Black Tiger Saber Technique Part 2

"This is a rudimentary saber technique taught to me by a Wandering Taoist I met in my early years. In the martial world, it can be considered third-rate.

"Don't look down on it just because it's third-rate. It has its merits. Even third-rate secret manuals are enough to enter the Library Pavilions of those great sects. Take it and study it carefully first. There are detailed posture diagrams inside as well. Try practicing according to them on your own. If, after reading it, you're sure you still want to learn it, come find me.

"But whether you practice it or not, remember to return this booklet to me."

Zhao Dahu carefully handed the booklet to Lu Sheng.

"Alright!"

Lu Sheng knew this was likely something Zhao Dahu had kept at the bottom of his chest.

The fact that he had handed it over so readily did not mean Lu Sheng could learn this saber technique just from the booklet.

Martial arts training was delicate work, requiring countless details to be corrected. It was not something one could casually learn from a booklet.

"Thank you, Uncle Zhao!"

Lu Sheng carefully accepted the booklet.

With the Black Tiger Saber booklet in hand, he went straight back to his bedroom, shut the door, lit a candle, and read through its contents alone.

The Black Tiger Saber Technique—though it was called a saber technique—actually had only three moves.

All three were attacks.

No defense, no evasion, only offense.

The first move: Tiger's Ferocity.

The second move: Tiger's Might.

The third move: Tiger's Roar.

The moves themselves were simple: three different saber trajectories that produced different effects and levels of power.

Lu Sheng only needed to look through them briefly to grasp the general idea. But simple as the moves were, their power depended on proficiency—on strength and speed.

And strength and speed, in turn, depended on coordinated exertion throughout the body.

Thus, these three saber moves came with a complementary cultivation method.

The so-called cultivation method was how one coordinated daily life, thoughts, and spirit to bring this saber technique to its greatest possible power.

A cultivation method was, in truth, simply a way to regulate one's spirit and inner state.

Moves regulated the external; cultivation methods regulated the internal. The two worked together, bringing essence, qi, and spirit into one.

The Black Tiger Heart Sutra had three layers. None of them had any special names—merely the first layer, second layer, and third layer.

Only after mastering the cultivation method and attaining the external moves' stated level of proficiency, according to the booklet, could one be said to have fully mastered this saber technique and brought it to great completion.

He gently closed the little booklet.

Lu Sheng sat by the table in silence for a long while, repeatedly committing every process and difficulty involved in the Black Tiger Saber Technique to memory, recalling them again and again.

Then he silently called out in his heart.

"Deep Blue."

At once, the interface of the Deep Blue Skill Modifier appeared before his eyes again.

Within the blue border were rows upon rows of tiny boxes.

In the box at the first row and first column, his current status was displayed.

'Lu Sheng—

Martial Arts:

Black Tiger Saber Technique: Not Initiated.'

The display was simple. There was only the Black Tiger Saber Technique he had just read through once.

"As expected. As expected, it wasn't an illusion!"

Lu Sheng's body abruptly stiffened.

Not from fear, but excitement! This world was far too dangerous.

He had originally only planned to be a useless layabout, living in comfort and dying in comfort. But now he felt as though he had fallen into a nest of snakes, with countless venomous serpents liable to slither out around him at any moment. One careless brush with danger, and he might become some supporting character in a legendary ghost story—dead beyond dead.

"But now, at least there's a little hope, if this modifier really works."

Lu Sheng suppressed the excitement and agitation in his heart and began recalling the functions of the cheat program he had once written.

The Deep Blue Modifier had only one function: modifying every martial arts skill mastered by the game's protagonist.

It could alter the realm of a martial art, directly raising it to great completion or even the pinnacle. But it could not modify proficiency, blood and qi, strength, speed, inner force, or any of that other miscellaneous stuff.

The only thing it could alter was the realm of martial arts one had already mastered! "I can see that the only thing in the boxes that can be modified is this Black Tiger Saber Technique. So how am I supposed to start modifying it?"

Lu Sheng began to fumble around and investigate.

Alone in his bedroom, his hands unconsciously flipped through the little booklet while his attention remained fixed on the Deep Blue Modifier in his mind.

He examined the modifier over and over, from top to bottom. Soon, at the very bottom of the modifier, he discovered a tiny, tiny button.

The button bore the words: Begin Modification.

"That's it."

With a thought, Lu Sheng imagined a finger pressing down hard on the button.

At once, the entire Deep Blue Modifier flickered.

He suddenly felt that he could freely control everything on the modifier.

The sensation was strange, but Lu Sheng did not dwell on it. He swiftly focused his attention on the Black Tiger Saber Technique.

The status behind Black Tiger Saber read: Not Initiated. The instant he focused on it, the status flickered.

It changed to Initiated.

Lu Sheng's heart leapt. It looked promising, so he continued staring at the Black Tiger Saber.

Before long, the Black Tiger Saber flickered again, becoming the first layer.

Then the second layer, the third layer—"It worked!" Lu Sheng was overjoyed. The modifier really was effective.

He was just about to withdraw his focus.

When the Black Tiger Saber suddenly flickered once more.

'Fourth layer!!'

The Black Tiger Saber Technique had actually jumped straight to the fourth layer! Boom!!

The instant the Black Tiger Saber Technique reached the fourth layer, Lu Sheng felt a thunderous roar erupt in his mind.

His head split with pain. His body felt as if it had been struck by lightning, and he began to shake violently.

Slumped over the table, he took a long time to catch his breath before he could painfully raise his head.

The skin beneath his nose was wet, carrying a faint smell of blood.

Lu Sheng gently touched it and looked. It was dark red blood.

His vision swam, and every inch of his body ached. He was weak all over; even standing up felt like a struggle.

He raised a hand and looked at it. The skin on the back of his hand was deathly pale, and his eyes could barely stay open. He desperately wanted to sleep.

"These are signs of severe depletion of qi and blood!" Though Lu Sheng knew no medicine, he still had some basic common sense.

He knew that his qi and blood had likely been depleted too severely.

Sitting beside the table, he barely managed to prop himself up and put away the booklet before lying down on the bed to rest.

"Qiao'er!"

"Young master? What are your instructions?"

Xiao Qiao asked softly from outside the door.

"Go... make me some Red Date Millet Porridge. Add some ginseng. The older, the better."

Lu Sheng spoke with difficulty.

Being the young master of a wealthy family had its advantages.

For ordinary families, not to mention aged ginseng, even common ginseng was merely a life-saving medicine. How could they eat it as a tonic the way Lu Sheng did?

Xiao Qiao answered and quickly ran off to the kitchen to have the porridge prepared.

Lu Sheng lay on his back alone in bed. Even after resting for a long while, his vision was still dark and his limbs weak.

Yet aside from those sensations, he stretched out his hand in surprise. A familiar, seasoned feeling—as though he had practiced saber techniques for many years—flowed from his palm into his mind.

At some point, the three moves and three layers of inner cultivation from the Black Tiger Saber Technique had become utterly familiar to him.

Not only did he thoroughly understand the several hidden variations within those three moves, he also understood perfectly how the inner cultivation was to coordinate with the moves—the various methods, realms, and applications involved.

"It really worked!?" Lu Sheng closed his eyes, wild joy filling his heart.

The experiment had succeeded.

Though it seemed to have consumed his body's qi, blood, and mental energy, gaining mastery of the Black Tiger Saber Technique was more than worth it.

"But the Black Tiger Saber clearly only has three layers. Where did this fourth layer come from?"

That was what Lu Sheng could not understand.

Moreover, the fourth layer of the Black Tiger Saber gave him a strangely familiar feeling in his current memories.

As if... as if he himself had created it with his own hands.

The concepts and ideas hidden within it were simply not something people of this world could have conceived. They seemed more like a fusion of basic principles from modern scientific mechanics.

Though he was only a civil servant, he had at least studied university courses like engineering mechanics and biomechanics before.

Before he could think further, Xiao Qiao had already brought over the porridge.

"I happened to make blood-nourishing porridge for Third Miss. It's mainly made with red dates too. Third Miss didn't want it, so I brought it to you first, Young Master. This is Lily and Red Date Soup. It calms the mind and nourishes the blood. I added ginseng as well. Would you like some?"

Xiao Qiao asked softly from outside the door.

"Bring it in."

Lu Sheng spoke in a low voice.

Only then did Xiao Qiao gently push open the door and walk in. But the moment she entered, she saw the small bloodstain on Lu Sheng's collar.

"Y-Young Master, what happened to you?!" Xiao Qiao cried out in shock, nearly dropping the porridge in her hands.

Lu Sheng gave a bitter smile.

"I'm fine."

"You're still saying you're fine! You coughed up blood!"

Xiao Qiao's face had gone pale with fright.

"I really am fine," Lu Sheng said helplessly.

Xiao Qiao hurried over and brought the porridge to Lu Sheng.

"Here, Young Master. Have some hot porridge first."

With her attending to him, Lu Sheng finished the entire bowl of porridge, one mouthful at a time.

His heart felt a little more at ease as well.

He began carefully recalling the assorted information and experience concerning the Black Tiger Saber Technique that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

It was strange. These things seemed as though they had been in his mind from the very beginning. No matter how difficult a point was, he could understand it with ease, and it even felt simple for his body to carry it out.

If his body had allowed it now, he would already have gone to the Training Ground to find a saber and practice.

Once Xiao Qiao saw that he had finished the porridge, she quickly left for the pharmacy to fetch the Lu Estate's Resident Physician. She was still worried about Lu Sheng's condition.

The Lu Estate had its own dedicated physician, a lean old man with a goatee.

Carrying a large medicine chest on his back, he hurried over.

The instant he sat by Lu Sheng's bed and took his pulse, his furrowed brow relaxed.

"It's nothing serious. Your qi and blood are merely depleted, and your mental energy has been greatly exhausted. Rest and recuperate for a few days, and you'll be fine."

He pulled out a sheet of paper and swiftly wrote down a tonic prescription.

"Take this to the pharmacy. Have the Young Master take it twice a day for ten days, and he should make a full recovery."

"Thank you, Physician."

Lu Sheng also breathed a sigh of relief. This was entirely consistent with his own assessment.

Before long, Lu Fang and Lu Quan'an arrived as well.

"What happened?" Lu Fang had come together with Lu Sheng's Second Mother and Third Mother.

Lu Sheng's mother had died of illness long ago.

Second Mother had been the one to care for him since he was young.

His Second Mother, Liu Cuiyu, had a gentle disposition and treated people exceedingly well. She showed no difference whatsoever between Lu Sheng and her own children.

"I just depleted a little qi and blood while practicing martial arts. It's nothing," Lu Sheng explained to each of his family members.

He was the eldest son of the household, the pillar who would inherit the family business in the future. If anything happened to him, it would naturally draw attention at once.