Chapter 17: Copying the Manual
Mei Ren, kneeling on one knee, saw that Master Cat was completely ignoring him. Only then did he take a cloth bag from his bosom, opened it, and placed it in front of Master Cat.
Only then did Master Cat open his large eyes, sniffed the bag with his nose, and suddenly perked up.
He raised a paw, and the bag was torn to shreds by several sharp bursts of energy, revealing a dozen glistening gold ingots inside.
“Speak. What is it!” Master Cat swallowed the dozen gold ingots in one gulp and transmitted his voice to Mei Ren.
“The Northern Sea Demon Sect requests Master Cat’s presence in the Northern Sea!” Mei Ren repeated.
“No!” Master Cat refused outright.
“Master Cat, the Mei Family of the Northern Sea Demon Sect is one of the inheritors of King Ye Jufu’s legacy, it’s just that back then…” Mei Ren was about to explain when Master Cat interrupted him.
“King Ye Jufu has been dead for hundreds of years, why bring him up? Are you trying to pressure me with his name?” Master Cat said coldly.
“I wouldn’t dare!” Mei Ren quickly lowered his head and said.
“The world is vast, I go wherever I want! Even Hua Chonglang and Liu Sanjue can’t question me!” Master Cat said with his eyes closed.
Mei Ren knew that Hua Chonglang was the top expert of the Central Plains Demon Sect, and Liu Sanjue was the top expert of the Southern Border Demon Sect. Both were renowned experts in the world. Within their Northern Sea Demon Sect, there was no expert who could rival them.
“We understand Master Cat’s love for freedom and have specially invited you to the Northern Sea. The Northern Sea abounds with large fish and specialty gold and silver, which will surely satisfy Master Cat!” Mei Ren said, looking at Master Cat.
“No! You little humans are definitely up to something! I’ll go when I want to go!” Master Cat said lazily.
The brats of the Demon Sect were all black-hearted. There was definitely no good reason for them to be so kind as to invite him to the Northern Sea.
Especially with the appearance of someone from the Northern Sea Mei Family in the Hua Family’s Three Talents Manor, these two groups of villains were definitely going to fight.
Since Ah Ye’s death, the vast Demon Sect had been fragmented, fighting until their brains were spilling out!
“Then Master Cat… In a few days, our Mei Family and the Central Plains Demon Sect will have a grudge to settle at Three Talents Manor. Please remain neutral, Master Cat!” Mei Ren said, looking at Master Cat.
What grudge?
It was just that they had their eyes on Three Talents Manor!
Master Cat knew it all too well. These villains, generation after generation, were always thinking about these petty matters.
Truly boring little humans!
“I understand! You villains fight, I won’t interfere!” Master Cat yawned and said.
“Thank you for your understanding, Master Cat!” Mei Ren knelt before Master Cat again and offered another bag of gold ingots.
Everyone in the Demon Sect knew that as long as Master Cat accepted gold and silver, his word was as good as gold!
“You know how to behave!” Master Cat swallowed the bag of gold ingots and licked his mouth with satisfaction.
“This is a token of respect for Master Cat, as it should be!” Mei Ren said, “In that case, I shall take my leave!”
“Go! Close the door on your way out!” Master Cat said, lying in his cat bed.
Master Cat ate with satisfaction, and Shi Feizhe ate with satisfaction as well.
Three Talents Manor provided food and accommodation, but Shi Feizhe had already rented a house outside, so he didn’t have to squeeze in with the people from the manor.
Living alone was definitely more comfortable than living with several people, and it was also more convenient for practicing martial arts!
In the morning, he familiarized himself with the environment and got started with his work under Accountant Wang Xian. At noon, he went to eat with the other accountants in a nearby courtyard.
Most of the people in Three Talents Manor came from martial arts backgrounds, and their appetites were measured in basins. Therefore, although the food in Three Talents Manor was only one meat and one vegetable dish, the portions were large and filling.
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It truly allowed Shi Feizhe to eat to his heart’s content.
It had been a long time since he had eaten a full meal.
In Yiyang City, he had gone hungry one meal and full the next. On the way to Three Talents Manor, he had been gnawing on dry rations, the taste of which was truly indescribable. As for the past few days in Three Talents Town, he had just eaten whatever in the morning, filled his stomach five or six tenths full at noon, and skipped dinner altogether.
He had not achieved the life of eating full meals with meat and vegetables that he had in his previous life for months since he had transmigrated here.
Thanks to Hua Xiaomei, he was able to eat hot meals at Three Talents Manor.
Shi Feizhe shovelled the rice into his mouth. At this moment, he didn’t care about the taste at all, as long as he could eat his fill.
After finishing his meal, he returned to the accounting room, studied a few formulas, and quickly finished the work at hand. Not only did he finish it, but he also shared the formulas with others, allowing them to quickly finish their work as well, easing Accountant Wang’s furrowed brows.
Such a capable arithmetic talent was definitely not intentionally arranged by Young Master Hua.
Accountant Wang stroked his beard as he thought, looking at Shi Feizhe, who was studying the yellow paper in his hand when he had nothing to do, and said, “Little Brother Shi, that yellow paper is the lowest quality paper, and the charcoal marks are not easily preserved. You can use the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone in the accounting room as you please!”
“Thank you very much, Accountant Wang!” Shi Feizhe cupped his hands and said to Accountant Wang.
He began to copy the manual in the accounting room.
It was not until he personally copied the manual that Shi Feizhe understood why the martial arts manuals in the Jianghu were always so cryptic and obscure.
It was because there were too many risks in the Jianghu, and it was necessary to keep a trick up one’s sleeve.
For example, one couldn’t carry a martial arts manual with them all the time, right? Simple manuals were relatively thin and easy to carry after being written down. But for those more complex manuals, which could easily be tens of thousands of words long, it would be too inconvenient and foolish to carry them around.
If one had a martial arts manual on them, and someone killed them, wouldn’t they be able to loot the manual? If the manual was written too straightforwardly, and one’s enemy killed them and then practiced their martial arts, it would feel a bit like NTR.
If one kept the manual in a certain place, and it was accidentally obtained by someone else, and then that person practiced their martial arts and came to kill them, wouldn’t that be too foolish?
The most cost-effective method was encryption!
Adding some words or phrases that only they understood to the martial arts manual. Even after Shi Feizhe finished copying such a manual, the other accountants in the room wouldn’t be able to understand it.
The only thing to be careful of was to remember the encryption they used.
However, this situation was very rare because martial arts experts would carefully study the manuals, almost to the point of being able to recite them from memory, and they would have practiced the skills described in them. With these two factors combined, even if they forgot the encryption they used, they would still have the manual in their heart.
It was like someone encrypting the multiplication table. After a long time, they might forget the password they used for the encryption, but they would still remember the multiplication table. They could just write it down again!
Only a novice like Shi Feizhe would try to make the encryption of the manual very complicated.
It just so happened that he was copying this manual from a stone tablet, and after Hua Xiaomei’s explanation in the morning, he had a rather rough memory of it. Now, as he copied the manual, he had a sudden inspiration and added a lot of strange things to it.
This resulted in the 《Dark Spring Divine Shadow Record》, which he thought was fine, but actually had problems.
After all, it was really difficult to avoid typos!
Shi Feizhe: How could there be a problem with something I wrote myself? Impossible, absolutely impossible!
