「Taian Prefecture, Ying’an Inn.」
Lin Yan was alone in the inn’s rear courtyard.
After coming down from Tai Mountain, He Qiaosheng wasn’t in a hurry to return. He wanted to visit a friend in Taian Prefecture and had invited Lin Yan along, but Lin Yan thought about it and declined.
Today, his thoughts were in turmoil, and he needed to calm down.
Lin Yan didn’t plan on telling anyone what had happened inside the Sword Inquiry Stone. He didn’t even ask Senior He if there was something special about the three Sword Steles, or if the Celestial Sword Sect had hidden some other mechanism within the stone.
’For me, there are two ways to rapidly increase my strength: either by advancing my Realm, or by increasing the number of my Sword Intents. The former... requires massive amounts of Martial Arts Resources, while the latter requires more Sword Dao Techniques.’
Lin Yan mused to himself. Neither Martial Arts Resources nor Sword Dao Techniques were easy to come by.
The massive Lin Family only possessed six Top-grade Swordsmanship manuals, and no power in all of Shandong Dao would ever let a Top-grade Cultivation Method fall into outside hands.
As for Martial Arts Resources... the family distributed them through competition. To get more resources, one had to win against other family members.
The Newcomer’s Tournament, the Blood Exchange Tournament!
Lin Yan’s gaze sharpened. The clan would hold two major competitions this year. One was a tournament for clan members who had entered the Blood Exchange Realm within the last two years, with generous rewards offered by the clan. The other was a tournament for those under thirty, targeting the entire younger generation of the Lin Family.
Lin Yan was confident about the newcomer’s tournament. With his Blood Exchange Third Transformation and ten Perfect Sword Intents, taking first place would be no problem.
The tournament for the younger generation was the difficult one. The prodigy from the First Branch was supposedly in seclusion, breaking through to the True Gang Realm.
’If he hasn’t broken through, I’d have a chance to fight him. But if he has, I’ll have to reach the Blood Exchange Fourth Transformation, or I might not be his match.’
The moonlight was cool and clear, spilling across the blue bricks of the courtyard floor like a layer of white gauze.
Lin Yan paced back and forth in the courtyard. His steps weren’t heavy, but they fell into a somber rhythm.
He was constantly thinking about how to increase his strength as quickly as possible so he could get revenge on that person for today’s humiliation.
Just then, the wisp of a zither’s melody drifted in from over the courtyard wall.
The music was soft, as if afraid to disturb the night’s tranquility.
An unknown tune was being played. The melody was simple, yet full of charm.
Every note was perfect—not a touch too much, not a fraction too little—as if a person weathered by time was unhurriedly telling a story.
Occasional low notes sounded, deep but not stifling, like a sigh that was also a release.
Lin Yan lifted his gaze to the neighboring courtyard wall and slowed his pace. Listening to the unhurried melody, the agitation in his heart began to cool.
’I’ve gotten ahead of myself!’
’Since when did I become so impatient?’
’Was it when I defeated Jian Sheng?’
’When Uncle Jiu took me as his disciple?’
’When Uncle Qi stood up for me, and the elders of the Third Branch backed me up?’
’Or was it even earlier... from the moment I broke through to the Blood Exchange Second Transformation, mastered two Perfect Sword Intents, and was hailed by the clan as a "Sword Dao genius"?’
Lin Yan thought back to when he had just transmigrated to this world. Back in Guangping County Town, he was just a boy who’d been set up but didn’t dare to retaliate on the spot, forced to endure it for the time being.
Back then, he had nothing—no background, no strength. He even had to rely on a relative’s charity for a decent cultivation technique.
Walking down the street, he even had to be careful about sparing a second glance at the gang-affiliated Martial Artists.
But the him of back then wasn’t in a rush for revenge. He waited—waited until he had successfully completed his Nourishing Foundation, waited until he was confident—before finishing off Zhang Dahai and Zhao Chuan with two punches in a dilapidated courtyard.
He knew then that some things couldn’t be rushed.
But now?
He’d had his Sword Pill injured by a sliver of Sword Qi from someone countless Realms above him, been casually sentenced to "execution" by a person he’d never even met. He couldn’t even begin to fathom his opponent’s power, yet he was already desperate to increase his strength and seek revenge.
Such a thought would never have occurred to the him of the past, the one who had to be cautious with every step in Guangping County Town.
The reason he wanted immediate revenge now was because, subconsciously, he already saw himself as a genius—a major figure in the eyes of Skin Smoothing Martial Artists. As a lofty, superior figure, how could he suffer such humiliation and not immediately seek retribution?
The zither’s melody gradually faded.
A smile touched the corners of Lin Yan’s mouth, all his previous agitation gone.
’That Sword Qi, that "Eldest Brother"... I will definitely settle this score.’
’But not now. I don’t need to break my own Martial Arts cultivation rhythm for his sake. Just like in Guangping County Town, I’ll be patient, I’ll endure, and I will grow stronger step by step. With the help of the Martial Arts Tree, I’ll catch up to him sooner or later.’
’When that time comes, I’ll ask him with my sword who the real heretic is.’
Forbearance when one is at the bottom is a choice born of helplessness.
Forbearance when one has status and position—that is true forbearance.
Having figured this out, Lin Yan’s mood lightened considerably. But just then, a clamor erupted from the adjacent courtyard.
The sound of a cup shattering, a man’s laughter, and the dull thud of something being knocked over.
The zither music stopped abruptly, replaced by a woman’s suppressed cry of alarm.
"Don’t... Don’t do this..."
"Stop pretending. Did you really think I came here in the middle of the night to listen to you play the zither?"

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