Disheartened II

"Of the two beside Huang Shan, Zhong Yuquan and Zhong Yushan, their elder brother is an Invocation constable at the Inner City yamen. Then there is Chen Chong's younger sister, who is an Invoker within the Chen Family. And then there is your second senior brother and me. Our families also have relatives among the Three Greats of the Inner City who successfully completed the Invocation." Mu Qiao Zhi spoke calmly.

Qiu Yiren and the few students who heard this all stiffened slightly and silently committed it to memory.

"Then, Senior Sister, can a Summoner really reach the level of our masters in a single stroke?" Qiu Yiren asked again.

"How could that be possible? They merely gain copper skin and iron bones in one go, but in actual combat, they still have weak points. If they have no foundation in martial combat, they naturally cannot defeat masters of the Ming generation. However, their status is different now. If they wish to learn the methods of Martial Artists, it will be very easy for them. Their starting point is far higher than that of ordinary people like us." Mu Qiao Zhi explained. She clearly thought highly of Yiren, her junior sister.

By then, the male students ahead had almost all finished lining up and left. Only then did she lead the way forward and begin organizing the female students into a line to leave.

Inside the dim ox-cart cabin.

His father, Lin Shunhe, sat cross-legged on the padded couch, watching his son, who had remained silent ever since entering.

"What is it? Why do you look like you're carrying a mountain of bitterness and hatred?"

Lin Shunhe had clearly been very busy recently. His skin was darker than before, and he had grown thinner, but his eyes were brighter and more spirited.

He wore a brownish-green silk robe beneath a leather vest, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

Lin Hui sighed and told him about what had happened with Lu Baihua.

"It happens all the time." Lin Shunhe sighed. "That is simply how this world is. If you are weak, you are like wild grass by the roadside. Even when someone steps on you, all you can do is endure."

"What about our family?" Lin Hui suddenly asked.

"We... Don't worry. No one would dare come and provoke you for no reason." Lin Shunhe chuckled and shook his head.

"Why?"

"Because your father is working for an important person. That person is no ordinary figure. Enough, do not concern yourself with that. Tell me, how do you feel at the temple?" Lin Shunhe changed the subject and asked.

"It is all right. Ming De Zhenren regularly gives me the account books to calculate, but they are not difficult and do not take much of my time." Lin Hui thought of those simple arithmetic problems from before. They had been so easy that he had to think carefully to remember them.

"When Brother Mingde mentioned this to me, he praised you as well. He said you were extremely good with numbers, far more capable than the previous accountant. So he mentioned it to Daoist Baohe, and they decided that you would be responsible for checking part of Qingfeng Temple's accounts in the future. As for your wages, they will offset your current martial arts expenses—one thousand coins a month."

One thousand coins was not much, but martial arts training was expensive, and the food and other provisions provided within Qingfeng Temple were not bad. Lin Hui said nothing.

"Cousin received the Invocation and successfully became a member of Yugong of the Sha Yue Sect. Does Father know?" Lin Hui asked again.

"Yes. The Lin Family Compound held an Invocation banquet some time ago, but it has nothing to do with us. We are no longer members of the Lin Family." Lin Shunhe spoke softly. "Of course, your personal relationship with Lin Hongzhen is your own business."

"I understand." Lin Hui nodded.

"This is reality. Everyone has their own fortune and timing. Life still has to go on. The sun rises as usual, just like that Mist—it will not change in the slightest even after tens of thousands of years..." Lin Shunhe sighed with feeling.

After that, he asked Lin Hui about his martial arts and sword training. When he heard that his progress was still slow, he stopped worrying. Clearly, in his eyes, becoming good at swordsmanship would be a bad thing instead. Honestly serving as an assistant accountant, doing accounts, then eventually becoming a full-time accountant once he was proficient and earning a living—that was the proper path.

"Once you become an official accountant, I'll find you a wife. Then you can have a few good sons and help our separate branch put forth branches and spread leaves, growing our household's strength." Lin Shunhe said with a cheerful smile.

"Father seems to be in quite a good mood?" Lin Hui noticed something.

"Yes. I just completed a big deal and made quite a bit. But I cannot talk about it. It is enough that you know—do not spread it around." Lin Shunhe nodded.

The ox cart slowly turned onto the main road. The surroundings on both sides were no longer desolate. Through the half-open window, Lin Hui saw patches of golden rice fields outside, where the harvest was underway.

Flocks of black birds circled above the fields, and no one knew where they had come from.

"I heard that birds are unaffected by the Mist and can freely enter and leave it. Father, is that true?" Lin Hui asked.

"How could that be? These birds live within the city district. Once they fly out, they basically cannot return. Still, if they only leave briefly and are lucky, they can make it back by relying on their speed." Lin Shunhe answered.

A thought stirred in Lin Hui's mind, and dark-red blood characters surfaced at the bottom of his vision.

"Hundred Turns and Thousand Hearts" had already completed its evolution. What he was now evolving seamlessly was the third move—Transform into West Wind.

It was still sixty days, consuming only energy and time, with nothing else required.

"Rather than evolution, this is more like deduction. Once the time is up, it automatically performs the deduction, allowing me to completely master the strengthened and perfected move obtained afterward. This Blood Seal seems more like a deduction device."

Lin Hui pondered inwardly.

When they returned home, his mother, Yao Shan, had already prepared a whole table of dishes. The household had also hired an extra helper to bustle about with the work. His mother called her Sister Luo, and she came from a nearby farming family.

Workers outside the courtyard had also begun building a second outer wall, doubling the already sizable courtyard's area toward the rear.

Clearly, the moment his father had money, he began expanding the house.

After finishing his morning business, his father took Lin Hui out to visit old friends, trying to build a network of connections for the next generation.

Yet as Lin Hui watched his father's face, radiant with the spring breeze of success, he could not shake an inexplicable worry.

Though they had split from the family, his father had no martial strength to support the family fortune. Everything depended on the sheltering favor of that important person. It was fine while that person still looked after them, but if one day that relationship was gone...

When that time came, if their family had no ability to stand on its own, how would they conduct themselves? Would they rely on these so-called connections and old friends?

He voiced this concern to his father, but Lin Shunhe dismissively waved it away, telling him to set his mind at ease. His father would handle these matters; Lin Hui only needed to do his own part well.

The holiday lasted only three days and soon came to an end.

Lin Hui boarded the ox cart again and returned toward Qingfeng Temple.

This time, he no longer forced himself to endure. Instead, he found Huishen, Ming De Zhenren's Daoist attendant, and arranged for a private room.

What followed was the tedious daily routine of practicing the sword and tempering his body, day after day, rain or shine.

Chen Zhishen still spent his days with him, but after the affair with Lu Baihua, he became quiet and withdrawn. The determination in his eyes had grown heavier than before.

Every day, he practiced his sword without the slightest distraction. When others rested, he practiced. When others played, he practiced. Even when others chatted idly, he squeezed out time to practice.

Worried that he would damage his body through overtraining, Lin Hui often bought him nourishing medicines and injury remedies from the temple's logistics department. To Lin Hui, who had begun earning money, it was nothing much.

But to Chen Zhishen, it was undoubtedly support that arrived like timely rain.

Lin Hui himself only needed to wait for time to pass in order to improve step by step, and once he improved, he would never regress.

Thus, when he practiced the sword, he mostly trained his body's reactions. He had little need for nourishing or healing medicines.

In the blink of an eye, the third move successfully completed its evolution, followed by the fourth.

During this period, Lin Hui also formally took over part of the temple's accounting assistance work. His identity changed from disciple to half disciple and half logistics staff.

He also had much more contact with Huishen and Ming De Zhenren than before.

During this time, another batch of people left the temple, while another batch of newcomers arrived.

After paying tuition, the newcomers' introductory lessons began again. This time, Lin Hui was no longer one of those standing among them; instead, he stood in the area for senior disciples at the front.

Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren, the two geniuses, had completely mastered the Seven Section Fast Sword's points of exertion and had begun learning the second set, the Nine Section Fast Sword. He heard they had already finished learning the Nine Section Fast Sword as well and had begun formally sparring with their senior brothers and sisters.

No geniuses like them appeared among the new students. There were only a few with relatively decent talent, but they fell far short.

After the newcomer instruction ended.

Daoist Baohe, who had not been seen for a long time, unexpectedly showed himself. He briefly made a round through the rear practice ground, inspecting everyone's progress.

Though he claimed to be inspecting them, his gaze constantly circled around Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren. He had clearly come specifically for the two young women.

As for how everyone else was practicing, he did not care.

Lin Hui stood in the back row, practicing the Seven Section Fast Sword with meticulous seriousness. The wooden stick in his hand had been replaced with a thick wooden sword. As he turned it behind his back, his movements were practiced and smooth. The first three moves were flawless, but the final four instantly reverted to their original state—merely mediocre, painfully unpleasant to watch.

After finishing a full set of sword forms, he paused briefly to rest and catch his breath.

"All right, stop for a moment. Since the Temple Master is here today, let's hold an impromptu trial and see how everyone is progressing." Daoist Ming Xiu clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention.

There were more than a hundred disciples present, scattered across the vast rear courtyard practicing swordsmanship. At the sound, some of the newer disciples immediately became excited.

Everyone enjoyed watching a spectacle, but the senior disciples whose progress was worrying looked rather grim.

Ming Xiu did not care about that and clapped her hands again.

"Those who have mastered the Nine Section Fast Sword, step forward."

The Seven Section Fast Sword was only a training method and thus could not be used in combat. Only the Nine Section Fast Sword and the Clear Sword Technique were the temple's true practical sword arts.

At once, twenty disciples stepped out from among the hundred or so disciples.

Among them was First Senior Brother Chen Sui and the others.

These twenty were clearly the true cream of the temple's disciples.

As for the remaining students and disciples, any who had not completely mastered the Seven Section Fast Sword could still leave in dejection.

Therefore, none of them were formal disciples.

Only these twenty were the true core of Qingfeng Temple.

"Since this is a trial, we shall follow the old rules and add a little prize. The top five may receive one portion of Body-Clarifying Powder refined by the temple." Ming Xiu said with a smile.

The matches quickly began by drawing lots. One disciple after another stepped forward, wielding wooden swords as they fought with the Nine Section Fast Sword.

Watching from the edge, Lin Hui keenly noticed that these disciples moved far faster than ordinary people.

"The body-tempering and light-body effects of the Seven Section Fast Sword have appeared," Chen Zhishen murmured beside him.

"Yes. I heard that correctly completing one full round of the Seven Section Fast Sword gives the effect of Body Tempering and Light Body once. It seems that is indeed true." Watching the senior brothers and sisters on the field move more nimbly than monkeys, Lin Hui finally gained a more direct understanding of Qingfeng Temple's life-preserving skill.

Truthfully, after being in the temple for so long, this was the first time he had personally seen what the sword technique he practiced could truly do.

"But in a contest like this, they are merely comparing everyone's mastery of the Nine Section Fast Sword and the extent to which the Seven Section Fast Sword has tempered their bodies. If one truly goes out into the world, what needs to be increased is experience in dealing with all kinds of martial arts and enemies," Lin Hui said softly.

"That is true, but as long as your movement technique is fast enough, you can preserve your life first, then slowly observe and accumulate experience afterward. Wouldn't that work too?" Chen Zhishen said. After studying for so long, none of them were the greenhorns they had been at the start. They often spoke with and asked around among the others, so they knew much more than before.

At that moment, the two people sparring in the open space were locked in a fierce stalemate. One of them finally could not hold back any longer. He abruptly changed moves, switching from the Nine Section Fast Sword to the Clear Sword Technique's One-Hand Brushing Clouds.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The other person's wooden sword was suddenly twisted away by that move, flying from his hand and falling to the ground.

"Wu Cheng, victory!" the Daoist keeping score immediately called out.

Outside the ring, Lin Hui narrowed his eyes as he watched.

"Is the Clear Sword Technique really that powerful?"

"Of course it is. Otherwise, why would our temple be called Qingfeng Temple?" A light female voice came from one side.

The speaker was a delicate young female disciple with pretty features and a pitifully gentle air.

Lin Hui recognized her. She was one of the more talented disciples among this batch of newcomers, and her name was Xie Li.