Someone Was Born in Rome

At sunset, Shen Lin and Miss Zijing followed behind Sun Zhi as they left Qiulin County.

After seeing Sun Zhi at the city gate earlier, Miss Zijing had sensed that something was off.

When she realized that Sun Zhi's destination seemed to be the same as theirs, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. She turned to Shen Lin and said,

"You were planning to go to Baoshan Village all along?"

Shen Lin nodded, a satisfied smile on his face.

"I was."

The rich woman was quite particular. Before setting out, she had given him two Meridian-Opening Pills as a deposit.

This had left Shen Lin incredibly excited. While pretending to put the Meridian-Opening Pills back into his robe, he had already activated the system to conduct an analysis.

With the two Meridian-Opening Pills, plus the remaining Demon Lifespan he already possessed, Shen Lin had broken through the tenth meridian in one go.

If this journey went smoothly and he could obtain enough Demon Lifespan, breaking through the final two meridians would be a piece of cake.

The Innate Realm was already within reach.

Seeing Shen Lin nod, Miss Zijing pondered for a moment before cautiously asking, "Is it because of the three dog demons in Baoshan Village?"

Shen Lin's footsteps paused slightly. He turned his head and looked at Miss Zijing.

He was not particularly surprised that she knew about the demons in Baoshan Village.

After all, even Sun Zhi had managed to get in touch with them. A lady of extraordinary origins like Miss Zijing naturally had channels through which she could learn about them.

Perhaps...

He could obtain some information through her channels.

With that thought, Shen Lin asked directly,

"Do you know their exact strength?"

Miss Zijing nodded and said, "Baoshan Village is the territory of Huang Xiaotian, the Third Manager of Black Wind Stronghold. His strength is roughly equivalent to that of a martial artist at the fifth level of the Meridian Opening Realm. His two younger brothers are also in the Meridian Opening Realm, but because all the resources were given to Huang Xiaotian, they aren't very strong. They've only just broken through their first meridian."

"You seem very familiar with Black Wind Stronghold."

Faced with Shen Lin's probing, Miss Zijing did not answer directly. Instead, she asked in return, "Including the two Meridian-Opening Pills I gave you earlier, you should now be able to break through six or more meridians, right? Why don't you choose to break through to the Innate Realm? Why are you still working so hard to slay demons here?"

"Let's wait a little longer. A person should always have loftier pursuits."

Hearing Shen Lin's indifferent reply, Miss Zijing covered her mouth and laughed.

"Could it be that you want to break through all twelve meridians?"

"Why not?"

Shen Lin countered.

Looking at his serious gaze, Miss Zijing put away her smile and said earnestly, "Leaving aside the difficulty of reaching the Meridian-Seeking Stage, even if you possessed the highest-grade Meridian Opening Secret Art and could locate all twelve meridians, breaking through them would still be a problem.

"After the sixth meridian, the difficulty of breaking through each successive meridian rises sharply. The number of Meridian-Opening Pills consumed is even more astonishing.

"Even the great lineages in the provincial capitals only choose the most outstanding descendants of each generation and provide them with resources to break through all twelve meridians.

"You have no illustrious family background, and since you wear this official uniform, you cannot join those prominent sects. Even if you possess outstanding talent, the road ahead will only become more difficult.

"You may even find the Twelve Meridians beyond your reach, and that could affect your state of mind, hindering your breakthrough to the Innate Realm as well.

"It would be best to take advantage of your youth and break through in one go."

It had to be said that Miss Zijing's advice actually made a great deal of sense.

Before reaching the Innate Realm, a martial artist's lifespan was no different from an ordinary person's.

With a background like Shen Lin's, even if he spent the rest of his life slaying demons, it would be difficult to exchange enough rewards to break through all twelve meridians.

But Shen Lin was not discouraged in the slightest. Instead, he chuckled.

"According to what you're saying, should I go to the imperial capital and marry into some wealthy household? Then I'd have enough resources to break through all twelve meridians."

At those words, Miss Zijing's body trembled slightly. Her expression became somewhat unnatural as she turned her head away.

"The descendants of the wealthy households in the imperial capital aren't lacking descendants with all twelve meridians."

Shen Lin could not help sighing.

"That's true. Families like that probably aren't lacking Meridian-Opening Pills either."

"No." Miss Zijing slowly shook her head. "The descendants of the wealthy households in the imperial capital don't need Meridian-Opening Pills to open their meridians..."

After hesitating for a while, she continued, "Because those people have soaked in medicinal baths every day since birth, using the power of rare treasures and exotic herbs to nourish their meridians and keep them from being sealed by turbid qi.

"Their starting point in martial cultivation is the Innate Realm!"

Miss Zijing had originally thought that saying these things would deal Shen Lin a tremendous blow.

After all, within this tiny Qiulin County, he could already be considered a once-in-a-century genius.

Yet the direction of his lifelong efforts was merely the starting point of those heirs of wealthy households in the imperial capital.

How cruel was that?

But contrary to expectations, there was not the slightest trace of dejection on Shen Lin's face. Instead, after hearing her words, he became extremely excited.

Now that was more like it.

A fierce tiger did not take pride in slaughtering rabbits.

The stronger those wealthy heirs were, the greater his sense of accomplishment would be when he stepped on them and climbed to the summit.

Shen Lin suddenly seemed to think of something. He looked at Miss Zijing and asked doubtfully, "You should have been able to break through to the Innate Realm long ago. Why?"

Since Miss Zijing knew the circumstances of the imperial capital's wealthy households so well, her background should not be simple either.

Yet the aura around her was obvious. She did not seem like one of those wealthy heirs born with naturally unobstructed meridians.

Even so, judging by how casually she could produce so many Meridian-Opening Pills, her family background was certainly extraordinary.

It should not have been difficult for her to spend the Meridian-Opening Pills directly to break through all twelve meridians.

But why was she still...

As if she understood what Shen Lin was wondering, Miss Zijing's eyes dimmed for an instant. She did not answer. Instead, she quickened her pace slightly and walked ahead of Shen Lin.

By the time her family had risen to prominence, she had already passed the age limit and could no longer use medicinal baths to keep her meridians unobstructed.

She had originally planned to use Meridian-Opening Pills to break through all twelve meridians once she reached the age for cultivation.

But who could have expected that such a thing would happen...

Miss Zijing let out a forlorn sigh, then abruptly raised her head. The regret in her eyes faded away.

That was why she had to recover that cultivation art this time.

Only then could she catch up with the prodigies of the imperial capital despite falling behind at the starting line.

Only then could she gain enough strength to reclaim everything she had lost.

"Baoshan Village isn't far now. I'll tell you the details about the Wu Family..."

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