Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 40: Promotion Part 2

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Promotion Part 2

Lin Xin had not expected the boatman to also be an inner house disciple, so they struck up a conversation with him.

They learned that the boatman’s name was Wang Heng, and he was one of the common people who had always lived within the Sect, families like his taking on various mundane duties. Most of these families were the result of intermarriages between disciples, and as years went by, families with poor aptitudes declined and naturally formed the workforce for the Sect’s miscellaneous tasks. Some chose to leave to enjoy riches and honor, but many more were unwilling to leave.

"That makes sense. Having witnessed such a broad view and the grandeur of the Immortal Sect, who would want to return to being a frog at the bottom of a well?" Kong Yuhui nodded in understanding.

"Yes, that’s what I think too, which is why I’ve stayed here. Even if it’s just rowing boats and ferrying people for the Sect, it’s better than living a muddled life out there. Perhaps there’s always a glimmer of hope," said Wang Heng with a hint of helplessness.

"Is the Blood Pill Method that leads to the accomplishment of inner techniques... really that difficult?" Lin Xin asked casually.

"Very difficult... The further you go, the harder it becomes to improve. What others might achieve in one year, we need two years for. What others need three years for, we need six years for," Wang Heng said and did not continue, as the dock was in sight. "We’ve arrived, everyone."

Only then did the group disembark and bid farewell to Wang Heng.

Jiang Yue’er had been hiding in the boat, not wanting to meet Kong Yuhui, and only now did she step out, closely following behind Cheng Ruofei without uttering a word.

"In the future, the four of us can truly share what we have and exchange resources. Becoming one, we can also better reduce the obstacles in our cultivation practice," Kong Yuhui suggested as they were about to part ways. "If Brother Lin encounters any trouble in the nearby regions outside, as long as it doesn’t involve overly troublesome individuals, my Peacock Sect can still lend a hand."

Lin Xin had already learned on his way there that Kong Yuhui was one of the young masters of a major nearby faction, the Peacock Sect, and possessed considerable authority. The position of the Peacock Sect was comparable to that of the Plum Blossom Sect in the Red Pine City area. It was one of the branches of the Outer Sect of the Sword Sect.

"If Brother Lin needs any help within the Great Song territory, Jiang Yue’er and I can still be of assistance," Cheng Ruofei said softly.

"The Commandery Princess of General Wang and the daughter of the Great Marshal can certainly help," Kong Yuhui casually pointed out their identities.

"Thank you all, then," Lin Xin said, bowing his hands in gratitude, feeling somewhat surprised in his heart.

The Great Marshal, with ’marshal’ indicating control over the military, held the position akin to a Minister of National Defense on Earth, which was indeed a very significant office. Even if the Song State was just a small country supported and governed by one of the Four Sects, the Sword Sect, it was still remarkable.

Simply put, Cheng Ruofei was the daughter of a Minister of National Defense; strangely though, no one seemed to be protecting her.

And Jiang Yue’er was actually a prince’s daughter, also of notable status, which explained her innocence and arrogance.

"If you need to contact us, you can come to stone house number four hundred and forty-three in the outer district to find me. Yue’er and I live right next to each other," Cheng Ruofei whispered.

"I might have to move stone houses soon, so I’ll come to leave my address with you after a while," Lin Xin nodded, making a mental note of the stone house number.

"Alright then."

Cheng Ruofei then took out a piece of jade that appeared to be Red Jade. It was palm-sized, red, and seemed to bear faint traces of characters.

"This is a Sect’s savings jade token. It contains the reward for this time. The password is..." She leaned close to Lin Xin’s ear and whispered a series of numbers.

After conveying the password, Cheng Ruofei handed the jade token to Lin Xin. Her face flushed slightly as she perhaps remembered the moment earlier when they had clung closely together to avoid the Yin Blood Bird. From childhood to now, it was the first and only time she had been so close to a man other than her father.

"Mine is two-five-five; I await Brother Lin at any time," Kong Yuhui said politely, "then I shall take my leave first. Don’t forget to come to exchange addresses, remember, within three months, because I might also change my residence after that." He was brimming with an air of confidence.

"I definitely won’t. I still have to return your porcelain bottle, don’t I?" Lin Xin replied with a smile and a bow.

Kong Yuhui laughed heartily, bowed his hands, and left.

Cheng Ruofei and the others also said their farewells and departed. As she was leaving, Cheng Ruofei still had a touch of blush on her face, and she sneaked glances at Lin Xin as if she couldn’t help herself.

Lin Xin wasn’t in the mood for romantic thoughts; he harbored secrets, and even with people he was close to, he dared not truly trust anyone. Who could believe that, having joined the Sect for only a few days and encountering the Solar Yang Formation for less than three days, he could inscribe it onto his longsword and turn it into a formation weapon?

If word got out, it would undoubtedly shock and astonish the world; this was no longer a matter that could be resolved by mere talent.

After parting with the three, Lin Xin, on his own, confidently entered the entrance and returned to his stone house.

Next to his stone house, there was no movement in Wang Chong and Xiao Lingling’s residence; they were probably out on a mission and had not returned yet.

Pushing open the stone door to his own house, he found a stale, odd smell lingering in the room, untouched for a month.

Considering there was nothing of value inside, Lin Xin simply opened all the doors and windows to air it out. He then grabbed his Solar Yang Talisman Sword, collected the Solar Yang Formation flags, and went to the mission wall to complete his task.

The task involving the Yin Blood Bird was completed, and the reward was twenty Jade Money.

Tucking away the Jade Money and registering the task meant that the task for the month was finished. The time spent on the task did not count.

Only after returning to the Sect was the time calculated month by month, with a task required to be completed each month. However, some high-risk tasks could count for several others.

One could imagine that once Kong Yuhui disclosed the risk associated with this mission and the danger level was raised, perhaps this task could be worth two or three ordinary tasks.

The place to withdraw money using the jade token was also next to the mission wall, inside a narrow cave.

There were many arch-shaped holes of different sizes, staffed by attendants. All Lin Xin had to do was hand over his jade token to one of the attendants in a hole, not needing to see their face or figure clearly, to withdraw one hundred Jade Money.

After inquiring carefully, he learned that the jade token could be exchanged for smaller denominations.

He exchanged for ten jade tokens worth one hundred Jade Money each, leaving the rest of the eighteen thousand nine hundred Jade Money untouched.

With these matters settled, Lin Xin didn’t do anything else but quickly bought the chocolate bean-like rations he had had before, expensive at one Jade Money per meal.

He impulsively bought one hundred Jade Money’s worth and then headed straight back to his room.

What he had to do next was to go into seclusion.

******************

Within the gray-white stone hut, yellow flames danced in the fireplace at the corner, with thick logs occasionally bursting with loud cracks.

Lin Xin sat on a white stone bed, having just consumed a meal of chocolate beans. He was now gently fondling a small porcelain vial in his hand.

The vial was teardrop-shaped, narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, adorned with a blue-black ink lotus pattern on its belly.

Holding it, Lin Xin felt as though he was gripping a piece of ice that kept emitting a chill, or perhaps it was more akin to jade ice.

The vial was stopped with a redwood cork, wrapped in a layer of cloth of unknown material.

"Yin Blood, Yin Blood... I hope you don’t disappoint me..."

Lin Xin glanced at his current state.

’Damage—3, Defense—1, Dodge—1, Physique—1.’

’Return to Origin Art—First Layer. (Completion 7%) (Damage+1, Physique+1)’

He thought back to the consumption method described by Kong Yuhui and Cheng Ruofei.

Lin Xin took a deep breath, gently removed the cork, and tipped the small porcelain vial into his other palm.

A blood-red pill rolled out with a clatter, settling in the center of his hand.

Immediately, a faint chill spread throughout the stone hut, mingled with a fishy scent similar to that of blood.

Without hesitation, Lin Xin popped the red pill into his mouth and swiftly chased it down with a gulp of water from his canteen.

The pill, the size of an eyeball, slid down his throat and into his stomach like a chunk of ice.

Lin Xin secured the cork back on the vial and tucked it away in his chest before closing his eyes and beginning to rapidly gather his Inner Qi.

As soon as he started to muster his Inner Qi, he sensed something was amiss; influenced by the chill in his stomach, his body temperature plummeted rapidly, leaving him shivering from the cold.

Yet, the gathering of his Inner Qi operated remarkably quickly, almost at a greatly accelerated pace compared to before!

Overjoyed, Lin Xin’s excitement caused a momentary distraction, which immediately slowed the speed of his Inner Qi circulation. He promptly refocused his concentration with full force.

In the following period, he dedicated himself to seclusion, spending each day either consuming chocolate beans or practicing his Inner Qi with his eyes closed, not daring to waste a single moment.

The Yin Blood proved to be miraculous, making his entire body go cold each night, speeding up his Inner Qi faster than usual, without any sign of pain or injury to his meridians. Then, come daylight, Lin Xin’s body temperature would return to normal, yet he’d feel weak and drowsy.

Thus, over the span of more than twenty days, he stayed inside his room without leaving. Those chocolate beans were wonderful—consuming them seemed to eliminate any need for excretion, and the Inner Qi he refined each day surpassed what he’d get from usual food intake.

He practiced throughout the night and slept during the day to recuperate, no need to even step outside, just drinking some boiled water.

His completion rate for the First Layer of the Return to Origin Art soared as if it were on a rocket.

He could improve by 3% in just two days.

His completion rate went from 7% when he returned, to 15%, then to 30%, and by the end of the month, his Return to Origin Art was at a 51% completion rate.

Just as the monthly task period arrived, Lin Xin stepped out once, feeling very dirty after not bathing for a month and reeking badly.

He boiled water for a bath all by himself in the hut, washing three times before he was barely clean.

After going out, as expected, two Innate senior brothers came to inquire about the situation, specifically about the Yin Blood Bird.

Lin Xin answered them in full detail according to the plan they had agreed upon, and then went to the mission wall, only to see that the Yin Blood Bird task had been upgraded to a task for the Qi Refinement Realm, with its danger level shooting up from a low-level two to a high-level ten.

His mission log was also changed to six times, meaning that this one task was equivalent to six ordinary missions. He wouldn’t need to complete any more tasks for the next six months.

After dealing with the inquiries, Lin Xin returned to the stone hut to continue his seclusion, while Wang Chong and Xiao Lingling had apparently returned and then left again, meaning he hadn’t a chance to meet them.

He didn’t bother about it and planned to switch stone huts once his cultivation level improved.

Another month flew by in the blink of an eye.

The effects of the first Yin Blood pill gradually faded, just as Kong Yuhui had said.

Lin Xin successfully broke through the First Layer of the Return to Origin Art with precise estimation.

He continued and took the second Yin Blood pill without interruption.

However, the effects of the second Yin Blood pill seemed to have slightly weakened. Over the course of the month, he only managed to reach 40% completion of the Second Layer.

By the middle of the fifth month, he consumed the third Yin Blood pill and, with an additional half month of cultivation, attained the Third Layer. The duration of the cold state began to shorten, with the third pill’s effects lasting only a month and a half. This made Lin Xin realize that even if he consumed all that remained of the Yin Blood, he was unlikely to reach the Fourth Layer.

Three pills that could raise an ordinary disciple to the Fourth Layer of Innate now only brought him to 56% completion of the Third Layer.

Fortunately, his advantage over the other disciples was that with each level of Inner Qi improvement, he gained an additional attribute point that could be assigned to any of his four attributes.

He hadn’t decided which attribute to enhance yet, preferring to save the points for the time being.

Time flew like an arrow.

For almost half a year, Lin Xin remained in closed-door cultivation. But now the time had come when he could no longer delay and had to start preparing for the monthly mission.