Someone Was Born in Rome

As the sun set, Shen Lin and Zijing followed Sun Zhi out of Qiulin County.

After seeing Sun Zhi at the city gate earlier, Zijing had sensed something was amiss.

When she realized Sun Zhi's destination seemed to be the same as her own, her lips twitched slightly. She turned to Shen Lin and asked, "You were planning to go to Baoshan Village all along?"

Shen Lin nodded, a satisfied smile on his face. "I had that intention."

The rich woman was quite generous, giving him two Meridian Unblocking Pills as a deposit before they set off. This had made Shen Lin incredibly excited. While pretending to put the Meridian Unblocking Pills back into his embrace, he had already activated the System for deduction.

With the two Meridian Unblocking Pills, plus the remaining lifespan from the demon, Shen Lin had managed to break through his tenth meridian. If this trip went smoothly and he obtained enough demon lifespan, breaking through the last two meridians would be no problem. The Xiantian realm was within reach.

Seeing Shen Lin nod, Zijing pondered for a moment and tentatively asked, "Is it for the three dog demons in Baoshan Village?"

Shen Lin's steps faltered slightly as he turned to look at Zijing. He wasn't particularly surprised that she knew about the demons in Baoshan Village. After all, if even Sun Zhi could contact them, this extraordinary Miss Zijing naturally had her own channels to find out. Perhaps… he could obtain some information through her channels.

With that thought, Shen Lin directly asked, "Do you know their specific strength?"

Zijing nodded and said, "Baoshan Village is the territory of Black Wind Stronghold's third boss, Huang Xiaotian. His strength is roughly equivalent to a Martial Artist at the fifth level of the Opening Meridians Realm. His two brothers are also in the Opening Meridians Realm, but because all the resources went to Huang Xiaotian, their strength isn't great; they've only just broken through their first meridian."

"You seem very familiar with this Black Wind Stronghold?"

Facing Shen Lin's probing, Zijing didn't answer directly but retorted, "Including the two Meridian Unblocking Pills you received earlier, you should be able to break through at least six meridians now, right? Why aren't you choosing to break through to the Xiantian realm and are still working so hard to slay demons here?"

"I'll wait a bit longer. Everyone needs to have higher aspirations."

Hearing Shen Lin's calm words, Zijing chuckled and covered her mouth. "Don't tell me you want to break through all twelve meridians?"

"Why not?" Shen Lin countered.

Seeing his serious gaze, Zijing's smile faded, and she said earnestly, "Putting aside the difficulty of finding the meridians, even if you had the highest-grade meridian-opening secret technique and could find all twelve, opening them is still a problem. After the sixth meridian, the difficulty of opening each subsequent meridian increases exponentially, and the number of Meridian Unblocking Pills required is astonishing. Even the great families in the prefectural capital only choose the most outstanding descendant of each generation to provide resources for them to break through the twelve meridians. You don't have a prominent family background, and by wearing this official uniform, you can't join those renowned sects. Even with exceptional talent, your path ahead will only become more difficult. You might even give up hope of reaching twelve meridians, which could affect your mindset and even your breakthrough to the Xiantian realm. It's best to break through while you're young."

Zijing's advice was, undeniably, very sound. Before reaching the Xiantian realm, a Martial Artist's lifespan was no different from that of a mortal. For someone from Shen Lin's background, even if he spent his entire life slaying demons, it would be difficult to accumulate enough rewards to attempt breaking through twelve meridians.

However, Shen Lin's confidence was not diminished in the slightest. Instead, he chuckled lightly, "According to you, should I go to the Imperial Capital and marry into a wealthy family so I'd have enough resources to break through twelve meridians?"

Hearing this, Zijing's body trembled slightly, and her expression became somewhat unnatural. She turned her head away and said, "The descendants of wealthy families in the Imperial Capital don't lack those who can break through twelve meridians."

"Indeed," Shen Lin couldn't help but sigh. "Such wealthy families probably wouldn't lack Meridian Unblocking Pills either."

"No!" Zijing slowly shook her head and said, "The descendants of wealthy families in the Imperial Capital don't need Meridian Unblocking Pills to open their meridians… " After a moment of hesitation, she continued, "Because from birth, those people soak in medicinal baths daily, nurturing their meridians with the power of rare treasures, preventing them from being blocked by impurities. Their starting point for cultivating martial arts is the Xiantian realm!"

Zijing had initially thought that revealing this would be a huge blow to Shen Lin. After all, in this small Qiulin County, he was already considered a once-in-a-century genius. Yet, the direction of his lifelong efforts was merely the starting point for the disciples of the wealthy families in the Imperial Capital. How cruel!

But to her surprise, there was no trace of dejection on Shen Lin's face. Instead, he became very excited upon hearing her words. This is how it should be. A fierce tiger doesn't take pride in slaughtering rabbits. The stronger those wealthy scions are, the greater the sense of accomplishment I'll feel when I step on them to reach the peak.

Shen Lin suddenly seemed to recall something. He looked at Zijing and asked doubtfully, "You should have been able to break through to the Xiantian realm long ago, so why?"

Since Zi Jing was so familiar with the situation of the imperial capital's influential families, her background must not be simple either.

However, the aura emanating from her was clear, and she didn't seem like those influential family disciples who were born with clear meridians.

Even so, judging by how she could casually produce so many Meridian Unblocking Pills, her family background was definitely extraordinary.

It wouldn't be difficult to directly use Meridian Unblocking Pills to open twelve meridians.

But why now...

As if understanding Shen Lin's confusion, Zi Jing's eyes dimmed for a moment. She didn't answer, but slightly quickened her pace, walking in front of Shen Lin.

By the time her family rose to prominence, she had already passed the age limit and couldn't maintain clear meridians with medicinal baths.

She had originally planned to use Meridian Unblocking Pills to directly open twelve meridians when she reached the age for cultivation.

But who could have imagined that such a thing would happen...

Zi Jing sighed softly, then suddenly raised her head, the regret in her eyes vanishing.

Therefore, this time, she had to retrieve that cultivation technique.

Only by doing so could she catch up to the prodigies of the Imperial Capital despite starting behind.

Only by doing so could she gain enough strength to reclaim everything she had lost.

"Baoshan Village is not far now. I'll tell you the detailed situation of the Wu Family..."