Chapter 22: The Elderly Man Who Sells Secret Manuals
Lin Shen stopped in his tracks and looked over curiously.
The person who was thrown out of the shop by the burly man was a sloppy elderly man with gray hair and tattered clothes.
His goatee had oily rice grains stuck to it, and his black eyes rolled around. It was obvious that he was thinking about something indecent.
"Mr. Black, please do me a favor. I've been starving for three days. I had no choice but to do this. Please don't be made. Put it on my account, and I'll pay you back!"
The elderly man nimbly got up from the ground and didn't look like he had just been kicked at all. He squeezed his wrinkled and wretched face and smiled obsequiously at the burly man.
However, the burly man wouldn't buy it. He sneered and pointed at the elderly man's nose.
"First of all, my nickname is Black Bear, but my surname isn't Black!
"Secondly, I'm not in the charity business. You have to pay when you come to my restaurant to eat. Put it on your account? No way! If you can't pay me now, I'll break your legs!"
The elderly man seemed to have been frightened by the burly man's fierce expression. He couldn't help but swallow. When he looked around and spotted Lin Shen nearby, his eyes immediately lit up. He took a few steps and rushed to Lin Shen's side. He coughed and said with a solemn expression,
"Young man, I can see you have an extraordinary bone structure. You're a rare cultivation genius. I have a few cultivation technique manuals here. Fate has brought us together, so I'll sell them to you at a cheaper price. One thousand spirit coins for one book!"
Lin Shen looked at the elderly man in surprise, impressed by his thick skin.
To be able to say such words to a passerby who had watched the entire process, this man had to have the thickest skin in the world.
However, wasn't it too late to pretend to be an expert living in seclusion now?
"Does he take me for a fool?"
As if sensing the disdain in Lin Shen's eyes, the elderly man cleared his throat and said,
"If you think it's too expensive, 500, no, 300 spirit coins will do!"
Lin Shen turned around and left without another word.
If he were in a novel, this elderly man would most likely be an expert traveling freely in the world. By chance, he received a little favor from Lin Shen, so he gave the latter a cultivation technique manual unmatched in this world. From then on, Lin Shen would step onto the path of becoming an invincible man!
However, the novel was still a novel. In reality, Lin Shen was more inclined to believe that this elderly man was a pure hoodwinker.
Seeing Lin Shen leave without hesitation, the elderly man was dumbfounded.
When he came back to his senses, he immediately howled and fell to the ground. He wrapped his arms around Lin Shen's thigh and cried, "Young man, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Can you bring yourself to see an elderly man like me have my legs broken?"
Holy shit!
"What a drastic change! He can't fool me, so he's going to morally coerce me!"
Lin Shen's lips twitched.
Unable to stand the elderly man, he could only look at the burly black bear and asked, "How much does he owe you?"
Black Bear snorted. "20 spirit coins."
Lin Shen was stunned and looked at the elderly man in shock.
"You don't even have 20 spirit coins?"
The elderly man smiled awkwardly and stammered, "How about… I sell the secret manual to you for 20 spirit coins?"
Lin Shen held his forehead and sighed. He still took the money and handed it to Black Bear.
It was just 20 spirit coins. He would think it as his good deed for the day.
Black Bear took the money and glared at the elderly man. He said fiercely, "Don't let me see you again!"
With that, he walked into the shop without looking back.
Seeing this, the elderly man let out a sigh of relief. He patted his knees and stood up. He smiled at Lin Shen ingratiatingly and said, "Good people will be rewarded. Thank you, young man."
"Don't ." Lin Shen waved his hand to interrupt him. "We agreed on 20 spirit coins for a secret manual. Give it to me."
Although he didn't have high hopes for the secret manual that the elderly man mentioned, he had already spent the money, so he might as well take a look at that secret manual.
What if he could pick up a bargain?
The elderly man chuckled and searched his clothes. He took out three tattered secret manuals from some unknown pocket.
"I'm not bragging, but these three secret manuals are all good stuff. I've kept them for many years and can't bear to sell them. If I didn't have any choice today, I wouldn't have taken them out for sale."
Lin Shen rolled his eyes and ignored the old man's boasting.
The latter didn't mind it. He pointed at one of the secret manuals and said confidently, "For example, I obtained this Dragon Spear from a cultivator three years ago. It's a rare and powerful cultivation technique!"
Dragon Spear?
Lin Shen raised his eyebrows. This name sounded quite domineering.
Moreover, it was a spear technique that was relatively rare among weapon-type martial techniques!
Compared to fists, palms, fingers, claws, legs, and other martial techniques, weapon-type martial techniques could gain advantage more easily in battle.
After all, having a weapon was always more advantageous than bare hands.
However, in terms of tempering the body and strengthening vitality, using bare hands was more effective than using weapons.
Therefore, rookies who had just started cultivating would often choose martial techniques like fists, palms, fingers, claws, and legs.
Even the fundamental martial arts of the three great sects were palm techniques or fist techniques.
Only after breaking through to the Long Breath Stage would cultivators choose weapon-type martial techniques.
Other than that, some Qi Transformation Stage cultivators who felt that their cultivation could no longer advance would also begin to cultivate weapons-type martial techniques to increase their actual combat ability.
Lin Shen felt he would break through to the Long Breath Stage sooner or later, so when he heard it was a weapon-type martial technique, he immediately became more serious.
The elderly man continued. "This spear technique emphasizes the transformation between gentle and rough moves. It advances and retreats like the wind while switching between light and slow movements and flying up and down. Coupled with the eight movements of poking, coiling, blocking, taking, picking, pointing, and pulling, it's even more powerful. It can easily make women cry for their lives. From then on, they'll do whatever you say…"
At first, Lin Shen listened carefully, but the more he listened, the more he felt that something was off. By the end, his face had completely darkened.
What a lecher!
He glared at the elderly man and snapped, "Not this one!"
"Are you not interested in Dragon Spear? It's alright. I also have this Demon Subduing Staff. As the saying goes, the spear is like a swimming dragon, and the staff is like falling rain. The spear technique emphasizes fierceness and ferocity. The staff technique highlights an attack that is as dense as rain. It can attack from both far and close. It's flexible with endless variations!"
The corners of Lin Shen's eyes twitched slightly. "Which demon can you subdue with this Demon Subduing Staff?"
"The evil female type, of course!" the elderly man said matter-of-factly.
Lin Shen took a deep breath and resisted the urge to slap the elderly man's head. He asked, "What about the last secret manual?"
"You're not interested in the Demon Subduing Staff?" The elderly man smacked his lips and scratched his head. He pointed at the last secret manual and said, "This last is called Black & White Scripture and is a technique that combines the Mysterious Fairy Scripture and the Goddess Scripture…"
Hearing this, Lin Shen knew where the conversation was going. He raised his hand weakly to interrupt the elderly man.
"Alright, alright. Take back your three manuals. I'm not interested."
The elderly man's eyes widened. He looked like those movie and drama enthusiasts in Lin Shen's previous life who were excited to introduce a new TV series to other people but found the latter uninterested.
However, his gaze quickly moved downward and landed below Lin Shen's navel. He muttered, "I didn't expect you to be so well-endowed. It's good to be young. You don't even care about such a precious cultivation technique."
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