Eleventh selection of Gongfa
Alas, the secret recipe is chosen, whether the carp can leap over the dragon gate will be decided in this one move.
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The next day after entering the sect, a dozen or so fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boys in brocade clothes brought all forty-plus children to an independent three-story pavilion inside the Medicine King's estate, the "Hidden Book Pavilion".
The first floor of the library is filled with numerous books on herbs, medicinal materials, and pharmaceuticals, which can be borrowed by disciples. The second floor serves as a guard post, where eleven young masters from within the sect are stationed. The third floor houses the Secret Manual Chamber, where over a thousand types of sword manuals, knife manuals, external skills, and internal skills are stored under strict supervision.
The Medicine King Gang is a highly respected gang in the Jianghu of Pingzhou, with a history of several hundred years. It has always been known as a neutral gang, trying to avoid getting involved in Jianghu disputes, and it has never had its own martial arts skills or incantations since its establishment, being simply a medicinal material gang.
Because the main business of Yao Wang Bang is medicine collection and refining, it often uses some precious medicines to exchange with other small factions in Jianghu for their skills and formulas.
Between life-saving medicine and martial arts manuals, those small gangs were forced to take out their secret books to exchange for medicine. Although most of the secret books were low-level exercise routines and not precious, over time, after hundreds of years, the Medicine King Gang had accumulated so many martial arts manuals that they could almost pile up into a small mountain, with no shortage of martial arts manuals.
The secret room of the Medicine Pavilion in Zhujidao County has hundreds of introductory secret books for medicine boys to choose from, and there are no less than hundreds of intermediate and advanced martial arts secret books, which is a bit scary.
It's already good if other small gangs have a few dozen or over ten secret books. Even for the big gang gatherings in the Jianghu of Pingzhou, the number of secret books usually won't exceed hundreds, and it's not like the Medicine King Gang with an excessive number of secret books.
The Medicine King Valley has many secret recipes, but that doesn't mean it's very powerful.
There are hundreds to thousands of big and small gangs within the borders of Pingzhou. The Medicine King Gang has been ranked fifth among the major gangs for a long time, never entering the top three. The reason is simple: the secret books possessed by the Medicine King Gang are too messy, so messy that even the master often doesn't know what his disciples are practicing, and the disciples usually don't know what their master is practicing. The master cannot guide his disciples' martial arts, and most of them rely on self-study.
Just like Wang Caiyao, he practiced a kind of external martial art called "Eagle Claw Skill", and his handwork was extremely skilled. As for Ye Qin and the other four, they had to choose an internal skill in the secret room by themselves, and did not learn the same martial arts as Wang Caiyao. If the five of them chose external skills, Wang Caiyao could still give some pointers. But if they chose internal skills, Wang Caiyao couldn't teach them deeply.
Fortunately, the main attack of Yao Wang's gang is to collect medicine and make medicine. Most of the Jianghu gangs in Pingzhou have extensive connections and a large number of people. Being weak in martial arts does not hinder its position as a major gang in Pingzhou. In Pingzhou's Jianghu, the kung fu of Yao Wang's gang is famous for being complex and unpredictable. Other gangs cannot predict what kind of skills Yao Wang's disciples will have, nor do they dare to provoke them easily.
The second floor of the pharmacy's library.
The young man in brocade led a group of children into the attic and up to the second floor.
But the spacious second-floor hall was empty, with hundreds of square meters around, there were only eleven cushions, each cushion had a young man sitting cross-legged, closing his eyes and meditating to cultivate internal strength. In front of them, each placed a sharp weapon, either a sword or a knife.
A group of young men in fine clothes led a large crowd of children upstairs, startling them.
Those dozen or so young men in brocade clothes looked at the eleven young men with a mixture of envy and fear. These men were around twenty to thirty years old, each with an icy demeanor, all of whom were early disciples of the Medicine Pavilion who had entered very early on, and were core disciples, direct disciples of the pavilion master, deputy pavilion master, elder and the like, who were in seclusion in this library, their status far surpassing that of these ordinary disciples. Especially the one at the forefront, was even more so a direct disciple of Pavilion Master Li of the Medicine Pavilion, with extremely high martial arts talent.
Ye Qin looked around curiously, sizing up the empty second floor. He wasn't clear what kind of people the eleven young men guarding here were, so naturally he didn't feel any fear in his heart. It was just that the gloomy and oppressive atmosphere here made him not dare to speak.
A young man in brocade clothes stepped forward respectfully, bowed his hands to the leading youth and said: "Thank you, Master Xie Yun. More than 40 newly admitted medicine-collecting children and medicine-refining children are all here. Vice Hall Master Ji ordered us to bring them here, please Master Xie Yun select a secret book for them to cultivate martial arts." After finishing speaking, he retreated.
In the center of the hall, a tall and slender young man who was apparently the leader finally opened his eyes, nodded at the brocade-clad youth, then stood up. He swept his gaze over the crowd of children and said indifferently: "My name is Xie Yun, you can just call me Big Brother Master from now on. The rules of our Medicine Collection Hall are as follows: each medicine collection child is only allowed to choose one low-level martial arts secret book, and they cannot take out more than one book from the secret book room. As for the children who help with medicine production, they can choose two low-level skill secret books. All children can only practice their own secret books; if anyone is found secretly practicing someone else's secret book, they will be severely punished."
Ye Qin was taken aback, the inner disciples' pharmaceutical children, how could they be more selective in choosing a skill than their outer disciples' herbal medicine children? Isn't this being at a disadvantage?
A group of young men in green clothes glared angrily at the five white-clad boys. The five white-clad boys were not afraid at all, proudly raising their heads and saying, "We just know one more skill than you, what can you do about it? Want to fight? Come on, who's afraid of whom?"
If it weren't for several young men in brocade and those young men present, I'm afraid both sides would have come to blows on the spot.
Yang Yicheng, Feng Xiao and others also secretly curled their lips, muttered a few curses, feeling very resentful, and quietly discussed with some other fearless medicine-collecting boys, when to teach these arrogant guys a lesson, to vent their anger.
The young guardian who was in charge announced the rules and then led them up to the third floor, opening the door to the secret room.
Ye Qin had already quietly squeezed to the front and grabbed a good spot. As soon as the door opened, he rushed in with the other kids.
The other young monks, no longer bothering to argue, hastily followed and rushed in. After all, getting the secret book was the main task, lest they be snatched away by other young monks.
The secret room on the third floor is very large, with three rows of bookshelves placed horizontally in the secret room. The bookshelves are filled to the brim with books, and many of them have accumulated a thick layer of dust. The first row consists of low-level martial arts manuals. The second row consists of mid-level martial arts manuals. The third row consists of high-level martial arts manuals. Rare and exceptional manuals would not be stored in such a place.
Ye Qin quickly searched for a secret book on the first row of bookshelves, wanting to pick a better one. However, when he picked up a low-level secret book, he was directly stunned. Because he couldn't understand what the words on it were, when he opened the book and looked at it, his eyes went black, how could he know if this secret book was good or bad, what he would cultivate in the future?
Ye Qin's heart suddenly tightened, and he turned his head to look at the situation of the other children.
The vast majority of the young disciples were about the same as him, holding one or two low-level secret books in their hands, looking foolish. Most of them came from peasant families and had never read a book, nor could they understand written characters.
Those five white-clad children, with an air of complacency, read the words on the secret manual. They must have come from a good family background and had connections to be able to enter the inner hall, so they naturally knew how to read and write, although not much, but enough to understand what was written on the secret manual.
The young guardian had long anticipated this situation, and they were here not only to guard the secret room but also to select a secret book for these ignorant novice children.
The young man walked in, his face cold, pointing to the bookshelf, and told the crowd of blue-clad children in a detached tone what kind of secret books were on the bookshelf.
"All the secret manuals are categorized here. Knife spectrum, sword spectrum, gun spectrum, bow spectrum... equipment category, light work category, external work category, internal work category, internal and external repair category. The vast majority of secret manuals in Jianghu, all are available here. What kind of kung fu do you want to learn? Just tell me, I can recommend specific kung fu for everyone."
He spoke in great detail, seemingly familiar with most of the secrets here.