All three are indispensable.
Any defect or weakness in any part of the three main components would result in the inability to increase overall strength.
He had seen significant improvent in his physical constitution, and his comprehension of Taoist Intent had also improved. After all, he’d been running around for the sake of Taoist Intent and Demon Talisman Seeds lately.
Only the path of Formation Talismans had seen no substantial improvent for such a long ti.
"The biggest trouble with Fourth Grade Formation Talismans is that they require the consumption of spiritual will during their creation."
This was an unavoidable aspect for him. The process of creating lower-grade Formation Talismans also expended spiritual power. However, he used to rely on muscle mory; if he succeeded once, his body could instinctively rember that trajectory and replicate it perfectly.
But with Fourth Grade Formations, it wasn’t just that spiritual power was needed during the making; one also had to inject a portion of their spiritual will at the end to serve as the key to activation.
Lin Xin tried inscribing the simplest Fourth Grade Formation Talisman Rune on a piece of paper.
It resembled a sign made of many hooked lines overlapping each other.
As he drew, he infused it with Demonic Qi, and at the final mont, he suddenly injected a strand of spiritual power.
Shhh!
The entire sheet of paper spontaneously combusted.
This symbol signified burning, one of the thirty-two basic constituent runes in all Fire Formations.
In just an instant, the paper turned to black ash and almost set the other books and items on the table ablaze.
Frowning, Lin Xin put down his pen.
"I still need materials with sufficient resistance to truly attempt a complete Fourth Grade Formation... If I try to inscribe the Red Flower Sword with my current unskilled technique and fail, it would be troubleso."
Knock, knock, knock.
Suddenly, there was a faint knocking at the door.
"Who is it?"
Lin Xin asked casually.
"Sir, it’s ," the Chief Affairs Officer’s voice ca from outside.
"Ah, Chief Affairs Officer Su, co in." Lin Xin flicked his hand, releasing a strand of Vigor Qi to unlock the door.
Upon entering, Su Mu, the Chief Affairs Officer, first surveyed Lin Xin’s room before glancing over his desk, a flicker of keen light flashing in his eyes.
"I apologize for the intrusion, Mr. Lin."
Lin Xin rose and turned with a smile,
"Not at all, but I’m curious as to why you’ve co at such a late hour, Chief Affairs Officer Su?"
He invited him into the room, and the two sat down at the dining table.
With a polite smile on his face, Su Mu said calmly,
"I have a matter I thought Mr. Lin should be inford about."
He glanced at the brush left on the desk and the ink stains upon it.
"Mr. Lin is a Talisman Maker, isn’t he?"
"I’m not much of a Talisman Maker, just soone with a hobby," Lin Xin didn’t confirm directly.
"May I ask what Mr. Lin’s opinion of Liaocheng is?" Su Mu asked in a low voice.
"I haven’t visited much; this is my first ti here, so I can’t say much. Mr. Su, please feel free to speak directly," Lin Xin also didn’t beat around the bush, speaking frankly.
Su Mu paused montarily, seemingly not expecting such directness, and then gathered his words,
"Well, I’ve noticed these past few days that Mr. Lin and his associates do not have a specific destination and appear to be wandering leisurely. Would you be interested in settling down in Liaocheng?"
Lin Xin smiled; this was not unexpected. The other party wanted to recruit them.
Indeed, just the strength Wang Peng had displayed was enough to pique the interest of any power.
Wang Peng had indeed just entered the Foundation Establishnt Stage, yet his actual combat ability was already too much for even an old-tir like Su Mu to handle.
"The Su Family in Liaocheng, besides the Lion Fist Sect, is the largest first-rate family, with over thirty retainers. Family Head Su Xia, known as the Gazing Cloud Piercer in Jianghu, is a generous and righteous person. Among the three prodigies of our family, two are practicing at the top-ranked Heavenly Cloud Way and Jade Pure Way in the Central Prefecture."
Su Mu’s purpose, as Lin Xin had anticipated, was exactly as he expected.
"Mr. Su is mistaken, I’ve already joined another sect previously. I’m grateful for your family’s kind intentions," he imdiately declined the officer’s overtures without hesitation.
But Su Mu wasn’t in a rush; the intention was only to put the offer out there. Successful recruitnt didn’t happen in one go. If they could later demonstrate the strength and wealth of the Su Family, making another offer would suffice.
He was quite optimistic about these few people; despite their seemingly mysterious identities, Wang Peng’s skills alone made it clear that they were all capable masters.
Even if they couldn’t be recruited, it was worth fostering good relations with them for the family’s interests.
After politely bidding farewell and getting up to leave,
Lin Xin closed the door behind him, returned to his desk without the intention of continuing his work, extinguished the light, set up a defensive formation plate, and went straight to bed to rest.
The next day, he was woken up groggily by the subtle shouting from the deck outside.
Opening his eyes, his mind was still foggy with sleepiness.
"It’s been a long ti since I’ve had such a good sleep..." He had always had too many worries on his mind, which is why he never slept well.
This ti, for so reason, he managed to get a good night’s sleep.
He threw off the warm quilt and sat up straight in bed.
The sounds from outside were becoming clearer.
******************
On the deck, the faint and bright sunshine was spilling down, landing on the swaying hard wooden surface, reflecting a light brownish-red luster from the oil-soaked wood.
Besides the sailors who were still doing their morning exercises, in the center of the deck, two young teenagers were exchanging blows rapidly and fiercely.
Both of them were agile and powerful, using only their hands, with each hit seemingly full-strength, the rhythmic thuds of impact spreading near and far.
Both were dressed in blue and white training outfits, the only distinctions between them during their quick movents were that one had short hair and the other had long hair that cascaded down her shoulders, fluttering wildly.
A few adults stood by, watching the match like instructors, among them Su Mu stood with his hands behind his back.
Wang Peng and others stood not far away, quietly observing the two children sparring.
When Lin Xin walked out of his room, this was the scene that greeted him.
"Gazing Cloud Piercer!"
The boy suddenly let out a sharp cry, his right hand vibrating with a ripple of fine waves, then accelerated, slapping towards the girl’s shoulder.
In the midst of their prolonged battle, as both their strengths were nearly depleted, he suddenly burst forth, unexpectedly causing the girl to cry out in shock, as she saw his palm rapidly approaching her left shoulder.
"Good palm technique."
Suddenly, a young man’s voice sounded from the side, and then she saw the boy’s palm swerve slightly, inexplicably missing and hitting the empty space beside her.
Seemingly startled by the voice.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, she bent her elbow forward to strike, colliding with the boy’s defensive forearm and then leapt back, standing firm.
"It’s a pity it lacks a bit of depth."
The male voice spoke again.
The two children stopped their hands, and the boy, sowhat unwilling, still glared at the direction from which the voice had co and backed away.
"Mr. Lin is familiar with this palm technique?" A beautiful woman with a cold deanor and wearing a silver crown stepped forward from the people standing by and said dissatisfiedly.
The scene of Lin Xin and the Chief Affairs Officer exchanging blows on the shore was seen by not only the sailors and the Su Family but also by the passengers on the ship. Naturally, they could guess that Lin Xin had superior skills and was not soone easily provoked.
Lin Xin walked out from the side corridor, stretching lazily.
"I don’t recognize the palm technique, but given its use of the spiritual energy of the clouds to speed up the attack, it must be a special palm technique similar to the ones from the Five Lustrous Sect. It’s just that the young fellow’s cultivation practice still falls a bit short."
"I would like the gentleman to enlighten ." Before the woman could speak, the young boy, sowhat unconvinced, squinted and saluted with his hands clenched.
The woman was his master, and his master had often praised this palm technique, saying he had reached the minor realm level, which was the most he could achieve at his age.
Now hearing Lin Xin say that his technique was not yet mature, he felt unconvinced in his heart and preemptively spoke up.
Lin Xin smiled faintly, noticing the boy’s reluctance to accept his words.
"Not to ntion anything else, your technique should not have many flaws, but the way you execute it now, given your current strength and quality, has at least three critical weaknesses."
Having had a good night’s sleep, he was in a great mood, and the weather was clear and cloudless outside, so he didn’t really mind the boy’s slight defiance.
"Three?!" This ti it was not the boy who spoke up, but the woman wearing the crown.
Her eyebrows shot up, her long, snow-white legs were exposed up to her thighs as she stepped forward, walking directly towards Lin Xin.
She knew of Lin Xin’s formidable strength, but even so, before he ca out, she had just praised her disciple’s palm technique as being the strongest for his age. Suddenly, this man erged, contradicting her and pointing out there were at least three fatal flaws in the technique.
With so many people watching and her disciple, who had always looked up to her standing by, as a master she felt she couldn’t save face.
To maintain the authority of her words, she directly addressed Lin Xin.
"Then, I would like to ask Mr. Lin, this Gazing Cloud Piercer is a Fourth Grade palm technique personally created by our sect’s founders. When mastered, it can split mountains and is unstoppable. Although Little Ou is currently only at the Second Grade, after more than three years of hard practice, he has already mastered every variation. He can counter thirty-six different changes according to the opponent’s moves. Perhaps, the flaws Mr. Lin ntioned were intentional traps set by Little Ou?"
She spoke sharply, clearly angered. What did it matter how strong the other was? Even the most powerful couldn’t disrespect soone else’s esteed technique, wasn’t it a basic taboo in the Jianghu?
Lin Xin smiled gently, realizing that he had inadvertently broken a taboo.
"It was my mistake, but the flaws are indeed there. If you don’t believe , you can test it."
The woman’s gaze deepened, knowing that since he dared to say so, he must have sothing concrete to present, but she was not willing to admit defeat on the spot.
"The gentleman is indeed talented, so how should we test this?"
Lin Xin pointed at the girl beside them.
"I’ll let her spar a few moves with your disciple, how about that?"
The woman glanced at the girl. The child had boarded the ship alone recently without any adult supervision and now stood there sowhat unconvinced, with tears brimming in her eyes. Clearly, she was a young lady who had sneaked out from ho to explore.
"??" Hearing Lin Xin refer to her, the girl pointed at herself in surprise.
"Of course, you," Lin Xin smiled at her gently, "You just need to do as I say, and you’ll be able to defeat your opponent with ease. What do you say? Are you in?"
"I’m in!" The young girl responded decisively, an excited gleam appearing on her face.
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