The Old Village Chief's Wisdom

The seventh day of the first lunar month!

The eighth day of the first lunar month!

The ninth day of the first lunar month!

By the lake in Lakeside Village, Lin Chen and the other four, including Lu Yongfeng, sparred daily, helping each other identify their weaknesses.

Starting from the fifth, the three of them stayed directly in Lakeside Village. Since Lin Chen's house didn't have enough room, the Village Chief found a family with extra rooms and arranged accommodation for the three of them.

Zhao Jingchuan even had his father send meals to Lakeside Village every day. These were all poultry and meat that nourished Qi and Blood. Although not as good as Black Muntjac Meat, one meal still cost two silver taels.

Three meals a day added up to six taels.

This money wasn't paid solely by Zhao Jingchuan. Lu Yongfeng and Cheng Ying also privately gave silver to Zhao Jingchuan.

Although the three of them didn't explicitly say anything, Lin Chen was no fool. He could roughly guess from Lu Yongfeng and Cheng Ying's words and attitude.

If all the money came from Zhao Jingchuan's family, the teenagers, being thin-skinned, would definitely appear somewhat embarrassed given Lu Yongfeng and Cheng Ying's personalities, and might even agree to treat him in return sometime.

But Lu Yongfeng and Cheng Ying didn't show any such signs, which meant there was only one possibility: they had also contributed to the cost of the three meals.

They didn't tell him because they knew his family was of average means and didn't want him to spend this money.

In a sense, this was also a form of help from Zhao Jingchuan and the other two towards him.

Lin Chen didn't expose them. He truly was short on money, and in the past few days, under his influence, the proficiency of Zhao Jingchuan and the other two's cultivation techniques had also increased significantly, which could be considered his contribution.

Helping each other and making progress together.

The fourteenth day of the first lunar month!

"Senior Brother Lin, we won't be coming tomorrow. The three of us plan to go into the city early and experience the liveliness of the Lantern Festival there. Do you want to come along?"

By the lake, as the sun set, Zhao Jingchuan and the other two didn't follow Lin Chen back to the village this time.

"Tomorrow, our village has a ritual to invite the Lake God. The Village Chief specifically instructed me to stay in the village."

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month was not only the Lantern Festival but also the day to invite the Lake God.

Every villager in Lakeside Village would invite the Lake God into the lake on this day to pray for favorable weather in the coming year.

When Lu Yongfeng and the other two heard that Lin Chen wasn't going, they were a little disappointed, but young people didn't dwell on parting sadness. Besides, Lin Chen would only be entering the city a day or two later, and there would be plenty of time to gather in the city in the future.

After sending off Lu Yongfeng and the other two, Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, and he softly said, "System Panel."

[Name: Lin Chen]
[Profession: Martial Artist]
[Realm: Aperture Opening Realm (1/24)]
[Clear Wind Palm: Initial (180/200)]
[Destiny: [When the Water Flows, the Channel is Formed]: Martial Arts First Realm, Persevere, Progress Step by Step, Break Through Like Bamboo, no bottleneck issues.]
[Martial Arts Title: Black to the End]
[Black to the End: Before the outcome is decided, we are all dark horses. Wearing this medal, Martial Arts comprehension and perception are enhanced in the dark night.]

Seeing the progress of Clear Wind Palm, Lin Chen's eyes held a look of anticipation. At this rate, Clear Wind Palm would reach the proficient stage before he reported to the Martial Arts Hall.

He was able to get Clear Wind Palm to the initial stage in less than a month, partly due to the effect of the [Black to the End] title, but more so because of his diligent practice.

The comprehension bonus provided by [Black to the End] was more effective in the later stages of Martial Path techniques.

Instructor Yu's booklet described that while there were differences in speed when students were at the initial and proficient stages of cultivating Martial Path techniques, even someone with poor comprehension could reach proficiency through diligent practice. Hard work could compensate for shortcomings, and the gap wouldn't be significant.

Only after reaching proficiency, when aiming to break through to mastery and even higher stages, would diligent practice no longer be sufficient. At that point, comprehension was needed.

"If I can cultivate Clear Wind Palm to proficiency within a month of entering the Martial Arts Hall, even if I've only opened one aperture, I won't be at a disadvantage against someone who has opened two."

In terms of Martial Path realms, Lin Chen knew he couldn't compare to those with wealthy families. The boost provided by the [When the Water Flows, the Channel is Formed] Destiny was in the mid to late stages of each realm.

In the early stages, he needed to figure out a way himself.

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

The Lake God invitation ritual began.

Several strong men in the village carried the Lake God statue to the fishing boat dock by the lake. The entire village followed in a grand procession, holding incense, candles, and yellow paper.

"Little Chen, come forward."

The Village Chief, who was presiding over the ceremony, beckoned to Lin Chen in the crowd. The villagers standing in front of Lin Chen immediately cleared a path.

"Last year, you invited the Lake God into the village. This year, you will send the Lake God off."

Facing the Village Chief's invitation, Lin Chen didn't refuse. He walked to the front of the Lake God statue, lit incense, and bowed in worship, saying, "Lin Chen, a disciple of Lakeside Village, now requests the Lake God to open his eyes and enter the lake, protecting the people of our Lakeside Village for a year of plentiful harvest!"

After speaking, Lin Chen inserted the incense into the censer, then grasped a corner of the red cloth covering the statue and slowly lifted it upwards.

The red cloth could only be lifted, not pulled!

Lin Chen performed these rituals based on his original body's memories, so he naturally wouldn't make any mistakes at this time.

"Light the fireworks, invite the Lake God into the lake!"

With the red cloth lifted, Lin Chen let out a loud shout. The villagers present cheered in unison, and some villagers had already lit the pre-arranged firecrackers.

Regardless of their family's harvest last year, even those with poor harvests had smiles on their faces at this moment.

Inviting the god, rather than being superstition, was more the villagers' hope for a new year.

And the youths in the village who hadn't yet reached the age to learn martial arts looked at Lin Chen with fervent gazes. They also wanted to be as majestic and dazzling as Brother Lin Chen.

The Village Chief, standing aside, took in the looks in the villagers' eyes and also showed a look of satisfaction.

What a pity, if Lin Chaoyang hadn't become senile, hosting this ceremony today would have been the glory of the entire Lin Family, instead of him feigning illness and staying home, not daring to come out.

With the ceremony finished, Lin Chen returned home.

Even though today was a joyous day, he still wouldn't neglect his martial arts practice.

An hour later, the Village Chief pushed open the courtyard door.

Lin Chen looked at the Village Chief in confusion. He saw the Village Chief holding a money bag and a booklet, smiling as he said, "Little Chen, tomorrow is the day you go to the county town's Martial Arts Hall to study. Everyone in our village discussed it and pooled some money for you. We hope you practice diligently at the Martial Arts Hall and don't disappoint everyone's expectations."

"Village Chief..."

Lin Chen was a little surprised. He hadn't expected the villagers to pool money for him, and he hadn't even heard his parents mention this matter.

"It's not much money, a total of thirty taels. It was pooled together by the one hundred and thirty-two households in our village. The amount each family gave is recorded on it. The first two names on the list are Martial Artists who came out of our village and have already reached the Aperture Opening Realm. They heard you joined the Martial Arts Hall and specifically asked someone to send the silver to me."

Taking the money bag and ledger from the Village Chief, Lin Chen flipped through the ledger. It was filled with the names of every villager.

Teng Xing's family: Two taels.

Zheng Xuan's family: Two taels.

Gu Hai's family: Thirteen hundred cash.

Yang Fan's family: Six hundred cash.

Li Sixi's family: Three hundred sixty-six cash.

Looking at these numbers and the name of each family, Lin Chen's eyes were slightly red. He took a deep breath and solemnly put away the booklet.

"Lin Chen will definitely not fail the kindness of the village elders."

He was truly touched. Although the past few years had been good, and every family in the village had some spare money, human nature was selfish. Who would be willing to take out money and give it to another family?

"Study hard and let those Martial Arts Halls see who says someone from a village can't become a Martial Path expert. Scholar Jiang could do it back then, and I believe Little Chen, you can do it too."

Lin Chen looked at the Village Chief with surprise. The Village Chief's words were meaningful.

The Village Chief patted Lin Chen's shoulder. On the third day of the New Year, he had heard some clues from the words of those young masters, so he ran to the town mayor's house and refused to leave, persistently persuading the town mayor to inquire about this year's Martial Arts Hall recruitment situation.

Only then did he learn that Lin Chen had almost not been selected by the Martial Arts Hall, simply because these Martial Arts Halls felt that Lin Chen's family background was ordinary and he wouldn't be able to go too far on the Martial Path.

This infuriated him. At the town mayor's house, he cursed loudly, saying that the Martial Arts Hall Instructors were snobs. After returning, he went door-to-door, persuading everyone in the village to pool money for Lin Chen. He even personally wrote letters to the two who were already living in the city to inform them.

You Martial Arts Halls just don't want Lin Chen because you dislike his family background? Fine, then our entire Lakeside Village will pool money for Lin Chen.

This money had to be pooled, and it was worth pooling.

These days, he had specifically observed Lin Chen. He hadn't become arrogant or slack because he had joined the Martial Arts Hall, nor had he lost his spirit because he was discriminated against by the Martial Arts Hall. He still practiced martial arts diligently every day.

Even those young masters in town were impressed by Lin Chen.

With this state of mind at this age, he could at least reach the Organ Refining realm on the Martial Path.

Scholar Jiang's rise back then was too fast, and the Jiang Family was an outsider, without deep feelings for the village. But even so, they still secured ten years of benefits for Lakeside Village.

Now that the village finally had a second person with hope in the Martial Path, if everyone helped Lin Chen, Lin Chen would remember the village's kindness.