011 The Low Point (1) (Farewell to the Old Tune Alliance Leader)

"Xie Li greets Senior Brothers Lin and Chen." Xie Li was only fifteen or sixteen, yet her words and bearing were remarkably mature. She skillfully clasped her fists in greeting to the two of them.

The two returned the salute with clasped fists.

Xie Li smiled and continued.

"In actual combat, the Clear Sword Technique is far stronger than the Nine Section Fast Sword, and its complexity is nowhere near something the latter can compare to. Once unleashed, both your own speed and the speed of your strikes increase tremendously. It feels like a clear breeze brushing across one's face—before the opponent even notices or reacts, they have already lost."

"So as long as you master the Clear Sword Technique, your strength can soar by a huge margin?" Chen Zhishen could not help asking.

"Precisely. In fact, many martial arts work this way. The powerful ones are all top-tier martial arts, but top-tier martial arts are not something ordinary people can master. Once mastered, they create an enormous gap between themselves and ordinary martial arts," Xie Li explained.

"But wouldn't superior martial arts place a heavier burden on the body when used?" Lin Hui asked with a frown.

"Superior martial arts come with superior Body Tempering methods as well, and their effects far surpass all others. Why would the burden be heavier? On the contrary, after mastering superior martial arts, if one turns back and uses inferior ones, their body will have been tempered to such a formidable degree that no matter what martial art they use, it will display power far beyond that of ordinary martial artists." Well-traveled and knowledgeable, Xie Li explained with a smile.

"Thank you for clearing that up." Lin Hui clasped his fists. "Then it seems the Clear Sword Technique is not something everyone can master?"

"That's right. To be taught the sword technique, one needs not only the trust of one's elders, but also extraordinary talent." Xie Li nodded. "That is also why the Temple Master came personally."

"In other words, Huang Shan and the others may have caught the Temple Master's attention and been accepted as true inner disciples?" A trace of poorly concealed envy colored Chen Zhishen's voice.

"To be exact, yes. Geniuses, after all..." Xie Li did not elaborate, but there was something unusual in her tone as well.

From the way she spoke, it was clear that she too came from a family with a long martial heritage. Yet even so, before the pure comparison of talent, no background was of any use. If you had what it took, you had what it took. If you did not, you did not.

By then, a new round of swordsmanship contests had begun among the core disciples in the open space. The disciple named Wu Cheng had mastered several forms of the Clear Sword Technique. Whenever he used them at crucial moments in the arena, he would easily defeat his opponents.

For a time, he drew repeated glances from the crowd, and more and more attention gradually gathered around him.

Watching Wu Cheng bask in the spring breeze of success in the arena, Lin Hui fell into thought. If things were truly divided into strong and weak according to the martial arts one had mastered, as Xie Li had said, then control over superior martial arts would undoubtedly lock all paths of advancement firmly in the hands of the previous generation.

At times like this, when the gap in talent was not so great, connections and relationships might instead be the more important thing.

After Wu Cheng displayed the Clear Sword Technique, other disciples stepped onto the stage and revealed the Clear Sword Technique they had mastered. But because they lacked Wu Cheng's proficiency, they too were defeated and sent off the stage.

At Qingfeng Temple, being able to master the Clear Sword Technique was itself an enormous gulf separating one from everyone else.

The contests that followed fully proved that point. Among the twenty disciples, the top five senior brothers and sisters who appeared in the final rounds had all mastered the Clear Sword Technique.

Of them, the eldest senior brother, second senior brother, and eldest senior sister had even mastered the complete Clear Sword. Yet Lin Hui watched closely and found that although they used the same sword technique, the air and feeling they gave off when performing it were entirely different.

Clearly, even with the same Clear Sword, there were still differences in level and realm.

Before long, less than an hour later, the small tournament had more or less concluded. The rankings of the top five had not changed much from before. The eldest senior brother remained firmly in first place, with the others following in order.

But from sixth place onward, the rankings had shifted.

Wu Cheng had surged ahead in one leap, charging into sixth place. Behind him were the two newly risen geniuses, Qiu Yiren and Huang Shan. The two had forcibly squeezed out the previous seventh and eighth places, becoming the hottest new focus of attention.

When it was finally over and the crowd dispersed, the outer disciples and students who had come to watch were quite excited. Even as they left, they continued discussing the foundations and attainments of the twenty core disciples.

Lin Hui remained calm and returned to his residence to practice the Seven Section Fast Sword, as though the earlier tournament had not affected him in the slightest.

In the meantime, Xie Li had dragged Chen Zhishen along to invite him out for a wild-game barbecue to grow closer, but he gently declined.

The two could only go by themselves.

It was clear that Xie Li was, to some extent, deliberately trying to get close to him. Bringing Chen Zhishen along was merely a pretext.

But Lin Hui had no interest in meaningless socializing. His greatest interest now was watching his Blood Seal every day and calculating which day of its evolution cycle it had reached.

Being able to grow stronger simply by lying flat was undoubtedly an incredibly powerful ability. The only thing that left Lin Hui helpless was that it was a little too slow.

And so, every few days, Xie Li would drag Chen Zhishen over to invite Lin Hui out. After several attempts failed to move him, the two simply hunted some wild game and brought it over to Lin Hui's place to eat together.

Lin Hui did not mind that at all. Someone was delivering food to his door and even roasting it for him—naturally, he was happy to improve his meals.

As time passed, the three gradually formed a new small circle within the temple.

Under Xie Li's influence, Chen Zhishen seemed to slowly emerge from the painful emotions surrounding Lu Baihua. There also seemed to be a faint new spark of something unusual between the two.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Hui's fourth move had fully evolved, followed by the fifth.

As the Seven Section Fast Sword's completion drew ever closer, Lin Hui began to feel a faint sense of anticipation.

He looked forward to seeing how his flawless, perfect version of the Seven Section Fast Sword—one that would never make a mistake—would differ from the other disciples' in its Body Tempering and lightness-enhancing effects.

In the blink of an eye, several more days passed.

Knock knock knock, knock knock knock!

Early in the morning, just as dawn broke, Lin Hui began practicing his sword. He had only gone through the routine twice when a burst of urgent knocking came from outside.

The single room where he lived had a small patch of open yard outside, used for drying clothes, basking in the sun, and the like. The yard had its own separate gate.

At that moment, it was the dark brown gate outside that was being pounded on.

"Who is it?"

Lin Hui called out.

"It's me, Junior Brother Lin!" Huishen's urgent voice came through from outside. "Open up, quickly! Something happened at your home!"

Something happened at home!?

Lin Hui's heart jolted. He swiftly set down his wooden sword, rushed to the yard gate, and opened it.

Outside, Huishen's forehead was beaded with sweat and his expression was grave. Clearly, he had sprinted here at full speed. The moment he saw Lin Hui, he quickly lowered his voice and spoke.

"Your family's servant came running with a message! Said something happened on your father's end! A lot of people went over—they've practically emptied out your whole house!"

"Help me ask for leave!" Without another word, Lin Hui tossed out the sentence and rushed from the courtyard toward the Daoist temple's exit.

Though he had yet to attain Body Tempering, his long-term training had made his physical condition far stronger than before.

The moment he ran out through the gates, he saw Sister Luo, one of the household servants, standing outside with a pale face, barred from entering by two young Daoist gatekeepers.

Lin Hui dashed over in a few strides.

"What exactly happened!?" he asked in a low voice.

"Before the master left, he told me to come get you. He said not to worry—he'll be back soon!" Sister Luo said quickly.

"Come on. We'll go home first and talk on the way!" Lin Hui's face darkened as he hurried toward home.

More than half an hour later, Lin Hui arrived at the entrance to his home.

The courtyard gates stood wide open, and so did the doors to the rooms inside. Several men were carrying things out.

"What are you doing!?" Lin Hui steadied his breathing, stepped forward, and asked sharply.

"This household owes a huge debt. The boss sent us to take goods in repayment. And who might you be, brother?" The leader walked over, holding a strip of dark brown dried meat and stuffing it into his mouth as he chewed.

"Isn't there some mistake!?" Lin Hui strode through the gate and into the house, only to find that it had nearly been stripped bare. His mother, Yao Shan, came slowly out with swollen red eyes, apparently having heard him arrive.

"Mother!" Lin Hui hurried forward to support her.

"A-Hui... your father..." Yao Shan rushed over and seized Lin Hui's arm, her voice trembling with tears. "I told him not to take the risk, but he wouldn't listen... and now... now..."

"Don't panic yet! How is my father? Where is he!?" Lin Hui asked at once.

"The patron remembered that he had worked for him for many years and had always handled matters thoroughly, so he spared him... He's all right. It's just that... he went to another town to check over the rest of the family's properties." Yao Shan sobbed softly.

Only then did Lin Hui let out a breath of relief. Looking at their home, now almost entirely emptied, he found himself less uneasy than before.

His earlier fears had now been confirmed, yet once the thing truly happened, the great stone in his heart instead fell to the ground.

"It's all right. It'll be all right. I've started working and earning money too. At worst, we'll start over from scratch. It's fine." He gently comforted his mother.

"I'm fine. It's just... you've suffered too, A-Hui..." Yao Shan looked at the home that had only just begun to improve, now emptied once more. That blow—the second devastating blow—had nearly drained all spirit from her.

At that moment, she could only clutch her son's arm tightly, trembling all over, her face seeming to age many years in an instant.

Lin Hui simply stood there in silence, watching those men clear out the house. The man who had spoken to him earlier came inside, understood that Lin Hui was the owner of the place, and gave him an apologetic smile.

It was not until afternoon, when the removal was finished, that his father, Lin Shunhe, finally arrived late.

His face was haggard, and his clothes were somewhat disheveled. Entering the courtyard and seeing his wife and son both there, he said nothing, merely lowered his head and went into the inner room.

Lin Hui said nothing either. He knew his father was suffering enough. Losing the family fortune was only one part of it; the true and complete loss was the patron's protection.

From now on, having broken away from the Lin Family, the only ones they could rely on were themselves.

Lin Family.

Lin Chaoyi once again summoned the representatives of each branch and held an impromptu family meeting.

Seeing the somewhat gloomy atmosphere among those present, he removed the pipe from his mouth and lightly tapped it against the small table beside him.

Bang, bang.

The crisp sounds drew everyone's attention.

"You all know about what happened to Shunhe's family, right?" he said loudly.

The group fell silent for a moment, then nodded one after another.

"Since you know, then those of you who used to be close with him are not to lend him a hand. No helping them—and as for lending money, not a single coin is allowed!" Lin Chaoyi began by laying down the rule in stern terms.

Then, seeing the somewhat uncomfortable expressions on the faces of the eldest branch, he softened his tone and explained.

"It's not that I, as his father, am heartless. First, Fourth was the one who declared we had severed ties long ago. Second, he stirred up a major disaster this time and angered that patron. This is no small matter. If we step in to help, and people think we have some connection to him, it will be too late for regrets!"

He sighed again.

"Don't blame me for being cruel, but I'm doing this for the entire Lin Family. These past days, ever since Hongzhen of the eldest branch successfully received the call, you've all felt the change in our family's reputation, momentum, and influence. Whatever we do, the people around us give us face. Even some of the town officials who used to be high and mighty have become far more cordial."

"So the Lin Family is on the rise now. We absolutely cannot let Fourth drag us down! This is the great opportunity we have waited so many years for. Once the eldest branch gains a firm foothold in the inner city, our Lin Family may yet become a great clan like the Zhong Family or the Mu Family in the neighboring towns."

"But Father... wouldn't this be a little too..." Lin Shunjiang, Hongzhen's father from the eldest branch, could not help speaking up.