Heavenly Saber Art

On the official road to Shuofeng City, Lu Ming walked slowly forward. He had already hidden the two books away and would not be coming back for them anytime soon.

Besides, he had no use for them in the short term. The martial arts manual had already been engraved into his mind through the Jade Pendant, so whether he had the original or not no longer mattered.

As for the other book, since it had not triggered the Jade Pendant, he guessed it was merely an ordinary book.

Even if he lost it, he would not feel too heartbroken.

Thus, after hiding them away, he stopped thinking about it and instead checked the contents the Jade Pendant had poured into his mind from time to time.

[Heavenly Saber Art]

That was the name of the cultivation technique. The saber technique that followed was naturally called the Heavenly Saber Technique. It had nine lethal moves in total, known as the [Nine Heavenly Saber Forms].

This was a matching cultivation technique that included internal-energy moves. According to the introduction, it was an Earth-grade cultivation technique, and at its highest, it could allow someone to cultivate to the Peak Gang Qi Realm.

Nei Qi Realm, Zhen Qi Realm, and Gang Qi Realm—these were the first three realms of human Martial Artists listed in the [Heavenly Saber Art].

According to the technique, the Nei Qi Realm was a process of refining essence into qi. Through cultivation, one condensed the body's vital essence and blood into inner qi and stored it in the dantian.

Then, once the inner qi had grown strong enough, one could enter the Zhen Qi Realm.

True qi was refined and compressed from inner qi. In other words, cultivating in the Zhen Qi Realm was the process of refining and compressing inner qi.

Then, once the inner qi had been refined and compressed to a certain degree, one could enter the Gang Qi Realm.

Gang qi was naturally refined and compressed from true qi, and its quality and quantity were both a level higher than true qi.

Thus, cultivating in the Gang Qi Realm was the process of refining and compressing true qi.

As for the realm after that, the [Heavenly Saber Art] had mentioned it in passing. It was called the Gang Yuan Realm.

Although it did not describe the specific cultivation process, Lu Ming guessed it was probably the same as before: compressing and refining gang qi.

He simply did not know to what degree it had to be compressed and refined.

But he did not dwell on it too much. After all, that realm was still far beyond his reach.

After looking up at the road ahead again, Lu Ming focused his thoughts on the words "Earth-grade, initial stage."

Combining that with the original owner's memories, he roughly knew that the martial arts manuals of this world were divided into the three grades of Heaven, Earth, and Human, with twelve stages.

The higher the grade, the rarer and more precious the manual.

Ordinary Martial Artists basically cultivated Human-grade initial- and middle-stage techniques. Anyone who possessed a Human-grade, high-stage technique could already be considered to have some influence.

As for Human-grade, peak-stage techniques, they could only be commonly learned within those Great Powers.

From this, it was easy to imagine how precious his Earth-grade cultivation technique was. If word got out, it would certainly stir up a storm of blood and rain, and he would absolutely be left without even a complete corpse.

Back then, the original owner had seen several groups of people fighting viciously in Shuofeng City over a Human-grade, high-stage technique.

Several lives had been lost in the end.

He had heard the information above from the discussions of the onlookers.

"Looks like I have to be even more careful. I absolutely must not expose this cultivation technique."

Another gust of cold wind swept past. Lu Ming gathered his thoughts, tightened his thin clothing, and looked ahead. After traveling for some time, the outline of the city ahead had become much clearer.

But he knew it was still not close. He understood the principle that a mountain might look near, yet wear a horse to death reaching it.

After glancing at the sky again and deciding there was still enough time, he chose to stop and rest for a while and replenish some energy.

After all, this body of his was still extremely weak. He had traveled for so long relying entirely on his willpower to keep going.

Stuffing a handful of grass roots into his mouth, Lu Ming bent down to rub his somewhat swollen legs. Just then, he suddenly heard a rumble from behind, as if something were speeding toward him, followed by a vigorous cry urging horses on.

It was a carriage.

Lu Ming glanced back and hurriedly stepped to the side of the road.

"Giddy-up!"

In the blink of an eye, a carriage pulled by two tall, powerful horses passed in front of him. The coachman was burly, and the carriage was lavish. Through the open window, there was even a delicate face.

It belonged to a young girl. She was looking out the window, and naturally, her eyes met Lu Ming's.

The instant their gazes crossed, Lu Ming hurriedly lowered his head and avoided looking at her.

Anyone could see that this carriage was not something an ordinary family could own, so the person inside naturally had a remarkable identity as well. If she felt offended, it might be fine if she was kindhearted, but if she was willful, he could not withstand her getting down and giving him three punches and two kicks with his current frail body.

After the hurricane passed, only the grass that had bowed remained.

Thus, when one was weak, lowering one's head when necessary was not shameful.

Before long, the sounds of hooves and wheels gradually faded into the distance. Only then did Lu Ming raise his head again and sigh, intending to continue on his way. Yet when he turned around, he saw that the carriage had not gone far at all. Instead, it had stopped ahead.

"What's going on? Did I offend her after all?"

Lu Ming muttered and hurriedly considered his options. He looked left and right and found the terrain flat and the view open. If he ran, he would be caught immediately.

His thoughts raced. He decided that perhaps begging for mercy was not the best option. Lying down and pretending to have fainted would be better.

If conditions allowed, it would be even better to wrap himself in a pile of filthy things so that nobody would want to step near him.

Perhaps the other party would lose interest in beating him.

But before he could put the plan into action, darkness suddenly fell over his head. He could not help looking up, only to see a huge figure descending before him like Mount Tai pressing down from above.

It was the burly man who had been driving the carriage. After landing lightly, he tossed a bundle to Lu Ming without another word.

"Little beggar, this is a reward from my young lady."

His voice boomed like thunder.

"For me...?"

Lu Ming had not yet reacted when that sturdy figure spread his arms like a great roc and soared away.

Lu Ming gazed after him, his face filled with envy. He wanted to soar through the air like that too.

Soon, the carriage started moving again and headed toward the city.

"This... I really did meet a good person."

Only after the carriage had completely vanished from sight did Lu Ming withdraw his gaze and turn it toward the bundle in his arms. He hurriedly opened it to take a look.

Inside was a set of clothes. He touched them. Although the style looked ordinary, the fabric was exceptionally smooth and supple—clearly not something ordinary people could afford to wear.

There were also ten taels of silver and several pieces of pastry.

Seeing these things, Lu Ming was somewhat surprised by the other party's generosity. But he soon realized that these items might not count for anything to her at all.

To him, however, they were extremely precious. With them, the difficulty of getting started would be greatly reduced.

Originally, he had planned to find work after entering the city while avoiding the beggar who controlled the original owner.

The former would not be easy. After all, the city had little of anything else, but it had beggars in abundance, and avoiding their eyes and ears would be difficult.

Still, he had thought of many ways to deal with it.

The latter would not be easy either. After all, who would hire a frail beggar with barely a shred of strength?

He had not thought of any good solution for that yet and could only take things one step at a time.

But now things were different.

With the clothes, he could change his appearance, making it less likely that people would notice him. And even if he was discovered, he could still borrow their prestige to intimidate others. After all, the fabric of these clothes was no ordinary material.

With ten taels of silver, he could completely support himself and get his life on the right track.

Thus, this bundle meant a great deal to him.

"Thank you. If fate allows us to meet again, I will certainly repay this kindness."

Lu Ming thanked her once more in his heart. After firmly memorizing her appearance, he nibbled on the pastries while searching for a puddle.

He planned to wash his tangled hair, then change clothes before entering the city.

Before long, he spotted a puddle reflecting the sunlight and hurried over.