NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 8 - The Merit Building
In the training ground, it was the rest time.
The martial instructors didn’t stop the crowd from chatting and greeting each other.
Xia Chen’s gaze fell on a seemingly aloof boy of about twelve or thirteen years old standing on the outskirts. The boy was named Xia Yichen. He had greeted Xia Chen earlier, so Xia Chen was aware of him.
This boy was a collateral descendant of the Xia family. In the future 【Great Unification】 era, he would be a formidable general, commanding the Great Wu’s iron cavalry and dominating the Eastern Wasteland battlefield.
But now, this future general still had a childish face.
Xia Chen’s eyes then shifted to another boy, Xia Haoyu!
The legitimate grandson of Xia Chen’s sixth great-uncle, whose future achievements would also be astonishing.
“Brother Chen, you’re going out to train!”
Xia Wen said with a joyful expression. Xia Chen truthfully told Xia Wen that he was heading to the Merit Building and then planned to go out.
“I’m about to break through to the eighth rank too. I’ll come find you, Brother Chen!”
Xia Wen had no ill intentions and, being young and straightforward, didn’t think too much about it.
Xia Chen was surprised. Xia Wen was only a few months away from turning 12 and was already about to break through to the eighth rank. In the future 【Great Unification】 version, one of the most brilliant stars of the Xia family, his talent was truly unparalleled.
“Whether it’s the Xia family or the Great Wu Dynasty, the young talents of the new generation are emerging like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. The golden age is about to come,” Xia Chen muttered to himself, feeling very excited.
The golden generation had not yet fully grown up. The 600 years of accumulated fortune of the Xia family would be fully unleashed this time, pushing the Xia family to another peak. He must seize the opportunity in advance.
…
The Merit Building!
The building had a total of seven floors.
Xia Chen had only been here once before, when he was learning the basic blade technique.
This time, because of his great contributions, he was allowed to enter freely below the sixth floor. Xia Chen didn’t rush. He went straight to the fifth floor. He entered the first floor directly, went to the bookshelf on the right, picked up a book, and began to read.
《Surprise Wind Sword Technique》!
Xia Chen quickly scanned through it, but his mind was not on the sword technique at all.
“Record the technique!”
Xia Chen said calmly in his heart.
【Recording technique!】
【1%】
【25%】
…
【100%】
A virtual panel appeared in Xia Chen’s eyes.
Although he had entered this world in advance and was no longer a player, the auxiliary system was still retained and all permissions were opened to him.
For example, assisting in comprehending advanced blade techniques and the current recording function!
The initial player only had the most basic function of increasing proficiency.
It was simple and crude, while his auxiliary system had long evolved to the 【Spiritual Energy Revival】 version.
So even when the 【Empress Era】 players arrived, Xia Chen could easily defeat them with functions several versions ahead.
…
Xia Chen quickly went through the first floor, but in fact, he was rapidly recording all the techniques in the first floor of the Merit Building.
However, the Marquisate had accumulated for more than 600 years. Even after screening, ordinary techniques could not enter the Merit Building.
The techniques on the first floor were still as vast as the sea of smoke. Xia Chen only focused on recording some of the techniques that were specially marked and then gave up the first floor and went to the second floor.
The techniques on the second floor were mainly for those at the eighth rank of refining essence. They included not only sword techniques, blade techniques, spear techniques, halberd techniques, but also body tempering and energy circulation techniques.
There were also various military array methods, and even some cultivation methods for sorcerers. The Xia family established itself on martial arts, but with 600 years of accumulation, it was too profound. Historically, they had also led troops to eliminate some rebellious sorcerer sects and included their inherited techniques.
Xia Chen focused on recording those military array methods. In this world, martial artists and sorcerers were extremely powerful.
However, soldiers forming military arrays and refining peerless Malevolent Energy could be enough to kill martial artists and sorcerers. But after a glance, Xia Chen found that these military arrays were the most basic ones.
Most of them were small arrays of three or five people, and only a small part of the military array attack methods could form a seven-person military array.
Xia Chen was not too disappointed. This kind of military array method was a closely guarded secret and the foundation of the martial family.
The military array method composed of tens of thousands of people, where the commander could gather the strength of the entire army and add it to himself, allowing the commander to fight across the ranks and defeat the superior with the inferior.
Even in the Xia family, it was extremely precious and not everyone could learn it.
Xia Chen estimated that this level of technique was at least stored on the fifth floor of the Merit Building or above. In the whole Great Wu, there were definitely no more than ten martial families who had military array techniques for more than ten thousand people.
…
Deep in the Merit Building.
Xia Huang and Xia Hong looked at each other, both of whom had long discovered Xia Chen’s strange behavior on the second floor.
They were Xia Chen’s fourth great-uncle and sixth great-uncle respectively.
Xia Haoyu, whom Xia Chen saw in the training ground earlier, was Xia Hong’s legitimate grandson. Their usual duty was to guard the Merit Building.
They were previously called to the Merit Building and learned that Xia Chen had improved the basic blade technique, so they naturally had a deep impression of Xia Chen.
“What is he doing, just skimming through?” Xia Hong asked in confusion. With his more than 70 years of experience, he couldn’t understand what was going on!
“Who should I ask?” Xia Huang blew his beard in a bad temper. He didn’t understand either.
“This boy has a good comprehension, but he is too young after all. His mind is not settled at this time. His martial talent is also a bit lacking. He must be well guided. Otherwise, if he develops a restless heart, he may have limited achievements in his life!”
After watching for a while, Xia Hong shook his head and made a comment on Xia Chen.
Martial artists emphasize setting a goal and not hesitating, being as unstoppable as bamboo shoots.
However, Xia Chen’s mind was not firm. He picked up a technique and didn’t read it carefully before quickly putting it down. Such a mentality is not conducive to achieving great things.
“Alas, it’s no wonder that Xia Yuan, that boy, doesn’t care about this child and puts all his attention on his younger son, Xia Hao!” Xia Hong couldn’t help but sigh and stopped paying too much attention.
…
Xia Chen had no idea that his every move was being watched and commented on.
But even if he knew, he wouldn’t care at all. He looked calm on the surface, but he was very happy inside. Seeing the 100% after each technique on the system panel, a smile couldn’t help but appear on the corner of his mouth.
This time, he was going to empty the vast Merit Building of the marquisate. Xia Chen felt the time and found that an hour had passed. He quickly recorded some special techniques on the second floor and then gave up the rest and went to the third floor.
Compared with the first two floors, there were fewer techniques on the third floor, but the quality was obviously higher.
Xia Chen even saw some techniques of Taoism and Buddhism.
The Buddhist scriptures and Taoist true meanings were specially placed in an area.
Xia Chen didn’t expect that the marquisate would have these techniques. As the Buddhism and Taoism that would shine brightly in the 【Spiritual Energy Revival】 version, their techniques were not simple. Some seemingly ordinary scriptures now would burst out brilliant true law mysteries in that era.
Some people comprehended the Arhat Breathing Technique from the 《Arhat Sutra》, and some people visualized the Immortal Palace Peace Map from the 《Taiping Scripture》 and stepped into the extraordinary…
Xia Chen paid great attention to the scriptures of these two families and recorded them first.