Bookworm Heart

"Good thing I reacted in time."

"If I'd been any slower and let that scholar finish turning into an undead, I'd probably be dead."

Despite the bitter cold, Lu Mian had broken out in a cold sweat.

Even the weakest evil spirits and vengeful ghosts could only be harmed by someone whose blood and qi had reached a certain level.

He had yet to master even the basics of the Tortoise-Snake Fist. If the corpse had finished transforming, he would have had no chance of survival.

But Lu Mian was not completely out of danger yet.

With his right hand, he pressed the peachwood token firmly against the corpse's forehead.

He dared not loosen it even a fraction.

Then Lu Mian used his left hand to take the waterskin from his waist and poured the talisman water inside over the scholar's face.

This talisman water was supposedly made using a secret formula unique to the Sunflame Sect and could inflict heavy damage on ordinary evil spirits and supernatural entities.

Ssssss...

The talisman water reacted violently as it landed on the scholar's corpse, sending up clouds of foul-smelling black smoke.

"Why..."

"I refuse to accept this!"

"I spent all those years studying the sages' writings! Why did none of it matter in the end?"

Lu Mian seemed to hear howls of despair and defiance.

At last, everything fell silent.

The scholar's corpse dissolved into a puddle of pus.

"Dissipating supernatural power detected. Spend ten years of lifespan to absorb it?"

The system's voice sounded just then.

"Absorb it."

Lu Mian did not hesitate.

He still had fifty years of lifespan left. Spending another ten was within what he could accept.

"Congratulations, host. You have obtained the supernatural ability Scholar · Bookworm Heart."

[Bookworm Heart: Greatly enhances comprehension. Your mind gnaws through pages like a bookworm, absorbing all knowledge.]

After reading the description of Bookworm Heart, Lu Mian understood what it did.

"I was just about to start practicing the Snake Fist... Bookworm Heart couldn't have come at a better time."

Lu Mian suppressed his excitement.

Now was not the time to practice.

The cart was contaminated with corpse qi and pus. He certainly could not keep using it.

He pushed it straight into Corpse-Burning Valley and burned it, then returned to the shack quarantine area and told Chen Xiuzhu what had happened.

"Come to think of it... this should be your second time surviving a corpse transformation, shouldn't it?"

Chen Xiuzhu looked in surprise at the boy with the filthy face before him.

"This time wasn't too bad. The corpse hadn't finished transforming before I pinned it down with the peachwood token."

"Once I poured the talisman water over it, that was that."

Lu Mian explained.

Chen Xiuzhu's eyes flickered.

Lu Mian made it sound easy.

Even before a corpse finished transforming, its resentment could already interfere with the mind.

One had to stay calm without making a single mistake.

If a veteran corpse collector had done it, Chen Xiuzhu would have found it perfectly reasonable.

But Lu Mian had only been here a few days, and he could already face a transforming corpse without losing his composure.

It now seemed that being the sole survivor of the corpse transformation in the shack had been no mere stroke of luck.

"Understood."

"Go back and rest tonight."

Chen Xiuzhu said suddenly.

Lu Mian was taken aback.

He had not expected Chen Xiuzhu to suddenly give him time off.

Eager to get back and practice his fist technique, he quickly nodded. "Thank you, Captain. I'll head back now."

"Mm... by the way, do you have any talisman water left?" Chen Xiuzhu asked.

Talisman water was precious even in the Dust Return Office. Every time it was used, the captain had to submit another requisition.

"No," Lu Mian replied.

"Understood... I'll requisition some for you when I go back tomorrow." Chen Xiuzhu nodded.

"Sorry for the trouble, Captain." Lu Mian thanked him, then turned and left.

Watching Lu Mian's retreating figure, Chen Xiuzhu suddenly clenched both fists.

"Old Chen, get over here!"

"Someone else has died."

The shout interrupted Chen Xiuzhu's thoughts.

He answered and hurried over with his cart.

Huff, huff...

Lu Mian jogged all the way back and soon reached his stone house.

He eagerly took out the Tortoise-Snake Fist manual and examined the section on the Snake Fist.

Compared with the Tortoise Fist, the Snake Fist was more complicated. Its moves were vicious and varied, demanding considerable explosive power.

This time, however, Lu Mian found that the complex, bizarre moves he had seen before had become incredibly simple. He could grasp them with ease.

But after he finished reading the Snake Fist section, he discovered to his horror that its words had vanished from the manual!

"So this is Bookworm Heart... it chews through words and actually eats them!"

Lu Mian realized why he had understood it so quickly.

The words had all been eaten into his mind. How could it not be quick?

He put down the Tortoise-Snake Fist manual and immediately began practicing the Snake Fist.

Lu Mian held the four fingers of his right hand together, tucked his thumb beneath his index finger, and thrust out like a nimble snake flicking its tongue.

Python Coil, Shatter the Knee! Twin Snakes Seize the Pearl! Dark Serpent Prowls the Abyss!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

As Lu Mian performed the Snake Fist, hissing sounds kept cutting through the air.

Though this was his first time practicing it, his movements were remarkably fluid and deft, with a faint hint of viciousness.

After executing the final move of the Snake Fist, Lu Mian did not stop. Instead, he drew in a breath like a spirit tortoise drinking water.

Tortoise and snake were one, and so were their fist techniques.

Once Lu Mian had performed both the Tortoise Fist and the Snake Fist in full, a change took place.

He felt a force seem to appear out of nowhere inside his body.

This was tortoise-snake force.

It meant he had mastered the basics of the Tortoise-Snake Fist.

As Lu Mian circulated this tortoise-snake force, his muscles and bones tingled all over.

"Whew..."

"I didn't think mastering the basics of the Tortoise-Snake Fist would go so smoothly."

"With Bookworm Heart and my gluttonous stomach working together, I should be able to perfect the Tortoise-Snake Fist in just a few months."

Lu Mian exhaled a cloud of white vapor, his gaze turning cold.

With the skill to kill came a vicious impulse!

He had swallowed his anger before precisely for this moment.

Lu Mian took a yellow robe from beneath his bed.

It was the distinctive uniform of the Agriculture Office.

Two days earlier, someone from the Agriculture Office had died in the refugee district, and Lu Mian had happened to be responsible for collecting his corpse.

He had deliberately stripped off the dead man's clothes. Now they would come in handy.

Then Lu Mian smeared plant ash over his face.

Once his disguise was ready, he quietly left his room.

Tonight was the perfect opportunity to act.

Only Chen Xiuzhu knew he had come back to rest.

And Chen Xiuzhu lived on East Street, not South Street.

The refugee district was enormous, with more than a dozen gangs of all sizes. Even if he killed someone from the Black Snake Gang, they would never think to seek out Chen Xiuzhu for questioning.

Guard Hall patrols rarely appeared in the refugee district.

They only came when something supernatural appeared or a major incident occurred.

That was another reason Lu Mian dared to act.

If patrols appeared as frequently as they did in the shack quarantine area, he would not make a move.

Before long, he reached a dark alley.

Over the past few days, he had been following Luo Shi and his two henchmen. He knew they lived in a stone house in this alley.

"This is it."

Lu Mian fixed his gaze on a low stone house still lit by candlelight and quietly approached.

Inside the stone house.

Luo Shi was drinking and bragging with his two henchmen.

Gang members like them were generally registered under the General Affairs Hall. With the right connections, they never had to work. They spent their days loafing in the streets, intimidating residents, and collecting protection money.

"Brother Luo, that corpse collector nearly pissed himself when you scared him tonight."

A pockmarked thug was buttering him up.

"If I couldn't even keep a little punk like that in line, how would I get anywhere in the Black Snake Gang?"

"Just watch how I bleed that brat dry, squeezing his money out of him bit by bit."

Luo Shi grinned.

"Nobody does it like you, Brother Luo!"

The pockmarked thug gave him a thumbs-up.