Chapter 53: Neighboring Village Provokes (Rewritten)

Five days later!

During the day!

On the small hill of Linhu Village, between the pine forest, a figure darted like a swallow.

Wherever the figure passed, the surrounding pine trees trembled, and leaves continuously fell.

That figure was Lin Chen.

At this moment, he was cultivating the second technique of the Swallow’s Flight Scripture: Piercing Through the Forest Shadow.

While cultivating Swallow’s Flight, he was also merging it with Clear Wind Palm, moving through the pine forest like a swallow, his path impossible to track.

It looked effortless!

But to achieve this, he had crashed into trees hundreds of times.

Either his speed was uncontrolled, or his force was misjudged—he always leapt forward and slammed into tree trunks.

It took him two days to reach this point, where he could move freely through the pine forest.

“Too bad, Swallow’s Flight doesn’t appear on the interface—I can’t see progress.”

At first, Swallow’s Flight didn’t show up on the interface, and Lin Chen thought he hadn’t mastered it; now that he had fully learned the first two techniques, and it still didn’t appear, it was clearly a limitation of the interface.

Lin Chen had formed a judgment: only ranked techniques appear on the interface.

He finished his training through the forest.

Lin Chen found a slightly more open area, pulled out the Qiao-Opening Pill bottle from his chest, hesitated, then poured out two pills at once and swallowed them.

Over these past few days, while cultivating Clear Wind Palm, the heat and tingling sensation in his left arm’s acupoints had grown stronger—he sensed today would be the day he broke through to the Third Acupoint.

After swallowing the pills, Lin Chen continued striking palms.

The palm winds howled through the forest; from afar, they sounded like rolling mountain breezes, making the pine branches sway.

Boom!

When he reached the sixth round of Clear Wind Palm, Lin Chen struck out with his left palm—his entire body’s blood surged toward his left shoulder, the muscles on his left shoulder rapidly trembling.

This phenomenon resembled countless torrents converging into one channel, rushing toward a dam.

After one breath, the dam collapsed, and the flood surged through.

Lin Chen’s left arm skin turned instantly crimson, and within it, the pulsing blood was faintly visible—like iron forged to its red-hot limit in a furnace.

Crack!

His left palm slammed into a pine tree; the five-zhang-tall tree snapped cleanly at waist height, the break surface perfectly smooth, and the upper half flew sideways a full chi before beginning to topple.

Third Acupoint power, combined with Proficient Clear Wind Palm!

The strength stunned Lin Chen.

This was the power of a martial cultivator—he was only at the Third Acupoint; what would it be like at the Tenth, Twentieth, or Internal Organ stage?

After his awe, Lin Chen calmed his mind and began cultivating Water Cloud Palm.

He intended to first bring Water Cloud Palm to the Proficient stage.

Water Cloud Palm’s cultivation progress was much faster than Clear Wind Palm’s; at this rate, reaching the Proficient stage before returning to the martial hall was certain.

“Lin Ge, are you there?”

As Lin Chen focused on cultivating Water Cloud Palm, a boy’s voice came from outside the forest.

“Li Tong, what’s wrong?”

Lin Chen leapt out of the forest in a few bounds and saw the village boy Li Tong, looking anxious. He asked.

“Liuzhuang is bullying our village. Xu Bo sent me to call you.”

“Liuzhuang?”

Liuzhuang was the neighboring village of Linhu Village, also a lakeside settlement, named for the many willow trees planted along its shore.

“Today’s the day we set each village’s fishing zones, but Liuzhuang cheated—they sent a martial cultivator into the water.”

Hearing Li Tong’s words, Lin Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Poyanghu was vast, but its waters were all claimed by city nobles, who kept guard squads; ordinary fishermen who dared to fish were lucky if they only got beaten—often their boats were sunk.

Linhu Village and several nearby villages all bordered Poyanghu and could only fish in their own designated waters, forbidden from venturing deep into the lake.

Linhu Village and Liuzhuang lay along the lake in a semi-oval shape, with overlapping fishing zones.

For years, the two villages had developed a custom.

Each village’s territory extended fifteen li along the lake, belonging solely to them; beyond that, the next five li of water were decided by who caught more fish.

After the lake opened each year, both villages would select a stretch of water, enclose it with nets, and send ten skilled fishermen from each side to catch fish.

Whichever village caught more fish would claim that stretch of water.

Lin Chen knew today was the competition day, but such contests forbade martial cultivators from participating—if they did, it became a different matter and easily sparked enmity between villages, so he hadn’t gone to watch.

So Liuzhuang had broken the rules?

“I’ll go take a look.”

Lin Chen spoke and darted toward the riverbank like a swallow—but halfway, he met his mother.

“Xiao Chen, where are you going?” Lin Mu cried out, alarmed.

“Mom, Li Tong just told me Liuzhuang cheated during the fishing contest—I’m heading to the lake…”

“Don’t go.”

Lin Mu’s words made Lin Chen frown in confusion—what did she mean?

“The village chief secretly told me to come find you. Don’t get involved. Pack your things and leave the village now.”

“Leave the village?”

Lin Chen was even more confused—why would the chief tell him to leave under these circumstances?

“The Liuzhuang martial cultivator has opened four acupoints. The chief says you’re no match for him—just endure it, return to the martial hall, train hard, and we’ll reclaim it next year.”

Lin Mu repeated the chief’s secret instructions, and Lin Chen finally understood.

After the Liuzhuang martial cultivator entered the water, Linhu villagers were furious—many thought of Lin Chen, just as Li Tong said, Xu Bo had sent him to call Lin Chen.

In the villagers’ eyes, the only person in the village who could stand against the Liuzhuang martial cultivator was Lin Chen.

“The chief said you’ve only been in the martial hall two months—you’re no match for him. Just endure it. Pack your things and leave today. We’ll say you left early in the morning. The chief will explain to the villagers.”

Lin Chen admitted the chief’s plan was the most rational and safest option.

If he were truly just a two-month-old student, staying out of sight now was indeed best.

“Mom, what’s the situation with the Liuzhuang martial cultivator?”

“The Liuzhuang martial cultivator is the chief’s grandson—he entered the martial hall two years ago and has trained there since.” Lin Mu urged: “Xiao Chen, listen to the chief. Let’s swallow this insult for now.”

Four acupoints opened, two years…

That strength was mediocre even within the martial hall.

Lin Chen paused, then sighed: “Mom, when I entered the martial hall, our village raised thirty taels for me. Now that the village is in trouble, if I just run away, won’t everyone here point their fingers at my back?”

“No one will!” Lin Mu quickly shook her head: “The chief said he’ll explain—you won’t be blamed.”

“Mom, I’ll go to the lake first. If I see I can’t beat the Liuzhuang martial cultivator, I won’t interfere—everyone will understand.”

In a few days, I’ll compete with several fourth-acupoint senior sisters for the A-rank status. If the Liuzhuang cultivator’s technique isn’t yet Expert-level, I can use him as practice.

“Mom, did the chief say which martial hall the Liuzhuang cultivator trains at?”

“Mantis Martial Hall.”

Hearing it was Mantis Martial Hall, Lin Chen felt more confident—among the Eight Martial Halls, Mantis Fist had the weakest power.

PS: Our new book rank is tenth. It’s midnight, the start of a new week, and also the final week of Jiudeng’s new book period. If you have monthly tickets or are following, please help us stay in the top ten—we’ll add an extra chapter tonight!

(End of Chapter)