Returning to the city of Bianliang in Tokyo by carriage with San Yue, they stopped along the way to buy the four treasures of the study, a jar of paste, and a pair of scissors. After bringing San Yue to the Divine Arrest Unit, Ye Weiming went straight back to his room.
The accommodations of the Divine Arrest Unit were actually quite decent. Not only was the uniform free, they had also allotted him an apartment. The room was small and could only hold a table, a chair, and a bed, but the best part was that it was his personal space where he could rest anytime after grinding and doing quests.
Once inside, he opened the window and used the "Understanding of Inner Strength" that had dropped from Chou Ba. The level of his breathing technique had just leveled up.
Then, Ye Weiming took out the basic Qinggong book called "Eight Steps to Catch a Toad". After using it, the secret book turned into a ray of white light and disappeared, adding a new skill to Ye Weiming's skill column.
Eight Steps to Catch a Toad (Primary)
Level: 1
Proficiency: 0/250
A popular earth-based Qinggong in the martial world that can significantly increase movement speed.
+20 Movement Technique
Without any hesitation, Ye Weiming immediately used the cultivation points he had earned from killing Chou Ba and completing the quest to upgrade the "Eight Steps to Catch a Toad" to Level 3.
Cultivation points are a wonderful thing. They can be transformed into proficiency in any martial arts skill, acting like a universal proficiency, but they are hard to obtain. Ye Weiming had only managed to get 800 points from going beyond his limits to complete a mission and killing a Level 25 BOSS.
After a series of operations, Ye Weiming's attributes had once again undergone a significant change.
Ye Weiming
Level: 13
...
Hitpoints: 680/680
Inner Strength: 530/530
Physique: 66
Arm Strength: 66
Movement techniques: 131
Reaction: 66
Aptitude: 25
Intuition: 28
Breathing Technique (lowly)
Level: 6
Proficiency: 32/3200
...
+300 Hitpoints, +300 Inner Strength
+30 Physique, +30 Arm Strength, +30 Movement Technique, +30 Reaction
...
Yue Nu Swordsmanship (lowly)
Level: 6
...
Eight Steps to Catch a Toad (Primary)
Level: 3
...
Proficiency: 0/1000
+60 Movement Techniques
...
Low-level martial arts are indeed powerful. Finally, one of Ye Weiming's four-dimensional attributes has surpassed one hundred.
After capitalizing on his gains, Ye Weiming turned to the biggest prize of the day - the "strange piece of wood".
No matter how you look at this thing, it resembles a 3x3 Rubik's Cube. However, a 3x3 Rubik's Cube has different colors to distinguish each side, while this "strange piece of wood" has no color differentiation, only some incomprehensible carved patterns.
But this didn't stump Ye Weiming.
Using the four treasures of the study he had bought earlier, Ye Weiming first made rubbings of the patterns on the six faces of the cube. Then, he cut out the patterns of each small piece with scissors, and pieced them back together like a puzzle, gluing them onto the same piece of paper. He then discovered that this special cube was engraved with five landscape paintings and a poem.
The five landscape paintings depicted Four Great Wonders of Mount Tai: sunrise over Mount Tai, the sea of clouds, sunset glow and Yellow Sea golden belt, as well as a distant view of the Eighteen Bends.
The last side is engraved with the poem "On Mount Tai" by the versatile poet Bai Juyi:
What is Mount Tai like? The greenery of Qi and Lu has not vanished.
Creation made divine beauty, dividing light and dark.
The vast vista creates clouds, and decisive glares invite returning birds.
I will certainly climb to the summit one day, and see everything else as minor.
From the poem and paintings, it was not hard to guess that the secret hidden within this cube was definitely related to Mount Tai.
Undeterred, Ye Weiming continued to mark all 54 small blocks on the cube according to the poem and the paintings.
The preparation work took him a whole hour.
Looking at his hour's worth of work, a satisfied smile finally appeared on Ye Weiming's face. After briefly observing the structure of the marked cube, he quickly started twisting it.
Back when Ye Weiming was still in school, there would occasionally be waves of popular and interesting things. Apart from useless skills like spinning pens and books, there were also intellectual games like Rubik's cube and Nine-chain Ring.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
With a series of crisp sounds, the six faces of the Rubik's cube gradually moved back to their original positions.
About 30 seconds later...
"Pop!"
With Ye Weiming's final twist of the top face of the cube to align all six faces, a different sound came from the cube. Then, the side engraved with "On Mount Tai" popped out, revealing a tiny compartment inside, and a small ball-sized paper roll fell out.
Well, if something is hidden in such a way, couldn't one simply smash the cube and get it?
Shaking his head, Ye Weiming still felt that this idea was rather risky. Old man Li dared to use it to hide secrets, surely he'd have a backup plan. If he really did that, eight or nine times out of ten, the paper ball would also be destroyed with the cube.
Picking up the paper ball from the table and carefully unfolding it, he saw several lines of small characters written in grass-style script. Old Man Li, being a martial arts expert, had fine handwriting, but Ye Weiming could not recognize many of them.
The characters were really too cursive!
Just as Ye Weiming was considering whether to ask Zhan Zhao for translation help, a system prompt suddenly popped up.
Ding! You've unlocked the secret of the "strange piece of wood" and obtained a treasure clue: After learning the most powerful sword technique of the Mount Tai Sect and failing to master it after ten years of hard work, I retired and couldn't bear to discard it, and so I hid it in the underground palace under Leifeng Pagoda. The specific location of the treasure and precautions are as follows: ...
The back of the paper was a simple map showing the specific location of the secret book.
Leifeng Pagoda?
So, Old Man Li first learned martial arts at Mount Tai Sect, then retired to Du Kang Village, and while in seclusion continued to ponder over what he called the most powerful sword technique of Mount Tai Sect when he failed, he ran to Hangzhou to hide it?
Indeed, those who practice martial arts really know how to make life complicated!
Although he despised Old Man Li's nonsensical approach in his heart, tempted by the martial arts secrets, Ye Weiming decided to take a personal trip. But before that, he wanted to pick up a few quests near Hangzhou from Zhan Zhao.
What Ye Weiming didn't expect was that Zhan Zhao wasn't in today, and the NPC who issued the tasks had been replaced by Iron Mask You Jin.
"If you're going to Hangzhou, I happen to have a very good task to recommend to you." After learning of Ye Weiming's intentions, You Jin took the initiative to recommend him a task.
Dragon Gate Armed Escort
Task Level: Five Star
Hangzhou's Dragon Gate Armed Escort Service is in danger of being wiped out. As an officially taxed and legitimate force in the martial world, the Divine Arrest Unit is obliged to provide it with protection. Travel to Dragon Gate Armed Escort Service to find out the truth, and report the real situation to the Divine Arrest Unit through a carrier pigeon, and rescue the whole family of the Dragon Gate Armed Escort Service.
Task Reward: 5000 Experience, 500 Cultivation points, 100 gold.
After reading about the task, Ye Weiming tactfully said: "I don't accept!"
Upon hearing this, You Jin was silent for several seconds. You couldn't see what kind of expression was beneath his iron mask, but after a few seconds, he finally asked, "Why?"
"I'm not strong enough and I'm afraid it might delay the important matter. I kindly ask You sir to find someone more talented." Although his mouth said it was because his strength was inadequate, the real reason for Ye Weiming's refusing this task was...
The task reward was not enticing enough!