Inside the Martial Arts Pavilion.
Lin Chen stood there for quite a while, his expression somewhat awkward.
From the moment he entered the Martial Arts Pavilion and reported his identity, a servant from the Martial Arts Pavilion had led him to the rear courtyard, where these two women had stared at and sized him up until now.
"Not bad. At least he isn't some crooked melon or cracked date. Junior Sister Kong, I'll leave him to you."
The more valiant-looking woman on the left withdrew her gaze in satisfaction. After leaving those words behind, she clasped her hands behind her back and sauntered away.
"Lin Chen, that was our Hall Master Wen just now."
Seeing the puzzled look on Lin Chen's face, Kong Yinglei explained with a smile.
After returning from the Martial Arts Administration, she had told her senior sister about Lin Chen. Her senior sister had also developed a rare curiosity and wanted to meet him.
She understood Senior Sister Wen best. The reason for her curiosity was that she wanted to see what the person who had made Inspector Shu go to such lengths to secure an Aperture Opening Pill quota looked like.
Now that she had seen him and satisfied her curiosity, she naturally left.
The hall master!
Lin Chen had truly never expected that the woman just now would be the hall master of Still Water Martial Arts Academy. According to what Instructor Yu had said, the hall masters of martial arts academies were all experts at Organ Refining Great Completion.
This Hall Master Wen was at most just over thirty years old. She was a powerful backer who might even reach the ranks.
Wait, that wasn't right. Inspector Shu had said earlier that he had arranged to meet the hall master of Still Water Martial Arts Academy...
Damn!
Instructor Yu was in danger!
"Lin Chen, although you're staying at Still Water Martial Arts Academy, you aren't a disciple of my Still Water Martial Arts Academy. You're a disciple of Clearwind Martial Arts Hall, so you can't learn my Still Water Martial Arts Academy's Water Cloud Palm. Do you understand?"
"This disciple understands."
Kong Yinglei's words pulled Lin Chen's thoughts back. He also understood his own circumstances to some extent.
He was somewhat like the players in the football clubs of his previous life. If the martial arts academy was a club, then Clearwind Martial Arts Hall didn't have enough slots and had borrowed a slot from Still Water Martial Arts Academy. He had thus been loaned to Still Water Martial Arts Academy, but his affiliation still belonged to Clearwind Martial Arts Hall.
"Aside from Water Cloud Palm, the Martial Arts Pavilion is still open to you for all other ordinary techniques. But for you, Clear Wind Palm remains the most important. Don't spend too much energy on anything else."
Kong Yinglei understood that although Clearwind Martial Arts Hall had accepted Lin Chen, it was mainly because it didn't need to provide an Aperture Opening Pill quota, along with the consideration it owed Inspector Shu. They likely wouldn't pay particular attention to Lin Chen.
Because of this, she felt she should offer him a few pointers, lest he delay his martial arts path.
"According to the regulations of the Martial Affairs Department, the Aperture Opening Pill can only be consumed at a martial arts academy. I'll give you the Aperture Opening Pill now."
As she spoke, a small jade box appeared in Kong Yinglei's hand, and she tossed it directly to Lin Chen.
Seeing Lin Chen catch the jade box, Kong Yinglei instructed, "Don't rush to open it. Check first whether the seal has been torn. Open the box only after confirming that there's no problem."
Hearing this, Lin Chen carefully inspected the seal on the jade box, checking whether it might have been torn off and stuck back on.
His actions might look like distrust toward the Instructor before him, but this concerned his own interests. One could never be too careful.
In his previous life, he had suffered from this sort of loss.
When he had first entered society, he had been somewhat shy. When signing a contract with a company, he had taken the contract and merely skimmed it before quickly signing his name, hoping to express his trust in the company.
Kong Yinglei's eyes held a trace of appreciation at Lin Chen's serious inspection. During the years she had been responsible for recruiting students at the martial arts academy, the students who had received Aperture Opening Pill quotas would usually open the jade boxes without checking them, wanting to demonstrate their trust in her.
She only thought such students were foolish.
How important was the Aperture Opening Pill? It could not merely open the acupoints and allow one to enter the Aperture Opening Realm. The medicinal power it contained would accompany the cultivator throughout the entire Aperture Opening Realm.
If a student who had consumed an Aperture Opening Pill and one who had not spent the same amount of money in the Aperture Opening Realm, the former would break through to Organ Tempering half a year faster than the latter.
Although the possibility of an instructor secretly switching the pills was very small, at such a crucial moment that concerned one's future prospects, one should be even more cautious. Not the slightest error could be permitted.
"Instructor, this disciple confirms that there's no problem."
After carefully checking it once and confirming that the seal was intact, Lin Chen finally raised his head and answered.
"Since you've confirmed there's no problem, open the box and take out the Aperture Opening Pill inside."
Kong Yinglei nodded slightly. After Lin Chen opened the box, she continued, "You can swallow it directly or bite it to pieces before taking it. Once you feel a warm current in your abdomen, practice Warm Sun Fist right where you are. Stop only after opening an acupoint."
"Yes."
Looking at the scarlet pill in the box, Lin Chen didn't hesitate and swallowed it.
A few breaths after the pill entered his stomach, Lin Chen discovered that his abdomen had begun to heat up, and the strand of Essence Energy in his abdomen had begun to stir at that moment.
After a dozen breaths, that strand of Essence Energy began surging toward his entire body, as though it wanted to break through its restraints and release limitless potential.
Lin Chen drew a deep breath. No longer hesitating, he began throwing punches, every move of Warm Sun Fist revealing itself through his hands.
Spurred on by the Aperture Opening Pill, every punch he threw was accompanied by the trembling of the acupoints within his body. His qi and blood continued rising to new peaks.
There was only one word to describe this feeling: exhilarating!
Lin Chen swung his fists again and again, already immersed in the wondrous sensation of his strength continuously increasing.
His fists cut through the air with a whistling sound, his qi and blood surging like waves.
He didn't know how many times he had practiced Warm Sun Fist when, in the next moment, Lin Chen felt his left shoulder suddenly tremble. Countless warm currents surged toward that spot, while an Essence Energy as rich as the one in his abdomen began gathering there.
Smack!
The punch came out like an exploding string of firecrackers.
His fist boomed like a cannon blast. He had succeeded in opening an acupoint.
Kong Yinglei glanced at the hourglass beside her. The hourglass measured half an hour, and now it had run out. In other words, Lin Chen had spent nearly half an hour opening his acupoint.
Taking half an hour to successfully open an acupoint after consuming an Aperture Opening Pill was not considered fast among previous students. It could even be called extremely poor—it had already broken the martial arts academy's record for the slowest time.
Kong Yinglei couldn't say she was disappointed. After all, Lin Chen wasn't a disciple of the martial arts academy.
However, in the next moment, she thought of something, and her pupils abruptly contracted.
Earlier, at the Martial Arts Administration, no one had believed that Lin Chen had truly cultivated Essence Energy after spending only twenty taels. She had thought the same.
It was just that, in front of Inspector Shu, everyone had tacitly chosen not to investigate too deeply.
Even when she had just mentioned this matter to her senior sister, the two of them had believed that the information submitted by the Martial Hall contained some exaggeration.
But now, a thought suddenly emerged in her mind. Perhaps Lin Chen really had cultivated Essence Energy after spending only twenty taels.
After a student consumed an Aperture Opening Pill, the speed at which they opened an acupoint depended on the medicinal power remaining in their body.
The more money they spent during the Qi Refining stage, and the more medicinal soups and beast meat they consumed, the more medicinal power remained in their bodies. That was because the medicinal power would not be completely absorbed and would remain inside them.
After consuming an Aperture Opening Pill, its medicinal power would cause the medicinal power remaining in the student's body to be absorbed as well.
The faster one opened an acupoint, the more medicinal power remained in the body. It also meant that more silver had been spent during the stage of cultivating Essence Energy. This was already common knowledge.
Lin Chen had taken so long to open an acupoint, which meant that there was no medicinal power remaining in his body—or that there was so little of it that it could be ignored.
This precisely showed that Lin Chen had consumed little Qi Nourishing Soup and spent little money.
It was highly likely that he had truly cultivated Essence Energy after spending only twenty taels!
Kong Yinglei's full chest rose and fell slightly. Clearwind Martial Arts Hall had really stumbled upon a treasure by sheer luck.
At that moment, Lin Chen had no mind to observe the changes in Kong Yinglei's expression. Feeling the surge of qi and blood in his body and the growth of his strength, he immediately summoned the System Panel, his attention drawn to the changes on it.
Name: Lin Chen Occupation: Martial Artist Realm: Aperture Opening Realm (1/24) Fate: [When the Water Flows, the Channel is Formed]: Martial Arts First Realm, persevere, advance step by step, Break Through Like Bamboo, with no bottleneck to hinder you. Martial arts advancement successful. Based on the host's martial arts experience in the previous stage, calculating Martial Arts Title. Calculating title...
Seeing that the qi and blood column had vanished from the System Panel, Lin Chen froze for a moment. Without visible qi and blood, he could no longer see his daily progress.
But the newly appeared Martial Arts Title filled him with anticipation.
So his System Panel was an occupation advancement system. The reason it hadn't changed when he cultivated Essence Energy was that cultivating Essence Energy didn't actually count as a realm breakthrough.
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