8: Enter the armory and get the "Iron Armor Stake"

Jiang Lan entered the first floor of the Martial Repository.

The Martial Repository was about three to four hundred square meters, with the front half displaying several weapon racks and armor stands.

All sorts of weapons were dazzling to the eye.

There were also many Demon-Breaking Crossbows arranged side-by-side.

Paired with specially made crossbow bolts, they could inflict considerable damage on ordinary demons.

Skipping over the weapons and equipment, Jiang Lan walked towards the back of the first floor of the Martial Repository.

The back was much simpler, with only a few bookshelves sparsely filled with books.

Jiang Lan's eyes flickered.

Although they looked like ordinary books, every single one on these bookshelves was a genuine Secret Manual of Martial Arts.

Ordinary people simply couldn't access them.

If not for him leveraging his cheap old man's identity to join the Demon Suppression Division, he wouldn't have been able to access these Martial Arts Secret Manuals either.

Each one here, if taken outside, would be enough to be the foundational Martial Arts of a small Martial Arts school.

If Jiang Lan were just an ordinary person and wanted to learn, he would have to pay at least a dozen taels of silver to apprentice, and even then, he might not receive the true teachings.

This could be considered a perk of being a miscellaneous worker in the Demon Suppression Division.

However, even if Jiang Lan learned these Martial Arts, he could only practice them himself and not teach them to others.

Once discovered, he would be lightly punished with a reduced salary and demotion, and severely, he might even lose his life.

But for Jiang Lan, this restriction made no difference.

Because he never intended to sell the Martial Arts anyway.

He had only one thing to do: become a Martial Artist as quickly as possible.

Jiang Lan looked at the bookshelves in front of him.

According to the different types of Martial Arts, they were placed on different shelves.

The types of Martial Arts were roughly divided into: Fists and Kicks, Weaponry, Lightness Skill, and Stance Training.

However, most of these Martial Arts were rather unremarkable; even if learned, they would only serve to strengthen the body.

To enter the Clay Body realm, one needed to learn ranked Martial Arts.

Only by learning ranked Martial Arts could one truly, with a mortal body, glimpse its true meaning and attain the path of a Martial Artist.

And as for ranked Martial Arts... Jiang Lan narrowed his eyes and looked at the top of several bookshelves.

There were a total of four bookshelves, and except for the one displaying Lightness Skill, the top layer of the other three each had a slightly worn book.

Jiang Lan took down the three booklets separately.

《Cloud-Piercing Palm》, 《Wind-Splashing Saber》, and Iron Shirt Stance.

Jiang Lan opened the booklets.

Before long, he put 《Wind-Splashing Saber》 back.

For no other reason.

Saber techniques require a saber.

Jiang Lan had no saber.

The Demon Suppression Guard did have standard long sabers, but that was only after becoming a Martial Artist.

If he were to commission one from a blacksmith, a cheap one wouldn't be effective, and a good one would cost at least three to five taels of silver.

Although he hadn't yet collected the congratulatory money Lu Qingya gave him, Jiang Lan had already decided to use that money to improve the quality of life for his two wives.

Moreover, after reaching a certain rank, he would become a Demon Suppression Guard, and then he would naturally have a saber.

He might as well choose between the remaining 《Cloud-Piercing Palm》 and Iron Shirt Stance.

Jiang Lan flipped through the two booklets, deliberating for a while.

《Cloud-Piercing Palm》 was not easy to get started with; it not only required continuous practice day and night but also needed medicinal herbs to temper the palms.

Iron Shirt Stance, on the other hand, was much simpler and more direct.

One only needed to stand in a stance, combine it with a specific breathing method, and then endure beatings.

The harder one was beaten, the faster one's progress.

When the bones became like gold and jade, and the skin like an iron shirt, then the Iron Shirt Stance would be considered a Major Achievement.

At that time, one would be able to shed one's mortal coil and achieve the Clay Body realm.

After much deliberation, Jiang Lan made a decision.

This one it is.

The other two cost money; practicing this one would at most cause some suffering.

More terrifying than a person dying with money unspent is a person not dying but running out of money.

What's more, Jiang Lan was no longer a lone wolf as before; he now bore the burden of supporting his family.

Jiang Lan picked up Iron Shirt Stance and turned to walk out of the Martial Repository.

When he reached the entrance, the guard who had stopped Jiang Lan earlier extended his hand again and said:

“What are you holding?”

Jiang Lan handed the booklet to the guard.

The guard looked through it, then returned the booklet to Jiang Lan, and said:

“Return it within three days.”

“Understood.”

Jiang Lan nodded, left the Martial Repository, and carefully placed the booklet into his embrace.

If this thing were lost, he could forget about working in the Demon Suppression Division; even more severely, he might directly lose his life.

After leaving the Martial Repository, Jiang Lan headed straight for the Dungeon.

Miscellaneous workers all had tasks, usually changing once every ten days.

His task for this ten-day period was to clean the Dungeon.

That place was dark and sunless, with only a few ventilation holes, requiring daily cleaning to barely be habitable.

Otherwise, one would probably be knocked out by the stench as soon as they entered the Dungeon.

Of course, Jiang Lan's task was limited to cleaning only the first floor of the Dungeon.

The second floor had nothing to do with him.

That's where demons were held; even proper Demon Suppression Guards barely dared to approach, let alone Jiang Lan, a miscellaneous worker.

After walking for about half a cup of tea's worth of time, Jiang Lan arrived at the Dungeon entrance.

Picking up an oil lamp nearby, he followed the deep and long staircase downwards.

As soon as Jiang Lan arrived at the Dungeon, he heard a voice from ahead.

“Lan-geer, you're here?”

The owner of the voice was Chen Niqiu, Jiang Lan's colleague who cleaned the Dungeon with him.

Chen Niqiu walked up to Jiang Lan, asking with curiosity on his face:

“What did Squad Leader adult ask you to stay for just now?”

“Nothing.” Jiang Lan said, “He just asked about my wedding yesterday and granted me three days of leave.”

“Three days?” Chen Niqiu's face showed a hint of envy, “When I got married, I only had two days off...”

As the two were talking, a sharp cry suddenly came from beneath their feet.

“Wuwuwu...”

This sound was extremely eerie; if Jiang Lan hadn't grown somewhat accustomed to hearing it in the Dungeon, he might have been scared out of his wits.

Chen Niqiu's expression tightened upon hearing the sound, and he whispered:

“The one crying down there, is it a Mermaid?”

“That kind of sound, it should be.”

Although Jiang Lan had never seen one, he had heard a few things about them in the Demon Suppression Division.

On the second floor of the Dungeon, a group of Mermaids was imprisoned; according to others, Mermaids had human upper bodies, though much more hideous and terrifying than normal humans.

Their lower bodies, however, were large, greenish-black, scaled fish tails.

Mermaids mostly lived in water and would use cries similar to a child's to attract passersby; once someone approached, they would violently ambush them.

Near Anping County, there was the White Wave River, but Mermaids were rarely heard of there.

The Mermaids currently in the Dungeon, Jiang Lan heard from other Demon Suppression Guards, were caught incidentally when they went to assist the neighboring Jinghu County in capturing demons.

“If you ask me, Mirror Lake is truly ill-fated. It was destroyed by a great demon eighteen years ago. It's only been rebuilt for a few years, and now there's a large group of demons causing trouble again. Tsk...”