The Foundation of Number One Under Heaven

Three hundred thousand?

Hearing that number, Lin Lin felt his liver ache.

The exchange price for a Superior Martial Art was only ten thousand Sect Contribution Points, while a Sect's Supreme Skill cost merely fifty thousand.

Although Lin Lin did not know how many Sect Contribution Points it took to learn Hundred Flowers Valley's Peerless Divine Art, he imagined it could not differ much from the price of the Hundred Flowers Secret Records.

Three hundred thousand Sect Contribution Points!

How many years would he have to save to scrape together such an enormous amount of Sect Contribution?

Over the past five months, he had racked his brains to increase the Cold Iron Mine's output. Even while cultivating Superior Martial Arts, he had also mined ore himself to raise production. Altogether, he had only saved six thousand Sect Contribution Points.

The Hundred Flowers Secret Records cost three hundred thousand Sect Contribution Points. He still owed thirty-five thousand from learning Superior Martial Arts, and he had borrowed another thousand to consult Elder of Teaching Skills this time.

In other words, after deducting his income, Lin Lin still owed three hundred and thirty thousand Sect Contribution Points.

At Lin Lin's rate of earning twelve hundred Sect Contribution Points a month, it would take him two hundred and seventy-five months to pay it all back.

Nearly twenty-three years!

Yet sect rules stipulated that one-tenth of any owed Sect Contribution Points had to be repaid each year. In other words, Lin Lin had at most ten years to clear this debt.

On average, he needed to earn thirty-three thousand Sect Contribution Points every year.

"Elder, if I have to repay one-tenth every year, this disciple cannot afford it." Lin Lin tried to bargain.

Ji Yun smiled kindly. "This old man believes in your intelligence and potential."

He had watched Lin Lin's performance at the Cold Iron Mine.

Doubling the mine's output in a single month was proof enough of his intelligence.

It was only a matter of earning a few more Sect Contribution Points. It was no problem at all. Ji Yun believed there was tremendous potential yet to be tapped from Lin Lin.

Lin Lin drew a deep breath. The jade book Ji Yun was about to hand him felt like poisoned candy.

He knew he had to take it, but the immense debt of Sect Contribution Points weighed on him so heavily that he could not bring himself to reach for it decisively.

To cut off the last shred of hesitation in his heart, Lin Lin asked, "Elder, what level of expert is someone in the Heaven and Human Realm in the current martial world?"

Ji Yun answered with a hint of longing in his voice:

"Among the very best!"

Smack!

Gritting his teeth, Lin Lin practically snatched the jade book from Ji Yun's hands.

He feared that if he waited even one second longer, he would regret taking on such a massive debt.

Then he sat down right where he was and began reading through it with clenched teeth.

Becoming an expert at the pinnacle of the martial world's hierarchy—even becoming Number One Under Heaven—had always been one of Lin Lin's dreams since he began practicing martial arts.

But right now, this was the most agonizing dream he had ever had.

The Hundred Flowers Secret Records recorded methods for nourishing and opening three hundred and sixty-five acupoints, as well as methods for opening and nourishing an additional one hundred and sixty-eight Hidden Acupoints.

Setting aside the fact that mastering this secret record in the Aperture Opening Realm could lay the Foundation of Heaven and Man—

Even a Super First-Rate Expert from a sect with shallow foundations could raise their combat strength by at least several tenths over their original level after mastering this secret record.

In terms of value, the Hundred Flowers Secret Records was no inferior to a Peerless Divine Art.

For Lin Lin to obtain the Hundred Flowers Secret Records, even at the cost of owing more than three hundred thousand Sect Contribution Points, was an absolute steal.

At the side, Ji Yun watched the youth memorize the jade book's contents through gritted teeth and silently smiled.

Allowing Lin Lin to learn the Hundred Flowers Secret Records was already the result of Ji Yun making an exception through his own authority. It was partly because Lin Lin had a clean family background spanning two generations of Hundred Flowers Valley disciples, and partly because of the talent and diligence he had displayed over the past year.

If Lin Lin maintained his current attitude toward cultivation and did not die young, he would surely become a pillar of the sect in the future.

Investing in such a disciple was necessary. It was for the sake of the entire sect's future.

Making Lin Lin pay more than three hundred thousand Sect Contribution Points was merely to silence the other higher-ups in the sect.

If he truly could not produce the one-tenth repayment required each year, would those higher-ups, aside from being a little angry, really send a genius capable of cultivating the Hundred Flowers Secret Records into the Hall of Law Enforcement's Water Prison for years of confinement?

A little pressure was good for young people.

What if it drew out some unexpected potential?

As he walked out of the Skill Transmission Hall, Lin Lin felt as though a mountain rested on his shoulders.

Owing money truly felt terrible, especially when he owed so much.

Lin Lin could not help asking himself whether he would feel less pressure if his moral bottom line were a little lower and he changed his mindset to: The debtor is the boss.

He had made the Cold Iron Mine flourish, and coupled with the exceptional talent he had displayed, even if the sect wanted to punish him over his debt of Sect Contribution Points, they would have to consider the sunk cost, would they not?

On the way to the Cold Iron Mine, Lin Lin kept thinking about how to earn more Sect Contribution Points.

Could he take on other tasks in his spare time while serving as the Cold Iron Mine's manager?

No, that would delay his cultivation too much.

Could he continue raising the Cold Iron Mine's output?

That would not interfere with anything. It was worth considering.

The Cold Iron Mine's operating system had already reached a relatively ideal state for this era. If he wanted to improve efficiency further, it seemed that recruiting more Miners was the only option.

"Improve production efficiency?"

As he considered it, Lin Lin felt this direction was viable.

After letting his thoughts run wild for a while longer, Lin Lin gradually came up with some entirely new ideas. "Gunpowder in this world can explode too. Fireworks and signal flares are proof enough. That means the basic physical laws of this world should be similar to those of my previous life, right?"

"But martial arts flourish in this world, while fields like chemistry and physics have not developed very quickly. The explosives here are still very weak and are basically just decorations. The light firearms from my previous life are not even as powerful as casually throwing a handful of Hidden Weapons now."

"Even if I made high explosives, I would need a huge yield to threaten martial artists above Second-Rate."

"I remember that the raw ingredients for Black Powder are saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur. As for the proportions... adding sugar seemed to make it more powerful."

The middle school physics and chemistry knowledge forgotten in the deepest corner of his mind gradually returned to Lin Lin.

"Right, there was also something called nitroglycerin. I think I heard about it when I went to the neighboring chemistry department to look at the beautiful teachers. Treat glycerol with nitric acid and sulfuric acid, and you can make nitroglycerin. If I used these explosives to mine Cold Iron, wouldn't that let production soar compared to relying on manpower?"

"Once I get to the mine, I'll have the overseers help me gather the materials and conduct experiments. With my current movement speed, as long as I'm careful and use small amounts, I shouldn't get blown to death."

It had to be said that practicing martial arts truly could increase one's comprehension and intelligence.

Furthermore, when Lin Lin awakened his Past Life Wisdom a year ago, he had reviewed all the memories of both his past and present lives. Now, even memories from many years ago that had left little impression could be recalled so long as Lin Lin was willing to spend a little time thinking about them.

By the time Lin Lin reached the Cold Iron Mine, he had recalled the entire manufacturing process for Black Powder and nitroglycerin, along with all the safety precautions.

However, just as Lin Lin eagerly prepared to order his subordinates to gather materials and conduct full replication experiments on the explosives, he suddenly stopped.

At that moment, Lin Lin realized a problem.

"If I make these explosives, can I really use them quietly for mining?"

Physics and chemistry in this world were still at a very rudimentary stage. After Lin Lin developed Black Powder and nitroglycerin, he might initially be able to use them to mine Cold Iron.

But once someone with ulterior motives discovered them, they would certainly recognize their military value.

With Lin Lin's current strength, he could not protect the formulas for these two explosives. Open and hidden covetous gazes would surely turn toward him.

What Lin Lin needed now was to develop steadily, not invite such needless trouble.

If Hundred Flowers Valley alone obtained the formulas, it would be fine. Perhaps it could greatly expand its military strength with these two explosives as a foundation, laying the groundwork for establishing a Unified Imperial Dynasty.

But if the formulas were accidentally leaked and obtained by other sects or regional lords across the currently chaotic Divine Continent, it would inevitably spark an arms race.

Apart from increasingly intense warfare as firearms based on Black Powder and nitroglycerin were developed, lowering the survival rate of soldiers on the battlefield, it would bring no fundamental change to this already chaotic Divine Continent.

This had been proven many times in Lin Lin's previous life.

Take the widely known Gatling gun as an example.

Its inventor, Dr. Gatling, had witnessed soldiers suffering massive casualties on the battlefield. He invented the Gatling gun, a weapon of great power, intending to reduce the number of soldiers needed on the battlefield while maintaining the same firepower through its heavy volume of fire.

In this way, he hoped to indirectly reduce battlefield casualties.

Yet events developed in the exact opposite direction from what the doctor had expected. The number of soldiers sent to the battlefield did not decrease. Instead, such powerful weapons became more widely used, causing even more battlefield casualties.

In the end, it seemed that not inventing such a weapon in the first place would have done more to reduce casualties.

If Lin Lin possessed martial arts capable of making him Number One Under Heaven and feared no one's covetousness, or if some great hero had emerged to end this Era of Upheaval that had lasted for centuries, then the Black Powder and nitroglycerin he recreated could be used purely as mining tools.

But clearly, Lin Lin did not possess martial arts of that level, and he lived in an Era of Upheaval.

Then if Black Powder and nitroglycerin entered the world, the arms race and escalating battlefield brutality they would bring would inevitably become reality.

In the end, Lin Lin sighed.

For the time being, he abandoned the idea of using explosives to mine and increase Cold Iron output.