I'll write a manual called the Sunflower Manual, and the entire martial arts world will turn in

If it were an ordinary family, their so-called treasures would be nothing more than ancestral jade pendants and bracelets, which Xie An would not be very interested in.

But the treasure of the Grand Canal Gang...

He is still interested.

"Come in and speak."

Xie An welcomed Mai Qiuyan into the living room. By the light of the oil lamp, he saw two bright red handprints on Mai Qiuyan's face. She must have been beaten by her father.

In order to force Mai Qiuyan to go with Wei Dian, her father had already disregarded their father-daughter relationship.

This once proud young lady is not having an easy time.

"This is a secret technique of lightness skill passed down from my ancestors in the Cao Gang. Please accept it, Uncle."

Compared to their first meeting, Mai Qiuyan was much more subdued, her words carrying a hint of ingratiation. It seems that life's hardships have taken their toll, and she has lost the composure and spirit she once possessed.

Xie An took the book and looked at it. On the cover were five simple and archaic characters: "Three Steps to the Cloud Palace".

The name sounds nice.

Moreover, Xie An was very interested in the lightness skill itself.

If you can't beat them, you can run away.

This is a life-saving measure.

Splash!

Xie An flipped through the pages, gaining a general understanding of the Three Steps of Cloud Palace after a cursory glance:

This light-footed skill captures the essence of flowing clouds, ethereal and unpredictable, capable of gathering and dispersing, rising and falling.

It is mainly divided into three layers.

The first level, "Stepping on Clouds," requires practitioners to first attain "Ming Jin" (a state of inner strength), making their body's energy as light and agile as cotton. When performing this technique, the toes touch the ground, as if stepping on clouds. Although one cannot leave the ground too high, one can be as light as a swallow, freely moving between eaves and treetops, beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The second level, "Chasing Clouds," requires mastering the breath control technique to activate the internal energy throughout the body. At this stage, the body moves like the wind, swift as lightning. With a light touch of the toes, one can leap several meters, leaving only faint cloud shadows behind, seemingly real yet illusory. This level emphasizes speed, like chasing clouds, moving with lightning speed, allowing one to evade sword flashes and shadows in an instant, making the enemy unpredictable.

The third level, "Entering the Clouds," is the highest realm of this lightness skill. After mastering it, one's body becomes as ethereal and unpredictable as a cloud, able to rise into the air and twist and turn in mid-air, as if entering an empty space.

Xie An closed the book. "This lightness skill is quite good. I like it very much."

Mai Qiuyan was overjoyed and bowed deeply, saying, "Please, Uncle-Master, have mercy on me."

"No rush. Let me ask you, are you sure that the notes you copied for me last time were completely accurate?" Xie An asked about his father's misfortune while running a merchant ship.

Mai Qiuyan felt that the boy in front of her was extremely imposing, and replied respectfully, "Not a single word was missing."

"Do you know the head of the guards and the consul on that ship?"

Mai Qiuyan said, "Our canal gang's water transport business is divided into two parts. One part is legitimate, and my father used to let me handle some of it. The other part is a clandestine operation that is never allowed to be done by anyone other than my father and a few core members. Even I don't know the inside story. The ship that had the accident before was a clandestine operation."

There was indeed a problem.

Xie An asked calmly, "What is a secret envoy?"

"It's a job that involves transporting goods for the Dragon King."

It even involves the Dragon King Gang...

Xie An frowned deeply: "Besides your father, who else knows about the secret envoy?"

"Second Uncle Mai De, and Chen Jinlong, the master of our canal gang. The secret mission was handled by the three of them."

Xie An inquired in detail about Mai De and Chen Jinlong's situation, their residences, and their daily routines. Only after understanding everything did he speak: "You handled this matter very well. Your attempts to please me are simply because you don't want to be Wei Dian's woman. But your grudges with your family, and your past with Wei Dian… I won't interfere. However, I can promise that if anything happens in the future, my Yong Sheng Martial Arts School can protect you once."

Mai Qiuyan was very disappointed, as the conditions Xie An offered were clearly far from what she had expected.

She thought for a moment and said, "Could you please tell everyone that I am your woman? That way, my father will have some reservations and won't kick me out..."

"That's impossible. I only promised to protect you once. If you feel you've lost out, you can take this lightness skill back, and I'll pretend you were never here." Xie An said decisively, though he had already memorized most of the lightness skill's manual. Even if Mai Qiuyan went back on her word now, he wouldn't lose out.

Mai Qiuyan's face flushed red, and she clenched her teeth. After a long while, she finally said, "I won't go back on my word. Thank you, Martial Uncle."

After saying that, she ran away as if fleeing, her cries still faintly lingering.

These past few days, her parents have been forcing her to go with Wei Dian again, even hitting her and cutting off her allowance. She's now too afraid to go home and is staying in her childhood friend's cramped, dilapidated house.

This kind of life is a world apart from her previous glamorous life.

At first, she was very angry with her parents, but only after being kicked out of the house did she realize the coldness of the world and the hardships of life. Therefore, she stole the family's ancestral secret manual, hoping that Xie An could intervene and clear things up so that she could return home and continue to live a decent life.

I never expected this senior uncle to be so ruthless...

Now that you've already seen it, it would be even more of a loss if you regret taking the manual.

She felt that her life had hit rock bottom, and there was no hope in sight.

Feeling wronged, annoyed, regretful, resentful, ashamed...

In the living room.

Xie An flipped through the Cloud Palace Triple Steps again and again, beaming with joy.

"This lightness skill is quite good. If I master it, I can run away when I can't win a fight. It's an extra layer of protection. Chen Jinlong and Mai De live in town, but they are only Ming Jin martial artists. Once I reach An Jin and master this lightness skill, I won't be afraid of the Dragon King Gang anymore."

Without saying a word, Xie An began practicing the first step of the Cloud Palace Triple Steps: Stepping on the Cloud Stairs...

After that, things returned to normal.

Xie An spent most of his time at the martial arts school, giving the Dragon King Gang no chance to kill him. Whenever he had free time, he practiced Bajiquan, Vajra Force, and Cloud Step Triple Step. Once his body had absorbed the medicinal effects, he consumed the flesh of the giant green-eyed treasure fish.

If he was in a good mood, he would go to the Central Courtyard Martial Arts Arena to give some pointers.

The only downside is that Yong Sheng Martial Arts School's reputation is getting worse and worse, with rumors of its decline flying everywhere. The front training ground, which used to have fifty or sixty students, now only has twenty or so left.

The entire martial arts school was noticeably deserted.

Two months have passed in the blink of an eye. As March arrives, the ice and snow begin to melt, all things revive, and the whole world is bursting with vitality.

That morning.

Xie An sat in the pavilion in the courtyard of Baicaotang, practicing the Vajra Strength Body.

brush!

Xie An suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze flashing with a sharp light, and the breath he exhaled transformed into an invisible streak that shot out two feet away.

"After two months of hard work and taking drugs, I finally broke through to the peak of Ming Jin."

Xie An opened the control panel.

[Martial Arts Realm: Ming Jin (Perfect: 1/100)]

[Chen Lutang's Sunflower Manual, Level 2: 88/100]

[Liu Yueshan's Sunflower Manual, Level 1: 100/100]

[Zhang Long's Sunflower Manual, Level 1: 99/100]

Chen Da and Liu Wei have been squeezed out of the feedback slots, but Liu Yueshan has already completed the first level of the Sunflower Manual.

In fact, Liu Yueshan had already perfected the first level of the Sunflower Manual, but Xie An had never used it.

He felt a surge of internal energy waiting to be unlocked along his spine, similar to the feeling Chen Lutang had when he mastered the first level of the Sunflower Manual, only not as intense.

"When I first entered the Blood Rush Realm, I relied on the Sunflower Manual to reverse my progress and step into the Ming Jin realm. Now that I have reached the perfection of the Ming Jin realm, I wonder if I can use Liu Yueshan's Sunflower Manual to reverse my progress and step into the An Jin realm."

call!

Xie An let out a long sigh of relief, stretched his limbs, and made sure his body was in excellent condition. He then circulated his internal energy to confirm that it was functioning normally.

"Everything is ready, it's time."

"Now! Pour it back in!"