Xue Yi returned with a full load and went back to Holy Might Manor. He ran back to Lan Garden without stopping his horse.
He rode slowly for fear that the ice would melt!
As soon as he returned to Lan Garden, the maids saw him carrying a package on his shoulder and a large water jug in his hand. They hurried forward to help take them over.
However, Xue Yi ignored them and went straight into the young lady's room.
Xiao Qingruo was still sitting there reading like a bookworm. The scorching summer heat didn't seem to bother her at all. The room wasn't very hot either.
Seeing Xue Yi return, she glanced in this direction with her eyes falling on the tea pot.
"Did you get it?"
"Yeah, a whole jug. Enough for you to drink comfortably. If there's any left, it can be shared with the maids."
Xue Yi put down his things and took out a bowl, preparing to pour her some.
But the rim of the bowl was blocked by a delicate little hand.
Xiao Qingruo said, "I don't want that one, give me a cup."
A cup?
Xue Yi smiled inwardly. The young lady must be missing the milk tea from that world!
He pretended not to understand and showed her a small teacup. "You mean like this?"
Xiao Qingruo explained, "No, a big cup, a really big one." She gestured with her hand.
"What a strange request."
Xue Yi ridiculed and then went to ask the maids for a jade wine pot that was used for pouring wine.
The wine pot looked similar to a modern milk tea cup, but with multiple holes around the outside that you could slip your fingers into. It was made of white jade, making it look extremely beautiful and suitable for the noble status of the young lady.
Xiao Qingruo was very satisfied. She ordered, "Bring me a hollow bamboo tube, a little thicker than chopsticks."
Xue Yi's mouth twitched. "So demanding."
But he still followed her instructions.
There happened to be some thin bamboo in Lan Garden used for landscaping. It just needed to be whittled and washed to be usable.
Before long, the young lady was drinking the chilled, sweet fruit tea from the wine pot and bamboo tube. Her exquisite, peerless face showed satisfaction and joy.
"Did you get the mint grass?" she asked casually.
"Yeah, three catties of it. But it's about to go bad soon, so I need to pound it right away to use it up." Xue Yi opened the package to show her.
Xiao Qingruo looked at it while drinking her fruit tea, "Oh, there's also detox fruit, corpse vine, and stinking flower. Did you raid a tomb robber's stash?"
"You can tell all that?" Xue Yi asked in surprise.
"Of course, don't you know who I am? If not for my limited spiritual roots, I would be a great cultivator, alchemist, spell master, scholar...a great..." Xiao Qingruo arrogantly lifted her chin.
"A great waste of space." Xue Yi mercilessly poked at her weakness.
"You..."
Xiao Qingruo was so angry her teeth itched. She sucked hard on the fruit tea, nearly biting the bamboo tube in half.
Xue Yi took out the herbs.
There was too much mint grass to use it all. The chilling nature would counteract the strength of the red dates if there was an excess amount. That would actually reduce the effects.
Seeing he had herbs left over, Xiao Qingruo reminded, "Grind what's extra into a paste and keep it in a jade box. It can be used for severe burns."
"Got it."
Xue Yi brought out a mortar and started preparing it on the spot. He pounded all of the mint grass together, then divided it into portions for use.
While pounding medicine, he recalled the ancient writing on the rag and took it out to show Xiao Qingruo since he was free at the moment.
"The herb picker brought this out from an ancient tomb. Can you recognize these ancient characters, oh great scholar?"
Xiao Qingruo recoiled in disgust, "Ugh, it stinks! Did you wipe your sweat with this?"
"Uh...no, it probably got contaminated with corpse oil from the coffin." Xue Yi chuckled.
Xiao Qingruo nearly threw up.
She viciously bit into a large piece of ice before she felt a little better. Then, pinching her nose closed, she had Xue Yi spread out the rag and looked at it from two to three meters away.
"I have the great saint's skill, passing it only to the fated. This is the first form, granting you protection of self. "
She actually recognized these ancient characters. Though a bit faded, she could guess them based on her knowledge and read them aloud.
Xue Yi immediately pricked up his ears, "That sounds impressive. What is this?"
Xiao Qingruo continued reading, "Invincible Vajra Body Skill, First Form: Golden Light Body Protection. Chant: Channel qi through the eight vessels, converge at the coccyx. Primordial yang surges, covering the whole body..."
After she finished reading it once, they looked at each other in shock and said, "A saint-grade martial art!"
This was an entire set of saint-grade martial arts!
What's more, it was the first form of it!
This Invincible Vajra Body Skill must have many techniques. Golden Light Body Protection was just the first one, but it was already extremely powerful, able to withstand incredibly strong attacks.
Although it consumed a lot of primordial qi, being able to save your life at critical moments was absolutely worth it!
"How much did you pay for the herbs?" Xiao Qingruo asked.
Xue Yi dumbly held up one hand.
"Five hundred taels to get a saint-grade martial art?" Xiao Qingruo was speechless.
Even with her wealth, she had never thought of obtaining a saint-grade martial art herself.
The martial arts that could be seen publicly were basically inferior or low-grade.
Middle-grade ones could be bid for at auctions. Upper-grade ones would cause many family forces to scramble for them.
Supreme-grade ones would have various factions ruthlessly fighting over them at any cost!
Yet this tattered rag happened to contain a saint-grade martial art...
Xue Yi was overjoyed.
But he had no time to be happy!
"That herb picker seemed to have completely ransacked the ancient tomb. There might be a second copy of something like this rag." He had to go ask the man again!"
Based on the ancient writing on the rag, Invincible Vajra Body Skill had far more than one technique. If he could obtain the complete set, it would be valued above even an imperial-grade martial art!
But Xiao Qingruo said, "It's unlikely to have such good fortune continuously. Look, the edges of this rag have very old tears and fraying, clearly damaged many times from fighting over it. The tomb owner must have obtained it during his lifetime and didn't want anyone else to get it after death, so he wrapped it on his corpse when he was buried. There's no use finding the herb picker, it'll just reveal that you obtained something good and attract unwanted attention."
Xue Yi's brow furrowed.
If that was the case, then the tomb owner was not the creator of Invincible Vajra Body Skill either. Trying to collect the other parts would be troublesome now.
"Let it be fate. This Golden Light Body Protection alone can be considered a peerless skill. Even without encountering the later techniques, it's enough to last you a lifetime. No need to be too greedy." Xiao Qingruo quickly let it go without pondering further.
Xue Yi thought about it and felt she was right too.
Five hundred taels to buy one saint-grade martial art technique, he struck it rich. No need to dwell on it further.
"Read it to me again. I'll find time to study it later." He said to Xiao Qingruo.
"Your memory is so bad. I can recite it perfectly after one look."
Xiao Qingruo scorned him, then really did recite it again from memory for him to hear.
Xue Yi was genuinely surprised.
No wonder the young lady was so knowledgeable. Turns out she also had an eidetic memory.
What a waste for her to be so useless!
"Wait...you're not just making things up to trick me right? I can't trust your little mouth one bit!" Xue Yi suddenly thought of something and looked at her suspiciously.
Just got tricked this morning, he didn't want to fall for another so soon.
Xiao Qingruo humphed arrogantly, "Believe it or not." As proud as a goddess.
"Little girl...oh well, I'll trust you one more time!"
The temptation of a saint-grade martial art was still too great.
Although the Imperial Five Spirit Formula he knew also contained some saint-grade martial art skills, those were for later stages. His current level could only handle upper-grade at best.
This Invincible Vajra Body Skill looked powerful. He'd feel unsatisfied if he didn't learn it.
"Wait...you're not making things up to trick me, are you? That little mouth of yours isn't honest at all!" Xue Yi suddenly thought of something and looked at her suspiciously.
After just being fooled this morning, he didn't want to fall for another trick so soon.
Xiao Qingruo humphed arrogantly, "Believe it or not." As proud as a goddess.
"Little girl...oh well, I'll trust you one more time!"
The temptation of a saint-grade martial art was still too great.
Though the Imperial Five Spirit Formula he knew also contained some saint-grade martial art skills, those were for later stages. His current level could only handle upper-grade at best.
This Invincible Vajra Body Skill looked powerful. He'd feel unsatisfied if he didn't learn it.
After Xue Yi memorized the chant, he put away the rag in a wooden box to avoid the stench bothering the beautiful young lady.
Then he took the leftover Blue Jade Nectar that Xiao Qingruo didn't finish and gave it to the maids to enjoy. He also tried some himself, and everyone relished the rare chill in the scorching summer heat.
Soon, it was past noon.
After eating lunch, Xue Yi had planned to cultivate for a while and try out the new skill.
But just then, someone was sent over from the main manor, saying they had something to discuss and asked Xiao Qingruo to go over.