Taiji Vajra Art

Without a doubt.

Jiang Jingnian was not from this world.

He had transmigrated from Earth—a university student from a modern, peaceful society who had received a proper higher education.

In his previous life, Jiang Jingnian had died differently from most accident victims. He had not been sent flying by some hundred-ton truck.

Instead, it had happened during an extreme sports competition sponsored by Red Bull.

At a critical moment, he made an operational error, and tragedy followed.

In that instant of accident, the excruciating pain lasted only briefly, because he soon lost consciousness and sank into eternal darkness.

When he opened his eyes again—

Jiang Jingnian had arrived in this world, one that seemed both familiar and unfamiliar, like a certain era from his previous life.

The end of a dynasty.

The last emperor had abdicated, and the imperial system that had stretched across countless dynasties was no more.

Warlords fought in chaotic battles, and the people could barely survive.

The Western powers carved up land and territory.

Beyond that, there were many other differences.

For one, martial arts actually existed in this world. Moreover, from the rumors he had heard on the streets, there were also terrifying Demon Wraiths.

The Demon Wraiths were all hearsay for now, so there was no need to mention them.

As for martial arts—

They were not the fighting techniques or boxing styles of his previous life, but truly powerful arts capable of condensing qi and blood, even sending force qi through the air to wound people from a distance.

As for why he, now merely a rickshaw puller—

A laborer at the very bottom of society—

Could come into contact with martial arts at all?

That was because the reason he had been reborn in this body was that its previous owner had passed through the inner district of the Stockade while carrying passengers. He had witnessed several martial arts experts fighting to the death and had been shaken apart by the residual force qi they emitted, his heart meridians shattered alive.

The terror of martial arts truly killed without a trace.

He had not even taken a direct hit, nor had anyone targeted him. It was merely the peripheral aftermath released by others exchanging blows.

Thus, the rupture of his heart meridians had not been obvious at the time. It was like cracks appearing in porcelain—it would not completely shatter at once, but carried a delayed effect.

The previous owner had not died immediately. Yet when he staggered home and lay down, he suddenly could not hold on any longer.

When he opened his eyes again—

The soul within had already been replaced.

Or perhaps it had fused with a soul from another world.

Jiang Jingnian had inherited most of the previous owner's memories.

As for why he could come back to life despite his body's shattered heart meridians—

That was perhaps because, when he transmigrated, he awakened some kind of trait that repaired his lifeless shell.

Namely, the attribute panel before him.

"By now, I've been in this world for nearly two months."

"Last month, I shamelessly asked Fifth Uncle to pull some strings and see whether he could get me into a martial arts school. But in this world, martial arts are not taught to outsiders... No, to be precise, martial arts are not taught to the poor."

"In this concession, without a certain family background or a permit signed by the foreign headquarters, I can't even become a menial worker at a martial arts school."

"Even trying to switch to another line of work is harder than climbing to the sky, let alone anything else."

"And the concessions are already like this. Other places are even worse—either war or famine so severe that people eat people. The previous owner's parents back home had risked everything to send him into Peace City, all for the sake of finding a way to survive."

In his previous life, Jiang Jingnian had always been an adventurous young man. He sought thrills and adaptability; otherwise, he would not have died in an extreme sport.

So now that he was living a second life—

He would not blindly seek the limelight.

But neither would he crouch low and slowly develop.

This was a chaotic age where having today did not mean having tomorrow.

He remembered clearly how the previous owner had died.

An honest, dull-witted rickshaw puller who did not like to talk, who did not dare make a sound even when customers haggled him down or cursed him out.

He had not offended any enemy, nor had he done anything conspicuous.

He had merely passed by.

Then he had been caught up in someone else's deadly clash.

Before he could even understand what had happened—

He died.

Like a weed by the roadside, he died without a sound, died with no one knowing.

"This world is dangerous... but it's exciting too."

"And I'm not without something to rely on."

Jiang Jingnian watched as, after the ring was devoured and refined, the technique entry on the attribute panel before him gradually changed from locked charcoal-gray to pale blue.

Without hesitation—

He directly touched the technique slot with his consciousness.

The trait entries of this attribute panel gave him the possibility of escaping hardship.

Over the two months since his transmigration, through repeated probing and experimentation, he had discovered that he could appraise and fuse special items, causing one of his attributes to advance and leap forward.

For example, aside from the [Taotie] trait he had possessed from the moment he transmigrated—

Both his [Archetype] and [Technique] attributes could advance by using the [Taotie] trait to devour special items.

In gaming terms from his previous life—

That was "allocating points."

As for allocating points, there was a certain randomness to it.

The first special item he had bought on credit was a jade thumb ring. It extracted a trace of gentle jade essence and added it to [Tai Chi Fist (Proficient)], causing [Tai Chi Fist] to advance into [Tai Chi Nourishing Life Technique].

As for where Tai Chi Fist had come from, he had learned the twenty-four-form simplified Tai Chi Fist in a university club during his previous life. Here, it had zero combat power.

After advancing into [Tai Chi Nourishing Life Technique], it could barely be considered an entry-level art, capable of condensing threads of qi and blood.

That was also why he could pull his rickshaw faster and more powerfully than the other rickshaw pullers.

Of course, even with abundant qi and blood and vigorous energy, he was still only a strong ordinary person, not a martial artist.

After all, no changes had yet occurred in his [Archetype].

As for the special items he acquired afterward, if they did not suit the technique slot and could not be added to [Technique], he fed them all to [Archetype].

Feeding them directly to [Archetype] did bring improvement, but it was nowhere near as great as improving a technique, and there was a limit.

For instance, after about six special items, it was now stuck above ninety percent. No matter how much more it devoured, it could not advance directly.

After all, the Archetype entry was gray-black.

It could not be selected.

Based on literary works and film dramas from his previous life, Jiang Jingnian guessed that his body was something like a container, while Archetype was the "water" inside. His capacity had reached its limit and could no longer hold more "water."

As for how to improve the container—

That might still depend on [Technique].

After [Tai Chi Nourishing Life Technique] absorbed that trace of Metal Essence from the copper ring, its icon immediately underwent a dramatic change.

Moments later, it shattered.

Then it turned into strange symbols filled with an air of mystery and utter chaos, before gradually transforming into words from his previous life that Jiang Jingnian could understand.

[Tai Chi Vajra Art]

Only two words differed: one was nourishment, the other Vajra. The difference was as vast as heaven and earth.

Jiang Jingnian closed his eyes directly. In an instant, scenes of arduous martial training appeared in his mind. Every figure was him, densely packed and endless beyond measure.

In the end, all those figures practicing martial arts with bitter effort—

Merged into one.

The figure in his mind finished its routine and sat down. Behind it, the faint phantom of a Golden Bell Shield formed.

The phantom of the Golden Bell Shield replaced the phantom of White Crane Spreads Its Wings that had originally remained in his mind, representing how the technique he cultivated had transitioned from a nourishing art into a Vajra Art.

When he opened his eyes again—

A trace of golden radiance had appeared in those pitch-black eyes.

Jiang Jingnian rose to his feet, wolfed down the remaining half of the flatbread in his hand in a few bites, felt the fullness in his belly, then looked at his panel again.

[Name: Jiang Jingnian]

[Trait: Taotie]

[Technique: Tai Chi Vajra Art (Beginner)]

[Archetype: Ordinary Person (99%)]

Both the Technique and Archetype entries had changed to some extent.

Especially the Archetype entry. The bottleneck that had been stuck at ninety-five for so long had finally loosened after the technique advanced.

"After the technique advanced, my body seems to have changed as well."

"My qi and blood are flowing faster and more vigorously. Besides that... I seem to have become harder?"

He looked at his hands.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but his callused palms and the backs of his hands had somehow gained a faint bronze sheen.

Sure enough.

Going all in was a kind of wisdom.

Putting every bit of borrowed money into himself was the only way to truly gain returns.