Martial Arts Garden!
Lin Chen, Lu Yongfeng, Zhao Jingchuan, and Cheng Ying gathered once again.
This time, it was Lin Chen who took the initiative to extend the invitation.
"Dear junior brothers, I have an impertinent request. I wish to borrow some silver from you."
Still in the garden owned by Zhao Jingchuan’s elder, Lin Chen did not mince words and explained the reason for inviting the three.
He wanted to open the Five Acupoints and needed three bottles of Nourishing Acupoints Pills to be safe, but he didn’t have enough money.
Lin Chen had considered asking other students to buy the Nourishing Acupoints Pills on his behalf—those who had only bought one bottle that month or hadn’t bought any—to save money.
But in the end, he dismissed the idea, as the price of the Nourishing Acupoints Pill was fifty taels per bottle in the outside world, and the students already enjoyed a discount. The martial hall did not allow students to engage in such practices.
Some things, once done, cannot be hidden. If he performed averagely, no one would notice, but since he chose to risk it in the martial hall competition and put himself in the spotlight, he couldn’t leave any blemishes.
"To be honest with you, junior brothers, I want to take a shot in next month’s martial hall competition."
After listening to Lin Chen, Lu Yongfeng and the others were surprised, not by Lin Chen’s desire to borrow money, but by his ambition for the competition next month.
"Senior Brother Lin, I can offer twenty taels."
After a while, Zhao Jingchuan was the first to respond, even taking out a silver ticket on the spot: "I just bought the Nourishing Acupoints Pills, and this is all I have left."
"I can provide thirty taels," Lu Yongfeng followed suit, also taking out a silver ticket from his pocket.
"Senior Brother Lin, I can’t compare with Senior Brother Zhao and Senior Brother Lu, but I can manage twenty taels."
Cheng Ying took out a ten-tael silver ticket, and the rest were some broken silver pieces, amounting to about ten taels.
"Thank you, junior brothers. I will return it within three months."
Lin Chen was touched; seventy taels was already a considerable amount.
"Senior Brother Lin, if you have plans for next month’s martial hall competition, you should research the competitors from various martial halls. At our Cloud Conceal Martial Arts Hall, Senior Brother Chu is the strongest, having already opened Six Acupoints."
Zhao Jingchuan was positioning himself as an informant.
He did not have a deep relationship with the martial hall’s brothers. The martial hall was more exclusive than the martial arts hall, and the students from the county showed a certain disdain for those who came from the town’s martial arts hall.
In his heart, Senior Brother Chu was only a senior brother by name. To him, only Senior Brother Lin was the true senior brother he acknowledged.
"Thank you, Junior Brother Zhao. The martial hall instructor has already given me information on the realms of the new batch of students from various martial halls."
Seeing that Junior Brother Lu and Junior Brother Cheng were also about to reveal themselves as informants, Lin Chen gestured to stop them. The martial hall provided information about realm statuses, and it would be risky if Junior Brother Lu shared the situation of their martial hall, potentially bringing trouble to themselves.
Upon hearing Lin Chen, Lu Yongfeng and Cheng Ying swallowed their words. The three exchanged glances, coming to a silent understanding.
It seemed the instructor at the Jingshui Martial Hall also believed that Senior Brother Lin had a chance to earn a good ranking in next month’s competition.
Only if the instructor saw potential would they provide such information. The three of them had never received any information about the realms of students from other martial halls from the instructors.
"If Senior Brother Lin can make it to the top ten this time, it would be incredibly encouraging for all of us who came from the town’s martial arts hall. It would also show the city students that those from the town aren’t any less talented."
Zhao Jingchuan remarked with a smile. When Senior Brother Lin mentioned borrowing money to prepare for next month’s competition, he already had an assessment in mind.
Senior Brother Lin must have confidence; he was never arrogant.
After graduating from the martial arts hall, Zhao Jingchuan had reflected on all of Senior Brother Lin’s performances and realized every step he took was steady.
Having borrowed the money, Lin Chen felt relieved.
With a month’s time, breaking through Two Acupoints consecutively was his chance to win in the martial hall competition, and he wanted to borrow from Zhao Jingchuan to be assured.
Buying three bottles of Nourishing Acupoints Pills allowed him to change from taking one pill every three days to one every day.
Lin Chen had calculated that after achieving Small Success in the Clear Wind Palm, his Qi Blood would circulate more quickly, and he would better absorb the benefits of the Nourishing Acupoints Pills. Two bottles would suffice for Two Acupoints.
He prepared the extra bottle for added security.
Securing a place in the top ten would not only earn him an Acupoint Opening Pill but also a reward of one hundred taels. This calculation was not only apparent to him; other students with the chance to make the top ten would also assess it.
Students like Junior Brother Lu knew the rewards but feared investing a lot without securing a spot in the top ten, leaving them empty-handed and potentially impairing future training paths.
Ordinary students couldn’t afford to gamble!
"Let’s continue our practice."
After the borrowing was settled, Lin Chen and the others resumed their practice, an essential part of every gathering and their main purpose for meeting up.
The outcome remained as usual, with Lin Chen almost overwhelming Lu Yongfeng and the others.
"Senior Brother Lin, I believe now, at our martial hall, you could rank in the top three."
After suffering defeat, Zhao Jingchuan spoke with some apprehension; Senior Brother Lin’s moves now exerted as much pressure as those of the senior brothers at the Five Acupoints level.
Lu Yongfeng remained silent; at that moment, he decided it was best not to set his goal to match Senior Brother Lin.
Otherwise, he feared it might one day break his Martial Path heart.
The gap between him and Senior Brother Lin was widening.
After their practice session, each went their separate ways.
Lin Chen returned to the Jingshui Martial Hall and headed to the Martial Arts Pavilion, where he bought three bottles of Nourishing Acupoints Pills in one go.
One hundred and twenty taels of silver.
As he handed over the silver ticket, his hand trembled; it was the largest amount he had spent since arriving in the otherworld.
From a cautious perspective, he should not have pursued the top ten. Instead, he should opt for a steady development, saving money and exerting effort later in the Late Period.
But upon learning about the genius standard from Hall Master Zeng, he realized Instructor Yu’s information had some omissions.
Instructor Yu had mentioned that before Entering the Grade, silver was most crucial.
The martial hall valued the family’s financial background, where money represented potential.
This was not wrong, because the genius standard set by the Military Affairs Department was so high that no one in Poyang County could meet it.
The Martial Affairs Office includes martial arts schools, and it doesn’t truly disregard the potential of students as genius disciples.
It’s just that the standard of genius is very high.
Similar to the education situation in the past life, students truly noticed by those top institutions are just two or three in the whole city, and sometimes not even one in a county.
The high genius standard set by the Military Affairs Department indicates that the martial path in the whole Liang Dynasty is extremely prosperous; merely steadily rising doesn’t attract the attention of truly important figures.
With his own background, merely reaching the ’genius’ criterion to make it to the genius list is not assured for his continued journey on the martial path.
Because there are more geniuses like him.
Besides comprehension, one must not lag too far behind in cultivation level as well.
The competition next month is an opportunity, to enter the top ten and earn the Acupoint Opening Pill and silver money rewards, and then seek the rewards of the competition three months later.
Once you fall behind, you’ll keep falling behind; once the Life Chart starts to exert its power, you won’t be considered a true genius.
Only by staying ahead from the beginning, and then soaring when the Life Chart exerts its power, can you catch the eye of the Military Affairs Department.
Recalling the martial arts training in the Martial Hall, in just such a short time, he turned the tables from the bottom to the top, and in the eyes of Instructor Yu and others, his performance was quite impressive.
But from the perspective of the Martial Affairs Office and martial arts schools, he was merely an ordinary student who managed to cultivate Essence Qi in the last month of the year.
Therefore, he needs to learn from the Martial Hall’s lessons!
Any opportunity should not be given up.
One day, two days, the third day...
On this day, Lin Chen stared at his panel, somewhat dazed.
[Host: Lin Chen]
[Host: Lin Chen]
[Realm: Opening Acupoints Realm (3/24): (30/100)]
[Clear Wind Palm: Small Success (1/10)]
[Water Cloud Palm: Mastery (1/10)]
[Title: All the Way Black]
[Life Chart: [Natural Progress]: Martial Arts First Realm, Perseverance, Progressive, Unstoppable, No Bottleneck Problem.]
The realm section now had a progress bar added.
Seeing this progress bar, Lin Chen’s eyes lit up; another reason he could persist in the Martial Hall initially was that he could see his daily progress.
It just disappeared after Opening Acupoints Realm, not knowing why this progress bar vanished.
"It disappeared and reappeared, is it related to my recent changes?"
Lin Chen rubbed his chin, considering the biggest change these days was the daily consumption of a Nourishing Acupoints Pill.
So perhaps the realm didn’t show because the daily growth was too slow after Opening Acupoints Realm?
Now, by consuming Nourishing Acupoints Pill daily, the increased Qi Blood speed revealed the progress bar again.
The appearance of the progress bar was as significant as the Nourishing Acupoints Pill to Lin Chen.
With the progress bar, he could, as in the Martial Hall, accurately analyze his martial arts progression.
Which type of poultry meat worked best, the specific Qi Blood boost values for Clear Wind Palm’s Small Success and Water Cloud Palm’s Mastery, and he could even infer the growth extent post-Great Success Realm.
After two more days.
Lin Chen was shocked by his own cultivation progress.
[Realm: Opening Acupoints Realm (3/24): (50/100)]
In two days, the progress bar increased by 20, by this rate, he would need only five more days to reach Four Acupoints.
This speed had already surpassed that of Senior Sister Jiang.
"Where is the problem?"
Lin Chen pondered for a while, forming two hypotheses.
The first hypothesis was that the difficulty of opening the initial acupoints might be lower, allowing him to open one acupoint in ten days, with subsequent difficulties increasing.
Another possibility was that the Small Success of Clear Wind Palm provided an increment in Qi Blood operation speed.
Perhaps both hypotheses were correct; his rapid progress was the effect of both combined.
Another two days passed.
[Realm: Opening Acupoints Realm (3/24): (65/100)]
Looking at the progress on the panel, Lin Chen formed a conclusion in his heart.
The Small Success of the cultivation technique and the Mastery of the cultivation technique have a significant impact on Qi Blood operation.
The day before yesterday, he didn’t train Clear Wind Palm but practiced Water Cloud Palm all day, and the progress only increased by 5 points. However, after training Clear Wind Palm yesterday, the progress reverted to 10 points.
"Since that’s the case, I’ll focus on honing Clear Wind Palm this month and set aside Water Cloud Palm training for now."
PS: I’m puzzled; when I wrote about the village conflict, most comments were alright, but the follow-up reading showed some decline. Was it not satisfying enough? I’ve rewritten it; if you want to see the new version, you can refresh Chapters 54 and 55 without affecting later reading.

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