Early morning!
[Name: Lin Chen]
[Profession: Martial Artist]
[Qi and Blood: 4150/5000]
[Fate: [Naturally Achieved]: In the first realm of martial arts, with perseverance and steady, step-by-step progress, advancing with unstoppable momentum, free from the troubles of bottlenecks.]
Since he had cultivated essence energy, aside from the thousand-point increase in qi and blood on the very first day, the subsequent daily increase had dropped back down to fifty points.
The two-day leave granted by Instructor Yu had already ended. After informing his family, Lin Chen headed to the town.
On the road out of the village, every villager he encountered greeted him warmly. Lin Chen responded to each with a smile, only quickening his pace after leaving the boundaries of Linhu Village.
By the time he arrived at the Martial Hall, the training ground was extremely deserted, without a single student. He did not linger there and went straight to Instructor Yu's small courtyard.
Lin Chen knocked on the door, and Instructor Yu's voice came from inside. "Come in."
Pushing open the courtyard gate, Lin Chen swept his gaze around but did not see Instructor Yu. However, the door to the inner hall was open.
"Take a look at the few sheets of paper on the table first," a voice came from inside the room.
"Yes."
Hearing Instructor Yu's instructions, Lin Chen walked over to the stone table, picked up the papers on it, and after giving them a rough glance, immediately understood why the instructor had told him to read them first.
What was written on the papers was information about the eight major martial halls in the county city.
[Ironblood Martial Hall: Primarily trains Iron Collapse Fist. The fist art is fierce and powerful, ranking first among the eight major martial halls in killing power. It emphasizes overpowering techniques with sheer strength. In every county martial hall competition, Ironblood Martial Hall always has disciples ranked within the top three.]
Seeing the description of Ironblood Martial Hall, Lin Chen's pupils contracted slightly. From the looks of it, Ironblood Martial Hall should be the strongest, and there must be many applicants.
[The number of disciples who sign up for Ironblood Martial Hall each year does not rank in the top three, simply because cultivating Iron Collapse Fist requires secret medicinal assistance, with extremely high costs that ordinary wealthy families cannot afford.]
Hiss!
Lin Chen's face twitched as he read on. The contents of these papers were written by Instructor Yu, so when Instructor Yu referred to "ordinary wealthy families," he was probably talking about people like Zhao Jingchuan, those rich families in town.
If even Zhao Jingchuan and the others could not afford it, then he was even less qualified.
His gaze moved downward.
[Seven Stars Martial Hall: Primarily trains Seven Stars Fist. Although Seven Stars Fist is not as fierce as Iron Collapse Fist, its advantage lies in being paired with footwork…]
[Thunder Mountain Martial Hall focuses on the horizontal-training technique Iron Bone Art. Its advantage lies in resistance to blows. Its drawback, like Ironblood Martial Hall, is the need for secret medicinal assistance.]
[Gale Martial Hall focuses on Gale Leg techniques…]
[Cloud Conceal Martial Hall focuses on movement techniques…]
[Praying Mantis Martial Hall: Primarily trains Praying Mantis Fist. It is not as fierce as Iron Collapse Fist, nor as agile as Seven Stars Fist, but it has advantages in opening the meridians and softening the bones. It does not require much secret medicine, and its strength lies in steady improvement.]
Lin Chen marked Praying Mantis Martial Hall. The instructor's description of it suited him very well—more time spent, less money spent.
[Clear Wind Martial Hall: Primarily trains Clear Wind Palm. Its power is relatively small in the early stages, but the further one trains, the stronger it becomes. Its advantage is that the cost in the later stages is not much different from the early stages. Its disadvantage is that its early-stage power is lower than the techniques of other martial halls.]
"Clear Wind Martial Hall can also be added to the list of candidates."
[Still Water Martial Hall: Primarily trains Water Cloud Palm, emphasizing using softness to overcome hardness. The palm technique is graceful and elegant. Its disadvantage is that its power ranks last among the eight major martial halls. Its advantage is that it has an extremely large number of female disciples.]
Seeing Instructor Yu's description of Still Water Martial Hall, the corner of Lin Chen's mouth twitched. So this Still Water Martial Hall was essentially a women's school.
…
…
After Lin Chen finished reading the introductions of the eight major martial halls, Yu Yongnian timely walked out of the room.
"Finished reading?"
"Yes, I'm done."
"What do you think?"
Lin Chen pondered for a moment. "My family circumstances are average. According to what's written on the papers, Ironblood Martial Hall and Thunder Mountain Martial Hall are not suitable for me. Clear Wind Martial Hall and Praying Mantis Martial Hall are more suitable."
Yu Yongnian nodded slightly, a look of satisfaction on his face.
He was very pleased with Lin Chen's answer.
Not only because these were also the two martial halls he had chosen for Lin Chen.
But more importantly, Lin Chen had not become arrogant or lost himself just because he was the first student in the Martial Hall to cultivate essence energy.
Although Lin Chen was the first student in the Martial Hall to cultivate essence energy, his predicament on the path of martial arts had not improved much.
The predicament of lacking money!
"The cost of cultivating Praying Mantis Fist at Praying Mantis Martial Hall is the lowest, but its power is also the weakest among the eight major martial halls. It's fine for internal sparring among martial hall disciples, but once you compete with disciples from other martial halls, you'll be at quite a disadvantage."
"By comparison, although Clear Wind Palm of Clear Wind Martial Hall is not very powerful in the early stages, once trained to the later stages, it will not be inferior even when facing Iron Collapse Fist. Your temperament is relatively steady, and you can endure patiently. Looking at it this way, Clear Wind Martial Hall suits you very well."
Hearing the instructor's analysis, Lin Chen nodded in agreement. Instructor Yu had truly put thought into this, recommending the most suitable martial hall for him based on his circumstances and his performance at the Martial Hall.
"Then I will go register at Clear Wind Martial Hall."
"The day before yesterday, I already made a trip to Clear Wind Martial Hall. They have agreed to accept you. Today, you will go there together with me."
Yu Yongnian smiled faintly. He did not tell Lin Chen that he himself had also come from Clear Wind Martial Hall, for fear of influencing Lin Chen's decision.
…
…
A quarter of an hour later, Lin Chen followed Yu Yongnian, mounted horses, and left Kaohe Town, heading toward Poyang County City.
Lin Chen had never ridden a horse before, but his current agility far surpassed that of ordinary people. Under Yu Yongnian's guidance, he quickly learned how to ride. After riding for a stretch of the road, he became completely familiar with it, and his speed began to increase.
From Kaohe Town to Poyang County normally required five hours of travel on foot. To save time, the villagers of Kaohe Town often chose to take boats to the county city's dock.
However, with horses as transportation, the speed was much faster than traveling by boat.
In just one hour, Lin Chen saw the city walls of Poyang County City.
The towering city walls were a full three zhang high.
Standing on horseback and gazing into the distance, Lin Chen saw the gate tower rising high above the city gate, with flying eaves and upturned corners, carved beams and painted rafters—extremely imposing.
At the entrance of the city gate, a constant stream of pedestrians and carriages went in and out. Several soldiers stood guard, holding long spears with sharp blades at their waists, checking the identity plaques of everyone entering the city.
These soldiers were full of qi and blood, their gazes sharp. Lin Chen immediately understood that these were likely Aperture Realm martial artists.
The soldiers guarding the city gate were all in the Aperture Realm. One could imagine how prosperous martial arts were in Poyang County, and even in the entire Great Liang.
"Although the gate guards are in the Aperture Realm, barring accidents, they will only reach around three opened apertures in this lifetime. A few may reach five," Yu Yongnian explained when he noticed Lin Chen's interest in them. "Although you haven't opened your apertures yet, once you enter a martial hall and obtain an Aperture-Opening Pill, you will be able to reach the Aperture Realm. In the three years at the martial hall, you will open at least five apertures."
"The county government stipulates that once you open ten apertures, you can seek an official post in the yamen and receive a salary from it. These gate guards do not receive a salary; they can only take a small portion from the city entry fees."
Lin Chen understood the instructor's words. Opening ten apertures and seeking a post in the yamen meant having an official position, whereas these gate guards were more like contract workers, without guaranteed income regardless of circumstances.
When Lin Chen and Yu Yongnian passed through the city gate, the sharp look in the soldiers' eyes vanished, and some even revealed smiles. Lin Chen instinctively nodded slightly in response.
Beside the city gate stood a large wooden chest, into which the people entering the city continuously tossed copper coins.
Poyang County stipulated that residents of the county paid three copper coins to enter the city, those from other counties paid ten, and merchants transporting goods were charged separately.
Next to the wooden chest was a wooden table. A man had placed his sabre on the table and was cracking melon seeds. When he saw Yu Yongnian, he smiled, stood up, and clasped his fists toward Yu Yongnian. His gaze then swept over Lin Chen. "Looks like Instructor Yu is bringing his beloved disciple into the city to join a martial hall. Kaohe Town is about to produce another martial arts genius."
"Brother Ge flatters us," Yu Yongnian replied modestly.
After exchanging a few words, Yu Yongnian led Lin Chen away.
Lin Chen understood in his heart that this man was likely the only official guard with an official post here—at the very least, someone who had opened ten apertures, and possibly even more.
By the time Lin Chen and Yu Yongnian's figures disappeared into the city streets, a soldier asked curiously, "Boss, don't martial halls start recruiting new disciples next year?"
"What do you know?" the man snapped. "Those who go to martial halls to register in early spring won't achieve much in martial arts and will end up about the same as you. But those martial hall students who can cultivate essence energy within a year— the eight major martial halls will recruit them in advance, bestow Aperture-Opening Pills upon them, and once they take them, they'll immediately reach the Aperture Realm. After three years, opening ten apertures is an easy task. When they come out of the martial halls, they'll already reach my level."
"Ten apertures in three years?" The other soldiers looked shocked.
"Boss, isn't that too unfair to the other students?"
"What's unfair about it? Those who can cultivate essence energy within a year all come from well-off families. Even the poorest of them spend sixty or seventy taels of silver, or even more. If you had that kind of money, you could do it too. They get Aperture-Opening Pills, and with piles of silver poured in by their families, of course their progress is fast. In any case, remember this youngster's appearance clearly. Don't offend him and cause trouble for me."
Hearing this, the young soldier's expression became somewhat dejected. Back then, he had trained in the county's Martial Hall, but after a family accident, there was no spare money to support him in continuing his training. After staying in the Martial Hall for a year, he left, and it took him three years to finally cultivate essence energy.
The martial hall registration fee of twenty taels of silver was something he could not come up with. And even if he had that money, he would not have spent it on registering at a martial hall. Relying on the money he had saved up over several years, and spending a few more years, he finally opened his apertures.
At the beginning of the year, through the connections of a distant relative, he managed to secure a position as a gate guard.
The path of martial arts, for him, had already come to an end.