The status bar showed changes again, as the cultivation of the Minor Return to Origin Technique suddenly surged forward.
’Minor Return to Origin Technique — Seventh Layer. (Completion 32%)’
"From 22 to 32... a direct increase of 10%." For the second ti, Lin Xin felt a true sense of joy in his heart, the last ti being when Xiao Lingling had been cured by the senior from another race.
"In this increase, I only did two things, one was picking up the Demon Talisman Seed, and the other was killing a long-waisted man. One of these two things must be related to the increase in my cultivation."
Lin Xin analyzed and judged.
Sitting upright in the carriage, he regulated his breath for a while and swallowed a Qi Transforming Elixir whole.
Feeling the carriage co to a stop again, the door opened.
He once again saw the familiar courtyard of his own manor.
Jumping off the carriage, he looked around, and it was still the inner courtyard as when he left.
The area outside the manor was pitch black, as if rely clumps of rolling grey clouds surrounded the entire manor.
The red moon in the sky was faintly tinged with a trace of eeriness and blood.
"This place... doesn’t seem like a dream, nor does it seem like reality, yet it’s able to bring things from reality into it."
This ti, he didn’t imdiately disconnect and wake up from this place but instead, took the leisure to stroll around the familiar yet strange courtyard.
This gloomy inner courtyard was indeed identical to the courtyard in reality, even the most intricate details were the sa.
However, the only difference between this place and reality is that it seed as if no one had ever lived here; it was just that the architectural decorations were exactly the sa.
After walking around the courtyard, he found that this place was completely different from the courtyard in reality, two different spaces.
All traces of human habitation present in reality were absent here. There were only lifeless furnishings.
Walking to the bedroom, he looked at where the bed should be, but Xiao Lingling’s figure was still missing.
After ditating and adjusting his breath for a while, approximately half an hour later, he felt a wave of ntal fuzziness.
Opening his eyes, he was once again lying in his bed in reality, with Xiao Lingling sleeping soundly, her arms wrapped around his.
Looking up at the mosquito net, Lin Xin glanced again at the status bar in his field of vision, confirming that his internal cultivation had indeed increased, and he let out a long sigh of relief.
"After such a long stagnation, there is finally hope..." He glanced at the faint dawn light outside the window. "Tonight I’ll try again, and see which action it was that increased my cultivation."
**********************
Outside the bamboo forest of Spirit Heart Villa.
Two individuals dressed as adventurers from Jianghu, a man and a woman, stood by the roadside, observing from a distance, just like regular tourists, the striking white manor amidst the bamboo forest.
The manor’s gate and archway were guarded, the going in and out of ox-carts and cargo were strictly monitored.
The gatekeepers were ticulous in their inspections, imdiately rejecting any individuals attempting to bribe their way in with silver coins.
"The manor’s defenses are strict, not bad," comnted the man from a distance, stroking his chin.
"There’s a faint presence of a formation within, likely a special guarding formation ant for suppression points. It seems we can’t barge in with force, or even you and I might not be able to escape," the woman said calmly.
"So what if it’s just a small suppression point and the strongest person is a villa master who isn’t even at the Qi Cultivation level? What’s there to be afraid of?" The man was dismissive.
"I’m not afraid of this manor; what worries is the people who might co chasing after us if we break the formation—that’s the key. We are not here for a one-ti success and then leave; our main mission is our ultimate goal," the woman stated earnestly.
"That’s also true," the man pondered, "This manor can’t possibly have no one going out, can it? Our targets will definitely have important people among them. If we catch one or two, threaten the target, wouldn’t that solve the problem as well?"
"That’s what I’m thinking too," the woman nodded, "Anyway, we have plenty of ti for our mission, so we can just wait and treat it as a chance to rest and relax."
"Let’s settle in a town close to the manor, so we can easily keep abreast of the situation here," the man agreed.
"If we can resolve this without breaking the formation, that’s for the best," the woman smiled and started walking toward the nearby town, not far from the manor.
The man hurriedly followed.
**************************
"I’ve heard there’s been a problem with the irrigation dam, and I plan to go take a look myself."
Inside the manor’s side hall, Lin Xin dealt with administrative docunts and chatted with his father Lin Zhiwen.
"Father, didn’t you just visit the White Buddha Temple? You also made a vow and took the opportunity to have fun for over ten days, aren’t you tired?" Lin Xin said, exasperated.
"I’m going to check the situation, aren’t I?" Lin Zhiwen argued, "It’s not for play, is it?"
"You’re not going for play? I’ve just sent people to inspect the irrigation dam, and there was nothing wrong," Lin Xin said, bluntly exposing him.
Lin Zhiwen’s face turned red.
"Don’t tell I can’t even go out and have so fun? Do you have to keep tabs on everything I do? You’ve grown up and started to itch for independence, and now you don’t even believe your old man’s words?" He suddenly beca obstinate.
"I just wanted to say... Dad, please take it easy... As for Mother..." Lin Xin felt helpless; he knew his father had secretly taken a mistress and was gallivanting around all day long, flirting and playing, probably neglecting his mother, Zhao Yu Niang. He wanted to advise, but Lin Zhiwen was just a commoner, not a cultivator, not bound by rules that restricted cultivators to one Dao Companion. A non-cultivator could freely marry and have concubines and mistresses, as long as the head wife agreed, everything was fine. This was the custom of the Mortal World.
So it was difficult for him to bring it up.
"Her? You’re talking about her? Don’t even ntion it. Your mother has now beco obsessed with that what-do-you-call-it Substantial Flower. She gets involved with her flowers to the point of madness, up at dawn and to bed at dusk. She doesn’t even care about this old man anymore." Lin Zhiwen flew into a temper at the ntion.
"Anyway, just try not to bring too many brothers and sisters, Dad..." Lin Xin said, resigned.
"Got it, got it. Oh, by the way, the second and third siblings will be coming to the manor soon. Rember to arrange for soone to receive them properly, don’t get so focused on your cultivation practice that you forget," Lin Zhiwen instructed. "No matter what our past relationship was like, they’re still your brother and sister."
"Understood."
Lin Xin was suddenly reminded of his three siblings. His younger sister, Lin Xinyue, was holding her own in Wanxin City and had opened her fifth store. The youngest, Lin Xinhu, had been transferred to the military camp at Stone Gate Mountain, commanding several hundred n; he had made a na for himself.
The reason for their visit was unknown; those two had already divided the family property and had their own issues to deal with. Traveling thousands of miles, braving danger along the way, no one would co so far without an important reason.
Lin Zhiwen continued to natter about various manor affairs for a bit before finally getting up and strolling leisurely out the door.
As he left, he glanced at the figure of Xiao Lin Zhen practicing swordsmanship outside. Lu Suo, the Taoist retainer of the manor, along with Lin Xinyuan, were instructing him in the Basic Sword Techniques. Shaking his head, he looked back at Lin Xin, who was buried in paperwork, and slowly departed.
No sooner had Lin Zhiwen gone than a woman in a fiery red skintight outfit and white hair strode into the hall. The woman’s white hair was tied up high behind her in a ponytail, and she had two black crescent-shaped daggers strapped to each thigh. There was an air of defiant decisiveness in her step.
"Ou Yinghong." Behind the woman, a voice echoed. A bald, burly man with a scar between his eyebrows and bare upper body, wearing loose tiger-skin pants, swaggered in.
"Master Fei, why are you back?" the red-clothed woman asked with a frown. "Didn’t the Villa Master send you to suppress the unrest in Flying Fox City?"
"Just a quick cut through the ss," the burly man chuckled. "Co on, let’s go see the Villa Master." His gaze lingered aningfully on Ou Yinghong’s shapely and lengthy legs.
"I’m not familiar with you," Ou Yinghong stated flatly, taking long strides into the side hall.
The burly man’s expression stiffened, and a cold flash passed through his eyes.
"Hong’er." Lin Xin had already heard the two’s conversation outside and looked up at them with a smile. "How did it go?"
"Reporting to the Villa Master, this year’s goods have already been delivered. Those people would like to know if the Villa Master could increase the supply," Ou Yinghong reported respectfully, kneeling on one knee as she entered.
"Increasing the supply is out of the question," Lin Xin shook his head. "Even the manor itself doesn’t have enough to spare, it seems the situation isn’t too optimistic."
"Villa Master, the issue in Flying Fox City has been resolved. Three hundred heads taken, no casualties among the manor’s disciples," the bald, burly man also kneeled on one knee and reported.
Both of them had been saved by Sanyuan Zen Master and Taoist Lu Suo and then taken into Spirit Heart Villa, bringing in their own forces of hundreds of skilled followers. Over the years, they had ford two branches of the villa, maintaining stability in the region.
"Hong’er, are there any promising children in this batch worth noting?" Lin Xin casually inquired as he picked up a scroll.
"Reporting to the Villa Master, we’ve spotted a few prospects, but I was planning to train them well before reporting," Ou Yinghong spoke softly.
"Did they pass the temperant test?" Lin Xin was slightly surprised.
"They did," Ou Yinghong said with so complexity. "Out of the thousands of children sent from the region, we’ve only selected these few tens capable of Inner Qi cultivation, of whom less than twenty truly passed the temperant test. I’ve already segregated them, forming a squad." It was complicated for her, not having the qualifications for internal cultivation, seeing so many children with the potential for Inner Qi cultivation.
But now, Spirit Heart Villa served as the stabilizing force of the region and naturally also bore the responsibility of screening disciples and providing Outer Sect disciples to the Sect, hence all suitable children from the entire region were sent here.
This amounted to gathering the elite of countless children from millions of people across the entire region. In fact, many of these children’s parents were from Jianghu, so they had a strong foundation from an early age.
"What’s the total number?" Lin Xin inquired further. "For those who walk out of Spirit Heart Villa and are able to stand on their own two feet in the Sect, completing a mission independently, the villa can provide a certain amount of Talisman Stones, Jade Money for weapons and other support every month."
He had now divided the benefits into several categories.
First Level: basic Solar Yang Talisman Stones, Sweet Dew Talisman Stones.
Second Level: Luminous Talisman Stones.
Third Level: Luminous Talisman Swords, Solar Yang Talisman Swords.
"The Villa Master is rciful!" Ou Yinghong and the man complinted in unison.
"It’s not about rcy; it’s an investnt. They are disciples who have left Spirit Heart Villa. They naturally represent Spirit Heart Villa on the outside, the future of our region," Lin Xin said calmly. He didn’t care whether they understood the term ’investnt’.
"Additionally, have you found any trace of my Uncle Master Bo Yunzi?"
"Uh... not yet," Master Fei quickly answered.
Lin Xin heaved a long sigh.
"Alright, you can go."
"Yes."
The two got up to leave, and as Ou Yinghong was about to exit the side hall, she hesitated.
"Villa Master, how should we deal with children who co to the villa bearing great vengeance, seeking only refuge and the ans to cultivate for revenge?" (To be continued. If you like this work, your votes of recomndation and monthly tickets at Qidian are welco. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian to read.)
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