Lu Sheng retraced the familiar path toward the chamber he had visited earlier. After stepping into the main hall, he turned left and ascended the wooden staircase, his footsteps echoing softly against the aged planks.
When he reached the entrance, his gaze fell upon the red lantern swaying faintly outside the door. A subtle chill crept up his spine, stirring an inexplicable unease.
“Hoo…”
A sudden wisp of cold air brushed past him. Lu Sheng instinctively turned—something had just drifted by, unseen but palpable.
The Mortal-Sweeping Manor has already been destroyed. Logically, there shouldn’t be any more of the supernatural after me. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive, he reasoned. Finding nothing behind him, the tension in his chest eased slightly. He turned back and reached for the door.
“Ka-cha.”
The chamber door creaked open. Two large red lanterns hung within, flooding the room with a dim crimson glow that painted the walls like bloodstains.
“Anybody?” he called softly as he stepped inside.
“Yes…”
The reply came from behind him—a dry, rasping voice, fragile as wind over bones.
Lu Sheng spun around. An old woman stood at the entrance, holding a white lantern. Her eyes were wide, unblinking. Deep wrinkles folded over her face like the bark of an ancient tree, and her cloudy pupils gleamed faintly in the lantern’s light.
“Little fellow, you shouldn’t be on board the boat at this hour.”
“I dropped something here. A waist pouch. So, I came back to look for it,” Lu Sheng replied, forcing a polite smile.
“I see… then go find it, find it, find it.”
Her tone was flat, her face devoid of expression. Without another word, she turned and shuffled away down the corridor, the glow of her lantern shrinking into the darkness.
Lu Sheng stood watching until she vanished past the doorway. Then, quietly, he closed the chamber door and turned to examine the room’s interior.
The two large lanterns—ones that hadn’t been there before—now hung high on the side walls, bathing the entire chamber in a deep crimson glow. The red light seemed to pulse faintly, as if alive, casting long shadows that swayed across the floor.
Moving cautiously, Lu Sheng searched near the seat where he had sat earlier. His fingers brushed along the cracks, and sure enough, in a narrow gap beside the cushion, he found his missing waist pouch.
He untied it and checked the contents. Inside the brown-black leather pouch were his gold and silver notes, the folded slip of paper, and the small packet of powder left behind by the Demonic Ghost—all intact.
Fastening the pouch securely behind his back, Lu Sheng straightened up and cast another glance around the room. The light from the lanterns had deepened, growing thicker, redder—like fresh blood soaking into the air. A prickling sense of unease crawled up his neck.
Something’s off.
He turned quickly and strode toward the chamber door, reaching for the handle. But when he pulled, the door refused to move.
Lu Sheng frowned and pulled harder. The wood didn’t even creak. It was as though an invisible weight pressed against it from the other side. Even with his current strength, it barely shifted an inch.
This isn’t right!
He drew in a sharp breath and channeled his inner strength through his arms.
“Bang!”
The door blasted open with a violent crack. The handle splintered under his grip as Lu Sheng propelled himself forward, shooting through the corridor like an arrow loosed from a bow. He bounded down the staircase, vaulted over the railing, and darted through several narrow turns before bursting out into the open air.
Landing lightly on the dock, he turned back toward the pleasure boat. It floated silently in place, its upper deck empty and still, as though nothing had ever happened.
The tension in Lu Sheng’s chest finally eased. Whatever had haunted the air within that chamber no longer lingered.
He took one last lingering glance at the pleasure boat—its red lanterns swaying faintly in the night breeze—then turned and sped off toward the city.
Lu Sheng went straight home. He pushed the door open, stepped inside, and flicked his hand to lock it behind him. The room was pitch-black and cold, stripped of all warmth and life.
He walked slowly to the study table, his fingers brushing over familiar surfaces until they found the flint stone. With a few strikes, sparks danced in the darkness before catching on the wick of a candle. The faint yellow light flickered to life, casting wavering shadows that blurred the lower half of his face.
Perhaps that pleasure boat was tied to something supernatural. First the Mortal-Sweeping Manor, and now this red-decked vessel… He exhaled slowly. I only wanted to rest for a few days before starting my new cultivation. But from the looks of it, that’ll have to wait. I should make my preparations first.
Leaving the desk, Lu Sheng walked toward the bed and knelt down. From beneath it, he dragged out a heavy, intricate metal trunk. The chest was secured to the floor by sliding grooves—something an ordinary man could never move.
He retrieved a small key from his waist pouch and slipped it into the lock.
“Ka-cha.”
The trunk opened with a soft click. Inside lay two slim booklets bound in light-brown cloth.
Lu Sheng picked one up and examined the cover before carefully locking the trunk again.
Green Pine One-Thought Formula.
The five characters were boldly written, their strokes sharp and powerful—like dragons soaring and phoenixes dancing across the page.
He opened the booklet to the first page. Beneath the brief preface was the familiar ink painting of a lone pine clinging to the edge of a cliff.
Lu Sheng gazed at it in silence, his eyes tracing every brushstroke. Then, with a quiet breath, he closed the book, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began to still his thoughts.
Lu Sheng had cultivated this life-force skill intermittently for quite some time. Yet, no matter how diligently he practiced, progress eluded him. Each time he felt the faint stirrings of Qi forming within his body, it would be swiftly devoured by the Jade Crane Skill, as if that energy refused to coexist with any other force.
This time was no exception. Before long, the Jade Crane Skill surged into motion on its own, overwhelming the fragile current of Qi from the Green Pine One-Thought Formula. The vivid image of a steadfast pine in his mind shattered—and in its place, a radiant white crane took flight within him, letting out a long, echoing cry.
Ai… Lu Sheng exhaled softly, opening his eyes. The inner force skills are clashing again. Am I truly fated to remain stuck here forever? Is there no way forward?
Frustration weighed on him. His hand drifted to his waist pouch, fingers tightening unconsciously around it. As he squeezed, his fingertips brushed the familiar texture of the paper packet hidden within—and his mind jolted.
This packet… it’s the powder left behind by that Demonic Ghost, isn’t it?
He opened it with care. Inside was a lump of powder—black and fine as charcoal. Yet he distinctly remembered that it hadn’t looked this way before.
When I first awakened my special ability, it was through remnants—the stone left behind by the water ghost, and that cobblestone… Could it be that…
A strange idea flickered through his mind, wild yet tempting.
“Deep Blue!”
He spoke the words clearly.
“Swoosh!”
At once, a translucent blue frame appeared before his eyes.
Lu Sheng studied the Modifier screen carefully. The Green Pine One-Thought Formula still wasn’t listed among the selectable options. His gaze shifted back to the powder resting in his palm.
After a brief pause, he made up his mind. He tilted the paper packet, letting all the powder fall into his hands.
He had always avoided direct contact with it, wary that it might be toxic or corrosive. But now, with no other paths left to take, he decided to risk it. If anything went wrong, he could simply fling it away.
Lu Sheng bit down hard on the forefinger of his other hand. The sharp pain cut through his focus, and a bead of blood welled up at the tip. He squeezed it out and let the droplet fall onto the mound of powder in his palm.
“Sizzle…”
The moment the blood made contact, thin wisps of white smoke rose into the air. The black powder began to pale rapidly, its color draining away until it turned ghostly white. A chill seeped through Lu Sheng’s skin—cold Yin energy streaming from his palms, threading through his veins like icy rivers.
Begin martial arts extrapolation?
The Yin energy vanished in an instant, absorbed by something deep within his body. Almost simultaneously, the translucent dialogue frame of Deep Blue shimmered before his eyes, displaying that familiar inquiry.
As I thought! A spark of excitement flared in Lu Sheng’s chest. The skill had appeared exactly as he predicted.
He had long suspected this outcome. When the Black Tiger Saber Technique unexpectedly revealed a fourth level before, he had guessed that the Modifier extrapolated martial skills based on the accumulated knowledge within his mind—creating something new from fragments of understanding.
But no matter how much he studied other techniques afterward, the same phenomenon never occurred again. Doubt had begun to creep in.
Now, it was clear—he had lacked the proper medium. Without any surviving ghost artifacts, the Modifier could not extend its reach.
First, it was the cobblestone from the Xu Family’s annihilation that triggered it. And now, this powder from the Demonic Ghost… It seems my special ability is bound to the remnants of the dead, he thought, a wry smile tugging at his lips.
Drawing a slow breath, Lu Sheng steadied himself and focused on the glowing text before him.
Begin martial arts extrapolation?
“Yes.”
The moment he gave his consent, a strange sensation rippled through him. It was as though every martial art recorded within the Modifier came alive—threads of knowledge intertwining, merging, and evolving into something far beyond their original form.
All of the martial arts and inner force skills before him were reflections of his accumulated understanding—manifestations of knowledge refined through awareness and discipline. It felt as though he were reorganizing the archives of his own mind, restructuring layers of insight and rediscovering fragments that could serve as the foundation for new techniques.
It was like building a house from countless blocks—endless designs, limitless combinations, each forming a different structure.
Beside the martial arts listed in the Modifier, several glowing buttons appeared, each indicating whether a technique could be extrapolated or not. Everything was laid out clearly, as if inviting him to choose.
Lu Sheng examined the list from top to bottom, his gaze steady and calculating.
If only the Black Fury Skill could serve as the core—it could easily absorb other systems. Jade Crane Skill has a stable foundation too… Black Tiger Saber might act as a base, and Heart-Shattering Palm wouldn’t be a bad choice either. He paused, then sighed inwardly. Unfortunately, there’s too little of that powder left. I can only pick from what’s available.
Only two techniques glowed faintly within the Modifier—Jade Crane Skill and Black Tiger Saber.
So only these two are usable…
He hesitated for a moment before resolving himself. Reaching out, he selected the option linked to the Jade Crane Skill.
Inner force is the root of all martial power. It must come first.
The instant he confirmed his choice, the other options vanished, and the Modifier’s blue light began to blur and fade. Within his mind, his comprehension of the Jade Crane Skill stirred to life—threads of knowledge unraveling and intertwining with the principles stored in his memory. They clashed, merged, and reformed in an endless storm of inspiration.
In the span of ten breaths, the process was complete.
Lu Sheng slowly opened his eyes. A sharp, frigid aura burst from his body, piercing through the still air of the room.
The differing methods of force generation between Jade Crane Skill and Black Tiger Saber had now merged seamlessly within Lu Sheng’s body. The fusion was perfect—an evolution shaped by the Modifier, drawing from the depths of his accumulated knowledge. By combining the precision and endurance of the Jade Crane Skill with the explosive strength of the Black Tiger Saber, a new kind of inner force was born—fierce, dynamic, and far more potent than either of its predecessors.
This newly formed life-force skill preserved the original durability and recovery properties of the Jade Crane Skill, but infused them with a brutal, battle-honed explosiveness that surged like a beast’s roar beneath his skin.
This new inner force borrows the explosive generation technique from the Black Tiger Saber and fuses it with the vitality of a life-force skill… Such an extrapolation is incredible! Lu Sheng’s thoughts stirred with awe. If only I had more of that powder—or even another cobblestone from the water ghost—I might be able to advance my other skills to the level of the Black Fury Skill.
He focused inward, sensing the rhythm of his new energy. The internal flow was sharper, faster—each pulse bursting with vigor. Even the regenerative nature of the Jade Crane Skill had improved slightly, its resilience now laced with aggression.
This is no longer the Jade Crane Skill I once knew, he mused. Since it now carries the strength and ferocity of the Black Tiger Saber’s force technique… it shall be called the Black Tiger Jade Crane Skill.
As the thought formed, the Modifier before his eyes flickered—and the name of the technique shifted instantly, now displaying five bold characters: Black Tiger Jade Crane Skill.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.