Chapter 38: Evaluation II

Watching Vivi leave, Lin Hui’s expression was blank. He put away the letter paper and returned to his room.

He hadn’t lied just now. His parents’ business was thriving. His father was truly skilled at business; their earnings were much higher than before, and they had even opened a branch store.

As for him, although the reputation of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple had plummeted, he, Lin Hui, was still alive, and his martial prowess remained.

He might not be able to beat the Black Dragon Gate, but handling other small-time thugs was still a piece of cake. His safety was still guaranteed.

So, in terms of financial conditions, it just meant he couldn’t subsidize his family from his end. That was all.

Back in his room, he sat cross-legged on the cushion, his gaze naturally falling on the blood-red information bar in his lower field of vision.

‘Nine-Section Quick Sword evolution complete.‘

A line of small Chinese characters had been floating there for several minutes.

Looking at this line of text, Lin Hui used his consciousness to control it, gently changing it to reveal the detailed information of the Nine-Section Quick Sword.

‘Nine-Section Quick Sword: Mastery Level: Perfect. Clear Wind Taoist Temple Basic Sword Style. Upon perfect mastery, obtain special effect: Agility (Light Spirit).’

‘Special effect Light Body can be merged with Agility. Merge?’

The prompt from the blood-red mark appeared quickly as the Nine-Section Quick Sword details opened.

‘Merge.’ Lin Hui didn’t hesitate and confirmed directly.

Merging two special effects might yield a stronger effect. Since the blood-red mark prompted it, he figured it wouldn’t make things worse.

In the next second, the blood-colored text in his lower field of vision melted rapidly, converging into a new line of text.

‘Merge complete. Obtained special effect: Featherweight (Feather Transformation).’

‘Special Effect Featherweight: Consumption significantly reduced. Upon activation, body weight is halved, and base sword speed is tripled.’

Tripled!?

Lin Hui was startled. He had vaguely felt that the Light Body special effect increased speed by more than double. Now, the merged Featherweight special effect explicitly stated a triple increase in sword speed, along with the halving of body weight, confirming his guess.

‘Consumption significantly reduced… does this mean the special effect can be kept active for a long time?’

Lin Hui took a deep breath.

‘This is the true Perfected Version of the Nine-Section Quick Sword!’

Once this special effect was activated, his sword speed and movement would instantly surpass the Senior Brother from before by a significant margin.

Perhaps he could even catch up to the three Internal Force Realm Ming Generation Masters!

Lin Hui’s heart surged with excitement. After training bitterly for so long and waiting for so long, everything had finally paid off.

Nine-Section Quick Sword…

He closed his eyes. Countless perfect techniques of the Nine-Section Quick Sword surged wildly in his mind, merging with his previous cultivation memories.

The entire basic martial arts of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple were rapidly integrated and mastered in his mind at this moment.

A subtle warm current also flowed quietly from his mind, penetrating every part of his body.

The warm current continuously transformed Lin Hui’s physique, fine-tuning it towards a lighter and more agile direction.

This transformation lasted for fully ten minutes before slowly ending.

Lin Hui sat cross-legged on the ground and slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the indescribable special changes throughout his body, he reached out his hand and clenched it gently.

Instantly, a massive amount of muscle memory regarding the quick sword grip flooded his mind.

‘With the Seven-Section Quick Sword before, the blood-red mark didn’t adjust my body, but with the Nine-Section Quick Sword, it did. Does this mean only relatively advanced martial arts will trigger a physical adjustment after evolution?’

He didn’t know how strong he was at this moment. Without a specific reference, he had no idea what level his own strength and the Perfected Nine-Section Quick Sword could reach after the evolution.

Standing up, Lin Hui adapted to his current body. After his boiling blood slowly cooled down, he began to ponder his current state.

‘This is what I wanted. The only thing missing for supreme speed is the Clear Wind Sword Style…’

His initial goal in coming here was to learn movement speed. Now, half of that goal had been achieved. The sense of urgency in his heart had also diminished significantly.

‘So next, the goal is to learn the Clear Wind Sword Style first, and then find a way to improve the environmental safety for myself and my parents.’

To improve environmental safety, it seemed the only choice now was to enter the Inner City.

‘There are only a few channels to enter the Inner City.

First: Be selected into the Three Great Powers.

Second: Spend a huge sum of money to buy a vacant house in the Inner City.

Third: Through holding an official position in the outer towns, get promoted step by step and transferred to the Inner City.’

‘Among these, the second is the easiest for me to achieve right now. Many wealthy people in the Outer City have their main family members living in the Inner City—earning money in the Outer City to spend in the Inner City. This is also a major source of new Inner City residents.’

Lin Hui calculated in his mind.

‘But making money with the current Clear Wind Taoist Temple is a bit troublesome… And even at its peak, holding this or that position wouldn’t have earned enough wealth for my whole family to enter the Inner City. So, I still need to find another way…’

Lin Hui pondered hard, but many lucrative industries in the Outer City were backed by Summoners and various major powers. With his current meager strength, it was far from enough to intervene.

In such arenas, the Internal Force Realm was merely the baseline; the competition was almost entirely between Summoners.

Thinking it over, he sighed lightly.

“It seems my strength is still insufficient…”

He didn’t want to leave Teacher Mingde and lose his integrity, but he also wanted to earn big money to move into the Inner City. To achieve both… the only way.

Was to enhance the strength of the entire current Clear Wind Taoist Temple and make the sect big and strong again!

‘First, negotiate the profit-sharing with Teacher. Oh right, the revenue from the medicine field behind the temple is currently in Daoist Minchen’s hands. Also, the two branches that split off need to be brought back and merged. In this way, by expanding the scale of students and increasing the sphere of influence—imitating the Muhua Gang by collecting hidden taxes on industries—the income should meet the requirements very quickly!’

‘However, I still need to inquire about the specific requirements for buying a house and moving into the Inner City first.’

Having reached this point in his thoughts, Lin Hui took a deep breath and stood up. His mind flashed through the people he knew who might know about these things.

Faces flashed by quickly, soon stopping on the face of a man he knew very well.

‘It’s still most appropriate to go home and ask Dad.’

Thinking about it, the person he knew who understood this aspect best was actually his own father.

Feeling a bit speechless, Lin Hui got up immediately. Too lazy to pack anything, he grabbed his sword, opened the door, and left.

As soon as he stepped out, he felt a trace of difference.

After the Perfected Nine-Section Quick Sword, his body seemed to have undergone subtle changes. Every movement felt inexplicably lighter than before.

Leaving the Clear Wind Taoist Temple and accelerating back along the dirt road, the scenery on both sides moved much faster than before.

Since there was no object for comparison, Lin Hui couldn’t tell exactly how fast he was now.

‘Looks like I need to buy a portable timer to calculate time and speed…’

Tuyue wasn’t advanced in the mechanical field, but for basic timekeeping, there were still basic items similar to clocks and watches. However, these were goods from the Inner City and were relatively expensive to buy.

Accelerating all the way, Lin Hui didn’t go home directly but went straight to his parents’ small shop.

Before long, houses on both sides increased, and the flow of people became denser. Upon entering the street, the flow of people, carriages, and horses became even livelier, with farmers and vendors setting up stalls everywhere to sell goods.

Crossing two streets, he finally arrived at his father’s shop—Mountain River Sundry Shop.

The shop was larger than before. Besides sundries, fresh fruits, vegetables, and dried goods were displayed at the entrance.

His father was half-lying behind the wooden counter, holding a picture book/comic book in his hand, reading with relish.

“Dad!” Lin Hui walked in quickly. “Are you free? Got a moment to chat?”

“Why are you back again, kid?” Lin Shunhe sat up with a start at the sound. Turning around and seeing it was his son, he blurted out, “Chat about what? Did you think it through? Planning to switch to the Black Dragon Gate?”

“Switch what? Let’s go into the back room first.” Lin Hui pulled his father into the storage room in the back.

“Dad, do you know how much it costs to buy the cheapest house in the Inner City?” He lowered his voice.

“Buy? The price went up recently. A small house for a single person costs about four million qian. That’s the cheapest. Why do you ask?” Lin Shunhe replied, looking puzzled.

“Nothing, just asking.” Lin Hui’s heart skipped a beat. Four million qian… if he worked honestly for a salary, how long would it take to earn that?

“You’re not thinking of going to the Inner City, are you?” Lin Shunhe saw through his son’s thoughts at a glance. “Living in the Inner City long-term requires not only money but also identity proof. It’s very troublesome.”

“What identity proof?”

“An Inner City Residency Permit issued by the Inner City. This requires you to pass a certain assessment to prove that you indeed have sufficient value to the Inner City before you can get it. Simply put, those with only money and no ability aren’t allowed to settle inside. However…” Lin Shunhe paused. “Where there’s a system, there are always loopholes. I do have channels to get a permit by spending a bit more money.”

“Someone like me shouldn’t have to worry about failing the assessment, right?” Lin Hui asked hesitantly.

“Hard to say. The problem now is that the issuance of Inner City Residency Permits isn’t truly fair or open. Most of it is controlled by the subordinate forces of the Three Great Powers. Unless you are a high-level talent urgently needed by the Inner City, you’ll still have to honestly pay more money.” Lin Shunhe shook his head.

He looked at his thoughtful son.

“Why ask about this suddenly? Did you strike it rich?”

“Didn’t my strength break through a little bit? My ambitions grew a little,” Lin Hui said helplessly.

“You’re still at the Clear Wind Taoist Temple; breaking through in strength doesn’t mean much now. If it were the Clear Wind Taoist Temple of the past, a top ten elite might indeed pass the assessment. But now that martial artists from the outer districts have come and swept through the martial arts industry, spreading the news everywhere, the standard of martial arts halls in the entire Tuyue Outer City has been forcibly raised by a large margin. Even if you practice the Clear Wind Taoist Temple’s sword style to a very high level now, who can you beat? The market doesn’t recognize it anymore,” Lin Shunhe sighed.

“Indeed, the original brand effect has been beaten away…” Lin Hui sighed.

“What is a brand?”

“Nothing.” Lin Hui thought for a moment. “Then Dad, if I can re-establish the reputation of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple’s martial arts, would that increase the chances of passing the ability assessment?”

“That is a possibility. But with the general trend as it is, what can you do alone?” Lin Shunhe shook his head.

“True…” Lin Hui also sighed.

Of course, while he said that, he wouldn’t tell his father what he was thinking in his heart.

Since Song Zhanlong of the Black Dragon Gate could challenge the temple and crush the Clear Wind Taoist Temple’s brand single-handedly back then, why couldn’t he?

With the blood-red mark in hand, after learning the Clear Wind Sword Style and evolving it to the Perfected Version, reaching the strength of the Ming Generation Masters wouldn’t be a big problem. Reaching Daoist Baohe’s level would only be a matter of time.

How old was he now? Achieving the goal before twenty was enough.

(End of Chapter)