The rear courtyard, Instructor Yu's residence.
After Lin Chen entered, he found Instructor Yu staring at him, making him feel a bit uneasy under the gaze.
Is there a flower on my face?
After a long while, Yu Yongnian finally spoke. "Have you privately taken any medicines that supplement qi and blood?"
"This disciple has not taken any," Lin Chen replied immediately.
Before stepping up to lift the four-hundred-jin stone pedestal, he had already considered whether revealing four hundred jin of strength would arouse suspicion.
After all, reaching four hundred jin in such a short time was something even Lu Yongfeng and the others couldn't do.
The best explanation would have been to say that he had ingested some precious medicines.
But that thought existed in his mind for only a single breath before he rejected it.
Rapidly increasing strength to four hundred jin would indeed shock people, but no matter how you put it, four hundred jin was still just four hundred jin. In the Martial Hall, that only placed him tenth. Not to mention that Lu Yongfeng and the others had long since broken through five hundred jin and were charging toward six hundred jin to cultivate refined qi.
He couldn't even compare to Lu Yongfeng and the others, let alone those noble scions from the county city.
It was like a child who had never attended kindergarten suddenly ranking at the top of a first-grade exam. It would certainly surprise people a bit, but the higher-grade students wouldn't take it seriously at all.
A small cheat doesn't count as a cheat. The little bit he was using didn't amount to anything!
Compared to hiding his abilities, he should instead display his talent.
From the official document issued by the Martial Administration Office, it could be seen that the authorities placed great importance on cultivating young martial artists. The higher the talent, the more resources one could obtain.
If he wanted to go farther on the path of martial arts, relying solely on the help of the [Water Flows, Channel Forms] fate wasn't enough—he also needed martial resources.
It wasn't possible that later on he could still rely on just a few jin of beef each day to advance by leaps and bounds.
That wasn't realistic.
Yu Yongnian stared at Lin Chen for a moment, then withdrew his gaze. He believed Lin Chen wasn't lying, and medicines that could rapidly replenish qi and blood were not so easily obtained anyway.
Given Lin Chen's family background, he had neither the connections nor the silver for such things.
"Instructor Yu, is it possible that this disciple is a martial arts genius?"
Seeing the instructor remain silent, Lin Chen somewhat awkwardly praised himself.
"A martial arts genius?" Yu Yongnian said irritably. "You really dare to think that way. Where are there so many martial arts geniuses? So-called martial arts geniuses are all cultivated at an enormous cost."
Those martial arts geniuses bathed in medicinal concoctions from a young age and ate poultry meat with extremely strong qi-and-blood nourishing effects. The expense involved was something that even among the nobles of Poyang County, few families could afford.
"But what about that Jiang Juren from our village? Wasn't he a martial arts genius?" Lin Chen asked.
He recalled the deeds of that Jiang Juren from the original body's memories. When he first heard of them, he even wondered whether that person was also a transmigrator, holding the protagonist template of a genius.
He cultivated refined qi in three months after entering the Martial Hall. Later, he joined a martial academy. The villagers didn't know much about his situation there, but a year later, he directly took first place in the county competition, then first place again in the prefectural exam, and finally placed fourth in the Jiangnan Circuit martial examination, attaining the rank of Juren.
"Before studying martial arts, Lord Jiang encountered a great opportunity. He cannot be judged by common sense," Yu Yongnian said.
Regarding Lord Jiang, the entire Poyang County had only heard of his legendary martial achievements. Because of his own wife's background, Yu Yongnian knew some of the inside story.
"Even if a small number of trainees have slightly stronger qi-and-blood absorption than others, the gap is still limited. By spending more silver, others can catch up. There won't be a cliff-like disparity. In such circumstances, financial strength naturally becomes more important."
Lin Chen's expression darkened. "Instructor, does that mean that people from ordinary families will find it hard to stand out in martial arts?"
"Yes."
That single "yes" from Yu Yongnian made Lin Chen's expression extremely ugly.
Seeing Lin Chen's face darken, Yu Yongnian said sternly, "For trainees from average families, if you want to go far on the martial path, you must seize every opportunity. And right now, the announcement issued by the Martial Administration Office is such an opportunity for you."
"The Founding Emperor placed great importance on martial arts. At the founding of the nation, he established the policy of strengthening the country through martial arts, specially creating the Martial Administration Platform, with the Martial Arts Department, Martial Affairs Division, and Martial Affairs Offices beneath it, dedicated to the cultivation of martial trainees across the land."
"The Nourishing Qi Soup in the Martial Hall costs one hundred wen per dose. It may seem expensive, but a soup with the same effect would cost two hundred wen outside. The grain you bring is unhulled rice. After hulling and removing the husk, the loss reaches thirty percent, yet the Martial Hall exchanges it for polished rice by the original weight of the unhulled grain."
"These are all benefits that the Martial Administration Platform provides specifically for trainees like you. Once you leave the Martial Hall, you will never enjoy them again."
Hearing this, Lin Chen's pupils contracted slightly. He knew about the grain exchange rate, but he hadn't realized that Nourishing Qi Soup was even more expensive outside.
"Many trainees fail to cultivate refined qi while in the Martial Hall, and afterward it becomes very difficult for them to do so. Even if they manage to cultivate refined qi, it is still hard to enter the next realm. The reason is that once they leave the Martial Hall, the cost of practicing martial arts becomes even harder to bear."
Lin Chen understood what the instructor meant.
Practicing martial arts in the Martial Hall required the least expenditure. If even under these conditions a family's finances couldn't support it, then after leaving the Martial Hall it would be even harder.
"Do you know why Lu Yongfeng and the others strive so desperately to cultivate refined qi within one year?" Yu Yongnian suddenly changed the subject.
Lin Chen asked curiously, "Instructor, is there some other inside reason? It's not just as simple as being able to waive academy tuition, is it?"
"You're right to guess that much," Yu Yongnian nodded. "Those who cultivate refined qi within one year have a chance to obtain an Aperture-Opening Pill upon joining a martial academy."
Seeing Lin Chen's puzzled expression, Yu Yongnian knew that his trainee knew very little about martial knowledge.
"In the early body-tempering stage of martial arts, there are two and a half realms: Qi Training, Aperture Opening, and Organ Refining. Qi Training counts as half a realm. It is classified this way because once you cultivate refined qi, you can take an Aperture-Opening Pill to directly open the apertures and step into the Aperture Opening realm."
"The Aperture-Opening Pill is a pill unique to the Martial Administration Division and is extremely precious. Normally, after cultivating refined qi, it would take you at least half a year to open the apertures on your own. Setting aside the silver saved, half a year of time alone is extremely valuable."
The last sentence carried deep meaning. In a martial career spanning decades, half a year might not seem like much, but within a martial academy, those extra six months often determine how far one can go in martial arts.
Lin Chen's eyes lit up. He had always felt that Lu Yongfeng and the others spending so much silver just to waive academy tuition and gain the vanity of cultivating refined qi a bit earlier didn't quite make sense.
Now, after hearing Instructor Yu's words, everything made sense. These people were all aiming for the Aperture-Opening Pill.
"Instructor, you said there's a chance to obtain the Aperture-Opening Pill. Is that chance big?" Lin Chen asked.
"Each year, the Martial Administration Division allocates ten Aperture-Opening Pill trainee slots to each of the eight major martial academies, rewarding trainees who cultivate refined qi within one year. In past years, the number of trainees in Poyang County who managed this within a year was around seventy. As long as you don't stubbornly insist on joining an academy whose quota is already full, you can obtain an Aperture-Opening Pill."
"However, there are exceptions, when the number of trainees exceeds eighty. That situation only occurs once every seven or eight years."
Lin Chen had a clear idea now. In most cases, as long as you cultivated refined qi within a year, you could get an Aperture-Opening Pill. In the small chance that the number exceeded eighty, a few unlucky people would miss out.
"For you, there's no need to consider the Aperture-Opening Pill right now. What you need to do is seize this opportunity. Use the rewards given by the Martial Administration Office to accelerate your strength growth. Even if you can't cultivate refined qi within a year, when you go to a martial academy later, you can still seek other rewards. Martial academies offer far more rewards to trainees than the Martial Hall."
Seeing Lin Chen's thoughtful expression, Yu Yongnian worried that Lin Chen might aim too high. The Aperture-Opening Pill wasn't something Lin Chen should be thinking about yet.
"This disciple understands that the priority is to secure the reward," Lin Chen said, nodding firmly.
He understood the instructor's meaning: stay grounded and focus first on the rewards issued by the Martial Administration Office.
He was confident he could obtain the three-tael silver reward for increasing strength by fifty jin in one month.
Originally, he had still been hesitating about whether to aim for a one-hundred-jin increase.
After all, he could save money and progress steadily. But now that he knew the benefits of cultivating refined qi within a year, he had made his decision. The one-hundred-jin reward in a single month had to be secured.
With the [Water Flows, Channel Forms] fate, it wasn't impossible to strive to cultivate refined qi within a year.
"If you want to sprint for the rewards issued by the Martial Administration Office, you should resign from your work at the dining hall later," Yu Yongnian suddenly said.
Lin Chen was silent for just a breath, then nodded slightly. "This disciple will go resign from Steward Zhang shortly."
"Do you understand why I'm asking you to resign from the dining hall job?" Yu Yongnian asked.
"This disciple understands. This disciple will be taking Nourishing Qi Soup next, and if I were still working in the dining hall and enjoying free meals there, other trainees would surely gossip."
It was something he had figured out the moment the instructor told him to resign.
Buying Nourishing Qi Soup while still working in the dining hall was no different from driving a luxury car while receiving welfare benefits—it would easily provoke resentment.
Lin Chen thought of buying Nourishing Qi Soup to aim for a one-hundred-jin increase in strength, while Yu Yongnian thought that Lin Chen was aiming for a fifty-jin increase and would definitely need to take Nourishing Qi Soup, making it inappropriate for him to continue working in the dining hall.
"Go."
"This disciple takes his leave."
Watching Lin Chen turn and leave with a look of confidence, Yu Yongnian recalled the cautious expression the youth had worn three months earlier when he stood before him and asked for "a chance at work-study."
Strength gives rise to bearing!
"One day the great roc rides the same wind, soaring straight up ninety thousand li. Let me see—borrowing this east wind—just how far you can go."