Cultivation Was a Kind of Joy

Opening all the acupoints throughout the body was so difficult that even Lin Lin, whose martial arts realm had advanced by leaps and bounds recently and who had discovered that his talent was actually quite decent, felt that it was the kind of thing he might only accomplish in his lifetime.

In fact, in conventional martial arts cultivation, martial artists were not required to open every acupoint in their bodies while in the Aperture Opening Realm.

If the cultivation method one practiced had no special requirements, one only needed to open seventy-two key acupoints throughout the body that connected the inside and outside. That counted as completing cultivation in the Aperture Opening Realm, allowing one to attempt a breakthrough into the next realm, True Qi Condensation.

Even Hundred Flowers Valley, a Martial Arts Holy Land, defined mastery of the Aperture Opening Realm as merely eighty-four acupoints.

One only needed to light up and open all eighty-four acupoints to meet the condition for cultivating the internal art "Hundred Flowers True Qi" to its pinnacle.

After reaching a higher realm in martial arts, one could return to open and nourish more acupoints, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

If one merely wished to become an Elite Disciple, graduate, and travel the martial world, the requirements were even lower.

One only needed to light up thirty-six important acupoints throughout the body before taking the Practical Assessment. Passing it meant meeting the requirements for Graduation.

"To rapidly open acupoints, the key lies in Inner Force."

"If my Inner Force is sufficient, I can rapidly nourish and open acupoints, and nourish them to a higher realm."

"So at this stage, aside from the Hundred Flowers Heart Clearing Pill used to assist daily cultivation, it would be best to obtain some secret medicine that can directly help me rapidly restore my Inner Force."

"That way, my cultivation speed will rise to another level."

Inner Force was a kind of usable power produced when one's internal breath circulated through the body.

After it was expended, it could be replenished and restored by circulating internal breath to draw upon one's vitality and blood.

But if one directly overdrew Inner Force, consuming the internal breath itself as power for martial arts or for nourishing the meridians and acupoints, it could indeed produce extremely powerful effects. However, consuming internal breath would cause one's internal cultivation to regress and lower the maximum amount of Inner Force one possessed.

Lin Lin looked at his Attribute Panel and silently pondered, "Besides that, while lighting up acupoints, I should prioritize opening those that increase my maximum Inner Force and its recovery speed. That way, my cultivation speed can gradually rise like a snowball rolling downhill."

With that thought, Lin Lin compared the martial arts knowledge in his mind against his Attribute Panel and marked out all the acupoints he would need to open and cultivate next for "Hundred Flowers True Qi."

He then highlighted several acupoints that should be cultivated first.

These acupoints might not increase combat power the most, but they provided the greatest boosts to maximum Inner Force and Inner Force recovery speed. Just as he had planned, lighting up these acupoints first would help him open the subsequent acupoints faster.

He would reach the highest realm possible in the shortest time.

After making these plans, Lin Lin could no longer hold on. He swallowed all six remaining Hundred Flowers Heart Clearing Pills from the porcelain bottle beside him in one gulp, then fell onto the bed and went straight to sleep.

Had it been two months ago, downing six Hundred Flowers Heart Clearing Pills at once would probably have made Lin Lin suffer a nosebleed from being unable to bear such nourishment before long.

But now, after taking those six Hundred Flowers Heart Clearing Pills, Lin Lin had no reaction at all.

Before long, his breathing became even as he sank into deep sleep.

The medicinal power of the six Hundred Flowers Heart Clearing Pills he had just taken dissolved within his body, replenishing his vitality, blood, and mental strength, which had nearly hit rock bottom.

As the vitality and blood in his body, which had been pushed to the brink, gradually became abundant again, his Inner Force recovered along with it. During this recovery, his body also broke through its limits and grew even stronger.

The next day, Morning Martial Arts Practice ended.

Having just returned and preparing to eat breakfast, Lin Lin unexpectedly saw his father, Lin Yue, who had been gone for nearly a month.

"Father, is the mission over? How long will you be resting this time?"

Lin Lin sat across from Lin Yue, washed his hands with the water Maid Ru Yu brought over, and asked curiously.

Over the past two months, Lin Yue had gone out several times to carry out Sect Missions.

Each time lasted anywhere from a week to more than half a month, yet this recent trip had lasted over a full month.

"Yes, the mission is over. I'll be resting for quite a while."

"Little Lin, have a bun."

Lin Yue placed a Beef Bun into Lin Lin's bowl and said with a smile, "I heard from your mother that you've been cultivating very diligently lately. Why don't you go play with those friends of yours?"

"The path of cultivation values both tension and relaxation. People aren't made of iron. Keeping yourself wound too tight for too long will cause problems."

"There were many talented disciples in the past who cultivated without pause in order to improve their strength as quickly as possible. Once their martial arts broke through and that drive relaxed, they instead could not summon the motivation to cultivate for a long time. The time they wasted completely canceled out all their previous effort."

After spending more than a month running about outside, Lin Yue had returned and heard his wife describe their son's recent behavior. Even an adult like him, who hoped his son would become a dragon, felt that his child was suffering too much.

Recently, aside from eating and sleeping, Lin Lin had spent every moment cultivating.

Thus, he spoke up to advise his son not to push himself so hard.

Hearing this, Lin Lin's motion of bringing the bun to his mouth paused slightly.

Lin Lin looked up at Lin Yue and said evenly, "I don't have any friends."

Before awakening his Past Life Wisdom, he had indeed had quite a few playmates, such as several children his age who lived nearby.

But they had only been playmates, people Lin Lin had deliberately approached to pass the time.

Deep down, those playmates probably regarded Lin Lin as nothing more than an insignificant tagalong.

They were all Official Disciples of Hundred Flowers Valley, and outstanding among the Official Disciples at that. They did not consider Lin Lin, who had forced his way into their company, to be someone from the same circle as them.

They would talk and play with Lin Lin because his parents were Elders of Affairs, but they had never truly taken him seriously.

If they had really been friends, why had none of them come to check on Lin Lin after he spent a month facing the wall in Yin Wind Gorge?

Why had they never once taken the initiative to seek out Lin Lin during the past two months?

Lin Lin did not care much about having no friends. He even found it somewhat fortunate.

At present, he spent nearly all his time cultivating. He had no time for meaningless socializing, and having no friends spared him the trouble.

After a pause, Lin Lin added, "Besides, I'm not tired."

"Cultivation isn't torture to me right now. Feeling myself grow and become stronger every day makes me happy."

That was right—playing games.

Especially games one liked.

How could that be tiring?

At this moment, Lin Lin was playing a game called Master Training.

And the master being trained was himself. That was twice the joy.