Learning the Iron Robe in Thirty Days

After breakfast and another short chat, Li Chu personally drove Gongsun Zhe and his daughter to town. 

Passing by a wide-open space along the way, they saw a large crowd gather in that space, and things were very lively. From what they heard, these people seemed to have found a large dead spider that was terrifyingly big. 

Some said the Spider Demon might have failed to surmount a tribulation, but some immediately pointed out that the wound was clearly a sword wound, so some cultivator certainly killed it. 

Li Chu did not stop and instead whipped the horse to accelerate past the scene. 

Both the Gongsun father and daughter pair were smart people, and they could tell what was going on after listening while passing by. They surmised that the body was the true form of the Eight-armed Asura that Li Chu had slain last night.

Gongsun Zhe then asked, "Young Daoist, why don't you go down to tell them you had killed the demon? Wouldn't it be good to raise the name of Deyun Monastery?"

"Master had always taught me that defeating demons and protecting the Dao is not for fame." Li Chu responded. 

Gongsun Zhe was taken aback for a moment before raising a hold-fist salute sincerely. "Both your master and yourself are really great men."

Li Chu rubbed his nose with his hand. 

He did not want to explain because, firstly, he felt that fame did not matter. Secondly, there was originally a pavilion there. 

Last night, in his anxiety, he overdid a little. That pavilion was funded and built by the neighboring villages, so the loss would outweigh the gain if they wanted him to pay for the damage.

The carriage soon stopped at the gate of the county magistrate office. 

The three got out of the carriage and said their goodbyes. 

"Young Daoist Li, your life-saving grace will never be forgotten." Gongsun Zhe bowed in salute. 

"I'm just doing my part as a cultivator. Mister Gongsun, you don't have to mind it." Li Chu said softly. 

Gongsun Rou looked at Li Chu with her beautiful eyes as she bit her lips and said, "Young Daoist Li, thank you for your help."

Only the father and daughter pair knew how much of that Li Chu's so-called 'nothing to thank him for' aid meant in saving them from a life-threatening encounter. 

Li Chu smiled indifferently and then left. 

Gongsun Rou stared at his back and did not move for a long time. 

Her old father turned around. And upon seeing the expression on his daughter's face, he shook his hand in front of her. "Alright now, he had already left. There were so many talented princely scions and young adventurers in Chaoge City, and I've never seen you look at someone like this before."

Gongsun Rou was embarrassed by that as she lowered her head and then shook it again. "They are just not comparable to him."

Gongsun Zhe wore a wry smile. "In what sense?"

Gongsun Rou bit her lips again and only spoke after a long while. "Not as handsome as he is."

"Oh?" Gongsun Zhe blinked. "I remember my dear daughter had once claimed that she doesn't care about looks when looking at a man?"

Gongsun Rou's cheeks were flushed red, and she ignored him. 

There was no one in this world that did not care about looks. If there was, it was just because she had not run into one that was good looking enough...

What's more, the owner of that face was her savior. 

...

Li Chu did not purposely send the Gongsuns here; he too had some errands in town. 

This morning, he had asked Yu Qi'an while still in the room if he had any techniques to train his body. 

Li Chu would never forget the moment when Yu Qi'an, who had just woken up, with his face unwashed, and his hair untied, gargling to wash his mouth as he then looked up to the sky and said, "A Daoist is, the origin of all things. Practitioners, are those who branched away from the Dao. To forsake the Dao and seek the branches instead, my disciple, you have strayed from the true path."

At that moment, in Li Chu's eyes, Yu Qi'an seemed as if he was enveloped by an inexplicable aura. The aura was so compelling that Li Chu felt ashamed for asking that question. 

But...

It still did not change the fact that his body was still weak and fragile. 

He understood that he might not be able to comprehend the realm his master was at in this lifetime. 

And later on, Yu Qi'an asked Li Chu to go take a look at the Miscellaneous Bookshop in town, and suggested perhaps he would find something there. 

The Miscellaneous Bookshop, as its name suggested, was a bookshop of miscellaneous books. 

The decoration inside the bookstore was extremely old-school. Its north and south-facing sides were unobstructed. It was well-lit, and the fragrance of paper wafted in the air. 

Half of the books were new books, and half of them were second-hand books that the shopkeeper had collected. The books came in a wide variety and filled two floors to the brim. 

Li Chu looked around up and down, and roughly going through the books in the store. However, he did not find anything related to training or cultivation. 

So, he came to the counter. 

The shopkeeper of the Miscellaneous Bookshop was an old scholar. He was still studying for examinations even when he was already in his fifties and was about to lose his eyesight totally. 

Although his eyesight might be poor, he knew the placement of every book in the shop, and he could find them even with his eyes closed. 

Li Chi stepped forward and asked, "Boss, do you have any secret manuals around here?"

"What secret manuals?" The old shopkeeper was taken aback. 

"Those about physique." Li Chu said, "My master said you might have some here."

The old shopkeeper immediately let out a knowing smile. "Oh—"

He got up and took Li Chu to look for the books. As he walked, he said, "Sure enough, like master like disciple, I couldn't tell that a bright-eyed lad like you would like that stuff..."

Li Chu was totally flabbergasted. 

He then saw the old shopkeeper led him to a secret cabinet, and when the latter opened it, it was filled with picture books. 

The Bizarre Tale of The Golden Lotus, The Strange Tales of Temptress Moon, The White Carnal Prayer Mat, Hubby, I Want it...

Li Chu looked at these strange titles and fell into deep thought for a moment. 

"Boss, you may have misunderstood me." He looked away. "What I'm looking for are secret tomes for cultivation techniques or techniques to refine physique. I want to train my body, not to look at one!"

"Cultivation?" The old shopkeeper frowned. "You're looking for books about cultivation techniques in my bookshop? I really don't have those. But eh, if you're talking about training your body, I do have one on martial arts exercises, not sure if it'll suit your liking, though."

As he said that, the old shopkeeper pondered for a moment and then brought him into another corner of the shop. He then pulled out a book cabinet from that dusty corner. It was filled with martial art tomes. 

Cultivators of both Buddhism and Daoism were known as Qi Cultivators back then. 

They would only learn martial arts during the starting stages because they needed to protect themselves since they had yet to form their True Qi. After they had cultivated True Qi, they would no longer practice martial arts. 

What Qi Cultivators pursued were Divine Techniques. 

However, the barrier to become a Qi Cultivator was higher, and one must have spiritual roots to cultivate it. Those born naturally with a Spiritual Root were extremely few and far between. 

There were no such limitations with martial art training, and anyone could practice martial arts to strengthen their body, and in the same length, their strength. 

Therefore, in any era, there were more martial arts practitioners than Qi Cultivators. Correspondingly, the passing down of martial arts among the people was much more widespread, and even a bookstore in town would have a cabinet full of exercise tomes. 

However, this type of easily obtained exercise tomes would never be those high-level ones. 

It may be due to the Spiritual Root that Qi Cultivators had always looked down on martial art practitioners. 

Even when martial artists, who had practiced to the peak of one's technique, was no weaker than a Qi Cultivator at his peak and was stronger in terms of pure combat strength...

Even when there was a pure martial arts sect in the Heavenly King's Peak Sect within the Twelve Immortal Sects...

They simply just looked down on martial artists anyway. 

Therefore, an orthodox Daoist cultivator would naturally not be bothered to train martial art exercises. 

But Li Chu was not a Daoist cultivator at the slightest as he did not even have a Spiritual Root. Therefore, he naturally did not have that sort of contempt in his heart. 

So he asked, "Sorry to trouble you, are there any physical training exercises in here?"

"There is." The old shopkeeper leaned down and started digging through the pile of books, kicking up a storm of dust in the process. A moment later, he pulled out a thin, old yellow booklet and stuffed it in Li Chu's face. 

Li Chu only saw seven big words on it. 

'Learning The Iron Robe in Thirty Days'