Chapter 253: Chapter 228: Supreme Archery and Hidden Dragon List_1
Lu Yan took the book and looked at it carefully.
Eight top martial arts systems.
They included knife technique, swordsmanship, spear technique, boxing, palm technique, leg technique, a body refining martial arts, and lastly, archery martial arts.
Lu Yan became hesitant.
He wanted all eight top martial arts.
Especially the leg technique and body refining martial arts.
The leg technique balanced speed and attack, possessing incredible speed and offensive power, it was truly top-notch among speed-based martial arts.
And then there was body refining martial arts.
Although he already had the Divine Jiao Gold Body, the power of body refining martial arts could be stacked.
There was also the knife technique.
Unfortunately, he could only choose one.
In the end, Lu Yan chose the archery martial arts.
Archery martial arts were too rare, and this was a top-tier one, even rarer.
If he missed out now, he didn’t know when he would next get the chance.
As for the knife technique and body refining martial arts, he already had them, so they weren’t as urgent.
For the speed-based martial arts, he already had nine first-class techniques that could be fused later.
"Senior, I choose ’Thunder Nine Sounds’."
Lu Yan said.
Feng Yuanyi looked somewhat surprised, saying, "Lu Yan, although archery martial arts are arguably the most powerful, they are extremely difficult to cultivate and slow to progress. Make sure you consider it carefully."
"Indeed, you should think it over carefully before making a decision. Once you choose, you can’t change your mind."
The old man at the counter also reminded.
"I have already made up my mind."
Lu Yan’s attitude was firm.
Seeing this, Feng Yuanyi didn’t say anything further.
"Very well, give me your token and I will register it."
The elder said.
Lu Yan took out his Token of King Ming’s Bodyguard and handed it to the old man. The old man took out a notebook, registered Lu Yan’s information, and then returned the token back to Lu Yan.
After the registration, the old man opened a drawer, took out the ’Thunder Nine Sounds’ secret manual and Divine Intent Diagram, and handed them to Lu Yan.
Grasping the divine intent diagram Lu Yan was somewhat excited, and asked, "Senior, when do I need to return these?"
"You can return them within three years, I have more divine intent diagrams here anyway."
The elder pointed to the drawer and reminded him, "Remember, you can’t give it to anyone else."
"Understood."
Lu Yan nodded, tucking away the Divine Intent Diagram and secret manual.
Next, Feng Yuanyi led Lu Yan around the martial arts field again before finally standing in front of a rather luxurious palace.
The plaque on the front of the palace read three big characters: Merit Hall.
"Merit Hall, is the place where meritorious points are recorded. If you take on tasks and earn meritorious points in the future, they will all be registered here. Meritorious points are valuable, they are more useful than gold and silver in Mansion of King Ming, and can be exchanged for various treasures, including martial food, martial pills, divine weapons, spiritual medicine, immortal bones, and so on."
Feng Yuanyi said.
"Can exchange for immortal bones."
Lu Yan felt a stir in his heart, asking, "Then how much is a merit point worth? For example, what is the value of one merit point?"
"One merit point can be exchanged for one level-three martial pill, if converted into silver, it would be roughly thirty thousand taels."
Feng Yuanyi said.
Lu Yan was taken aback.
One merit point was equivalent to thirty thousand taels of silver.
That was too valuable.
He was increasingly feeling that once cultivation reached a certain level, gold and silver became less valuable, just a bunch of numbers.
Martial pills and martial food were the real hard currency.
"However, when you first join the Hidden Dragon Camp, there are no merit points. Only by taking on tasks or performing meritorious deeds you will earn merit points. Of course, if you can make it into the top fifty in the Hidden Dragon List, there are merit points awarded every month."
Feng Yuanyi said.
"Hidden Dragon List?" Lu Yan was puzzled.
"It’s a list created by the Hidden Dragon Camp, a challenge competition is held every year, the strong are ranked on the list. Depending on the rankings, the merit points awarded each month vary. Even the worst of them needs to be at the fourth-level master level to be listed. That’s a long way from where you are now, you can slowly learn about it later."
Feng Yuanyi said.
"Can anyone with merit points go in and check?"
Lu Yan asked.
Xiang Chongyang had said that he provided information on immortals, and after joining the Bodyguards of King Ming, there would be a merit point reward.
He was very curious whether the reward had arrived and how many merit points there were.
"Of course." Feng Yuanyi nodded.
"I’ll go and have a look."
Lu Yan walked into the Merit Hall.
Feng Yuanyi paused for a moment, then followed with a smile.
There were quite a few people in the Merit Hall, around a dozen, all busy with something or other.
At one of the counters, there was a middle-aged man who looked rather sharp.
"Would you like to check your merit points? Hand me your token."
Seeing Lu Yan approaching, the middle-aged man asked.
Lu Yan handed over his token, the middle-aged man took it, gave it a glance, and said, "So you are the newly joined Innate Martial Body, you do have merit points credited. Let me see."
The middle-aged man took a big book out of a giant bookshelf. There were two words in gold on the cover of the book: Lu Yan.
The middle-aged man opened the book and glanced at it, saying, "You have 300 merit points."
Feng Yuanyi’s mouth dropped open in astonishment.
What kind of great merit has Lu Yan accomplished? He had just entered the Hidden Dragon Camp and already had three hundred merit points.
Lu Yan himself was also quite surprised.
This number exceeded his expectations.
Three hundred merit points were equivalent to three hundred third-level martial pills.
To understand, they had thwarted the Lingdong Spirit Sect’s plot and killed more than ten Spirit Sect masters, and only received a reward of one hundred third-level martial pills.
And he, merely provided information about the immortal, didn’t take any action, yet got three hundred merit points.
"I can only say that in front of a colossal entity like the Mansion of King Ming, dozens of master level martial spirits are not enough. They don’t pay too much attention to them, or more accurately, the value of the immortal is too high."
Lu Yan pondered quietly.
"Lu Yan, if you need to exchange something with merit points, you can register first and come to get it tomorrow."
The middle-aged man said.
"Thank you, senior. There’s no need for now."
Lu Yan shook his head.
What he most wanted to exchange was an immortal bone, but with Feng Yuanyi around, he decided to hold off.
After leaving the Merit Hall, Feng Yuanyi took Lu Yan to the Martial Food Building.
For the first three years, there are ten martial pills each month and twenty pounds of third-order martial food can be collected here every day.
Lu Yan registered and collected today’s twenty pounds of third-level martial food. As for martial pills, they could be collected at any time within the month. Lu Yan was too impatient to wait, so he collected them directly.
Then, after Feng Yuanyi explained some details, he left alone.
Lu Yan returned to Courtyard No.362, walked into the practice room and put the martial food and martial pills aside. He began studying the secrets of the top martial arts ’Thunder Nine Sounds’.
Thunder Nine Sounds, a top-tier archery martial arts, has severe requirements for the use of inner strength during archery.
After the arrow is shot, the inner strength adheres to the arrow, and it can make a rumbling sound like thunder in the air.
Each time it rumbles, the arrow’s speed and power will intensify.
The more sounds, the stronger the power.
Thunder Nine Sounds, the arrow is like thunder and lightning, killing enemies ten miles away, as easy as pilfering.
The simple introduction made Lu Yan’s heart burn, which was also the reason why Lu Yan chose this martial art without hesitation.
If he can cultivate ’Thunder Nine Sounds’ to the Unity of Man and Martial Arts, Lu Yan’s attack power will be astonishing.
He carefully read the secrets and after memorizing the contents of the secrets, he opened the Divine Intent Diagram to study carefully.
In the blink of an eye, Lu Yan has been in the Hidden Dragon Camp for ten days.
In these ten days, except for daily visits to the Martial Food Building to collect martial food, he mostly stays at home, devoting his heart to figuring out ’Thunder Nine Sounds’.
However, the progress was slow and difficult to understand.
Less experienced in archery martial arts, he has only one first-class archery martial arts that reaches the Unity of Man and Martial Arts.
And Thunder Nine Sounds demands the ultimate in archery skills and power generation.
"In the first three years, there will be a class taught by mentors every month, which should not be missed. Today is June 25th, and it will be the first day of the month in a few days. There will be a notice posted on the first day of every month, listing the dates of classes for the month. I’ll check it in a few days."
Lu Yan reminded himself.
After rubbing his temples for feeling a bit mentally fatigued, Lu Yan stopped pondering over ’Thunder Nine Sounds’ and took a third-level martial pill to swallow.
Since entering the Master level, all major organs have been tempered, and digestion has greatly improved. Eating twenty pounds of third-order martial food a day is actually not enough.
So, every few days, Lu Yan would take one martial pill to aid in his cultivation.
In the first-level master stage, it took a whole day to refine a martial pill, but now it only takes half a day to complete the refinement.
After refining a martial pill, his inner strength obviously strengthened a little.
"With my current refining power, I can refine two martial pills every day. If I have an endless supply of martial pills, that would be great. I could break through soon."
Lu Yan was eager, and felt an impulse to exchange all his three hundred merit points for martial pills.
However, on second thought, he held back.
He can get martial pills for free every month, and if there are no martial pills, he can substitute with martial food, even if it takes a bit more time.
But he couldn’t find immortal bones anywhere.
It is most cost-effective to use merit points to exchange for immortal bones and upgrade martial arts levels.
Suppressing the impulse, after resting for a while, he continued to ponder over ’Thunder Nine Sounds’.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was the first day of the month.
The edges of the practicing field are crowded with people, all of whom came to see the notice.
Every month, each of the eight top martial arts will have a tutor who has achieved Unity of Man and Martial Arts to answer questions for a day.
Having a look, Lu Yan found that Thunder Nine Sounds was scheduled for the sixth day of the month.
Lu Yan went back and continued to cultivate in peace.
The sixth day of the month.
Lu Yan arrived at the practicing field early.
There is a high platform on the practicing field.
Under the high platform, there are several stone stools placed.
Lu Yan casually found a stone stool and sat down.
People kept coming one after the other, but there were not many people. In the end, there were only eight people including Lu Yan.
Only those who joined the Hidden Dragon Camp within the last three years can come today. Additionally, archery martial arts are difficult to practice and their advancement speed is comparable to that of body refining martial arts, so fewer people chose it.
For those who have been in the Hidden Dragon Camp for more than three years, it’s not that they completely lose the opportunity for guidance, but the frequency is not once a month, but once every six months.
In short, a tall and thin middle-aged man with a long beard came to the high platform and sat down.
"Greetings, senior."
Everyone stood up in salutation.
This man was the mentor. He was a master who could cultivate top martial arts to the Unity of Man and Martial Arts. Even in the True Body Realm, he was considered a high-level expert. The crowd didn’t dare to be negligent.
"Sit."
The middle-aged man waved his hand, made everyone sit down, and said: "Today we have some new friends. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Xiao Ye, the deputy chief of King Ming’s personal bodyguards. If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to ask them one by one, and I will answer them one by one."
Immediately, a young man stood up and began to ask about his cultivation doubts.
