Exploring the Golden Finger

"The path of Internal Energy Cultivation lies in sensing Qi Flow, generating Qi Sensation, with Qi residing in the Dantian, and then Refining Essence into Qi, circulating Qi through the Heavenly Cycle, ultimately forming Internal Family True Qi. Our sect's Three Rivers Heart Method begins with the Three Yang Meridians…"

Li Daoqi patiently explained the three layers of the Three Rivers Heart Method to everyone, word by word, sentence by sentence. He didn't care if they understood or not; he just wanted to impart the knowledge first. During the explanation, interruptions were forbidden. A young boy who didn't understand and asked a question had been banished to a corner to bask in the sun.

So, even though most of the youths didn't understand, they endured it, choosing to listen until he finished.

Of course, Lin Xiao had no such problem. His true body already practiced Internal Energy Cultivation, and it was a divine technique of Three-Star High-Grade, vastly superior to the mere One-Star High-Grade Three Rivers Heart Method.

Unfortunately, the divine technique his true body practiced had extremely high requirements. He had only managed to forcefully begin training with the help of a Origin Power Crystal supplied by his family. Now, descending into this unknown small world, there was no Origin Power Crystal to lay the foundation for him, making cultivation impossible.

"The Heart Method has been imparted to you all. Remember not to spread it outside. If you have any questions, each of you has three chances to ask me. Now, go and practice."

After finishing his explanation, Li Daoqi decisively turned and left, showing no patience to linger any longer.

Dozens of youths wore troubled expressions. Most of them came from ordinary backgrounds, and some were orphans. They had no understanding of meridians, acupoints, or circulation routes. Steward Li's words were like listening to a foreign language, completely incomprehensible. A group of them gathered, chattering amongst themselves:

"What do we do? I didn't understand a single word."

"Me neither. I only understood one sentence, but I don't know what it means."

"I understood three sentences, but I can't connect them."

"I understood the entire first layer."

Everyone turned their heads to look at the youth who spoke. This youth was quite handsome, with skin whiter than all the others, clearly from a good background. He said with a hint of pride, "My name is Lin Yiqing. My grandfather was once a Child Scholar and taught me to read. I remember everything Steward Li said."

"Wow!"

All the youths, except for Lin Xiao, looked at him with reverence. In ancient times, scholars held a higher status than others. Even without passing the Child Scholar or Xiu Cai exams, simply being literate could secure a job that provided food and shelter.

The envious and admiring gazes of the youths gave the fair-skinned Lin Yiqing a sense of superiority. Facing everyone's flattery and calls of "Senior Brother," he was, after all, only a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy with an unstable disposition. He quickly became somewhat conceited and lost his bearings.

Lin Xiao merely smiled. He had no interest in such trivial matters. He'd rather spend that time diligently practicing and improving his cultivation as quickly as possible.

Soon, Steward Li noticed the change here. Learning that Lin Yiqing could read, he was quite surprised. After some thought, he took Lin Yiqing away, teaching him the entire three layers of the Heart Method to memorize before having him teach the other youths. He himself then became a hands-off manager.

In the following days, besides practicing Internal Energy Cultivation every morning, they practiced martial arts. The mess hall provided large portions of meat and steamed buns, enough to fill their stomachs.

With ample meat supply, all the youths' physiques began to grow rapidly. After a month, the faster ones had grown almost a head taller than they were a month ago. Even Lin Xiao had grown about ten centimeters in this month, now standing around 1.65 meters. This body was only fourteen years old, with room for further growth.

In one month, Lin Xiao had cultivated all three saber techniques to the second level, without using Potential Points to boost them. He only relied on his own talent. Compared to the other youths who were mostly at the first level, with some barely starting, he was far ahead.

After all, with his true body's cultivation and experience, his progress in these low-level martial arts was naturally faster than ordinary people.

However, his Internal Energy Cultivation, the Three Rivers Heart Method, was still only at the first level after a month. Lin Xiao clearly felt that this body's aptitude was somewhat poor; this was not something experience could compensate for.

Fortunately, he had the attribute-boosting ability. He decided not to use it for now and would see how things were in another month. If progress was still this slow, he would have to consider using Potential Points to forcefully improve. After all, some youths had already cultivated the Three Rivers Heart Method to the second level, attracting Steward Li's attention.

That person was Lin Yiqing. His aptitude was indeed good; in just one month, he had cultivated the Three Rivers Heart Method to the second level. Coupled with the even more fervent praise and flattery from the others, he had become even more arrogant and had begun to implicitly consider himself the leader of the new recruits, often bossing others around.

Because of this, Lin Xiao had a minor conflict with him. As an excellent newcomer second only to Lin Yiqing, he wasn't afraid of Lin Yiqing and simply ignored his orders. This made Lin Yiqing somewhat displeased but helpless, and thus he developed a dislike for Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao, however, didn't take the matter to heart at all. This past month, he had been troubled by another issue: he didn't know where the Potential Points on his attribute panel came from. After a month, they hadn't increased at all; apart from the initial seven points, there had been no change. This indicated that neither energy replenished by eating nor practicing cultivation generated Potential Points.

Unable to figure out the source, he dared not use the remaining Potential Points carelessly, fearing it would be a long time before he found the source again.

Therefore, whenever he had free time, he tried various possible sources of Potential Points, such as showing off, shocking other youths, secretly picking up Steward Li's well-worn and shiny teapot, or beating up some annoying youth to make them hate him, but none of it worked.

The methods for obtaining Potential Points from novels in his previous life had been mostly exhausted. The only remaining possibility was killing monsters, which was the most likely way to gain Potential Points.

However, this would have to wait for another two months, as newcomers like them from the Great River Gang had to train for three months before being assigned. It had only been one month.

Lin Xiao could do nothing about this and could only obediently wait and diligently cultivate.

Unknowingly, three months had arrived. He had also grown into a 1.7-meter-tall youth. Standing in the center of the training ground where they had spent three months, along with other youths of similar height, he faced Steward Li, who stood before them with his hands clasped behind his back. Behind Steward Li stood several burly men in tight-fitting clothes.

His gaze swept over the youths, whose spirits and energy were completely different from three months ago. He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Three months have passed. It is time for separation."

He vaguely gestured to the four burly men behind him and said, "These are brothers from our gang's four halls. After you leave, you will join one of them. I will now read out the names, and those whose names are called will be assigned to their respective halls."

He took out a yellow piece of paper from his embrace and looked at it before starting to read: "Zhang San, Bright Saber Hall."

A youth slightly taller than Lin Xiao stepped forward and stood behind one of the burly men.