Unexpected II

With a heavy heart, Lin Hui went home and told his parents what had happened. The next day, he went to the medical hall again, but still failed to see anyone. Left with no choice, he returned to Qingfeng Temple.

Before leaving, he slipped some money to an apothecary at the medical hall and asked him to send word to Qingfeng Temple at once if there was any news.

Afterward, he packed his things and returned to Qingfeng Temple.

During that time, he had also sought out the two friends his older female cousin had introduced him to, but both lived in the Inner City. Though they had contact points in the Outer City, Lin Hui had sent letters and received no reply for the time being.

Lin Hui suspected that the two of them might have been there that night as well, attacked and injured.

After returning to Qingfeng Temple, he did his best to rein in his thoughts and resumed the dull life of bitterly training his swordsmanship.

*

*

*

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Winter had truly arrived. Fine, scattered snowflakes slanted through the wind, dusting the rooftops of Qingfeng Temple in a layer of pure white.

With the end of the year approaching, Prime Winter Festival, the annual celebration, was about to begin.

The people of Tuyue had always observed the custom of celebrating the year's harvest and looking toward the future at the end of each year. Prime Winter Festival was such a holiday.

The temple was likewise preparing to hold its annual internal tournament, which would determine the disciples' rankings and their New Year rewards.

There was only one day left until Prime Winter Festival at year's end.

Lin Hui pushed open his door and stepped outside. He saw quite a few people hanging black paper flowers beneath the eaves here and there. They were one of the most commonly used holiday decorations.

He lived in a row of side rooms along one side of the front courtyard, together with more than ten other front-courtyard disciples. They all lived there.

At that moment, the other front-courtyard disciples emerged one after another as well. Seeing the temple begin to put up decorations, their expressions could not help but soften.

Lin Hui noticed that from where he stood, he could see quite a few back-courtyard students helping out in both the front courtyard and outside the main hall.

The young Daoist attendants were in charge of directing and arranging things, while the Daoists responsible for logistics were already setting up something like an arena in the front-courtyard grounds.

Thick barricades were erected one after another, and sheets of gray tarpaulin that sheltered against wind, rain, and snow were stretched overhead.

Lin Hui did not see Daoist Mingde and the other two. After taking a few steps and sweeping his gaze around, he found Mingde and Ming Chen sitting cross-legged at a corner of the temple roof, drinking from wine pouches and boasting to each other.

Speechless, he carried his sword straight out of the temple, found a corner, and began his daily sword practice.

By now, his Seven Section Fast Sword Body Tempering had smoothly risen to fourth rank.

That put him on the same level as Huang Shan and the others. In terms of Body Tempering effects, the perfected version of the Seven Section Fast Sword was undoubtedly stronger than everyone else's.

Lin Hui could clearly feel that his control and precision with the sword were naturally improving.

At the same time, he had become increasingly adept at using his lightness effect, settling into a rhythm of one use every two seconds. So long as he maintained that rhythm, he could unleash bursts without limit.

The sealing poison was also integrating more and more smoothly into his actual sword techniques. The sealing poison took effect for one second, followed by a two-second interval, perfectly matching the lightness effect. This allowed Lin Hui to weave it seamlessly into the rhythm of his burst effect.

He named this move, which overlaid sudden lightness with sealing, Hidden Strike.

Because when this move erupted, its speed was so great that even he himself could not make out the exact sword shadows.

Standing beneath the shade of the tree in his usual spot, Lin Hui slowly began practicing the Seven Section Fast Sword for Body Tempering.

Ten consecutive rounds, flawless from start to finish. The Body Tempering was complete, and then came the Nine Section Fast Sword. Before he knew it, several young disciples had gathered not far from him.

Drawn in by Lin Hui's flawless sword forms, they could not help stopping to watch.

"This senior brother's swordsmanship looks even better than that of the other senior brothers and sisters from the front courtyard..."

"Indeed. It feels more precise. Every move and stance carries a sense that it should have been exactly this way."

"I feel the same. It looks so steady, so accurate, without the slightest flaw."

"Does anyone know this senior brother's name?"

"That is Senior Brother Lin Hui, who was promoted only a few months ago. I know Chen Zhishen, and he is quite close to Senior Brother Lin Hui. I heard about him from Chen Zhishen..."

"Wasn't Senior Brother Lin Hui only just promoted? How did he..."

"Shh... He's sheathing his sword. Don't talk about people behind their backs when they're right here."

Lin Hui slowly lowered his sword. It was not that the people around him had disturbed him; with his current concentration, such faint sounds could not affect his state at all.

The real reason was that he had spotted two people approaching from afar.

One was tall and the other short. The taller one was none other than Chen Zhishen, whom he had not seen for a long time.

Holding the hand of a youth who resembled him somewhat, Chen Zhishen was striding quickly toward Lin Hui.

More than ten meters away, Chen Zhishen was already calling out loudly with a smile.

"A-Hui! Looks like you've been doing pretty well. Did you miss me?"

Lin Hui's expression turned strange. This fellow was clearly living comfortably these days. The old Chen Zhishen, who always looked as though the world weighed on his shoulders, could never have said something like that.

"Miss my ass. Have you been eating feed and getting pumped full of air? How'd you get fat so fast??"

He saw that the man's chin was practically developing a double fold, and he had put on at least thirty pounds of flesh compared to when he had left Qingfeng Temple.

"Watch your mouth." Chen Zhishen's smile froze. "It's all because Senior Brother Zhao's benefits are too good. Life's leisurely—drink a little every day, go out and roll some dice, take the occasional mission. Couldn't be more comfortable."

"Then what are you doing here?" Lin Hui was left speechless. One look at the man's out-of-shape figure told him that his swordsmanship training had definitely been neglected.

"My own nephew paid to enter the temple too, so I brought him over for you to take a look at. For my sake, if he really runs into trouble, could you lend a hand?" Chen Zhishen deftly flicked a banknote over with the back of his hand.

Lin Hui caught it precisely and glanced at it. One thousand cash.

"Fine. Friendship price—but don't bother me over nothing."

He barely had enough time for his own cultivation. If the other man came looking for him over every little thing, he certainly would not agree.

"Of course." Chen Zhishen nodded with a grin, then led the boy a little closer and gave the back of his head a hard slap.

"Come, call him Uncle! From now on, he's your Uncle Lin. If you run into real trouble at Qingfeng Temple and can't reach me, go find your Uncle Lin. Got it?"

"Hello, Uncle Lin." The youth was a little simple-minded, bearing the rustic honesty and plainness peculiar to country folk.

"Mhm. What's his name? I'll put in a word with some people I know later." Lin Hui nodded, his expression softening.

"His name is Chen Jiahu, nickname Xiao Hu. You can call him Ahu too. Feel free to order him around for odd jobs—this kid's strong, and he's first-rate at work back home." Chen Zhishen said with a smile.

"Good. I happen to need someone to run errands for me." Lin Hui nodded with a smile.

Looking at Xiao Hu, he could not help thinking of how his cousin Lin Hongzhen had done the same thing some time ago, bringing him to meet her good friend. And in the end... his cousin still had not awakened.

A few days ago, he had written to ask his eldest uncle. The reply was that she remained unconscious. Yugong had already given up treatment and sent her home. It was said that Lin Hongzhen's injuries had healed, but her brain had suffered a shock, and no one knew when she might regain consciousness.

Yugong had spent no small amount of resources and money. Having treated her to this extent, they had already done all that duty and compassion required.

Whether she could wake up afterward depended entirely on fate.

At that thought, Lin Hui's smile faded unconsciously. Remembering how he and his cousin had gotten along in the past, his heart ached.

Seeing that something was wrong with his expression, Chen Zhishen's smile vanished as well. He asked gravely, "Is it because of what happened at Azure Ink Tower last month? I heard about it too."

Xinyu Town was only so large. News of the Lin Family's affairs had long spread everywhere, to the point that Chen Zhishen, who had always kept an eye on the Lin Family, had heard of it even in the neighboring town.

"Senior Brother Zhao said that incident was a hurdle for the Lin Family too. But hadn't you already split from the Lin Family's main branch and severed all ties?"

"The injured person is close to me," Lin Hui replied. "The ways of the world are hard to predict. Let's not talk about that. Staying to watch the matches later?"

"The grand competition? Of course. That's what I came for." Chen Zhishen smiled.

"Just now, you said you came to see me and bring your nephew to pay respects."

"Can't you even understand polite talk?"

The two smiled again and entered the main hall together.

Qingfeng Temple's main hall was spacious, and disciples were already registering the outsiders who had come to watch.

Amid the surging crowd, besides returning former disciples, there were a few family members and invited guests from other martial arts schools at the registration area.

At a glance, there were no fewer than a hundred people.

After accompanying Chen Zhishen through registration, Lin Hui watched him take his nephew off to pay visits to other acquaintances. Lin Hui, meanwhile, returned to his room to adjust his condition and wait for the grand competition to begin.

This time, he had reached Fourth Rank Body Tempering, and he intended to reveal a little of it to elevate his standing in Qingfeng Temple.

In his view, hiding one's strength only required concealing one's trump cards. There was no need to hide one's true strength; only by displaying it could one win more resources and preferential treatment.

Then he could use those additional resources to achieve greater growth, continuing the cycle and building a snowball effect. That was the fastest way to grow stronger.

So long as he did not stand out too much and draw excessive attention.

Once the morning preparations were complete, all disciples were gathered. With great ceremony, they paid respects to Qingfeng Temple's patriarch, lit the huge incense sticks in the great cauldron on the training grounds, struck the bronze gongs arranged around them, and finally set fire to the piled firewood outside the temple. Flames and smoke soared into the sky.

On the newly erected arena, a young female Daoist acolyte dressed in a snow-white Daoist robe, her hair tied into two horn-shaped braids, held black paper flowers as she loudly sang a ballad celebrating the Prime Winter Festival.

The child's unaccompanied voice was clear and melodious, as though it could cleanse the soul.

After one song came a troupe specially invited by the temple, taking the stage to perform acrobatics and plays. Gongs and drums rang out, and the place was alive with excitement.

The revelry continued for more than two hours. At noon, the meal began. Tables and chairs had been set all over the training grounds around the arena, and dish after dish from the flowing banquet was continuously brought out.

First Senior Brother Chen Sui, Second Senior Brother Zhao Jiang'an, and Eldest Senior Sister Mu Qiao Zhi, whom they had not seen for a long while, all appeared at the event.

Daoist Baohe raised a cup of wine to offer everyone New Year's blessings, and the crowd returned the toast.

Only after a round of eating and drinking did the main event of the grand competition begin.

Huishen, Daoist Mingde's acolyte, took the stage and recited the specific rules of the competition. After the grand competition, there would also be exchange matches with guests from the other martial arts schools.

The surrounding tables and chairs were swiftly removed, replaced by wooden terraced viewing stands that were brought in and arranged neatly around the arena.

The Daoists from the logistics division prepared sets of standardized white Daoist training uniforms, to be worn by all participants in the grand competition.

All outer courtyard disciples collected their uniforms and returned to change into them.

More than ten minutes later, all arrangements and preparations were complete.

Clang.

With the sound of a gong, the grand competition officially began.

Lin Hui stood beneath the platform with his sword in hand, calculating what rank he could achieve this time. If he could squeeze into the top ten, he would truly be able to obtain many more and much better assignments than before.

Qingfeng Temple also gave additional resource support to its top ten elite disciples. The monthly stipend was quite substantial.

In theory, the top ten disciples were the face of Qingfeng Temple. They would often be sent out to exchange pointers and spar with other martial academies, which was why resources had to be invested in helping them grow.

And the top ten elites also meant leaving the ranks of ordinary disciples behind, possessing the potential to cultivate the Clear Sword and reach Body Tempering Rank Nine.

Body Tempering Rank Nine—one step further, and one would become a renowned expert like the Daoists of the Ming generation.

At that level, even the elites of the Three Great Inner Cities had to treat them with care, because their strength was already on the same tier.

In fact, Lin Hui had once asked Daoist Mingde about the realm beyond Body Tempering Rank Nine.

Mingde's answer was simple—cultivate from the outside inward, until hidden strength was born within.

For now, Lin Hui set his sights on the Inner Strength Realm. He felt that upon reaching it, he might finally possess at least some ability to protect himself.