Chapter 38: The Basic Application of the Eighteen Types of Weapons

  He spoke ill of others and was caught in the act, to be honest, Zhao Ji also felt a bit embarrassed, but as a thick-skinned person comparable to a city wall, that embarrassing emotion didn't stay on his face for a moment.

  His gaze swept over the old man's hands, seeing that he was holding several books of varying thicknesses. Zhao Ji immediately changed the subject and said: "Old sir, are the few books in your hand martial arts secret manuals?"

  "Not bad, there are eight martial arts secret books here, which one do you want to choose, or, all eight?"

  Coming in front of Zhao Ji, he spread out eight books on the table and said.

  Eight martial arts secret books, the cover of which all have names written on them, are nothing but some boxing methods, palm methods, leg methods, sword methods and knife methods, but no internal skills or mental methods.

  "Excuse me, may I take a look?"

  Zhao Ji asked.

  The old man nodded first and then added, "Okay, but you can only open the first page, you can't look at the content after that."

  "I know."

  Zhao Ji responded with a "yes" and began to flip through it.

  The first page of several martial arts secret books is an introduction, introducing the type and characteristics of this school of martial arts, the power after successful cultivation, and some difficulties that may be encountered in cultivation.

  After the introduction, without a doubt, it's the specific content of cultivation. However, the old man doesn't allow him to watch, and Zhao Ji is helpless, not knowing whether these secret skills are real or fake.

  As for the content written in the introduction, Zhao Ji felt that it was quite exaggerated. For example, the Heaven Splitting Palm Technique mentioned above said that its power was unmatched and could shatter the heavens and split the earth when cultivated to the ultimate state, or even collapse a mountain peak with ease.

  That boastful tone made Zhao Ji extremely skeptical, if the Sky Splitting Palm was really that powerful, wouldn't it be even more formidable than some of the divine techniques and ultimate skills?

  "Old man, I don't know, how much does each of these martial arts manuals cost?"

  After roughly flipping through it, Zhao Ji asked again.

  "Eight secret martial arts manuals, one liang of gold per copy, no haggling."

  The old man said with a serious expression.

  "Wow, old man, you're robbing people of their money! These fake secret books, you actually dare to sell them for one or two taels of gold each? Have you gone mad from poverty?"

  As soon as he heard the price, Zhao was furious.

  He lifted his eyelids weakly, glanced at Zhao Ji, and the old man said with a pout: "The secret recipe I'm selling is this price, you can buy it or not, I didn't force you to buy."

  The old man said so, and with that dead pig's attitude of not being afraid of boiling water, Zhao Ji was speechless, really having no way to deal with it.

  Someone explicitly tells you that his martial arts secrets are fake, and he is clearly out to swindle people. This kind of shameless state is even more impressive than Zhao Ji, leaving him completely unable to respond.

  "Alright, I give up, you're amazing! By the way, how much is the cheapest secret recipe here?"

  Zhao Ji was like a defeated fighting cock, walking with his head hung low in dejection.

  "The cheapest one, only thirty taels of silver."

  The old man thought for a moment and then replied.

  "Alright, I'll take it, this is thirty taels of silver."

  He took out a dozen or so pieces of loose silver from his money bag, and with some reluctance, placed them on the table, saying decisively.

  Anyway, what he needs is a book that can get in touch with the words of Wu Guo, as for what kind of book it is, what type it is, Zhao Ji doesn't care.

  After many twists and turns, he finally achieved the goal of buying a book. It should be said that Zhao Ji should be relatively happy, but his wallet, which was still bulging with money just now, suddenly became empty, making him feel quite painful. The joy in his heart had not yet risen when it completely disappeared without a trace.

  "You wait."

  When he saw the silver, the old man's eyes lit up, and his usual apathetic attitude towards everything changed for the first time. His face turned bright red with excitement, like a young man who had just seen an incredibly beautiful woman. The lewd and drooling expression on his face left Zhao speechless.

  He carefully put away the thirty taels of silver, storing them in his money bag. The old man's cautious and meticulous manner was like that of a mother taking care of her own child.

  As for those eight martial arts secret books that were worth one or two taels of gold in the old man's mouth, he regarded them as worn-out shoes and casually grabbed a handful, putting them into his bosom.

  He quickly stepped into the inner house from a door in one corner of the hall, and this time, the old man's movements were much faster than before, and he soon came out again.

  "This book, the foundation of the eighteen types of martial arts equipment, records the usage methods and basic martial skills of the eighteen types of martial arts equipment. For just thirty taels of silver, it's absolutely a great value."

  Handing a thick book to Zhao Ji, the old man said with a complacent tone.

  As for the old man's self-boasting, Zhao was deaf to it and treated it as a fart, but he was more satisfied with that thick and heavy book.

  Buying books is just for recognizing characters, the content of the book doesn't matter, as long as there are many words it's fine. This one book was thicker than the previous eight combined, which undoubtedly suited his taste.

  "Alright, alright, old man. Don't try to sell me anything else. I've been cheated once here and I won't think of coming back a second time."

  Fairly satisfied with flipping through that thick book, Zhao extremely impatiently waved his hand and said gruffly.

  Facing Zhao Ji's bad attitude, the old man didn't show any sign of anger, but instead explained seriously: "Youngster, don't think you're being cheated. All the martial arts secret manuals sold here are written by me personally, and just the cost of paper and labor is not cheap. Especially this book on the basic application of eighteen types of weapons, it's the thickest among all the martial arts secret manuals, with the most words, and took up the most of my time. I've recently become reluctant to write them. The one in your hand is the only remaining copy out of the three I wrote before, so you're not being cheated, youngster, but rather making a big profit."

  After the old man's explanation, Zhao Ji only then thought that in this world equivalent to ancient Chinese society, whether there was a printing technique was still debatable. At least, the several martial arts secret books he had just flipped through, including the basic application of eighteen kinds of weapons, were all written in beautiful small regular script.

  This thick book of over a thousand pages was written entirely by hand, and the paper quality is not bad either. It's worth thirty taels of silver, which doesn't seem too much.

  After a turn of mind, Zhao Ji balanced it out, or in other words, he was relieved. He bid farewell and said: "In that case, this deal is not a loss for me after all. Thank you, old man, for your righteousness. However, I think those martial arts secret books worth one or two taels of gold are still a bit expensive."

  "Whether it's expensive or not isn't up to you to decide, anyway, the deal is done, you can leave now."

  The little old man impatiently drove people away.