Enlightenment Time (Seeking to be added to the bookshelf)

Yang Wu's threat, while Shen Zhui was wary of it, he didn't take it to heart.

Now, Heyuan City could be roughly divided into two factions.

One was the County Governor, who governed the entire county, commanding the Three Bureaus and Six Departments, with the City God Temple's assistance. Under him were a thousand Constables, over a hundred Postnatal Martial Artists, and three Xiantian Martial Artists.

The other was the clan magnates, mainly the Li and Yang Families. They had money and military force in abundance. Just the two families alone had over a dozen Xiantian Martial Artists combined. They also had the Ancestral Hall to suppress their fortunes, and with the support of officials serving in Heyuan County and a host of minor vassal families, their power was overwhelming.

Previous County Governors either colluded with the clan magnates.

Or they were suppressed, often finding it difficult to issue decrees beyond the county seat.

But now, things were different. Since the new County Governor arrived three years ago, for the first two years, he kept a low profile and revealed nothing.

But starting in the third year, he suddenly rose to power!

Internally, he made sweeping reforms to governance and personnel, purging the clan parasites within the county office, appointing capable people, and expanding military strength.

Externally, he wooed, divided, and suppressed the minor families that were attached to the Li and Yang Families, causing them to defect to the County Governor one after another. He even repeatedly made the Li and Yang Families suffer setbacks.

By now, the County Governor's Momentum was actually greater than that of the Li and Yang Families! He had truly become the holder of the highest authority in Heyuan County!

A Xiantian Martial Artist had a Lifespan of two hundred years. The County Governor had only been in office for three years, barely a new official, yet he had achieved such results.

It was easy to see that cleaning up the Li and Yang Families was only a matter of time.

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

But he couldn't see the situation clearly. Relying on his connections with the Li Family, he still played the game of paying lip service while acting otherwise, forming cliques for personal gain, and engaging in the business of extorting commoners and merchants under various pretexts.

He had tried to win Shen Zhui over several times before, but how could Shen Zhui follow him to his death?

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

"But no matter how the situation plays out, one's own strength is the foundation. If I break through to Xiantian Martial Artist, even the County Governor would have to show me some respect, and I'd become someone all the major families would curry favor with, a Guest Official figure."

Shen Zhui thought silently to himself. This world was different from his Past Life—the strong preyed on the weak, and hierarchy was strict.

Even within the city, where safety was supposedly guaranteed by Divine Law, there was still scheming and endless power struggles.

Let alone outside the city, where demons, monsters, martial artists, and thugs made it a place of constant danger.

"The system can exchange for Enlightenment Time, allowing me to enter an enlightened state."

"But it costs one hundred Merit Points per second. With my 3,100 Merit Points, I can only exchange for 31 seconds."

"31 seconds... I wonder if that's enough to push my movement technique into the Great Accomplishment Realm..." Shen Zhui thought for a moment, then picked up his iron ruler and headed to a Bamboo Forest behind the county office.

Deep within this Bamboo Forest was a hidden 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 work hard."

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

One of them, a middle-aged man in a black training uniform, smiled and greeted Shen Zhui as he approached.

"Shen Zhui, finished your task?"

"Yeah, Brother Hu, just finished." Shen Zhui nodded with a smile.

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

With this strength, he ranked in the top five among the group of Postnatal experts in the Martial Arts Department. But his movement technique was a bit lacking; otherwise, his ranking could go even higher.

Zhao Hu laughed heartily. "Not bad."

He genuinely thought Shen Zhui was impressive.

Xiantian Martial Artists—in the entire Heyuan County, with a population of over a million—only numbered a few dozen.

Generally, they existed as Guest Officials in the major clans and wealthy families, rarely making a move and hard to come by.

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

What was common were Postnatal Martial Artists.

Although Shen Zhui was only a Postnatal Martial Artist Seventh Stage, his combat power could kill an Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm!

Even more remarkable was that he was only seventeen years old! His future was limitless!

Of course, Zhao Hu didn't know that Shen Zhui had only been practicing martial arts for three years; otherwise, he would have been even more astonished.

"I owe it all to Brother Hu's usual care." Shen Zhui said respectfully.

"Alright, no need for pleasantries. The Plum Blossom Array is empty. Go ahead. After you finish, I have something to discuss with you."

"Something to discuss with me?" Shen Zhui was a bit puzzled, but he didn't ask further.

"Thanks, Brother Hu. I'll head in now."

At the training ground, in front of the Plum Blossom Array.

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

"Exchange all Merit Points for Enlightenment Time!"

"Exchange successful. 31 seconds of Enlightenment Time begins now! Countdown: 30, 29, 28..."

The moment the countdown started in his mind, Shen Zhui snapped his eyes open, leaped up, and landed on the first wooden stake in the Plum Blossom Array!

The stake was only as thick as an arm, with an extremely narrow foothold—barely enough for one foot.

And once the Plum Blossom Array activated, every stake became a "living stake."

"Squeak squeak squeak~" "Click click click~"

The mechanisms beneath the floor whirred with precision, and the stakes above ground either swayed back and forth, rose and fell, or wobbled left and right...

As soon as Shen Zhui stepped onto the first stake, it sank rapidly!

From the moment a trainee set foot on the Plum Blossom Array, they had to make split-second choices, judging and analyzing where to step next.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~"

Shen Zhui moved like a nimble, powerful Panshan goat leaping across a sheer cliff, swiftly stepping forward on one moving stake after another.

His mind was utterly focused, giving free rein to his movement technique, "Flowing Cloud Steps"!

"To see one's actions clearly—that is Enlightenment! Within Enlightenment Time, I can quickly spot all my past shortcomings and correct them on the spot!"

At this moment, Shen Zhui felt his mind clearer than ever before!

What he'd had before wasn't clarity—it was just being awake. But now, entering "Enlightenment" time, everything changed instantly!

The "Flowing Cloud Steps" technique refined itself continuously. In the blink of an eye, Shen Zhui had already crossed a hundred zhang.

"Click click click~"

One stake after another spun rapidly. As he pressed forward, the gaps between stakes grew wider, and their positional shifts grew more frequent...

Yet Shen Zhui seemed to have eyes all over his body, each step landing precisely on a stake.

Sometimes, onlookers would see him take a step toward a stake still far away—but by the time his body arrived, the stake seemed to have a will of its own, delivering itself right under his foot.

"The Plum Blossom Array is a marvelous setup for testing and training movement techniques, spanning a full kilometer!"

"If you can cover a hundred meters through this array, your movement technique counts as Minor Accomplishment!"

"Past three hundred meters, it's Major Accomplishment!"

"Complete the full kilometer of the Plum Blossom Array, and your movement technique reaches the Perfection Realm!"

"Even martial artists at the Xiantian Realm might not clear this array entirely. I wonder how far Shen Zhui will get."

Many observers in the training ground were buzzing with discussion.

Among the hundred-plus Houtian Martial Artists in the county office, Shen Zhui had a bit of a reputation.

First, because of his youth.

Second, because of his impressive combat ability—a Seventh Stage of Acquired Realm martial artist who could kill an Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm one, and he threw himself into casework and arrests with great zeal. The criminals he alone caught matched the output of some veterans with seven or eight years on the job.

So, he drew quite a bit of attention.

Shen Zhui focused entirely on executing his movement technique, immersed in the enlightenment of it.

"No, that's wrong. My right foot's power distribution was off before!"

"For this jump, I should only use seventy percent of my strength—I was using full power before. Wrong!"

"So that's it. Though 'Flowing Cloud Steps' relies on the legs, the upper body also affects balance..."

"Here, before... wrong!"

"Wrong again!"

"Faster!"

Time flew by. Shen Zhui, lost in the constant correction and refinement of his movement technique, breezed past the hundred-meter mark with ease.

This feeling was extraordinary. Every awkwardness he'd felt during past training sessions now became crystal clear. With each step, he instinctively corrected his old mistakes.

To see one's actions clearly—that is Enlightenment!

In this state, a martial artist could clearly perceive every flaw in their own movements, with razor-sharp focus! It was a peak state that martial artists could only hope to encounter!

Exhilarating!

Comfortable!

But when he reached around two hundred seventy meters, the speed of the Plum Blossom Array's stakes reached a terrifying pace.

"Squeak click! Click! Squeak squeak~"

Stakes shot around wildly, each one letting out a sharp, grating sound!

"Warning: countdown remaining: eight, seven, six..."

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

When the countdown ended—

"Hmm?!"

Shen Zhui snapped out of that Enlightenment state, and in the next second—

He stepped on empty air!

"Thud!"

His body lost balance and crashed to the ground from midair.

The moment he hit the ground, the entire Plum Blossom Array came to a halt, all the wooden stakes freezing in place.

"Damn it, Shen Zhui! You've improved again from last time! You're almost at Great Accomplishment-level movement speed! Not bad, not bad!" Zhao Hu ran over, staring in surprise at where Shen Zhui had landed.

Shen Zhui stood up from the ground and glanced at the marker not far away.

"Two hundred eighty-two meters! Just a little short of Great Accomplishment in movement technique!"

Shen Zhui nodded in satisfaction.

Movement techniques and Martial Skills were divided into Beginner, Minor Accomplishment, Great Accomplishment, and Perfection!

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

Reaching this level was rare even in the entire county office.

"Too bad this 'Enlightenment Time' is still too short. Its effect isn't as strong as 'Awakening Time' either. If those thirty-one seconds were 'Awakening Time,' that would've been great."

The Punish Evil System's Merit Point exchange for comprehension time was also divided into several levels!

Enlightenment Time, Illuminating Actions and Consciousness—100 Merit Points per second!

The next level up...

Awakening Time, Manifestation of All Laws—1,000 Merit Points per second!

The effect was completely different!

"Earlier, just twenty seconds of Awakening Time broke through the bottleneck of the Nine Layers of Iron Ruler at the Great Accomplishment Realm."

"But exchanging for 'Awakening Time' is too expensive."

Twenty seconds had consumed 20,000 Merit Points, which Shen Zhui had saved up for over half a year.

And that was with good luck—once, he had followed Captain Wang, a Xiantian Martial Artist from the Martial Arts Department, on a murder case involving the pursuit of a Xiantian Martial Artist.

"Xiantian Martial Artists have a certain immunity. Once it reaches the point of dispatching armed forces to capture them, it's definitely a major crime. Those kinds of targets yield a lot of Merit Points."

"That time, Captain Wang held a 'Execute' token from the County Governor. Over twenty people surrounded and killed that heinous Xiantian Martial Artist outright."

"Meeting the Punish Evil System's execution requirements meant at least ten thousand Merit Points!"

"Even though I didn't deliver the killing blow, just participating in the siege and assisting from the side, the system awarded me 3,000 Merit Points afterward!"

Shen Zhui was lost in thought, but Zhao Hu came over and punched him in the shoulder, laughing and cursing, "Kid, with progress like that, you're still putting on that deadpan face? You're gonna piss Laozi off."

He, Zhao Hu, had trained for ten years, and his movement technique was still far from the Great Accomplishment Realm. But Shen Zhui, how old was he? He'd already surpassed him, and still acted unsatisfied!

"Brother Hu, you flatter me." Shen Zhui grinned, walking out from the side of the Plum Blossom Array.

"By the way, Brother Hu, you said earlier you had something to tell me?" They walked along the pavilion path, talking as they went.

"Haha, I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn't want to disturb your array training..."

"Shen Zhui, congratulations. The County Governor and the captain have decided to raise your treatment and salary to the Ninth Rank!"

"You'll have to treat me to a drink—this is equivalent to the treatment of a Postnatal Martial Artist Ninth Stage!"

"Ninth Rank?" Shen Zhui was stunned by the sudden surprise.

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

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