Chapter 25

After Shu Suwan left, Yu Yongnian silently brewed tea, while Lin Chen stood respectfully to one side, his face showing curiosity.

Yu Yongnian saw this and coughed, explaining: "When I was learning martial arts, I was fortunate enough to spend three months at the Wu Yuan in Raozhou Prefecture. Inspector Shu was also learning martial arts at the academy at that time, and she is my senior sister."

"This matter was a violation of the rules by these martial halls in the first place. Inspector Shu cannot tolerate sand in her eyes and would certainly not ignore it. That is why I brought you to find her."

Yu Yongnian explained the reason, and Lin Chen suddenly realized, wearing an expression of "so that's how it is."

As for whether he truly believed what Yu Yu Jiaoxi said, only he himself knew.

He put on an expression of sudden realization to avoid embarrassing his instructor; the tea had been brewed ten times over, and the tea soup had become clear water.

"What are you master and disciple doing?"

Just as Yu Yongnian was brewing the thirteenth pot of tea, Shu Suwan's figure appeared at the courtyard gate.

"Jiang Jiang Shijie!"

"Inspector Shu."

Shu Suwan's gaze fell on Lin Chen, and she said directly: "The Qing Feng Wuguan is willing to recruit you as a disciple, but they don't have enough Opening-Acupoint Pill quotas. They will borrow a quota from the Jing Shui Wuguan. For this, you need to stay at the Jing Shui Wuguan for half a year. Are you willing?"

"This disciple is willing."

"That is not appropriate!"

The master and disciple, Lin Chen and Yu Yu Jiaoxi, reacted differently. Lin Chen accepted it gladly; he didn't care which martial hall he was a disciple of.

Yu Yongnian, however, frowned: "The Jing Shui Wuguan has mostly female disciples, I'm afraid..."

"What, do you have a prejudice against women learning martial arts?"

With Shu Suwan's words, Yu Yongnian immediately changed his tune: "Jiang Jiang Shijie, you misunderstand. That is not what I meant, it's just that a youth's temperament..."

In Yu Yongnian's view, the Jing Shui Wuguan was not a good place.

A gentle village is a hero's grave.

Among a group of female students, Lin Chen, as the only male student, would inevitably have his every move watched and magnified.

Most importantly, there was much strife among the students of the Jing Shui Wuguan... they were always prone to being petty. When he was at the martial hall, he had heard that there were many conflicts among the female students there, which was not conducive to Lin Chen focusing on his martial arts.

"Yu Yu Jiaoxi, it's fine for this disciple to go to the Jing Shui Wuguan; it's only for half a year anyway."

Lin Chen had no resistance; the Jing Shui Wuguan was fine too.

He knew what Yu Yu Jiaoxi was worried about—nothing more than being afraid that he would be blinded by female beauty and lose his drive on the path of the Martial Way.

But what kind of beauty hadn't he seen?

In his previous life, so many women winked at him in videos, using all kinds of temptations, but he only viewed them with a critical eye and wouldn't watch the same video twice.

Although the atmosphere of this world towards women was not as strict as in ancient times, it was not open to the extent of his previous life, so it wouldn't shake his heart for learning martial arts.

Shu Suwan was very satisfied: "Since that's the case, you go to the Qing Feng Wuguan to report first, then go to the Jing Shui Wuguan."

"Yes."

Lin Chen agreed and was about to say goodbye to his instructor, but he didn't expect his instructor to stand up as well.

"Jiang Jiang Shijie, Lin Lin Shidi, I..."

"Lin Lin Shidi, don't go. This time, getting the Jing Shui Wuguan to give up an Opening-Acupoint Pill quota is also owing a favor. I have an appointment with the master of the Jing Shui Wuguan; Lin Lin Shidi, accompany me to meet her."

Seeing Yu Yongnian stand up, Shu Suwan spoke immediately to stop her junior brother from leaving.

Having finally come to the door on his own initiative, there was no way she would let him leave so easily.

Lin Chen glanced at his instructor out of the corner of his eye, then looked at Inspector Shu, and he saw the situation.

Inspector Shu was deliberately keeping his instructor.

From his perspective, Inspector Shu was beautiful and an Inspector; this... this was his instructor's good fortune.

"Yu Yu Jiaoxi, Inspector Shu, this disciple will go to the Qing Feng Wuguan to report first."

"Go ahead. If you have anything, you can come to the Shu Prefecture on Ruilin Lane."

Shu Suwan said with a smile, very satisfied with Lin Chen's sensibility.

Qing Feng Wuguan.

Lin Chen came to the martial hall again and was taken by the doorman to the reception hall he had visited before.

He didn't have any resentment.

Being looked down upon by the martial hall was also his own reason. The other party was just doing their job. After all, the fact that he had a destiny blessing was too incredible; if he didn't take the initiative to say it, no one would think of it.

Seeing Zhao Ce again, Lin Chen still bowed respectfully.

"This disciple greets Yu Yu Jiaoxi Zhao." He was very respectful.

"Hmm."

Seeing Lin Chen's respectful appearance, Zhao Ce's expression was better than before. He wasn't targeting Lin Chen; it was just that he had rejected Lin Chen earlier and now had to accept him, so he felt a bit embarrassed.

"Master Qi has already informed me of your situation. Just go to the Martial Arts Pavilion in a while to collect the martial arts manual."

Zhao Ce nodded indifferently. After throwing out these words, he turned and left, but stopped at the door: "Rejecting you earlier was not intentional targeting. The martial hall's quotas were indeed full. You should also know how hard it was to get this quota. Don't hold any resentment; learn martial arts well."

"This disciple dare not."

Although he didn't hold resentment, he wouldn't have a deep sense of belonging to the martial hall either.

Lin Chen lowered his eyes. When he looked up again, Zhao Ce had already left. No change in expression could be seen on his face as he followed the servant to the Martial Arts Pavilion.

An instructor in the Martial Arts Pavilion verified Lin Chen's identity token and asked curiously: "Senior Brother Zhao didn't give you a student identity token?"

Every student of the Qing Feng Wuguan would have a student token carved after entering the hall, which they would hang on their bodies daily. This was a symbol of their identity as a student of the martial hall.

"No, Yu Yu Jiaoxi Zhao asked me to come to the martial hall to collect the Qingfeng Palm manual," Lin Chen answered truthfully.

The instructor who spoke looked at Lin Chen with a thoughtful expression, and after a while, said: "In that case, you wait here for a moment."

After the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the instructor brought out a manual.

"This is the Qingfeng Palm manual. Return it in a month. Do not lose it, and do not leak it."

The instructor's tone was not serious, but Lin Chen didn't dare to be careless at all.

He had never even thought about leaking martial arts.

How many students had the eight major martial halls recruited over the years? Many people in the entire Poyang County knew the martial arts techniques of the major halls. But why hadn't these techniques leaked out? It was because the students didn't dare to do so.

The martial hall had a list of students. If a non-student practiced the martial arts of the hall, the Poyang Poyang Wuzhengsuo would investigate to the end. No one could withstand the punishment of the Poyang Poyang Wuzhengsuo without confessing.

After saying goodbye to the instructor, Lin Chen left the Qing Feng Wuguan directly and headed to the Jing Shui Wuguan.

The gate of the Jing Shui Wuguan.

Lin Chen reported his name. While waiting at the gate, a woman walked from the gate and stopped when she saw Lin Chen, her beautiful eyes filled with curiosity.

"Who are you?"

"Jiang Jiang Shijie, this junior brother is here to report to the martial hall."

Lin Chen didn't know what the woman's identity was, but judging by her appearance, she should be a senior sister.

The woman's hair was like a waterfall, with a few strands hanging lightly on her forehead. Hearing Lin Chen's words, her beautiful eyes blinked a few times, adding a touch of casual charm.

"Our martial hall actually has a male student; that's truly rare. My name is Chen Yan. How should I address you, Lin Lin Shidi?"

"Lin Chen greets Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen."

"Why is Lin Lin Shidi standing here?"

"I told the doorman the situation, and he went to notify the instructor. This junior brother is waiting here," Lin Chen answered truthfully.

"What are you waiting for? I'll take you to find the instructor. Follow me, Lin Lin Shidi."

Chen Yan was very enthusiastic, even reaching out to pull Lin Chen's hand, but Lin Chen dodged it imperceptibly: "Then I'll trouble you, Jiang Jiang Shijie."

The two entered the gate, and Chen Yan introduced the situation of the martial hall while leading the way.

"See that corridor over there? Walking from there leads directly to the dormitory area. And the martial arts arena in front is the Grade A arena, usually for students in their third year. Your new batch of students will go to the Grade C arena."

Chen Yan was very enthusiastic and kept talking all the way.

Lin Chen was very moved. The Jing Shui Wuguan is indeed good. Look at how enthusiastic Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen is, unlike the Qing Feng Wuguan, which is cold from top to bottom.

It's a pity that he is not a true disciple of the Jing Shui Wuguan.

"I'll take Lin Lin Shidi to register first and collect the martial hall student identity token."

"No... no need to collect the student identity token."

Lin Chen quickly stopped her. He was registered at the Jing Shui Wuguan and was not considered a disciple of the Jing Shui Wuguan.

"Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen, this junior brother's situation is a bit complicated. You can just take me to the instructor responsible for recruiting students."

Chen Yan looked at Lin Chen for a while and smiled: "Okay, then I'll take you directly to the Martial Arts Pavilion."

Every martial hall has a Martial Arts Pavilion, and the Jing Shui Wuguan is no exception.

"The Martial Arts Pavilion is right in front. Lin Lin Shidi must be here to collect the Opening-Acupoint Pill, right?" Chen Yan asked with confidence.

"Hmm."

"Congratulations, Lin Lin Shidi. To celebrate you entering the Opening-Acupoint Stage in a while, I will host a banquet for you today."

Lin Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. This Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen was too enthusiastic.

And she wanted to host a banquet?

A good senior sister fallen from the sky?

Pondering for a moment, Lin Chen declined: "How can I let Jiang Jiang Shijie host..."

After saying this half-sentence, Lin Chen noticed that Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen's eyes brightened a bit, and a guess suddenly emerged in his heart.

This Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen wouldn't be waiting for him here, would she?

Thinking of this, Lin Chen changed his tone: "I should be the one hosting you, Jiang Jiang Shijie, but I came to the martial hall in a hurry and didn't bring any silver. Today, I will shamelessly sponge a meal off you and invite you back another day."

The smile on Chen Yan's face froze instantly. Shamelessly sponge a meal off me?

You really are shameless enough.

If you didn't bring money, you could invite me another day. How can you have the nerve to say you'll sponge a meal off me?

How could you say such a thing?

For the past few days, she had been guarding the gate of the martial hall every day, just wanting to trick these new junior sisters into eating at the Four Great Martial Towers.

The signature dishes of the Four Great Martial Towers are all poultry meat that supplements Qi and blood, but the price is extremely expensive and not something ordinary students can afford. However, students who can refine Qi within a year can afford a few meals at worst.

In the past few days, she had already sponged three meals without a single failure.

Only with this junior brother did it fail.

"Lin Lin Shidi is joking. What is this talk of sponging? Whoever hosts is fine," Chen Yan forced a smile: "I'll take you to the Martial Arts Pavilion first, and we'll talk about eating later."

"Trouble you, Jiang Jiang Shijie."

This time, Chen Yan didn't say a word on the road.

If she talked too much and her saliva dried up, she might not even earn back the money for a cup of tea.

"Lin Lin Shidi, this is the Martial Arts Pavilion. Jiang Jiang Shijie won't go in; I'll wait for you here."

Lin Chen knew that as soon as he entered the Martial Arts Pavilion, Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen would turn around and leave. He didn't expose her, as she did indeed lead the way and introduce the situation of the martial hall.

In his previous life, this was called service, and paying for service was normal.

It's a pity he had no money and could only sponge off Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen's service.

Phew!

Wrong, it was sponging off Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen's service.

Crossing the threshold of the Martial Arts Pavilion, Lin Chen looked back subconsciously, but Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen's figure was gone.

Lin Chen:...

In such a hurry to leave?

Not even finishing the act?

While sighing, Lin Chen understood even more the difficulty of the Martial Way.

This Jiang Jiang Shijie Chen was clearly in the Opening-Acupoint Stage, yet she lowered her status for a meal, almost seducing him.

If it weren't for the lack of money to learn martial arts, why would she do this?

PS: Brothers, following the updates is very important, especially today's. It relates to next week's recommendations. Don't hoard the chapters. I have quite a lot of words in these chapters, so please give me your monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)