Chapter 155: True Blood Refining Acupoints, Panel Iterates Again

Martial Garden.

Under the night wind, Lin Chen stood in the courtyard.

After seeing Hall Master Tai, he came to the Martial Garden.

Although both Jingshui Qingfeng Qingfeng Wuguan and Zhenyue Qingfeng Qingfeng Wuguan reserved dormitories for him, by comparison, he preferred to stay in the Martial Garden.

Even though his thoughts were like a tide, Lin Chen still maintained his cultivation.

After finishing a set of Qingfeng Palm and Shuiyun Palm, Lin Chen's thoughts were completely calmed down.

Cultivation had completely integrated into a part of his body and could even adjust his emotions.

And with the help of the comprehension of 【Black to the End】 during cultivation, Lin Chen's mind could also analyze things more clearly.

The Huo family targeting him was not the mastermind. The real mastermind was a force even more powerful than the Huo family.

He could feel this from the cautious attitude in Lord Su's conversation with him.

For children from poor families to break out of the encirclement among many children of the powerful and wealthy was not an easy thing. It was not just the gap in resources. Lin Chen had a clear understanding of this point.

If there were no Lin Ming incident, he would have let go of this Jiangnan Dao model student.

But after the Lin Ming incident, even if he and Lin Chaoyang had long broken their grandfather-grandson relationship, how could he really be indifferent when Lin Chaoyang died like this?

Forced by others to have someone in the family die—if he still let it go, then what was the point of practicing martial arts?

If the other party could take action against him directly, then he would have no choice but to give up and go far away.

But since Lord Su and the others could stand on his side at the time, it proved that the other party also had scruples and would not deal with him openly.

He was not without people behind him: Lord Li of Quzhou Prefecture, Lord Qiu, as well as Lord Su and Lord He.

This power was also not to be underestimated.

Lord Su was not wrong. A Huo family was a behemoth to him, let alone the existence behind the Huo family.

The only thing he could do was to improve his martial arts potential.

Improvement in stage did not reflect his potential on the Martial Way. The Acupuncture Stage meant nothing to those big figures who had entered the ranked tier.

After more than half a year of understanding the Martial Way, Lin Chen also understood one point: even if he broke through the Acupuncture Stage quickly later, it would at most make those adults surprised.

Or, relying on the extreme Martial Way path he was walking, it would make these adults surprised twice or three times, but the overall difference was not very big.

"If you kid can leave your name on Mount Wudao, the Martial Arts Department will send people."

Lin Chen thought of Lord Zhao's words in his mind, but then smiled bitterly. It was too difficult to leave his name on Mount Wudao.

Relying on his Qi and blood, which far exceeded other students at the same stage, he couldn't even defeat the senior at the ninth acupoint, let alone leave his name.

According to the current cultivation progress, it was absolutely impossible to leave his name on Mount Wudao.

After a long while, Lin Chen walked from the courtyard back to the study, first looking at the panel.

【Host: Lin Chen】

【Stage: Extreme Acupuncture Stage (14/24): (390/400)】

【Qi and Blood: 478000】 (Expand to view past Qi and blood growth)

【Qingfeng Palm: Break Limit】

【Iron Bone Skill: Perfected】

【Shuiyun Palm: Break Limit】

【Wild Wind Leg: Proficient (160/200)】

【Title: Black to the End (The universe is not yet decided, you and I are both dark horses. Wearing this title, in the dark night, martial arts comprehension and perception are improved)】

【Fate: 【Water Flows into a Channel】: Extreme Martial Way Stage, perseverance, step by step, like a bamboo being split, no bottleneck trouble.】

In another day, he was about to break through to the fifteenth acupoint.

Lin Chen wrote his Qi and blood value on paper and then began to write with numbers on the paper.

It was just a number. Even if someone came in now and saw the content on the paper, they wouldn't understand what he was writing.

Qi and Blood = Acupoints.

After writing this line on the paper, Lin Chen drew an X on the equal sign.

The breakthrough of acupoints inevitably leads to the growth of Qi and blood. This is beyond doubt. But the growth of Qi and blood does not represent the breakthrough of acupoints.

Whether it was eating snake demon meat or bathing in demon blood, including entering the special training ground later, his Qi and blood values had all grown by a large margin. According to this growth, he should have stepped into the fifteenth or sixteenth acupoint long ago.

But he was still at the fourteenth acupoint. The panel wouldn't lie, and his body wouldn't lie.

Why couldn't these Qi and blood that grew out of thin air impact more acupoints?

This doubt had been lingering in Lin Chen's heart since he ate the demon meat, but in order not to expose that he had a panel, he didn't ask those instructors.

The notes left by that senior mentioned more about the relationship between each acupoint and the speed of Qi and blood circulation.

Using more Qi and blood to impact acupoints, letting Qi and blood not pass through the dantian, but directly from one acupoint to another.

The reason why this senior's theory was shocking and no one was willing to walk it was not only because of what Lord Zhao said—the pain of the medicinal bath was too tormenting, and those without great perseverance couldn't persist.

More importantly, could Qi and blood really go directly from one acupoint to another?

Could one really do this by relying on vigorous Qi and blood?

Lin Chen didn't accept it. It was precisely the last reason. He was afraid that this path couldn't be walked through and was a dead end. He didn't have the cost of trial and error.

Children of powerful families, even if they didn't walk through, could still turn back in the end.

But once he walked on this path and finally found it was a dead end, wasting a lot of time and not opening a gap with other students, it meant he would never get the Wuzheng Office's resource rewards again.

No capital for trial and error was the reason he refused.

"Perhaps, I should cram some knowledge about the martial arts cultivation system."

In the year and a half since stepping onto the Martial Way, except for the year in the Martial Hall, he was ignorant. After arriving at the martial arts hall, most of the time was spent on cultivation techniques. Lin Chen found that his understanding of some martial arts cultivation systems was not deep.

Whether it was the Jingshui Qingfeng Qingfeng Wuguan or the Zhenyue Qingfeng Qingfeng Wuguan, he had been to their libraries. They also collected some notes on martial arts cultivation, but these notes came from those senior brothers and sisters. When these senior brothers and sisters wrote the notes, they were only at the Acupuncture or Organ Cultivation stage, and the descriptions were not profound.

"Returning to the special training ground tomorrow, I will ask Yu Yu Jiaoxi Min or Lord Xuetai. At least I must first understand the situation of Qi and blood and acupoints thoroughly."

With a plan in his heart, Lin Chen tore up the paper and walked out of the study. But what he didn't expect was that Yan Qianbei was actually standing in the courtyard waiting for him.

"This junior greets Yan Qianbei."

Yan He'an looked at Lin Chen. He knew clearly about what happened in the past few days.

"Returning to the special training ground tomorrow?"

"Hmm, they only gave this disciple a three-day vacation. I'll rest in the Martial Garden tonight and leave tomorrow."

For this Yan Qianbei to say the three words "special training ground," Lin Chen didn't feel surprised. Since Yan Qianbei took him to see the Thousand Hammer Map, the energy of the Martial Garden in his view was no less than the Wuzheng Office.

"The Martial Way is long. It is normal to have some setbacks during the period. No one's Martial Way is smooth sailing."

"Thank you, Senior, for your comfort. This junior understands."

"You are a person with perseverance and opinions. No need for me to say much; you can think it through yourself." Yan He'an had a glimmer in his eyes, looking at Lin Chen: "I will reveal a piece of news to you: Hongdu Prefecture also has a Martial Garden. Your competitor is also a person favored by the Martial Garden."

Lin Chen was stunned. His competitor?

To be honest, he knew that other prefectures also pushed students to compete for the Jiangnan Dao model student, but he didn't know who these students were, nor did he specifically try to understand, because in his view, who the Jiangnan Dao model student would fall to was not something he, a small Acupuncture Stage martial artist, could decide, but had to be played by Lord Qiu and the others at the upper level.

"In terms of strength, the one in Hongdu Prefecture is the first. Not long ago, he was in seclusion to break through to Organ Cultivation. I think it won't be many days before he steps into the Organ Cultivation Stage."

"The students of the other three prefectures are not as strong as that one, and your advantage is that you come from a poor family. Setting you as the Jiangnan Dao model student can encourage the students of the Jiangnan Dao martial arts halls."

"If there were no such advantage, if Jiangnan Dao wanted to evaluate the model student, it would definitely be that one from Hongdu Prefecture."

Yan He'an saw Lin Chen stunned and sighed in his heart. Originally, when the Huo family targeted Lin Chen, he thought about whether to help, but learned from Elder Zhao that the Hongdu Prefecture Martial Garden favored Li Zhe, just like the attitude of the Poyang County Martial Garden toward Lin Chen.

Both were up-and-coming stars favored by the Martial Garden.

He even learned more inside information from Elder Zhao. This inside information was also known by Qiu Ruofeng, the former Director of the Raozhou Prefecture Wuzheng Office, but he wouldn't tell Lin Chen.

"There is a proverb among the people of the Liang Dynasty: the palm and the back of the hand are both flesh. This also applies to the Jiangnan Dao Wuzheng Hall."

"You treat the Wuzheng Hall as the head of a big family. You and that one are the two promising children in this family. Two children fight, the head of the family naturally won't favor anyone, but if one side uses the mother's family power to suppress the other, it breaks the rules."

Yan He'an's eyes were meaningful: "Just as I said before, the palm and the back of the hand are both flesh. If it cannot be proven that it was the child who instructed the mother's family behind them to do so, perhaps it was the mother's family acting on their own. If you were the head of the family, how would you deal with this matter?"

Lin Chen pondered for a moment: "Deal with their mother's family, but there will be no punishment for the son."

"Therefore, the ending of this matter is that Xing Xing Huai Feng was demoted. This is the explanation the Wuzheng Hall gives to you and Poyang County." Yan He'an relayed Elder Zhao's analysis to Lin Chen.

According to Elder Zhao's analysis, the Wuzheng Hall would not even deal with the Li family and the Huo family, because on the surface, these two families did not participate in this matter.

In the eyes of the Wuzheng Hall, Li Yuan and Lin Chen were the same, and perhaps the importance placed on Li Yuan was even greater.

Regarding the Wuzheng Hall's way of handling, Lin Chen could actually guess it in his heart. This matter ended with Xing Xing Huai Feng rolling away.

Compared to the Wuzheng Hall, he was now more curious about what kind of existence the Martial Garden was.

Hongdu Prefecture also had a Martial Garden, so the Martial Garden was searching for students with potential in various places within the Liang Dynasty for cultivation?

"Yan Qianbei, this junior is curious about what the Martial Garden is?"

"Originally, I shouldn't tell you, but before Elder Zhao left, he gave me an authorization." Yan He'an looked at Lin Chen and said word by word: "Lin Chen, I ask you, are you willing to officially join the Martial Garden!"

"Senior, you haven't told this junior the answer yet." Lin Chen smiled.

"The existence of the Martial Garden has only one purpose: to absorb human martial arts geniuses and explore a path to the peak of the Martial Way."

"The Martial Garden has branches in many countries but does not participate in the disputes between countries. No matter which country's martial artist, as long as they reach the standard of the Martial Garden, they can join the Martial Garden and become an official member of the Martial Garden. After that, they can enjoy the resources of the Martial Garden. Of course, these resources are not free, but need to be exchanged with Martial Garden points. Every member who joins the Martial Garden will receive one hundred contribution points, which can be considered as the help provided by the Martial Garden for genius martial artists like you who have just joined."

"So that's it!"

Lin Chen had a glimmer in his eyes. No wonder Lord Su didn't oppose him having more contact with the Martial Garden. The Martial Garden didn't belong to any force.

"Yan Qianbei, if I join the Martial Garden, are there any other requirements?"

Yan He'an smiled slightly. He knew what Lin Chen was worried about and explained: "The Martial Garden never requires any member to do anything. It is more issued in the form of tasks. Members who accept tasks can get a certain contribution point reward. Whether to accept the task depends on the member themselves. The Martial Garden never forces it."

"This junior is willing to join the Martial Garden."

This Yan Qianbei had already said it so clearly, Lin Chen couldn't think of any reason to refuse.

Joining the Martial Garden had only benefits and no harm to him.

"When you understand the Martial Garden, you will know what today's decision means to you." Hearing Lin Chen agree, Yan He'an patted Lin Chen on the shoulder meaningfully: "Joining the Martial Garden requires elder review, but Elder Zhao has already agreed. This matter is just going through the motions."

"Yan Qianbei, then can this junior use those one hundred contribution points now?"

"Want to use them now?"

Yan He'an didn't expect Lin Chen to be so impatient. Although according to the rules, Lin Chen hadn't officially registered yet, which didn't meet the regulations, Elder Zhao of the Poyang County Martial Garden had the final say. Elder Zhao wouldn't object, so a little violation didn't count for much.

"You don't know what contribution points can be exchanged for yet. What do you want to exchange contribution points for?"

"This junior wants to exchange for a martial arts insight regarding Qi and blood in the Acupuncture Stage."

Lin Chen made a request. Although it was a temporary idea, it was also carefully considered in his mind.

According to what this Yan Qianbei said, the Martial Garden was an organization of martial artists pursuing the peak of the Martial Way, so its research on the Martial Way must have its unique features. After all, the Martial Garden was also a cross-border super force that absorbed the essence of martial arts from various countries.

"There is indeed a book on martial arts insights regarding Qi and blood in the Acupuncture Stage in the library of the Martial Garden, but..."

Yan He'an's ears suddenly twitched: "One hundred contribution points are just enough. I will go and get it for you now."

"Sorry for the trouble, Senior."

Yan He'an went out of the courtyard and went to another courtyard for the first time. When he saw Zhao Qianqiu in red, he hurriedly said: "Elder, you are back."

"Go and get that notebook for Lin Chen."

"Elder, the contribution points stipulated for that secret manual are five hundred. Lin Chen here..."

Yan He'an just wanted to say this to Lin Chen, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the sound transmission of Elder Zhao came to his ears, which was why he changed his statement.

"This point will be paid by this Elder for him."

Zhao Qianqiu rubbed her eyebrows and also saw Yan He'an's doubt in his heart but didn't explain.

She wouldn't tell Yan He'an that the reason she gave Lin Chen convenience was because she and that old thing Jiang Zhikai of Hongdu Prefecture almost fought.

Since Jiang Zhikai favored Li Zhe, she would bet on Lin Chen.

"You fight with that Li Zhe, and this Elder also fights with that old thing," Zhao Qianqiu whispered.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Young Master Lin."

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Yan He'an appeared in Lin Chen's courtyard again with a book.

"This book cannot be taken out of the Martial Garden, and Young Master Lin must guarantee that he will not disclose the content of the book to the outside world. Otherwise, if discovered by the Martial Garden, Young Master Lin's membership status will be revoked."

"This junior remembers."

Lin Chen could understand the reason why the Martial Garden did this.

This was one of the chips for the Martial Garden to attract genius students. If the library of the Martial Garden was easily leaked, the attraction to those genius students would drop significantly.

"If so, I won't disturb Young Master Lin. Regarding some other rules of the Martial Garden, I will inform you in detail when Young Master Lin returns to the Martial Garden after the special training ends."

Yan He'an left with a smile. Lin Chen didn't waste time and directly flipped through the book in his hand in the courtyard.

"Essence of True Blood Refining Acupoints"

【Qi and blood, the carrier of vitality.】

【Blood is the boat, Qi is the sail.】

【Blood: Stored in twenty-four acupoints like a river storing water.】

【Qi: Wandering meridians like a hurricane pushing a boat.】

【Acupuncture Stage speaks of blood, Organ Cultivation speaks of Qi.】

【The growth of human Qi and blood, whether eating demon meat or taking precious drugs, is all virtual blood. And breaking through acupoints, this increased blood is true blood.】

【Virtual blood is easy to supplement, true blood is hard to increase.】

【This old man spent thirty years cultivating hundreds of Acupuncture Stage disciples and finally concluded that virtual blood is the foundation of true blood, and acupoints are the furnace for condensing virtual blood into true blood. Therefore, this old man wrote this book and named it "Essence of True Blood Refining Acupoints."】

In the courtyard, Lin Chen's eyes were shining. This senior's notes had an extremely thorough study of Qi and blood... mainly blood, which gave him a feeling of enlightenment.

Many vague places in the past were suddenly enlightened after reading this book.

"Virtual blood is the foundation of true blood. When a martial artist impacts acupoints, each acupoint is like a furnace, refining virtual blood into true blood. The more acupoints opened, the more virtual blood is refined into true blood."

"In addition, the quantity of virtual blood also affects the quantity of true blood refined by acupoints. My Qi and blood value is now close to five hundred thousand. The true blood refined by opening acupoints is naturally much higher than the amount of true blood refined by those students whose Qi and blood value is at two hundred thousand."

"As for Qi, according to what this senior said, it is the foundation that affects the speed of Qi and blood circulation. The breathing and exhaling methods of those ranked techniques are a method of moving Qi."

"True blood is stored in twenty-four acupoints, and those virtual blood are stored in seventy-two small acupoints associated with the twenty-four acupoints. Because Qi is stored in the dantian, using Qi to push the circulation of blood requires passing through the dantian."

"But if the small acupoints associated with the twenty-four acupoints are also all refined into true blood, true blood will spontaneously form a Qi and blood tide, without needing to pass through the dantian."

"The method of refining virtual blood into true blood mentioned in this senior's notes, combined with that old senior's theory, really has a possibility of success."

Lin Chen had a glimmer in his eyes. This path could be tried. At least he could take one acupoint to verify it.

Refine all the virtual blood in the 3 small acupoints associated with one acupoint into true blood.

This night, Lin Chen wrote and drew in the study until the sky turned white. Looking at the dozens of sheets of paper on the table, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

The next moment, Lin Chen burned all these papers, rubbed his somewhat tired eyes, and walked into the bedroom to rest for a while.

This night was far more tiring for him than practicing martial arts, as he had to conceive a plan for refining his entire body's Qi and blood.

The next morning, Lin Chen returned the "Essence of True Blood Refining Acupoints" to Yan He'an, went to the county wharf, and arrived at Linhu Village by boat.

Jiang Kui's boat was already waiting on the shore of Linhu Village.

"Not going home to say goodbye to your family?"

Jiang Kui saw Lin Chen board the boat directly and asked unexpectedly.

He also knew some of the things that happened in the Lin family when he talked to that Lord Su. He knew that the Lin family had encountered changes, and he also knew that some families were targeting Lin Chen.

"I already said goodbye to my family yesterday, so I won't go back."

Lin Chen explained with a smile. Jiang Kui didn't say anything else. His feet turned, and the pleasure boat flexibly changed direction and headed toward the depths of Poyang Lake.

The special training ground.

Lin Chen returned to the bamboo forest. Elder Zhao was not there, so he could only throw the medicine bag packed by Elder Zhao into the vat himself and then light a fire to burn it.

After the medicinal liquid in the vat was boiling hot, he took off his clothes and entered the vat.

The medicinal liquid tempered his bones. Lin Chen's expression was ferocious with pain. Every soaking in the medicinal liquid was a painful torture.

Half an hour later.

Lin Chen climbed out of the vat exhausted, dragging his tired body toward the manure pit.

The next moment, he jumped into the manure pit without hesitation.

Today, he should open the fifteenth acupoint.

If it were in the past, Lin Chen would choose to perform Qingfeng Palm or Shuiyun Palm to trigger Qi and blood to impact the acupoints in one go.

But since he decided to walk another path, according to what that senior said, when impacting the acupoint breakthrough, refining more essence and blood, he couldn't do it in one go.

Bang, bang, bang!

Lin Chen could feel the vibration of his fifteen acupoints at this moment. This was caused by sufficient Qi and blood constantly impacting.

Every wave of impact made his whole body tremble.

Acupoint impact should be refreshing and smooth in one go, but if it relies on Qi and blood itself to impact, this process is extremely slow and extremely painful.

According to what that senior said, this would trigger the true blood in the acupoints to impact the acupoints.

Ordinary acupoints are like rusty locks. If virtual blood impacts and penetrates thirty percent, it counts as success, and then true blood washes and thoroughly breaks through the acupoints.

Once, twice, three times, four times...

Lin Chen was covered in sweat, biting his teeth tightly, his body trembling slightly.

He could feel the bones and meridians where the acupoints were located, all starting to be chaotic under this impact of true blood.

But at the same time, the energy of the manure pit mucus was constantly pouring into his body, repairing the damaged bones and meridians at the acupoints.

Snap!

I don't know how long it had passed, a crisp sound came from the acupoint. Lin Chen's eyes looked at the fifteenth acupoint for the first time.

The skin on the surface was as transparent as amber, and the bone marrow and meridians could be vaguely seen, but after a breath, it returned to normal.

At the same time.

The panel appeared in front of Lin Chen again.

【Detected that the host's Martial Way path has changed, the panel is about to update...】

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 156 =====