When the hired carriage arrived at the Chen family's doorstep and box after box of belongings began to be loaded onto it, the neighbors from the same alley immediately came over, curious about what was going on.
"Old Chen, what's happening here? It looks like you're moving."
"Yeah! Didn't A Lin already become a member of the War God Temple? Why is the Chen Clan head still making you move out of this courtyard?"
"Sister Yun, where are you moving to?"
Facing everyone's curiosity, Chen Hongbo did not hide anything. Instead, he said openly, "Hahaha, my son passed the Demon Slayer Envoy assessment yesterday and joined the War God Temple's Monster Slaying Squad. We're preparing to move into the Inner City now!"
Everyone was instantly dumbfounded.
Although they all knew that Chen Hongbo's son had become a War God Temple martial artist and that this day would come sooner or later, they had not expected it to come so soon.
After all, they had all heard, more or less, how rare residences in the Inner City were.
"The Chen family's boy is truly incredible! If my son were even half as capable as him, I could die without regrets."
"Exactly! Exactly! Some people used to say that if A Lin failed to get into a martial academy, his life would be over. Look at him now—he became a War God Temple martial artist outright, obtained the status of Demon Slayer Envoy, and even got a residence in the Inner City. He's simply unbelievable."
"If that woman Zhang Guihua found out about this, wouldn't she be furious to death?"
"That woman used to gossip every day about how A Lin was no good. Who would have thought that not only would she be driven out of her home, but the residence she had yearned for day and night would be something they did not even care for? They just moved straight into the Inner City. What a farce!"
"I wonder where that woman moved to. If I find out, I'll have to go chat with her and see what expression ends up on that ugly face of hers."
"Old Zhang, you're really wicked!"
"Who told that vicious woman to keep talking behind my wife's back!"
Chen Hongbo dealt with everyone's congratulations while smilingly inviting them. "In a few days, I'll hold a celebration banquet here in our ward. You all have to honor us with your presence!"
"Definitely, definitely!"
The crowd responded loudly, talking over one another.
Some more perceptive neighbors even stepped forward to help Chen Lin's family load their luggage onto the carriage.
"A Shan, if you need me in the future, come straight to Liuyun Alley in Xuanwu Ward," Chen Lin said to Zhang Shan.
"Mm!" Zhang Shan nodded happily. "A Lin, one day, I'll join the War God Temple too and move into the Inner City."
"Mm! Keep it up. I'll be waiting for you." Chen Lin patted Zhang Shan on the shoulder encouragingly.
With an excited expression, Zhang Shan punched Chen Lin lightly in the chest and said, "A Lin, I knew it. Failing the martial examination was nothing to you. How could an upper academy student of Nanqing Martial Academy compare to a War God Temple martial artist or a Demon Slayer Envoy of the Human Alliance? You're freaking amazing now!"
Before long, under the gazes of the surrounding neighbors, Chen Lin's family boarded the carriage. Behind them were many old belongings that Father Chen and Mother Chen could not bear to throw away.
Half an hour later, Chen Lin's family entered the Inner City and arrived at Liuyun Alley in Xuanwu Ward.
Just as the carriage stopped, a silver-haired old man suddenly ran out from the residence bearing the plaque of the He Estate.
"You must be Young Master Chen Lin, right? I'm Wu Shan, the steward of the He Estate. The master instructed me yesterday to keep an eye on the situation outside the estate these next few days. If I saw Young Master Chen moving in, he told me to lend a hand!"
"Oh? Then thank you, Steward Wu," Chen Lin said with a smile.
"It's nothing. It's simply my duty!"
After speaking politely, Wu Shan waved toward the courtyard behind him. Seven or eight servants immediately ran out of the He Estate and swiftly began helping Chen Lin's family move their things.
Led by Wu Shan, Chen Lin opened the gates to the courtyard that would be his home.
The front courtyard was exceptionally spacious. Servants' quarters stood on both sides, while in the middle grew a large clustered tree laden with red fruit.
There was a pond in the rear courtyard, along with artificial hills and flowing water, pavilions and towers—everything was complete.
It was completely different from the northern two-courtyard siheyuan Chen Lin remembered.
Looking at the luxurious residence before him, Chen Lin said to his family with great satisfaction, "Father, Mother, Little Sister, this will be where we live from now on. What do you think? Do you like it?"
Father Chen and Mother Chen kept looking around the picturesque residence before them, so excited that they did not know what to say.
Chen Lan's little eyes darted around as she surveyed the residence. She curled her lips in dissatisfaction. "Such a huge courtyard, yet there isn't even a place to grow medicinal herbs. That's a little unsightly."
"You silly girl, if you want to grow herbs, you can pull out the flowers in that little garden on the west side and plant your herbs there instead." Chen Lin rubbed the little girl's head with a wry smile.
"Can I do that?" Chen Lan looked at Chen Lin suspiciously.
"Of course you can. This is our home now. In our home, you can do whatever you want," Chen Lin said with a smile.
The moon hung above the treetops.
After a busy day, Father Chen and Mother Chen had fallen asleep early. Even the energetic little Chen Lan was no exception.
Only Chen Lin, as a martial artist, did not feel the slightest bit tired.
In the simple, unadorned training room, Chen Lin sat cross-legged on the floor.
Three flying daggers hovered beside him like wandering dragons, constantly wheeling around him above, below, left, and right as they performed all manner of attack motions.
After studying them for quite some time, Chen Lin finally reached out and put away the three flying daggers.
His spiritual power was still not strong enough. At most, he could control three flying daggers to launch effective attacks. Any more than that would leave his control stiff and sluggish, while their speed and attack power would plummet.
As Spirit Artifacts, the Cold Moon Flying Daggers needed their user to continuously nurture them before they could develop spirituality.
Once the flying daggers developed spirituality, or once his spiritual power broke through again, the number of flying daggers he could control would rise to another level.
After sheathing the flying daggers at the small of his back, Chen Lin took out three thin booklets. They were the Nine Revolutions Divine Firmament Swordplay.
Opening the first booklet, Chen Lin saw that the text before him was an introduction to the Nine Revolutions Divine Firmament Swordplay.
The Nine Revolutions Divine Firmament Swordplay was a cultivation art created by the Martial Emperor Yunxiao Guan Leihai after gaining insight.
This cultivation art encompassed movement techniques, swordplay, and a breathing method. It was an extremely comprehensive cultivation art.
Naturally, this powerful cultivation art also had extremely demanding requirements for its practitioners.
Not only did it require a martial artist to possess exceedingly fine control over their physical body, it also required the strength of their soul to reach a level close to that of a Spirit Master. Otherwise, they could not even enter the first level.
After reading the requirements for cultivating the art, Chen Lin grinned. Not only do I meet every one of these requirements, even if I didn't, it would only take a few more points for me.
Turning to the second page, he saw the words, "Of all martial arts under heaven, nothing is unbreakable; only speed cannot be broken," emerge amid a sea of lightning. Chen Lin instantly felt a sense of familiarity.
It turned out that different worlds and different civilizations could still arrive at the same destination by different paths when it came to martial theory.
Whether they were martial artists or ordinary people, everyone understood that as long as one was fast enough, one would be invincible.
Speed could take an enemy's life before he had time to react. Speed could allow one's attacks to accumulate limitless kinetic force.
However, everyone understood this principle, yet very few could truly put it into practice.
The Nine Revolutions Divine Firmament Swordplay contained a complete set of movement techniques, [Instant Step], a complete breathing method, [Nine Revolutions Mysterious Origin Art], and a complete set of [Divine Firmament Swordplay]. Of the three, the breathing method was the foundation. It was the foundation by which martial artists absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and condensed true qi energy.
Only with abundant true qi could one unleash the lightning-fast Instant Step and the astonishingly powerful Divine Firmament Swordplay.
As Chen Lin continued reading, he discovered that the Nine Revolutions Divine Firmament Swordplay had nine levels in total. The movement techniques, breathing method, and swordplay were the same.
What he had obtained was precisely the first three levels of the cultivation art.
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