"However, I must remind you, Young Master: these three internal arts are all Life Nurturing Techniques that focus solely on preserving health. Once mastered, they hold little power in combat. They are suitable for family inheritance and self-cultivation, not for fighting. Even at their peak, they only have two levels."
Duanmu Wan reminded him.
"Life Nurturing Techniques, and only two levels? Are there no true martial-world internal arts?"
Lu Sheng frowned slightly.
"There are, but such internal arts usually belong to sects and schools. Even if I gave one to you, Young Master, would you dare cultivate it?"
Duanmu Wan raised her beautiful eyes, looking at Lu Sheng with a faint smile.
Lu Sheng fell silent for a moment, then smiled as well.
"Indeed. I wouldn't dare cultivate that kind of internal art. Once a sect's internal art leaks out, it becomes a feud that will not end until one side dies."
"It's good that Young Master understands. Of course, there are also some low-grade internal art manuals, but compared to these three, those manuals take an extremely long time to cultivate and have no notable power. They are not as worthwhile as these three."
Duanmu Wan thought more highly of Lu Sheng for immediately admitting defeat. Before a beauty like her, nearly all men unconsciously developed a competitive spirit and a desire to prove themselves, striving to show their strongest and most heroic side no matter what.
Yet Lu Sheng could say the words "I don't dare" without changing expression. That was not something an ordinary person could do.
"These three internal arts do not quite meet my requirements."
Lu Sheng said in a low voice.
"Young Master Lu, don't be so quick to refuse. Internal art manuals are not cabbages—you cannot have them whenever you want."
Duanmu Wan smiled sweetly.
"I only happen to have a few books here now. After some time passes, they may no longer be available."
Lu Sheng did not understand what she meant.
"Can't manuals simply be copied several times and sold repeatedly?"
"That may be true, but everything I sell here is a solitary copy—the original." Duanmu Wan said confidently.
"Is that true?" Lu Sheng's heart stirred.
"Of course it's true. As for that Black Fiend Skill, Young Master Lu would do better not to cultivate it. The technique is incomplete to begin with, and it is a damaged copy passed down from more than a hundred years ago. Finding the missing later portions is almost impossible."
Duanmu Wan advised him.
Lu Sheng pondered for a moment.
"I wonder whether Miss Wan has any other manuals? I do not need the original; a copied version will do. One hundred taels per volume, how about it?"
Duanmu Wan's expression remained unchanged, and she still wore a faint smile.
"Young Master Lu is so obsessed with martial arts?"
"Yes. I am actually a martial arts fanatic." Lu Sheng answered seriously.
Duanmu Wan looked at him with great interest. The two stared at each other for a moment, then she suddenly burst into laughter.
"If that is the case, then payment and goods shall be exchanged at the same time."
"Goods and payment exchanged at the same time. I want the Jade Crane Skill."
Lu Sheng casually pointed at one of the books. He took out the banknotes from his clothes; this was the last of his savings, and once it was spent, there would be nothing left.
Duanmu Wan accepted the banknotes without even looking at them, slipped them into her sleeve, and set down the Jade Crane Skill.
"Then I wish Young Master swift success in your martial arts."
"Thank you for your auspicious words."
Lu Sheng rose and escorted her out.
After seeing Duanmu Wan to the main gate and watching her board the carriage and slowly depart, Lu Sheng finally let out a slight breath of relief.
For some reason, every time he faced Duanmu Wan, he felt a faint sense of wariness.
She was clearly only a weak woman and did not seem to know any martial arts, yet he simply felt that something was off.
He watched the carriage roll slowly onward until it disappeared at the end of the street.
Only then did Lu Sheng turn around.
Holding the Jade Crane Skill in his hand, Lu Sheng hesitated for a moment before deciding to first take a look at this internal art.
...Nine Links City Prefectural Office.
Within the square yamen courtyard, the main hall stood directly ahead. The ground was paved with slabs of white stone, and sunlight reflected off them in a faintly dazzling glare.
Inside the courtyard, more than ten vermilion pillars supported the red roof of the court hall.
Two rows of authority rods stood on either side of the hall, all painted red.
Prefect Song Duanchi sat above the court hall, his brows tightly furrowed. Behind him hung an enormous painting of blue sky and white sun, with an immortal crane spreading its wings in flight.
Two people stood on each side below, four in total.
They were the heads of the Zhao, Li, Lu, and Zheng Families.
These four families represented the forces behind more than half of all trades and industries throughout Nine Links City.
Lu Quan'an was one of them.
He wore a gold coin-patterned Yuanbao robe and a red jade gentleman's cap. One hand continually stroked the fine beard on his chin, while his eyes remained fixed on the Prefect seated above.
Including the Prefect, none of the five spoke.
Zhao Shide, head of the Zhao Family, was a bald old man with a powerfully built frame. His Zhao Family organized and controlled all the restaurants, brothels, music houses, and gambling dens in Nine Links City. Of the four, his power was the greatest.
Seeing that no one was speaking, his face twitched as he was the first to open his mouth.
"Lord Song, you asked us to find people and things, so we sent people to look. We originally thought it was only a small matter.
"But now more than a dozen of our people have vanished one after another. This is a matter of life and death.
"If you still refuse to tell the truth under such circumstances, then do not blame us for refusing to keep you company."
Lu Quan'an had already decided to keep his mouth shut.
The other two appeared to have made the same decision.
Prefect Song Duanchi's brows were tightly knit as he let out a long sigh.
"The matter of the item and the person came as an order from above. There was nothing I could do.
"Furthermore, strange incidents have appeared one after another these past few days, both inside and outside the city. I invited the abbot of Red Lotus Temple to perform rites, but they were of no use.
"The wandering martial artists I hired also never returned. I do not know whether they fled, or whether it has something to do with the Wang Family Village case outside the city, which still has not been closed.
"I gathered the four of you today because I wished to see whether you had any good solutions. This Nine Links City is, after all, everyone's Nine Links City."
Lu Quan'an and the other two still said nothing.
Zhao Shide merely gave a cold laugh.
"Let us set aside the matter of finding people for now. We can stop.
"As for the other matter, since Your Lordship has no solution, I have invited an expert of extraordinary skill to investigate. But surely it would not be appropriate for my family alone to pay the reward?"
"Since he is an expert, if he can truly solve the case, this official will give him the entire reward." The Prefect was the first to make his position clear.
"My family will contribute one thousand taels."
"So will mine."
Lu Quan'an hurriedly spoke up.
"Same here." The last family head followed the crowd and offered one thousand taels.
"Very well. Someone has temporarily taken the Xu Family case, but as for the Wang Family Village case..." The Prefect began to worry again.
"Is Wang Family Village not the case of that concubine throwing herself into a well? Why not simply close it according to the Great Song Law?"
The Li Family head said blandly.
"If only it were that simple. The problem is that even the concubine's corpse cannot be found now, and there is not even a trace of blood at the bottom of the well.
"Yet many people in the village swore that they personally saw the concubine jump into the well. We also did indeed find footprints beside the well."
The Prefect shook his head.
"Troubled times indeed..." Watching this unfold, Lu Quan'an felt a faint sigh rise within him.
The moment he thought of the terrified expression on his old friend from the Xu Family before his death, his heart suddenly clenched.
...Lu Estate.
Inside the bedroom.
Lu Sheng sat cross-legged on the bed, his mind focused. Following the method of the Jade Crane Skill, he began imagining an immortal crane in his chest, spreading its wings as though about to fly. It continuously flapped those wings, endlessly gathering strength, yet never took flight in one burst.
After circulating his breath with his eyes closed for a while, Lu Sheng slowly opened them again. He took the Jade Crane Skill manual from his clothes and opened it for a look.
On the first page was a clearly drawn immortal crane spreading its wings as though about to soar. That posture of wanting to rush into the heavens gave one a faintly oppressive feeling.
Lu Sheng stared at the drawing for a moment, then immediately closed his eyes and continued imagining the crane in his chest.
He repeated this three times.
The light outside the window gradually dimmed.
Xiao Qiao came to call him to eat several times. Lu Sheng refused every time, keeping the bedroom door shut as he continued sitting on the bed.
The crane he imagined became increasingly lifelike, increasingly real.
When night had just fallen at dusk, Lu Sheng, seated on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes.
Huff. He forcefully expelled a breath of turbid air.
He drew in a deep breath and clearly felt an ant-thin thread within his chest, slowly turning through his torso and forming a simple oval.
The oval turned clockwise, slowly and gently. Without careful attention, it was impossible to distinguish.
Lu Sheng relaxed in exhaustion and hurriedly recited in his heart.
Deep Blue.
The Modifier interface immediately appeared before his eyes.
Within the deep-blue Modifier frame, another line of tiny writing had appeared beneath the Black Tiger Saber Technique.
'Jade Crane Skill: Not Initiated.'
I have to hurry.
Lu Sheng quickly focused his mind and pressed the modification button, lest that sliver of breath sensation vanish.
As the button was pressed, the entire Deep Blue Modifier flashed once.
Lu Sheng hurriedly concentrated on the Jade Crane Skill.
Raise it by one level! he recited silently.
The status of the Jade Crane Skill suddenly jumped.
From Not Initiated, it instantly became Initiated.
Lu Sheng paused, feeling a faint stream-like thread appear inside his body and slowly flow down from his chest toward his lower abdomen.
An oval ring formed between his chest and lower abdomen. That thread of cool air continually circulated between the two.
"It has entered the first level... It seems the burden on my body is not too great."
Lu Sheng considered it, then focused again and imagined the Jade Crane Skill rising another level.
Cough, cough! His throat suddenly became dry and itchy, and he began coughing loudly.
A stifling heat rose from his lower abdomen and surged into his heart. Lu Sheng immediately became parched and thirsty.
"No, my body has become yin-deficient! Raising the Jade Crane Skill too quickly also harms the body, though it is not as overbearing as the Black Tiger Saber Technique."
Lu Sheng released his focus and allowed the Modifier to slowly fade away.
"So this is internal energy?"
He stretched out his legs and slowly climbed down from the bed.
Carefully sensing the Jade Crane Skill's internal energy constantly circulating between his chest and abdomen, he found it exceedingly novel.
"It feels as though there is an extra thread inside my body."
Lu Sheng tried to control that thread and discovered that it seemed unable to move elsewhere. It could only circle in a fixed path between his chest and abdomen.
As that sliver of internal energy circled, he could clearly feel his breathing become much easier and his spirit grow somewhat more vigorous.
"Now that the internal art has entered the first level, let me see." Lu Sheng took out the manual and examined the records written within.
Before you continue