"Oh, I did get held up by something. Please thank Instructor Liu for his concern, and let him know that from now on, I won't be going to the martial arts school anymore."
Lin Chang'sheng said in a low, steady voice.
Now that his Iron Sand Palm had reached perfection, and his Breathing Technique had been fused into the Sun and Moon Breathing Technique, there was nothing left for him to learn at the martial arts school. What he needed now was to go to the Hundred Herbs Hall for alchemy.
Refining elixirs could keep providing him with the resources he needed for cultivation.
"This......."
"Alright, I'll pass your words on."
Li Yun looked slightly stunned at his words, then nodded and bade Lin Chang'sheng farewell before leaving.
Lin Chang'sheng got home but didn't hear Yu Wenjing's usual "Chang'sheng, you're back!". Surprised, he headed into the kitchen.
There he found Yu Wenjing lying on the ground, her eyes tightly shut, blood at the corner of her lips, the greens in the pan only halfway cooked.
"Wenjing? What happened to you?"
Lin Chang'sheng was startled, rushing forward to check Yu Wenjing's pulse, finding it chaotic, and his brows knit instantly. "Weird? How did her condition get worse?"
Lin Chang'sheng remembered that when he had rescued Yu Wenjing, she'd been seriously injured; after all this time nursing her back to health, she had mostly recovered. Who'd have thought this time it was even worse than before.
Hurriedly, Lin Chang'sheng bolted the door, picked up Yu Wenjing and carried her to bed, sitting cross-legged behind her, channeling his first-class inner strength into her body to straighten her meridians.
After a short while.
Yu Wenjing slowly woke up, seeing herself nestled in Lin Chang'sheng's arms, a faint blush blooming on her beautiful face as she whispered like a mosquito, "Chang'sheng, you're back!"
"Mm. What happened to your injury?"
Lin Chang'sheng gently laid her down on the bed and asked.
"I'm not sure. When I was exercising my inner strength, I felt a strange force surging out from my Dantian, and then it injured my internal organs."
Yu Wenjing said weakly.
"Do you know where this strange power comes from?"
Lin Chang'sheng felt a headache coming on. Just now, as he was soothing Yu Wenjing's meridians, he'd discovered an eerie inner force inside her Dantian; even with his first-class realm inner strength, it was immediately devoured when it encountered that force.
"I don't know."
Yu Wenjing shook her head. "This strange force showed up when I was 17. Whenever I cultivate martial arts, it rebounds violently, as if its whole purpose is to stop me from training."
"Alright, why don't you get some rest. I'll go to Hundred Herbs Hall and get some medicine to nourish your body, then figure out how to deal with this weird force later!"
Lin Chang'sheng sighed and got up. Even with his cultivation, he couldn't overcome the bizarre inner power in Yu Wenjing's body. Looks like her identity isn't simple.
Still.
Yu Wenjing didn't volunteer any explanation.
Lin Chang'sheng didn't ask.
"Chang'sheng......!"
Suddenly, Yu Wenjing called out softly.
"What is it?"
Lin Chang'sheng paused at the doorway, turning to look at Yu Wenjing.
"Thank you....."
Yu Wenjing's eyes lingered on Lin Chang'sheng, her expression complicated.
"What are you saying? Just rest well, I'll be back soon."
Lin Chang'sheng smiled warmly, locked the door, and headed off toward Hundred Herbs Hall.
As Lin Chang'sheng left, a black-clad old man appeared in the bamboo grove a hundred feet away, his eyes full of poisonous hatred as he muttered, "Smoke from the stove, a woman's clothes hung out to dry... Could it be... he's not alone?"
......
At Hundred Herbs Hall, Lin Chang'sheng bought three sets of herbs to replenish and nurture Qi, then hurried back.
He set up the stove and began decocting herbal medicine.
Yu Wenjing lay on the bed, watching his busy figure, her gaze full of complexity.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Yu Wenjing's injuries improved greatly; she could walk on her own again.
Lin Chang'sheng didn't slack either. Whenever he had time, he tossed stones and clay balls, watched the little snake in the cage, bathed in the sun and moonlight; all his experience steadily increased.
Early morning.
After breakfast, Lin Chang'sheng and Yu Wenjing cleaned up, then headed to the yard to play tossing stones.
[Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers (Fragment) (Perfection)]
[Detected: Both Archery and Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers (Fragment) martial arts are of the same perfected type. You can spend 20 taels of silver to fuse them into a new martial art. Proceed with fusion?]
Just then, a red prompt popped up in Lin Chang'sheng's peripheral panel, with 'Yes' and 'No' buttons.
"Hm?"
"So Archery and Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers hidden weapon technique can be fused? Needs 20 taels of silver?"
Seeing the prompt on his panel, Lin Chang'sheng's eyes lit up.
"Fuse!"
Lin Chang'sheng instantly tapped the 'Yes' button.
[Fusing Archery and Celestial Maiden Scattering Flowers (Fragment)... Fusion successful! Obtained Nine-Star Linked Beads (Arrow/Hidden)!]
[Detected Nine-Star Linked Beads. Spend 20 taels of silver to simplify?]
As soon as the fusion succeeded, another prompt popped up on the panel.
"Nine-Star Linked Beads (Arrow/Hidden)? Does that mean it works for both hidden weapons and archery?"
Lin Chang'sheng's eyes brightened, full of anticipation, but he still decided to simplify. "Simplify!"
[Great Dao is Simple: Nine-Star Linked Beads simplifying... Simplification successful. Nine-Star Linked Beads (Arrow/Hidden) = Wasting Money!]
A red notification appeared on Lin Chang'sheng's display panel.
"Huh?"
"Wasting Money?"
Seeing the simplified result, Lin Chang'sheng couldn't help but blink.
Wasting Money? That was his childhood specialty.
He'd just pick up a thin tile or a flat stone and toss it across the calm surface of a pond—the more skips, the better. He remembered he could get it to bounce eleven times in one throw.
"Let's go train at Jingshui Bay over by the Grand Canal."
Lin Chang'sheng mused to himself.
That was where he'd killed Tie Yang; with his current lightweight skill and cultivation, it wouldn't take long to reach it. There was a tranquil bay there, cliffs littered with stones—perfect for practicing Wasting Money with handy rocks.
"Wenjing, I'm heading out for a bit. I'll be back later."
Lin Chang'sheng gave Yu Wenjing a heads-up.
"Mm, be careful."
Yu Wenjing nodded.
Lin Chang'sheng moved swiftly, arriving in no time at the quiet waters of Jingshui Bay by the Grand Canal. He picked up a flat stone and tossed it onto the river.
"Plip-plip-plip-plip!"
The stone skimmed across the water, bouncing eight times before sinking.
Lin Chang'sheng checked his status panel instantly.
[Nine-Star Linked Beads (Arrow/Hidden) (8/1000)]
"Not bad—eight skips in one go."
Lin Chang'sheng glanced at his experience points and nodded.
He could hit eleven at best—that would be eleven experience points.
He kept picking up stones and tossing them across. When he ran out of stones, he used Void-Breaking Palm to blast the cliff—rocks splintered off, giving him ample stones. Lin Chang'sheng was thoroughly enjoying himself.
Time flew by.
The sun sank toward the west.
"That's enough for today!"
Lin Chang'sheng glanced at the fading sunset, ready to head home, when suddenly he looked off into the distance, eyes narrowing, voice steady and cold. "All of you, come out. No need to skulk around."