The Secret of "Jade Bone"!

In a secluded courtyard, Li Hongzhuang and Lu Changsheng sat inside the house.

Lu Changsheng looked around, surprise flickering in his eyes.

"You've really got guts, living this close to the Zhao Clan."

Lu Changsheng looked at Li Hongzhuang.

He knew Nanyang City well, so he naturally recognized the location of this courtyard.

The Zhao Clan was nearby, only about a hundred paces away.

"This is called Dark Under the Lamp."

"The Zhao Clan may be powerful, but there's nothing suspicious about this courtyard. They won't find this place."

Li Hongzhuang lay on the floor and opened a hidden passage beneath the bed.

The passage was very small, probably only large enough to hide a few slightly bulky items.

Li Hongzhuang carried a large chest up from inside.

Smack.

Li Hongzhuang opened the chest.

To Lu Changsheng's surprise, it was packed full of ancient books, volume after volume.

Moreover, when he saw the names on the covers, a strange glint flashed through his eyes.

Martial arts!

The books in this large chest were actually all kinds of martial arts manuals.

And judging by the looks of it, there were at least a hundred manuals and Martial Skills.

It seemed Li Hongzhuang's identity was far from simple.

However, Lu Changsheng did not ask about her background. Everyone had their secrets—why dig to the roots and pry into every detail?

He had only come with Li Hongzhuang to trade for some martial arts manuals.

Li Hongzhuang raised her head and glanced at Lu Changsheng, her tone calm. "The Martial Skills and martial arts manuals you bought before were all copied out by me, one volume at a time."

"The original manuals are in this chest."

"You can count them yourself and see what other martial arts you need."

Li Hongzhuang had brought Lu Changsheng to her secret residence and even taken out the "original" martial arts manuals directly. Clearly, she trusted him greatly.

Lu Changsheng examined them one by one with care.

Most of the chest contained Martial Skills. Some of them Lu Changsheng had practiced before.

But there were also many Martial Skills he had never practiced.

Furthermore, Lu Changsheng could tell that some of those Martial Skills were extremely profound, perhaps even third-tier or fourth-tier Martial Skills.

He also found many Bone Forging martial arts, including quite a few Superior Bone Forging Martial Arts.

There were several Organ Refining Martial Arts as well.

After looking through them for half an hour, Lu Changsheng drew a deep breath. When he raised his head again, his gaze had become exceedingly grave.

"Name your price."

Lu Changsheng wanted most of the martial arts and Martial Skills in the chest.

But he knew the price would certainly not be low.

"If I sold these martial arts slowly on the Black Market, each manual could be sold more than once—many times, in fact."

"But I urgently need silver right now."

"Still, you saved my life this time, so I won't ask for much. Three thousand taels of silver, one fixed price!"

Lu Changsheng weighed it over and felt that the price was about right.

Besides, he was not short of silver now.

"Fine. Three thousand taels of silver. Here are the banknotes."

Lu Changsheng directly handed over banknotes worth three thousand taels.

"Alright."

Li Hongzhuang accepted the banknotes and even let out a long sigh of relief.

Lu Changsheng strapped the chest to his back, then asked, "You've offended the Zhao Clan. I'm afraid there'll be no place for you in Nanyang Prefecture now."

"Yes. The Zhao Clan is the local tyrant; I can't fight them."

"Fortunately, I've saved enough silver. I'll probably leave Nanyang soon."

Lu Changsheng nodded at those words. Then, without looking back, he turned and swiftly vanished into the night.

"If fate allows, we'll meet again in the martial world..."

Li Hongzhuang watched the direction in which Lu Changsheng had disappeared, a strange light flickering in her eyes.

Lu Changsheng returned to Miraculous Garden without incident.

He shut the doors and windows tight, then set down the chest on his back.

He took out one Martial Arts Manual after another and gave them a simple sorting.

There were eight Bone Forging Martial Arts, three Organ Refining Martial Arts, and eighty-six Martial Skills—a total of ninety-seven manuals!

This was an enormous haul!

These martial arts and martial skills were enough to keep Lu Changsheng training for a long time.

What Lu Changsheng cared about most right now were the Bone Forging Martial Arts.

He carefully examined each of the eight Bone Forging Martial Arts manuals.

Seven of them were ordinary Bone Forging Martial Arts.

However, one of them was a Superior Bone Forging Martial Art called the Ice Bone Forging Technique.

There were actually some annotations within the manual for this Superior Bone Forging Martial Art.

He had no idea whose annotations they were.

Some of the secrets of Bone Forging mentioned within opened Lu Changsheng's eyes.

So the Bone Forging Realm was not as simple as merely tempering one's bones a few times.

Some people could forge Jade Bone after tempering their bones only a few times.

Yet others could temper their bones dozens of times and still fail to forge Jade Bone.

The reason was simple: the human skeleton could be divided into three regions—the surface layer, the inner layer, and the bone marrow.

Only by quenching the bones into the marrow could one forge the skeleton into Jade Bone.

As for the surface layer of the bones, ordinary Bone Forging Martial Arts could generally temper it after only a few times.

But the inner layer of the bones was much more difficult.

To send one's qi and blood deep into the inner layer of the bones, one needed a Superior Bone Forging Martial Art, using special methods to temper the inner layer bit by bit.

One also needed medicinal cuisine specifically for Bone Forging, to repair the damage and hidden dangers caused by bone tempering.

As for quenching bones into the marrow, that required a Top-tier Bone Forging Martial Art before it was possible to reach the marrow in a single tempering.

Lu Changsheng frowned.

He had never even heard of a Top-tier Bone Forging Martial Art.

Without one, did that mean it was impossible to attain Jade Bone?

Lu Changsheng continued reading.

At the end, the annotator of this Ice Bone Forging Technique had actually left behind a method.

If one lacked a Top-tier Bone Forging Martial Art, then one could use the stupidest method: repeatedly temper the bones with ordinary Bone Forging Martial Arts.

If the bones were tempered enough times, there would eventually be some effect.

As the days piled up and the months accumulated, a quantitative change could still spark a qualitative transformation, making it possible to quench the bones into the marrow.

However, ordinary people simply could not use this method.

Even a single Bone Forging Martial Art took several years to master completely.

To reach the point where "quantitative change sparks qualitative transformation," how many Bone Forging Martial Arts would one have to practice?

It would take years, perhaps even decades, and there was no guarantee of truly forging Jade Bone in the end.

But for Lu Changsheng, this method was worth trying.

Moreover, Lu Changsheng now understood why Jade Bone was so important.

Any martial artist with the means would rack their brains to forge Jade Bone. The reason was that only Jade Bone could withstand sufficient pressure when breaking through to the Divine Strength Realm.

The tougher the bones, the greater the strength they could bear.

Once one achieved the Divine Strength Realm, a martial artist with Jade Bone could practically sweep aside all opponents of the same rank.

"Jade Bone must be forged."

"The two Bone Forging Martial Arts I practiced before tempered my bones eight times, but that only amounted to tempering the surface layer."

"If I master this Ice Bone Forging Technique, I should be able to temper the inner layer!"

Lu Changsheng began practicing the Ice Bone Forging Technique.

This martial art could be practiced normally, but for better results, one still had to remain in a cold environment as much as possible.

Or better yet, temper the bones directly atop ice—the effect would be at its best.

Winter had just begun, and it would not be long before the weather turned cold.

By then, there would certainly be no shortage of ice.

Also, the Bone Forging Technique required special medicinal cuisine to nourish the bones and increase the efficiency of bone tempering.

"Bone Forging Medicinal Cuisine... Tomorrow, I can ask at the pharmacy that sells Eight Treasures Blood Replenishing Powder."

Lu Changsheng practiced the Ice Bone Forging Technique several times. Without ice or medicinal cuisine to nourish his bones, the results were not very good.

Lu Changsheng could not be bothered to continue. He simply flopped onto the bed and went to sleep, giving himself a proper rest.