Chapter 21: Strengthened Nine Yang Manual
“Sky Demon Sect?” Wang Siyu thought about it and said, “I’ve recently learned about that group myself. That said, given how they were able to wreak havoc on a global scale, they definitely have a rank-nine champion protecting them. Otherwise, they would have been destroyed.”
Jing He had a grave look on his face. Surpassing rank-nine… a champion who did not have to fear nuclear explosions? And he had provoked a group like that?
‘Oh no… I have to come up with something to save my own skin, or I won’t ever know peace if the Sky Demon Sect sets their sights on me!’
The look on Jiang He’s face kept changing as various thoughts ran through his mind. Eventually, he realized that there was only one solution: root out the problem and destroy the Sky Demon Sect. But he was not powerful enough for that!With Jiang He not speaking for some time, Wang Siyu asked, “What are you thinking?”
“Nothing.” Jiang He let out a long breath. “Since I helped the Special Bureau this time, could you help me get more information about the Sky Demon Sect?”
“I’ll ask my supervisor when I return. By the way, since you killed seven rank-one Ferals, my superiors have awarded you seventy merit points.”
“Merit points?” Jiang He frowned in confusion. “Didn’t I kill eight Ferals? How did it become seven?”
“Our people only found the corpses of seven rank-one Ferals.” Wang Siyu appeared doubtful too. “I’ve asked Li Fei, and he said that you killed eight at first… before changing his mind and saying that he didn’t remember. That is why the bureau could only reward you according to the number of corpses.”
Jiang He was speechless. It would actually be weird if the bureau found eight corpses, since he had taken one home with him. But the point here was…
How stupid was Two Dog Li? How could he not remember how many Ferals were killed?After thinking for a bit, Jiang He asked, “What are the merit points for?”
“For trade!” explained Wang Siyu. “The country is ready to establish a Martial Arts Management Department. When that happens, there will be a platform where martial artists and the Awakened can trade, using merit points as currency. Right now, the goverenment has set an exchange rate of around ten thousand dollars for one point.”
“Of course, merit pints can also be traded with our bureau to redeem martial arts manuals, weapons, or even medicinal pellets.” There was a look of envy on her face as she continued, “I’ve been in the bureau for more than three months and I’ve only managed to get nine merit points, whereas you’ve earned seventy points on a single mission. I’m so jealous, I could die.
Jiang He was a little surprised. “Oh? Medicinal pellets that improve cultivation are already available?”
“Yes, but there’s not much in stock, and they are few in variety,” said Wang Siyu, not withholding anything from him. “The country founded the National Superpower Research Department eight years ago. They are in charge of research, as well as of developing various alloys and medicinal pellets. Pairing their work with some traditional martial arts recipes have shown some results too.”
Jiang He’s heart skipped a beat! Medicinal pellets? Could his farm grow those too?
He smiled at Wang Siyu. “Now that I have seventy merit points, what medicial pellets can I exchange for? Are there any that helps cultivation and improves a user up to rank-four in martial arts?”
For Jiang He, eating cucumbers was a quick way to rise up to rank-four in martial arts. But for one, he had eaten too much cucumber, to the point that even his burps stank of cucumber. Secondly, while the cucumber strengthened the body and qi, reaching the true qi phase at rank-four would diminish its effects.
But now, Jiang He could try growing some medicinal pellets to help with that problem.
“There should be some,” said Wang Siyu. “But they won’t come cheap. I’ll ask around when I head back.”
After seeing her off, Jiang He quickly returned to his yard.
His farm was already at level two now, meaning that he could plant two more martial arts manuals. After thinking long and hard about it, Jiang He decided on the Nine Yang Manual and the Treading Over Ripples.
The Nine Yang Manual develops inner strength, whereas the Treading Over Ripples develops physical movement. Since Jiang He already had the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and the Indestructible Diamond, he would be able to at least fight, defend himself, and run away.
Taking out the Nine Yang Manual that he had photocopied, Jiang He put it into the dirt along with a pellet of nitrogen fertilizer.
And yet…
Nothing happened for a long time.
“What’s going on, System? Could it be that the number of martial arts manuals that can be grown has not been updated after my farm leveled up?” asked Jiang He.
The System’s mechanical voice rang out.
“Only martial arts manuals personally copied by the Host can be planted.
What the…
Jiang He’s face darkened.
Couldn’t you mention something so important earlier?
When he recalled that he had spend a few dozen bucks on printing tens of pages, Jiang He’s heart ached. All he could do was return to his home and pick up his pen and paper to copy the Nine Yang Manual.
‘He is as strong as a breeze grazing the mountains. He is as bright as a moon that illuminates a great river. He is as vicious as…’
Bit by bit, the mnemonic chant slowly appeared on paper. It took half an hour for Jiang He to finish copying the whole manual.
As he crumpled the papers and dumped it into a hole, an idea suddenly came to mind.
“The Mysterious Soil strengthens crops. Then… would it strengthen the Nine Yang Manual too?”
This time, Jiang He poured out half of the Mysterious Soil he had and buried it. Then, he took out a cucumber and threw half of it to Dumbo, while he crunched away on the other half in the yard.
It was only five minutes later when a sprout parted the earth and grew out of the soil. However, Jiang He was surprised that the System finally showed some creativity this time—the Nine Yang Manual did not grow into a tree, but into nine shining, bulbous objects!
At the same time, the nine shining objects were getting larger and brighter, until each was the size of a small millstone. The radiance of the objects burned, as if nine suns were hanging in the yard.
Jiang He’s eyes brightened. “Awesome!”
Activating Indestructible Diamond to repel the searing heat, he slowly walked up and noticed that each of the nine millstone-sized ‘suns’ had a martial arts manual page on them.
[Ding!]
[+100 Farm Points]
A System notification jingled in Jiang He’s head once he took one down.
He did a double take.
“One martial arts page is worth 100 Farm Points and 10 EXP? I’ve hit it rich! Doesn’t that mean that a single Nine Yang Manual earns me 900 Farm Points and 90 EXP? Minus the price of the nitrogen fertilizer, I’ll still earn 800 Farm Points.”
He plucked all nine pages. With a rumble, the nine ‘suns’ all died out into nothingness. As Jiang He tidied up the nine pages, lines of data appeared before his eyes.
[Nine Yang Manual (Strengthened)]
[An elite martial art. Cultivation up to Mastery permits the simultaneous exertion of the Nine Yang—razing mountains and boiling seas, impervious to all poisons. Develops a unique indestructible body specialized against Yin poisons, compatible with every other martial art under the sky.]
