Chapter 15: 015 Body Tempering I

Lin Hui was momentarily stunned. He reached out and took the black object, examining it closely in his hand.

It was an irregularly shaped item, like a coal ball or some kind of black iron ore.

There were clear grayish-black cracks and jagged edges on the surface. He couldn’t tell what part of the Monster from the Mist Zone it had broken off from.

“Alright, I’m leaving this afternoon. All my things are packed. I’ll write to you when I settle down at the Zhao Family and have some free time!” Chen Zhishen finished handing over the item, waved his hand, and walked away quickly.

The look on his back, invisible to Lin Hui, unconsciously revealed a sense of melancholy. The item was far from as easily obtained as he claimed, but Lin Hui had looked after him and helped him so much that this was the only thing he could do for his friend.

“Bon voyage,” Lin Hui said, genuinely wishing him well as he watched his retreating figure.

In the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, three years was the maximum deadline for practicing the Seven-Section Quick Sword, and most successful students completed it in about two years.

Chen Zhishen, taking over a year, was only average in speed, but he was loyal, upright, and easy to control. This was likely the main reason the Second Senior Brother actively recruited him.

Lin Hui only withdrew his gaze when Chen Zhishen‘s figure completely disappeared. He refocused his attention on the black object in his hand.

Habitually, he concentrated his attention, activated the blood-red mark, and prepared to check the related information.

Hiss.

After a faint sound in his ear.

A line of blood-red characters quickly appeared in the lower field of vision.

‘A dead, sealed insect egg.’

“Hmm?” Lin Hui paused. Insect egg? Sealed?

The fragments he had picked up before only showed up as remnants of some unknown species, and the information, aside from an external description, was just a rough hint about whether it was hot, cold, or poisonous.

But this thing seemed to be…

“Not a fragment?”

Lin Hui looked closely at the rest of the information.

‘A dead, sealed insect egg: This insect egg was once used to seal a special Mist Zone creature. After the Mist Zone creature escaped, the insect egg gradually withered and died due to prolonged lack of specified nutritional supplementation. Its internal structure subtly contains a powerful sealing pattern. This pattern has Evolvable Branches: 4.’

“Four evolvable branches!?” Lin Hui was alarmed. The evolution branches for other objects almost never exceeded three. This was the first item he had encountered that reached four.

Clearly, this item was no ordinary thing!

He hesitated for a moment, then clicked on the Evolvable Branches location.

Swish. Four evolutionary directions popped up instantly.

‘1 – Demon Sealing Formation.’

‘2 – Artifact Sealing Formation.’

‘3 – Evil Sealing Formation.’

‘4 – Sealing Formation.’

The sudden richness of the branches made Lin Hui pause slightly.

Just by the names, he knew these branches were definitely not simple. To be called a ‘Formation’ (法阵) in this world’s context was probably beyond his current level of comprehension.

And being not simple often meant taking longer.

Without hesitation, he clicked on each branch one by one.

‘1 – Demon Sealing Formation: Can form a combined formation with special toxins to seal special, ethereal demonic energy.

Required Resources: A small amount of demonic energy, one set of natural sealing patterns. 10 years of energy reserve, 10 years of mental reserve.

Required Time: 10 years.’

Lin Hui‘s heart trembled. Ten years!? That was so long. He would probably be waiting so long his child could be running errands before it finished evolving. Not to mention, he had no idea what ‘demonic energy’ was.

He closed this one and looked at the next. This one required the same amount of time as the one above, but the thing being sealed was changed to ‘Artifact Power’ (器力), which he had never heard of.

The third was similar, except the sealed item was changed to the so-called ‘Evil Energy’ (邪能).

The time required for all of them was extremely long, at least around ten years.

Reluctantly, Lin Hui looked at the last one.

The fourth was a pure Sealing Formation.

‘Sealing Formation: Can use special toxins to seal the consciousness of ordinary creatures. It is the natural three-dimensional toxin derived from the sealing insect.

Required Resources: One month of energy reserve, one month of mental reserve.

Required Time: One month.’

There were no extra materials required, only one month for the evolution.

Lin Hui pondered. This thing seemed to be the fastest evolving item he had encountered so far.

Just one month. He could afford to spend that much time to try the effect of the blood-red mark on reinforcing other items.

In any case, after his Body Tempering began, he wasn’t in a hurry to learn a new sword style. His body needed to be repeatedly tempered with the Seven-Section Quick Sword until it reached its limit.

‘However, this item isn’t as easy to obtain as Chen Zhishen made it sound. I’ve wandered around so many times and never encountered one… It definitely wasn’t from the surrounding area.’

Lin Hui realized Chen Zhishen must have gone somewhere else to find this item.

Perhaps it was some dangerous place. After all, he had visited and explored the ordinary areas but never found anything like this.

He put the insect egg away, sighed with emotion in his heart, and quickly returned to the communal bunkhouse.

Opening the floorboard of his bed, he revealed a wooden box underneath. He unlocked and opened the box, which contained a small pile of various cleaned fragments.

These fragments were all things he had picked up during his aimless wanderings over this period. Picking up a piece, Lin Hui focused his attention and activated the blood-red mark.

‘Unknown fragment: A piece of outer shell broken and shed from a creature. Evolvable Branches: 1.’

‘1 – Synthesis of larger fragments.’

This was the evolution answer given by most of these fragments.

Evolving from a fragment to a larger fragment, that was all. And the evolution time was also measured in years. Extremely long.

“Perhaps continuous evolution and reinforcement can achieve the effect of completion, but that is not what I want. Spending the blood-red mark’s time on this is not worth it. I must find a way to increase the evolution speed of the blood-red mark.”

He placed the newly acquired insect egg into the box, closed the lid, and locked it.

‘I will start experimenting when the last stance finishes its evolution.’

This insect egg was the fastest evolving item he had encountered, and it seemed to involve an extraordinary ability outside the scope of martial arts.

Facing a special ability beyond his comprehension, Lin Hui felt a degree of anticipation.

Putting the floorboard back, he became somewhat concerned about the privacy of his living space.

“I need to find a way to live alone. After Body Tempering and passing the assessment to become a formal disciple, I should be allocated a single room. It will be soon, very soon…”

Stepping out of the communal bunkhouse, he was met by two young men entering, both new faces. When people left, their vacant spots were naturally filled by new students.

But this also brought security risks. Theft of personal items was not uncommon here.

“Senior Brother Lin.” The two greeted Lin Hui in succession.

“Mh-hm.” Lin Hui nodded in response, walking past the two.

Chen Zhishen was gone.

In the time that followed, Lin Hui felt somewhat inconvenienced in his sword practice. Before, he could fully concentrate on the sword, knowing that Chen Zhishen would proactively inform him if anything came up.

But now, that was gone.

His nature was solitary, and he had no other help. He still preferred to practice diligently in a quiet corner alone.

Huishen, who had been somewhat polite to him before, now acted as if he didn’t exist.

Lin Hui could only change his practice spot, diligently training while waiting for the final evolution to complete.

Only by completing the Body Tempering and becoming one of the twenty-something formal disciples could he improve his life. At that time, he planned to take on a junior disciple to handle errands and similar tasks.

As for now, he didn’t have the value for others to rely on or attach themselves to.

Time slowly flowed on.

Another month passed in the blink of an eye.

Chen Zhishen had gone to the Zhao Family. Unexpectedly, he actually sent a letter back to Lin Hui after a month, along with some local specialties from that town. It was bought with his first month’s wage.

It was a peanut and jujube cake, very sweet and fragrant.

Lin Hui tasted one piece himself and sent the rest to his mother.

In the letter, Chen Zhishen mentioned that the Zhao Family treated them very well, with all sorts of benefits. His current task was occasionally escorting trade caravans, and the rest of the time was spent rotating with others to instruct the Zhao Family‘s ordinary household guards.

What made Lin Hui most speechless was Chen Zhishen‘s mention in the letter that he had met a Senior Sister who was also a guard there. The two had hit it off and were now living together.

Forget Baihua and Xie Li; a hot Senior Sister was better!

Chen Zhishen‘s letter praised the Senior Sister named Zhang Tingfang as unique and perfectly conforming to his aesthetic.

The letter was written by a proxy, and it didn’t have Chen Zhishen‘s signature, only his red handprint. The handprint was smudged, making Lin Hui feel both speechless and amused.

Putting the letter away, he once again devoted himself to full-body training.

---

Xinyu Town.

Lin Shunhe, his face drawn with fatigue, quietly walked along the shadows of the wall, silently slipping into his courtyard through a broken hole.

He looked up at the sky. It was almost evening, but the mist hadn’t formed yet. He finally sighed in relief.

Money was not that easy to earn.

Especially for an older man like him with a bad record, even his wife was implicated and almost dismissed from her job. If not for her many years of work and the little connections she had, his wife Yao Shan might have been fired by now.

And even so, Yao Shan‘s employer took the opportunity to deduct most of her income.

The only reason Lin Shunhe could still earn money was by dealing in illicit goods.

He used his old connections to join a black market gang specializing in fencing stolen goods. The income was good, but he was constantly exposed to dangerous individuals, and the risk was significant.

Fortunately, everything would soon improve. Once he saved enough money, he could open his own shop. Starting a small sundry store that could sustain their livelihood would be a good beginning.

Dong dong dong.

Suddenly, the courtyard gate was knocked on.

Lin Shunhe was about to enter the inner room when he heard the sound and turned to look.

“Who is it?”

“Mr. Lin Shunhe, right? We are from the Fuan Gang. The location you applied for, the storefront, is ready. But you can open the shop, provided you follow the rules.” A rough, loud male voice came through.

Lin Shunhe quickly stepped forward, relieved, and opened the door.

Standing outside the door were three burly men with thick waists and broad shoulders, wearing gray vests and black shorts, each holding a thick wooden club resting on the ground.

Seeing the door open, the lead strongman clasped his hands in salute: “I am Xu Dao. Mr. Lin, do you still remember the rules?”

“I remember, I remember. After opening the shop, half of the profits must be handed over on time every month. Don’t worry, I remember it all,” Lin Shunhe quickly nodded. The Fuan Gang was the largest gang in Xinyu Town. When he was working for the noble person, no one dared to come and demand money, but things were different now.

“That’s good. When you open the shop, go and register at the nearest gang storefront. You can mention our name if you run into any trouble later.” Xu Dao nodded.

“Oh, right. If the profits are too low, or even if you lose money, you still have to pay a minimum of three thousand qian. Remember that,” he suddenly remembered something and added.

(End of Chapter)