Instead of taking the old book right away, Bai Yunfei gave a questioning look towards Ye Ting, “What’s this?”
“I came across a fragment of this book about throwing knives by accident in the past. I took the time to study it of course, but I’m ashamed to say that it was far too incomprehensible to me. With no one in the house of Ye showing any interest in throwing knives and the fact that this is only a fragment of the book, I figured it was of no use. In truth, what is spoken in this fragment is still quite interesting. For a person of your talents and interest, lord Bai, I’m sure you’ll be able to understand far more than what I could from this book.”
Having explained the story behind the book, Ye Ting handed the book over to Bai Yunfei’s hand with a smile.
Upon taking the book into his own hands, Bai Yunfei began to flip through the several pages of it only to discover that more than a dozen pages had been torn away. Even the cover itself was a mess and the last two pages had only half its contents remaining. Many of the pictures depicted in the book itself had featured a strangely shaped throwing knife, and combined with the annotations around it, these pictures were clearly archiving information pertaining to the throwing knives.
There was nothing more to look at however, causing Bai Yunfei to store it away in his space ring. “Thank you very much, lord Ye.” He spoke.
“Please don’t be so polite, lord Bai.” Ye Ting waved his hand, “That thing is completely useless to me in neither money nor information. I can only hope that it’ll serve you some use.
“Ah, Lord Bai, are you truly set on leaving Gaoyi City tomorrow? Why not stay a little longer and see the sights? My child, Tianming, is very loathed to part with you….”
“Yes, I’m not too fond of staying in the same place too long. If there is a chance in the future, I’ll be back for a visit.”
“If that’s the case, I won’t try to change your mind…” Ye Ting relented before changing the topic into a more lighthearted conversation.
Ye Ting had left after several moments, allowing Bai Yunfei to continue preparing the items he would need for tomorrow. After all that was done and accounted for, Bai Yunfei took out the dilapidated book and begun to give a more indepth read.
“Secrets of the Throwing Knife: ‘Swift, Stealthy, and Accurate’. Everyone knows that, but for us soul cultivators, it is different. By learning the Soulguiding Knife, tossing a knife over three hundred meters would be as easy as swinging one’s arm!”
Flipping onto the first page, the ‘preface’ had caught Bai Yunfei’s eyes and left him gleeful. He had once thought of learning the Soulguiding Knife, but that had been nothing more than a dream. No matter how much he tried to in the past, each throwing knife he threw would always travel linearly without deviation. At most, he could throw them with great speed and power, but he had thought it naive to actually learn the Soulguiding Knife.
The meager words after the preface gave an overview of the actions needed to throw a knife, and at what angle it had to be thrown at. The most important guidelines had talked about just how the soulforce should be manipulated and fed into the throwing knives. But when it mentioned several meridian points of the arm, Bai Yunfei had been completely lost since he had never heard of some of them.
“To feed it soulforce means that the throwing knives have to be incomplete soul items at the very least. But to use throwing knives at their best, they’d have to be soul items. Just that alone would make any soul cultivator flinch. But for me, that’s no problem at all…”
Processing the information in his head, Bai Yunfei flipped to the next page.
On this page was a diagram of the meridian points on the arm with emphasis on the aforementioned points from the previous page.
The several diagrams after that had been relating to throwing knives. The concrete details and schematics several different knives could be seen alongside with several requisites. Many of the details had been downright specific to even what type of handle was best used in conjunction with feeding it soulforce from the meridian points.
There were several different throwing knives. There was a knife that could be recalled back the thrower, a knife that would let out a shrill whistle when thrown, a knife to cause an extreme bleeding effect when thrown, a knife that would travel a certain distance before turning into a completely different direction altogether, and so forth. Bai Yunfei had been dazzled to say the least at this wonder and clicked his tongue in admiration.
“How unexpected that there’d be so many different ways to use a throwing knife! Unique in both design and usage, the one who designed these throwing knives is a complete genius!” Bai Yunfei just had to sigh in admiration after reading the book. But then, a sigh of regret accompanied it, “How annoying that there’s only a clear description on how to make it. The ways to control it are a little barebone, and even the methods that are labeled ‘Minor counterstrike’, or ‘Stage Two Slant’–these have to be some sort of hand movement, but there isn’t any more information….”
“Creating these knive require materials I don’t have, and they don’t look easy to get either! Primal stones of the highest quality and sixth-tier soul crystals? High quality primal stones are already impossible, but sixth-tier soul crystals are something that only soulbeasts of the Soul Exalt level should have!”
“And even the designs of these knives are outrageous….but the even more outrageous thing is that I can actually read it! ‘Mechanics’….’wind resistance’…..’coefficient of friction’….what are those? Why can my mind somehow come up with some sort of guess and match the context of this blasted design? Even I don’t know how I know what I know….”
Ye Ting said he tried to read this book before, but he had been unable to understand it. But for some reason, Bai Yunfei could somehow easily read and understand the more complicated parts. The reason behind this was naturally because of the broken fragments of his reincarnated self. He couldn’t concentrate on these fragmented memories, but he could still make out bits and pieces from the holes and reach this conclusion he had now.
After some consideration, Bai Yunfei had silently guessed that it was because of these memories and past experience to easily put aside these problems. Instead of being suspicious, he was happy to have benefited from it.
“If I can just find the other pages to this book, then I’ll be able to improve my strength with the art of the throwing knives. What a shame that it’s only a dream right now. I can’t force learn something like this….” Bai Yunfei thought with a heavy heart, but the fact he had this book had been a happy occasion. “No matter what, the information from the preface alone was a good harvest. I can learn the art of throwing knives bit by bit without concern for time. When I join the Crafting School, I’ll be able to learn how to forge items, even ones that can move by itself….”
On the second day, Bai Yunfei had packed away all his stuff and bid farewell to everyone. He had even walked over to where the Liu were and gave them a final goodbye before leaving Gaoyi City.
Jing Mingfeng himself had stayed back in Gaoyi City. Before the two had split, Jing Mingfeng said that he would be traveling in a different direction, and thus, Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng were no longer companions on the road.
Over the course of the time they traveled with one another, Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng grew to be very close friends. But even with all things considered, Bai Yunfei didn’t want to roam around with Jing Mingfeng to see the world. He was a man on a mission to go towards the Crafting School, and Jing Mingfeng had his own path to walk. Even if they did travel together, they’d have to split up sooner or later. If there was destiny, then it would see fit that they meet each other again somehow.
Tianming had wanted to ‘travel’ with Bai Yunfei in truth. Yet, he knew that his own strength was lacking, so Bai Yunfei promised that if there was a chance, he would come back to see Tianming. Until then, Tianming had to steel his nerves and send Bai Yunfei off with a smile.
And so Bai Yunfei left Gaoyi City to once more return onto the journey towards the Crafting School.