Chapter 17: Martial Techniques

Lying in the pool, Du Fei felt the icy water continuously washing over his body, yet he felt an extreme sense of comfort.

Reaching the seventh level of the Body Tempering stage also meant that all his meridians were now fully unblocked. The word "waste" would no longer be associated with him for the rest of his life!

As long as he continued to cultivate, advancing to the ninth level of Body Tempering and becoming a Martial Artist was just a matter of time!

With the remaining Body Tempering medicinal liquid, Du Fei believed that his time to advance to the ninth level of Body Tempering and become a Martial Artist would be much shorter than that of others.

"Next, I need to consolidate and cultivate martial techniques... The clan competition is only half a month away, so I need to hurry..."

Muttering to himself for a moment, Du Fei's right hand once again gripped the jade talisman on his chest.

The jade talisman contained the cultivation method of the Du Family's Ice Heart Technique. Generally, cultivation methods would come with a few martial techniques to maximize their power.

Of course, the number of martial techniques that came with a cultivation method varied according to the level of the method.

Du Fei was aware that the Du Family's Ice Heart Technique was only an eighth-grade cultivation method, and the three martial techniques that came with it were also only eighth-grade... However, he currently couldn't read the information inside the jade talisman, so he couldn't cultivate those three martial techniques.

Apart from that, it seemed he had no other martial techniques.

After some thought, Du Fei said indifferently, "System, do you have any martial techniques suitable for me to cultivate now?"

"Beep... Question received, system searching, beep... System search complete, no information containing the words 'martial techniques' found!"

The cold electronic voice slowly echoed in Du Fei's mind.

"No information? How is that possible? Where did the Cotton Fist come from?" Du Fei was startled, almost shouting out loud.

"Beep... Question received, answer clear, the system's database contains only one Body Tempering Fist..."

"What about cultivation methods? What about pills?" Du Fei quickly asked, thinking of a possibility.

"System searching... Search complete, no information containing the words 'cultivation methods' found... System searching again... Search complete, the system's database contains one piece of information about pills, do you want to read it?"

Du Fei's eyes twitched for a moment before he sighed, "Read it!"

"Beep... Loading information..."

As the cold electronic voice sounded, a scene of alchemy that Du Fei was extremely familiar with instantly appeared in his mind... "Damn! Is this system really so unreliable? Tell me, is it true that your database only contains Cotton Fist and Bone Washing Pill?"

"Of course... not..."

"Then what else is there?"

"Insufficient owner permissions, unable to read!"

"Permissions? How do I increase my permissions?"

"Question unclear, unable to answer..."

"..."

After a moment, Du Fei bitterly smiled, feeling somewhat speechless. From the current situation, it seemed that the unreliable system was indeed not very reliable... Although he initially didn't understand what this unreliable system was for, now he realized that relying on it to obtain countless martial techniques, cultivation methods, and pill formulas was absolutely impossible... "What a pain!"

Du Fei sighed, but he wasn't too disappointed. After all, even if the system could only provide two types of information, he had already taken the most difficult step on the path of cultivation with these two types of information!

What happens in the future! It will all depend on himself!

"It seems the only way is to go to the clan's Martial Cultivation Pavilion to find an easy-to-cultivate martial technique... No matter what, the clan competition is in half a month, and if I don't have a martial technique, it will be tough."

Sighing, Du Fei quickly changed his clothes, carefully hid the crystal bottle containing the medicinal liquid, and then swiftly headed towards the Du Family's courtyard.

After leaping through the mountains and forests for a few miles, Du Fei soon arrived at the back courtyard of the Du Family. He casually asked a servant for directions and, after a few turns, a rather ancient and solemn building appeared before him.

The building was located at the center of the Du Family's courtyard, and it was carefully guarded by the Du Family's guards. Passersby who passed by this place were all somewhat cautious.

On the plaque above the main door of the building, the three large characters "Martial Cultivation Pavilion" were written in a flowing and elegant style, invigorating the spirit.

Nodding slightly to the guards around him and showing his waist badge that represented the identity of a core disciple of the Du Family, Du Fei slowly stepped up the stairs and entered the building.

As soon as he entered the building, he immediately felt a cold and icy chill hit him, making his vision slightly darken. After a moment, he gradually adapted to the light inside.

The building had three floors. The first two floors contained ordinary martial techniques, while the third floor contained extremely high-grade martial techniques and cultivation methods of the Du Family.

Although Du Fei didn't know what specific martial techniques and cultivation methods the Du Family had, he was clear that the martial techniques on the first and second floors were all ninth-grade martial techniques.

The first floor of the building was a large hall, extremely spacious. A few bookshelves were sparsely placed around the hall, and on one side of the hall was a desk where an old man with white eyebrows and hair sat half-asleep. Hearing someone enter, he glanced at Du Fei's waist badge and lazily said, "Core disciple waist badge, you can read ninth-grade martial techniques on the first floor or eighth-grade martial techniques on the second floor... As for the third floor, you have no permission to enter. Martial techniques can be read inside the building but cannot be taken out, violators will be executed without mercy!"

The originally intimidating words were said in a lifeless manner by the old man.

Du Fei didn't pay much attention to this and, after respectfully bowing to the old man, slowly walked to the bookshelves and casually picked up a scroll to read.

"Stone-Crushing Fist, ninth-grade martial technique, requires the seventh level of Body Tempering to cultivate. If cultivated successfully, a punch can shatter stones and break bones, with extraordinary power..."

After a general introduction, the detailed cultivation method followed, and this Stone-Crushing Fist also included a small routine, which would greatly enhance the power of the fist when performed.

However, after a careful read, Du Fei wasn't very interested in the Stone-Crushing Fist. After all, in his opinion, cultivating the Stone-Crushing Fist seemed less reliable than directly using the Cotton Fist!

Putting the scroll down, Du Fei casually walked to another bookshelf and picked up another scroll to flip through... As time passed, more than half an hour went by, and Du Fei had already read most of the martial techniques on the first floor of the Martial Cultivation Pavilion.

However, although these martial techniques seemed good at first glance, Du Fei wasn't very interested in them because the various force usage methods described in them were already covered in the Cotton Fist.

After once again marveling at the uniqueness of the Cotton Fist, Du Fei took a deep breath and slowly walked to the second floor of the Martial Cultivation Pavilion.

The second floor of the Martial Cultivation Pavilion was noticeably narrower than the first floor, but even so, the numerous bookshelves still made Du Fei slightly dazed.

Casually picking up a scroll and reading it for a moment, Du Fei's eyes flashed with satisfaction.

The scroll in his hand was also a ninth-grade martial technique, but the cultivation and force usage methods described in it already involved true qi, far surpassing the techniques on the first floor.

After reading for a while, Du Fei couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It seemed that even among ninth-grade martial techniques, there were significant differences!

However, since he was on the second floor, Du Fei wasn't very interested in ninth-grade martial techniques. He casually walked around a few times, focusing on the so-called eighth-grade martial techniques, but he didn't find them immediately.

"Eight-grade martial techniques are all here, not where you are looking..."

Just as Du Fei was getting somewhat frustrated, a soft and delicate voice sounded behind him.

Du Fei frowned slightly and then turned around.

He saw a girl in a purple dress casually sitting on the ground in a corner of the second floor.

The girl was about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a delicate and elegant face, fair skin, and a graceful demeanor. Even sitting casually on the ground, the white legs exposed from the hem of her purple dress were quite eye-catching.

However, what surprised Du Fei was not these, but the dozens of martial technique scrolls scattered around her, which she was casually flipping through, looking somewhat indifferent.

But, precisely because of her indifferent demeanor, Du Fei couldn't help but feel a sense of danger.

This person is not simple... After warning himself in his heart, Du Fei slowly walked over. Upon closer inspection, he found that the girl's features were even more exquisite, though different from Xiao Ai, she was still an extremely eye-catching beauty.

If Xiao Ai was a graceful lily, then this girl was a serene orchid.

Smiling and nodding, Du Fei picked up a scroll from the ground at the girl's indication and took a look.

"Eight-grade martial technique, Heaven and Earth Hands!"

Seeing this scroll, Du Fei couldn't help but twitch his eyes slightly. After all, eighth-grade martial techniques were extremely rare, and there probably weren't many in the entire Du Family.

But if Du Fei's guess was correct, these eighth-grade martial techniques were now all concentrated in front of this girl, who was casually browsing through them?

What kind of person is this?