Martial arts manuals can indeed be strengthened!
Lin Shan held the 'Pine Crane Art' in his hand. This skill could be cultivated to the Postnatal Completion, which is the Peak of Transformation realm, enough to cause a frenzy of snatching in the martial world.
The Lin Family naturally wouldn't hide anything from the outer sect, but the Family's Innate Skill has always been controlled by the patriarch's lineage. The outer sect's skills lack sufficient destructive power, but they can extend life and have a chance to Cultivate first-class masters.
Once a first-class master appears in the outer sect, the Lin Family will recruit him as an outer sect Elder, and at the same time, it won't pose too much of a threat to the direct lineage, preventing the guest from overshadowing the host.
This 'Pine Crane Art' is already a skill that can Cultivate to the Postnatal Peak, so if it can be strengthened...
"Innate! It must be an Innate Skill!"
Lin Shan excitedly clenched his fist. The upper limit of a skill will naturally also raise its lower limit.
When cultivating an Innate Skill, the quality, power, cultivation speed, and depth of True Qi are naturally far superior to Postnatal skills. If Lin Shan could switch to cultivating an Innate Skill, it would definitely greatly improve his cultivation progress and lay a solid foundation for the future.
However, the Lin Family's Innate Skill is naturally out of the question. Lin Shan isn't the patriarch's biological son, so it wouldn't be his turn.
"From Postnatal to Innate, cross-level strengthening requires 4 points..."
Lin Shan began to calculate in his heart how to obtain Ancient rhyme. Previously, a ""spring river duck play picture"" absorbed 5 points, and now there are 3 points left.
Innate Skill is within reach.
...
Half an hour later, the Family's External Affairs Hall.
"Reporting, Steward, this is the task I received today."
Lin Shan respectfully handed his identity token to the bald middle-aged man in front of him, sighing inwardly that this External Affairs Hall was truly full of trivial matters, taxing both mind and body. Looking at the Steward in front of him, he was already bald before 40.
The Steward looked at the 'Pawnshop Errands' task board, and very baldly, quickly registered him and waved his hand:
"Go on."
...
Lin Shan exited the Lin Mansion. The street outside was bustling, with people coming and going, the sounds of hawking filling the air. People rushing to the early market were hurrying along.
He arrived in front of an Ancient rhyme shop in the east of the city. The shop sign was adorned with five large characters in gold paint.
"Lin's Pawnshop."
One of the Lin Mansion's properties, it was also the most renowned and reputable pawnshop in the vast Clear River County City.
Normally, when people in the city needed to acquire property or money for business, they would bring valuable gold, silver, jade artifacts they treasured at home, or antiques of a certain age to the pawnshop for mortgage loans.
The shop naturally had experienced and professional appraisers to determine authenticity, so most items that could be mortgaged were genuine. The most convenient place Lin Shan could think of to find antiques was here.
After all, since he accidentally obtained the strengthening point 'Ancient rhyme' last time, he specifically touched everything he could find around him but couldn't find anything else that possessed 'Ancient rhyme'.
Lin Shan pondered deeply, why did only ""spring river duck play picture"" happen to have 'Ancient rhyme', while other things didn't? The difference between them was...
Antiques? Or folk fame?
Although his thoughts were still vague, it was a direction nonetheless, so he volunteered to do odd jobs at the pawnshop, and incidentally, verify his speculation.
Anyway, there were plenty of antiques at the pawnshop, and he didn't need to take them. As long as he could personally touch them and absorb the Ancient rhyme, that would be it. Lin Shan's little abacus clicked loudly in his heart.
Entering the shop, the reception hall was furnished with Ancient rhyme tea tables and chairs, as well as decorative items like rock gardens and flowing water. Beside them were an iron door and a counter. A silver-haired old man was fanning himself and napping in a rattan chair.
"Shopkeeper, I am Lin Shan, from the Lin Family's outer sect. I have come to await instructions."
The Shopkeeper was naturally also a member of the Lin Family; the one appointed to manage the business was, of course, one of their own. At this moment, he opened his eyes and glanced over, noticing that the errand boy had changed today. Too lazy to get up, he said to himself:
"Hmm, you're a bit early. Since there aren't many customers right now, go to the back hall and wipe down the treasures on the shelves first."
The Shopkeeper threw over a bunch of keys and ignored him. Lin Shan was naturally delighted. He opened the locked iron door and entered the back hall.
The back hall was even larger than the reception hall, with a full eight rows of shelves, five zhang wide. They were filled with various gold and silver jewelry, antique agate, landscape paintings, calligraphy, and so on, all items that had been mortgaged.
"My goodness, so many treasures! As expected of the top pawnshop in the county."
Lin Shan nervously wrung out the cloth and began to wipe from the beginning. Every movement was careful. If he damaged one of these things, he couldn't afford to compensate even if he sold himself.
An Outer Sect Disciple's monthly stipend was only one guan, which is one tael of silver. Over ten years, because Lin Shan was growing and practicing martial arts, spending and saving, he only managed to save twenty to thirty taels.
...
A quarter of an hour passed. Lin Shan finished wiping the first row of shelves, touching all the treasures on them, but no prompt appeared.
So many treasures and antiques, yet not a single one met the conditions. Lin Shan now realized that what he had thought before was too simple.
But that was right. If he could easily encounter antiques containing Ancient rhyme, he wouldn't have taken ten full years to activate his Golden Finger. There were still seven rows of shelves behind. Keep wiping!
...
Soon, the second shelf was wiped clean, and nothing happened.
The third row,
The fourth row,
...
Finally, he meticulously wiped all eight rows of shelves, but there wasn't a single prompt!
At this moment, Lin Shan's heart felt utterly cold, like a gust of cold wind blowing in the depths of winter, chilling him to the bone!
If there was background music at this moment, it would undoubtedly be 'A Spray of Plum Blossoms' for him.
"How is that possible! The ""spring river duck play picture"" is only a work passed down for five hundred years.
Looking at the labels here, there are plenty of older antiques. How come there isn't a single one?"
Lin Shan was completely baffled. Why did only ""spring river duck play picture"" contain Ancient rhyme? They were all antiques, what was the difference!
Unconsciously, it was already noon outside. The sun was shining brightly, baking the streets. The shop remained cool and well-ventilated. The Shopkeeper likely saw how engrossed he was in wiping and added ice to the incense burner himself.
Lin Shan walked out of the shop in frustration, looking at the bustling street in front of the door, with people coming and going, busy and rushing, all struggling for a living.
"If I can't find Ancient rhyme, without the strengthening panel, will I also live a mediocre life like them...?"
Lin Shan sighed in his heart. From last night to this morning, the ecstasy from discovering his Golden Finger had vanished completely. Under the great ups and downs, he had to empty his mind to adjust his mood.
After a long while, he returned to the shop. The pawnshop generally still had little business.
Lin Shan looked around and suddenly noticed a pile of something hidden behind the last row of shelves in the dark corner.
"Huh? These things aren't on the shelves. It seems like no one has taken care of them for a long time."
He walked closer and found some old antiques, covered in dust and cobwebs. Lin Shan picked up the ledger next to them and flipped through it to understand. These were treasures with expired mortgages. After waiting a long time for their owners to redeem them without success, they were moved to make space and placed in the corner.
The usual rule is that if the original owner who pawned or mortgaged an item cannot repay on time, the interest is doubled. If they still cannot repay during the increased interest period, then sorry, your Family heirloom will no longer have your surname, but will be surnamed Lin instead.
This batch of goods in front of him were those whose deadlines were approaching and had been left untouched for years, so they were piled in the corner.
Lin Shan naturally couldn't let this go. He had to seize any chance, no matter how small, to obtain Ancient rhyme. With the attitude of 'better to kill the wrong than let the right one go', he reached out and touched them one by one.
A moment later, when he finally touched the last one, a lotus Buddha statue nearly a foot in size, the long-awaited panel appeared before his eyes:
[Mysterious Buddha Statue]
Ancient rhyme: 1 point
Absorb?