Unforgettable Memory

Stretching the hips was an incredibly torturous process. Lu Ming gritted his teeth against the pain, slowly widening his legs until he reached his limit.

Then, he bit down and pushed past that limit.

Crack!

A crisp sound of bones grinding echoed, and Lu Ming immediately winced in pain.

But he didn't give up. He persevered, and once he slowly adapted, he widened his legs further.

This was naturally even more agonizing.

But he forced himself to endure it.

"Breathe steadily, hold on!"

Lu Ming kept encouraging himself. It wasn't until about half an hour later that he stopped, drenched in sweat.

His groin felt like it had been torn apart, extremely painful.

However, the effect was also very clear. Thanks to the fact that this body hadn't fully grown yet and was highly malleable, he could now perform a horizontal split.

Next was the vertical split, but he couldn't practice it right now.

With sore and heavy legs, Lu Ming walked slowly into the kitchen in a very strange posture. The porridge had already been cooked and had even cooled down a bit.

That was good, though. It made it easy for him to eat large mouthfuls.

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

"Looks like I need to make time to visit the bookstores in the city and see if they have any dictionaries."

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

This idea had actually occurred to him a few days ago, but he had been busy improving his living environment and hadn't rushed it.

Now that he was free, he was getting impatient.

He decided to act on his thought. Once the pain in his lower body gradually subsided, Lu Ming got up and walked out of the house. It was still early before noon, so it was the perfect time to go out.

As he passed Old Man Zhao's yard, he saw him lying on a chair basking in the sun again and called out a greeting.

"Where are you going, little brat?"

Old Man Zhao didn't close his eyes to rest this time. He was engrossed in reading a book.

Lu Ming didn't hide his plans. "Old man, I'm going to the city bookstore to look for a dictionary or something to learn the written language."

"Learn the written language?"

Old Man Zhao looked confused. "Didn't your family fall into decline? What, you didn't learn to read before your family fell?"

Lu Ming gave an embarrassed smile. "I didn't have time."

"Alright, then you don't need to go. I know this city like the back of my hand. There definitely won't be any dictionaries. If you want to learn, I can teach you."

Old Man Zhao sat up straight and said.

"Ah?"

Lu Ming was a little disappointed when he heard the first part, but overjoyed when he heard the second. This was truly a twist of fate.

"What 'ah'? You don't want to?"

Old Man Zhao sounded a little displeased.

"Of course, I do. Thank you, old man."

Lu Ming quickly walked into the yard and bowed.

"No need for thanks. I find you likable, and besides, I'm just bored."

Old Man Zhao said, tossing the book in his hand onto a nearby table and standing up. "Follow me."

Lu Ming quickly followed.

Old Man Zhao's house didn't look large, but it held hidden wonders. Lu Ming followed his steps and soon arrived at a study.

Seeing the room piled high with books, he couldn't help but gape.

"May I ask what you did before, old man?"

Old Man Zhao had already disappeared into the sea of books, replying casually as he searched:

"I can't remember too far back. I just remember working as a scribe in the City Lord's Mansion for the last decade or so."

Lu Ming nodded. This explained why he had so many books; he was a man of letters, after all.

"Finally found them."

A moment later, Old Man Zhao emerged with three slightly yellowed books and tossed them to Lu Ming.

"These are three Character Manuals. They contain basically all the written characters."

Lu Ming quickly took them and opened one. He found it filled with densely packed characters, neatly arranged, and purely textual, with no annotations or explanations.

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

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

"Take a seat first."

Old Man Zhao returned to his lounge chair and gestured for Lu Ming to sit down as well.

Lu Ming didn't stand on ceremony and obediently sat down.

Old Man Zhao said again, "Open that blue one. I'll read a sentence, and you'll follow along and memorize it."

Lu Ming quickly did as he was told, but he was a little confused about how the other party could read without a book. As if seeing through his thoughts, Old Man Zhao pointed to his head.

Lu Ming understood instantly. It was all in his head. He immediately straightened up.

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

Lu Ming immediately read it aloud. Then, facing the book, he memorized the pronunciation and the shape of the characters.

Perhaps it was due to his transmigration, but his memory was exceptionally good. He memorized these few characters instantly, as if he had read them hundreds of times.

It left a deep impression.

In fact, he had discovered this about himself long ago. For example, the ordinary book he found in the stone coffin, the parts he had flipped through were stored in his mind like a recorded video.

Even though he didn't recognize the characters, he could perfectly copy them by comparison.

Now, this ability had been proven once again.

"Have you memorized it?"

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

"I have," Lu Ming said, nodding directly. It was just one sentence.

Old Man Zhao didn't say much more and began teaching the second sentence upon hearing this.

Lu Ming started memorizing again.

As time passed, a hundred characters were taught in the blink of an eye. Old Man Zhao said again:

"Alright, that's all for today. Make sure you completely memorize what we've covered so far."

Lu Ming looked down at the thickness of the three books. He calculated that at this pace, it would take several months to learn them all.

He didn't want to waste time, so he said, "Old man, I've already memorized the earlier parts."

"Oh?"

Old Man Zhao was taken aback, then said, "Then recite them for me."

Lu Ming recited the hundred characters word for word. Then, Old Man Zhao randomly picked some characters and asked him to write them on the ground with a wooden stick.

The result was, of course, flawless.

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

After the spot check, Old Man Zhao's eyes showed admiration, but he wasn't overly surprised.

Lu Ming secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that having a good memory wasn't some heaven-defying ability in this world. "It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, old man."

"Alright, stop with the flattery."

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

Lu Ming quickly focused and listened carefully.

After another thousand characters.

"Have you memorized everything from before?"

Lu Ming hesitated slightly. Old Man Zhao saw this and said, "Don't be so hesitant, kid. It's not that unusual to have a certain level of photographic memory."

Hearing this, Lu Ming stopped being shy and nodded, "I've memorized it all."

Naturally, he recited it again, and every character was correct.

"As expected, you have a good memory. For someone your age, with only a faint trace of Inner Qi, to achieve this proves you have extraordinary talent. At the very least, your comprehension is not bad."

The admiration in Old Man Zhao's eyes grew even stronger.

Lu Ming hadn't expected his situation to be seen through by the other party so easily, but he quickly came to terms with it. It was reasonable for someone with a higher realm to see through someone with a lower realm.

Of course, this didn't stop him from thinking that the old man in front of him was not simple.

"Old man, can I ask you a question?" he asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Ask away," Old Man Zhao said nonchalantly, stroking his beard.

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

"Hmm?"

Perhaps he hadn't expected Lu Ming to ask this question, but Old Man Zhao's hand, which was stroking his beard, paused. He had a strange look on his face.

"Why do you ask?"

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

"Because I heard people say that some peerless experts like to pretend to be ordinary people and wander the mortal world, and these experts are mostly old men."

"Do I look like one to you?"

Old Man Zhao sat up straight.

Lu Ming took a careful look and nodded, "Very much so."

"Like hell I do."

Lu Ming suddenly felt a rap on his head. "Where did you hear such nonsense? If you're talking about old people, Shuofeng City has plenty of them. Are they all hidden masters?"

Lu Ming rubbed his head, not arguing back.

Seeing his reaction, Old Man Zhao chuckled again and said:

"It's noon. You don't need to go back, just eat here. The kitchen is over there. Go make some food. Oh, and there's a lamb leg inside, cook that too."

"Alright."

Lu Ming saw there was no refusing, so he replied and got up to cook.

"This kid is getting more and more interesting."

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