The Elder's Past

After flipping through the pages and finding no further content, he left the quiet room.

Arriving outside the door where the Elder of the Transmission of Scriptures was meditating, he respectfully said:

"Reporting to Senior, when I was using the medicinal wine to loosen my muscles and bones just now, I accidentally spilled some wine onto the original manual."

When the younger generation finished wiping it clean, there were some additional entries in the booklet, left by the lay Buddhist Bingyi, who had interacted with the Wang family elders.

The door opened, and Elder Chuanjing hurriedly stepped out of the meditation room, his expression showing some surprise and doubt.

"Who left this? Besides the contents of the booklet, what else was left?"

Chen Lu shook his head and presented the booklet with both hands: "Apart from some dazzling light, there is nothing else."

The elder who transmitted the scriptures was taken aback. He reached out and took the book, then turned to the page with the record and looked at it carefully.

After a moment, he let out a long sigh, a hint of melancholy in his expression:

Do you know who that senior member of the Wang family who was on good terms with Layman Bingyi was?

Chen Lu shook his head somewhat blankly: "I only know that he belongs to the Zhen generation, but I don't know his specific name."

The elder who transmitted the scriptures put down the booklet, his tone tinged with nostalgia.

"I belong to the Pu generation, and that is my father."

Chen Lu was taken aback, somewhat shocked, but then he remembered that there had been signs before.

He was the only member of the family to have a letter written in his own hand by that lay Buddhist, Bingyi.

After carefully calculating their ages, it was found that when the senior of the Zhen generation went on his journey, the Scripture Transmission Elder was about twenty years old.

He had been wondering why that senior, who had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, was still carrying around a Qi cultivation manual.

It seems that the real purpose was not only to break through to the Purple Mansion, but also to enable his son to successfully comprehend "Sharp Gold Sword Finger" and lay a solid foundation at every step.

"At that time, my father took me to see Layman Bingyi, wanting me to become his disciple."

My senior said he was used to being carefree and didn't like having anyone around him, but in reality, he taught me swordsmanship for many years. Because I use a sword instead of my fingers, I only learned the sword intent part of "Sharp Metal Sword Finger".

My father also helped him seek opportunities in the Purple Palace.

Finally, my father had a disagreement with his elders, and then angrily left with me.

At this point, Elder Chuanjing suddenly showed a regretful expression, looking somewhat dazed, before continuing after a long while:

"Although the senior said he didn't want to take on any apprentices, he always treated me like one."

But I have too many enemies and I am too weak. Having a master-disciple relationship would only harm me.

I didn't want to leave with my father back then, but he said if I didn't return to the family, he would remove me from the family and I would never see him again.

I was terrified at the time, so I had to say goodbye to my senior. Before leaving, he took the book "Sharp Golden Sword Pointing" with him, and returned it to me a few days later.

Back then, I loved drinking. I would drink too much and do a lot of stupid things, and I also lost a lot of spirit stones. The worst time was when I almost lost all my travel money.

Later I came up with a solution: a drunkard can do without everything, but he can't do without the wine jar.

So when I got drunk, I would stuff all my things into a wine jar, carry it home, and I've never lost anything since.

Chen Lu was somewhat incredulous, never expecting that the Elder of Transmission of Scriptures would have a fondness for alcohol.

"On the way home, my father was very angry and often took his anger out on me. He also strictly forbade me from drinking alcohol, saying that if I drank any more, he would ruin my cultivation and let me drink as an ordinary person until I had enough."

Before my father died, I never drank alcohol again. After his death, I had finished learning "Sharp Metal Sword Pointing," so I put it aside and never looked at it again.

Chen Lu pondered to himself, "It seems that Layman Bingyi wants to help Elder Chuanjing's father break through to the Purple Palace."

However, out of consideration for his reputation, he couldn't say much. Instead, he wanted to subtly remind the elder of his love for drinking how to break through.

I just didn't expect him to suddenly stop drinking. He miscalculated that, and I got lucky.

The Elder seemed to have seen through Chen Lu's thoughts, and he smiled nonchalantly:

"I don't regret it at all. Even if he knew, it wouldn't necessarily change him, and he would still fail to break through."

I couldn't comprehend the sword intent part of "Sharp Gold Sword Pointing" back then. If it weren't for the lingering trace of sword intent, I probably would have given up on this secret technique.

However, the words left by the predecessors have clarified the essence of the Sharp Metal Sword Intent. If you sincerely cultivate, you will surely be able to comprehend it.

Chen Lu nodded slightly and requested, "This junior would like to ask for two months' leave to comprehend sword intent, but the escort agency and family may not agree."

Therefore, I would like to ask you to help me explain to my family that I will return immediately after I have comprehended the sword intent.

The Elder Transmitting the Scriptures nodded in agreement.

"Sure, it won't be long before you come back, just in time for the镖局 (escort agency) to extend its reforms to Fenglinfang."

The family will hold a martial arts tournament on that day to demonstrate the strength of the escort agency to all cargo owners.

"Then, you'll represent your escort team and show everyone what Chen Lu, who proposed the reforms, is really like."

"Yes, senior."

Chen Lu had no choice but to agree.

If Elder Chuanjing hadn't brought this up, he would have almost forgotten that the other party's purpose in being kind to him was to promote him as the number one genius of the Wang family, thereby attracting external attention and protecting the main family members.

Only if this number one genius of the Wang family is important and famous enough can his death give outsiders the feeling that without him, the Wang family has no future.

That escort agency was just an experiment by the forces behind it. If it failed with the escort agency, they would try again elsewhere.

Moreover, for a large family, supporting a cultivator doesn't cost too much; those talents are the most important.

After leaving the Sutra Repository, the three镖头 (bodyguards) greeted him and listened to his explanation of needing leave to comprehend the essence of the Sharp Metal Sword.

The three镖头 (bodyguards) obeyed the family's arrangements and naturally had no objections.

Observing the raw materials is easy to do at Fenglinfang, since it's just a matter of purifying the ore, and there's not much technology involved.

The Wang family had a workshop for making raw materials, and he arrived at a workshop in the suburbs, far from the market, without much effort.

After presenting his royal family identity token and paying some kickbacks, he was able to enter smoothly.

As soon as he stepped into the workshop, he felt a strong, stifling heat, like a giant steamer, making it hard to breathe.

Even a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator like Chen Lu, who also cultivates his body, felt somewhat uncomfortable after only a short while, let alone the thousands of various laborers here.

What's most astonishing is that because the workshop is too stuffy, the spirit horses and spirit donkeys are unwilling to enter, so the large quantities of ore can only be exchanged at the entrance and transported in by laborers.

Those manual laborers generally had average cultivation levels, mainly consisting of fire and earth element cultivators.

The sweltering heat, mixed with exhaust fumes and mineral dust, caused most of these cultivators to have sickly flushed skin, heavy breathing, and frequent, violent coughing fits.