B1C5: Secret books on practicing

The sky is clear and the weather is nice. At the hot spring in the west garden of Misty Villa,

‘Ah, it feels really good!’

Qin Yu, dressed in a pair of shorts, is lying in the hot spring. Regardless of winter or summer, one needs not worry about the temperature while in the hot spring. Misty Villa’s hot spring is different from other hot springs because it has fantastic effects. According to a medical expert’s research, this hot spring has quite a few substances which are beneficial to the body.

‘Xiao Hei, come down here!’ Qin Yu suddenly reaches out his hand, grabs Xiao Hei and playfully pulls it into the hot spring.

Xiao Hei immediately flaps its wings hurriedly but when it escapes, its plumage is already drenched, which makes it really look like a soaked chick. With its body dripping water, Xiao Hei looks ‘bitterly’ at Qin Yu, as if it is blaming the little master for teasing it.

Seeing Xiao Hei’s appearance, Qin Yu immediately raises his head and laughs out loud: ‘Ha-ha, Xiao Hei, you’re really adorable, soak in the hot spring with me, will you? It feels very good. You will become a mighty eagle that flies to the 9th level of the sky later. As you can go up to the sky, you must be able to go into the water. Otherwise, you’ll be too useless.’

Qin Yu starts to play with Xiao Hei. But it flaps its wings to remove the water on its body. It even stares at Qin Yu, as if it is very discontented.

‘Xiao Yu.’ Lian Yan, smiling to the point where his eyes narrow, is coming along the corridor of the west garden. He walks around the rockery and appears before Qin Yu. Qin Yu turns to him at once and smiles brilliantly: ‘Grandpa Lian.’

‘I have a piece of good news for you,’ says Lian Yan mysteriously. Qin Yu is immediately presently surprised: ‘Good news? Could it be father has come?’ Despite thinking so, he does not say it, and he looks wishfully at Lian Yan.

Lian Yan says with a smile: ‘The books on practice methods that you want have arrived.’

Qin Yu is a bit disappointed, but when his mood has recovered from that disappointment, he jumps out of the hot spring and quickly gets dressed. His eyes are full of excitement: ‘Grandpa Lian, where are the secret books? Please take me to them quickly.’

Since no one can help him, he must work hard by himself.

‘Follow me.’ Lian Yan laughs as he leads the way. Qin Yu follows Lian Yan with excitement, but he has made a resolution in his heart. In the past, Qin Yu was ignorant so when he had nothing to do, he just read books in the study, watched the stars late at night, soaked in the hot spring or played with Xiao Hei.

But the current Qin Yu has got a goal. His whole body is full of enthusiasm and even his temperament has changed distinctively.

In Misty Villa, there is a secret floor under the north garden.

This underground secret floor consists of 13 secret rooms. Lian Yan leads Qin Yu into one room. In the room, there is a bed, a long table, a chair and other everyday objects. It is obviously very simple.

At present, there is a delicate black case on the table.

‘Xiao Yu, those secret books are in this case,’ says Lian Yan while pointing to the case. As soon as Qin Yu hears that, his eyes s.h.i.+ne. He rushes forward, wis.h.i.+ng to open this black case. This act however makes Lian Yan jump in fright.

‘Xiao Yu, don’t open it!’ Quick as a flash, Lian Yan’s right hand suddenly moves like an illusion. He grabs Qin Yu in a move, lifts him up then puts him at his back. He says very solemnly: ‘Xiao Yu, this is not an ordinary case. It can’t be opened like that!’

Qin Yu looks doubtfully at Lian Yan.

‘Xiao Yu, you’re too little. You still don’t know how precious these secret books are.’ Lian Yan shakes his head and says laughingly: ‘You should know, in terms of value these secret books even surpa.s.s those in the Chu dynasty’s Imperial Palace. Therefore this case’s structure is also very peculiar. Forcing it open or carelessly opening it will destroy all the secret books inside.’

As Lian Yan is saying, he successively stabs the case 12 times with his fingers. His hands look like illusions and every stab hits a different place.

‘Bang!’ With a noise, a keyhole unexpectedly appears on the case.

Qin Yu’s eyes pop out of his head. He can remember very well that just a moment ago the case did not have a keyhole. He even thought that it was what it looked like — nothing but a normal case with a lid that can be shut. He did not think that its internal structure was so unusual.

‘Even if someone else takes it by force, they won’t find the keyhole and, moreover, they won’t have the key either.’ As he is saying he takes out a golden key and puts it into the keyhole. With a click, the case automatically opens.

Qin Yu immediately sticks out his head to see.

Qin Yu can tell at a glance that the black case has various very thin books inside. Most of those books have about 10-odd pages each. The thinnest has only several pages while the thickest has only over 20 pages. However, even though they are thin, they actually fill the case.

‘The internal technique secret books inside are all first-cla.s.s. There’re 68 of them. There’re also 28 external technique secret books. Xiao Yu, later on, when you want to read these books, you must go to a secret room and make sure not to bring them outside. Do you understand?’ says Lian Yan to Qin Yu solemnly.

Qin Yu nods affirmatively.

‘All right, you’d known the characters even before you turned 6. In the last 2 years you also read a lot of books. You can read these secret books yourself. Take your time reading them. Grandpa is going first,’ says Lian Yan with a smile then leaves the secret room.

After Lian Yan has left, Qin Yu takes all the secret books out and puts them on the table. There are 96 secret books in total, which cover the whole long table.

Seeing the secret books before him, Qin Yu’s eyes s.h.i.+ne like never before.

Ode to the Yellow Crane, 100-Sentence Chapter, Song about the Gold Cauldron, Song about Gold Mining, Comment on the Water Element …

Any one of these various internal technique secret books can drive martial artists mad. The Qin clan has a long, rich history so even if the secret books of the 3 big dynasties are put together, they still will not be able to compare to the Qin clan’s. Quite a few of these Qin clan’s secret books have not been seen elsewhere for several hundred years.

‘Ancestral Dragon Art, it seems father let me see it when I was little?’ Qin Yu looks at the last secret book. It is the thinnest but at the same time is the most valuable. The Ancestral Dragon Art is written on gold paper. The 3 big characters Ancestral, Dragon and Art even make readers feel as if they are under pressure.

After looking at the 68 first-cla.s.s internal techniques, Qin Yu turns to the 28 external technique secret books.

Iron Sand Palm, Vigorous Diamond Palm, Dragon’s Talons Hand, Iron Cloth Gown, Diamond Cover, Violent Training of the Thirteen Great Protectors, The Conqueror’s Divine Fist …

28 kinds of secret external techniques are all placed in front of Qin Yu.

At first Qin Yu randomly picks up a book then starts to read it slowly. In the secret room, he is totally absorbed in the various precious secret practice books, which took the Qin clan no one knows how many generations to collect…

End of b1c5.