Overcoming the Split

Opening one's hips was an excruciating ordeal. Lu Ming endured the pain and slowly spread his legs apart, soon reaching his limit.

Then he gritted his teeth and pushed beyond that limit.

Crack!

As the crisp sound of bones grinding rang out, Lu Ming immediately grimaced in pain.

But he did not give up. Instead, he gritted his teeth and held on. Once he gradually adapted, he moved his legs apart another stretch.

Naturally, that was even more painful.

But he forcibly endured it once again.

"Breathe steadily. Keep going!"

Lu Ming kept encouraging himself. Only after more than half an hour had passed did he stop, drenched in sweat.

His groin felt as if it had been torn apart, and the pain was excruciating.

However, the results were also striking. Thanks to the fact that this body had not fully matured and was highly malleable, he could now perform a full side split.

Next came the front split, but he could not continue training for now.

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

That was perfect, though, as it made it easier for him to wolf it down.

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

"Looks like I'll have to find some time to visit the bookstores in the city and see if they have anything like a dictionary."

After lying on the bed and resting for a while, Lu Ming felt that he was wasting time. If he had a dictionary, he could use this spare time to study the written language.

In fact, this idea had occurred to him several days ago. He had merely been busy improving his living conditions, so he had not been in any hurry.

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

Since he had decided to do it, he did it at once. Once the pain in his lower body gradually subsided, Lu Ming rose and walked out of the room. It was still early before noon, so this was the perfect time to go out.

Passing by Old Man Zhao's courtyard, he saw the old man lying in a chair and basking in the sun again, so he called out a greeting.

"Where are you off to, little brat?"

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

Lu Ming did not hide his destination. "Uncle, I'm going to look around the city's bookstores. I want to buy something like a dictionary and learn the written language."

"Learn the written language?"

Old Man Zhao asked in puzzlement, "Weren't you from a fallen household? What, you never learned to read before your family fell?"

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

"Forget it, then. You don't need to go. I know the city like the back of my hand, and there definitely aren't any dictionaries. If you want to learn, this old man can teach you."

Old Man Zhao sat up straight.

"Huh?"

Lu Ming was somewhat disappointed at the first half of his words, but when he heard the second half, he was overjoyed. This was truly a twist in the road leading to a new vista.

"What's with the 'huh'? You don't want to?"

Old Man Zhao sounded displeased.

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

Lu Ming hurried into the courtyard and bowed.

"Thank me for what? I just happen to like you, little brat. Besides, I've got nothing better to do."

As he spoke, Old Man Zhao tossed the book in his hand onto the table beside him and rose. "Come with me."

Lu Ming hurried after him.

Old Man Zhao's house looked small, but it concealed hidden depths. Following his footsteps, Lu Ming soon arrived at a study.

Looking at the books piled high throughout the room, he could not help opening his mouth in astonishment.

"May I ask what you did before, Uncle?"

Old Man Zhao had already plunged into the sea of books. While rummaging around, he casually replied:

"I can't remember anything from too long ago. I only remember that I worked as a scribe in the City Lord's Mansion for the past dozen years or so."

Lu Ming nodded. That explained why the old man had so many books. After all, he had been a professional dealing with written documents.

"Finally found them."

Before long, Old Man Zhao emerged carrying three slightly yellowed books. He tossed them to Lu Ming and said:

"These are three Character Manuals. They contain practically every written character."

Lu Ming hurriedly caught them and opened one. He found it filled with densely packed characters, arranged neatly. They were nothing but characters, without any annotations on pronunciation or meaning.

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

He did not look through it for long before following Old Man Zhao back to the courtyard.

"Sit down first."

Old Man Zhao returned to his reclining chair and gestured 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 one sentence, and you memorize it after me."

Lu Ming hurriedly did as instructed, though he was puzzled as to how the old man could read without a book in his hands. As if seeing through his thoughts, Old Man Zhao pointed at his own head.

Lu Ming understood at once. It was all in the old man's head. He immediately straightened his posture.

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

Lu Ming hurriedly repeated it after hearing it, then looked at the book, memorizing both the pronunciation and the shape of the characters.

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

The impression was deeply etched in his mind.

In fact, he had noticed this long ago. For example, the ordinary book he had obtained from the Stone Coffin was stored in his mind like a video recording wherever he had read through it.

Although he did not recognize the characters, he could completely reproduce them from memory.

Now, this ability had been proven once more.

"Have you memorized it?"

Old Man Zhao stopped after teaching one sentence, giving Lu Ming time to remember it.

"Memorized it." It was only one sentence, so Lu Ming nodded immediately.

Old Man Zhao said nothing more and began teaching the second sentence.

Lu Ming began memorizing it as well.

As time passed, he had been taught a hundred characters in the blink of an eye. Old Man Zhao then said:

"All right, that's enough for today. Memorize everything up to this point before we continue."

Lu Ming lowered his head and glanced at the thickness of the three books. Judging by this pace, he estimated that learning them all would take several months.

He did not want to waste time, so he said, "Uncle, I've memorized everything up to here."

"Oh?"

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

Lu Ming recited all one hundred characters back, one by one. Old Man Zhao then randomly tested him on several characters and had him write them on the ground with a wooden stick.

The result was naturally flawless.

"I didn't expect you to have such a good memory."

After testing him, Old Man Zhao's eyes held a trace of appreciation, though he was not particularly surprised.

Lu Ming secretly let out a sigh of relief. As expected, having a good memory was not some heaven-defying ability in this world either. "It's because you taught me so well, Uncle."

"Enough with the flattery."

Old Man Zhao snorted. "Then let's continue. I want to see where your limit lies."

Lu Ming hurriedly focused and listened carefully.

Just like that, after another thousand characters—

"Have you memorized everything up to this point?"

Lu Ming hesitated. Seeing this, Old Man Zhao said, "Don't be so bashful. Reaching a certain level of never forgetting anything you've once seen isn't anything unusual."

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

Naturally, he recited it once more, without getting a single character wrong.

"Your memory truly is exceptional. To think that at such a young age, with a cultivation level consisting of only a faint trace of inner qi, you can accomplish this. It proves that you possess extraordinary talent. At the very least, your comprehension cannot be lacking."

The appreciation on Old Man Zhao's face grew increasingly intense.

Lu Ming had not expected the old man to have seen through his situation long ago, but he quickly accepted it. It was only natural for someone with a high cultivation level to see through someone with a low one.

Of course, that did not stop him from feeling that the old man before him was no simple character.

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

"Go ahead."

Old Man Zhao stroked his beard indifferently.

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

"Hm?"

Old Man Zhao had probably not expected Lu Ming to ask such a question. The hand stroking his beard stopped, and his face turned strange.

"Why would you ask that?"

Lu Ming recalled the martial arts novels he had read in his previous life and replied:

"Because I've heard people say that some peerless experts like to disguise themselves as ordinary people and wander the mortal world for amusement, and most of those experts are old men."

"Do I look like one?"

Old Man Zhao sat up straight.

Lu Ming studied him carefully, then nodded. "Very much so."

"Like hell."

A sudden flick to the head struck Lu Ming. "Where did you hear such bullshit? As for old men, you can grab a whole handful of them in Shuofeng City. Does that mean they're all hidden peerless experts?"

Lu Ming rubbed his head and did not argue.

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

"It's noon already. Don't bother going home. Eat here. The kitchen's over there; go cook. Oh, and there's a leg of lamb inside. Cook that too."

"Ah."

Seeing that it would be difficult to refuse, Lu Ming answered and rose to cook.

"That boy is becoming more and more interesting."

Watching Lu Ming enter the kitchen, Old Man Zhao shook his head with another laugh, then comfortably lay back down.