Chapter 18: Body Tempering IV

Lin Hui was left sitting alone in the courtyard, watching the gloomy sky, a sense of inexplicable calm settling within him.

He hadn’t sat for long before the courtyard gate was knocked on again.

Dong dong dong.

He got up and went to open the door.

Standing outside were Brother Huang and his companion, who had left earlier, and a skinny, scarred woman.

“Brother Lin, this is the protection fee you paid earlier. We’ve brought it all back, not one penny short. And this is a small token of apology; we didn’t clarify the situation earlier, we apologize,” Brother Huang handed over a small money pouch and another bag of kumquats.

Kumquats had been scarce lately, and their price had risen, making them a relatively expensive fruit.

“Mh-hm, I’ll take the money, but the kumquats…” Lin Hui took the money pouch, but before he could finish speaking, the kumquats were forcefully pressed into his hand.

“Please take them. Please take them. We were the ones who broke the rules first. This is an apology. We hope Brother will be lenient and understanding toward us at the martial arts hall,” Brother Huang said in a subdued tone.

He was just an ordinary gang member. If he were targeted by these martial artists who had completed Body Tempering, and if he were beaten to death one day, it would all be for nothing.

Therefore, the bag of kumquats was actually an apology he bought out of his own pocket. He might even need to look out for the Lin family more afterward to compensate.

“Alright then. I won’t spread this around; it’s settled,” Lin Hui accepted the kumquats. “Is there anything else?”

“No, no, nothing else. This is my younger sister. She will also be patrolling the area later. I brought her to recognize your face,” Brother Huang patted the scarred woman beside him and said politely.

“Mh-hm, if there’s nothing else, you should return. I won’t see you out,” Lin Hui didn’t want to waste time with these low-level gang members. He understood their way of survival, but while he understood bullies who picked on the weak, he didn’t want to associate with them.

“Understood. Understood. Then we won’t disturb you,” Brother Huang nodded repeatedly.

The courtyard gate gently closed.

Lin Hui, holding the kumquats and the money pouch, turned and saw his mother standing at the inner room door looking over.

He held up the money pouch and the kumquats toward his mother.

“It’s fine. It’s the Muhua Gang people who came to refund the money and apologize.”

His mother, Yao Shan, instantly relaxed her expression, and her gaze then fell upon the money pouch and the kumquats.

These Muhua Gang members actually came to refund the money… Only now, truly seeing the money, did she genuinely realize the impact her son’s status as a formal disciple had on their family.

It wasn’t something illusory, but an influence that could concretely translate into money and benefits.

Looking at her son, Lin Hui, standing in the courtyard, Yao Shan suddenly felt that their home, which had been precariously supported by her husband alone, now had an additional pillar.

Although this pillar was not thick, it immediately helped stabilize the roof that had been shaking and on the verge of collapse, allowing their home to continue sheltering her from the wind and rain.

---

Lin Hui stayed at home for three days.

He also met with people from the Fuan Gang. They were also sensible enough to refund half of the protection fee. Since the gang had no ties to the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, refunding half was considered decent.

This immediately returned a significant cash flow to the family.

With his parents seeing him off, Lin Hui returned to the Clear Wind Taoist Temple. His first order of business was to visit Daoist Mingde.

Since Mingde had arranged his initial entry, it was necessary to visit him after completing Body Tempering.

Mingde‘s room was in a small, private courtyard on the outskirts of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

He didn’t live inside the temple but maintained his own courtyard right next to it.

When Lin Hui visited, Mingde was scattering handfuls of dry rice to feed chickens.

A flock of large, fat yellow chickens, wobbling as they walked, scrambled around the courtyard like a scattering of pale yellow spheres.

“Disciple Lin Hui greets True Man Mingde.” Lin Hui stood outside the courtyard and saluted across the fence.

“Oh, it’s you. Is your father doing well?” Mingde scattered all the remaining rice and looked up at Lin Hui.

“Eh, you finally broke through Body Tempering? Not bad, not bad.”

A smile appeared on his face.

“Thanks to the True Man’s blessing, yes, disciple managed to break through by chance,” Lin Hui said humbly, his voice sincere.

He instantly understood from that sentence that True Man Mingde had been keeping track of his family’s situation. It was only because of his father’s refusal to accept favors that Mingde hadn’t intervened to help.

“Why be so polite? Your father helped me a lot back then. Come, sit.” Mingde found two stools, one for each of them, and sat down by the table in the inner room.

“Since you haven’t decided what to do, how about I arrange something for you?” He seemed to have been prepared for this.

“Please tell me, True Man,” Lin Hui quickly said.

“Because of your contract with the temple, you cannot work for various wealthy families. However, the temple has an ongoing cooperation with the town’s Yamen to deploy people, along with other martial arts halls, to form a public order auxiliary patrol team, assisting the Yamen officers in patrolling the surrounding area. The main tasks are capturing bandits and thieves, and occasionally surrounding and eliminating beasts and Monsters that sneak in from the Mist Zone. Of course, for the latter, your role is only lookout; you don’t need to worry.”

Mingde paused, then continued.

“The work is still covered by the Clear Wind Taoist Temple contract. In addition to the temple’s portion of the pay, you will receive an extra ten thousand qian per month, with free food and lodging. Most importantly, we martial artists always need real combat experience. You can’t become a master by just training behind closed doors.”

“This disciple accepts!” Lin Hui agreed decisively.

Are you kidding? In addition to the temple’s wages, he could get an extra ten thousand a month. This was definitely a lucrative position. Although it was a bit dangerous, just as Mingde said, practicing martial arts inevitably meant facing real combat.

“Good. I’ll submit your name later. Now, you need to diligently practice the Nine-Section Quick Sword; you’ll be engaging in real combat soon. Also…”

He got up and went to a wooden cabinet in the corner of the wall. Opening the cabinet, he pulled out a meter-long, silver-black sword wrapped in anti-slip cloth.

“This is for you,” he placed the sword in front of Lin Hui.

“A top-grade item from Yunsong Pavilion. Be careful with it; it will serve you for a long time. Remember to maintain it and sharpen it regularly.”

“This is too valuable!” Lin Hui was stunned. A real weapon was inherently expensive; even the cheapest metal weapon cost over ten thousand qian, and this was a product of Yunsong Pavilion.

Yunsong Pavilion was a famous weapons shop in the Inner City. Their weapons were of superior quality, and their prices were equally high. This sword alone must cost over a hundred thousand qian!

He quickly stood up to decline.

“What’s the rush? Consider it a loan. Just pay me back when you earn enough money later,” Mingde said casually. “Alright, stop being so long-winded. This sword is useless sitting here with me; it’ll just rust. You take it and consider it maintenance for me. A house falls into disrepair when no one lives in it for long, let alone a weapon.”

Without allowing for further refusal, he insisted that Lin Hui take the sword. Then he gave Lin Hui some key pointers on the cultivation of the Nine-Section Quick Sword.

The two chatted for about ten minutes before Lin Hui stood up to bid farewell.

Only after Lin Hui had completely left did a long-haired girl walk out of the inner room’s bedroom.

“Father, it’s just a favor from a long time ago. Do you really need to invest so much? That boy isn’t a genius and doesn’t have much potential in the future. Is it worth it?”

The girl looked about five parts similar to Mingde, with a pretty face, clearly inheriting the other five parts from her mother.

Her figure was voluptuous, her legs were especially long and well-rounded, and her waist was trim and taut below. Even a light green long coat couldn’t conceal her mature body curves.

“Weiwei, Lin Shunhe helped me through a difficult time. Now that I am repaying him, and he refuses, I can only repay it through his son, which is also what he wants,” Mingde said calmly.

“But you don’t need to spend so much money, do you?” His daughter Weiwei said helplessly. “There’s simply no possibility of any return. It’s all a waste.”

“This is my principle as a man!” Mingde‘s voice rose slightly. “Weiwei, remember this: in this world, there are always some things that cannot be measured by money.”

“Yes, yes, yes…” Hearing this old argument, Weiwei rolled her eyes speechlessly but stopped arguing with her father.

This was far from the first time this had happened. Mingde‘s generosity towards his friends had already placed a considerable burden on the family. But no matter what they said, it was useless.

---

Lin Hui returned to his residence. Seeing that it was still early and hadn’t gotten dark or misty yet, he grabbed his wooden sword and headed to the front courtyard training ground.

He planned to formally begin learning the Nine-Section Quick Sword.

As for the blood-red mark, it had officially started the evolution of the dead insect egg.

It was only one month, and he could afford to wait.

Arriving at the front courtyard, the training ground was divided into ten areas, and most of them were occupied.

Only the area near the front gate was empty, perhaps because of the constant flow of people in and out, causing a high degree of interference.

Lin Hui carried his sword over, took possession of this area, stood in the center, and slowly began practicing the Seven-Section Quick Sword.

Behind him, not far away, was Senior Brother Chen Sui.

In an area to the side was the genius Huang Shan. Both had clearly been practicing for a while.

Seeing Lin Hui arrive, Chen Sui remained unfazed, still practicing the Clear Wind Sword Style methodically.

Huang Shan, however, had some memory of Lin Hui, mainly because of the incident where Chen Chong touched her backside, and Lin Hui also had a conflict with Chen Chong due to his friend.

She had seen Chen Zhishen‘s incident from afar.

The two shared a similarity in having conflicts with Chen Chong.

Now, seeing Lin Hui practice his sword, the Seven-Section Quick Sword unfolded like flowing water, giving off an inexplicable sense of grace.

Huang Shan‘s eyes immediately brightened. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt that Lin Hui seemed to be practicing even better than she was.

After watching a few times, she saw Lin Hui go to Mingxiu, the Master on duty, to learn the Nine-Section Quick Sword.

Lin Hui quickly learned the first few stances of the Nine-Section Quick Sword. When he returned to practice them repeatedly, the earlier surprise was completely gone, and his movements were slow and clumsy, like a child dancing.

Huang Shan quickly lost interest.

Days passed one after another.

Lin Hui quickly received the position of town Yamen patrol he had been promised by Mingde. Besides him, four others were assigned to the patrol team.

Huang Shan, Qiu Yiren, and Chen Chong were among them.

The last person was Senior Brother Chen Sui, who was responsible for leading the team.

Lin Hui clearly understood this composition: Senior Brother was there due to his skill, Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren due to their talent, and he and Chen Chong were there due to connections.

Since he lacked the assistance of the blood-red mark, his progress in the Nine-Section Quick Sword was extremely slow. But he was not worried in the least.

This was because his Body Tempering speed was maximized every day. He could feel his body becoming increasingly agile every single day.

It wasn’t until two days before they were scheduled to set off for the patrol.

Lin Hui finally received the special effect activation of the Seven-Section Quick Sword from the blood-red mark.

(End of Chapter)