Mysterious Jade Pendant

Lu Ming carefully took out the books and discovered that their material was somewhat unusual. They seemed not to be made of ordinary paper.

Then again, it made sense. The owner of that stone coffin had already been reduced to dry bones, yet these two books showed not the slightest sign of decay. They were neither damp nor moldy; instead, they felt remarkably tough to the touch. There had to be something special about them.

After looking them over a few more times, Lu Ming stopped caring about the books' material and began flipping through them.

The first book was rather thick. When he opened its hard cover, a dense mass of writing leaped into view. He gave it a rough look, then shook his head in disappointment.

Sure enough, he couldn't recognize the writing either.

The reason he said "either" was that, as an orphan and little beggar in the original owner's life, he certainly couldn't read.

As for himself, he had hoped the books might contain the writing from his previous life. Even if it had been classical Chinese, he would still have been able to understand it.

Now, however, he was somewhat disappointed. The writing displayed in the book was a script he had never seen before.

"Looks like after I solve the problem of food and shelter, I'll first have to find a way to learn how to read. Otherwise, even if I have an peerless martial art in hand, it will be useless if I can't understand it."

Lu Ming thought this to himself, then quickly adjusted his mindset and continued flipping through the book. He was looking to see whether it contained any illustrations.

He might be able to understand some of those.

Before long, he had flipped through the first book page by page. It was a book consisting entirely of text, without a single illustration.

He wasn't disappointed and began looking through the second book.

Compared with the first, this one was much thinner. Once he opened it, only three large characters met his eyes.

Although he still didn't recognize them, a pressure that suddenly surged toward him for no apparent reason made him realize that this book was absolutely no ordinary object.

It was very likely the martial arts manual he had been hoping for.

Thus, he impatiently turned to the second page.

There was still text, but unlike before, an illustration had appeared beneath it: a little figure sitting cross-legged with all five acupoints facing the heavens.

Lu Ming stared at it for a long while, examining it very carefully, but still couldn't make heads or tails of it. He then turned to the third page.

It was another passage of text accompanied by an illustration of a little figure. He still couldn't understand the writing, but the illustration had changed.

This time, a line had appeared inside the little figure's body. It seemed to depict the meridians.

"It really does seem to be a martial arts manual."

Seeing the illustration, Lu Ming became even more certain. His breathing unconsciously quickened. After all, this was his first contact with something that had existed only in fantasy in his previous life and was exceedingly difficult to obtain in this one.

He hurriedly flipped onward.

This time, he turned the pages more slowly. Even though he couldn't understand the writing, he still wanted to savor every detail.

Before long, he had flipped through more than half the book. The contents that appeared afterward were completely different from those at the beginning.

Aside from the writing, there were only illustrations showing the little figure's movements.

The little figures were no longer sitting cross-legged. Instead, they held long blades in their hands and struck various poses.

"It really is a martial arts manual. The beginning should be an internal cultivation art, while the latter part is a blade technique."

After finishing the entire book, Lu Ming was completely certain. He decided that he had to learn the written language of this world as soon as possible.

He also had to find somewhere like a medical clinic and learn about the meridians of the human body.

It was easy to imagine that, given his current circumstances, accomplishing these two things would be extremely difficult. He might not even be able to complete them in the short term.

Still, he at least had a goal to strive toward.

What people feared most was having no direction. Now, however, he had a clear one.

After thinking everything through, Lu Ming closed the books. He planned to find a safe place to hide them and come back for them later.

But just as he was about to stand, something unexpected happened. For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt a scorching heat in his chest.

"What happened?"

Lu Ming was startled and hurriedly pulled open his thin cloth shirt to look. On the blackish-purple skin of his chest, already frozen stiff, a Jade Pendant pattern suddenly emerged.

"Is this that Jade Pendant?"

Lu Ming was even more astonished. He knew this Jade Pendant pattern all too well—it was precisely the one he had collected from an antique market in his previous life.

In his previous life, he had a wealthy family and a wide range of hobbies. He especially liked collecting odd and unusual trinkets.

This Jade Pendant was one of them.

He simply didn't know why it had appeared here, or why it seemed to have burrowed into his body.

"Could my sudden transmigration have been because of you?"

Lu Ming was deeply puzzled. He stared fixedly at his chest, wanting to know the answer. Yet no one replied. Instead, the world before his eyes suddenly went black.

When his vision returned, he discovered that he had arrived in a mysterious space.

"Where is this? Is anyone here?"

The space was empty and seemed boundless. Although Lu Ming guessed that this place was inside the Jade Pendant, he still called out.

His voice traveled far, but no one answered. Some strange change did occur, however.

An image suddenly materialized before him. Astonishingly, judging by its appearance and build, the figure was actually himself.

It was dressed in the same tattered clothes. The only difference was that golden light continuously radiated from its body.

"How strange."

Lu Ming muttered to himself. He didn't act rashly, merely staring intently at the golden figure.

After appearing, the golden figure said nothing. It simply sat cross-legged, with all five acupoints facing the heavens, and then began performing various movements.

"This is... the martial arts manual I just looked through!"

Watching the figure, Lu Ming was extremely astonished. He was not unfamiliar with those movements; they were clearly identical to the little-figure illustrations in the book.

Sure enough, the golden figure suddenly produced a blade in its hand and began practicing the blade technique recorded in the latter half of the book.

However, unlike the little-figure illustrations, this was a real person actually using the blade technique.

At first, the golden figure's movements were not fast, and Lu Ming could still see them clearly. But afterward, they grew faster and faster, until he could see only afterimages and hear the swish-swish of the long blade cutting through the air.

After that, he could no longer see even the shadows, and he couldn't hear a sound, either.

Only occasionally would an incomparably dazzling blade aura slash out.

Since nothing could be damaged here, he couldn't directly sense just how powerful this blade technique was. But judging by the length of that blade aura alone, it was clearly no weak technique.

This was a genuinely dozens-of-meters-long great blade.

Especially the final strike. It clearly had not yet been unleashed, nor was it aimed at him, yet he felt as though that strike had already locked onto him with deadly force.

It was as if the entire space were the target of that single strike.

He didn't know why he had such a feeling, either.

At last, for some unknown reason, the strike was not unleashed. The golden figure lowered its blade and stood upright, then turned toward Lu Ming.

Lu Ming looked back at it. He guessed that the appearance of this golden figure was meant to teach him this cultivation art and blade technique.

He could also guess that what he had just seen was only a demonstration, not the actual instruction.

Otherwise, there was no way he could possibly learn from that kind of teaching.

Sure enough, after lowering its blade and standing upright, the golden figure paused only briefly before suddenly transforming into a streak of golden light that shot toward him.

Lu Ming instinctively raised a hand to block it. When he lowered his hand, he suddenly discovered that he had returned to the place swept by the freezing wind, and a mass of information had appeared in his mind.

He hurriedly examined it and found that it was precisely all the information regarding that cultivation art and blade technique. It was clear and easy to understand, as if it had been carved directly into his brain.

"You really are something."

After quickly reviewing it, Lu Ming looked at his chest again. The Jade Pendant pattern had long since vanished. Perhaps it would appear again only when he encountered another martial arts manual.

He touched his chest, then looked up at the sky. He felt that he had delayed for quite a while, so he had better hide the items and get into the city first.

Thus, he hurriedly stood up.