Chapter 23: The Secret of Jade Bones!

Lu Changsheng and Li Hongzhuang sat together in a quiet house within a secluded courtyard. Lu Changsheng glanced around, a trace of surprise flickering in his eyes.

"I must say, you're pretty bold, daring to live so close to the Zhao Clan," he remarked, glancing at Li Hongzhuang. He knew Nanyang City well and recognized this courtyard's location. The Zhao residence lay nearby, barely a hundred paces away.

"Hiding in plain sight," Li Hongzhuang replied calmly. "The Zhao Clan may be powerful and all, but there's nothing unusual about this courtyard. They'd never think to search this place."

Li Hongzhuang crouched down and pulled open a hidden catch beneath the bed. The compartment was barely large enough to hide a few items. From within, she dragged out a large chest.

Snap.

Li Hongzhuang flipped it open, revealing books neatly stacked together. As Lu Changsheng's eyes fell upon the covers, a sharp glint passed through his gaze.

Martial arts!

The chest was filled with manuals of every kind, at least a hundred in total, covering both martial arts and techniques. The fact that Li Hongzhuang had kept all these manuals hidden proved her background was anything but ordinary. In any case, Lu Changsheng didn’t bother to ask; everyone carried secrets, and there was no need to pry. After all, he had followed her here just for martial arts, nothing else.

Li Hongzhuang lifted her head and said evenly, "The manuals you bought from me before were all copies I transcribed by hand. The originals are here in this chest. You may check them yourself and decide which ones you need."

The fact that she had brought Lu Changsheng to her hidden refuge and revealed her prized possessions meant she had chosen to trust him.

Lu Changsheng examined each manual carefully. Most were martial techniques, some of which he had already practiced, but many were unfamiliar to him. Among them were advanced techniques that appeared to be of the third or even fourth tier.

He also discovered a large number of Bone Tempering arts, several of them top-tier, as well as a few Organ Refinement arts.

After poring over them for an hour, he drew a deep breath and looked up with a solemn expression.

"Name your price."

He wanted most of the manuals, but he knew the cost wouldn't be small.

"Normally, I'd copy these manuals and sell them in the black market over and over again," Li Hongzhuang said evenly. "But right now, I am desperate for silver taels. Since you saved my life tonight, I won’t overcharge you. Three thousand silver taels, non-negotiable."

Lu Changsheng weighed her offer and found it reasonable. Besides, he had no shortage of silver at the moment.

"Alright. Three thousand taels. Here are the silver notes."

He handed her the silver notes without hesitation.

"Deal." Li Hongzhuang accepted them and exhaled a long breath of relief.

Lu Changsheng strapped the chest onto his back. "You know, now that you've incurred the wrath of the Zhao Clan, there's no place for you in Nanyang Prefecture."

“Indeed. The Zhao Clan rules this land, and I cannot fight them,” she admitted. “Fortunately, I have saved enough silver. I shall be leaving Nanyang soon."

Lu Changsheng nodded, then turned and strode into the night without another word.

"Should fate allow, we'll meet again in the jianghu..." Li Hongzhuang gazed at his fading silhouette, a strange light flickering in her eyes.

Lu Changsheng returned safely to Miaoshou Garden. Once back at his quarters, he shut the doors and windows tightly before setting down the chest. Then he pulled out the manuals and arranged them in order.

There were eight Bone Tempering arts, three Organ Refinement arts, and eighty-six martial techniques. In total, there were ninety-seven manuals—an impressive haul indeed.

With so many arts and techniques, he would have more than enough training to keep himself busy for a long time. For now, however, his attention rested most heavily on the Bone Tempering arts.

He carefully examined the eight manuals one after another. Seven of them seemed to be of ordinary grade, but there was one top-tier technique: the Cold Bone Tempering Art.

Lu Changsheng noticed handwritten annotations within the manual of the top-tier Bone Tempering art. The author was unknown, but the notes contained insights into the Bone Tempering Stage that left him astonished.

It turned out the Bone Tempering Stage wasn't merely about tempering the bones a few times. Some people managed to achieve Jade Bones after only a handful of refinements, while others tempered their bodies dozens of times and still failed.

The reason for that was quite simple. The human skeleton could be divided into three layers: the outer bone, the inner bone, and the bone marrow. Only by tempering all the way into the marrow could one truly forge jade-like bones.

The outer layer could be refined with ordinary Bone Tempering arts in just a few cycles, but the inner layer was significantly more challenging to refine. For the blood qi to penetrate into the inner layer, the practitioner required top-tier Bone Tempering arts each with unique ways of tempering the inner bone bit by bit.

Specialized medicinal meals were also required to repair the damage and offset the risks of the tempering process. As for directly tempering the marrow itself, that was something only the most supreme Bone Tempering arts could achieve in a single attempt.

Lu Changsheng furrowed his brow. He had never even heard of such supreme Bone Tempering arts. Without access to them, Jade Bones seemed forever out of reach.

Regardless, he kept reading. To his surprise, the annotator of the Cold Bone Tempering Art had left behind a final suggestion.

If the practitioner lacks a supreme method, then the only path is the most foolish one: to use ordinary Bone Tempering arts and temper the bones again and again. With enough repetitions, results would eventually show. Over time, accumulation would give rise to transformation, and marrow refinement might still be achieved.

Of course, most martial artists would never dream of achieving Jade Bones with that method. Mastering a single Bone Tempering art already required years. Who could say how many arts one would have to practice to make up in quantity what they lacked in quality? The process could take years, even decades—and still end in failure.

However, Lu Changsheng considered the method worth attempting. He now understood why Jade Bones held such importance. Any martial artist with the means would go to great lengths to achieve them, and the reason was simple: only with Jade Bones could one withstand the crushing pressure of breaking through to the Divine Strength Realm.

The tougher the bones, the greater the force they could withstand. Once one stepped into the Divine Strength Realm, a martial artist with Jade Bones could practically sweep aside combatants of the same tier.

"I must achieve Jade Bones. The two Bone Tempering arts I practiced before gave me eight refinements, but that was only on the outer layer. If I master this Cold Bone Tempering Art, I should be able to refine the inner layer!"

With that conviction, Lu Changsheng began practicing the Cold Bone Tempering Art. This art could be cultivated under ordinary conditions, but doing so in a frigid environment would yield the best results—especially if the practitioner tempered their bones while sitting directly on ice.

Luckily for Lu Changsheng, winter had just arrived, and soon the weather would become ideal for cultivating the Cold Bone Tempering Art.

Regardless of the environment, Bone Tempering arts required specialized medicinal meals to nourish the bones and enhance the efficiency of tempering.

Medicinal meals for Bone Tempering... I'll ask about them tomorrow, at the shop that sells the Eight Treasures Blood-Tonifying Concoction.

Lu Changsheng attempted the Cold Bone Tempering Art a few times, but without ice or medicinal meals, the effect proved rather disappointing. Deciding not to waste his energy, he lay down to get some proper rest.