The Carp Society could only helplessly accept that only those with special constitutions could possibly cultivate this secret manual—it was completely useless for ordinary people. As for what exactly constituted a special constitution, no one had any idea. Even the members of that family themselves didn’t know what a special constitution was.

Because a group of the most talented children in martial arts from The Carp Society spent more than ten years practicing this so-called “legendary secret manual,” they missed the best time to learn martial arts. As a result, The Carp Society soon ran out of experts and quickly declined, eventually being wiped out by other gangs.

This incident caused quite a stir. At the time, people in the martial world jokingly called that manual the “legendary useless secret manual,” saying it ruined a respectable mid-sized gang of over a thousand people by making them cripple their own martial arts and cut off their legacy.

The last leader of The Carp Society was forced to sell all the secret manuals just to barely scrape by. In this way, the manual passed through the hands of several small gangs. Eventually, it ended up in the hands of The Medicine King Society for the price of a single gold coin.

At that time, The Medicine King Society had just risen to prominence in Pingzhou, with over a thousand members, making it a mid-level small gang.

The upper echelons of The Medicine King Society had also heard that this was an internal cultivation manual left behind by an ancient family in Pingzhou some eight or nine hundred years ago, so they bought it to see what was inside. They even used a special potion unique to The Medicine King Society to analyze it, hoping to find any hidden writing, but still found nothing special within.

The leaders of The Medicine King Society studied the book repeatedly and felt that calling it the “legendary useless secret manual” was a bit unfair. They thought the book might actually have some effect, such as strengthening the body and prolonging life.

However, such effects—strengthening the body and prolonging life—were not what people in the martial world sought. They only cared about peerless martial arts, powerful attacks, and defense.

So, they added a note to the book: If one can persist in practicing this book for decades, it should have a very good effect on strengthening the body and prolonging life. However, it does not possess any of the offensive or defensive power common to internal cultivation manuals. Be cautious—do not learn it lightly!

Having learned from the painful lesson of The Carp Society, the leaders of The Medicine King Society did not mobilize the children in the gang to practice this “legendary” secret manual.

During the potion analysis, the old cover of the manual was damaged by the potion, so a new cover was put on.

On the new cover, the leader of The Medicine King Society gave the book a more appropriate name: “Health-Nourishing Classic,” and classified it as the lowest-tier basic internal cultivation manual, storing it in the secret manual library, where it was left to gather dust. Over time, the manual was gradually forgotten.

In the following hundred years, The Medicine King Society continued to grow and expand, eventually establishing itself in Zhuqi County. This book, along with a large batch of other low-level external and internal cultivation manuals, was sent to the secret manual room of the Herbal Hall’s library in Zhuqi County, where it sat for decades, covered in dust, with hardly anyone knowing its origins.

A young guard happened to flip through it, but didn’t know its detailed history, nor that it was the legendary useless secret manual. He simply regarded it as a low-level internal cultivation manual from some unknown small family and handed it to Henry Clark. There were too many low-level internal cultivation manuals in the Herbal Hall; the one Henry Clark took was just one among hundreds, nothing significant.

Henry Clark quickly accepted it, nodding gratefully in thanks, then left the secret manual room.

The young guard remained indifferent and expressionless. After Henry Clark left, several other equally cold young guards came over, looking a bit puzzled, and asked the leading young guard.

“Senior brother, why did you give him the ‘Health-Nourishing Classic’? He’s just a herb-collecting boy, going up and down the mountains every day. If he learns this internal cultivation manual with no offensive or defensive power, he probably won’t live long.”

The leading young guard walked out of the third-floor secret manual room and said coldly, “Since he specifically asked for this kind of internal cultivation that endures labor, hunger, cold, and drought, why do you care so much? Our Herbal Hall is not a charity. If he dies, it’s his own doing and has nothing to do with anyone else. Every year, so many people die in our Herbal Hall—one more won’t make a difference. Don’t gather here. Go back to the second floor to practice. Tomorrow, I’ll be testing your martial arts progress!”

“Yes, senior brother!”

The young guards dared not say more and hurried back to the second floor.

Chapter 13: Cultivation

Five months passed in a flash.

Herbal Hall, training ground.

Henry Clark sat cross-legged on a grass mat, his breath sinking to his dantian, eyes closed in meditation, practicing breath control and gathering qi, silently operating the “Qi Gathering and Mind Focusing” technique from the “Sitting Forgetfulness Classic,” performing a grand circulation.

Henry Clark discovered that although the cover of this manual was labeled “Health-Nourishing Classic,” the text inside always referred to it as the “Sitting Forgetfulness Classic.”

The book was divided into two sections: the preface, “Qi Gathering and Mind Focusing,” which contained only one level of technique.

The upper section, a fragment called “Sitting and Gazing Without Self,” contained the first to third levels of technique. The remaining middle and lower sections were missing.