Zhang Xiaozu held the bone knife in his hand and felt melancholy in his heart.
As the saying goes: No matter how good your skills are, you are still afraid of the kitchen knife.
It's not that a kitchen knife can cut down an expert, but it's that the deterrent effect of a kitchen knife is greater and more direct than that of bare hands.
But what makes Zhang Xiaopou uncomfortable is that in his hand, the bone knife, which can cut through iron as much as clay, not only cannot exert its powerful power, but also limits his combat power.
Zhang Xiaozu felt that he needed a knife and martial arts skill to unleash the power of the bone knife. When killing enemies on the battlefield, using a knife is always more efficient than using bare hands.
"It would be great if I could learn all the "Three Steps to Kill" sword technique." Zhang Xiaozhu lamented in his heart. The "Three Steps to Kill" sword technique is a technique for killing enemies in battle formations, which is exactly what he needs now.
There are a total of eighteen sword techniques in the set. He has only learned the first three techniques, which can be used to deal with enemies with average combat power. However, when encountering enemies with strong combat power, he will be stretched thin and unable to continue.
However, the "Three Steps to Kill" sword technique is the secret enemy-killing technique of the heavy armored infantry of the famous black-armored army guarding the southern border. It is not easy to learn it, at least it is not possible to learn it now.
Zhang Xiaozu got rid of his unrealistic thoughts and focused on the ancient secret books, trying to find a powerful sword and martial arts. However, he was illiterate and couldn't even recognize the names of the secret books. He couldn't help but blush and regret. When I was a child, I didn't listen to the village chief's grandfather's words and study hard. I could only cast an embarrassed look at Zhou Jianlai asking for help and said: "Brother Zhou, I want to find a powerful sword and martial arts, but I can't read. You Can you help me look for it?"
"And me. I want it too." Niu Dawa hurriedly shouted, throwing a secret book back on the shelf and cursing: "Damn it, none of them have pictures."
"" Only then did Zhou Jianlai realize what he was picking up. It turned out that he was looking for an illustrated secret book.
Zhou Jianlai nodded towards the two of them, thinking that their fighting styles were both brutal and they must have liked simple and rough sword skills, so he started looking for them on the bookshelf.
Zhang Xiaozu and Niu Dawa saw that Zhou Jianlai might take some time, so they walked away.
Niu Dawa walked towards the shelf where the treasures of elixirs were placed, with blazing eyes in her eyes. However, after walking back and forth in front of the shelf twice, she couldn't help scratching her head in frustration, because Taoist Tianwu had specially warned her before that there were There were many highly toxic poisons that must not be eaten indiscriminately, but he was illiterate and couldn't read the names of the elixirs. He couldn't tell which ones were good medicines and which ones were poisons, so he could only stare at the shelves.
"Damn it, I swear, I will go to school and learn calligraphy after the war is over, otherwise I won't know what good things are when I grab them in the future. It will be so frustrating and frustrating." Niu Dawa shouted through gritted teeth.
Zhang Xiaozu nodded in agreement and said, "I'll accompany you."
Zhou Jianlai couldn't help but joked: "Then you two have to start from the enlightenment class. Think about the scene of two soldiers and a group of baby boys sitting together to study. The baby girls must not be frightened by your evil spirit and cry for father and mother." , that is really lively. It makes people look forward to it. It makes people look forward to it!”
"" Zhang Xiaozu thought about the scene Zhou Jianlai said in his mind, and several black lines appeared on his forehead.
Niu Dawa rolled his eyes and said: "There are so many valuable things out there. We can just take two of them and invite the master to come to our home to teach us. Who would fight for seats with a group of naughty boys to reduce the price?"
"You can have this." Zhang Xiaozu nodded and smiled.
"Pawn, didn't Senior say that there are still good things hidden? How about it, have you found anything?" He didn't dare to take the medicine randomly, and the weapons were picked out. Zhou Jianlai, the secret book, was helping with the selection. Niu Dawa had nothing to do for a while, so he Attention shifted to Taoist Tianwu's explanation.
"Looking for it." Zhang Xiaozu responded, covering the entire secret room with his subtle state of mind, not letting go of any clues, and soon found something. He walked towards the left wall with a soft sound, and Niu Dawa immediately came over.
There was a palm print invisible to the naked eye on the wall. Zhang Xiaozu stretched out his hand and pressed it, pushed hard, and with a click, a three-foot-square wall suddenly flipped over. The overturned wall has three levels of concave grids: the upper, middle and lower levels. On the first level are three bottles of elixirs, on the second level are two secret books, and on the third level is a short sword with a gray and white scabbard, with seals carved on the hilt. With auspicious carvings.
"Good stuff. It must be good stuff." Niu Dawa rubbed her hands and said with bright eyes. Even if Niu Dawa didn't know what it was, he knew it must be something good. He hurriedly greeted Zhou Jianlai: "Brother Zhou, come on, come on, come and see what good things we have found?"
Zhou Jianlai was full of curiosity. He put down the secret book he was reading and walked quickly closer. He first looked at the three bottles of elixirs on the top shelf, but they were not all on the shelf.
There are no labels on these three bottles of elixirs, and it is impossible to tell what elixirs they are.
He picked up a bottle curiously and pulled out the jade stopper. A refreshing fragrance suddenly wafted out from the mouth of the bottle. As soon as the three of them smelled the fragrance, they couldn't help but swallow their saliva. He shook the jade bottle gently, looked inside the bottle mouth, and found that there was only one pill in the bottle. It's hidden so deeply and there's only one pill. You don't have to think about it. It must be an extremely precious elixir.
"I don't know. But it must be a good thing." Zhou Jianlai put the jade stopper on it and said, put it back in place and went to get the second bottle. He held the neck of the elixir bottle with his fingers and lifted it, but it didn't move. A look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face. , and gradually increased the strength on his fingers, until he reached nearly a hundred kilograms of strength, he could lift the elixir bottle. He couldn't help but exclaimed to Zhang Xiaozhu and Niu Dawa: "I don't know what's in it. It's very heavy, almost a hundred pounds." catty."
"Such a small bottle weighs 100 kilograms?!" Zhang Xiaozhu and Niu Dawa stared at the pill bottle in Zhou Jianlai's hand with their eyes wide open in shock.
Zhou Jianlai shook it lightly and felt the sloshing sensation of liquid coming from the elixir bottle. He immediately knew that it should contain some kind of liquid. When he pulled out the jade stopper, a faint fragrance floated out from the mouth of the bottle, a bit like grass. , with a bit of milky aroma of cheese and a bit of earthy smell. When he smelled this smell, his eyes suddenly lit up and he exclaimed: "It's stone marrow! No wonder it's so heavy!"
"What?" Niu Dawa didn't hear clearly.
Zhang Xiaozu also looked puzzled.
"Well," Zhou Jianlai thought for a moment and explained in simple and easy-to-understand words: "The stone marrow is the marrow of the stone. Well, let's understand it this way. It is a very strong earth element that has come together and has gone through thousands of years of changes. , a kind of spiritual liquid that was finally brewed. The spiritual energy contained in it is extremely pure, making it an excellent spiritual elixir for cultivation. Of course, its biggest role is not to improve cultivation, but to enhance the perception of the earth element. and affinity, which is extremely helpful in understanding and controlling the realm of earth.”
Zhang Xiaozhu's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this. What he is most afraid of facing now is the master who possesses the realm of earth. He can control the weight at will, sometimes light and sometimes heavy, catching him off guard, and even causing his moves to deform and reveal fatal flaws. It can be as heavy as lying on the ground and unable to get up, or it can even be as light as flying catkins and float in the air, making it impossible to fight.
He once asked Taoist Tianwu about this problem in the underground secret room of the City Lord's Mansion. Taoist Tianwu told him that with his current cultivation level, there was no good way to deal with it. The best way is to comprehend an elemental power and fight against the realm of earth. So when he heard Zhou Jian say that stone marrow could help people understand and control the realm of earth, he was immediately excited.
"How to use it? Drink it directly?" Niu Dawa asked directly, licking the corner of his mouth and looking passionately.
"If anything is added to stone marrow or even pure substance, it will destroy its value, so it is best to take it directly. The book says so, and this is the first time I have seen it." Zhou Jianlai said.
"Want to try a drop?" Niu Dawa said impatiently.
"Isn't it good?" Zhou Jian looked in the direction of Taoist Tianwu, implying that it was best not to move without his consent.
"Senior is a powerful star, and the Earth Realm has long been a child's play for him. He will definitely not care about this thing." Niu Dawa said.
Zhou Jianlai smiled, capped the jade stopper, put the elixir bottle back in its place, and said: "These are the trophies of the seniors. Let's wait until the old man wakes up."
After speaking, he picked up the third elixir bottle, which was of normal weight. He pulled out the jade stopper and saw that there were five brown elixirs inside. A pungent smell wafted out. He quickly closed the jade stopper, fearing that something was inside. Plant poison.
Putting down the elixir bottle, Zhou Jian looked at the two secret books on the second floor. One of them was about swordsmanship and martial arts, called "Cloud Piercing Sword", and the other was about cultivation techniques, called "The Jue of Nirvana Heart".
Zhou Jianlai read the names of the two secret books to Zhang Xiaozhu and Niu Dawa, and then analyzed: "If nothing else goes wrong, these two books should be the family secrets of the Li family."
"The name sounds very powerful." Niu Dawa picked up one of the books and flipped it twice, then threw it back. Then he picked up the other one, flipped it twice, curled his lips and threw it back, and said depressedly: "Why are there so many martial arts secret books?" Without illustrations? Have you never thought that future generations may have poor family fortunes and no money to study? How sad it would be to have the unique knowledge passed down from family but not know how to practice it. Right?"
"Uh" Zhou Jianlai was stopped by Niu Dawa's question. He frowned and muttered, "This is indeed a problem."
"I have decided." Niu Dawa patted her chest and said, "After I learn how to read and write, I will annotate all the secret books in the world."
Zhang Xiaozu rolled his eyes and said, "I advise you to be kind."
"What do you mean?" Niu Dawa asked confused.
"As for your soul-drawing skills of drawing a chicken, no one in the village can recognize what it is. If you add illustrations to the secret book, I can't imagine how many people will become obsessed with practicing. So, you'd better do it. , don't mislead others." Zhang Xiaozu said happily.
"roll!"
Zhou Jianlai looked at the dagger in the third frame with a smile. He reached out and picked it up, holding it in his hand. He immediately felt a sense of vicissitudes of life on the sword. Upon closer inspection, he found that the scabbard should have been dark green because of the long-term use. It turns off-white after wear. He handed the hilt of the sword to Zhang Xiaopeng and motioned for him to pull it out and take a look.
Zhang Xiaozu drew his sword out of its scabbard, and the three of them looked at the sword with a look of surprise on their faces. Because the sword was so worn and the blade was broken and curled, it looked like a used sword based on its appearance.
"I can only feel that it has a heavy sense of vicissitudes, and there is nothing strange about it." Zhou Jianlai said, "I guess it was used by a powerful ancestor of the Li family, so it was treasured by the Li family to commemorate their ancestors. use."
"Yes." Zhang Xiaozu nodded, took the scabbard handed over by Zhou Jianlai, returned the sword to its sheath, and put it back in its place.
"I thought it was a sword." Niu Dawa looked disappointed, turned to look at the surrounding walls, and asked, "Are there any other hidden compartments?"
"It seems there is." Zhang Xiaozu responded, but judging from his tone, he seemed unsure. After saying that, he walked towards a wall and stretched out his right index finger to point on the wall, because he saw that there was only one fingerprint on the wall. With the experience of the previous two times, he pressed down hard this time.
There was a click.
Without much force, a small square was dented into the wall, and then there was no movement.
"What's going on?" Niu Dawa asked.
Zhang Xiaozu shook his head and said that he didn't know either. Then he moved five steps to the right and stretched out his finger to point on the wall. With a click, another small square was recessed into the wall.
Niu Dawa waited for a while and saw that there was still no movement, but his face showed excitement and said: "Hiding it so secretly, there must be a treasure."
Click
Zhang Xiaozu followed the traces he found in his subtle state of mind, groped around on the front, back, left, and right walls, pressing squares one after another. But apart from the clicking sound of the grid sinking, there was no other change in the secret room.
After pressing the sixtieth square, Zhang Xiaopou turned his gaze to the ceiling of the secret room. He jumped up and pressed fifteen more squares.
Whether it was Niu Dawa or Zhou Jianlai, even Zhang Xiaozhu himself showed an expression of great anticipation. He wanted to know what good things the Li family had hidden, and how they made it so complicated.
"This should be the Nine-Nine Palace Grid." Tianwu Taoist's voice suddenly sounded in the secret room.
"Master, you're awake." Zhang Xiaozhu shouted happily.
"senior."
"senior."
Niu Dawa and Zhou Jianlai paid homage to Taoist Tianwu together.
Taoist Tianwu's face returned to rosy color, he smiled and nodded at the three of them, and then said: "Nine-nine palace grids, there should be ninety-nine and eighty-one hidden grids. How many have you found?"
"Seventy-five." Zhang Xiaozu replied.
"There are still six paths left." Taoist Tianwu looked around the secret room, stretched out his finger and tapped the ground, and said: "The remaining six paths should be hidden on the ground."
"Well, the disciple seems to have found it." Zhang Xiaozu nodded and smiled. After saying that, he walked towards a shelf, squatted down, grabbed one leg of the shelf, slowly lifted it, stretched out his fingers and pressed it on the ground under the shelf leg. , the flat ground immediately sank with a click.
Niu Dawa watched Zhang Xiaopou lifting the legs of the shelves or moving the shelves, and easily found the hidden compartments one after another. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's just a fool's dream to try to hide things in a subtle state of mind."
Zhou Jianlai nodded in agreement.
"One more to go." Zhang Xiaozu frowned and searched repeatedly in a subtle state of mind, but could not find where the last secret compartment was hidden.
Taoist Tianwu pointed to the corridor at the door and said, "Not necessarily all of them are in the room."
Zhang Xiaozhu's eyes lit up, he entered the corridor in a subtle state of mind, and immediately shouted in surprise: "I seem to have found it."
As he spoke, he ran into the corridor, picked off a luminous pearl embedded in the corner of the wall, and pushed it into the hollow with his fingers.
There was a click.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of stone grinding rang out from the ceiling of the secret room. After a while, a dark hole appeared.
"Damn! There's a secret room?!" Niu Dawa exclaimed in surprise.
"No." Zhang Xiaozu responded, "It seems to be a box. Look, it's put down."
