First String: Cold Pool Sinking Jade

Under Jiang Xue's perfunctory guidance, Li Wei tried gripping the sword hilt and gently pulling it to the right.

With a soft twang.

The gold ring on the left sprang open from the far end, forming a handguard that looked somewhat like the number "3."

Right after that...

Clang—!

Li Wei drew out a blade that looked as thin as a cicada's wing, roughly seventy centimeters long.

Except...

When she tried swinging it, the sword was as limp as a dead snake, clattering noisily.

"How am I supposed to use this thing? It's all floppy—wouldn't it be hard even to stab someone with it?" Li Wei raised her head, her pretty face full of question marks.

"Cough..." The butler's face flashed with a hint of awkwardness, but he dutifully reminded her, "Young Madam, this is a special alloy. You need to channel your qi and blood into it to use it."

"Huh? So that's how it works..."

Hearing that, Li Wei hurriedly mobilized her qi and blood, slowly trying to gather it in her right hand.

Immediately, the spot where the hilt met her palm grew faintly warm, accompanied by an extremely subtle vibration.

"Hey, hey, hey! Look, look! It's hard! It really got hard!"

Li Wei's eyes widened as she watched the silver-gray blade, originally limp and drooping, gradually straighten and harden from the handguard onward. She was thrilled beyond measure.

When she withdrew her qi and blood, the blade went limp again.

When she channeled it back in, it hardened again.

Holy shit! Is the high-martial world really this magical? No wonder so many people used to dream of becoming great heroes!

Pull it in and let it out, soft and hard... it was oddly stress-relieving.

The butler silently raised his head and stared at the sky, as though studying the shapes of the clouds.

Jiang Xue, meanwhile, sank into profound doubt—and self-doubt...

What she doubted was whether the Gu Family had gone mad, picking and choosing only to select this thing to replace her.

What she doubted about herself was whether she had gone mad too, actually trying to strike a mentally ill person psychologically...

By the time Li Wei had played enough and tucked the flexible sword back into her belt, Jiang Xue had completely run out of patience.

She swiftly pulled out a pile of items from that luxury handbag, setting them on the table with a clatter as she rapidly introduced their origins and uses in an even tone.

"This box of jewelry all bears the 'JX' signature. My mother gave me one every year before I turned sixteen."

"These two watches—one was from my younger brother, and one was from my father."

"This is the key to an Imperial Capital Bank vault. Inside are valuable gifts I received growing up, along with some cultivation resources that keep well."

"These are membership cards for various lounges and clubs in the Imperial Capital. Some have more balance on them, some less. I can't remember exactly how much."

"And this—a secure phone custom-made by the Jiang Family, protected against eavesdropping and tracking." Jiang Xue pushed over a phone that looked extremely high-end. "I deleted the fingerprint lock, so register your own. I kept all the 'useful' things in the photo album and folders. Don't go deleting things with your itchy fingers. If you blow your cover later, don't blame me."

At the sight of the phone, Li Wei's heart gave a violent thump. She abruptly turned to the butler beside her. "Um, sir, where's my phone?"

The butler showed a standard smile. "It has already been handed over to Young Master Cheng to take away. Madam instructed that, during the execution of the plan, she hopes you will refrain from using your previous communication devices for the time being, to avoid any accidents."

A layer of fine cold sweat instantly broke out across Li Wei's forehead. Her mind buzzed, and she nearly cried out.

But in the next second, she thought of something, and her whole body relaxed. Secretly, she patted her chest.

Fuck! Scared the life out of me! My own phone is still back on twenty-first-century Earth, and I haven't even had the chance to wreck the original owner's phone... false alarm, false alarm...

Wait... no! Before I transmigrated... I think... I didn't delete the study materials on my computer and phone!!!

Jiang Xue watched Li Wei tense up one moment and relax the next, the expression on her face changing as though she were acting in a play. It only irritated her more.

"Hey!"

Li Wei was still caught in the turmoil of her own thoughts and did not react.

"I said, hey!" Jiang Xue raised her voice.

"Huh?" Li Wei snapped out of it as though waking from a dream. She looked at Jiang Xue blankly, forcing herself to stay calm. "Oh, oh, go on. Keep going, keep going!"

Jiang Xue took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to explode, taking out the final item in her handbag.

It was an utterly ordinary-looking tablet. The brand was commonplace, the model old, and it looked as if it had been used for several years.

"What's this?"

Amid a pile of things that were obviously worth a fortune, the sudden appearance of this thing felt a little out of place to Li Wei.

But Jiang Xue wore an expression that said, You have no eye for value, and sneered. "Four years ago, when I went abroad, Jiang Xinyue—oh, that's my Grandmother—gave this to me. It contains the complete first form of the Nine Moon Reflection Swords, 'First String: Cold Pool Sinking Jade'—hey! What are you doing?"

"I'm taking a look. What else would I be doing?"

Li Wei did not wait for Jiang Xue to finish at all. She reached out and snatched up the tablet, swiping open the screen—there was actually no password, and it went straight to the main interface.

The UI on the screen was frighteningly simple: just a gear icon for system settings, and another icon depicting "a little figure practicing swordsmanship beneath the moon." Nothing else.

"Something this important, and you didn't even set a password?" Li Wei asked curiously.

Jiang Xue sneered. "If I didn't remove it beforehand, how were you supposed to use it?"

"Oh my, you really thought things through. Thumbs-up for you!"

Li Wei gave her a perfunctory reply, but her finger had already tapped the icon of "the little figure practicing swordsmanship."

There was no flashy loading animation. A table of contents popped up directly, laid out with the sternness of some academic paper.

Uh... this was nothing like the cultivation manual I'd imagined.

Part One: Overview

Chapter One: Characteristics of Cold Pool Sinking Jade 04

Section One: Detailed Explanation of High-Speed Characteristics 05

Section Two: Detailed Explanation of Silent Characteristics 13

Section Three: Killing Intent Concealment 22

Part Three: Application of Force

Part Seven: Footwork

Chapter One: Sword Wielding and Evasive Movement 394

Chapter Two: Footwork and the Circulation of Blood and Qi 401

Part Twelve: First String—The Embryonic Form of Sword Intent

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't have trouble finding it next time.

Holy shit, this was the first form of the Nine Moon Reflection Swords? Eight hundred and forty-nine pages in total—it was probably even thicker than the Xinhua Dictionary, wasn't it?

Wait, something seemed to be flashing.

Only then did Li Wei remember her own system. She hurriedly focused and called up the panel.

Name: Li Wei/Li Wei

Realm: Quasi-Martial Artist

Blood and Qi: 75(+)

Combat Method: First String: Cold Pool Sinking Jade (Recording 0.1%)

Mind Method: (Collapsed)

Abyss Essence: 17

What the...

Li Wei stared at the change in the Combat Method field. Her eyes first widened, then lit up.

She experimentally swiped across the tablet and turned to the next page.

Combat Method: First String: Cold Pool Sinking Jade (Recording 0.2%)

It actually worked!

She had not even carefully read what those densely packed tiny words on the tablet said, but as long as she turned a page, the system's recording progress bar increased!

Swipe, swipe, swipe!

Li Wei's fingers immediately moved as if fitted with electric motors, frantically sliding across the screen.

0.3%

0.4%

1.1%

3.9%

Seeing Li Wei looking utterly possessed, Jiang Xue's lips curled in mockery.

"I'm saying, that's enough. This thing is just proof of identity, for you to take back and report in with. You want to actually learn Cold Pool Sinking Jade? Keep dreaming. Just behave yourself and wait until you get back for Jiang Xinyue to initiate you!"

She paused, a glint of amusement at someone else's misfortune flashing through her eyes, before slowly adding, "Oh, right. If that little slut Jiang Yao insists on 'sparring' with you after you get back, just kneel and beg for mercy. Don't worry—she knows her limits. At most, she'll leave you bedridden for a few days."

Li Wei flipped through the screen increasingly fast, her fingers nearly leaving afterimages. How could she have time to listen to Jiang Xue babble on?

Whatever Jiang Xue said, Li Wei treated it as wind past her ears, deaf to every word.

37.2%

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Did you hear me or not?!" When had Jiang Xue ever been ignored like this? Her eldest-young-lady temper flared, and her voice abruptly rose.

The noise was starting to irritate Li Wei. Without even raising her head, she snapped, "Shut up! Can't you see I'm busy learning swordsmanship?"

45.7%

"Learning swordsmanship? You call this learning swordsmanship? Are you learning with your mind? Or scanning it with your eyes?" Jiang Xue laughed in exasperation, folding her arms as she watched coldly.

Seeing that Li Wei still ignored her, Jiang Xue could not help shooting the butler a sidelong glance. "Your Madam Gu is really something. Even the sacrificial scapegoats she finds are peerless geniuses seen only once in five thousand years."

The butler was somewhat embarrassed as well and tried to persuade her. "Young Madam, once you return to the country, the Jiang Family Head will give you Consecration of Power Transmission. There's no need to learn these things now. We have less than seven days left, and there are still many rituals and rules you need to master as quickly as possible..."

Li Wei said, "Wait a moment. I'm about to learn it."

The butler said, "..."

69.9%
73.4%

Jiang Xue kept sneering at the side, while the butler wore an expression that said, "I don't understand, but I'm deeply shaken."

89.5%
92.1%
99.9%
100%!!!

Combat Method: First String: Cold Pool Sinking Jade (Successfully Recorded) (Not Initiated 0/10+)

Li Wei abruptly tossed aside the tablet and shook out her slightly sore thumb, joy blooming in her heart.

Looking at the mere 17 essence points remaining on the panel, she did not hesitate to spend 10 points, tapping the "+" after "Not Initiated" ten times in a row.

Buzz—

A massive, complicated stream of information flooded into her mind in an instant. It felt somewhat like a hangover headache, but was entirely within what she could bear.

In no more than the blink of an eye, she had already gained an initial grasp of "Cold Pond Sinking Wall." It felt as though she had painstakingly practiced it for three to five years herself. Every technique for exerting force, every detail of the footwork, every trace of blood and qi circulation was crystal clear.

She could even recite all eight hundred-plus pages of illustrated text without missing a single word!

This so-called "first form" was not merely a simple move or stance. It was a complete combat system that included movement techniques, force exertion, blood and qi circulation, and even a touch of mental interference!

It felt a little like an enhanced version of Ah Fei's Fast Sword and the Evil-Repelling Sword Manual: swift footwork, swift sword strikes, and barely any sound when used.

Li Wei formed a sword with two fingers and made a few random gestures.

There were no flashy flourishes—only the simplest thrusts, lifts, cuts, points, and wipes, direct and efficient.

Below the fourth rank of martial artists, paired with the Jiang Family's special cicada-wing flexible sword, this thing was practically a great killing weapon! Fast and covert, without much expenditure either!

Taking another look at the system panel, Li Wei felt utterly delighted.

Combat Method: First String: Cold Pool Sinking Jade (Initiated 0/30+)