Ling Xiao flipped through the summaries of several books, hoping to find some clues.
"Tablet Breaking Palm": The palm techniques are fierce, with a momentum like that of mountains descending, winning with sheer strength. One can only cultivate it when their strength reaches 300 jin.
"Blazing Fire Fist": Can condense True Qi to unleash a punch as powerful as blazing fire, with terrifying explosive force in an instant. If one reaches the Gang Qi Stage, they can even strike with Blazing Fire Gang Qi. Only male martial artists can cultivate this technique without harming themselves, while it tends to injure female martial artists.
"Gale Chasing Leaf Steps": Once mastered, it can significantly enhance the speed of one's body movements. As the saying goes, in the world of martial arts, nothing can overcome speed, highlighting its potency. Generally, slender individuals find this technique more suitable, especially slender women, for whom the effects are optimal when cultivating it.
"Tie Yi Gong": A defensive horizontal training martial art. Once practiced to perfection, it can block attacks from swords and sabers, greatly reducing the physical damage one sustains. This technique requires genuine humility and unwavering determination to master, otherwise one is likely to give up halfway.
"They all sound so impressive. I want to practice every single one, but it's a pity I can only choose two. This is troublesome..."
Although he couldn't ascertain the level of these martial arts from their summaries, just reading the descriptions excited Ling Xiao greatly.
For someone who found even basic martial arts hard to come by, each of these martial arts manuals was exceptionally desirable.
That damn Ling Jiu. Other people can take four books, but I can only take two.
Greedy as it may seem, not every martial art needs to be mastered to Great Perfection.
Take, for example, "Tie Yi Gong"; generally, it's sufficient to practice it to the point where it can enhance one's physical defense.
A couple as core manuals, with the rest for support, is the way to significantly improve one's strength.
It's a shame that I can only choose two. If only I could select more. Now that I have the Mountain and River Martial Soul, my cultivation level is bound to rise rapidly. Even if I practice several martial arts simultaneously, it shouldn't pose a problem.
Suddenly, Ling Xiao had an idea.
If the Mountain and River Martial Soul could analyze and practice martial arts, might it also be possible to practice the martial arts from the secret manuals?
When he first entered the Book Collection Pavilion, he didn't activate the Mountain and River Martial Soul for fear that Ling Jiu might detect something was off.
The method to activate or deactivate it was simple, requiring only the channeling of True Qi, almost like using a martial skill.
With this thought, he hastily activated his Mountain and River Martial Soul.
In that moment, the clouds on the Mountain and River Map parted to reveal a new area, and amazingly, another structure resembling the Ling Clan's Book Collection Pavilion appeared in the village, albeit shorter and with only one floor.
The most marvelous thing was that, upon projecting his consciousness inside it, he found that all of the martial arts secret books he had seen before were now present in this mountain and river chart's library.
When he flipped open a book to check, his silhouette would immediately appear on the Mountain and River Map, practicing precisely the martial arts he was reading.
"This... this is just too miraculous!"
Ling Xiao's heart was filled with shock, but along with it surged intense euphoria.
Who could have anticipated that the Mountain and River Martial Soul would have such an effect? Doesn't that mean I can take all the secret books from this second floor?
Even if I don't practice them, I could offer them to others to practice in the future, or even sell them for money.
He didn't feel this was betraying the Ling Clan, for they had never treated him, Ling Xiao, as one of their own.
Besides, Ling Jiu had publicly threatened to kill him; why should he guard the Ling Clan's secrets?
Moreover, the best this second floor had to offer was merely intermediate martial arts, which could probably be found outside too. Only the secret manuals on the Book Pavilion's Fourth Floor were truly fundamental to the Ling Clan.
With that in mind, he stopped hesitating and sped up his pace, beginning to skim through the secret books, only looking at the summaries before tossing them back onto the shelves.
To go through nearly ten thousand book summaries in a single shichen was no easy task; he had to speed up.
Ling Jiu, you restricted me to only two books, didn't you? I'm going to stealthily take all the secret books from here, just to infuriate you to death!
A wild crazed look spread across Ling Xiao's face.
At first, he would check each book he flipped through to ensure there was a copy within the Mountain and River Map's Book Collection Pavilion, but later, he could not be bothered to verify anymore.
Because there was no need to verify, if the Book Collection Pavilion didn't gain a new book, he would have a feeling in his heart.
"Hahaha... exhilarating! Too exhilarating! The Mountain and River Martial Soul, what kind of Martial Soul is this to be so formidable!"
While Ling Xiao was browsing the Martial Arts Secret Books, he couldn't help but feel elated and burst into loud laughter.
This act drew the attention of other disciples who were reading, making them focus on him.
"Is this kid sick in the head?"
"Yeah, who chooses books like that?"
"Just a bumpkin, let's ignore him and focus on our own business."
One shichen is neither long nor short.
By the time Ling Xiao had "copied" almost all of the more than nine thousand books on the second floor of the Book Collection Pavilion, there was only a quarter of an hour left.
The reason he hadn't left was that there were still a few books in the hands of the Ling Family disciples that hadn't been put down yet, and he hadn't had a chance to see them.
It's worth mentioning that the haphazardly placed Martial Arts texts in the Ling Clan's Book Collection Pavilion had transformed upon reaching the Mountain and River Map.
They were neatly categorized and lined up, and a person even appeared out of thin air to take care of the cleaning.
Palm Techniques, Saber Techniques, Sword Techniques, Internal Cultivation Mind Techniques, Body Movement Techniques, Strengthening Martial Arts, and so on.
All were placed on different bookshelves.
Moreover, Intermediate Martial Arts, Lower Martial Arts, and Basic Martial Arts were also arranged in order from high to low and labeled accordingly so anyone could tell at a glance their level.
Ling Xiao was dumbfounded and simultaneously thrilled to see this.
The Book Collection Pavilion within his own Mountain and River Map was simply better than the Ling Clan's Book Collection Pavilion!
Time was running out, but Ling Xiao couldn't just snatch the books from the Ling Family disciples' hands, after all, his current strength was not yet comparable to them.
So he could only continue to roam the second floor, hoping to find any Secret Manuals he might have missed.
He was too excited earlier, and it was indeed possible that he had missed something.
Ling Xiao suddenly noticed two paintings hanging near the entrance of the second floor.
One painting depicted a Minotaur-like creature wielding a Giant Axe, and the other portrayed a monkey-headed fellow holding a staff.
The most astonishing thing was that the Minotaur painting bore three characters "Ox Demon Technique," and the monkey-headed painting also had three characters, which were "Xiang Yun Bu."
Could these two paintings also be Martial Arts Secret Books?
Thinking this, Ling Xiao reached out towards one of the paintings.
But before he could touch the painting, he was intercepted by one of the core disciples from the Ling Family.
Martial Veins Third Layer cultivation level, stronger than Ling Xiao.
"Go notify Ninth Master, tell him someone has touched the sacred paintings without permission!"
The disciple spoke to another.
The other disciple ran down quickly and, upon returning, Ninth Master also arrived.
"Ninth Master, this child has insolently touched the sacred paintings!"
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, the sacred paintings are indeed part of the second floor's Martial Arts Texts, let him touch it, these two paintings look ordinary, but in fact, they both have restrictions."
Ling Jiu said with a smile, "Ling Xiao, if you have the ability, then take away the Martial Arts texts that are placed behind them."