Chapter 4

After returning to the small courtyard, Zhang Ye first had a hearty meal, then climbed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep. He slept for a whole day and night. When he woke up, Zhang Ye felt an indescribable sense of vitality and clarity in his mind.

Zhang Ye tried to take out a book and found that his memory had indeed become much stronger; he could remember the gist of things after just one read. What made Zhang Ye even happier was that his calculation and comprehension skills had also improved significantly. With some martial arts problems, he only needed a little thought to quickly find the root cause.

"It seems that after this memory fusion, my brain has undergone some wonderful changes, becoming much more powerful," Zhang Ye was overjoyed and thought to himself, "In the past, my talent was poor, and my brain was not good. Now, my talent is still low, but my comprehension and calculation skills are far superior to before. As long as I can understand and remember things faster than others, even if my talent is poor, I will eventually be able to walk the path of the strong!"

After the excitement, Zhang Ye suddenly remembered something: "Now that I have advanced to the second level of martial arts, I should go to the family library and find a few martial techniques to practice."

The cultivation method Zhang Ye was currently practicing came from a book called *Martial Arts Enlightenment*. As the name suggests, it contained all the most basic things, such as "Basic Internal Martial Arts," "Basic Body Techniques," "Basic Fist Techniques," "Basic Palm Techniques," "Basic Sword Techniques," "Basic Saber Techniques," and "Martial Arts Common Knowledge." These contents were illustrated, making them easy to understand even for ordinary people who had never been exposed to martial arts.

According to the Zhang family's rules, only those who had cultivated the basic internal martial arts to the second level of martial arts were eligible to go to the family library and choose suitable martial techniques. Zhang Ye had always been at the first level of martial arts, so he had never been able to obtain martial techniques. Now that he had advanced to the second level, it was time to get some martial techniques.

Zhang Family, Library.

The library was one of the most mysterious places in the Zhang family, housing various martial arts secrets. The library was semi-closed, open only to family members who had reached the second level of martial arts. Each martial artist who reached the second level of martial arts had the right to enter the library for free once. If they wanted to enter again to read, they would have to pay a certain fee.

Zhang Ye strode to the front of the library and was about to enter when a young man in a green robe, about twelve or thirteen years old, with a proud look on his face, suddenly turned out from inside the library. Seeing this green-robed youth, Zhang Ye's brows slightly furrowed.

This green-robed youth was named Zhang Dashu, a half-brother of Zhang Ye. Zhang Dashu and Zhang Fang were part of the same group, and they had always been at odds with Zhang Ye. Zhang Dashu had the strength of the middle stage of the second level of martial arts. Relying on his own strength, Zhang Dashu had often made things difficult for Zhang Ye, which made Zhang Ye have no good feelings towards this half-brother at all.

"Hmm? Zhang Ye?" Zhang Dashu said with a slight surprise, "This is the family library. Only those with the strength of the second level of martial arts are eligible to enter here. Zhang Ye, you, a waste of space, what are you doing here?"

The Wilderness Continent was a place where the strong preyed on the weak. How the strong called the weak was never excessive. Calling Zhang Ye a "waste of space," Zhang Dashu did not think there was anything wrong with it. In fact, he had always called Zhang Ye that before.

Zhang Ye gave Zhang Dashu a faint look and did not respond, entering the library directly.

"You..."

If it were any other time, seeing Zhang Ye's indifferent attitude, Zhang Dashu would definitely have flown into a rage, blocking Zhang Ye to bully and humiliate him. But now, every move Zhang Ye made seemed to carry a mysterious aura, subtly blending with the library, giving off an air of dignity that made Zhang Dashu dare not act rashly.

"Second level of martial arts! This waste of space, Zhang Ye, actually advanced to the second level of martial arts! How is this possible..." Zhang Dashu looked at Zhang Ye's figure, his face dark, not knowing what he was thinking.

Zhang Ye entered the library and saw an old man with a white beard sitting on a stone bench, silent and motionless, exuding a heavy and mountain-like aura.

Zhang Ye bowed to the old man and said solemnly, "I have advanced to the second level of martial arts and request to enter the library."

The old man with the white beard did not even open his eyes, but with a flick of his sleeve, he threw a piece of animal skin scroll over, saying, "Record your name, your parents' names, and the time of your advancement on it for us to verify."

Zhang Ye took the animal skin scroll and wrote down his information as instructed, then returned the scroll to the stone table in front of the old man.

The old man with the white beard opened his eyes, glanced at the animal skin scroll, and nodded slightly at Zhang Ye, saying, "Your talent is low, and by normal standards, you might not even advance by the age of forty. Now, you have managed to reach the second level of martial arts at the age of thirteen, which shows that your will and perseverance are good! According to our Zhang family rules, each second-level martial artist can choose two suitable low-level martial techniques from the library. Now, you can enter the library and find suitable martial techniques for yourself. Remember, you only have the time of three incense sticks. When the time is up, whether you have chosen suitable secrets or not, you must leave the library."

Zhang Ye bowed to the old man with the white beard and turned to enter the library.

The Zhang family was just a small family, but after hundreds of years of operation, the library had accumulated a considerable number of secrets. Zhang Ye casually glanced around and saw that in this spacious library, there were neatly arranged more than a dozen rows of bookshelves, filled with various martial arts secrets, roughly estimated to be no less than a thousand.

With limited time, Zhang Ye did not have the luxury to look around and immediately began searching for suitable martial techniques.

The first thing Zhang Ye looked for was a body technique. Body techniques could be used for travel, evasion, and escape, and almost every martial artist would cultivate a body technique. Zhang Ye was no exception.

After searching for a while, Zhang Ye finally chose a secret manual. This manual was called *Surprised Crane Technique*. When practiced to perfection, it was as fast as a startled crane, making it one of the fastest body techniques among the lowest-level martial techniques.

Having found a body technique, the next thing Zhang Ye needed to find was an attack technique. After looking for a long time, a damaged saber manual caught Zhang Ye's interest.

This saber manual had only about twenty pages and recorded only one saber move. This move was described as "a gentle breeze brushing past, seeing only the breeze but not the saber," a highly mystical saber technique.

"This damaged saber manual was obtained by one of our Zhang family elders by chance. In terms of quality, it should belong to the intermediate level of martial techniques, but because it is damaged, it is placed in the low-level martial techniques section. The name of the saber manual is unknown, but it is known that this unnamed saber manual records three saber moves, and our Zhang family obtained the first move of the three." The old man with the white beard, who had come over at some point, said, "To master this saber move, you need excellent insight. Without outstanding insight, even decades of practice will yield nothing. Zhang Ye, your insight is quite average, and I advise you to give up on cultivating this damaged saber manual."

"Outstanding insight?" Hearing this, Zhang Ye's heart stirred. Since the memory fusion, his calculation and comprehension skills had become much stronger, and he could easily solve problems that had previously puzzled him. He just didn't know if these calculation and comprehension skills counted as insight.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Ye said, "Thank you for your advice, Elder. I have decided to choose this damaged saber manual."

Seeing Zhang Ye's determined expression, the old man with the white beard shook his head slightly and said, "Since you have made your choice, I won't say more. The saber move recorded in this damaged manual, although extremely powerful, has rarely been mastered by anyone throughout history. I hope you are an exception."