Eidetic Memory

Opening his hips was an excruciating ordeal. Lu Ming endured the pain and spread his legs apart little by little, quickly reaching his limit.

Then he gritted his teeth and pushed past it.

Crack!

As a sharp crack of grinding bones rang out, Lu Ming immediately bared his teeth in pain.

But he did not give up. He gritted his teeth and held on, and once he had gradually adapted, he spread his legs another stretch farther.

Naturally, it hurt even more.

Yet he forcibly endured it again.

"Breathe steadily. Hold on!"

Lu Ming kept encouraging himself. It was not until more than an hour later that he finally stopped, drenched in sweat.

His groin now felt as though it had been torn apart, agonizingly painful.

But the results were obvious as well. Thanks to this body not having fully matured yet and possessing strong plasticity, he could now do a full side split.

Next would be the front split, but he could not train any more for now.

With his legs aching and swollen, Lu Ming slowly walked into the kitchen in an exceedingly strange posture. The porridge had long since finished cooking and had even grown a little cold.

But that was just right, making it easier for him to gulp down.

After a simple breakfast, Lu Ming did nothing else but lie down and rest, allowing his torn muscles to recover.

Looks like I need to find time to visit the bookstores in the city and see whether they have something like a dictionary.

After resting in bed for a while, Lu Ming felt that he was wasting time. If he had a dictionary, he could use this gap to learn some cultural knowledge.

He had actually come up with this idea several days ago, but he had been busy improving his living conditions and had not been in much of a hurry.

Now that he had some free time, he was growing impatient.

No sooner said than done. Once the pain in his lower body gradually eased, Lu Ming got up and left the house. It was still early before noon, just the right time to head out.

As he passed Old Man Zhao's courtyard and saw him once again reclining in a chair beneath the sun, he greeted him.

"Where are you going, little brat?"

This time, Old Man Zhao was not resting with his eyes closed. Instead, he was holding a book and reading it with great relish.

Lu Ming did not hide his destination. "Sir, I'm going to look around the city's bookstores. I want to buy a dictionary or something and learn how to read."

"Learn how to read?"

Old Man Zhao asked doubtfully, "Didn't your family fall into decline? What, did you not learn to read before it fell?"

Lu Ming gave an embarrassed smile. "I never got the chance."

"Enough, then don't go. I know this city like the back of my hand. There definitely aren't any dictionaries here. If you want to learn, this old man can teach you."

Old Man Zhao sat up straight.

"Huh?"

Lu Ming was somewhat disappointed upon hearing the first half, but when he heard the latter half, he was overjoyed. What a twist of fate.

"What do you mean, 'huh'? You don't want to?"

Old Man Zhao looked rather displeased.

"Of course I do. Thank you, sir."

Lu Ming hurried into the courtyard and gave him a bow.

"What are you thanking me for? I just find you, little brat, pleasing to the eye. Besides, being idle is being idle."

As Old Man Zhao spoke, he tossed the book in his hand onto the nearby table, stood up, and said, "Come with me."

Lu Ming hurriedly followed.

Old Man Zhao's house looked small, but it concealed mysteries within. Following his steps, Lu Ming soon arrived at a study.

Seeing books piled throughout the room, Lu Ming could not help opening his mouth.

"May I ask what you used to do, sir?"

Old Man Zhao had already plunged into the sea of books. As he searched, he casually replied,

"That was too long ago. I can't remember much. I only remember that I worked as a clerk at the City Lord's Mansion for the past dozen or so years."

Lu Ming nodded. That explained why the other man had so many books. He had been a man who worked with words, after all.

"Finally found them."

Before long, Old Man Zhao emerged holding three somewhat yellowed books and tossed them to Lu Ming.

"These are three character primers. Basically every character is recorded in them."

Lu Ming quickly caught them and opened one. He found it filled with densely packed characters, arranged neatly. There was only text, without annotations for pronunciation or anything else.

Without someone to teach him, self-study would have been utterly impossible.

Without looking any further, he followed Old Man Zhao back into the courtyard.

"Sit down first."

Old Man Zhao returned to his reclining chair and motioned for Lu Ming to sit as well.

Lu Ming did not stand on ceremony and obediently sat down.

Old Man Zhao continued, "Open the blue-covered one. I'll read a sentence, and you memorize it after me."

Lu Ming quickly did as he was told, though he was somewhat puzzled about how the old man could read without a book in hand. As if seeing through his thoughts, Old Man Zhao pointed at his own head.

Lu Ming understood in an instant. It was all in his head. He immediately sat upright.

"Listen carefully." Satisfied by this, Old Man Zhao stroked his beard and slowly spoke the first sentence.

Hearing it, Lu Ming hurriedly repeated it once. Then, while looking at the book, he memorized both the pronunciation and the shape of the characters.

Perhaps because he had transmigrated, his memory was exceptionally good. He memorized those few characters at once, as though he had read them hundreds of times.

They left an indelible impression.

He had actually noticed this long ago. For instance, the ordinary book he had obtained from the Stone Coffin—everything he had flipped through had been stored in his mind like a recorded video.

Though he could not understand it, he could still copy it out perfectly by comparing it.

Now, this ability had been proven once more.

"Have you remembered it?"

Old Man Zhao paused after teaching one sentence, giving Lu Ming time to memorize it.

"I remember it." It was only one sentence, so Lu Ming nodded directly.

Old Man Zhao did not say anything more. Hearing that, he began teaching the second sentence.

Lu Ming began memorizing again.

As time passed, Old Man Zhao had taught him one hundred characters in the blink of an eye.

"Alright, we'll stop here for today. Memorize everything from before completely first."

Lu Ming lowered his head and glanced at the thickness of the three books. At this pace, he estimated it would take several months to learn everything.

He did not want to waste time, so he said, "Sir, I've memorized everything from before."

"Oh?"

Old Man Zhao froze, then said, "Then recite it."

Lu Ming recited all one hundred characters, word by word. Old Man Zhao then randomly tested him on several characters, having him use a wooden stick to write them on the ground.

Naturally, not a single character was wrong.

"I never expected you, brat, to have such a good memory."

After testing him, Old Man Zhao's eyes revealed appreciation, though he was not overly surprised.

Lu Ming secretly sighed in relief. Sure enough, having a good memory isn't some heaven-defying ability in this world either. "It's because you taught me well, sir."

"Enough, quit flattering me."

Old Man Zhao gave a soft snort. "Then let's continue. I want to see where your limit lies."

Lu Ming hurriedly focused and listened.

And so, after one thousand characters—

"Have you remembered everything from before?"

Lu Ming hesitated slightly. Seeing this, Old Man Zhao said, "Quit hemming and hawing, brat. Reaching a certain level of Eidetic Memory is nothing unusual."

Hearing that, Lu Ming no longer hesitated and nodded. "I've remembered it all."

What followed was naturally another recitation, again without a single error.

"Indeed, you have a good memory. At such a young age, with only a trace of weak inner energy in your body, being able to do this proves that you are exceptionally gifted. At the very least, your comprehension will not be poor."

The appreciation on Old Man Zhao's face grew even stronger.

Lu Ming had not expected his situation to have been seen through long ago, but he soon accepted it. It was only reasonable that someone of a higher realm could see through someone of a lower realm.

Of course, that did not stop him from feeling that the old man before him was anything but simple.

"Sir, may I ask you a question?" After hesitating for a moment, he asked.

"Ask."

Old Man Zhao stroked his beard carelessly.

Lu Ming asked, "Are you a hidden peerless expert?"

"Hm?"

Perhaps not expecting Lu Ming to ask such a question, Old Man Zhao's hand stroking his beard paused. With a strange expression, he said,

"Why do you ask?"

Remembering the martial arts novels he had read in his previous life, Lu Ming replied,

"Because I heard that some peerless experts always like to disguise themselves as ordinary people and roam the mortal world for amusement. And most of those experts are old men."

"Then do I look like one?"

Old Man Zhao sat upright.

Lu Ming studied him carefully and nodded. "Very much so."

"Like hell."

Lu Ming suddenly received a hard knock on the head. "Where did you hear such bullshit? If we're talking old men, Shuofeng City has them by the handful. Are they all hidden peerless experts, then?"

Lu Ming rubbed his head and did not argue.

Seeing his appearance, Old Man Zhao could not help laughing again. He said,

"It's noon. Don't bother going back; eat here. The kitchen is over there. Go cook. Oh, there's a lamb leg inside—make it."

"Alright."

Seeing that it would be hard to refuse, Lu Ming answered and got up to cook.

"This brat is becoming more and more interesting."

Watching Lu Ming enter the kitchen, Old Man Zhao smiled, shook his head, and comfortably lay back down.