“HenryHenry, listen to me. This thing is no ordinary item. As soon as I arrived in Zihua City, I had someone bring it over from there. It’s said that in the Central Plains, this is known as the number one strange stone. Countless wealthy merchants and nobles competed to buy it, but in the end, it accidentally fell into the river, was washed down by the waves to the Zihua River, and then fished up by a fisherman from Zihua City. The twists and turns in this story are hard to sum up in a few words. If it weren’t for—”

“You think I look like a fool?” Henry Walker gently shook his folding fan, looking at the chubby man in front of him with a faint smile.

This chubby man was named Charles Reed, the second son of the owner of Minggui Auction House in Jiulian City.

He was also Henry Walker’s former close friend.

Henry Walker and he grew up together, sharing everything, always having each other’s backs, and were as close as brothers.

But Charles Reed had one major flaw.

He was greedy for money.

In his own words, even blood brothers should keep accounts clear, or else feelings will be hurt sooner or later.

The two of them sat in the peony private room of the Goldfish Restaurant, with the chubby man holding a slender girl in a pink dress at his side.

At this moment, the guy was staring at Henry Walker with a pained expression.

“Henry Jr., that’s not right of you. I went through a lot to get my hands on a rare treasure and gave you an insider’s chance to bid at a discount. If you don’t appreciate it, fine, but you even look down on me.”

The chubby man pointed at Henry Walker, looking heartbroken.

“Alright, alright, put your act away. I’m looking for martial arts manuals—do you have any news?”

Henry Walker pressed on.

The reason he sought out his childhood friend was to collect more martial arts manuals.

A single Black Tiger Saber Technique wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.

He finally understood the odds of survival for experts like Uncle Baker in the wild.

No wonder he’d never heard of anyone traveling long distances alone. In the wilderness, with so many wild beasts, setting out alone was basically suicide.

Uncle Baker and David Baker were famous in Jiulian City, but even they could only handle three wild wolves alone—maybe four at the limit. Any more, and even the top experts of Jiulian City would have to kneel.

“Martial arts manuals are hard to tell real from fake, and there are plenty of hidden traps. Even if it’s real, if you make even a small mistake in the training method, you could end up crippled for life. Henry, what do you want this for? Without a master to guide you, buying a manual isn’t much use.”

Charles Reed rubbed the white jade thumb ring on his hand, curious.

“You’re pretty sharp.” Henry Walker smiled. “I have my reasons. Don’t worry about it, just find me a few to look at first.”

Charles Reed shook his head.

“There are some, actually. Recently, a client consigned two martial arts manuals. We had a master authenticate them—they should be genuine. But without a master, no one dares to practice them.”

“How much are they asking?”

Henry Walker asked directly.

“Come on, Henry, we’re brothers—why be so formal?” Charles Reed giggled.

“Can you not be disgusting?” Henry Walker was speechless. “Just name a price, hurry up, I’m in a rush.”

“I can only sell you one. The other has already been reserved by another distinguished guest.”

Charles Reed said with a smile.

“One is fine. Did you bring it?” Henry Walker raised his eyes.

“You really know me, Henry. Since you were in a hurry, I brought it with me.” Charles Reed took out a thin gray booklet from his person.

“This manual doesn’t have any moves, just a special force technique. Fixed price, one hundred taels!”

“Let me see it first.”

Henry Walker reached out his hand.

One hundred taels was about a hundred thousand yuan—this chubby guy really dared to ask.

The chubby man chuckled and placed the booklet in his hand.

Taking the manual, Henry Walker carefully flipped through it.

It seemed to be a small section torn from a larger book, containing only some guidance on force techniques.

According to the contents, the force cultivated from this was called Jade-Breaking Force.

It was said that once mastered, you could accumulate all your strength from the very start of a move, and after accumulating, suddenly explode, greatly increasing your speed and power.

Henry Walker checked and found that the method didn’t overlap with the Black Tiger Saber Technique, so they could probably be used together.

But this wasn’t what he wanted.

What he wanted was the kind of internal martial arts manual that could enhance his physical constitution, energy, and spirit.

After seeing his miserable state following a modification with the modifier, he realized that to reduce the side effects of modification, he had to improve his constitution.

“Do you have any of those legendary internal martial arts manuals?”

“Internal martial arts manuals?”

Charles Reed stroked his chin.

“Henry, you’ve stumped me. If such things really existed on the market, real or fake, they’d be snatched up in the blink of an eye.”

“You said yourself it’s hard to tell real from fake. Your family’s inventory should have some of those copies, right?”

Henry Walker was no fool. In auction houses, when they auction things like manuals, they always make a copy for their own records.

After so many years of running the auction house, the Zheng family must have accumulated quite a few copies.