Cloud Ascending Ladder, Treading Air and Sweeping

Cloud Ascending Ladder, Treading Air and Sweeping

Cloud Ascending Ladder, Treading Air and Sweeping

"Junior Brother Lin, are you truly not going to reconsider? Senior Brother Wang personally extended this invitation..."

Chen Qing still wanted to persuade him, but Lin Mo remained calm, studying the Cloud Ascending Ladder manual in his hands. Xu Changfeng had already snickered several times.

He waved a hand, deeply disdainful of that so-called chief Personal Disciple, Wang Zhongtian. "If Eldest Senior Brother weren't busy in the Prefecture City, would it be his turn to come here and recruit people? Go back and tell your Senior Brother Wang exactly what I said!"

After sending Chen Qing away, Lin Mo discussed the property deeds and businesses with the remaining merchant lords. He simply leased everything out on a profit-sharing basis with a base payment—naturally, this was also the Prefecture City Inspector's intention.

By the time everything was settled, more than half an hour had passed. With Xu Changfeng involved in the remaining matters, Lin Mo was much more at ease.

"Senior Brother Xu, I'll have to trouble you to make a trip to the Prefecture City and turn these assets over to the public treasury. As for the remaining silver, about seven thousand taels will come into my hands..."

Lin Mo selected two Cultivation Methods, let Xu Changfeng choose one treasure, and picked a Precious Medicine seven or eight years old for Yang Yun's master. In the end, only roughly that amount of silver remained for him.

Halfway through speaking, Lin Mo recalled that Xu Changfeng had contributed as well and was his senior brother, so he was about to discuss dividing the money.

Who knew Xu Changfeng would wave him off first? "Enough, Junior Brother. I know you have a good heart, but being able to choose a suitable longsword is already excellent. How could I let you share silver with me too? You traded your life for this merit..."

He continued, "Back to the point. We were talking about the Prefecture City competition. Now that the Inspector favors you, plenty of people will surely want to step on you. That can't be helped... But more importantly, the rewards this time are substantial. An A-grade evaluation comes with one People's Minor Merit, and you'll also be allowed to browse the Prefecture City Treasury..."

"Time is tight and the task is heavy. I heard the Prefecture City competition will be held in a month, at the beginning of winter."

"It was held around this time back then too. Unfortunately, your senior brother's luck was still a little poor. I entered at the age of twenty, and among a thousand-odd people, I could only earn a mere b-grade. You should know that there were seventeen A-grade evaluations and fifty-two b-grades..."

As Xu Changfeng chatted, he began boasting again. Lin Mo smiled from the side and humored him with a word or two.

With all arrangements made, martial artists from Changhe Martial Arts School—and even martial artists from several other counties—were leading the search for the traitors from Zhao Family Grain Store and Qianjin Escort Agency. The overall situation was now settled.

"According to Senior Brother, if I can obtain an A-grade evaluation, I can earn another People's Minor Merit. Even if I fail to get it, I can still use this opportunity to look through the Prefecture City Treasury and spend that previous Minor Merit..."

"The Great Jade Ape Breathing Technique was found in Changhe County, after all. In such a vast Prefecture City Treasury, perhaps a surviving fragment might be stored there."

Lin Mo let out a long sigh. Since gaining the experience and insights from the Breathing Technique during yesterday's confiscation, he had spent the entire night reading through it. Naturally, he had benefited greatly.

If he cultivated the Great Jade Ape Breathing Technique step by step, then within three to five days, he would be able to combine it perfectly with actual combat. By then, his combat power would surge once more.

As a martial master's Personal Disciple, Yang Yun naturally would not have been so stingy as to refuse to teach him a Breathing Technique. It was simply that Lin Mo needed to reach the second refinement first; otherwise, insufficient compatibility with a Breathing Technique could easily cause injury.

Though Lin Mo had not known this before and had only thought he could try it by relying on the aptitude of [Bee Waist Ape Back], it turned out that [Bee Waist Ape Back] and [White Ape Momentum] were both exceptionally compatible with this Breathing Technique.

His compatibility rose sharply at once, and coupled with his moderate cultivation, no problems had arisen.

"As for the Prefecture City competition, there's still a month left. I have enough fortune on hand too. In a few days, once the Breathing Technique has thoroughly entered the beginner stage, I can start upgrading my Fate Traits!"

"For now, I should study this movement technique!"

Lin Mo leafed through and studied the Cloud Ascending Ladder. Without anyone to demonstrate it, he could only feel his way forward, so progress was destined to be much slower.

The Cloud Ascending Ladder before him was Human-grade Mid-tier. In terms of agility and endurance, it should not lose out to certain Human-grade High-tier movement Cultivation Methods.

Between Zhao Family Grain Store and Qianjin Escort Agency, there were no Cultivation Methods of the Mysterious grade, but quite a few Human-grade High-tier ones.

There were around a dozen in total, two of which were movement techniques.

However, one required burning one's essence blood to flee. Lin Mo needed a movement technique to increase his speed, but he had no need to gamble with his life.

The other was for short-range bursts. Once mastered, it could produce an effect akin to instant movement across several dozen meters, even a hundred meters, but it was ultimately unsuitable for long-distance pursuit or escape.

After weighing his options repeatedly, Lin Mo settled for the next best thing. Prioritizing his needs, he chose the Cloud Ascending Ladder.

The Cloud Ascending Ladder had three levels.

The first was Treading Air and Sweeping. Put simply, it gave Lin Mo an opportunity to maneuver in midair, allowing him to use the air for a boost or a turn.

Combined with the fist techniques Lin Mo excelled at, his assassination techniques would rise to another level.

Even if an assassination failed, with the ability of Treading Air and Sweeping from the first level, running over roofs and scaling walls would be no problem.

As for the latter two levels, they were still rather distant for him.

"To train this level, I'll need some training tools..."

Lin Mo found several smaller sandbags and tied them to his legs. Shaking and kicking his legs, he tested the weight. Each leg bore an additional load of roughly twenty pounds.

"For a martial artist's daily walking, this definitely won't have much impact. But when practicing on stakes, especially footwork and movement techniques, it is precisely suitable!"

Following the instructions in the Cloud Ascending Ladder, he drew a long breath into his belly, lightly tapped his toes, and leaped onto a high stake. The wooden stake swayed slightly.

With both feet on the tall stake, Lin Mo quickly steadied himself, cast aside distracting thoughts, and began moving over the wooden stakes.

At first, every step caused the sandbags to swing, which in turn made the whole stake shake. Remaining steady was not difficult, but he was still far from the state of treading with weight as though it were light described in the Cultivation Method.

After becoming slightly familiar with the rhythm, he deliberately circulated his qi and blood through his legs. His speed indeed increased greatly when his force erupted, but the rhythm he had just found for stabilizing himself completely vanished again.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Lin Mo could still move with ease across the stakes. Even when the sandbags made his footing unstable, he could adjust in time with a martial artist's physical capabilities.

After two cups of tea, Lin Mo gradually began panting. His legs had become stiff and numb from circulating qi and blood while moving for so long, and his steps gradually lost their form.

By the time three cups of tea had passed, he had completely run out of strength. Sweat poured down like rain, and maintaining a low-intensity infusion of qi and blood for so long had also left his mind somewhat fatigued.

Crack...

Lin Mo misplaced his footing and immediately slipped from the stake. Leaning against the wooden post, his legs trembled without stop.

"Just the requirement in this movement technique of maintaining a low-intensity infusion of qi and blood for a long time is already difficult. Easy to say, hard to sustain!"

Lin Mo sighed to himself.

Having cultivated the White Ape Eight Section Fist for so long, he was already used to the great opening and closing manner of circulating qi and blood. Naturally, adjusting all at once felt somewhat uncomfortable.

After catching his breath a few times and wiping away his sweat, he turned and jumped back up, continuing to practice the Cloud Ascending Ladder on the wooden stakes.