiu's martial cultivation had only just begun. Besides those famous techniques from the original storyline, he couldn't judge the quality of other techniques placed before him. But by his current assessment, this Azure Dragon in the Sleeve was much better than the Chu family's first rotation ordinary martial skills—at least second rotation. This Azure Dragon in the Sleeve blade technique emphasized the art of concealing the blade. The blade form hid in the sleeve; the blade intent hid in the body. When the blade struck, it was like the azure dragon emerging from the sea, boundless in power.
The blade was the azure dragon; the sleeve was the sea concealing the dragon. The entire technique was extremely simple. Its essence lay solely in that single strike of supreme power when the azure dragon emerged from the sea.
The Chu family mainly cultivated the Vast Sea Heart Method. As for other martial techniques, none were particularly strong—just ordinary skills, fists, palms, blades, spears, staves, everything available. Which to choose depended entirely on personal preference.
Though Chu Xiu couldn't discern the depth of this Azure Dragon in the Sleeve, it was certainly much better than the crude blade techniques of the Chu family. And just as Chu Xiu was opening these secret chests, Li Jing, unwilling to accept having his things taken by Chu Xiu, came to another inn in Yuanbao Town to find backing.