Mediocre Master: I Can See Your Hidden Potential! (A Xianxia Sect-Building LitRPG)

50. A Dragon in the Clearance Rack

by inkadmin

The city’s cultivation district sprawls near the eastern wall: blocks of shops selling everything from basic pills to legendary weapons. The streets are wider here, the crowds more purposeful. Cultivators move with the easy confidence of people who know they belong. I lead Ling’er through them, Gaze active, scanning faces and storefronts with equal attention.

The first shop: “Heavenly Path Books”

The shop is narrow, wedged between a talisman seller and a tea house, its front painted in faded gold characters. Inside, shelves are crammed floor to ceiling with technique manuals; some on paper, bound in cloth, stacked in careful rows. Others are jade slips in padded cases, separated from the paper manuals by a low wooden partition and a significant difference in price.

The proprietor is a wizened Core Formation cultivator who barely glances up from his desk. His aura is steady, unthreatening. He’s been here for decades. He’s seen thousands of customers. We’re not worth the energy of a greeting.

I browse. The Gaze flickers across both sections with equal attention. The paper side first. Manuals here are meant to be read: studied page by page, internalized over months of practice, the knowledge absorbed through effort rather than direct imprinting. Most of the Coiling Dragon Sect’s library works this way. The techniques are real. The methods are sound. But the learning curve is long, and whatever nuance existed in the original master’s intent gets filtered through the translation of ink and paper.

The jade side is different. A jade slip stores technique knowledge directly in the stone itself. Press it to your forehead, open your meridians slightly, and the contents flow in: not as words, but as understanding. As if the master who created the slip reached across time and placed their knowledge directly into your mind. The forms, the qi pathways, the subtle corrections that would take a paper manual weeks or months to convey, arrive complete in minutes. The price difference reflects this accordingly.

I scan the paper side first; Flowing River Sword at 50 low-grade, Mountain Crushing Fist at 150. Solid techniques, fairly priced, nothing that makes me stop. Then I cross to the jade partition, where the cheapest ones are priced at 200 low-grade.

Five Winds Evasion – Grade: Medium

Type: Movement Technique (Foundation Establishment to Core Formation — Wind)

Content: Evasive footwork and redirection. Use your enemy’s momentum. Never oppose force directly. Always have an exit.

Verdict: Clean. Complete. Worth 5 mid-grade. Likely mislabelled and forgotten.

I negotiate. The proprietor doesn’t want to haggle, but he also doesn’t want to lose a sale. We settle at 2.5 mid-grade, and I hand over the stones.

Ling’er presses the slip to her forehead. The contact lasts barely three seconds; less than it takes most cultivators to finish receiving basic qi sensing techniques. Her eyes flicker gold, then brown.

“Memorized,” she murmurs.

I tuck the slip into my storage ring. “Can you simplify it for Qi Condensation disciples?”

She considers. The Bone turns behind her eyes.

“The core principles are adaptable. The footwork patterns can be slowed without losing effectiveness. They won’t move as fast, but they’ll move better than they do now.”

I ask the question that’s been hovering at the edge of my mind since the blue-and-bald incident.

“Will it turn them bald?”

She hesitates. Just slightly. Her fingers twitch toward her own hair.

“I can adjust it.”

“Ling’er—”

“I can adjust it,” she repeats, more firmly. “The side effects were specific to the water technique. And cultivation methods are hard to adjust. Combat techniques are different.”

“Adjust it,” I say. “I don’t want to run a sect of Shaolin monks.”

She blinks. “Shaolin?”

“Never mind. Let’s move on.”

The second shop: “Ember Legacy”

Specializes in fire techniques. I can feel it before stepping through the door; faint warmth radiating from the shelves, flame motifs painted on the walls, lighting provided by actual fire contained in glass globes. The air is dry, almost desert-like.

The clerk is a cheerful Foundation Establishment woman with bright red hair and an easy smile. She doesn’t push, just talks while I browse.

“First time in the city?”

“Passing through.” I pick up a paper manual, examine it, set it down. “What’s the local scene like?”

“Busy.” She leans against the counter. “Violet Sky has been recruiting aggressively: expanding into the eastern provinces. And the Crimson Dragon Alliance is the one you really need to watch. One of their affiliates came through last month and bought out all our best dragon techniques. Every single one. Still waiting on restocks.”

I keep my face neutral. “Dragon techniques?”

“Zhulong, Fucanglong; those lineages. The Alliance is building something, I think. Consolidating power.” She shrugs. “Not my business.”

I probe casually. “What about other dragons? Sea Dragons? Azure Dragons?”

She shakes her head. “Extinct. Disappeared centuries ago. Some say they never really existed—just myths from the ancient era.” She laughs. “But I wouldn’t say that too loudly around the Crimson Dragon people. They get touchy about dragon lineage.”

I nod, filing the information away. This world shares similarities with Chinese cosmology, but it’s not exact. There seems to be a dominance of flame and earth-aligned dragons here. Zhulong. Fucanglong. No Azure Dragons or Sea Dragons.

The Gaze flickers across the jade section:

Blazing Sun Cannon — Grade: High

Type: Combat Technique (Foundation Establishment — Fire)

Content: Powerful ranged attack. Charged blast, wide radius, significant cooldown.

Verdict: Perfect for Wei Chen. He’s been wanting a signature technique. 3 mid-grade.

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Phoenix Rebirth — Grade: Very High

Type: Healing Technique (Core Formation to Nascent — Fire)

Content: Uses fire to regenerate. Burns away poison, closes wounds, reattaches severed limbs. Extremely rare.

Verdict: 30 mid-grade.

I’m tempted by the Phoenix Rebirth. But caution wins. The bandits happened because I spent too visibly. I won’t make the same mistake twice. I move to the clearance corner. It’s a rack shoved near the back wall, piled with paper manuals in worn covers and two or three jade slips in scratched cases. The paper side of the clearance is what I expected; techniques so basic or so flawed they haven’t sold in years.

Sizzling Palm Strike — Grade: Low

Type: Combat Technique (Qi Condensation — Fire)

Content: Works as described. Leaves a faint smell of burnt pork.

Verdict: 5 low-grade.

Flame Flicker Step — Grade: Trash

Type: Movement Technique (Qi Condensation — Fire)

Content: Incomplete. Missing the last third.

Verdict: User may set themselves on fire. 3 low-grade.

Campfire Ignition Technique — Grade: Low

Type: Utility Technique (Qi Condensation — Fire)

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