Martial Arts Hall

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Lin Changqiang? Lin Changqiang!"

Early the next morning, while the sky was still barely light, Lin Changqiang woke to the familiar knocking. He let out a helpless sigh.

"Ugh, I don't even have to work anymore, and you still won't let me sleep until I wake up naturally. What a sin."

Sure enough, Lin Dong had come to ask him to pick out martial arts together, and Lin Changqiang naturally had no reason to refuse.

Although once he found a chance later to raise Lin Dong's favorability back to first place, the system could let him freeload off Lin Dong's martial arts directly, Lin Changqiang truly had no interest in the Mysterious Gate Seal.

In his previous life, Lin Changqiang had actually quite enjoyed watching Naruto. He had also thought the hand-sign attacks in it looked exceptionally cool.

But even with the two hand signs per second he had mastered during his cringeworthy teenage years, he would probably be beaten to death before he could even unleash the Mysterious Gate Seal.

As for why Lin Dong could successfully cast it every time, perhaps it was because his hands were faster, or perhaps his opponents had better martial ethics.

The Martial Arts Hall stood in the Lin Family's rear courtyard. It was one of the Lin Family's most important places, and only those with Lin Zhentian's permission could enter.

When they arrived at the entrance of the Martial Arts Hall, several stern-faced guards were standing watch over the gates. They clearly recognized Lin Changqiang and Lin Dong, so after politely nodding to them, they opened the gates.

The moment they entered the Martial Arts Hall, the scent of books washed over them. Rows upon rows of mahogany bookshelves stood crisscrossed throughout the hall, packed with all kinds of martial arts manuals.

Just as Lin Dong's eyes lit up and he prepared to search around for Third-grade martial arts, Lin Changqiang suddenly pulled him back and rolled his eyes.

"You idiot. You don't need to think to know the good stuff must be hidden deepest inside. What are you searching around the entrance for?"

Of course, that was only because Lin Changqiang already knew the Third-grade martial arts were all inside. Otherwise, he did not want to get slapped in the face again like yesterday.

The Martial Arts Hall was unexpectedly huge. Lin Changqiang and Lin Dong walked inward for several minutes without reaching the end. The bookshelves on either side grew much fewer, and at last, they found ten Third-grade martial arts manuals on a bookshelf in a corner.

"These should be all the Third-grade martial arts our Lin Family has, right?"

Lin Dong leaned closer curiously. Unlike the other bookshelves, each of the ten ancient manuals had its own wooden plaque beside it, detailing the martial art.

Lin Changqiang carefully inspected them one by one as well, looking to see whether there was anything suitable for him.

"Third-grade martial art, Returning Wind Soft Hand."

"Third-grade martial art, Traceless Claw."

"Third-grade martial art, Star Burst Airflow Finger."

After reading through all the Third-grade martial arts, Lin Changqiang could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.

"Why isn't there even one that fires energy blasts from afar?"

Although Lin Changqiang had preferred tanky, hard-hitting characters when playing games in his previous life, in reality, compared to Hollywood-style duels, he actually preferred overwhelming firepower and artillery bombardments.

Besides, with Lin Dong already serving as the tanky fighter in the team, and with the bruiser-tank Xiao Yan and assassin-mage Little Sable joining later on, wouldn't it be best for him to hide in the back as an artillery mage or provide crowd control?

"I've decided. I'll choose this fragment of the Mysterious Gate Seal!"

Lin Changqiang looked toward the voice and saw Lin Dong staring fervently at a pale black scroll. Since he knew Lin Dong could use the Ancestral Stone to repair the fragment, Lin Changqiang naturally did not stop him.

"Then I'll choose this Returning Wind Soft Hand. Its offensive power may not be that strong, but it's pretty quick at clearing fodder."

In truth, Lin Changqiang had originally been more inclined toward the Traceless Claw, because he felt that with Holy Light Protection, trading injury for injury would definitely not put him at a disadvantage.

But after thinking it over carefully, if he was going to trade injury for injury anyway, the longer a battle lasted, the more advantageous it would be for someone with Holy Light Protection.

Thus, compared to a martial art like Traceless Claw that focused solely on offense, he ultimately chose Returning Wind Soft Hand, which had slightly weaker attacks but stronger defense.

After registering them, the two successfully brought their martial arts manuals out. Lin Dong was just about to hurry home without stopping when Lin Changqiang suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Lin Dong, have you ever heard of motivational quotes?"

"???"

The moonlight was hazy, draping the earth in an illusory veil of silver. At that moment, the exhausted Lin Changqiang was drowsily waiting for the system's notification.

During the day, at the entrance to the Martial Arts Hall, he had racked his brains and practically butchered and used every famous quote he could remember, saying things like:

"Dignity exists only at the edge of a blade. Truth exists only within the range of an arrow."

"Those who offend the Lin Family shall be punished, no matter how far away they are."

"Who ruled the rise and fall of Tianxuan Continent?"

He babbled on and on, even stirring the guards at the Martial Arts Hall entrance into such passionate fervor that they wanted nothing more than to rush out, wipe out the Lei Family, Xie Family, and Mad Saber Martial Hall, and become the rulers of Qingyang Town themselves. Only then, beneath Lin Dong's suspicious gaze, had he raised Lin Dong's favorability toward him to sixty-nine, barely tying Lin Hong for first place.

"This kid probably has resistance to my motivational speeches now..."

Lin Changqiang lay spread-eagled on the bed, too tired to move. Fortunately, the system's voice rang out in time, preventing him from falling asleep.

"Ding. A target affected by Guerrilla has been detected cultivating a fifth-rank Mid-grade martial art—Mysterious Gate Seal. The host will continuously gain an additional thirty percent experience."

"Assisted cultivation: Mysterious Gate Seal."

"Ding. Assisted cultivation successful. Congratulations, host, you have gained sixteen percent experience in the Mysterious Gate Seal. Current mastery: sixteen percent. Decimals have been discarded."

"Ding. Congratulations, host, for achieving the accomplishment: First acquisition of a Mid-grade martial art. Reward: two Lottery Draw Opportunities. Your next draw is guaranteed to yield a Mid-grade martial art."

Lin Changqiang's face immediately lit up. Though he had long known Lin Dong would master the Mysterious Gate Seal, he had not expected there to be a reward for first acquiring a Mid-grade martial art. Moreover, it guaranteed a martial art. Didn't that mean...

"System, then if I first acquire a High-grade martial art, a Creation martial art, or a Spirit martial art, would I also achieve an accomplishment and get a guaranteed martial art?"

"Ding. In response to the host, first mastering martial arts, cultivation methods, and secret techniques of a certain grade does indeed reward Lottery Draw Opportunities. However, only this time will a guaranteed martial art be awarded!"

"???" Lin Changqiang wore the expression of a confused Black man meme. "Is there something special about this time?"

"Ding. In response to the host, it is because the system detected during the day that the host greatly enjoys using hand signs to unleash attacks."

Perhaps it was an illusion, but although it was still that cool female voice, Lin Changqiang somehow felt the system sounded a little smug. Unfortunately, Lin Changqiang loved nothing more than saying no to smug systems!

"So you used backdoor dealings to designate one of my draw rewards as a martial art that uses hand signs? Then shouldn't you compensate me?"

"??? The system does not understand..."

"How could you be so stupid!"

Lin Changqiang's heart burned with excitement, but his face wore an expression of disappointment at its failure to meet expectations.

"Think about it. The martial arts and Spirit Treasures drawn from the lottery are guaranteed to be at least equal to my own cultivation level, right? If I had planned to save the draw until the Heavenly Origin Stage, wouldn't the martial art have been at least a High-grade martial art? Now you've designated it as a Mid-grade martial art, so hasn't the reward become worse?"

"That seems to make sense..."

"Right? So you have to compensate me~"

Lin Changqiang secretly rejoiced. This system seemed a little slow. Though theoretically, he really could have saved the draw until the Heavenly Origin Stage, first, given his personality, he probably would not be able to hold onto the draw opportunity, and second, lottery draws did not guarantee martial arts in the first place~

"Ding. In consideration of the loss caused to the host, the host will be compensated with one Lottery Draw Opportunity."

"Ahh, that feels good." Lin Changqiang now felt as refreshed as if he had taken a bath. "System, use one Lottery Draw Opportunity and draw out my martial art. Just don't give me something like Thousand Years of Death."

"Ding. One Lottery Draw Opportunity has been used successfully. Congratulations, host, you have obtained a sixth-rank Mid-grade martial art—Fire Dance Whirlwind."