Top-Tier Comprehension

Dark and cold.

When Xu Bai woke up, he found himself lying in a dark, damp place.

The floor was covered in withered yellow straw, but it could not ward off the chill.

A flood of chaotic memories surged in. Once he had absorbed them, he understood his surroundings.

He had transmigrated.

That was his first thought.

He had been captured.

That was his second thought.

This was Sheng County of the Great Chu Kingdom, though not within Sheng County itself. It was on a mountain far from the county, called Dog Tail Mountain because its peak resembled an upside-down dog's tail.

There was a bandit stronghold on Dog Tail Mountain called Fierce Tiger Stronghold.

He was currently in Fierce Tiger Stronghold's prison.

The original owner of this body had been an escort master at Sheng County's Fulong Escort Agency. The agency had just accepted an escort job, and the original owner had left Sheng County with the group.

But before they had gone very far, the bandits of Fierce Tiger Stronghold had robbed them.

They had deliberately avoided Fierce Tiger Stronghold, yet who could have imagined that the stronghold seemed to know their location beforehand and had laid an ambush in advance?

The escort agency had several skilled fighters, but before the battle even began, they were shot dead by a rain of arrows.

The original owner and more than a dozen escort masters had been captured alive and thrown into Fierce Tiger Stronghold's prison.

In Fierce Tiger Stronghold's words, the living could still bring in ransom money, which was why they had survived until now.

Having sorted through all his thoughts, Xu Bai braced himself against the ground and stood up. Pain throbbed from the back of his head.

His hands were shackled in chains, one end of which was embedded in the wall.

A hellish start—nothing more than that.

Xu Bai understood his current situation very clearly.

Others had family to ransom them. He had nothing.

His entire family was dead, and he even lived in the house left behind by his deceased uncle. Who would come to ransom him?

Fortunately, the original owner had not been stupid enough to reveal any of that.

Otherwise, he would not even have had time to transmigrate before going straight to see the King of Hell.

The back of his head still hurt. Xu Bai could not help touching it and found a large swollen lump.

What a lack of common sense. Hitting someone in the back of the head—how is that knocking them unconscious? One wrong move and they'll be dead! he complained inwardly.

The iron chains were heavy. More than a dozen fellow captives beside him were bound just like him.

Standing like this made his arms ache.

Xu Bai followed the chain with his gaze, and his eyes suddenly froze.

He had only glanced over casually, yet he discovered what seemed to be rows of scratches at the end of the chain.

The scratches had been carved into the wall, leaving white marks that stood out especially clearly in the dim surroundings.

This place was so dark that there was not even a window. Aside from the oil lamp beyond the bars, only this wall seemed strange.

At first, Xu Bai thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He rubbed them hard and looked again.

There were indeed disorderly scratches on the wall. His eyes had not deceived him.

Trapped in a desperate situation, he had no mind to worry about anything else. He took a few steps to the wall and could not help reaching out to touch it.

The instant his hand touched the wall, something strange appeared before Xu Bai's eyes.

A faint blue glow gathered together, eventually forming a golden progress bar, empty in the middle.

He tried releasing the wall, wanting to see whether the progress bar would disappear.

After he let go, the progress bar remained before his eyes. It even continued to rise slowly instead of vanishing.

"What is this thing?"

Startled, Xu Bai reached out and touched it again.

The progress bar still rose slowly. It had nothing to do with whether he was touching it.

Whether he touched the wall or not, it rose at the same speed.

Xu Bai fell into thought. He tried shifting his gaze away, then after a while, looked back at the wall.

This time, the progress bar did not change. Only when his gaze landed on the wall did it begin rising again.

"So it rises as long as I look at it?" Xu Bai guessed.

Though he did not know what the progress bar represented, with such a strange thing before him, he had to try it.

In the dark prison, Xu Bai stood with chains on his hands, staring unblinkingly at the scratches on the wall.

The progress bar rose slowly. He had no idea how long passed before it finally filled.

When the progress bar reached its limit, a flash of golden light streaked past.

Xu Bai only felt his head buzz. A strange current appeared within his body, while words formed from blue light appeared before his eyes.

By observing the blade marks on the wall, you have comprehended the Bone Severing Blade Technique and Bone Severing Heart Sutra, and automatically raised them to maximum level.

After those words faded away, another row of text replaced them.

Name: Xu Bai.

Realm: Ninth Rank Martial Artist.

Bone Severing Blade Technique (Tier 1): Maximum Level.

Bone Severing Heart Sutra (Tier 1): Maximum Level.

Comprehension: Maximum Level.

Is this my system daddy?

Xu Bai was stunned for a moment, then quickly came to his senses and lowered his head in thought.

From the pale blue text just now, he had learned that the scratches on the wall were blade marks. And by observing those blade marks, he had obtained a blade technique and a heart sutra?

The words "Tier 1" and "Maximum Level" after the blade technique proved that the Bone Severing Blade Technique was not high-ranked, but he had already mastered it automatically.

As for the comprehension listed afterward, maximum comprehension was perhaps the source of his golden finger.

As long as he stared at something until the progress bar filled, he could use his comprehension to acquire abilities.

Everything was tied to comprehension.

"Ninth Rank Martial Artist..."

Xu Bai sensed the current within his body continuously circulating.

Searching through the memories in his mind, he learned that this was the True Qi unique to Martial Artists.

More importantly, his Bone Severing Blade Technique and heart sutra had already reached maximum level.

Based on the original owner's memories, he now understood what Martial Artists were.

The original owner had only been an Unranked Martial Artist. Put simply, he only knew a few crude farmhand tricks and could deal with two or three strong men at most.

If there were more strong men than that, he would be drenched in sweat.

But things were different now. Xu Bai was now a Ninth Rank Martial Artist.

Compared with an Unranked Martial Artist, a Ninth Rank Martial Artist was one in the heavens and one in the earth.

Xu Bai lowered his head and looked at the chains around his hands, thinking that it would be nice if he had a blade.

With a golden finger in hand, his thoughts began to stir.

According to Sheng County's intelligence, the chief of Fierce Tiger Stronghold was an Unranked Martial Artist.

He was now Ninth Rank. As long as he planned properly, escaping this place would not be a problem.

Better still, he could play things even more wildly.

More than a dozen fellow captives still lay around him. Dragging his chains, Xu Bai walked over to the bars.

"Someone! Is anyone there?"

Xu Bai's shout echoed through the silent prison.

Before long, two bandits carrying gleaming longswords walked in from outside.

"What are you yelling for? Keep it up and I'll give you two cuts and finish you off!"

Xu Bai said nothing. His eyes turned toward one of the bandits.

That bandit held a stack of paper and a brush in his hands.

With Xu Bai causing a commotion, the unconscious escort masters around him woke up as well.

They knew where they were. All of them kept silent; some even showed terror on their faces and shrank into the corners.

"Behave yourselves." The bandit holding the paper and brush opened the door and threw them onto the floor. "Write honestly. Write down your circumstances. Once the ransom comes, you'll be safe."

The gleaming longsword reflected the light, radiating a chilling coldness.

Xu Bai stared at the paper and brush on the ground, but another thought occupied his mind.

They would be safe if they wrote?

Not necessarily.