All Heavens: A Role-Playing System Starting from Tianlong

Zhang Cheng led the two of them quickly through the stone chamber.

The stone chamber was small, with some women's daily necessities scattered around, all covered in dust and grime, having been left unattended for who knows how many years.

The three walked to the end of the stone chamber, and Zhang Cheng's eyes quickly swept across the walls.

Soon, he discovered a narrow gap in an inconspicuous corner.

He stepped forward, braced his hands against the wall, and pushed with all his might—

"Click."

The wall spun open, revealing a hidden door. Behind the door were stone steps leading downwards, their depths unknown.

The three of them descended the steps and walked for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea before finally reaching the bottom.

There was another stone door in front of him, and Zhang Cheng reached out and pushed it open.

"Squeak—" The moment the door opened, a soft pearly light spilled out.

This is a larger stone chamber, about ten zhang square and three zhang high. In the center of the chamber stands a jade statue as tall as a real person.

The jade statue depicts a woman holding a sword. She is dressed in palace attire, with her long hair styled in a bun, and has an exquisitely beautiful face with expressive eyes.

The jade statue has black gemstones for its eyes, and the white jade used has a subtle reddish tint. Combined with the sculptor's superb carving skills, the entire jade statue is lifelike and indistinguishable from a real person.

"This statue is so beautifully sculpted..." Zhong Ling murmured to herself, then shook her head: "No, should I say this woman is truly beautiful? But that doesn't seem right either..."

Mu Wanqing was also stunned by the jade statue. She took a few steps forward, carefully examined the face of the jade statue, and then looked around.

The walls of the stone chamber were covered with inscriptions. The handwriting was elegant and flowing, clearly the work of a master.

At the end of the letter is a line of small print: "Written by Xiaoyaozi for Qiushui. There is no sun or moon in the cave, the greatest joy in the world." It is signed "Xiaoyaozi".

It was clearly written by a man for the woman he loved.

"It seems that the person sculpted in this jade statue is indeed 'Autumn Water Girl'." Mu Wanqing paused, then exclaimed sincerely, "Truly... peerless beauty."

Zhang Cheng ignored the two men's praise of the jade statue. He walked straight to the statue, bent down, and picked up the old prayer cushion used for kneeling in worship.

He probed his fingers into the gaps in the cattail reeds, fumbled around for a while, and then took out a silk cloth package.

Almost simultaneously, a notification appeared before my eyes: [Lv1 Ranger 108% → Lv2 Swordsman 1%]

As soon as the system notification popped up, Zhang Cheng knew he had found the real thing.

He untied the slightly discolored silk bundle and took out the scroll containing the Northern Darkness Divine Art to read.

The silk scroll contains thirty-six images, all depicting the pathways of acupoints and meridians in the human body, with annotations in tiny characters, showing the different energy absorption paths of the "Northern Darkness Divine Skill".

Zhang Cheng was engrossed in looking at each picture when suddenly a gasp of surprise came from beside him.

He looked down and saw that Zhong Ling had somehow gotten close and was standing on tiptoe, peeking at the contents of the scroll from under his arm.

This scroll was left by Li Qiushui as bait to lure future generations into killing all the disciples of the Xiaoyao Sect.

Therefore, she replaced each of the above acupuncture point diagrams with a nude portrait of herself, using extremely alluring and seductive brushstrokes, hoping to attract people to study them.

At this moment, Zhong Ling's face turned bright red, like a startled rabbit. She jumped back a long way with a "whoosh," pointed at the scroll in Zhang Cheng's hand, and stammered:

"Sister Mu! I want to report this! This person led us down here to find some kind of treasure, but it's actually just a few... a few erotic pictures!"

"What do you know, little girl?"

Zhang Cheng rolled his eyes at Zhong Ling, annoyed: "This thing is the most superior martial arts manual in the martial arts world. It's just that the person who copied the manual had wicked intentions, which is why it turned out like this."

He ignored Zhong Ling and continued watching openly.

Whether it's because the enhancements to his physical body from the [Soldier] profession also benefited his mind, his memory is now far better than before he transmigrated.

In no time, all thirty-six pictures were imprinted in his mind.

Turning to the end of the scroll, the acupuncture point diagram transforms into countless footprints, with the directions from the Book of Changes noted beside it—this is precisely the "Lingbo Weibu" that Li Qiushui attached to the end of the scroll.

This lightness skill requires the I Ching as its foundation to be learned. Zhang Cheng naturally doesn't know this.

He looked up at Mu Wanqing and Zhong Ling: "Does either of you understand the I Ching?"

Mu Wanqing and Zhong Ling exchanged a glance, then shook their heads simultaneously.

Mu Wanqing grew up in the mountains. Her master, Qin Hongmian, taught her methods of killing, not the I Ching.

Needless to say, Zhong Ling was even less inclined to practice her own martial arts properly, let alone delve into those profound classic texts.

But that doesn't matter, Zhang Cheng already has a teacher in mind.

He carefully rolled up the silk scroll, put it into his bosom, and said to Mu Wanqing and Zhong Ling:

"I plan to stay here for a while and study the martial arts techniques on this scroll. If you are interested, you can explore the surrounding area."

To the left of this jade statue stone chamber, there is a moon gate carved with cloud patterns, behind which seems to be another world.

Upon hearing this, Zhong Ling grabbed Mu Wanqing's sleeve and headed in that direction.

"Come on, let's go see what other good stuff we have!"

Mu Wanqing, being pulled along by Zhong Ling, glanced back at Zhang Cheng. Zhang Cheng nodded to her, indicating that he was alright. Only then did she follow Zhong Ling into the moon gate.

Seeing the two leave, Zhang Cheng sat down cross-legged in front of the jade statue.

He did not immediately begin practicing the Northern Darkness Divine Art, but instead first examined the new abilities brought about by the upgrade of the [Hero] class.

The Swordsman has four abilities:

【Emerging Talent】: You can select a weapon style to increase the attack speed or power of that style.

[Lifting Technique]: Mastering basic light footwork enhances the speed of running on flat ground, allowing one to ignore the difference in elevation within one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters).

【Split Light and Shadow】: Once a day, this attack consumes double the stamina and splits into two identical strikes, both aimed at the target simultaneously. If the attack matches the style selected by 【Emerging Talent】, it evolves into a triple strike.

[Sense of Righteousness]: It has an intuitive feeling for strong "injustice" and "crisis", which can vaguely guide the direction of events or identify key figures.

There were no abilities among them that could assist Zhang Cheng in his cultivation. He casually selected the "Swordsmanship" category in the "Emerging Talent" section and focused on improving "Attack Speed".

He had planned his course of action beforehand.

Although Dugu Qiubai may not have been born yet during the Tianlong era, Dali already possessed the super sword technique "Six Meridian Divine Sword".

Choosing to increase speed is based on the principle that "in martial arts, speed is the only way to break through defenses."

The people in this world, if not all of them are "glass cannons," are at least "strong in offense but weak in defense," and their excess firepower is wasted.

After selecting his ability, Zhang Cheng focused his mind and, following the guidance of the first picture on the scroll, began to try circulating the Northern Darkness True Qi.

Thanks to the physical enhancement provided by the [Soldier] profession, his meridians are much stronger than those of ordinary people, and his blood and qi are as vigorous as a furnace.

In addition, when he changed his class to "Wandering Swordsman", he chose "Acupoint Technique" as his basic martial art, and he already had a considerable understanding of the acupoints on his body.

With the two combined, cultivating the Northern Darkness Divine Art was not difficult. In just a moment, a warm aura slowly rose from his dantian.