Chapter 37 - Yifei, Want to Practice Together?

Chapter 37: Yifei, Want to Practice Together?

As soon as Chen Yuze opened the ancient book, he sensed something was off. He didn’t read the text, but the illustrations only showed a bald man…

This wasn’t what he had expected. Unwilling to accept it, Chen Yuze flipped through several pages, only to find the same bald man performing strange poses. It felt completely off-track.

The more Chen Yuze looked, the more suspicious he became. After some thought, he stored the book in his spatial backpack. He remembered that his backpack had a feature where clicking on an item would display its description.

Hu Yifei watched as Chen Yuze tucked the ancient book into his spatial backpack and shot him a disdainful look. “Didn’t expect you to be another scumbag,” she said coldly.

Ignoring her, Chen Yuze examined the book inside his backpack. A pop-up window appeared:

*Mysterious Ancient Text: A martial arts manual discovered among the burial items of a Yuan Dynasty general. Origin unknown. This is a replica—the original’s whereabouts are lost. It belongs to Shaolin’s 72 Unique Skills: the “Flower-Picking Technique.” Later generations named it “Flower-Picking Finger.”*

“Holy crap! No wonder it looked familiar—it’s the Flower-Picking Finger! So martial arts manuals really exist?” Chen Yuze stared at the description, utterly stunned.

Hu Yifei watched his dazed expression. “What’s wrong with you, scumbag? Staring so intently? Never thought you’d be like this. I misjudged you.”

“Yifei, stop joking. We’ve struck gold here. Want to practice it together?” Chen Yuze was thrilled. He wanted Hu Yifei to try it first—she had a natural talent for martial arts. If she succeeded, it would prove the manual was genuine, making it priceless.

“Do you… have a death wish?” Hu Yifei gritted her teeth, gripping her treasured blade as if deciding where to strike. She couldn’t believe Chen Yuze had the audacity to ask her to “practice” with him.

Suddenly, Chen Yuze realized the misunderstanding—not just on Hu Yifei’s part, but his own. He felt he could still salvage the situation.

“Yifei, you’ve got it wrong. It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“Then what were you thinking? Inviting more people to ‘practice’ together?”

“Yifei, just listen to me!”

“You have twenty words to explain. If I’m not satisfied, I’ll make sure China’s last eunuch gets replaced—believe it?” Hu Yifei’s anger was boiling over.

Chen Yuze lowered his head, thinking carefully before speaking slowly, “This is Shaolin’s Flower-Picking Finger, one of the 72 Unique Skills. The same one Xuzhu practiced.”

“You… sure? Xuzhu practiced North Darkness Divine Skill, right? You think I haven’t watched the series?” Hu Yifei eyed him skeptically, though his earlier shock had seemed genuine.

“It’s basically the same thing. And the book only has a bald guy in it. If it were that kind of book, wouldn’t the taste be a bit too… niche?” Chen Yuze took out the manual again—since it was part of their mission, he could freely retrieve it—and flipped through the pages in front of Hu Yifei.

Hu Yifei stared expressionlessly at the illustrations before lowering her head. “This stuff actually exists?”

“I didn’t expect it either.” Chen Yuze stored the book away again. Such a rare find was worth keeping, even if it meant carrying fewer other items. Who didn’t have a martial arts dream? Who wasn’t a little princess at heart?

“You’d better not be lying, or I’ll carve your name on a tombstone.” Hu Yifei gave him a suspicious glance before resuming her search of the side chamber. If one manual had appeared, surely there’d be more?

Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on their side. After a long search, they only found a Compendium of Medicinal Recipes in a corner, filled with random prescriptions. Both were disappointed, but one find was better than nothing. Then Chen Yuze spotted a small sandalwood box.

He opened it and found another ancient book—Thousand-Hand Technique. Neither had heard of it, but they took it anyway, figuring something was better than nothing. Aside from that, they only had the porcelain jar Chen Yuze had collected earlier and Hu Yifei’s golden blade. They left the rest untouched since they had agreed to split the loot evenly. They’d already taken more than their share, so they’d let Fatty and Old Hu choose more later.

Seeing they had gathered enough, Chen Yuze and Hu Yifei prepared to leave. Hu Yifei genuinely wasn’t interested in most of the items, and Chen Yuze could tell—each piece here was priceless, yet all she took was the golden blade.

“Oh, Sister Yifei, planning to become the Golden Blade Consort?” Fatty teased when he saw the blade.

“Shut up and open the coffin,” Hu Yifei snapped. She hadn’t found anything she liked and had already realized these items wouldn’t affect their world—otherwise, Chen Yuze wouldn’t have said no one could find them. They were in a different world now.

Still, Hu Yifei wanted something as a reward, like loot from a boss battle. But nothing else caught her eye—just a bunch of pots and jars. To her, they’d only serve as ugly vases at best.

Fatty shrunk back and kept quiet. He and Old Hu had already removed one layer of the stone coffin and were working on the second. Seeing Fatty silenced, Old Hu chuckled and asked Chen Yuze, “So, kid, find anything valuable?”

“Not bad. A few Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelains, among other things. Pretty luxurious stuff.” Just because Chen Yuze didn’t take them didn’t mean they were worthless. At their level, unless something really appealed to them, most items were just extras—but they’d still fetch a high price outside.

“So they’re just broken pots? What’s the point?” Fatty muttered.

Hu Yifei smirked coldly. “Seems I’m not the most clueless here. At least I know the value of Yuan blue-and-white—unlike this idiot.”

“Kid, you’re saying those things are valuable?” Old Hu was uncertain. To them, treasures meant jade or gold. What kind of treasure were a few old jars?