Chapter 6: Joining II

Clear Wind Taoist Temple interior.

On the training ground behind the main hall.

Rows of teenagers dressed in gray short martial attire stood in neat formation, holding short branches, waiting for the Taoist priest in front to impart martial arts.

“I am Mingxiu, and I am the Taoist priest specifically responsible for teaching you the fundamental sword style.” The Taoist priest had a handsome, jade-like face and a burly physique, giving him the strange, contrasting appearance of a scholar’s head on a bear’s body.

He was wearing a dark blue Taoist robe and held a slender iron sword. The sword’s body was bright silver and fine, looking quite expensive.

“Most of you come from poor families. You pay to learn martial arts here primarily to be able to run faster than others when danger strikes. You all know the martial arts of our Clear Wind Taoist Temple—speed is unrivaled in all of Xinyu Town! This is the prerequisite for you to come and learn martial arts.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the twenty-four youths before him. He paused briefly, especially when his eyes passed over the two newcomers in one corner.

One of the two had a square face and determined eyes. The other had plain, unremarkable features.

The latter was Lin Hui, who had been here for a week.

During this week, Lin Hui hadn’t started practicing martial arts but was instead assigned basic physical conditioning tasks by Huishen, such as chopping wood, fetching water, and moving heavy objects.

After a week, Lin Hui clearly felt his stamina had improved. Although his arms and legs were still sore, his spirit was much better.

He had been sleeping in the communal bunkhouse this entire time. Huishen had originally intended to arrange a private room for him, but Lin Hui refused.

He didn’t want to stand out by separating himself from the group, as that would be too conspicuous.

He now looked around at the others who had come to learn martial arts.

“Are there this many people our age coming to learn martial arts?” he asked in surprise.

“Definitely. Who wouldn’t want to learn to run fast? It doesn’t cost much anyway,” the resolute-eyed youth next to him replied casually.

His name was Chen Zhishen. His name made Lin Hui unconsciously think of Lu Zhishen, but his personality was the complete opposite of that character.

This fellow had an extremely strong will. Since he and Lin Hui lived in the same bunkhouse, their mats close together, they had become acquainted. This was how Lin Hui knew that this guy woke up and started training before it was fully light, as soon as the mist had cleared. He ran, fetched water, chopped wood—he did everything.

He even helped Lin Hui with quite a few chores. Seeing that the other party came from a poor background, Lin Hui secretly shared a third of his own food with him. After all, he had silver money and dry provisions provided by his family, and his financial situation was much better than Chen Zhishen’s, so he didn’t lack this little bit.

Through this interaction, their relationship quickly warmed up.

“But don’t look at how many people are here. Many actually only come once every few days, learn something, and then go back to practice on their own, because they still have to work and earn money. The ones who truly live here and train all day, like us, are only about ten or so people.”

“This class is taught three times a day, with twenty-something people each time. If there are seventy or eighty people in total, there are only about ten people who train full-time?” Lin Hui raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I’ve been here longer than you and can see clearly. There are only about ten or so. I’m bad at math, so I can’t count the exact number,” Chen Zhishen replied in a low voice.

“Look at those three standing in the front.”

Lin Hui followed his gaze and saw that although the three were dressed similarly to those around them, the craftsmanship of their attire was noticeably better in subtle ways.

The three consisted of two males and one female. Judging by their skin, features, and hair quality, it was easy to tell that they came from well-off families.

“Those three are the best in martial arts here. The males are Senior Brother Chen Sui and Second Senior Brother Zhao Jiangan. The female is Senior Sister Mu Qiaozhi. They are all direct descendants of the wealthiest families in the surrounding towns.”

“Chen Sui comes from a distant relative branch of the Chen Family; you know how powerful the Chen Family is. Zhao Jiangan’s Zhao Family is the largest business house in his Qimen Town. Senior Sister Mu Qiaozhi’s family deals in medicinal materials, and the supply of medicinal materials for seven or eight surrounding towns depends entirely on her family.”

Chen Zhishen looked honest, but his ability to gather information was miles ahead of Lin Hui’s.

“Then why would they come to learn…” Lin Hui didn’t finish his sentence.

The Clear Wind Taoist Temple was, after all, only a place to learn external martial arts. Compared to the Three Great Powers of the Inner City, these people clearly had the ability to join one of the Three Great Powers. Why…

“They were naturally filtered out,” Chen Zhishen shook his head, lowering his voice. “I’m not clear on the specifics for the other two, but I heard that Senior Sister Mu Qiaozhi was filtered out because her aptitude was far too poor. Disappointed, and not wanting to simply idle away her time in one of the Three Great Powers, she chose instead to only learn skills for self-preservation, so she can mainly run businesses and manage affairs for her family in the future.”

Lin Hui wanted to ask more, but at that moment, Daoist Mingxiu jumped onto the wooden platform, looking down and sweeping his gaze over everyone.

“Our Clear Wind Taoist Temple’s skill is not for fighting, but when it comes to self-preservation, it is universally acknowledged. Today, I will impart to you the temple’s fundamental sword style, which is also the prerequisite and foundation for learning Qing Shen Shu (Light Body Technique). Its name is: Seven-Section Quick Sword!”

“This sword style mainly consists of seven stances. The stances require the coordination of the entire body’s muscles and are primarily used for physical conditioning, not for actual combat. Everyone, remember this well.”

Next, Daoist Mingxiu began to explain and demonstrate the specifics of the Seven-Section Quick Sword.

Everyone below listened attentively, and Lin Hui and Chen Zhishen also focused their attention. After a week of hard labor, they had finally waited for the martial arts instruction and naturally didn’t dare to miss it.

“…To be fast, the sword stances must rely mainly on footwork for power. Although you are holding a sword in your hand, your true focus must be on your feet. For escaping and exerting force, it is nothing more than pushing off with the front of your foot and tightening your calf muscles. At the same time, you must swing your sword to increase your own perceived danger, thereby making your pursuer give up on choosing you, and instead select other easier prey.”

Daoist Mingxiu explained in great detail, and Lin Hui nodded frequently as he listened.

But before he could listen for long.

Suddenly, a familiar faint sound resonated in his mind.

Hiss.

The blood-red mark!

The blood-red mark moved again.

But this time, it was completely different from before. A line of small text appeared out of thin air in Lin Hui’s lower field of vision.

‘Seven-Section Quick Sword: Clear Wind Taoist Temple fundamental sword style. When practiced to great mastery, it grants the special effect: Light Body. Evolvable Branches: 2.’

‘1 – Nine-Section Quick Sword.’

‘2 – Clear Wind Sword Style.’

The Nine-Section Quick Sword and the Clear Wind Sword Style were both legitimate martial arts of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, and Lin Hui had heard of them. He hadn’t expected to be able to evolve them merely by using the Seven-Section Quick Sword.

‘This blood-red mark is truly heaven-defying. But what use is it if it’s evolved directly? Does it mean I can learn it immediately after it’s evolved?’

Lin Hui shook his head inwardly.

He clicked on the evolution branches, and as expected, the required time was again measured in years.

But suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed his mind.

‘Wait, since the evolution time is too long, why don’t I just try to find something with a short evolution time?’

‘The items I tested before all required years for evolution, but based on observation, the smaller the object, the shorter the required evolution time. Looking at it this way, if I continue to break things down further…’

Thinking of this, Lin Hui, who had been stumped for so long, finally grasped an idea.

He stared intently at Daoist Mingxiu on the platform, and simultaneously concentrated his mind, visualizing the first stance of the Seven-Section Quick Sword—Ascend High and Gaze Far.

Yes, that was his plan: to break down the sword style into individual stances and use the blood-red mark to evolve them.

Soon, a minute later, sure enough.

A new line of blood-red text appeared in his lower field of vision.

‘Seven-Section Quick Sword Stance One: Ascend High and Gaze Far. This stance is the foundation of the Seven-Section Quick Sword. Practicing it repeatedly, once proficient, allows for quick mastery of the third stance, Pine Waves. Evolvable Branches: 1.’

Lin Hui quickly clicked on the number for the evolution branch.

‘1 – Ascend High and Gaze at Mountain.’

Without delay, he clicked on Ascend High and Gaze at Mountain.

‘Evolve Ascend High and Gaze at Mountain?’

‘Required Resources: One wooden sword, sixty days of stored energy.’

‘Required Time: Sixty days.’

Only sixty days! It really is feasible!

Lin Hui finally breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that he seemed to have finally found the correct way to unlock the blood-red mark’s ability.

‘Evolve Ascend High and Gaze at Mountain?’

The blood-red mark’s inquiry reappeared.

‘Yes!’

This time, Lin Hui did not hesitate and immediately chose yes.

Hiss.

Immediately, the blood-red mark on the back of his hand flashed with red light, changing from a rhombus to a circle.

Everything instantly became quiet.

And just at this moment, Lin Hui’s entire body went numb, and he felt a slight drain of physical energy.

It wasn’t much, but he could clearly feel that a trace of his physical energy had been swallowed up by something.

By this time, Daoist Mingxiu on the platform had finished demonstrating all the sword stances and had begun signaling for the others to step forward with questions.

After the Q&A ended, he stepped down and began rapidly adjusting the disciples’ sword-holding posture and footwork one-on-one.

Lin Hui observed and confirmed that the blood-red mark’s energy absorption had no adverse effect on him. Only then did he fully concentrate on Mingxiu’s instructions and adjust his own posture.

He couldn’t rely solely on the blood-red mark. He still had to work hard on many things, otherwise…

Following the imparting of the sword style, life quickly returned to the previous cycle of monotonous repetition.

In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed since Lin Hui arrived at the Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

He successfully learned the Seven-Section Quick Sword through Mingxiu, but he had only grasped the gist of the sword style, and many details were completely unclear to Lin Hui.

Since everyone practiced in the same area, he observed, evaluated, and compared himself. Based on his comprehension and memory of the sword stances.

Out of the more than sixty students at the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, he was in the lower-middle tier.

It took him a week to memorize the entire Seven-Section Quick Sword on his own, but some students only took two days to memorize all of it completely.

This was purely a difference in talent.

However, it didn’t matter if his talent was ordinary. As long as he was diligent and trained hard, he could always close the gap.

So, Lin Hui began to train with Chen Zhishen every day, increasing his training volume.

But…

“Junior Brother Lin, how is your mastery of the Seven-Section Quick Sword lately?”

In the evening, as Lin Hui was practicing extra on his own in a corner of the training ground, Huishen, who had always been his guide, appeared nearby, smiling as he watched the diligently training Lin Hui.

“I’ve barely managed to memorize it. My aptitude isn’t very good, so I can only rely on more practice to compensate,” Lin Hui put down the short wooden stick he was holding and said somewhat helplessly.

“Don’t worry. Martial arts can’t be achieved overnight, and your father is Steward Lin; you won’t need to use these Qing Shen techniques very often in the future,” Huishen said with a smile.

“Senior Brother is right, but I just want to achieve mastery myself, for peace of mind,” Lin Hui shook his head, stretched his joints, and walked toward the other person.

“Why did Senior Brother have time to look for me today?”

“Your father sent a letter. The door-crashing ghost outside the city has been caught. He told you not to worry.” Huishen said.

“The door-crashing ghost was caught?” Lin Hui was startled.

“Yes. According to the investigation notice, there was no door-crashing ghost. It was actually the secret guards of two great families from the Inner City who committed multiple tragic incidents while searching for the whereabouts of a valuable item in the Outer City. I said before that this place is close to the Mist-Free Zone; it’s not that easy for a door-crashing ghost to enter,” the smile on Huishen’s face faded.

“What was the result then?” Lin Hui also let out a sigh of relief and pressed for an answer.

“Result? What result?” Huishen was also taken aback.

“I mean, those two great families,” Lin Hui clarified.

“They were warned. They are not allowed to continue such actions in the future. They also compensated the affected households with some money,” Huishen replied.

“That’s it?” Lin Hui was stunned.

“Yes. What else were you expecting?” Huishen looked at him strangely.

“…” Lin Hui had expected these two great families to face more severe punishment, but instead…

“Oh, by the way, Martial Uncle Mingde asked me to ask you: have you ever eaten Myriad Fortune Meat since you were young?” Huishen continued to ask.

“No. Why?” Lin Hui thought carefully and confirmed that he had not eaten it.

“Then don’t eat it in the future either. Although that stuff works well, it’s addictive,” Huishen said in a lowered voice.

“Addictive…” Lin Hui’s heart leaped.

“Yes, and eating too much will affect your mind. You’ll also constantly feel the urge to seek out intimate relations. Just be cautious yourself,” Huishen dropped this warning, looked around, and quickly departed.

Lin Hui was left alone, his heart racing, startled by the content of that conversation.

The Myriad Fortune Meat actually held such a secret?

(End of Chapter)