Karma Sound-Tracing

[Refining complete]

[Obtained green Affix: Karma Sound-Tracing]

[Obtained Energy Points: 2]

Looking at the Affix he had refined, Lu Jing'an immediately checked it.

As his thoughts stirred, information about the new Affix flooded into his mind.

[Karma Sound-Tracing] (Green)

[Note]: This Affix can capture sounds connected to you according to the law of causality.

Its listening range corresponds to your strength, while its duration corresponds to the strength of your mental power.

Pairing it with a martial art that enhances hearing can produce even better results.

After reading the description,

Lu Jing'an felt he had made the right gamble this time.

The Affix's ability was a vast improvement over the Phonograph.

Its use was essentially the same.

But the Affix let him set events as well as names.

He could even set the three characters of [Lu Jing'an] as the core cause.

That way,

anyone within his range who mentioned his name

would have nothing to hide from him.

He could even hear their conversations.

Its power was unquestionably a whole tier greater.

After looking it over,

Lu Jing'an immediately began to test it.

He set his own name as the [Cause].

The instant he finished setting this [Cause],

he felt his mental power unfurl like a spiderweb, spreading soundlessly.

In a flash,

voices discussing him from all across Lu Mansion surged in like a tide:

"Young Master was practicing his punches until midnight again today..."

"Does this count as Young Master turning over a new leaf..."

"I heard the Li Family's marriage proposal party will arrive tomorrow..."

"The Lin Family really doesn't know what's good for them..."

A flood of information instantly overwhelmed his senses.

Lu Jing'an felt his temples throbbing.

Two warm streams trickled from his nostrils.

He hurriedly severed the connection.

His pale face appeared in the mirror.

Lu Jing'an realized that this ability was indeed powerful.

But without the corresponding physical and mental strength to support it,

even the mightiest ability was beyond his capacity to wield.

His first attempt had failed.

Only after resting for a while did Lu Jing'an attempt it a second time.

This time, Lu Jing'an was much more cautious.

He no longer tried to listen to everything that mentioned him.

Instead, Lu Jing'an focused his listening on a specific person.

Chen Xuan.

Lu Jing'an had set his sights on his master.

After all, the people the Li Family was sending to investigate would also be martial artists.

He had to test whether a martial artist could detect his Affix's ability.

Once he had chosen his target,

his divine sense quickly spread out and found Chen Xuan.

From this, Lu Jing'an discovered that the ability seemed useful for finding people, too.

Of course, the person he wanted to find had to be within Lu Jing'an's detectable range.

If they were outside it, there was nothing he could do.

Lu Jing'an soon found Chen Xuan in his own courtyard.

Through the strange vision formed by sound waves,

Lu Jing'an "saw" his master lying fully clothed.

This mysterious experience of using his ears in place of his eyes

made Lu Jing'an hold his breath.

He cautiously kept his distance at about a zhang.

Only after confirming that Chen Xuan's breathing was long and steady, as if he had fallen asleep,

did he dare slowly approach.

But when he came within about a foot,

Chen Xuan abruptly opened his eyes!

In the darkness, Chen Xuan's eyes seemed to flash with light.

What was more, he was looking straight toward Lu Jing'an.

It gave Lu Jing'an quite a fright.

The next moment, a burst of silent force erupted,

cutting off everything completely.

At once, Chen Xuan vanished from Lu Jing'an's ears.

More precisely,

he hadn't disappeared entirely.

After all, not every sound had been cut off,

so Lu Jing'an could still see Chen Xuan dimly.

When he sensed his master move, Lu Jing'an hurriedly severed the connection.

Before the connection was completely lost,

Lu Jing'an "saw" his master burst through the window like a fierce eagle,

lunging straight toward his position!

After severing the connection, Lu Jing'an immediately lay down on his bed, steadying his breathing as he began to rest.

If this ability was exposed, there would be no way to explain it.

So the best solution was simply to keep it hidden.

About ten seconds later,

Lu Jing'an heard Chen Xuan's footsteps approaching.

Clearly, Chen Xuan hadn't bothered to muffle them. He wanted Lu Jing'an to hear him.

Lu Jing'an played along, springing up from the bed.

Then he went to the door and opened it.

"Master, what brings you here so late?" Lu Jing'an asked, feigning surprise.

Chen Xuan glanced at Lu Jing'an and, after confirming he was unharmed, said,

"I just sensed that someone seemed to be listening in on me."

"The direction came from your side."

"So I came to check on you."

Hearing that someone had been listening in, Lu Jing'an immediately grew serious, too.

"Who would dare spy on Master inside the Lu Family's estate?"

"Was it someone from the Lin Family?"

"Or a martial artist sent ahead by the Li Family?"

Chen Xuan looked at Chen Xuan again, then shook his head. "I'm not sure."

"Once I noticed them, they immediately fled."

"I chased them over here, but then I couldn't sense them at all."

Lu Jing'an thought, Good thing I severed the connection just now. If I'd waited any longer, Chen Xuan might have traced it back to me.

"Maybe they realized you'd detected them, Master, and fled in a hurry," Lu Jing'an analyzed with a perfectly straight face.

Chen Xuan didn't dwell on the matter.

He only told Lu Jing'an to stay in for the next few days,

then turned and left.

After confirming his master had gone,

Lu Jing'an finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Back in bed,

Lu Jing'an began to consider what precautions to take when he listened in for real.

He had to maintain a safe distance from any expert he was monitoring.

Better yet, he could shift his attention to the people they were talking to.

That would greatly reduce the chance of being discovered.

As he pondered, drowsiness crept over him.

The repeated listening,

followed by Chen Xuan startling him just now,

had left Lu Jing'an thoroughly exhausted.

The next day, with the sky barely bright,

Lu Jing'an got up right on time again.

He practiced both his horse stance and his punches, without missing either.

By now, everyone in the Lu Family was used to the young master's diligence.

If anyone dared call Lu Jing'an a wastrel now,

they would certainly set them straight.

What kind of wastrel got up before dawn to practice martial arts,

practicing until his tiger's mouth split and bled?

Lu Jing'an still had breakfast with Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan didn't bring up what had happened the previous night.

Lu Jing'an couldn't tell whether Chen Xuan had been fooled,

or simply felt there was no point pursuing someone who had already escaped.

Lu Jing'an had just finished breakfast

when Chen Heqing and Situ Yiyun arrived together.

More precisely,

they had arrived much earlier.

They had simply waited for Lu Jing'an to finish breakfast

before asking someone to announce them.

As soon as Situ Yiyun saw Lu Jing'an, he said,

"Young Master Lu, I thought it over carefully again after I got home yesterday. I feel there are still some areas that could be improved."

"Situ Yiyun, how can you be so shameless?" Chen Heqing was furious with Situ Yiyun, too.

Lu Jing'an interrupted Situ Yiyun as well. "Master Situ, you can tell me about your improvements later. It's Master Chen's turn today."

Situ Yiyun could only retreat with an awkward smile.

The time that followed was taken up by Chen Heqing talking at length as he instructed Lu Jing'an.

Chen Heqing explained everything in great detail, too.

He could truly be said to have taught Lu Jing'an his Burning Art.

Lu Jing'an listened with great concentration.

But unfortunately,

no Affix appeared on Chen Heqing.

Lu Jing'an thought over the situation.

There were probably two reasons Chen Heqing had no Affix.

The first was that Chen Heqing truly had no particular area of expertise.

The second was that Chen Heqing's Affix might be similar to Chen Xuan's,

but of a lower quality.

Since Lu Jing'an had already obtained a high-quality one,

a low-quality version naturally wouldn't appear again.

Although there was no Affix to grind.

When they sparred, Lu Jing'an was still extremely serious.

Affixes could never fully replace the experience of real combat.

After all that back and forth,

it was already noon.

Lu Jing'an also had his steward give Chen Heqing five hundred silver dollars.

Those five hundred silver dollars meant far more to Chen Heqing than they did to Situ Yiyun.

Situ Yiyun had more disciples, after all.

Chen Heqing had fewer disciples than Situ Yiyun.

On top of that, Chen Heqing was teaching two promising students of Ancient Martial Arts for free and had invested quite a lot in medicinal herbs.

That left Chen Heqing's finances in an even more precarious state.

While Lu Jing'an was having lunch,

someone came in and whispered a few words in his ear.

Everyone present was a Martial Cultivator.

Though the voice had been low, both Chen Heqing and Situ Yiyun still heard it.

It was nothing else.

They were simply informing Lu Jing'an

that the Li Family's wedding-gift procession had already entered Yinshan County.

Seeing Lu Jing'an's face darken,

Situ Yiyun and Chen Heqing both pretended they hadn't seen or heard a thing.