Weighing, II (Thanks to Alliance Leader hellokiss)

Watching Wei Wei leave, Lin Hui put away the letter with an expressionless face and returned to his room.

He had not lied just now. His parents' business had improved. The Old Man was indeed a formidable businessman—the profits were far higher than before, and he had even opened a branch.

As for himself, although Qingfeng Temple's reputation had fallen, Lin Hui himself had not vanished. His martial prowess was still intact.

Even if he could not beat the Black Dragon Gate, dealing with other little thugs was still no problem. His safety remained assured.

So, financially speaking, it merely meant that he could no longer help support his family. That was all.

Returning to his room, he sat cross-legged on his cushion, his gaze naturally falling on the Blood Seal information panel at the bottom of his vision.

"The Nine Section Fast Sword has completed its evolution."

A line of tiny Chinese characters had already been floating there for several minutes.

Looking at those words, Lin Hui controlled them with his mind and gently shifted them, bringing up the Nine Section Fast Sword's details.

Nine Section Fast Sword: Mastery level—Perfect. Qingfeng Temple basic sword technique. Upon perfect mastery, grants Special Effect: Nimbleness.

Special Effect: Light Body can merge with Nimbleness. Merge?

The Blood Seal's prompt swiftly appeared as the Nine Section Fast Sword information opened.

"Merge." Lin Hui did not hesitate and confirmed it immediately.

Combining the two special effects might yield an even stronger result. Since the Blood Seal had prompted him, he did not believe merging them would make them worse.

The next second, the blood-red words at the bottom of his vision rapidly melted away and gathered into a new line of text.

Merge complete. Obtained Special Effect: Metamorphosis.

Special Effect: Metamorphosis—Greatly reduces consumption. When activated, body weight is halved, and base sword speed increases threefold.

Threefold!?

Lin Hui's heart jolted. Earlier, he had vaguely sensed that the Light Body special effect had improved his speed by more than twice. Now, the merged Special Effect: Metamorphosis explicitly stated that it tripled his sword speed, while also halving his body weight, confirming his suspicions.

"Greatly reduced consumption... does that mean the special effect can remain active for a long time?"

Lin Hui took a deep breath.

"This is the perfect version of the Nine Section Fast Sword!"

With such a special effect... once activated, both his sword speed and movement technique would instantly surpass Eldest Senior Brother's by a huge margin.

Perhaps he might even catch up to the three Ming-generation members of the Inner Strength Realm!

At that moment, Lin Hui's heart surged. He had trained bitterly for so long, waited for so long—at last, everything had paid off.

The Nine Section Fast Sword...

He closed his eyes. Countless flawless techniques related to the Nine Section Fast Sword surged wildly through his mind, melding with his memories of past training.

At this very moment, all of Qingfeng Temple's foundational martial arts rapidly fused together and became completely clear in his mind.

A faint warm current also quietly flowed from his mind, spreading throughout every part of his body.

The warm current continuously reshaped Lin Hui's physique, subtly adjusting it toward greater nimbleness and agility.

This transformation lasted for more than ten minutes before slowly coming to an end.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Lin Hui slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the indescribable changes throughout his body, he extended a hand and lightly clenched it.

At once, a vast flood of memories about gripping a sword for fast swordsmanship rushed into his mind.

"The Blood Seal made no adjustments to my body with the Seven Section Fast Sword, but it did with the Nine Section Fast Sword. Does that mean only relatively advanced martial arts will cause the evolved Blood Seal to adjust the body?"

Even now, he did not know just how strong he had become. After completing the evolution, what level could the perfect Nine Section Fast Sword truly reach? Without any concrete benchmark, he could not tell.

Lin Hui rose to his feet and adapted to his current body. Once his boiling blood had gradually calmed, he began considering his present circumstances.

"This is what I wanted—peerless speed... Only the final piece remains: the Clear Sword Technique..."

His original goal in coming here had been to learn movement techniques and speed. Now that he had achieved half that goal, the urgency in his heart had eased considerably.

"Then my next goal is to first learn the Clear Sword Technique, then find a way to improve the safety of both myself and my parents."

As for how to improve their surroundings' safety, the only option now seemed to be entering the Inner City.

"There are only a few ways to enter the Inner City.

First: be selected into one of the Three Great powers.

Second: spend a huge sum to purchase an empty house in the Inner City.

Third: take up an official post in an outlying town, work your way up step by step, and be transferred into the Inner City."

"Of these, the second is the easiest for me to achieve right now. Many wealthy people from the Outer City have their core family members living in the Inner City—they earn money in the Outer City and spend it in the Inner City. This is also the main source of many new Inner City residents."

Lin Hui calculated silently.

"But Qingfeng Temple has some trouble making money now... And even at Qingfeng Temple's peak, holding this post or that post would not earn enough wealth for my entire family to enter the Inner City. So I still need to find another path..."

Lin Hui pondered and racked his brains, but many profitable industries in the Outer City had Summoners and numerous major powers behind them. If he wanted a hand in them, his current strength was nowhere near enough.

In a game at this level, the Inner Strength Realm was merely the foundation. The competition within was almost entirely between the Called.

After thinking it over and over, he let out a soft sigh.

"Looks like I'm still not strong enough..."

He neither wanted to leave Teacher Mingde and lose his sense of righteousness, nor did he want to give up on making a fortune and moving into the Inner City. To have the best of both worlds... there was only one way.

He had to strengthen Qingfeng Temple as it currently stood and build the sect back up bigger and stronger!

"First, I'll discuss the profit split with Teacher. Right—the herb field behind the temple, its profits are currently in Daoist Ming Chen's hands. The two branches that split off also need to be brought back and merged again. Then, expand the number of students and increase our sphere of influence. We can imitate the Wood Flower Gang and collect under-the-table taxes from businesses. Our income should reach the requirement soon enough!"

"But first, I still need to find out the exact requirements for buying a house and moving into the Inner City."

Having thought that far, Lin Hui took a deep breath and rose to his feet. In his mind, he ran through the people he knew who might have answers.

Face after face flashed through his thoughts, before finally stopping on the face of a man he knew very well.

"Looks like going home to ask Old Man is still the most suitable choice."

After thinking it through, the person he knew who understood this matter best was, surprisingly, his own Old Man.

Speechless, Lin Hui immediately got up. Too lazy even to pack his things, he grabbed his sword, opened the door, and left.

The moment he stepped outside, he sensed something different.

After perfecting the Nine Section Fast Sword, his body seemed to have undergone subtle changes. Every movement felt inexplicably lighter than before.

Leaving Qingfeng Temple, he sped back along the dirt road. Even the scenery on either side seemed to slide past much faster than before.

Without anything to compare against, Lin Hui had no way of knowing exactly how fast he was now.

"Looks like I need to buy a portable timer. It'll make it easier to calculate time and speed..."

Tuyue was not advanced in mechanics, but it did possess basic timekeeping devices similar to clocks and watches. They were Inner City goods, though, and relatively expensive to buy.

Speeding along all the way, Lin Hui did not head straight home. Instead, he made directly for the little shop his parents ran.

Before long, the houses on either side grew more numerous, and the crowd thicker. Once he reached the streets, the flow of people, carts, and horses became even livelier. Farmers and peddlers selling goods from stalls were everywhere.

After crossing two streets, he finally arrived at Old Man's little shop—Mountain River General Store.

The shop was somewhat bigger than before. Besides general goods, fresh fruits, vegetables, and dried goods had been laid out at the entrance.

Old Man was reclining halfway behind the wooden counter, holding a comic book in his hand and reading with great relish.

"Dad!" Lin Hui strode into the shop. "Taking it easy? Got time for a chat between us?"

"Why are you back again, brat?" Hearing him, Lin Shunhe abruptly sat upright. Turning around and seeing that it was actually his son, the words immediately flew out of his mouth.

"What is there to talk about? You come to your senses? Planning to join the Black Dragon Gate?"

"Join what? Let's go into the back room first." Lin Hui pulled Old Man into the room where they stored goods.

"Old Man, do you know how much the cheapest house in the Inner City costs to buy?" he asked in a lowered voice.

"Buy? Prices went up again recently. A small house for one person costs around four million cash. That's the cheapest option. What are you asking for?" Lin Shunhe replied, looking puzzled.

"Nothing. Just asking." Lin Hui's heart skipped a beat. Four million cash—if he honestly worked for wages, how long would it take to earn that?

"You're not thinking of going to the Inner City, are you?" Lin Shunhe saw right through his son's thoughts at a glance. "Living in the Inner City long-term takes more than money. You also need identification papers. It's a real hassle."

"What identification papers?"

"An Inner City resident permit issued by the Inner City. To get one, you have to pass certain evaluations and prove that you truly have enough value to the Inner City. Simply put, if you have money but no ability, you aren't allowed to settle there. But..." Lin Shunhe paused. "So long as there's a system, there'll always be cracks in it. I do have connections that can get you the permit if you spend a little extra money."

"Someone like me shouldn't have to worry about failing the evaluation, right?" Lin Hui asked hesitantly.

"Hard to say. The problem now is that Inner City resident permits aren't really issued fairly or openly. Most are controlled by subsidiary forces under the Three Greats. If you want to enter the city, unless you're high-level talent the Inner City desperately needs, you'll still have to obediently pay more money." Lin Shunhe shook his head.

He looked at his pensive son.

"Why ask about this all of a sudden? Did you strike it rich?"

"Didn't my strength improve a little? So my ambitions got a little bigger too." Lin Hui said helplessly.

"You're still at Qingfeng Temple. Even if your strength has improved, it doesn't mean much anymore. If this were the old Qingfeng Temple, the top ten elites might indeed have had a chance of passing the evaluation. But now Martial Artists from the outer districts have come over and swept through the martial school industry. Word of it has spread everywhere. The standards of martial schools throughout Tuyue's Outer City have been forcibly raised by a huge margin. Even if Qingfeng Temple's swordsmanship is trained to a very high level, who could it beat? The market doesn't recognize it anymore." Lin Shunhe sighed.

"True. The old brand effect has been completely wiped out..." Lin Hui sighed.

"What's a brand?"

"Nothing." Lin Hui thought for a moment. "Then, Old Man, if I can make Qingfeng Temple's martial arts famous again, would that increase my chances of passing the ability evaluation?"

"That's possible. But the tide of the times is moving this way—what can you accomplish alone?" Lin Shunhe shook his head.

"True..." Lin Hui sighed as well.

Of course, though he said that aloud, he naturally would not tell Old Man what he really thought.

Since Song Zhanlong of the Black Dragon Gate had been able to come knocking and challenge the school, crushing Qingfeng Temple's reputation in a single stroke, why couldn't he do the same in reverse?

With the Blood Seal in hand, once he learned the Clear Sword and evolved it into its perfect version, reaching the strength of the Ming generation would not be difficult. Ultimately attaining Daoist Baohe's level would only be a matter of time.

How old was he now? Reaching his goal before twenty would be more than enough.