Time ticked by, second after second.
Gradually, the sobbing in his arms grew quieter, finally giving way to soft, steady breathing.
Chen Lin looked down. Liu Ruyan had fallen asleep, crystalline tears still clinging to her long lashes. Her peaceful sleeping face held a hint of vulnerability that tugged at his heart.
He let out a long breath.
It was finally over.
He carefully shifted his position and scooped Liu Ruyan up in his arms. She was so light that he barely felt her weight.
He gently laid her on the large bed in the master bedroom, then pulled the covers over her.
Looking around, he spotted an insulated mug on the nightstand. He picked it up and shook it. It was empty.
He went to the kitchen, boiled some water, filled the mug, and put it back on the nightstand so she could have a drink when she woke.
Once he had finished, Chen Lin switched off the bedroom light and quietly slipped out.
In the living room, he stopped at the sight of the two empty wine bottles lying askew on the coffee table and the glasses scattered around them.
He thought that when she woke and saw this mess, she would probably feel upset all over again.
With a sigh, he bent down and silently began tidying up.
When he was done, Chen Lin bagged the trash and took it with him.
He drove back toward Chen Family Village.
By the time he returned to his little courtyard, the moon was high overhead.
Cool moonlight spilled across the ground like mercury, coating the entire courtyard in a mysterious silver frost.
Chen Lin sat cross-legged, turned his awareness inward, and began practicing the Taiyin Breathing Technique again.
With each breath, his body seemed to become a bottomless vortex.
Drawn by an invisible force, the abundant moonlight around him turned into visible threads of silver, pouring madly through every pore and washing through his entire body.
Inside him, a scorching current rose from his dantian, meeting and clashing with the cool moonlight.
Sweat streamed from his body, instantly soaking his clothes, only to be evaporated by that searing heat into wisps of white vapor.
He lost track of how much time had passed.
Then he felt something like an invisible shackle inside him break with a soft pop, smashed apart by that savage power!
Boom!
An indescribable sense of explosive power instantly flooded every cell in his body!
Every inch of his bones, sinews, and flesh seemed to cheer and leap with joy!
He had reached minor attainment in the Taiyin Breathing Technique!
Chen Lin's eyes snapped open, a sharp gleam flashing through them.
He felt frighteningly full of energy. Never mind staying up for three days and nights-even running a marathon would be nothing more than a warm-up.
He stood, his joints crackling in rapid succession.
A powerful urge to let loose surged within him.
His gaze swept toward the corner of the courtyard, where a large piece of bluestone left over from construction lay. It was the size of a millstone and weighed at least three or four hundred jin.
Chen Lin walked over. Without winding up or making any unnecessary movements, he simply summoned the newborn power surging through him like a mighty river and casually threw a punch!
There was no sound.
The instant his fist touched the bluestone, there was no thunderous impact.
Crack...
A teeth-grating cracking sound came from inside the stone.
Countless fine cracks spread from his fist like a spiderweb, instantly covering the entire slab of hard bluestone!
A moment later, the entire stone collapsed into a pile of evenly sized fragments.
One punch had pulverized it!
Chen Lin stared at his fist, completely unharmed, without so much as a red mark on the skin. He was stunned.
This was only minor attainment?
Hadn't the technique's description said he would only be able to fight tigers and kill bears after reaching major attainment?
Apparently, tigers in the cultivation world weren't the same species as those on Earth.
He quickly came to terms with it.
Who cared what kind of tiger it was? Right now, he was the tiger!
The next day was Saturday.
Chen Lin woke feeling refreshed, with seemingly endless energy coursing through his body.
He checked his phone. His close buddies Zhao Jie, Wang Ye, and the others had arranged to come over that day.
He quickly got ready and stepped outside.
His second uncle, Chen Guofu, had already hauled out the two hundred jin of fish destined for Peach Blossom Island that day and placed them in a newly built holding pool beside the fish pond.
Chen Guofu had hired a village mason to build it a few days earlier. Three meters long, two meters wide, and one meter deep, it was just right for holding fish temporarily.
Seeing Chen Lin come out, Chen Guofu spoke with a cigarette dangling from his lips and worry written all over his face.
"Xiao Lin, come here. There's something I need to talk to you about."
"This pond only has a few thousand jin of fish in total. If you keep sending out two hundred jin every day, it'll be empty in less than a month! What'll we do then?"
Chen Lin nodded. His second uncle's concern was a practical one.
"Uncle, you don't need to worry about that. I've got it figured out."
After reassuring Chen Guofu, he took out his phone and called the fish fry supplier he had dealt with before, asking him to deliver a batch of half-grown fish every week starting that day.
With spirit spring water, these young fish would reach market size in less than a week.
He had barely hung up when the throaty roar of an off-road vehicle's engine came from the village entrance.
Chen Lin grinned as soon as he heard it.
That flashy exhaust note could only belong to Wang Ye's modified TANK 300.
Who knew how many times the traffic police had caught the guy? Every time he removed the modifications, he would put them right back on soon afterward.
The black TANK 300 pulled up outside the courtyard gate, and two men and two women climbed out.
They were Wang Ye, Li Jingwen, Wang Ye's girlfriend Zhang Panpan, and Li Jingwen's girlfriend Si Qi.
Apart from Zhang Panpan, all three had been Chen Lin's high school classmates.
The moment Wang Ye got out, he circled Chen Lin twice as though he had discovered a whole new continent.
"Holy shit, Lin! How'd you suddenly get in such great shape?" Wang Ye exclaimed, his eyes wide.
Chen Lin wore a fitted black T-shirt. After repeated tempering through the Taiyin Breathing Technique, his muscles were evenly proportioned and smoothly defined. They weren't exaggerated, but they radiated explosive strength.
Si Qi looked equally surprised. She couldn't help taking another couple of looks. "It's not just his physique. Have you noticed how nice Chen Lin's skin has gotten? There isn't a single blemish!"
Li Jingwen eyed Chen Lin up and down suspiciously, then said with a hint of envy, "You've really changed, man. Damn, you're almost half as handsome as me!"
Chen Lin laughed and patted Li Jingwen on the shoulder. "Work out every day, and your body and skin will naturally improve! You guys are the ones who've been taking it easy for too long. You're practically useless now!"
"Holy shit, Lin! Since when did you start talking like that?" Wang Ye looked as though he had seen a ghost. "Back in school, whenever we asked you to play basketball, you were lazier than anyone! You couldn't even be bothered to move!"
Li Jingwen joined in the teasing. "Yeah! Every time we tried to get you to sign up for the school sports meet, you pretended to be sick! You practically needed the hospital to issue you a critical condition notice!"
Si Qi covered her mouth, shaking with laughter, and piled on too. "Exactly! When Xiao Xiao, the prettiest girl in our class, asked you to help move a desk, you actually told her your back hurt. I've never met a guy so clueless about girls!"
Chen Lin was speechless.
Seriously, had they come here to hold a roast?
He hurriedly waved his hands and forced a change of subject. "All right, all right, leave ancient history alone! Anyway, didn't Jie come with you?"
At the mention of Zhao Jie, Wang Ye immediately grinned, looking thoroughly mischievous. "Shit, don't even ask! Jie wanted to ride his beloved Ghost Fire over, but his girlfriend Su Mei came back from Wucheng last night, so he had no choice but to drive."
"That precious AITO M7 of his had been sitting untouched in the garage for over six months. This morning, it refused to start no matter what he did. Su Mei was furious! I bet he's kneeling on a washboard right now!"
Li Jingwen chimed in, "Jie told us to come ahead. The two of them should be here in about half an hour!"
Chen Lin grinned too.
Su Mei hated Zhao Jie's mess of a modified Ghost Fire motorcycle most of all, complaining that its exhaust was loud enough to deafen people.
Zhao Jie had managed to drop the ball at exactly the wrong moment. He was probably in for a world of suffering.
While they were laughing, another engine's rumble came from outside the courtyard gate.
This time, it wasn't the flashy exhaust note of a sports car, but a deep, steady roar.
A black BMW 530 rolled slowly up and came to a smooth stop beside Wang Ye's TANK 300.
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