Chapter 46: The Academy

The September breeze was mild and the sun shone brightly. The next morning, a rumor began to circulate: someone claimed to have seen Zhou Li coming out of Lin Yin's room.

When Lin Yin arrived at the training ground, he noticed everyone whispering to one another, accompanied by bursts of hidden laughter.

Some even secretly gave him a thumbs-up as he passed.

Huh? Lin Yin scratched his head, feeling somewhat puzzled, but paid it no mind.

"Lin Yin!" Jiang Zixun kicked open the door of the training ground and, under the watchful eyes of everyone, grabbed Lin Yin by the ear and dragged him outside.

"Zixun, you shouldn't be like this..." Zhang Zhang hesitated, trying to persuade her, after all, Lin Yin's status was far too special.

"I'm disciplining my own brother, who dares to interfere?!" Jiang Zixun glared with her beautiful eyes, sweeping her gaze across the surroundings, causing everyone to quickly avert their eyes.

In the corner, Zhou Li, who had been quietly watching the seniors' video footage, flushed slightly and followed them out.

In a secluded spot devoid of people.

Jiang Zixun finally released Lin Yin's ear, placed her hands on her hips, and remained silent.

At that moment, Zhou Li caught up. Seeing Jiang Zixun's fierce and vigilant expression, she explained, "I went to find Lin Yin last night to discuss training matters."

"Oh? Is that so?" Jiang Zixun calmly countered, "You studied for the entire night?"

As she said this, Jiang Zixun kept her eyes fixed on Lin Yin.

"Huh?" Lin Yin finally realized what was going on. His gaze instantly became crystal clear, and he smiled openly and guilelessly, "I spent most of the night explaining training techniques to Zhou Li. In the end, she fell asleep from exhaustion, so I found a quilt for her."

"Really?"

"Really."

"That's fine then. I believe you." Jiang Zixun looked suspiciously between the two of them and nodded. "Don't you dare pick up bad habits just because you've entered the academy. I'll be keeping an eye on you every single second."

"Huh? Is that what Sister Zixun is worried about?"

"Of course! To protect you and prevent you from getting distracted by the dazzling world!"

"Haha, alright."

Lin Yin rather enjoyed this feeling of being cared for by a family member, so he smiled and raised no objection.

Ever since entering Tianhe Academy, his state of mind had grown increasingly peaceful, allowing him to savor this hard-earned academy life.

Aside from his regular training, Lin Yin would treat everyone in the Elite Class to barbecue at the night market on the adjacent street every evening.

They would drink ordinary beer and chat about the future and their dreams. Their words were filled with the unique, high-spirited ambition of youth. Yet who could have known that their grand and hearty laughter would one day turn into a bitter, silent smile upon meeting again in the future.

Wu Liu, who hailed from the Great Qi State and was also an external recruit, held the highest alcohol tolerance and loved reciting poetry while drinking. At that moment, filled with high spirits and staring at Lin Yin, Wu Liu suddenly burst into a poetic recitation at the top of his lungs:

"In the prime of our youth we cast away the spring's glow, flower-stepping horses tread as the wine grows fragrant!"

"Lin Yin, what kind of person do you want to be in the future?"

Hearing this, the others also smiled and looked at Lin Yin.

Lin Yin raised his beer, chuckled softly, and murmured:

"I wish to be a tutelary deity among mortals, and perish before a thousand family hearths."

Wu Liu was drunk and didn't quite understand, only shouting that it was a fine verse, a fine verse!

Jiang Zixun and Zhou Li, however, seemed to understand, their expressions turning pensive.

Yet, Jiang Zixun's eyes were filled with profound heartache. She knew her younger brother's ambitions and hidden grievances, and it pained her.

As for Zhou Li, her expression was one of yearning, even worship, as if she were catching a breathtaking glimpse of early youth.

"Old Lin, brother's gotta tell you something." Fan Chou, who was a local, was also quite drunk. He draped an arm around Lin Yin's shoulders, his vision hazy yet pouring his heart out, "You know what? Just a little bit more, just a tiny bit more, and you would've been killed by the Royal Court..."

"Fan Chou, what nonsense are you spewing!" Chu Qi instantly sobered up and scolded him angrily.

"Huh? Am I talking nonsense?" Fan Chou's gaze remained hazy, but he stood up, swaying as he pointed at the sky, "If I, Fan Chou, spoke even half a word of falsehood, may the heavens strike me down with lightning!"

Chu Qi immediately shoved Fan Chou back down and turned to Lin Yin, who still wore a smile, saying, "Don't listen to his nonsense!"

"Mm-hmm, I know." Lin Yin smiled and nodded, dropping the subject.

Yet, he remained puzzled as to how Fan Chou and Chu Qi could possibly know about that.

After finishing the drinks and barbecue, they sang high-spirited songs and strolled back along the river embankment road toward the academy. That night, the stars were sparse and the moon was bright, casting a brilliant glow that illuminated the path ahead for everyone, making it look bright and unobstructed.

Three days later, Lin Yin felt as though a mighty dragon were roaring within his meridians. His eyes brightened, and he immediately went to test his blood-qi value.

He hadn't tested it for three days, and throughout the waiting process, he had a persistent premonition.

It would be high. Extremely high.

Ding!

Blood-qi value: 1883!

Looking at the blood-qi value of 1883, Lin Yin smiled heartily.

"It's truly fast, even faster than in my past life."

"Combining the prematurely awakened Grade-9 martial talent with a Heaven-tier cultivation method yields truly terrifying results."

Seeing that he was on the verge of breaking through to the Bone-Condensation Realm, Lin Yin decided against resting and chose to work through the night with extra hours.

At ten o'clock in the night, the others had gradually returned to their dormitories.

Only the light in Lin Yin's training room remained on.

Early the next morning, Fan Chou was the first to enter the training ground. The moment he stepped through the door, he caught a familiar scent.

It was the scent of a body shedding its mortal shell and nourishing martial bones!

Creak! Lin Yin pushed open the door and stepped out, finally concluding yesterday's cultivation session.

"Old Lin! You... you've formed martial bones?" Fan Chou asked in disbelief.

"Yes, the first stage of Bone-Condensation, and I managed to temper a martial bone along the way." Lin Yin smiled openly and casually pulled up his sleeve, revealing an arm carrying a faint silver halo.

Fan Chou was dumbfounded.

A martial bone on the arm?

One must know that it was extremely difficult for ordinary martial artists to temper martial bones.

Some martial artists even spent their entire lives, reaching the Meridian-Forging Realm, without ever successfully tempering a single martial bone.

Yet everyone knew that the earlier one tempered martial bones, and the more martial bones one tempered, the more solid the foundation of the Bone-Condensation Realm would be.

Who wouldn't want to temper martial bones?

But it had only been a few days!!

Soon, people from the Tianhe Martial Arts Base arrived.

Principal Gu and instructor Liu Zhensong also came, accompanied by a camera crew.

"Take a good look! Martial bones! And the first stage of the Bone-Condensation Realm!"

Liu Zhensong shouldered the camera.

Principal Gu stood before the lens, brimming with high spirits.

"Who said Lin Yin had no future at our Tianhe Academy?"

"He broke through to the Bone-Condensation Realm merely half a month after joining Tianhe Academy, and directly tempered martial bones as well!"

On the other side, the representative from the Tianhe Martial Arts Base was Station Chief Yang Baihu.

"Here are your teacher's letter of commendation and rewards." Yang Baihu turned around with a smile as a truck slowly drove over.

"Three thousand Bone-Condensation Pills, three thousand Martial Bone Pills, and three thousand Blood-Qi Pills—a total of nine thousand pills."

"And a saber. I heard that Elder Jiang made a special trip to the Great Zhou State these past few days to ask the old dean himself to forge it for you."

Hearing this, a wave of warmth surged through Lin Yin's heart.

The truck unloaded its cargo. Piles of neatly arranged pills, numbering nearly ten thousand in total, made even Zhou Li's eyelids twitch wildly.

Had they just ransacked an entire academy?!

Finally, two martial artists carried out a sandalwood box. While it looked completely unremarkable, the two martial artists appeared somewhat strained, and the box hit the ground with a resounding thud, causing everyone's eyelids to twitch once more.

What kind of saber could possibly be this heavy!

"Lin Yin, this is a gift from your teacher. Why don't you open it yourself?"

"Alright."

Lin Yin pushed open the lid of the wooden box. What came into view was a broad, thick weapon resembling a giant ruler, about 1.7 meters long, over forty centimeters wide, and emanating a heavy, oppressive texture that made it feel as though a towering mountain were standing right before them.

"This is..."

Lin Yin noticed a card placed to the side.

It read: A heavy sword has no edge, a heavy saber has no form. Forged from Northern Cold Meteorite Iron, weighing three thousand five hundred catties, a Earth-tier superior-grade Mo-saber named Sinking Dragon!