In the blink of an eye, time flew by.
Lin Hui stuck to his routine, training hard in the Seven-Section Quick Sword at Qingfeng Temple every day. His proficiency soared, and his physical fitness and reaction speed also gradually improved with the intense practice.
Although he had promised his parents he wouldn't train so hard, after truly seeing the Fog Area and the strange shadow that had flashed past within it, the sense of security Lin Hui had just begun to feel was shaken once more.
He mentally simulated the shadow from the Fog Area pouncing at him, wondering if he could even react in time.
The result of the simulation immediately gave him even more motivation to train hard.
As time went on, not only was he gradually mastering the Sword Techniques of the Seven-Section Quick Sword through his own hard work, but the Blood Seal's evolution of the first technique, Rising High and Seeing Far, was also nearing completion.
「Early morning. The training grounds in the rear courtyard of Qingfeng Temple.」
Disciples, each holding a wooden staff, found an empty spot and repeatedly practiced their Sword Techniques.
The stances of a few were clearly a bit off, but most were relatively proficient, repeatedly practicing this Swordsmanship that looked more like a set of health exercises.
Lin Hui found a spot next to a training post, the wooden staff in his hand a blur as he repeatedly practiced the first technique, Rising High and Seeing Far.
He had a strange premonition. With the Blood Seal's evolution time drawing near, he had been wondering how it would manifest its effects.
Now, it seemed to be a method that would induce a spontaneous change in his body, leading to a qualitative transformation.
SWISH.
The staff in his hand accelerated, moving faster and faster. Although he was only repeating the first technique, few among all the disciples could practice at this speed with such flawless precision.
But at this dim hour, with dawn having just broken, most were immersed in their own practice and paid no attention to the details of his movements.
About three minutes later.
CRACK.
The wooden staff in Lin Hui's hand froze. He slowly relaxed his stance, standing upright and motionless as he regulated his breathing.
Just then, the Blood Seal on the back of his hand flashed brightly, reverting from a circle to its previous diamond shape.
A torrent of indescribable insights and sword-training experience flooded into Lin Hui's mind.
His body trembled as he fell into a special state of epiphany.
A flood of memories surged into his mind: the various strengths and weaknesses of the first technique, Rising High and Seeing Far; methods for perfecting and optimizing it; even memories of extensive trial-and-error research.
It was as if he himself had spent years, through painstaking trial and error, gradually refining and optimizing this sword technique to a state of perfection.
Dozens of breaths later.
Lin Hui slowly raised his hand again. The wooden staff moved with incredible lightness, tracing a perfect arc forward before dipping down and then flicking up diagonally. His footwork shifted in sync, the entire movement perfectly natural and harmonious.
'Success!' Lin Hui felt an inexplicable sense of certainty.
Although the technique he had just used was still Rising High and Seeing Far, it had reached a level of utter perfection. It could now be called *Rising High and Seeing a Mountain*.
Furthermore, by mastering this perfect Sword Technique, he also gained a much deeper understanding of the other quick sword techniques that followed.
'So that's what "quick sword" means… The essence of the Seven-Section Quick Sword is to accumulate power in the muscles. The first six techniques are like a spring being wound tighter and tighter, until the final technique, which only brings it to a state of coiled potential. This entire Swordsmanship set doesn't contain the actual killing blow. Apparently, the killing blow belongs to a different set of Swordsmanship.'
With this new understanding, after having practiced for two months, Lin Hui now looked back at the techniques the other disciples were practicing. Every single one of them now seemed crooked, distorted, and riddled with errors.
"Ah Hui, why are you hiding over here practicing by yourself?" a familiar voice suddenly drifted over from behind him.
It was Chen Zhishen.
He yawned as he ambled closer, wooden staff in hand.
"How come you didn't call me to come practice?"
His progress was actually about the same as Lin Hui's, which was typical for most disciples learning the Seven-Section Quick Sword.
This Swordsmanship was a training method, not a combat style. The hidden mechanics of force application were extremely complex, requiring one to master more than fifty different force application points in the body.
If even one of these fifty force application points was off, its effectiveness would be greatly diminished. But once the entire Swordsmanship set was learned with all the force application points executed correctly, the true tempering of the body would officially begin.
For an average disciple starting from scratch, it would take at least three years to completely master all the force application points and thoroughly learn this Swordsmanship.
And that was just to roughly learn and master it. When practicing alone, managing to execute it perfectly, with not a single force application point out of place, even once in ten tries was a cause for celebration.
This was also the reason why many disciples eventually gave up and quietly left. After all, mastering the form was one thing; it was another matter entirely to be able to execute it with perfect stability every single time.
Lin Hui calculated his own timeline. Between his hard work and the Blood Seal's evolution, he would probably only need a year to achieve complete and perfect mastery.
Furthermore, he had just discovered something incredible during his practice.
Now that the technique had evolved into *Rising High and Seeing a Mountain*, every time he practiced it, it was perfect, without the slightest error. The feeling was incredibly fluid; he could execute it without thinking, without hesitation, as if it were second nature.
He knew very well what this meant.
"What did you do last night? You look exhausted," Lin Hui said, snapping out of his thoughts to look at Chen Zhishen.
"Don't even ask. I was dreaming all night. The dreams were full of…" Chen Zhishen's cheeks flushed red, and he trailed off.
"How's your Swordsmanship coming along?" Lin Hui asked, speechless, deciding to change the subject.
He knew Chen Zhishen had recently gotten very close to a new female disciple. The two had been going back and forth for the past few days, helping each other with small things and gradually growing closer.
"It's going okay. I feel like it won't be long before I've completely mastered all the Sword Techniques. As for the force application points, I'm starting to get the hang of them. A few days ago, I even got four of them right!" Chen Zhishen's attitude grew serious when he talked about practice.
"That's pretty good," Lin Hui nodded.
"What's so good about that? Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren are the ones who are really incredible. One of them mastered it in a week, the other only took four days… I really don't know how the brains of geniuses like them are wired," Chen Zhishen sighed.
Lin Hui fell silent.
He had observed these two new geniuses practicing their swordsmanship. They were newcomers who had only arrived in the first half of the month.
Yet they had spent an extremely short amount of time to perfectly master all the Sword Techniques of the Seven-Section Quick Sword, and their accuracy with the force application points had reached over eighty percent. It was terrifying.
'Compared to them, my Blood Seal is as slow as a snail...'
Sighing again, Lin Hui tried not to dwell on it. At least the Blood Seal's greatest advantage was that once something was correct, it would always be correct. The terrifying accuracy he had just tested was more mechanical than a machine.
'I might be slower at the start, but I'll catch up even faster in the long run!'
He comforted himself with this thought.
The two chatted for a bit before practicing together again.
Aside from breaks to drink water or use the latrine, neither of them stopped for a moment.
In the blink of an eye, it was noon, and the kitchen staff brought up various dishes in large buckets.
There was thick, dark-red mixed-grain rice, large chunks of braised pork ribs, and a soup made from a mix of green wild vegetables and sliced brown mushrooms.
Meals were served in a dedicated dining hall to the side, where rows of wooden benches reminded Lin Hui of the university cafeteria from his past life.
Disciples, both male and female, were now filing inside.
Many of the disciples from wealthier families gathered around Eldest Brother Chen Sui and Second Brother Zhao Jiang'an, forming small cliques.
Eldest Sister Mu Qiaozhi, on the other hand, didn't come here often and was only seen on rare occasions.
In addition, a few other small groups clustered around the new geniuses, Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren.
The rest of the disciples sat down in twos and threes, waiting for their meal.
The food was served by staff who went around with large ladles and wooden buckets, giving each person a scoop.
Lin Hui had always sat with Chen Zhishen, but this time, he had just sat down and was about to call him over when he saw his friend happily seated across from a girl with shoulder-length hair. The two of them were blushing, their heads lowered as they chatted about something.
'It's only been a few days… He hasn't even mastered his Swordsmanship, and he already has time for romance?' Lin Hui was speechless.
That being said, Chen Zhishen hadn't actually been affected much. He had been practicing on schedule for the past few days, not skimping on his training at all.
With no friend to chat with, Lin Hui ate much faster than usual. He was also in a good mood since, after mastering the perfect first technique, *Rising High and Seeing a Mountain*, he could practice all eight of its force application points flawlessly.
This put him in such a good mood that his appetite grew considerably. After finishing a large bowl of rice and gnawing on seven or eight ribs, he went and paid for an extra serving of meat and kept on eating.
As he was about three-quarters of the way through his second serving, a commotion suddenly erupted not far away.
It was accompanied by the pained cries of disciples.
Lin Hui frowned and quickly looked over.
In a corner of the dining hall, near the food buckets, two groups were already in a heated confrontation.
A girl in one of the groups was clutching her rear, her face flushed red as she glared angrily at a tall, grinning boy opposite her.
The boy was still laughing while making a crude kneading gesture with his hand.
Both sides were shouting and shoving each other.
To avoid getting caught in the middle, Lin Hui quickly stood up, abandoned his food, and backed away to a safe distance.
Chen Zhishen and the new girl he'd met also hurried over to a safe spot.
"Someone grabbed Huang Shan's butt!"
"Who would be so brazen? Huang Shan is so talented, aren't the masters keeping an eye on her?" the young girl beside him asked in a low voice.
"It's that bastard Chen Chong. A lot of the more attractive girls at the temple have been harassed by him. As for her talent, what good is it against his Chen Family background? Even though he's just a distant relative from a branch family, he's still part of the Chen Family," Chen Zhishen said with a frown.
After explaining, he quickly introduced Lin Hui and the girl to each other.
The girl's name was Lu Baihua. She came from a family of herb farmers and had a delicate, pretty face that grew on you. Though she was a bit thin and frail, her personality was just Chen Zhishen's type.
"Huang Shan is probably going to be on the losing end of this, but the guys with her aren't from ordinary families. They must have some backing to dare confront Chen Chong head-on. We should stay far away and not get involved," Chen Zhishen warned.
"If Chen Chong is that arrogant, won't the temple masters do anything about it?" Lu Baihua couldn't help but ask.
"How could they? Even Qingfeng Temple can't afford to offend the Chen Family. There's nothing to be done," Chen Zhishen said, shaking his head.
"But this is Huang Shan. What if it were a girl with no talent or background… what would she do?" Lu Baihua asked worriedly.
Chen Zhishen fell silent for a moment.
"All they can do is hide. I heard from a senior brother before… The year before last, two female disciples were harassed by Chen Chong and went home. Later on, one of them managed to get away, but the other… someone saw her near Chen Chong's house. She was raving mad, barely even human anymore…"
The atmosphere instantly grew tense.
Lin Hui clearly saw Lu Baihua's expression tense up, her face turning pale.
She was clearly worried for herself.
"It'll be fine, don't worry. Just make yourself look a little uglier and dirtier on a normal day, and Chen Chong won't even look at you," Chen Zhishen comforted her.
Lin Hui said nothing. He just sighed and turned to leave.
Back in the large dormitory, lying on his bunk, he silently focused his attention on the second technique of the Seven-Section Quick Sword: Hundred Turns and Thousand Returns.
'Hundred Turns and Thousand Returns—Second technique of the Seven-Section Quick Sword, one of the Basic Sword Techniques. Contains eight force application points. After reaching Great Success, it can accelerate the cultivation of the Sixth Technique. Evolvable Branches: 1.'
'1—Hundred Turns and Thousand Hearts.'
'Evolve into Hundred Turns and Thousand Hearts?'
'Resources required: One wooden sword, sixty days of reserved energy.'
'Time required: Sixty days.'
After selecting yes, Lin Hui recalled the fear and worry on the faces of Chen Zhishen and Lu Baihua, and the arrogant, long, horsey face of Chen Chong....
'It seems that sometimes, just being fast enough to run away isn't enough…'
Against someone like Chen Chong, even if Huang Shan managed to escape, she still had her parents and family. There was no real way out.