Perfect Mastery Lightness Skill

Night Patrol Office.

The Cremation Ground courtyard.

Lin Qing and a large group of other boys had been called over again to move corpses.

After entering the courtyard, Lin Qing did not start work right away. He made a quick circuit, then settled on the corpse of a middle-aged man. The man was lean and muscular, with calluses on his hands. One glance told Lin Qing he had practiced martial arts.

Lin Qing reached out and grabbed him. Information appeared before his eyes. Sure enough, the man had been a Martial Artist.

[Deceased: Flying Thief Chen San]

[Realm: Bright Force]

[Deliverance progress: 0%]

[Reward: One Talent, martial art, or skill]

Delighted, Lin Qing took the corpse to the cremation room and quickly burned it to ash. A flood of fragmented memories poured into his mind.

"Sir, have mercy. Give us something to eat. Sir, my mother and I are starving."

"Fuck off! Get out of my way!"

A thin, dark-skinned woman was begging along the street with a child beside her.

"Mother, wake up! Please, wake up!"

In the cold wind, a boy held the woman and sobbed.

"I pity you, so I'll teach you a martial art. Remember: never use it to do evil."

"What do you want to learn?"

"Lightness Skill!"

"Chen San! You colluded with the Bai'e Cult and robbed the magistrate's Armory. You deserve ten thousand deaths. Surrender now!"

"Ha! Not one official is worth a damn. I'll never bow my head!"

The images faded. Lin Qing shook his head, his feelings tangled.

"When the granaries are full, people learn propriety; when they have enough food and clothing, they learn honor and shame."

"When you couldn't even eat your fill, how could you worry about right and wrong, honor or shame?"

As Lin Qing reflected on this, more information appeared before him.

[Please choose one martial art, skill, or Talent to copy]:

1. Water Skimming (Perfect Mastery)

Widely practiced in the waterways of Jiangnan and refined by thieves skilled at escape and scouts from the canal gangs. At Perfect Mastery, the practitioner's movements become drifting and nimble, making it an exceptional art for slipping free, infiltrating, and fleeing.

2. Lockpicking (Major Mastery)

An unusual skill of the martial world. Opens most locks silently within ten breaths and works on certain simple mechanisms.

3. Stealth (Proficient)

A practical skill of the martial world, distilled from years of moving at night and evading pursuit. Teaches the practitioner to conceal their trail, control their breathing and footsteps, and to some extent avoid patrols by ordinary guards and soldiers.

4. Night Vision (Tier Three · Fine)

A Tier Three Talent. The retina is more sensitive to faint light, giving the user far clearer vision than an ordinary person under moonlight, starlight, or dim lamplight.

Lin Qing's heart jolted. A Lightness Skill, two other skills, and a Talent—he wanted them all.

Water Skimming hardly needs explaining. With a Lightness Skill at Perfect Mastery, my chances of surviving will rise enormously.

Stealth would let me move more discreetly, and Night Vision would make me much stronger at night.

As for Lockpicking, it's a little less useful, but it's hardly useless.

After thinking it over, Lin Qing chose Water Skimming.

In practical terms, the Lightness Skill offered the most.

Dusk fell.

On his way back to the courtyard, Lin Qing willed Water Skimming into his Equipment Slot. His body suddenly shuddered, and a wealth of information surfaced in his mind.

He closed his eyes slightly, quietly absorbing it and feeling the changes in his body.

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Qing opened his eyes. He had completely mastered the Lightness Skill.

To reach Perfect Mastery in Water Skimming takes more than ten years of hard training. You can cross snow without leaving a trace, land without a sound, run as fast as a galloping horse, and leap up to or down from a building thirty feet high.

Seeing no one around, Lin Qing suddenly surged forward. In the blink of an eye, he had covered several strides, as though a strong wind were pushing him from behind, ready to lift him into the sky.

He spotted a tree nearby and leaped. His feet touched the trunk several times as he shot upward. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! He reached its upper branches, then jumped down from thirty feet. He rolled on landing, perfectly dispersing the force, and came away unhurt.

With this Lightness Skill, my chances of survival have risen enormously!

Lin Qing was overjoyed.

But...

He glanced at the panel. The Rebirth Record was at Level 1, 6.8%.

It's leveling too slowly. At Tier One, I only have one Equipment Slot and can swap it once a day. That's not enough! Lin Qing frowned. If I could reach Level 2, I could equip Eight Strikes of the Spirit Snake and Water Skimming at the same time. My strength would at least triple.

I need to make money.

Collecting corpses can level it up too, but it's too slow. At this rate, even a year won't be enough.

Gold, silver, and rare objects can speed it up, but medicinal supplements cost money too.

It all comes down to money!

Thoughts churned through Lin Qing's mind.

The next day.

Early that morning.

Lin Qing took leave and went home.

It had been twenty days since his last visit. With evil spirits and gangs running rampant in the city, he could not rest easy without checking on his family.

On the way, he stopped at a pharmacy and spent twenty coins on seven or eight common medicinal herbs.

When he reached home, Lin Cheng and Han Ying had not yet returned.

Lin Qing went into the kitchen and used a copper pot to brew two bowls of medicinal broth.

Before long, they came back. The scent of herbs greeted them as soon as they entered the courtyard.

"Xiao Qing, you're home." Han Ying's face lit up.

"What's that smell?" Lin Cheng asked curiously. His gaze fell on the two bowls of herbal broth on the table.

"Dad, Mom, it's called Longevity Soup. It treats aching legs in cold weather. Try it. Three bowls at most, and the medicine will cure you," Lin Qing said with a smile.

"Is it really that effective? Then I've got to try it." Lin Cheng's eyes brightened. His legs had troubled him for years, and nothing had ever cured them.

"Xiao Qing, wait here. I'll go to Old Zheng's and buy some pork. We'll have noodles with minced pork sauce today," Han Ying said, smiling as she headed out.

"Sounds good. Your noodles are my favorite, Mom." Lin Qing smiled.

At noon.

The family sat down to eat together. The noodles with minced pork sauce smelled so good that Lin Qing ate three large bowls in one go.

"Have some more," Han Ying urged.

"Mom, I've had enough. You two barely ate anything. Have some more yourselves," Lin Qing said with a smile.

"I'm full too," Lin Cheng replied. Then he suddenly sighed, picked up a bowl of noodles, and headed for the door.

"Dad, where are you going?"

"To take a bowl to Uncle Gao," Lin Cheng called back.

"Uncle Gao had his leg broken. If nobody helps him, he'll likely starve to death," Han Ying said suddenly.

"What happened?" Lin Qing frowned. Uncle Gao was their neighbor, a good-tempered man as far as Lin Qing remembered, who made a living doing odd jobs.

"Rong Futong demanded money to hold the White Emperor Assembly. Uncle Gao couldn't pay, and he was stubborn enough to talk back. They broke his leg on the spot. The magistrate's office won't do a thing about it. What kind of world is this?" Han Ying sighed.

"Scum like Rong Futong will get what's coming to them. Have we paid?" Lin Qing asked.

"Not yet." Han Ying shook her head. "Business at the general store has been poor. We can't come up with the money right now."

"Then put it off for now, Mom. Don't confront Rong Futong head-on," Lin Qing said.

"I know."

Before long, Lin Cheng returned, and the three of them chatted a little more.

Lin Qing got up and went out, Han Ying's words echoing in his mind.

Ordinary people's lives are worth nothing in this world. I need money. I need to get stronger!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Night covered the sky. Snow fell through the pale moonlight, which shone on the thin layer of snow below until the ground gleamed.

In a corner of the Artisans' Office courtyard, Lin Qing practiced his martial arts alone in the falling snow.

At times he leaped, at times he ducked low. He thrust his palms forward, then kicked back.

Every movement was precise. From a distance, his practice had a distinct beauty to it, like a martial arts performance from his previous life.

At one point, Lin Qing gave a low shout and struck a willow tree before him with his palm.

Crack!

Snow scattered from the trunk and landed on Lin Qing's sweat-covered forehead. It melted in an instant, without a sound.