Enlightenment Time (Please Add It to Your Bookshelf)

Although Shen Zhui was wary of Yang Wu's threat, he did not take it to heart.

Heyuan City could roughly be divided into two factions.

One was the County Governor, who controlled an entire county and commanded the Three Bureaus and Six Departments, with assistance from the City God Temple. Under him were a thousand clerks, over a hundred Houtian Martial Artists, and three Xiantian Martial Artists.

The other was the great clan families, primarily the Li and Yang Families. They had money when money was needed and martial strength when martial strength was needed. The two families alone had more than ten Xiantian Martial Artists between them. With their Ancestral Hall suppressing the region's fortune, and with the officials serving in Heyuan County as well as the lesser families attached to them, they possessed power that towered to the heavens.

Previous County Governors had either colluded with the great clan families.

Or they had been suppressed, often unable to get their decrees beyond the city.

But things were different now. Since the new County Governor arrived three years ago, he had spent the first two years neither showing his edge nor revealing his presence.

Then, at the beginning of his third year, he suddenly rose to prominence!

Internally, he had forcefully overhauled government affairs and personnel, purged the clan parasites within the county office, appointed capable people, and expanded his martial forces.

Externally, he had wooed, divided, and suppressed the various lesser families dependent on the Li and Yang Families, causing them to turn toward the County Governor. He had even repeatedly made the two great families suffer setbacks.

By now, the County Governor's prestige was actually higher than that of the Li and Yang Families! He had truly become the person with the greatest authority in Heyuan County!

Xiantian Martial Artists lived for two hundred years. The County Governor had only been in office for three years and could still be considered a new official, yet he had already achieved such results.

It was obvious that dealing with the Li and Yang Families was only a matter of time.

Yang Wu had been working in the Martial Arts Department of the county office for seven or eight years.

Yet he could not see the situation clearly. Relying on his connections with the Li Family, he still engaged in duplicity and factional dealings, borrowing all sorts of pretexts to extort the common people and merchants.

He had tried to recruit Shen Zhui several times, but how could Shen Zhui possibly follow him down a road to certain death?

That was why Shen Zhui had said that Yang Wu had chosen the wrong backer and would sooner or later be dealt with.

"But no matter how the situation changes, one's own strength is the foundation. If I break through to become a Xiantian Martial Artist, even the County Governor will have to show me some respect. I will become someone all the great families try to curry favor with, almost like a Guest Official."

Shen Zhui thought silently. This world was different from his previous life. The weak were prey to the strong, and the hierarchy was rigid.

Even within the cities, which were safe under the protection of divine laws, there was still scheming and an endless struggle for power.

Not to mention outside the cities, where demons, monsters, martial bandits, and countless dangers lurked.

"The system can exchange for Enlightenment Time, allowing me to enter a state of enlightenment."

"But it requires one hundred Merit Points for one second. With my 3,100 Merit Points, I can only exchange for thirty-one seconds."

"Thirty-one seconds... I wonder if that will be enough to bring my movement technique into the Great Accomplishment Realm..." Shen Zhui thought for a moment, picked up his Iron Ruler, and headed to a Bamboo Forest behind the county office.

Deep within the Bamboo Forest lay a training ground.

As soon as he entered the training ground, he saw several colleagues from the Three Bureaus and Six Departments greeting him.

"Shen Zhui, you're here?"

"Tsk, tsk, Shen Zhui, you really are diligent."

"Shen Zhui, here to challenge the Plum Blossom Array again?"

One of them was a burly, middle-aged man dressed in black training clothes. When he saw Shen Zhui approach, he also greeted him with a smile.

"Shen Zhui, finished your mission?"

"Yes, Brother Hu. I just finished it." Shen Zhui smiled and nodded.

This man's name was Zhao Hu. Like Shen Zhui, he belonged to the Martial Arts Department of Heyuan County's office, and he was a Postnatal Martial Artist Ninth Stage!

Among the many Houtian experts in the Martial Arts Department, his strength ranked in the top five. His movement technique was a little lacking, though; otherwise, he could have ranked even higher.

Zhao Hu laughed. "Not bad."

He genuinely thought highly of Shen Zhui.

There were only a few dozen Xiantian Martial Artists in all of Heyuan County, despite its population of over a million.

Most of them were Guest Officials of the great clans and noble families. They rarely acted and were difficult to encounter.

Even under the County Governor, there were only two or three Xiantian Martial Artists.

What one usually saw were Houtian Martial Artists.

Although Shen Zhui was only a Houtian Martial Artist Seventh Stage, his combat strength was already enough to kill an Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm expert!

More remarkable still, he was only seventeen! His future was limitless!

Of course, if Zhao Hu had known that Shen Zhui had practiced martial arts for only three years, he would probably have been even more astonished!

"It is all thanks to your care, Brother Hu." Shen Zhui spoke respectfully.

"All right, enough with the formalities. No one's in the Plum Blossom Array. Go on. When you're done, I have something to discuss with you."

"Something to discuss with me?" Shen Zhui was somewhat puzzled, but he did not ask further.

"Thank you, Brother Hu. I'll go in first."

In the training ground, before the Plum Blossom Array.

Shen Zhui closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, slowing his heartbeat.

"Exchange all my Merit Points for Enlightenment Time!"

"Exchange successful. Thirty-one seconds of Enlightenment Time beginning! Countdown: thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight..."

The countdown had barely begun in his mind when Shen Zhui suddenly opened his eyes, leaped forward, and landed on the first wooden post inside the Plum Blossom Array!

The wooden post was only as thick as an arm. Its usable surface was extremely narrow, barely large enough for one foot.

Once the Plum Blossom Array began operating, every wooden post became a "living post."

"Creak, creak, creak!" "Clack, clack, clack!"

The intricate mechanisms beneath the floor began to turn. The wooden posts on the ground rocked back and forth, rose and fell unpredictably, and swayed from side to side...

The moment Shen Zhui stepped onto the first post, it rapidly sank!

From the instant a trainee entered the Plum Blossom Array, they had to make a choice in an extremely short time, analyzing and judging where to place their next step.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

Shen Zhui was like a nimble yet powerful mountain goat, leaping across sheer cliffs as he swiftly advanced over one moving wooden post after another.

At that moment, his mind was free of distractions as he threw himself into using the movement technique Flowing Cloud Steps!

"To observe one's actions and understand them—that is enlightenment! During Enlightenment Time, I can quickly discover all my former shortcomings and correct them just as quickly!"

At that moment, Shen Zhui felt that his thoughts had never been so clear!

What he had called clarity before was merely being awake. Now that he had entered Enlightenment Time, everything was immediately different!

The movement technique Flowing Cloud Steps continued to improve. In the blink of an eye, Shen Zhui had crossed a hundred zhang.

"Clack, clack, clack!"

The wooden posts spun rapidly. As he continued forward, the distance between them grew farther and farther, while their positions changed with increasing frequency...

Yet Shen Zhui seemed to have eyes all over his body, landing precisely on each wooden post every time.

Sometimes, onlookers would see him step forward when the wooden post was clearly still far away. Yet when Shen Zhui's body arrived, the post would seem to possess a spirit of its own, sending itself beneath his foot.

"The Plum Blossom Array is an ingenious formation for testing and training movement techniques. It is one thousand meters long!"

"Crossing a hundred meters in this formation means one's movement technique has reached Minor Accomplishment!"

"Exceeding three hundred meters means it has reached Great Accomplishment!"

"Completing the full one-thousand-meter Plum Blossom Array means one's movement technique has reached the Perfection Realm!"

"Even a martial artist in the Xiantian Realm might not be able to pass this Plum Blossom Array completely. I wonder how far Shen Zhui can get."

Quite a few people were watching in the training ground, and they discussed it animatedly.

Shen Zhui was somewhat famous among the more than one hundred Houtian Martial Artists in the county office.

First, because he was young.

Second, because his combat strength was extraordinary. Although he was only a Houtian Martial Artist Seventh Stage, he could kill an Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm martial artist, and he was exceptionally enthusiastic when handling cases and making arrests. The criminals he had captured alone were enough to match those caught by some veterans who had worked for seven or eight years.

Thus, quite a few people paid attention to him.

Shen Zhui focused on using his movement technique, immersed in his understanding of it.

"No, no, the way I used to exert force with my right foot was wrong!"

"For this leap, seven-tenths of my strength would have been enough. I used all my strength before. Wrong!"

"So that's how it is. Although Flowing Cloud Steps uses both feet, the upper half of the body also affects the point of balance..."

"Before, here... No, that's wrong!"

"Wrong!"

"Faster!"

"..."

Time passed swiftly. Shen Zhui was immersed in constantly correcting and refining his movement technique, and he crossed a hundred meters with ease.

The feeling was incredibly wondrous. All the things that had felt wrong when he trained his movement technique before suddenly became clear. Every step he took seemed to correct his former mistakes instinctively.

To observe one's actions and understand them—that was enlightenment!

In this state, a martial artist could clearly recognize the shortcomings in their own actions, while their awareness became intensely focused. It was a peak state that martial artists could encounter only by chance, never seek!

Exhilarating!

Comfortable!

However, when he reached more than two hundred and seventy meters, the speed of the wooden posts in the Plum Blossom Array also reached an extremely rapid pace.

"Creak-clack! Clack! Creak, creak!"

The wooden posts moved wildly, each emitting a sharp scraping sound!

"Warning. Eight, seven, six seconds remaining..."

"Three, two, one. This Enlightenment Time has ended."

At the moment the countdown ended—

"Huh?!"

Shen Zhui immediately broke out of that state of enlightenment. Then, in the very next instant—

His foot landed on empty air!

"Bang!"

His body lost its balance, and he fell from midair to the ground.

As he crashed down, the entire Plum Blossom Array came to an abrupt stop, and all the wooden posts instantly became motionless.

"Damn it, Shen Zhui! You've improved again compared to last time! You're almost at Great Accomplishment in your movement technique! Not bad, not bad!" Zhao Hu ran over, staring in astonishment at the spot where Shen Zhui had landed.

Shen Zhui rose from the ground and looked at the marker not far away.

"Two hundred and eighty-two meters! I'm only a little short of Great Accomplishment in my movement technique!"

Shen Zhui nodded in satisfaction.

Movement techniques and martial skills were divided into Initiation, Minor Accomplishment, Great Accomplishment, and Perfection!

Raising Flowing Cloud Steps to the Great Accomplishment Realm was extremely difficult.

Very few people in the entire county office had reached this level.

"It is a pity that this Enlightenment Time is still too short. Its effects are also inferior to those of Awakening Time. If these thirty-one seconds had been Awakening Time, that would have been perfect."

The Punish Evil System's exchange of Enlightenment Time with Merit Points was divided into several levels!

Enlightenment Time: To observe one's actions and understand them. One hundred Merit Points exchanged for one second!

The next level...

Awakening Time: Manifestation of All Laws. One thousand Merit Points exchanged for one second!

Its effects were completely different!

"Previously, just twenty seconds of Awakening Time had been enough for me to pierce through the paper-thin barrier to the Great Accomplishment Realm of Nine Layers of Iron Ruler."

"But exchanging for this Awakening Time is far too expensive."

Twenty seconds had consumed 20,000 Merit Points, which Shen Zhui had spent more than half a year accumulating.

And that had only been possible because he had gotten lucky once, joining Wang Long, the Xiantian Martial Artist who was the captain of the Martial Arts Department, in participating in a murder case involving the pursuit of a Xiantian Martial Artist.

"Xiantian Martial Artists have a certain degree of immunity. Once armed forces are dispatched to capture one, that person must have committed a grave crime. Such a person yields many more Merit Points."

"That time, Captain Wang Long carried the 'Execute' order bestowed by the County Governor. More than twenty people surrounded and annihilated that extremely evil Xiantian Martial Artist, killing him outright."

"Once the Punish Evil System's execution requirements are met, the Merit Points awarded are at least ten thousand!"

"Although I was not the one who killed him, I merely participated in the encirclement and provided support. Even so, the system judged that I deserved 3,000 Merit Points afterward!"

Shen Zhui stood in a daze, but Zhao Hu came over, punched him, and cursed with a laugh:

"You brat, you've made such a huge improvement and still look like someone just died. You're really enough to make me furious."

Zhao Hu had practiced for ten years, yet his movement technique was still far from the Great Accomplishment Realm. But how old was Shen Zhui? He had already surpassed him, and he still looked dissatisfied!

"Brother Hu, you're too kind." Shen Zhui grinned as he walked out from beside the Plum Blossom Array.

"By the way, Brother Hu, you said you had something to discuss with me?" The two walked and talked toward the pavilion.

"Haha, I wanted to tell you just now, but I was afraid of affecting you while you challenged the formation..."

"Shen Zhui, congratulations. The County Governor and Captain Wang have decided to raise your pay and benefits to Ninth Rank!"

"You have to treat me to a drink. This is equivalent to the treatment of a Postnatal Martial Artist Ninth Stage!"

"Ninth Rank?" The sudden pleasant surprise left Shen Zhui somewhat dazed.

"Come on. Let's go see the County Governor and Captain Wang."

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