Third layer

  "What's wrong? Not interested in the clan meeting?" Du Qian, who had been silent on one side, suddenly spoke up in a low voice after glancing at Du Fei with a faint gaze.

  "Hmm, I guess so..." Du Fei hesitated for a moment before responding.

  "You know, there are thousands of people in the Du family, but how many can enter this hall for the clan meeting? Except for the high-level members of the Du family, it's only a handful of people. You're still so distracted, and you don't even know how many people envy, resent, and hate your position!" Du Qian revealed a sly smile as she said calmly.

  "Hehe, what benefits can this position bring that would make everyone envy?" Du Fei clapped his hands, seemingly quite interested.

  "That's because you don't know, for example, ordinary foreign disciples have an allowance of 20 gold coins per month, while inner disciples have an allowance of 200 gold coins per month. However, if they can get a spot in the main hall, then the minimum is at least this much..." Du Xiang stretched out two fingers as she spoke.

  "Two thousand!?"

  The girl shook her head.

  "Twenty thousand?"

  "It's roughly that amount, but if you need to go, you can still ask for more. For example, if it were you, Du Fei, even if you asked for 100,000 gold coins, I'm sure the master would give it to you." Du Qian smiled faintly, "Do you know, on the path of cultivation, aside from one's innate talent and hard work, external objects are also extremely important. For example, the elixirs refined by Dan masters, any one of which can replace months or even years of bitter practice. Or some precious techniques and martial skills, which are worth a fortune... Without money, how can you get these things? And with them, wouldn't your cultivation speed be even more astonishing? Just from this perspective, isn't this position something that countless people envy, resent, and hate?"

  "Ah——" Du Fei was taken aback for a moment, this theory seemed to make no sense, yet it made eight or nine out of ten points, but if you said it made sense, then there seemed to be something wrong with it.

  Looking at Du Fei's bewildered expression, the girl suddenly burst out laughing and said softly a moment later: "Anyway, you remember that this position is the foundation of your survival in the Du family... For example, if you really want to marry me in the future, then without this position, you can only think about it!"

  As if talking about someone else's business, the girl's expression didn't change at all, but Du Fei was stunned for a moment and then couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

  Is it possible for someone to become a core member of the Du family without being abnormal?

  "Besides, do you know why Du Qing and the three elders have been targeting you all along?" Du Xiang pulled up the hair hanging down from her ears, twirled it around in her hand, smiled mysteriously, and then asked faintly.

  "What?!"

  "The son of the three elders, called Du Xuanqing, is also the father of Du Qing... In those years, when your father Du Tian was still in the Du family, Du Xuanqing and your father competed for the core position in the clan comparison. In the end, Du Xuanqing lost to your father by a narrow margin, and from then on, he became decadent for half his life... Now, Du Qing has been abandoned by you again, I think it's hard for the three elders not to hate you!"

  "So it was..."

  Upon hearing this, Du Fei also let out a faint bitter smile. No matter what had happened before, even if he had known about these things from the start, he would not have held back! In this family, if one were to hold back and play the gentleman's game, then the result would be being swallowed whole by others, without even leaving behind any bones.

  Seeing Du Fei's expression, Du Qian didn't say anything else, but smiled faintly and said: "If nothing happens later, you can follow me to take a look at the third floor of Xiū Wǔ Gé. No matter whether you practice Gong Fa or choose Wu Ji, the things on the third floor should be the best choice..."

  Although it was not his first time here, Du Fei was still shocked by the magnificent building when he stood in front of Xiū Wǔ Gé again.

  "Does it look good? Come with me!" Du Qian's gaze swept slightly over Du Fei's body, and then she took the lead and walked forward.

  It was also quite strange in her heart. Although she was naturally calm and didn't care about many things, at least she knew that with her identity and appearance, in the Du family, even throughout the entire city of Bu, there were countless pursuers. No matter what man saw her, they couldn't help but take a few more glances. But this Du Fei, although he had the identity of her fiancé, didn't even bother to look at her an extra time? Or was it true, as the rumors said, that he and his maid...

  Unexpectedly, Du Qian also smiled wryly in her heart. If Du Fei were like other men, even if the master of the house had ordered it, she might not have had much to do with Du Fei. But because of Du Fei's rather cold attitude, it actually piqued her interest a bit.

  "Behind this, is the third layer of Xiū Wǔ Gé, and also the most important part of my Dù family. In the Dù family, except for the head of the household, the three great elders, and the nine core members, all other high-ranking officials are not allowed to enter easily. And the things inside here, cannot be taken out either. Remember this!" With a faint command, Dù Qiàn pushed open the third great gate of Xiū Wǔ Gé.

  He slightly furrowed his brow, and Du Fei couldn't help but glance to one side. Although he didn't see anyone, he could sense that somewhere on the third floor was hiding an extremely powerful aura, which wasn't any weaker than Du Zhentian's. It seemed that beneath their relaxed exterior, the Du family also placed great importance on this place.

  At this thought, Du Fei became even more interested in the third layer of the Martial Arts Pavilion. He took a slight breath and stepped into the entrance of the third layer.

  As he entered, the ancient large gate behind him closed quickly with a loud rumble.

  "Hmm..."

  After taking a slight breath, Du Fei's eyes gradually adapted to the indoor light. Following the somewhat dim light, he scanned past and was slightly surprised to find that this so-called third floor of the Xiū Wǔ Gé (Martial Arts Pavilion) was not like the first two floors, which were attic-like structures. Instead, it was a place similar to a mountain cave. If he hadn't entered from the door just now, Du Fei would have almost thought he had appeared in some mountain cave.

  On the top of the cave, there were dozens of thumb-sized night pearls inlaid above, slowly emitting a faint light that illuminated the entire space.

  Space is generally spherical in existence, at a glance, everything is taken in at a glance.

  In the center of the space, there is a rather ancient stone platform. On the platform, dozens of jade boxes are sparsely placed, with their lids tightly closed, making it impossible to see what's inside.

  Under Du Qian's guidance, Du Fei walked slowly onto the stone platform and swept his eyes casually, but was still slightly shocked in his heart.

  "The Nine Ranks of Merit Method, the Mysterious Yin Incantation!"

  "The Nine Ranks of Merit Method, Earth Movement Chapter!"

  "Seventh-grade martial arts, cold wind doesn't move hands!"

  The flow of martial arts, the nine products are all big road goods, extremely common. The eight-product martial arts, although much less common, but generally, families have a few collections. When it comes to seven-product martial arts, they are already precious to the extreme. This Du family can collect more than a dozen seven-product martial arts, which can be said to be a collection of hundreds of years.

  But Gongfa is different from Wujifa!

  Compared to martial skills, the number of internal skills is even smaller. Therefore, even a ninth-grade internal skill is extremely rare in the market. It is said that among the Du family's collection, there are only four internal skills, three of which are ninth-grade internal skills, while the only eighth-grade internal skill has already been lost.

  Of course, Du Fei was clear that this so-called loss was when his father left back then and took away the Gong Fa and related fighting skills. Those things were probably still in the jade pendant hanging around his neck right now.

  At this point, Du Fei couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

  "How about it? Not interested in these things?" He casually opened a jade stone box, and Du Qian raised the scroll inside with a faint glow, his face calm.

  Du Fei smiled faintly and said, "Seventh-grade martial skills, without the strength of a ninth-grade martial artist, wanting to cultivate is basically nonsense. However, as for our Du family's techniques, there are only those few sets, it seems that we can slowly choose..."

  "The best skill of the Du family is naturally the Ice Heart Technique passed down from Yunshui Du's family, although it's just a fragment, it's better than any other skill here. Unfortunately, this Ice Heart Technique has also been lost in my Du family... However, you can take a look at the box."

  Upon hearing this, Du Fei's expression didn't change as he walked over, casually lifting the lid of the jade box. His eyes scanned it briefly, but his face changed slightly!

  In that jade box, there was actually a rolled-up scroll!

  "That thing is fake, don't bother looking!" Du Qian said calmly, seemingly sensing Du Fei's confusion.

  Upon hearing this, Du Feifei quickly grabbed the scroll and opened it. Her face immediately twitched slightly. Indeed, there was not a single word on the scroll, and judging from its material, it didn't seem to be something recently prepared. It seemed that it was left behind by her father back then.

  But Du Fei was momentarily confused - originally, the gong fa and dou ji should have existed in a scroll, so how did his father manage to put them into the jade symbol?

  But no matter which possibility it is, in any case, his father back then was quite resourceful!

  "Beep—"

  "Detected loss of damaged file parts, record in - "

  Just as Du Fei was bitterly smiling in his heart, a cold electronic voice suddenly appeared in his mind.