Chapter 34: Mourning for the Tie Xue Wuguan Disciples

After spending a quarter-hour in the dormitory organizing his training plan for the upcoming days at the Wuguan, Lin Chen changed into the Jing Shui Wuguan’s training attire and headed for the Wudao Pavilion.

Today, the Wudao Pavilion was extremely crowded.

Female disciples came and went at the entrance without pause, but unsurprisingly, Lin Chen still drew the most attention.

“I can proudly say this: among all Jing Shui Wuguan disciples, I’m the most handsome!”

Lin Chen now understood why, in the novels he’d read before, when beautiful women walked anywhere and drew stares from surrounding men, they felt annoyed—but became curious about the male lead precisely because he never looked at them.

He was now experiencing firsthand the treatment reserved for female leads in novels.

He remained utterly calm about it all, like Tang Sanzang walking through the Kingdom of Women—everywhere he went, he became the center of attention.

He would remain at Jing Shui Wuguan for a long time yet; he needed to grow accustomed to this kind of novel-heroine treatment.

Entering the Wudao Pavilion, Lin Chen saw two senior sisters standing at the counter and approached them: “Excuse me, senior sisters, does the Wudao Pavilion have any miscellaneous books related to martial cultivation?”

The two female disciples were not particularly surprised to see a male disciple in the Wudao Pavilion—they had already heard the news a quarter-hour earlier.

No wuguan could match Jing Shui Wuguan in the speed of information spread among students.

He really was good-looking, just a bit dark-skinned—no wonder those little vixens kept gossiping.

“Miscellaneous books?”

The senior sister with her hair coiled up paused for a moment: “Which kind of miscellaneous books do you mean, younger brother?”

“Descriptions of wild birds and beasts that supplement qi and blood, martial elixirs… anything along those lines.”

Lin Chen was well aware of his weaknesses: his greatest weakness was poverty, followed by his lack of understanding of the full picture of martial cultivation.

The manual left by Instructor Yu focused mostly on personal training insights, with little information on methods to accelerate blood and qi growth.

Lin Chen guessed that Instructor Yu believed that, given his circumstances, it was better to focus entirely on martial techniques rather than wasting time and money on expensive meats and elixirs.

“I understand your meaning, younger brother. On the second floor, in the book repository, the leftmost bookshelf holds all books related to martial cultivation, including some training insights left behind by past senior sisters. You may read them freely, but you may not take them away.”

Lin Chen thanked her and headed straight upstairs, quickly locating the books he wanted according to her directions.

“Perspectives on Meat Consumption for the Opening-Qi Realm”

“Optimal Cultivation Method: Open Three Qi Orifices in Two Years, Cultivate Organs in Three Years”

Seeing this book, Lin Chen picked it up curiously—it was short.

But after scanning just a few lines, he quietly put it down.

In those few pages, between the lines, he saw only three words written everywhere: “No Money Problems.”

The very first sentence explained how to quickly open a third qi orifice after opening two.

This was a book written by a rich kid, meant for rich students—he had only one orifice; he didn’t qualify.

“Comprehensive Guide to Elixirs for the Opening-Qi Realm—Must Read for Pill Users”

Picking up this book, Lin Chen had prepared himself mentally, but upon seeing the listed martial elixirs and their prices, his mouth twitched—he was looking at another book written by a wealthy senior sister.

The book mentioned six elixirs.

All were suitable for Opening-Qi cultivators; the senior sister had even categorized them, specifying which elixir suited which number of opened orifices.

This path was also unsuitable for him, but Lin Chen memorized the names of these elixirs.

After reading through several more of these rich senior sisters’ training insights, Lin Chen finally found a book with a different title in a corner.

“Paths for Ordinary Students in the Wuguan”

Seeing the title, Lin Chen became interested; he picked it up and opened it—the first page confirmed he’d chosen correctly.

【This book is intended solely for junior sisters of ordinary family background. If you are wealthy and already opened your qi orifices before entering the wuguan, please put this book down and pick up the one on the left, written by the senior sister: “Pill Guide for Beginners.”】

Page two:

【You’ve turned to this page, meaning you come from an ordinary family, perhaps haven’t even opened your first orifice yet. So here’s my advice: you must open your first orifice within three months of entering the wuguan. If you fail, you’ll be placed on the Class-B student list, after which you’ll no longer receive any discounts when purchasing resources from the wuguan. Don’t underestimate this discount—small savings add up; over three years, you’ll save at least a hundred silver taels.】

【By now, you’re not just flipping through randomly—you clearly want to open your orifice within three months. So I’ll give you the real trick: our neighboring Tie Xue Wuguan is full of wealthy male students. Walk by their gate often; eventually, a soft-hearted male student will appear. Seize the chance—get as many free meals as you can…】

The content of this page left Lin Chen with a complicated expression…

It was a bit messy, reminding him of the green-tea tactics from his past life.

Letting go of pride was indeed a good strategy.

Too bad—he was a man!

The entire book was nothing but green-tea tactics.

May the Tie Xue Wuguan’s senior brothers rest in peace!

The fact that this book was worn yellow from frequent use showed that past senior sisters of Jing Shui Wuguan had read it many times.

Next, Lin Chen read several more books left behind by Jing Shui Wuguan’s senior sisters and absorbed a great deal of useful information.

One senior sister even mentioned part-time work: after opening three orifices, one could find odd jobs in the county town.

Escorting caravans, capturing wanted fugitives…

But the former consumed time, and the latter carried risk.

…

…

Half an hour later, Lin Chen came downstairs, registered his identity, and spent thirty taels to buy a bottle of Zi Qiao Dan.

Leaving the Wudao Pavilion, Lin Chen went to the wuguan’s cafeteria.

He received free meals; the cafeteria offered many dishes—unlike the cafeteria that served only beef, the wuguan cafeteria had over a dozen kinds of poultry meat, including the black muntjac he’d eaten before.

Eight hundred wen per jin—not even the most expensive.

Unfortunately, none of these poultry meats were free; he had to pay for them himself.

His free-meal benefit allowed him two jin of beef per meal, with unlimited vegetables and rice.

Five bowls of rice, two jin of beef.

Lin Chen found a corner seat and ate quietly.

“This year’s junior sisters are really impressive, Sister Sun—have you heard?”

“I’ve heard—apparently one junior sister has already opened four orifices.”

“Four orifices? Nothing. I just got the latest news: a new junior sister has opened five orifices.”

“Really?”

“The source is absolutely reliable—apparently there are already three who’ve opened four orifices…”

Lin Chen, chopsticks in hand, paused his right hand—but after a long moment, resumed eating.

There were gaps even among peers; he’d already learned this from Lu Yongfeng and others, so he’d mentally prepared himself.

But hearing the conversation beside him, he couldn’t help silently curse: this damn wealth gap.

…

…

Dormitory.

After leaving the cafeteria, Lin Chen returned to his dormitory.

He poured out one Zi Qiao Dan from the vial—it was dark in color and smelled fishy.

Zi Qiao Dan was normally taken once every three days, but could be taken daily; more than that was useless.

As soon as the pill entered his stomach, a burning sensation arose in his abdomen.

Soon, the essence within his body grew active again, surging toward the orifice in his left shoulder.

This was his first opened orifice!

Left shoulder, right arm!

His second orifice lay on his right arm.

Lin Chen felt a faint itch at his right elbow—the essence was blocked there.

In the Qi Refining stage, one ensures blood and qi flow freely through the entire body.

When blood and qi flow freely, essence forms; in the Opening-Qi realm, one ensures the essence flows freely.

Once the essence breaks through an orifice, the tingling sensation vanishes.

During his month of training at home, his right arm had also felt tingling—but never this intensely; this was the effect of the Zi Qiao Dan.

Three taels per pill—worth every penny.

Focusing his mind, Lin Chen wasted no time and began practicing Qing Feng Palm.

The Qing Feng Palm manual contained its own qi-circulation method; while practicing, the essence naturally surged against the orifices—this was why the wuguan only taught them martial techniques.

One palm after another, shadows of palms danced like wind throughout the small courtyard.

Night fell, yet Lin Chen did not stop.

The 【Black to the End】 title began to take effect.

His Qing Feng Palm had already reached proficiency—he could strike at will—but now he noticed previously overlooked flaws.

The palm techniques and angles could still be refined.

This technique wasn’t about speed alone.

Lin Chen entered a state of sudden insight; all his essence, spirit, and focus centered on the palm technique, repeating and adjusting the angle and force of each strike.

【Technique: Qing Feng Palm (Proficiency: 2/100)】

【Technique: Qing Feng Palm (Proficiency: 3/100)】

Lin Chen no longer paid attention to the interface; at this moment, his mind was empty.

His eyes held only Qing Feng Palm.

…

…

Bang!

After an unknown length of time, a sound suddenly erupted from Lin Chen’s right arm.

Like firecrackers exploding!

Even so, Lin Chen did not stop—he opened his eyes wide and slapped his palm toward the camphor tree in the courtyard.

Crack!

The bark of the camphor tree peeled off, leaving a palm imprint embedded deep into its smooth trunk; after a breath, countless leaves rustled down in a shower.

Lin Chen retracted his palm, standing in the courtyard, gazing at the fallen leaves, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

Through this insight into Clear Wind Palm, combined with the Ziqiao Pill, he had broken through to the Second Orifice realm.

Clear Wind Palm was not a brutally forceful palm technique, so it did not snap the camphor tree, which was as thick as a man’s waist—but the fact that the palm imprint sank deep into the wood meant that, if struck upon a person, one palm blow would be enough to shatter the bones of an ordinary man.

After the surge of excitement, Lin Chen began to analyze.

His ability to open his second orifice today was not due solely to this one Ziqiao Pill; rather, it was the result of nearly a month of accumulated effort—he had already been on the verge of the Second Orifice bottleneck, and this pill merely spared him the final sprint.

Accumulate deeply, strike lightly—the Ziqiao Pill merely provided the final push.

The breakthrough in realm brought Lin Chen joy, but what thrilled him more was his deeper understanding of insight.

He had once believed that enhanced insight merely deepened one’s comprehension of martial techniques, but now he saw it was more than that—enhanced insight granted an additional state.

A state of complete absorption, where self and object became one!

Glancing at the stars, Lin Chen ceased his cultivation—sufficient sleep was also essential for a martial artist.

Tonight, he fell asleep with joy.

…

…

(End of Chapter)