After sending the four children home, Lin Le gained another four points of merit.
Back at the inn, Lin Le counted this time's gains: thirty-six points of merit, ten points of killing karma, and over a hundred taels of silver.
As he digested the lotus root, Lin Le felt warmth spread through his spine, and an irrepressible sense of joy welled up in his heart.
His Yang Spiritual Root had reached three segments.
Looking at the lotus seeds again, their number had returned to nine.
Lin Le took out another ledger and flipped through it, quickly deciding on the next den to uproot.
They really are worse than beasts. Looking at the records in the ledger, Lin Le could not help touching his teeth. The number of people involved before and after had already exceeded a hundred.
The next day, after spending three taels of silver to order over a hundred jin of meat and fill his stomach, Lin Le headed to the county's martial arts school.
For eight taels of silver, he learned a martial art called Eight Directions Leg. Once mastered, it could alter one's Bone Structure into Mantis Leg.
Two more to go, Lin Le said to himself.
But ordinary martial arts only involved the hands and feet. Anything even slightly special had not spread widely.
The Great Devourer Art he had found on Hu Zigui before had been a tremendous bargain.
I'll take a look at the black market. I can buy some pills while I'm there.
After thinking it over, Lin Le turned a corner and entered an alley.
Then, after consuming one lotus seed, Eight Directions Leg reached mastery.
As Lin Le strolled slowly through the alley, he suddenly leaped onto the top of a wall.
Without deliberately controlling his strength, he landed on the wall with a sharp slap, instantly alerting the people in the courtyard.
"Who's there?" A thug standing behind the door sprang up in alarm. Turning his head, he saw Lin Le standing atop the wall.
"Who are you?" the thug shouted.
Lin Le swept his gaze over the courtyard. With a flick of his toe, a small pebble shot out like a bullet, striking the thug between the brows and piercing through.
Casually picking up a roof tile, Lin Le released his force, shattering it into several pieces.
Then came target practice.
One broken tile for each person. By the time he finished, corpses lay strewn both inside and outside the house.
"Come out." Lin Le's tone was casual. "Stop hiding. I know you're there."
A burly man carrying a saber emerged from the house, his expression dark as he looked at Lin Le. "Sir, have I, Zhang, ever offended you?"
Lin Le said nothing. He merely sprang up, soaring above the burly man, and stomped down.
Blood Qi surged across the burly man's body. He was actually a first-limit Martial Master with Blood Qi Gauze. Raising his saber, he tried to block the strike.
Crack! Bang!
One sound was Lin Le's foot snapping the iron saber. The other was his foot stomping the burly man's head into his chest cavity.
Landing lightly on the ground, Lin Le did not even glance at the corpse before entering the house. Then he frowned.
He had come too late. There were no trafficked people here.
After gathering the spoils and changing both his clothes and body shape, Lin Le left the courtyard and returned to the inn to enter the inner realm of his Inner Vision Divine Ability.
There were only twelve lotus seeds, with another sixteen points of Human Dao merit yet to condense.
The number of Human Dao lotus seeds had reached its limit. The remaining merit could either be saved, or he could invest another ninety points of merit or consume nine ordinary lotus seeds to refine a one-pattern lotus seed.
Lin Le thought about it and decided to save it for now. There was nothing on him that needed it anyway.
Another segment of lotus root had regrown, but Lin Le chose to save that as well. The improvement was not significant, so it would be better to use them all at once later.
After counting his money again, he had over five hundred taels in cash total, half of which had been contributed by that first-limit Martial Master.
He closed his eyes and refined his soul until night fell.
This time, Lin Le set out wearing the night clothes he had bought and arrived before a small grove.
Just as Lin Le was about to enter, someone jumped out and said, "Market entry fee."
"How much?" Lin Le asked.
"One tael," the man said.
Lin Le tossed him a small silver ingot, and the man stepped aside.
Beyond the grove lay a man-made clearing. A piece of black cloth was spread over each tree stump, with all kinds of items displayed atop it, while the stall owners stood watching nearby.
Lin Le browsed at an unhurried pace, finally stopping before one stump. "Is this Qi Swallowing Art a martial art or a qi-guiding method?"
The stall owner was dressed in black as well. "A martial art. Once cultivated, it can strengthen the lungs. At mastery, it can alter your Bone Structure into a Great Whale Lung."
"How many taels?" Lin Le asked.
"A hundred taels. No bargaining," the stall owner said.
"Is the martial art genuine?" Lin Le asked. As he spoke, Blood Qi wrapped around his ears, listening to the stall owner's breathing.
"Of course it's genuine. I've sold several copies, and no one has ever come looking for trouble," the stall owner said.
His heartbeat had not accelerated. It should be real.
Lin Le nodded slightly. "I'll take this one. Do you have any other martial arts involving special forms?"
"I've also got a Great Devourer Art that trains the six bowels. Want it?" The stall owner pointed at a book.
Lin Le glanced at it. "I've already practiced it. Otherwise, I would have asked about both books just now."
"You've practiced it?" The stall owner froze, then slapped his thigh in anguish. "Damn it, pirated-copy dogs!"
"Aren't you selling pirated copies too?" a stall owner nearby teased. "You've got the nerve to call others that?"
"How is that the same?" this stall owner shot back. "Mine are copied down word for word, without the slightest omission or error. How can those pirated copies that deliberately dig pits compare to mine?"
"Do you have anything else?" Lin Le cut off the topic. He had come to find martial arts, not watch a spectacle. "If not, I'll just take this one."
"Wait!" The stall owner raised a hand. "I have another incomplete one, but the form it involves is extremely special. Do you want it?"
Lin Le nodded slightly. "Tell me what form first."
"Crimson Dragon Marrow," the stall owner said.
Marrow? Lin Le's pupils contracted slightly. If one were to name the hardest form to alter, it would be marrow. Even the five viscera and six bowels had to stand behind it.
Marrow was the hardest to alter not only because it was protected by the bones and could not be refined directly, but also because brain marrow was part of it. If something went wrong with that portion, death would be the light outcome, and idiocy the severe one.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Le asked, "How much?"
In any case, with lotus seeds, even if he made a mistake in cultivation, nothing would go wrong. He could use it for experiments or research.
"One hundred taels as well," the stall owner said.
Lin Le bargained directly. "One hundred and fifty taels for both."
"Deal." The stall owner agreed readily.
After paying, Lin Le obtained the Qi Swallowing Art and a martial arts manual called the Crimson Dragon Blood Scripture.
He first read the Qi Swallowing Art. After confirming there was nothing wrong with it, Lin Le looked through the martial art called the Crimson Dragon Blood Scripture.
This was an exceptionally high-grade martial art. At mastery, it could actually alter six forms. Besides Crimson Dragon Marrow, there were Eagle Claw Hand, Coiling Dragon Sinews, Fierce Tiger Back, Carp Waist, and Mantis Leg.
However, it only contained cultivation methods, not nurturing methods, and there was no formula for the secret medicine either.
According to the book, cultivating this art required specially made secret medicine. Otherwise, one could not even enter through the gate. Forcing the practice would only make the Blood Qi flow backward and result in sudden death.
The secret medicine was not much of a problem. Blood Essence Treasure Liquid was the best universal medicine; otherwise, he would not have altered so many forms.
The only trouble was the conflict between forms. After all, changing one form into another required twice the resources.
Fortunately, only the waist forms conflicted, so it was not a major issue.
Lin Le put away the manuals, then spent another three hundred taels to buy three Spirit Blood Pills.
They were pills even better than Blood Essence Pills. Their market price was fifty taels each, but they were controlled goods, so naturally they sold for double in the black market.
Lin Le had used the remaining two drops of Blood Essence Pill Liquid, but they had reached their limit. They could replenish depleted Blood Qi, yet could no longer push his Blood Qi any further.
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