Level Up in Martial World

Chapter 113: Harmony Sapping Scarlet Essence (2)

"Hmm..." Lu Zhen curiously opened the book and began looking through its contents.

Lu Zhen frowned as he examined the pages. The text was written in a strange, unfamiliar language that he couldn't understand.

"Hmm..." Lu Zhen gazed at the book again with his golden eyes, his curiosity piqued.

To his amazement, as he stared at the text once more, he somehow began to comprehend the words on the pages.

Even though he couldn't fully understand the language, he had an innate sense of what he was looking at. His brain seemed to absorb the information directly from the text.

[You have fulfilled the condition for the Appraisal skill]

[Your Appraisal skill has leveled up from level 4 to level 5]

Lu Zhen's eyes widened with excitement upon seeing this.

He returned to the book, his gaze now more focused, and he carefully read its contents.

Skipping the numerous pages detailing the butler's mundane daily life, Lu Zhen searched for anything that might be useful to him.

Finally, I have entered the fire academy. I can become a mage, Mom...>

Lu Zhen's eyes lit up as he carefully read the words, paying close attention to each one.

There was some bloodstains on the page after.

"Hmm..." Lu Zhen frowned as he carefully examined the words hidden by the blood, and his brain absorbed the information, helping him comprehend the text.

Suddenly, he noticed that his Qi was rapidly draining, like a waterfall, and his previously full reserves were depleting swiftly.

"So the appraisal skill uses my Qi to comprehend these words," Lu Zhen concluded. He nodded in understanding and continued reading, now with a sense of urgency.

Blood covered the entire bottom half of the page, making the text beneath it invisible due to the mixture of dark and red colours.

Although facing this life-threatening situation, he didn't give in to despair. Instead, he dragged the intact armour-clad corpse across the room. As he did, his eyes glowed with a golden light, searching for any hidden compartments or secret passages in the grand chamber.

"Surely, he wouldn't confine himself to just this throne room only, would he?" Lu Zhen pondered aloud as he examined his surroundings. His eyes fell upon two statues that caught his attention. One bore a striking resemblance to his Ancestor, while the other was an uncanny likeness of Xia Mei.

The statue of Xia Mei was a perfect replica, down to every detail, leaving Lu Zhen in awe. As for the Ancestor, there was a familial resemblance, particularly in the presence of horns and a tail.

"Hmm, so mages are also connected to the bloodline of martial artists," Lu Zhen mused, beginning to see the possibilities of such a link.

"It might be one of the experiments of the mages." A terrifying possibility emerged from the mind, which made Lu Zhen uncomfortable for some reason as unease built up on him as he looked around the room carefully, searching for the door.

If the conjecture that Lu Zhen thought was right, even if that was the case, Lu Zhen still had to solve his condition before thinking about other things. He could worry about that later.

Suddenly, Lu Zhen's golden eyes caught something in the wall that piqued his interest.

Without hesitation, he dragged the mage's lifeless body and struck the wall at the specific spot.

"It's quite hard," Lu Zhen mused as he felt the wall's resistance against his punch. However, his expression shifted to a smile as he sensed the rebounding force, indicating an emptiness inside the wall.

He knew he didn't have time to carefully look for the secret entrance. Lu Zhen decided to deactivate his appraisal skill. He took a deep breath, gathering his raw strength, and then withdrew his hand to gain momentum.

In one powerful, resolute move, he aimed his punch at the wall, seeking to break through and reveal what was hidden beyond.

Lu Zhen opted not to use his combat art, conserving his limited qi as he didn't want to waste it in this situation.

With a resolute "woosh" sound, it felt as if the very fabric of the air was being torn apart. Lu Zhen unleashed a punch with his full strength.

Boom!

The room was filled with a resounding boom as the walls developed a spider-like network of cracks and shattered into pieces.

"This looks more like glass than a wall..." Lu Zhen mused to himself as he cautiously entered the space, still dragging the lifeless corpse.

As he stepped further into the room, he was greeted by an extraordinary sight. It resembled a futuristic laboratory, the domain of a mad scientist. Countless test tubes of various sizes filled the space, each containing empty vessels connected to a computer-like terminal with rows of screens.

There was a massive bed situated to one side, and a series of complex test tubes, some filled with peculiar liquids. One of these test tubes appeared similar to the one that had affected Lu Zhen.